6/4 Cubs (Wells) @ Cards (Lohse) 3:10 PM, FOX/720

[Tryptamine]

Quite frankly one of the dumber decisions I've seen. Quade has to be one truly stupid human being to pitch to the greatest hitter of our generation. If you intended to "pitch around him" then quit tempting fate and intentionally walk him.

[CubColtPacer]

Quite frankly one of the dumber decisions I've seen. Quade has to be one truly stupid human being to pitch to the greatest hitter of our generation. If you intended to "pitch around him" then quit tempting fate and intentionally walk him.

 

Pitching to the best hitter in baseball needing a home run or pitch to someone who has been one of the best hitters in baseball this year needing a double to win. Does walking Pujols really increase the Cubs chances of getting out of the inning?

[NOLA]

Quite frankly one of the dumber decisions I've seen. Quade has to be one truly stupid human being to pitch to the greatest hitter of our generation. If you intended to "pitch around him" then quit tempting fate and intentionally walk him.

 

Pitching to the best hitter in baseball needing a home run or pitch to someone who has been one of the best hitters in baseball this year needing a double to win. Does walking Pujols really increase the Cubs chances of getting out of the inning?

 

Yes, absolutely it does. You can't let Pujols beat you there.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

A Berkman double or worse is much more likely than a Pujols home run there. I really don't think walking him is the right move.

[Clem Fandango]

That was a terrible pitch to hit. Breaking ball low and away, way out of the zone. Pujols reached on it. No reason for him to swing at it, but he did and it paid off. Tough break.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Instead of worrying about what to do when the other teams' really good hitters are up, we should look into acquiring some of our own at some point.

[NOLA]

A Berkman double or worse is much more likely than a Pujols home run there. I really don't think walking him is the right move.

 

Serious question...

What did you think of the intentional walks Barry Bonds got a few years back when he was on that roid induced tear? Several of those were in similar situations.

[CubColtPacer]

Quite frankly one of the dumber decisions I've seen. Quade has to be one truly stupid human being to pitch to the greatest hitter of our generation. If you intended to "pitch around him" then quit tempting fate and intentionally walk him.

 

Pitching to the best hitter in baseball needing a home run or pitch to someone who has been one of the best hitters in baseball this year needing a double to win. Does walking Pujols really increase the Cubs chances of getting out of the inning?

 

Yes, absolutely it does. You can't let Pujols beat you there.

 

Pujols home runs by year:

 

2006: 49

2007: 32

2008: 37

2009: 47

2010: 42

2011: 12

 

Berkman's doubles+HR by year:

 

2006: 74

2007: 58

2008: 75

2009: 56

2010: 37

2011: 21

 

Is there a reason to expect that Pujols is more likely to hit a home run in the 12th than Berkman to hit a HR or double? I understand the psychological reasons of walking him as a heart move but I'm not sure if it truly is the best head move. Berkman is definitely worse than Pujols but he's not so much worse that if you give him another way to beat you he can do that just as well as Pujols can.

[NOLA]

Instead of worrying about what to do when the other teams' really good hitters are up, we should look into acquiring some of our own at some point.

 

Agreed. However, my point is that I though the managerial decision stunk. The ideas can coexist.

 

And I understand it was a tough break. My point is that you take that completely out of play and put four fingers in the air.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

A Berkman double or worse is much more likely than a Pujols home run there. I really don't think walking him is the right move.

 

Serious question...

What did you think of the intentional walks Barry Bonds got a few years back when he was on that roid induced tear? Several of those were in similar situations.

 

Bonds was a unique case. When he was OPSing 15 million, he crossed the theoretical threshold where it made sense to walk him every time up. Pujols isn't Bonds.

[CubColtPacer]

A Berkman double or worse is much more likely than a Pujols home run there. I really don't think walking him is the right move.

 

Serious question...

What did you think of the intentional walks Barry Bonds got a few years back when he was on that roid induced tear? Several of those were in similar situations.

 

Bonds was a whole lot better than Pujols in those years. For four years he averaged about 250 OPS points better than Pujols's best year! Plus Jeff Kent was not as good of a hitter as Lance Berkman. So in the Giants case, the hitter behind Bonds was frequently 500 OPS points worse. In Pujols's, the hitter behind him will maybe end up 100-150 points worse. It's not anywhere in the same ballpark.

[NOLA]

I understand the points made, but I just would not have pitched to him.

 

But even then, don't unintentionally intentionally walk him. If you're going to walk him, just put him on.

[CubColtPacer]

I understand the points made, but I just would not have pitched to him.

 

But even then, don't unintentionally intentionally walk him. If you're going to walk him, just put him on.

 

And I don't think you would have been wrong to put him on. It's kind of a 50/50 decision there.

 

I bet the instructions were somewhere in between pitch away and the unintentional walk. He probably was told to throw pitcher's strikes at best. At least that's what I think considering they did very intentionally come in to the strike zone on the 2-0 pitch.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

"Throw pitches that are strikes, but make them hard to hit."

 

"Thanks, Skip."

[UMFan83]

Quite frankly one of the dumber decisions I've seen. Quade has to be one truly stupid human being to pitch to the greatest hitter of our generation. If you intended to "pitch around him" then quit tempting fate and intentionally walk him.

 

Pitching to the best hitter in baseball needing a home run or pitch to someone who has been one of the best hitters in baseball this year needing a double to win. Does walking Pujols really increase the Cubs chances of getting out of the inning?

 

Yes, absolutely it does. You can't let Pujols beat you there.

 

Pujols home runs by year:

 

2006: 49

2007: 32

2008: 37

2009: 47

2010: 42

2011: 12

 

Berkman's doubles+HR by year:

 

2006: 74

2007: 58

2008: 75

2009: 56

2010: 37

2011: 21

 

Is there a reason to expect that Pujols is more likely to hit a home run in the 12th than Berkman to hit a HR or double? I understand the psychological reasons of walking him as a heart move but I'm not sure if it truly is the best head move. Berkman is definitely worse than Pujols but he's not so much worse that if you give him another way to beat you he can do that just as well as Pujols can.

 

Yeah but the result of pitching to him isn't just hitting a home run or an out. He could hit a double or a triple that sets things up for a Berkman RBI single, and people will still rip on the Cubs for pitching to Pujols.

[erik316wttn]

I don't care if people think it's too early. I don't care if I'm called out on it. I'm saying it:

 

Wait till next year.

[JeffH]

I don't care if people think it's too early. I don't care if I'm called out on it. I'm saying it:

 

Wait till next year.

 

Next year? You're an optimist.

 

Wait until 2015 at least. 2020 is more like it.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I don't care if people think it's too early. I don't care if I'm called out on it. I'm saying it:

 

Wait till next year.

 

I dont think theres anyone left who thinks this team has a hope in hell of competing this year. Hopefully we can fully revamp in the offseason, because if we dont,it could be a long several years.

[CyHawk_Cub]

Another loss for a mediocre + injury-riddled team. Go figure.

[bcl412]

I'm officially rooting for the top draft pick so go other teams.

[CubmanPi]

TM   REC    WIN%  GB  RUN DIF

MIN  20-37  .351  --  (-79)
HOU  23-36  .390  2.0 (-52)
CHC  23-33  .411  3.5 (-51)
SDG  26-33  .441  5.0 (-24)
KCR  25-33  .431  4.5 (-35)
WAS  25-33  .431  4.5 (-14)
LAD  27-32  .458  6.0 (-28)
OAK  27-32  .466  6.0 (-5)
BAL  26-30  .464  6.5 (-42)
NYM  27-31  .466  6.5 (-27)
CWS  28-32  .467  6.5 (-11)
COL  27-30  .474  7.0  +7
PIT  28-29  .491  8.0 +2

 

Twins-Royals and Padres-Astros are playing each other, so there's two guaranteed losses for the 13 sub-.500 teams. Of the 9 who played above-.500 teams today, Cubs were one of only 3 to lose (Nats, A's). They gained quite a bit of ground today.

[Sammy Sofa]

Can't really be mad at Pujols hitting a couple of homers. I want him to start kicking ass again so that his signing with the Cubs becomes inevitable and I can walk around with a permanent baseball-boner.

[TruffleShuffle]

I don't care if people think it's too early. I don't care if I'm called out on it. I'm saying it:

 

Wait till next year.

 

Next year? You're an optimist.

 

Wait until 2015 at least. 2020 is more like it.

 

your posts are extremely stupid.

[NOLA]

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/recap?gameId=310604124&teams=chicago-cubs-vs-st.-louis-cardinals

 

After Pujols hit his second homer of the game with two outs in the 12th inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 5-4 victory on Saturday, Cubs manager Mike Quade second-guessed his decision to pitch to the three-time NL MVP.

 

"I'm not in the habit of walking people with two out and nobody on," Quade said. "I understand how good this guy is, so we'll have to rethink that a little bit.

 

Know what else he is not in the habit of doing? Winning baseball games.

[CubmanPi]

Can't really be mad at Pujols hitting a couple of homers. I want him to start kicking ass again so that his signing with the Cubs becomes inevitable and I can walk around with a permanent baseball-boner.

This time in 2002, Cubs were 22-35 with a -49 run differential, en route to a 67-95 finish, and Sammy's numbers that year were at the top end of what we can reasonably hope for from Pujols. Baseball boners that year were pretty scarce.