roenick99
Aug 7th 2007, 12:16 pm
All of this makes perfect sense. I usually don't agree with everything a writer says, but there is a first time for everything. I like the thought Kendall batting second since he did used to be a leadoff man. Maybe it will bring some spark back into his bat. You never know. Weirder things have happened. That is the one thing I really don't like about Theriot batting second is that he almost always swings at the first pitch which kills any chance that Soriano had to steal second if the ball is immediately put into play. The second batter needs to take pitches to give the leadoff man time to swipe second.
Life without Soriano? Not good
We have seen life without Alfonso Soriano, and we might need an air sickness bag.
Ronny Cedeno batting second is worse than Matt Murton batting fifth, but not by much. Both of them in the lineup helps explain why some guy named Wandy Rodriguez owned the Cubs on The First Day of the Rest of Alfonso Soriano's Injury.
If Soriano has to be injured, I'm fine with Ryan Theriot leading off. In fact, I think his style and hustle will allow Cubs manager Lou Piniella to play a more conventional kind of game early --- get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in --- that will help his pitching staff the way the White Sox staff benefitted greatly from so-called "Ozzie Ball'' in 2005. Against righties, it's an easy call to bat Mike Fontenot second. Against lefties, though, I never want to see Cedeno bat that high. Frankly, I don't want to see him bat at all, but I'm not the boss of him.
Point is, I'd rather try catcher Jason Kendall second against lefties. I know, he's hitting about .200-something-awful, but he has experience as a successful leadoff guy and all I'd really want him to do is bunt, take pitches to give Theriot a chance to run, hit behind the runner, and give me some hope, as compared to Cedeno, who might as well have a sign over his locker that reads "Abandon hope all ye who enter here.''
That bring us to the biggest problem offensively: Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez can't go a combined 1-for-9, but who has to throw good pitches to them with Cedeno and Murton as bookends?
The key, then, is this (at least until Labor Day): Rich Hill gave Piniella almost everything necessary to save the bullpen - 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO --- while the offense was giving him nothing. That's what makes Monday night so exasperating, but it also makes clear the way the Cubs are going to have to win games in the next month: Better pitching.
Look, they won't find a bat to replace Soriano, so the way to minimize the loss of such an offensive weapon is to require fewer offensive outbursts by stifling the opponent. Hill showed he can give the Cubs what Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly have been giving them. He will have to do that for the next month, and pass along tips to Jason Marquis and Sean Marshall, or Sean Gallagher or Sean Connery or whatever mess of a fifth starter the Cubs plan to foist on a supposedly contending team.
What you saw last night is what they need every night for now. I know it didn't work out last night, but no matter, that kind of outing will have to be the norm, along with getting Cedeno out of my face and Murton out of the fifth spot, if the Cubs are going to survive Soriano's injury, minimize Piniella's deadly game of reliever roulette, and make the entire World Series dream solely revolve around Milwaukee choking.
From my friend Paul Sullivan's piece in today's Tribune: "When the Cubs signed Alfonso Soriano to an eight-year, $136 million deal in November, his track record of staying healthy was one reason they were willing to give him such a long contract. Soriano never had spent a day on the disabled list until Monday, when he was placed on the 15-day DL with a one-centimeter tear in his right quadriceps muscle.''
Dare I say? That is so Cub.
Life without Soriano? Not good
We have seen life without Alfonso Soriano, and we might need an air sickness bag.
Ronny Cedeno batting second is worse than Matt Murton batting fifth, but not by much. Both of them in the lineup helps explain why some guy named Wandy Rodriguez owned the Cubs on The First Day of the Rest of Alfonso Soriano's Injury.
If Soriano has to be injured, I'm fine with Ryan Theriot leading off. In fact, I think his style and hustle will allow Cubs manager Lou Piniella to play a more conventional kind of game early --- get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in --- that will help his pitching staff the way the White Sox staff benefitted greatly from so-called "Ozzie Ball'' in 2005. Against righties, it's an easy call to bat Mike Fontenot second. Against lefties, though, I never want to see Cedeno bat that high. Frankly, I don't want to see him bat at all, but I'm not the boss of him.
Point is, I'd rather try catcher Jason Kendall second against lefties. I know, he's hitting about .200-something-awful, but he has experience as a successful leadoff guy and all I'd really want him to do is bunt, take pitches to give Theriot a chance to run, hit behind the runner, and give me some hope, as compared to Cedeno, who might as well have a sign over his locker that reads "Abandon hope all ye who enter here.''
That bring us to the biggest problem offensively: Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez can't go a combined 1-for-9, but who has to throw good pitches to them with Cedeno and Murton as bookends?
The key, then, is this (at least until Labor Day): Rich Hill gave Piniella almost everything necessary to save the bullpen - 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO --- while the offense was giving him nothing. That's what makes Monday night so exasperating, but it also makes clear the way the Cubs are going to have to win games in the next month: Better pitching.
Look, they won't find a bat to replace Soriano, so the way to minimize the loss of such an offensive weapon is to require fewer offensive outbursts by stifling the opponent. Hill showed he can give the Cubs what Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly have been giving them. He will have to do that for the next month, and pass along tips to Jason Marquis and Sean Marshall, or Sean Gallagher or Sean Connery or whatever mess of a fifth starter the Cubs plan to foist on a supposedly contending team.
What you saw last night is what they need every night for now. I know it didn't work out last night, but no matter, that kind of outing will have to be the norm, along with getting Cedeno out of my face and Murton out of the fifth spot, if the Cubs are going to survive Soriano's injury, minimize Piniella's deadly game of reliever roulette, and make the entire World Series dream solely revolve around Milwaukee choking.
From my friend Paul Sullivan's piece in today's Tribune: "When the Cubs signed Alfonso Soriano to an eight-year, $136 million deal in November, his track record of staying healthy was one reason they were willing to give him such a long contract. Soriano never had spent a day on the disabled list until Monday, when he was placed on the 15-day DL with a one-centimeter tear in his right quadriceps muscle.''
Dare I say? That is so Cub.