Cubs 0 @ Brewers 8
Box Score / Highlights / Condensed Game
The game has been over for about an hour, and trying to come up with something new to say is extremely challenging. This game has been the epitome of the season so far: Below-average pitching, below-average batting, and below-average fielding.
Pitching:
Paul Maholm cruised through the first three innings and allowing only one hit. The fourth inning was his downfall. He gave up four runs in a matter of minutes and then the game became painful to watch.
Wells came in for 2 innings and gave up one run. His presence in the bullpen is kind of nuisance. He is just as bad as a reliever as he is a starter.
Manny Corpas made his first appearance as a Cub. When I heard today that his contract was picked up, I was alarmed because there was no preceding injury/demotion to the announcement. Unfortunately, nobody was traded and Jeff Baker is still on the team. Blake Parker is on the 60-day DL with elbow issues. Could Corpas become a permanent fixture in the bullpen?
Marmol was just being Marmol. Gave up a 3-run shot to a Canadian. He must not have made the cut for the local hockey team, so he picked up baseball.
Looking at the score, it seems like our pitching would be described as horrendous, hideous, horrifying, or just plain horrible. However, it was just… bad. Maybe I’m callous and jaded by Volstad’s utter hopelessness, but the pitching wasn’t alarmingly horrible. I must be going loopy.
Batting:
The Cubs struck out 15 times. Campana was 0-4 with 4 K’s and zero bunt attempts. I think Campana needs to bunt. Cardenas and Johnson both were called on to pinch hit, and both struck out. Cardenas is batting .179… Why is he pinch-hitting?
Castro, Soriano, and Stewart, who are my top 3 favorite Cubs, collected our 3 hits of the evening. DeJesus, Barney, and Stewart drew our 3 walks.
Fielding:
The fielding was gross. DeJesus misplayed Aoki’s hit in the top of the 5th, allowing him a triple and giving DeJesus an error. Clevenger had a fielding error, and Stewart literally dropped the ball when he could have made a great play for the out. At least he picked it up and threw it first anyway.
Closing Thoughts:
I’m not really sure what to think of Ian Stewart. He seems like he tries hard. He hustles. He just isn’t that good. He’s batting a whole .199 on the season, but he did have one walk and one hit in this game, which more than most of the team can say. We got him in the Colvin/LeMahieu deal, but now I am wondering what would have happened if we kept LeMahieu and let him play third. It couldn’t be much worse than Stewart, could it?
