(AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
9 Straight…Another Series Win…Another Comeback
Cubs get their 2nd road series win, and win their 9th straight. This is exactly what this team needed…you could have not scripted it any better. The road had been the achilles heal for this team thus far this year. I am aware that it is only 2 games, but it seems that they have brought their Cubbie Confidence with them. It is also great to see so many of our fans in their seats. Last night we heard the Fukudome chant, and tonight they give us the Soto chant. They seem to be playing at a level that is a notch above everyone else.
This team just won’t give up. They play with the confidence of a champion. They never say die. They can hurt you in so many different ways, no matter whether it is a big lead in the 1st or a 5 run 7th. The Cubs have scored 46 runs in the 7th and 44 Runs in the 8th thus far this year. They continue to produce no matter where they are in the lineup. Great to see.
And some positive before negative about our pitching…Scotty Eyre looked very good, and Wuertz was decent. But Kerry Wood looked incredible. Wood notches his 16th save of the year, which places him at the top of the board, tied with Valverde.
I would now like to present Exhibit B.
I am going to piggy back off of both Joe and Rob’s analysis of our pitching situation. Let’s us look at tonights game as Exhibit B. We will not get deep in any playoff series with Marquis as a starter. He typically has much better stuff in the beginning of a season, which means this can be a very long season for him. Marquis continues to show why he consistently does not make the playoff roster. It would have been nice for him to be able to go at least 6. And without the miracle breakthrough of cloning, we can not keep relying on Marmol to get us out of jams. Our starters need to start getting through more than 6 innings. At this pace, Marmol will be on the Prior path,. Understanding that the Cubs really need to solidify another pitcher leads very nicely into my next topic of thought…
Well here we go again…the trade rumors are swirling once again, with CC Sabathia possibly being shopped around depending on how the Indians are doing by the All-Star Break. So here’s to the continued down slide of the Indians….Comcast Sports had a little go-around on this possibility of this trade. Now the question I ask you, who would you give up…Hoffpauir might be a good choice, he has the offensive production that they are looking for…Maybe Cedeno…Murton…Maybe they will take a stab at Pie. All I know is we need to get this done. Throw the whole farm system to Cleveland, I want to win now.
Very nice to see us running so well on the base paths tonight. Getting into scoring position and taking away DP’s will continue to prove well for us. We really played some good fundamental baseball. Going 6-for-7 will make me smile every time.
So how many of you have noticed that Brenly continues to play the role of “Marriage Therapist”. It seems that during every game he finds some way to interject his pearls of wisdom in respect to how he and his wife get along so well. He advises all men to learn three simple statements that will ensure a happy and healthy relationship. And if you have not yet heard them, here you go: “Yes Dear, Your Right, I’m Sorry”. He insists that these three simple statements are the corner stone of any stable relationship. Thanks for the heads up Bob.
1st - Cubs go down 1-2-3. Great to see the Cubs turn a DP, and help Marquis quickly disperse of the Padres. (0-0)
2nd -Cubs still don’t reach base. 1-2-3. Kouzmanoff HBP, but no damage done. (0-0)
3rd -Cedeno caught stealing at 2nd because he over slid the base. Now that is just pure little league ball there. Marquis walks the opposing pitcher. That is one problem that can surely come back to haunt you. Balk and then another BB. Is this the imploding inning for Marquis? Wild pickoff attempt to first, Padres get a run. 3 BB’s, Balk and an error. GREAT INNING MARQUIS (0-2)
4th - Soriano DBL. Ramirez gets his 40th RBI. Brenly give us his first “Yes Dear, Your Right, I’m Sorry” statement of the night. Two more walks for Marquis. One more run for the Padres. (1-3)
5th -Johnson DBL. Very nice SB by Johnson. Cubs load up the bases. RBI by Riot. Great at-bat to get the BB. D. Lee RBI. We get a little fan fun in this inning as a Cubs fan tries to catch a foul ball for his son, yet comes up empty at first. After replay, the ball hit him smack in the wrist, and bounced up a row. Another fan grabbed it, but after much pleading, he is able to give his son the ball due to a nice gesture by the fan who ended up with the ball. Nice to see Cub fans stick together even on the West Coast. (3-3)
6th -YES YES YES Mr. Soto….wow another SB…nice to see us running…DeRo gets his 6th dinger…Wuertz replaces Marquis and does his job. Eyre replaces Wuertz. (6-3)
7th -Ramirez is left stranded on 2nd. Padres go down quickly. Very nice pitching by Eyre. (6-3)
8th - Very ugly pitching by the Padres now gives the Cubs a 6 run lead. Soriano crushes a 3-run HR. Hart replaces Eyre and struggles getting us to the 9th. I foresee a very short stint up here for Hart. Hart’s BB gives the Padres a run. Cotts comes in for one batter and can’t retire him. Padres get a total of 3. Howry gets a very big K. (9-6)
9th - Cubs can’t get any of those runs back. Woody comes in and gets his 16th Save. (9-6)
June 4th, 2008 at 2:18 am
For myself, I found Brenly amusing. I watch virtually every game on TV (if I can), and there are times I miss Pat and Ron, but I will say that Bob Brenly provides a nice perspective, and to be honest, do you REALLY want him to “stick to baseball?” THat’s gonna be one boring announcer, and over the course of a season, we’ll all get tired of listening to him. I’m glad he has what you call the “pearls of wisdom,” because it breaks up the broadcast, and it’s simply amusing.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Before we “trade the farm,” let’s see what Hill and Marshall can do. Remember those two? They did pretty good in the latter half of 2007. I would not want to pay the king’s ransom for 2-3 months of Charles Carsten (think that’s right).
June 4th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Huh? How does going deep into the playoffs have anything to do with Marquis? Barring major injuries, Marquis won’t be starting in the playoffs. No #5 starters start in the playoffs.
Once again - Marquis is a solid #5. He is not great. He is not good. But he gets the job done for a number 5.
I will never understand the Marquis hate.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Although these are very wise words, even my wife said it’s time to lay that joke to rest. He’s using it on a nightly basis.
This is exactly why I don’t get the Cedeno love. He still makes bush league mistakes. It’s inexcusable at this level and with his expereience. He’s not a ball player.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:25 am
There’s a reason the Cardinals left Marquis off their World Series winning team. We’re seeing part of it. I wouldn’t call it “hate”. It’s a simple fact: you go with the best pitchers you have. Is he playing better than Z? No. Is he playing better than Dempster? No. Gallagher? No.
Those who don’t understand why Marquis makes most Cub fans nervous must be his relatives.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:22 am
If he could go seven innings, then I wouldn’t have a problem with Marquis. Since he can’t, Lilly hasn’t, and Gallagher is still a young pitcher and we can’t expect seven quite yet, we need another guy to save this bullpen.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:29 am
How many innings does a team need from its starting rotation??
Five complete games would be forty five innings, clearly unrealistic.
Five 5 inning starts would be twenty five innings, clearly not enough.
Where is the cut off?
June 4th, 2008 at 11:35 am
When a starting pitcher struggles so much on a regular basis that it’s a chore just to get that fifth inning in so he can MAYBE get the win, it’s not a good thing.
At this point, if I missed a game and someone told me Marquis went seven innings, I’d ask how many days I had been in a coma.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Going back to yesterday, the issue is that we do not have a strong #2 starter for the playoffs. Hill and Marshall are not number 2 starters and are not the issue for our playoff problem. There are two issues here…do we need another pitcher to get to the playoffs? probably not. do we need another pitcher to get to the world series? yes. I think so. That is the issue. And I have heard Sabathia’s name bouncing around a little. Now if Sabathia is out there in a month what do you give to get him? I give a lot. I still dont understand the thought of being afraid to give up too much to go all out for the world series this year. Our guys are not leaving soon we could make a run at this for at least 3 more years with who we have on the field with the addition of a better starter.
Think about this, on paper who wins this series pitching wise:
Webb, Haren, Owings, and Johnson or Zambrano, Lilly, Dempster, FITB
Now add a bona fide one or two (like Sabathia) in Lilly’s spot and push everyone else back. Then who wins?
June 4th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
“…to be honest, do you REALLY want him to “stick to baseball?” THat’s gonna be one boring announcer, and over the course of a season, we’ll all get tired of listening to him.”
Agreed. Those who want Brenly to stick to baseball only either never heard or never liked a Harry Caray broadcast.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
The Cubs win *in spite of* Marquis. Never *because of* Marquis. That’s where the hate comes from. Though I don’t hate anyone. Just don’t really dig him.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
The Cubs win *in spite of* Marquis. Never *because of* Marquis.
Huh?
Marquis has actually done a remarkably good job at keeping the Cubs in the vast majority of the games that he has pitched, which is pretty much what you ask for a #5 starter.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I have to agree with Rob and others that think we need another top of the rotation starter. Arizona, Red Sox, Angels all have loaded rotations. I can entertain arguements that we can get past Arizona this year but I’m still having trouble thinking we can get past the AL winner. That said adding a top of the rotation player would no doubt make us better. It means nothing if you have an above average #4 and #5. In the playoffs its your top three that start. Adding Sabathia would make our top three an elite group. With that a propose that we do trade our AAA guys for Sabathia. We don’t need Murton, Hill, Cedeno to go to the WS. They are certinaly helpful but a Sabithia is going to be more of a help.
I also want to remind everyone that time is against us. TEN of the players that contribute significant amounts to our team our 30 and up. Outside of Soto and Theriot its the entire starting lineup. We don’t have 3 or 4 years to get this right. We have this year and next to get it right before there is a natural decline in ability in most of our starters. Trade the AAA guys for a top guy and lets make a run at it this year
By the way this proposal for a trade hinges on that we sign Sabathia to a multiyear deal. I have trouble trading everyone for 3 months of service.
Sabathia is only 27. R. Hill is 28.
June 4th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I would agree with the need for another top of the rotation guy to seriously challenge for the WS title. But an acquisition of someone like Sabathia thru trade is probably very unrealistic. Our top prospect is Felix Pie! Guys like Murton and Cedeno are not prospects anymore, and to make that trade we would be competing against teams with real prospects. You all need to probably lower your sites a bit. Sabathia could be a free agent target. We’d be throwing a lot of money away giving a Zito type deal to a pitcher who likely will breakdown in year 2 of a 6 year deal, but hey its only money.
The Cubs have money to burn, what they don’t have is “can’t miss” type prospects. If we had anymore like Soto, or Marmol, or even Theriot, I’d rather keep them than gamble that a trade for a big name pitcher whom is up for a break the bank contract will work out. It very rarely does work out. Ask Met fans how happy they are with the Santana trade.
I understand Cub fans desperation, but we would be better off using a trade for a solid #2 or #3 type guy, and the price for that would be quite high. The Cubs will never have sustained success unless we can produce our own talent - its why we have suffered all these years - and our recent success with farmhands is what gives me hope.