Salvaging Something Out Of The Deal

First Star – Kerry Wood (.253)
Second Star – Carlos Zambrano (.240)
Third Star – Bob Howry (.209)
Play of the Game – Zambrano reaches on a FC and advances to 2nd (.322 WPA added)

The Pitching – Jason Marquis started his day disastrously, pitching himself into major trouble in the first two innings of play, yet only giving up one run. After that he seemed to settle into a bit of a groove until the bottom of the fifth. Lou came out to talk to him with two outs as if to remind him that if he left at that point, he hadn’t yet qualified for a win. That was enough and Marquis took care of business and got the last out. Michael Wuertz came in to start the 6th and did not look good at all, giving up a leadoff home run and then the tying run before being lifted with runners still on the bases and no outs. It was a tough situation for Sean Marshall to come into, facing Chase Utley and Ryan Howard back to back. He did a good job in getting both to fly out, only allowing a run on the Utley sac fly. Carlos Marmol came in to finish it out after being off the past few days for some much needed rest. Woody came in and pitched tremendously in a critical time of the game to pick up the win after Howry save that made me a bit nervous. I think Wood’s outing was an important one because it showed he could go two innings without his arm falling off. At the same time, I was nervous when he couldn’t find the plate to start the ninth. I was fine with Lou bringing him back out there, but began to get a little nervous that it was the wrong call after the first few pitches appeared to have no planned location whatsoever.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due – During the game, there was a discussion by Len and Bob about replay in the game that stemmed from a call that saw Soriano called out on a grounder despite what appeared to be Ryan Howard taking his foot off the bag. One of the things Len mentioned, and it’s funny that he mentioned this prior to a call later in the game, that it’s common for people to complain when the calls in a game are poor, but rare when you see a team either compliment an umpires calls or admit that they went in their favor. With that being said, I think it’s important to say that the call against Soriano was too close to tell, even after several replays in slow motion. The ump did the best he could with what he had. Later in the game, DeRosa but a ball out of the park over the foul pole and was given credit for a home run. Charlie Manuel argued the call, stating that the ball went over the pole foul. This time, I thought the Phillies probably missed out on a call, but again the play was a judgement call. Even after seeing it on replay it was inconclusive. The point of all this is that it’s important to cut the umpires a break. Each time we complain, we do so with a couple of things factoring into the equation that the umpires don’t have, our team bias and the ability to see the play replayed many times in slow motion. Umpires are human. They make mistakes and yet do the best they can. They take great pride in getting the calls as accurate as they can because they know they’re at the highest level of their profession. No umpire wants to lose a job in the Major Leagues. I give the guys the benefit of the doubt and take the position that no umpire has ever decided the game. If you don’t like the call, you shouldn’t have put yourself in a position where that call can make or break you.

Excuse Me…I Didn’t Mean To Hit That Single – Geovany Soto was brought into the game as a pinch hitter for Felix Pie who was brought in as a pinch hitter to begin with. After a Ronny Cedeno stolen base of third, which could have turned into one of those all or nothing Cedeno plays, Soto took a half swing and accidentally made contact with the ball, sending it just past Utley and scoring the tying run of the ballgame. Geo had been 0 for the last 9, so it’s nice to see him get a key hit in a key situation. It’s certainly better than the result we would have received from Pie in that situation.

I Get A Star For That?!?! – Who knew you could be the 2nd star of the game after an 0-1 performance? One of the only problems I have with the WPA system is that it’s fielding independent. An example would be the Zambrano fielder’s choice play that scored Cedeno. If it was looked at in terms of ERA, the pitcher wouldn’t have been punished for the error by Utley. It’s not so with WPA. Since fielding is not factored in, only the hitter and pitcher are debited and credited. If a play is good for the hitter’s team, the hitter gets the credit and the pitcher takes the bad parts. Because the error by Utley happened on Zambrano’s at bat, Big Z was credited with doing something great and Seanz was debited despite it being Utley’s fault.

Taking a page out of the Cubs book, the Phillies busted out with a power hitting in the leadoff spot today in Geoff Jenkins. They’re not trying a new concept, but rather save Shane Victorino go on the DL last night. Coming into the game today, Jenkins has a grand total of 14 plate appearances (4 in the leadoff spot) from the 1st or second spot in the order. The majority of his time has come in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth spot. It’s an interesting thing to try.

Phew, this might take a bit to shake the rust off. My first recap of the year. Good thing I’ve got Jamie “the ageless wonder” to help me along. While all the talk was about Rich Hill’s spot in the bullpen this morning, I kept wondering how strange it was that I felt better having Jason Marquis returning today. How weird is it to think that Dempster or Marquis are the men in the rotation to stop the bleeding?

Jamie Moyer was his typical self. Around the zone, which was quite small today, but servicable for four innings. Sound familiar? Marquis, on the other hand, was obviously still feeling his way through his mechanics after a bout with strep throat. He made the first two innings, shall we say, interesting. Then seemed to settle in for a bit. A very tiny bit. As in just the third inning.

In the meantime, the Cubbies roped together a 4-2 lead, off of a foul ball home run from Mark DeRosa. Say what you want, but he was way out in front of that pitch. There’s no way it was fair. The natural hook of a right hander’s hit kept that ball barely within the foul line. There’s no way it was still fair over the pole, it would have hooked foul before then. In any case, the Cubs caught a break. Which seemed to be the only way they could win on this road trip.

Chase Utley’s throwing error brought in Ronny Cedeno, whom I still have no idea why he was used as a pinch runner in the 8th. Let’s see, Mark DeRosa. Smart ballplayer and base runner. Cedeno. Not so much. His steal attempt of third made my heart jump into my throat. He got lucky, because that throw was on the money, and about .000001 seconds too late. Have I mentioned how much his baseballs stupidity bugs me? OK, where was I? Oh yes, Utley’s throwing error scored the go ahead run in the top of the tenth, which was another gift. And can I say that Ryan Howard doesn’t look like he could stop a throw anywhere near the dirt? Then again Henry Blanco looked like he hadn’t seen a catcher’s mitt in a few years today too. Ugh. Why do I always seem to recap ugly games?

I guess on the plus side, Howry seemed to get himself slightly righted, and grabbed himself a Save. Let’s hope this gets him back into the mix, because if I have to watch Michael Wuertz throw watermelons like he did today, so help me.

Let’s hope the Cubs take this 4-2 gift of a road trip and put some hurting on the Reds. I’m not a fan of winning ugly. But I’ll take it for now.