TheBenjamin
Apr 11th 2009, 2:45 pm
Typically, because of my work schedule, I will not be able to write up my comments on the individual games. This is why I have decided to just write up my thoughts in a series wrap up, which also gives me more time to collect my thoughts and not make a hasty post. Sitting and thinking about the games before you write anything is always a good idea, so you don’t make any unfair judgments. Well, after sitting around all last night and this morning and afternoon, I have seen and heard enough about yesterdays game, and I need to get my thoughts out. Yesterday was a complete team loss, and should not be pinned on any one individual player or position. Chicago Cubs Manager Lou Piniella does not deserve all the blame either. A lot of individuals had a hand in losing that game.
Obviously, when you blow a save, you begin and end the discussion with the closer, Kevin Gregg, who allowed the tying and winning run to score. He made bad pitches, and walked guys that he should not have walked. He put himself in the jam, and failed to get himself out. While I agreed with Piniella’s decision at the time to make him the closer, I would be lying if I were to say that I wasn’t questioning the decision right now. Marmol has looked great in his two appearances on the season, and does have the better stuff. However, even with the blown save from Gregg, I still believe that Marmol is far too valuable to be used in just save situations. You cant record a save if you cant get to the ninth with the lead, but on that same note, a save opportunity is useless if you can not get the final three outs. Maybe Piniella will chance his mind on who should be the closer, maybe he wont. But when you blow a save, the entire teams feels discouraged. Letting the other team steal a win like that kills teams.
Speaking of the bullpen, while I still have faith in our bullpen, they are walking far too many people. They need to cut down on the walks. Having faith in a bullpen that allows a lot of walks, is a very hard thing to do. You need to have a bullpen that can shut you down, and while they haven’t shown that they are going to shutout the opposing team every time out, they haven’t been that bad either. In 12.2 innings combined, the bullpen as walked nine batters while only striking out seven, that is absolutely horrible. David Patton, who did not appear yesterday, Gregg, and Neal Cotts are the only three relievers who have allowed a run. Both Patton and Cotts have allowed one run a piece this season (and Cotts’ run scored after Gregg gave up a sacrafice fly). Gregg has by far been the worse of them, allowing three runs.
While we are on the subject of bullpens, I would not be doing anyone a service, if I did not call out Piniella for his absolutely horrid game calling yesterday. Whether you are talking about pulling pitchers as quickly as he did, or sending up Aaron Miles to bat with runners on the corners, he came off looking really bad. Aaron Heilman looked good in his brief appearance, but he did walk a batter, and was pulled immediately. I think that he should have been left in, there was not a need to pull him. Both Cotts and Sean Marshall didn’t even record an out in their very short outings. Both men were pulled after facing one batter, Cotts hitting a batter in the seventh, and Marshall walked a batter in the eighth. Both men could have been used more, as neither have been pitching poorly enough to be given such a quick hook. Luis Vizcaino pitched well, but was also pulled before he could finish an inning. Gregg came in to close out the game in the eighth.
Another aspect of Piniella’s game that comes into question, was sending up Miles to bat with runners at the corner and one out. This one, I don’t have a huge problem with to be honest. Sure, you could have used Micah Hoffpauir, but their was a problem with that. The Brewers had a left handed pitcher ready just incase Piniella decided to use Hoffpauir which would have made the Cubs burn a pinch hitter. Reed Johnson could have taken the at bat, but that means that he would be facing a right handed pitcher who was already on the mound. Miles was the likely and easiest choice to give you the match up that you wanted. While things didn’t turn out the way you would want, that was the best match up.
Two individual players who are catching grief are Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Theriot. Soriano played a fly ball very poorly in the ninth which helped set up the losing rally by the Milwaukee Brewers. We all know he will never be a gold glove caliber outfielder who makes great reads on balls or makes great plays. His cannon of an arm is the only thing that makes him a good outfielder, as that helps make up for some of his mistakes. But Theriot is getting the most blame today, as he made two costly mistakes, which helped the Brewers win the game. His throwing error in the first inning allowed the crew to score their first run, if he does not make that costly error, we could very well be celebrating a win today. The other mistake, wasn’t an error, just poor judgment. In the ninth inning, with runners at the corners and one out, a ball was hit right at The Riot. Instead of throwing the ball to second to hopefully start an inning ending double play to send the game into extra innings, he threw the ball home trying to get the out there. As you all know, the runner was called safe, and the Brewers won the game. While there is some discussion that he should have been called out, I still believe that he should have thrown the ball to second. While he would have been making an off balanced throw to second, he would likely of had a better chance of getting that out then the one at home. Maybe the outcome would have been the same, the runner at second called safe (or the runner beat out the double play at first) allowing the winning run to score. If that was the case, I am sure we would be arguing that Theriot should have thrown the bal home.
All of these miscues and bad plays over shadow Rich Harden’s amazing start, which isn’t getting talked about nearly enough. Harden went six strong innings allowing two runs, with only one of them being earned. He also struck out 10 men and walked two. He pitched well enough to get that win, but unfortunately walks away with a no decision. If Harden pitches this way all throughout the season, he can easily win 20 games, as long as the fielding and bullpen don’t cost him games. Other players who aren’t getting talked about, are Milton Bradley who got his first hit of the season, a hit which went for a homerun, and Koyie Hill who also had a home run. Derrek Lee is still struggling at the plate as well, but could very easily flip the switch at the drop of a hat.
Yesterday’s game has opened the door to a lot of different questions. But remember, the season is only four games old. A batter having a bad batting average right now, can easily be turned around in one or two games, and he can be batting upper .300’s. A bullpen pitcher allows a run, his ERA will be inflated beyond belief, but that’s just because of lack of innings pitched. Today is a new day, and you know what Steve Goodman says “The Cubs are gonna win today”.
Obviously, when you blow a save, you begin and end the discussion with the closer, Kevin Gregg, who allowed the tying and winning run to score. He made bad pitches, and walked guys that he should not have walked. He put himself in the jam, and failed to get himself out. While I agreed with Piniella’s decision at the time to make him the closer, I would be lying if I were to say that I wasn’t questioning the decision right now. Marmol has looked great in his two appearances on the season, and does have the better stuff. However, even with the blown save from Gregg, I still believe that Marmol is far too valuable to be used in just save situations. You cant record a save if you cant get to the ninth with the lead, but on that same note, a save opportunity is useless if you can not get the final three outs. Maybe Piniella will chance his mind on who should be the closer, maybe he wont. But when you blow a save, the entire teams feels discouraged. Letting the other team steal a win like that kills teams.
Speaking of the bullpen, while I still have faith in our bullpen, they are walking far too many people. They need to cut down on the walks. Having faith in a bullpen that allows a lot of walks, is a very hard thing to do. You need to have a bullpen that can shut you down, and while they haven’t shown that they are going to shutout the opposing team every time out, they haven’t been that bad either. In 12.2 innings combined, the bullpen as walked nine batters while only striking out seven, that is absolutely horrible. David Patton, who did not appear yesterday, Gregg, and Neal Cotts are the only three relievers who have allowed a run. Both Patton and Cotts have allowed one run a piece this season (and Cotts’ run scored after Gregg gave up a sacrafice fly). Gregg has by far been the worse of them, allowing three runs.
While we are on the subject of bullpens, I would not be doing anyone a service, if I did not call out Piniella for his absolutely horrid game calling yesterday. Whether you are talking about pulling pitchers as quickly as he did, or sending up Aaron Miles to bat with runners on the corners, he came off looking really bad. Aaron Heilman looked good in his brief appearance, but he did walk a batter, and was pulled immediately. I think that he should have been left in, there was not a need to pull him. Both Cotts and Sean Marshall didn’t even record an out in their very short outings. Both men were pulled after facing one batter, Cotts hitting a batter in the seventh, and Marshall walked a batter in the eighth. Both men could have been used more, as neither have been pitching poorly enough to be given such a quick hook. Luis Vizcaino pitched well, but was also pulled before he could finish an inning. Gregg came in to close out the game in the eighth.
Another aspect of Piniella’s game that comes into question, was sending up Miles to bat with runners at the corner and one out. This one, I don’t have a huge problem with to be honest. Sure, you could have used Micah Hoffpauir, but their was a problem with that. The Brewers had a left handed pitcher ready just incase Piniella decided to use Hoffpauir which would have made the Cubs burn a pinch hitter. Reed Johnson could have taken the at bat, but that means that he would be facing a right handed pitcher who was already on the mound. Miles was the likely and easiest choice to give you the match up that you wanted. While things didn’t turn out the way you would want, that was the best match up.
Two individual players who are catching grief are Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Theriot. Soriano played a fly ball very poorly in the ninth which helped set up the losing rally by the Milwaukee Brewers. We all know he will never be a gold glove caliber outfielder who makes great reads on balls or makes great plays. His cannon of an arm is the only thing that makes him a good outfielder, as that helps make up for some of his mistakes. But Theriot is getting the most blame today, as he made two costly mistakes, which helped the Brewers win the game. His throwing error in the first inning allowed the crew to score their first run, if he does not make that costly error, we could very well be celebrating a win today. The other mistake, wasn’t an error, just poor judgment. In the ninth inning, with runners at the corners and one out, a ball was hit right at The Riot. Instead of throwing the ball to second to hopefully start an inning ending double play to send the game into extra innings, he threw the ball home trying to get the out there. As you all know, the runner was called safe, and the Brewers won the game. While there is some discussion that he should have been called out, I still believe that he should have thrown the ball to second. While he would have been making an off balanced throw to second, he would likely of had a better chance of getting that out then the one at home. Maybe the outcome would have been the same, the runner at second called safe (or the runner beat out the double play at first) allowing the winning run to score. If that was the case, I am sure we would be arguing that Theriot should have thrown the bal home.
All of these miscues and bad plays over shadow Rich Harden’s amazing start, which isn’t getting talked about nearly enough. Harden went six strong innings allowing two runs, with only one of them being earned. He also struck out 10 men and walked two. He pitched well enough to get that win, but unfortunately walks away with a no decision. If Harden pitches this way all throughout the season, he can easily win 20 games, as long as the fielding and bullpen don’t cost him games. Other players who aren’t getting talked about, are Milton Bradley who got his first hit of the season, a hit which went for a homerun, and Koyie Hill who also had a home run. Derrek Lee is still struggling at the plate as well, but could very easily flip the switch at the drop of a hat.
Yesterday’s game has opened the door to a lot of different questions. But remember, the season is only four games old. A batter having a bad batting average right now, can easily be turned around in one or two games, and he can be batting upper .300’s. A bullpen pitcher allows a run, his ERA will be inflated beyond belief, but that’s just because of lack of innings pitched. Today is a new day, and you know what Steve Goodman says “The Cubs are gonna win today”.