4/23 - Cubs (Lackey) @ Reds (Straily) 6:10 CSN

[NOLA]

Law brought up an interesting point on twitter, one of the few times you could criticize Joe. Let Lackey bat with 2 on in the 6th instead of pinch-hitting for him, especially when we have an absurdly fresh bullpen (granted Cahill/Ramirez gave up runs tonight) and Maddon specifically mentioned them needing to get work pre-game.

 

I think it's a 50/50 call at best given Lackey was pitching well and the PC was in a good spot, but it would have made some sense to pull him then especially because I believe he was facing the order for the 3rd time through in the 6th.

I almost posted that question when it happened. Being that Lackey was already shaky, I'd have pinch hit. The hit by Lackey in the Cards series maybe gave Joe false confidence.

[Cubswin11]

Law brought up an interesting point on twitter, one of the few times you could criticize Joe. Let Lackey bat with 2 on in the 6th instead of pinch-hitting for him, especially when we have an absurdly fresh bullpen (granted Cahill/Ramirez gave up runs tonight) and Maddon specifically mentioned them needing to get work pre-game.

 

I think it's a 50/50 call at best given Lackey was pitching well and the PC was in a good spot, but it would have made some sense to pull him then especially because I believe he was facing the order for the 3rd time through in the 6th.

I almost posted that question when it happened. Being that Lackey was already shaky, I'd have pinch hit. The hit by Lackey in the Cards series maybe gave Joe false confidence.

Considering how big they are on and often mention the 3rd time through the order stuff I'm surprised they didn't at least have a guy warming in the pen at the very least to begin the bottom half.

[BigSlick]

Back end of the bullpen really making an effort to remind us they're the back end of the bullpen

[ScrubMD]

What the hell was that horsefeathers?

[soccer10k]

Might as well get all the suck out in one game. Crush the Reds tomorrow and start a new streak.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

I didn't get to see the game, and was unable to follow along, save for a few score updates. I talked to my brother and he said it was an ugly, error-riddled game and all of our pitchers got rocked. From what he described, it wasn't pretty. And, mind you, this is without watching anything or seeing any highlights (or low-lights), but after getting home and first checking the box score, this looks like about the best 13-5 loss I could imagine. I'm sure it is a much more miserable outlook for those of you that had to endure this whole wretched game.

 

But, let me, the uninitiated observer, shed some positive light on this game. Russell appeared to have a great night at the plate. Fowler stayed scorching hot. Heyward got on base three times and stole a base. We drew 8 walks and only struck out 8 times. Their pitchers threw 186 pitches. So the patient, disciplined offense was present again.

 

Now, the pitching, which, obviously, is at fault in a game in which we gave up 13 runs... well, I ain't even mad. It appears that Lackey pitched alright. 1 BB and 5 K. He seems to have been getting along well until the 6th, and one dong did him in. As for Cahill, Richard, and Ramirez, there isn't much positive I can glean from their outings. But these are the three worst relievers in an 8-man pen. I mean, I would like to see better performances, but they are of but a handful of guys on the team that I really don't care about. Ramirez is a little different, because he could still be a good reliever and be a guy that has a future with this team if he ever regains his pre-injury stuff and the velo shoots back up. Probably not going to happen, though. And that's OK. It won't be the worst thing to befall this franchise if we lose a previously good middle reliever to attrition.

 

As for Cahill and Richard... meh. Clayton Richard is just not very good. He did alright for us last year. No complaints. He didn't walk guys and kept the ball on the ground. He did a decent job in the swing-man role. He was a nice pitcher for us last year, and a good find off of the scrap heap. He also throws left-handed, so I get why he exists on this team. But, him being a sub-replacement level player this year wouldn't shock me. He costs hardly anything. We barely use him. And if he sucks, then we can either bring up another position player or find another lefty off of the scrap heap. Cahill I like. I thought he was on to something last year. The velocity was up once we put him in the pen. His stuff played up with the added velo. His repertoire and pitch usage were tailored for a short-burst, relief role. He was getting a lot more swing-and-misses. He looked downright nasty. But, still, like Richard, he is a veteran retread making little money that is only signed through the end of this year. And he also is at the bottom of the pecking order in this pen. He is easily replaceable.

 

So, yeah, the only guys that were truly horrible were the three guys that affect us the least. We got done in by our bad pitchers being bad and some variance and sequencing bad luck. We were 3-14 with RISP. They were 6-9. We got our dong with nobody aboard. They got their big one with two guys aboard. The rest of the dongs that followed were certainly not conducive to winning, in any scenario. But, if Lackey doesn't give up that homer, the rest of the game plays out differently.

 

Anyway, there's a little dose of optimism. And sorry about the novel.