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CubColtPacer

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  1. With this quote, I would say it's a definite that Hill is gone: First off, Piniella is part of the problem for there being no bullpen because of his short leash on Hill the last 3 games. At the same time, they need to do whatever they can to get his mechanics straight, because with his current control he'll continue to need an abnormal number of balls in play to be caught in order to be effective, and this is not a situation where Rich can just flip a switch and have control again. What's very interesting is that Cubs.com said that Piniella hinted that it would be Marshall replacing Hill, with Eyre moving into Marshall's spot. I'd really like to know how they're going to stretch Marshall out quickly.
  2. no, he hasn't. i don't think there's any doubt that he's out of the rotation...90% sure of that. and i'd say there's a very good chance he goes to AAA. he should have been left in for at least one more batter tonight. that's four starts in a row that lou has had a remarkably short leash on hill. it's as if it's 2005 and hill has never had success before. One more batter and the game might have been over in the first inning. the worst that would have happened is another walk and one more run. as it is, they lost anyway, ruined the bullpen in the process, and likely completely demoralized hill. leaving him for at least one more batter would have been the right thing to do. I would tend to agree with that. At least let him start the next batter. If he gets to 2-0, maybe you pull him. But the next batter was Izturis, and he cannot hurt you that badly, and also has been known to swing early in some situations. So maybe you get a lucky ground ball on a pitch just off the corner and get out of the inning. I still doubt Hill would make it more than into getting into the 4th tonight, but even those couple of innings might have made a big difference for his confidence level and for how much the bullpen was used.
  3. Lilly vs. Lohse. The Cubs players have absolutely pounded Lohse during his career. Hopefully they can continue that tomorrow and even up the series.
  4. This is as good of thread as any. Kobe Bryant has reportedly won the MVP award.
  5. Even though this is an hour later, I'll address this. Marmol was only going to be able to pitch 1 inning tonight. Knowing that, it doesn't matter that much which inning he threw. Both pitchers were going to have to shut down the Cardinals in order to win the game. Plus the 5-6-7 hitters were coming up for the Cardinals in the 10th. It makes more sense to hope Fox can shut them down there, and try to save Marmol's 1 inning for the 2-3-4 in the order.
  6. Fontenot was put in so Howry could go 2 innings tonight (which looks even better now that the Cubs have 3 short relievers left, 2 who pitched yesterday in a game that has a possibility to go extra innings).
  7. I think Lou wants Howry to go multiple innings, and that's why Fontenot had to come in. Of course it's going to be hard to do that if the defense behind Howry makes him throw a ton of pitches in inning #1. That still makes no sense because Ronny hit in the pitcher's spot right in front of Soriano who made the last out. Right, so that's where you have to stick the pitcher. The only spots open are the #4 spot and the #9 spot. The #4 spot is due up 3rd in the next inning, while the #9 spot is a ways away, so that's why Howry was put in the 9 spot, and then Fontenot was inserted at 4. I wouldn't be surprised to see Soriano go back on the DL tomorrow.
  8. I think Lou wants Howry to go multiple innings, and that's why Fontenot had to come in. Of course it's going to be hard to do that if the defense behind Howry makes him throw a ton of pitches in inning #1.
  9. I'm disappointed in Rich's performance. I'm more disappointed in the way he's been handled by the incompetent boobs that run the show. I'm disappointed the pitcher with the third-best ERA in our rotation is being pointlessly jerked around because it isn't aesthetic enough for some. That .217 BABIP and 79.4 LOB% wasn't likely to continue though. If his strikeout rate had gone up even when that walk rate skyrocketed, it would have been better (and the LOB% would be more reasonable). Unfortunately, his strikeout rate has also been down so far this year.
  10. Harvey's line against Kershaw this season: 6/6, 5 2B. Those happen to be the only 5 doubles that Harvey has this year. Even for a tiny sample, considering the pitcher and the hitter, that is very, very odd.
  11. Agreed. Hill's pitches have been very effective when he has command, but you cannot have a walk rate of 7.64 BB/9 (as he did in ST) or 6.63 BB/9 (as he did in the 4 starts before tonight) and expect to continue to remain effective. We've been saying that with Zambrano the last couple years, and Hill has been quite a decent amount worse with his control than Z was in 06 or 07. BTW, his new total is now 8.24 BB/9 on the season.
  12. It's hard to tell if it's rust, or if it's simply a continuation of the control problems that Hill has had for the past 2 months.
  13. He was until his arm mysteriously went away over the offseason. Injuries could very well have made him completely done.
  14. And there was a similar situation about a decade earlier with Mel Rojas. Very good setup man for the Expos. Signs huge deal to become Cubs' closer. Sucks big time as closer. Mel Rojas had been the Expos closer for a couple years when the Cubs signed him. He had 30 saves in 1995 and 36 saves in 1996 before joining the Cubs.
  15. The first thing I thought when I heard this was if the Rockies may panic and trade for Brian Roberts. I doubt Cedeno or Theriot has built up much trade value, hot start or not.
  16. I thought so as well, but apparently it counts: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/definition_terms_2.jsp
  17. Well, he's not going to be the full-time starter yet. But Lou has taken notice, which should mean he won't completely rot (quote from Cubs.com):
  18. Wood pitched on Sunday. Marmol hadn't pitched since Friday.
  19. Did Lou get anybody up? Or is Marmol finishing this one out? Ok, that's better. It's Wuertz.
  20. just to get a little work in That is stupid. I like the move, he had 4 days off, he's going to have rust. He's having trouble with the zone right now, better now then in a tight game. Wouldn't pitching him yesterday in a close game make more sense? Lou likes to pitch him in tie games or with a lead, so that's why he didn't pitch yesterday. If the Cubs bullpen hadn't imploded last night, then Lieber wouldn't have had to pitch, and Marmol would have been able to get yet another day off tonight.
  21. He hasn't pitched in a few days. The Cubs would put Hart or Lieber in this spot, but they both threw 20+ pitches last night, and with both of them used to being starters the Cubs would like not to have them pitch a second game in a row after throwing that many. Either Wood or Wuertz will likely pitch the 9th.
  22. He's been in a slump, but it has been somewhat bad luck as well. He's 0 for 12 when he puts the ball into the field of play despite 70% of those being either ground balls or line drives. He's only hit 3-4 of those hard at all (and only 1 of those hard hit balls was a line drive), but even with that a couple of those should have found holes, and they simply haven't so far.
  23. Smoltz thinks that he shouldn't return to the starting rotation: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080430&content_id=2614453&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
  24. I honestly don't know enough about Saunders to really know if he perceived as a legitimate major league pitcher, but if he is perceived that way I can tell you one reason why he is and Marshall isn't. Durability. Saunders has thrown at least 190 innings twice in his career. Marshall has yet to break 150 innings, and the two years he's gone over 125 there has been one year where it was recorded that he had a dead arm (and then got hurt) and the next year where there were several signs of a dead arm. Teams will live with durability issues from their top 2 starter potential types, but the market for 3rd-5th starters without any proven durability is just not that good.
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