UMFan83

Cubs batting line in this homestand coming into today: .152/.239/.239/.478 Don't think its gone up so far today

The Cubs have scored 9 runs in the last 4 games: -Single (Knocked the ball out of catcher's hand on play at the plate) -Sac fly -Sac fly -Single -Passed ball -Single -IF Single -Ground out -Wild pitch

lol. Love the reference but not quite in either case

The Cubs have not played with the lead in over a week now. Last time was the 7-1 win in Atlanta last Wednesday. Their 2 wins over that timespan were walk off wins where they never led beforehand. Not that this means anything at all or says anything we don't already know about the Cubs slump

Those are the ones...or were the ones. Cardinals devil magic is back

Meanwhile our next opponent the Cardinals are 8-2 in their last 10 games having just finished off a sweep of the Orioles.

Cubs run differential for the season is now +2. When I said I hoped the Cubs would make up for last year by overachieving their pythag record, this isn't quite what I had in mind.

Make that 5 ER. ERA sitting at an ugly 5.68 now after giving up 16 runs in his last 3 starts (thanks Cuas)

Ugh not sure why Steele went out for another inning I liked 6 IP, 2 ER better than 6.1 IP, 4 ER

Glad they got a hit. Now we can resume the parade of strikeouts and weak grounders

Normally even though I can be pessimistic whenever the cubs are being no hit in a game I reason that they’ll find a way to get a hit. Today they just look so overmatched it almost feels like a foregone conclusion. Prove me wrong you horsefeatherss

Look if we benched everyone who was looking lost at the plate we’d have to forfeit games.

Cubs offense getting mowed down damn. Fried only at 33 pitches through 3 too. Come on guys

6 home runs allowed in his last 12.2 IP yikes. No he’s not cooked but it’s definitely a bit concerning in the short term.

There's definitely something there when it comes to Jed strategy for building bullpens and yes they typically figure it out most years, but its not foolproof either. The Cubs missed the playoffs by 1 game last year and as pointed out overuse played a big part in the late season collapse. Why? Guys like Fulmer and Boxberger battled injuries but in general while they ended up piecing together a solid 7-9 with Merryweather, Leiter and Alzolay, they had issues with depth beyond that, thus Ross felt like he needed to use his horses over and over again. That overuse can be blamed on Ross, but also because the Cubs fell way off the pace in the early part of the season (at least somewhat due to bullpen struggles) and needed to win so many of those close games in July and August to play themselves into playoff positioning. Basically what I'm trying to say is that while Jed's piecemeal bullpen did become effective for a big chunk of the season, I don't consider the strategy as successful last year because bullpen issues in April, May and September contributed to the Cubs falling 1 game short of the playoffs. If the Cubs fall 1 game short again this year, the 6-7 blown games in April and May this year will be a contributing factor. I'd say that by nature of how Jed builds bullpens, we should expect some struggles early season most years and build that into our expectations, but when those struggles affect our play in September or the struggles are directly affecting the outcome of such a high percentage of games early in the season, I think its fair to criticize while still acknowledging that Jed and co. have done a solid job overall building bullpens from scraps.

Man that was awesome watching him strike out the heart of the Braves order after coming into a 1st adn 2nd 0 out situation. Also Counsell seems to be doing a decent job of managing Leiter's workload so far this year. Hopefully that will prevent him from wearing down like last year because damn when he's on like tonight its impressive. There was a 31 game stretch last year where Leiter pitched in 19 of the games (16.2 IP). For comparison, tonight was Leiter's 20th game this year (20 IP) and we're in game 48.

I can’t say enough good things about the pitching today, especially the pen. Outside of the HBP/single sequence to start Tyson Miller’s 3rd different inning on the mound I believe the pen was perfect in 5.1 IP against a top 3 offense in the league (conservatively) with the wind blowing out strong. The Cubs are still not playing great all around baseball but they are winning just enough to keep their heads above water and I promise you that will pay dividends later in the season when they are playing better.

Braves were just handing the Cubs a win with the middle of the order due up and we couldn’t do anything. Damn

lmao, what a terrible break

That was some fantastic pitching by Leiter. Good horsefeathers

really really sucks to only get 1 there after 3 of the first 4 hitters reached and the heart of the order due up but good that we're at least tied

Michael Harris is everywhere

Please get the tying run home from 3rd with less than 2 outs. Also, Amaya on 3 times today nice work

ummm I'll take it

No not bad at all considering the lineup and conditions. Definitely wasn't at his best tonight but he battled admirably to get out of several jams and gave his team a chance.