Ballgame64

Bases loaded, one out in extra innings and the immortal Jeff Baker can't drive in the winning run. But hey, he hits left handers pretty good. The Cubs didn't want to bring up guys not on the 40 man roster because they just can't part with John Grabow, Reed Johnson, Jeff Baker, Blake DeWitt, Koyie Hill, Ramon Ortiz, Rodrigo Lopez and Carlos Pena. Really? This should make it clear to the owner that the front office failed miserably, including Oneri Fleita. So why again did he get an extension?

On the day the Cubs announce Zambrano won't be playing anymore this year, I can think of about 10 current players that should join him. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day and we'll get to watch Casey Coleman dazzle us again.

Well, at least Reed came back and does what he does best, hit left handed pitching. Oh wait, he struck out with runners on 1st and 2nd on a pitch that looked like it probably bounced on game cast. My bad.

According to Pat Hughes, the ball was hit to the hole between short and third, Castro made a good play, but the throw was late (Harrison is fast). Barney hustled toward first to back up the play in case the throw got away (it didn't), so no one was in position to cover second. Harrison saw that and took the base. Smart base running by Harrison. Dempster with 51 pitches through 2 innings. Meanwhile, it took Burress only 8 pitches to get throught the first inning.

A double to the shortstop? Did Castro dive for the ball and knock it into foul territory or something similar?

That is good to hear. Hopefully he feels fine tomorrow so he'll be on schedule to come back this weekend against the Pirates.

Cubs waste a leadoff double against Tim Lincecum that is not good. With as hot as Aramis has been most would have bet a lot that he would drive in Castro from third base with one out. Wells pitches around a leadoff walk. He needs to be on top of his game tonight.

Absolutely ridiculous throw by Darwin Barney.

I was thinking it might not be Garza's day...

ESPN Gamecast made it look like Barney was never thrown a strike, yet he kept swinging at the inside pitches.

Another error by Garza. He is his own worst enemy.

Does Rosenthal understand the Cubs could still sign Pena for next season as a free agent? I can understand if the Cubs don't get an offer worth taking, but to use 2012 as the reason for pulling Pena back is kind of dumb.

Is Byrd completely useless? No but if you are not denying his lack of production, why should he play everyday? Dropping him to 6th doesn't change much in my opinion. He is what he is, a free swinger who rarely has a good at bat with runners on base. I just don't understand the need to play him every day. When you're slamming his RISP numbers you are just talking about this year, right? You keep sounding like you're generalizing, like he's always had these troubles. And you don't see how dropping him in the order could lead him still being useful but ideally minimizing his troubles with RISP? Drop him to 7th or 8th. And why not play him every day? He's likely going to be on the team next year, and the guys to play instead of him are Colvin, Campana and Johnson. Why would you want to start any of them in CF regularly over Byrd? I think Marlon started struggling when the Cubs moved him to the 3rd spot last year after D Lee was traded. Maybe he is trying to be something he isn't and maybe he is trying to justify the Cubs faith in him, I don't know. I would hit him 7th or 8th depending on who is playing. I do agree with you that Colvin, Campana and Johnson are not good options so there isn't much more to do this year. Byrd is about to turn 34 so while he will likely be on the team next year, I hope it is not as an everyday player. I hope the new GM can make a couple of moves to upgrade the outfield options for the Cubs.

Is Byrd completely useless? No but if you are not denying his lack of production, why should he play everyday? Dropping him to 6th doesn't change much in my opinion. He is what he is, a free swinger who rarely has a good at bat with runners on base. I just don't understand the need to play him every day.

.293 .330 .395 .725 at home. I agree he usually shouldn't hit higher than 6, but your overreaction is hysterical. He's not an everyday player because of that line? OK then. Straight out of the figures lie and liars figure handbook. Those numbers mean very little when he doesn't hit with men on base. You have to score runs to win and Byrd rarely helps that happen. How anyone can deny his lack of production is mind numbing and hysterically funny. .204/.255/.306 with runners in scoring position this year. You can have him on your team, I prefer a better player.

At some point, I hope someone associated with the Cubs realizes Marlon Byrd has no business playing every day. This is his 44th game played at Wrigley Field with 180 plate appearances and he has 2 home runs and 7 rbis while batting 3-4-5-6 most of the time. So he has driven himself in twice and only 5 other guys all year. People might not like the "old school" stats but those are rather telling of how unproductive he has been all year. He is basically another pitcher in the line-up at home this year.

It continues to amaze me how unproductive Marlon Byrd considering his batting average, OBP and OPS are better than his career averages. I know he missed a lot of games with a broken face, but for a guy who has batted 3, 4,5 or 6 all year, you'd like to think he would have more than 22 runs batted in.

At least Coleman is doing his part to keep the Cubs in the top 5 of the 2012 draft.

Please go to page one of this thread and see my comments. I have no use for Todd Hollandsworth and love Ramirez' response.

I've never really liked Hollandsworth but this makes it real easy to not watch or listen to any show when he is on it. Hey Holly, do you ever watch the Cardinals play? Pujols and Molina jog to first base all the time on routine plays. Are they lazy or do they realize their importance to the team is playing everyday by not getting hurt sprinting to first base to make meatballs like you happy?

Another stellar at bat by Darwin Theriot.

Not that I think Colvin deserves playing time, but I thought the reason Fukudome was traded was to open a spot for Colvin to see what he can do with extended playing time? Reed Johnson has been a pleasant surprise, but I'd really like a manager who isn't worried about getting guys like Baker, Johnson and DeWitt playing time when the Cubs are solidly entrenched in 5th place.

Storen actually hung that last pitch and was fortunate Soriano didn't tie the game. Oh well, Garza gets another loss because Quade's boys couldn't solve CM Wang.

Castro at least breaks up the shutout.

Runner on 2nd, no outs and down by 3 runs with the top of the order coming up. The runner is stranded on 2nd. Maybe the bottom of the 7th will be the inning tonight that the offense realizes it is ok to get a few hits.