CubUgly

Gotcha Matt, I just had an issue with the term overmatched. I don't think we were overmatched by their pitching anymore than we were by the mediocre pitchers the Marlins and Sox shut us down with. And I don't think we were overmatched by Boegarts and Machado. We just executed in both cases about as poorly as we could and the exact wrong time. Now there are other teams that we would be overmatched against would we have advanced and I agree we need to improve so that we can get to a point where we are not.

Not sure if overmatched is the word I would use - disappointing is more appropriate. The two best hitters in baseball over the second half of the season don't get one hit, and two hitters for the Padres who honestly were fair to middling pretty much the whole season in Boegarts and Machado sliced and diced us. And I don't think we were overmatched by their pitching as some fairly pedestrian pitchers with Miami and Boston shut us down over that crucial 5 game stretch - we just - as is the Cubs custom is seems....all stopped hitting at the same time - the worst time.

Yes, gotta get to King early.....SD manager will have a quick hook so best to make some hay in first or second and force them to go early and deep in the pen.

I'm not sure the logic in continually bringing in Thielbar to face lefties when, this year and now at least, he is just not good against lefties. Regardless of handedness though - I just don't think it was a good spot for him there. This game is critical, I'd have gone Rollison.

Remember they played the Astros in Milwaukee in what 2008, when there was a hurricane headed to Houston. So arrangements would be made.

Agree on Webb, I think toward the end of his scoreless streak he was having an inordinate amount of good fortune as it seemed his swing and miss was decreasing, and he got away with more hard hit balls than the early parts of the streak, at least it seemed so to me, I don't have the stats to back that up.

I 100% think the Cubs target guys specifically that they think they can unlock something in. They absolutely got Cabrera for that reason. So it's not like they are just getting random folks and hoping their specialty works I think they target pitchers they feel pretty confident they can improve. Judging by their performance this year, it's been their worst evaluation in that regard, let's put it like that.

Yes, I agree with the premise but for it's the tweaking you mention. That's the key and it's their job to find the right tweaks IMHO and of late - ours seems to missed more than hit. Certain teams specialize in certain things - but I would imagine the better ones dig deeper? I don't watch other teams long range enough to compare effectively, and to be fair the Cubs before this year usually have found the bullpen formula. But not this year.

I'm torn on Hottovy and our "pitch lab" I think there are pitchers that they do improve and unlock things for, but I also perceive that they try to change something with some and it just doesn't work and the pitchers just can't find it. I think sometimes they tinker more than they need to and results are uneven.

No lead is gonna feel safe the rest of the year. Hell Webb by himself has lost 3 games that we had the lead with 2 outs. You almost have to be trying to do that!!! Had an 0-2 count on Yelich - who is nowhere near the hitter he was 6-7 year ago - with 2 out and nobody on and still lost. That's gut wrenching but if they had somebody better they'd try him. How did they all get so bad all together at the same time. Blame Jed for dumpster diving if you like, but it's worked for us before and it works for the Brewers and other teams. The guys we have need to figure it out because we can't count on any white knight charging in to save our bullpen.

Probably needs a day off in front or behind of a day off for the team. He's logged a lot of innings this year.

he has always been a very slow starter, last year with Boston being an exception, but he always rallied to post good numbers. However, this year his bad start lasted 3 months - longer than usual so I began to doubt - maybe the Cubs models that said he would age well were wrong. Well, looks good now. He's hitting some good pitching very well and his defense is stellar.

Yeah, I thought after that last outing that we could not afford to hope he fixes things....these games are too important. I like Shota - I hope he does get it figured out, but if I was managing I would not have the sack to start him.

I'm honestly not surprised, Bregman has been an above average defensive third baseman for a long time, he was a good SS in college and only moved to 3rd to accommodate up and coming Correa. And he was great at third from the first day there.

Exactly, I was wondering if I'd ever see 9 innings of well pitched ball by my Cubs all year. We've had several good starters efforts the last 3 weeks but little or no bullpen success. Got both today against the "unbeatable" Brewers. Finally!! The guys we have are just going to have to pitch better, it's as simple as that, can't count on Steel or Shelby Miller or Cabrera saving this bullpen.