Brewers (Ross) vs Cubs (Wesneski): 5/3/24, 1:20pm - Marquee

[Andy]

What's the MLB record in that soul-sucking 8th-inning lead stat because we're going to blow past it before the trade deadline

[Derwood]

52 minutes ago, Derwood said:

The difference between our starters and our relievers is unbelievable

 

[Dfan25]

Keep giving free bases via steals and this will happen . I understand the pen is short today , but Alzolay shouldn’t be pitching in these types of games .  

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I'm not saying I'd be successful at stealing a base today, but it would be close enough to make me slide.

[UMFan83]

1 minute ago, soccer10k said:

The right answer is to just not use Alzolay in a 1 run game again unless he’s the last guy in the pen.

I'm not defending it, but Palencia and Keegan pitched in multiple innings yesterday, Almonte pitched 2 days in a row, Neris 2 in a row and 3 of last 4.  If those 4 are all down its either Adbert or Brewer, assuming you are saving Leiter for the 9th.

[JBears79]

Should have never taken Wesneski out of the game in the first place. There isnt a single reliever in our bullpen that can get an out,

[LBiittner]

If adbert continues suckage, trade deadline might not matter

[abuck1220]

cubs have made two moronic outs on the bases, brewers have four stolen bases this inning.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Alzolay has 2 Ks over his last 6 appearances, covering 27 batters faced I believe 

[UMFan83]

3 minutes ago, Andy said:

What's the MLB record in that soul-sucking 8th-inning lead stat because we're going to blow past it before the trade deadline

Not sure.  I know when the Cubs lost 5 games in September last year it tied an MLB record for most in a month.  This would be our 6th this year so I'm sure its probably several more but we're well on track to pass it at this point.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

3 minutes ago, soccer10k said:

The right answer is to just not use Alzolay in a 1 run game again unless he’s the last guy in the pen.

Neris and Almonte are down, and Keegan is almost certainly down given his usage.  So you need 2 innings between Leiter, Brewer, Alzolay, and maybe Palencia on a back to back(when he just gave up the lead).  No perfect option.

[WhyCantWeWin]

Think you gotta option Alzolay and let him figure it out at AAA. Maybe when Steele is activated 

[Dfan25]

This is going to be track and field all weekend for the Brewers 

[BKHoo]

What is our manager thinking bringing him out there in the 8th??  He has no confidence.  It looks like he is about to cry every time the other team gets a hit. 

[UMFan83]

Just now, abuck1220 said:

cubs have made two moronic outs on the bases, brewers have four stolen bases this inning.

They've played such stupid baseball this year.  I don't know who to blame so I'll just blame Counsell.

[abuck1220]

1 minute ago, UMFan83 said:

I'm not defending it, but Palencia and Keegan pitched in multiple innings yesterday, Almonte pitched 2 days in a row, Neris 2 in a row and 3 of last 4.  If those 4 are all down its either Adbert or Brewer, assuming you are saving Leiter for the 9th.

i'm sure it's just because i only watch the cubs, but i swear they have to lead MLB in the number of "3 relievers are unavailable today" games over the last 75 games. 

[Derwood]

Alzolay sucks, true, but no one should expect that one run against a first place team is going to hold up

[Dfan25]

Honestly Alzolay should be in AAA right now , but I don’t think he has options .

[UMFan83]

1 minute ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Neris and Almonte are down, and Keegan is almost certainly down given his usage.  So you need 2 innings between Leiter, Brewer, Alzolay, and maybe Palencia on a back to back(when he just gave up the lead).  No perfect option.

The answer is to have better bullpen pitchers.  It just sucks that we had no way to know going into this season that the pen could be a rough spot for us.

[Irrelevant Dude]

I know it's not the way Major League Baseball works in 2024, but at some point the Cubs need to start leaning on their starters to go deeper into games.  So what if a guy has to occasionally throw over 100 pitches?  This playing ultra-conservative with the starting pitchers is putting too much reliance on a really bad bullpen.  You could argue that maybe the starting pitchers wouldn't be as consistently good as they have been if they were throwing more pitches, but there is only one way to find out.

[Cubs420psd]

Why is Azolay anywhere near a high leverage situation right now? That's just terrible managing more than anything 

 

[LBiittner]

Maybe if we had the Brewers manager ...

[UMFan83]

1 minute ago, abuck1220 said:

i'm sure it's just because i only watch the cubs, but i swear they have to lead MLB in the number of "3 relievers are unavailable today" games over the last 75 games. 

We're in the middle of a stretch of 26 games in 27 days so I'm sure that's part of it.  MLB schedule makers did us no favors to start this year.  We seem to have a cluster of off days towards the end of May and first half of June.

 

(Of course I swear we lead the MLB in the number of "our team is currently in a death match stretch" stretches over the last 5 years or so)

[Cubs420psd]

Just now, Irrelevant Dude said:

I know it's not the way Major League Baseball works in 2024, but at some point the Cubs need to start leaning on their starters to go deeper into games.  So what if a guy has to occasionally throw over 100 pitches?  This playing ultra-conservative with the starting pitchers is putting too much reliance on a really bad bullpen.  You could argue that maybe the starting pitchers wouldn't be as consistently good as they have been if they were throwing more pitches, but there is only one way to find out.

Wesneski being taken out at 90 pitches is ridiculous.

 

Once Steele comes back he's out of the rotation anyway... Who cares if he has a high pitch count right now? 

 

 

[UMFan83]

1 minute ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

I know it's not the way Major League Baseball works in 2024, but at some point the Cubs need to start leaning on their starters to go deeper into games.  So what if a guy has to occasionally throw over 100 pitches?  This playing ultra-conservative with the starting pitchers is putting too much reliance on a really bad bullpen.  You could argue that maybe the starting pitchers wouldn't be as consistently good as they have been if they were throwing more pitches, but there is only one way to find out.

Yeah its interesting.  Counsell has a reputation for being great at managing pitching staffs and I'm assuming part of that is knowing how to keep his starters rested throughout the season so they're still strong in September.  He's clearly applying those tactics here but instead of Hader and Williams and others he has Neris and Leiter and AAA pitchers.  It's clearly not working given the number of blown leads we've had so far this year.  Does he adjust his tactics and start letting the starters pitch deeper?  Because right now there is absolutely no one in the Cubs pen that is particularly trustworthy.  Leiter is the closest but in a good pen he's a solid 7th inning guy and is not without his flaws.