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Atlanta 129, Carlos Zambrano 124

In yesterday's game aka meltdown, the total number of pitches thrown by Atlanta's guys was 129 while Carlos Zambrano threw 124 all by himself. Add in the 60 pitches made by other Cub hurlers, the Cubs total is 184. This is not good since too many pitches could lead to bullpen burnout. Zambrano himself could wind up injured if he continues to throw that many pitches.

It is also an indictment of the idiotic position on walks taken by the Cubs organization in that Atlanta pitchers only gave up 1 walk (an intentional walk no less) as compared to 9 given up by the Cubs. Of these, 2 were given up by Dempster in the 9th Inning alone.

The Cubs outhit the Braves 12-5, but the Braves walk superiority enabled them to score more runs than they had hits. This flies in the face of long-established Cubs orthodoxy on walks being a bad thing. Dusty Baker is only the most outspoken manager on the subject. Unless the Cubs adopt patience over aggressiveness aka swinging at the first pitch and the like, this season could wind up with the Cubs in last place.


Additionally, Dempster's recent performances makes you wonder if he is not injured and is not telling anyone, much like what Borowski did.


Finally, since Wood cannot seem to throw much more than 70 pitches, why not make him the closer with the stipulation that he go for 2-3 inning saves instead of these 1-inning things?

Cubs Team President Andy MacPhail on WGN AM 720 Last Night

Cubs Team President Andy MacPhail was on WGN AM 720 Last Night and he basically did what he always did: told Cub fans to don't worry and be happy.


Here's a bulleted summary of what MacPhail said with comments by this writer in bold:


MacPhail: "It was a bad week."

Seems more like a bad month with yet more ickiness on the way with the fact that of the next 42 games, 39 are against teams with records of .500 and higher.

MacPhail would not answer any questions about Baker. Said that it was up to GM Hendry. Said that Hendry has no intentions of firing Baker at this point in time.

Said that the Cubs need to do better in driving runs in from 3B.

Said that the Cubs understand the need for patience and are trying to teach Murton that.

Why only Murton? Why not the other hackers? Is Murton a scapegoat here?

Said that they did not expect Rusch or Williams to fail as much as they did.

MacPhail said that the Cubs TV situation with the club on so many different stations instead of being on just WGN TV as in the past is "not important."

Said that they are talking about cutting the grass at Wrigley shorter.

What good will that do?

MacPhail: Pitching is "80% of the equation."

So, that is why 3/5ths of the starting rotation are unproven rookies?

Spent a lot of his time talking about the Astros team from last year.

Does this guy really believe that this Cubs team with its plethora of mediocre 2B's can make an epic turnaround? Too bad that this interview was on radio and not on TV where we could look at him talk and judge for ourselves.

Said that DLee was the team's "top free agent signing."

How does he figure that when Lee was already on the team?

For a real time discussion of MacPhail's radio interview, here's a handy link:

http://www.northsidebaseball.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=32153&sid=0e60c3ecb0e93be0a3c9e59f6603d1e6

How Sweep it Can Be

While both the club and the fans are in a deep funk right now, there is good news on the horizon: The next opponents are the Washington Nationals who the Cubs can plausibly sweep in a 3-game series.

Consider:

The Nationals have a 10-15 road record and will be playing at Wrigley.

The Nationals offense is largely dependent on just 3 players, Johnson, Soriano & Vidro. If the Cubs pitching/defense can contain this trio, then the Nationals will be hard pressed to score anything.

The Nationals starting pitching is suspect with the likes of Livan Hernandez and his 6.52 ERA.

Kerry Wood is due to pitch on the 17th and if his minor league showings are any indication, then he should be able to wreak havoc on the Nationals.

The Cub players no doubt would prefer to keep Dusty and his Papa Bear personality rather than risk having a rougher sort of manager lord over them for the remainder of the season. Being under the gun from the Wrigley Field boo birds should give them added incentive.

Finally, guys like Juan Pierre & ARam are due for a turnaround since its inconceivable that they will remain where they are statistically for the rest of the season, if previous performance is any guide.

This is not to mean that a sweep of the Nationals will be easy, and its conceivable that all 3 of these games will be decided by only 1 run. However, it can be accomplished and help put the team on a path towards a turnaround.

83

In the most recent game, the lost of which led to the Cubs suffering their first ever season series sweep at the hands of another NL team (at least according to Pat Hughes), Cub pitchers combined to throw a mind-blowing 174 pitches as opposed to the lone SD pitcher, Clay Hensley who only threw 91 pitches including 31 pitches over the last 4 innings and 3 pitches to get 3 batters out in the 9th Inning.

Here are the Cold Equations:

Cubs: 174 pitches
Hensley: 91

Difference : 83 pitches

That 83 pitch margin is the difference between keeping a strong healthy bullpen and seeing the bullpen getting completely burned out. If the team is to have any hope of a turnaround, then future disasters like Sunday's game need to be averted.

As of the moment, there is already some bullpen burnout in the form of Ohman & Rusch both of whom seem to be low on gas. Both Novoa & Williamson seem to be wearing down. Only Eyre & Howry seem to be holding firm. As for Dempster, he is in a kind of pitching Twilight Zone, so its difficult to tell if the 3-run HR he gave up recently was only a fluke or a sign of bad things to come.

P.S.: If you have any doubt as to whether or not the Cubs really did throw 174 pitches in that 9-0 blowout, Here's my source:

Source

And a cut and paste job from that source:

Pitches-strikes: Hensley 91-59, Hill 90-53, Williamson 17-10, Novoa 23-10, Ryu 27-14, Howry 17-10.

Add them up and see for yourself.

P.P.S.: For a further stat showing just how bad Cubs pitching was on Sunday, consider that more Padres were walked (10 BB + 1 HBP) than got hits (9).

54

During the past 13 games, the bottom line has gone like this:

Opposition: 78 Runs

Cubs: 24 Runs

Difference: 54 Runs

That is not good and apart from the fact that the Cubs will be playing in the Friendly Confines, there is little hope for a turnaround other than Kerry Wood should be back with the team in a week or so.

Run scoring is important, but run prevention is even more important if the team is going to ever make a serious run at the top this season.

These Reds Are for Real

With Ken Griffey Jr.'s comeback from the DL, belting a 3 run HR in the 11th Inning over Washington, the Reds record is now at 23-12. The last time that the Reds were 23-12 at this point in the season was back in 1990, which was the last time that the team won the World Series.

What this means is that unless D. Lee, Mark Prior & Kerry Wood all deliver career years upon their return to Wrigley and/or GM Hendry pulls off a trade of at least the same magnitude of the 2003 trade that brought ARam & Kenny Lofton to Chicago, its most unlikely that the team will finish any better than 4th place.

Coming to Chicago in 2007?

Here's a list of pitchers who would look good in a Cubs uniform who are potential free agents after the 2006 season:

Jason Schmidt
Barry Zito
Mark Mulder
Kelvim Escobar
Ted Lily
Andy Petitte
Doug Davis

Hopefully, Hendry & Co. will see the need for securing veteran backups for both Prior & Wood in the event that they should once again prove unavailable for the start of the season. Then again, Cubs Mgmt. has for the 2004, 2005 & 2006 seasons counted on those pitchers on being more or less fully healthy and consistently failed to come up with a contingency plan any better than having 3 rookies as starters.

One Cub Fan's Perspective

Source:

http://www.northsidebaseball.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=31421&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=375

Here is what one Cub fan called baseball7897 had to say during yesterday's game that really sums up the state of the Cubs circa May 2006:

That is so bad its not even funny. This team right now has no confidence in itself to make a play. Jones in Rf cant throw the ball 10 feet, Bynum cant catch a ball if his life depended on it, Guzman AKA terrorist cant throw a strike, Barrett cant catch a ball or throw a guy out.

If it were not for Jerry Hairston's fantastic catch of a bad Guzman throw combined with the fact that too many San Diego Padres hitters were going for HR's over hitting safely, yesterday's game could have been a real slaughterhouse.

Good Wood

In the just finished game between the Lansing Lugnuts & the Peoria Chiefs, Kerry Wood pitched a whale of a ball game. He struck out 12, gave up only 1 hit, 1 walk and zero runs. This is very good.

However, Wood did hit a batter and lasted only 5 innings. These are things that need working on especially since 5 inning starts tend to help wear out a bullpen. Hopefully, in 2 weeks or so Wood will be ready to return to Wrigley Field and resuscitate the stricken Cubs.

Ok, We Just Scored ............. Let's Hibernate!

Well, the Cubs finally broke their scoreless innings streak on a ARam HR. Unfortunately, the Little Bears thereupon took this as their cue to go back to their cave and after receiving Mama Bear's soothing words of praise and her soft caresses, they promptly went right back into hibernation. Meanwhile, up in Bears Heaven, Papa Bear aka George S. Halas was busy counting the nickels that he used to fling like manhole covers and contemplating just how long that the suckers....err fans would flock to Wrigley Field and put up with this nonsense.

The San Diego Padres defeated the Cubs in 10 innings by a score of 2-1. Along the way, the Cubs threatened to blow things sky high but were saved by good luck. This was when Scott Error...err Eyre plucked a ball off the ground just before it was about to roll foul and thus a hit was born. Odd thing was that Eyre screamed at the umpire when it was really he who screwed up. Actually, it was the official scorekeeper who messed things up since it should have been determined to be an error on the pitcher rather than a hit. However, Eyre was saved from becoming the goat of the game and it fell to Bob Howry to give up the winning HR in the next inning.

Now that the Cubs have shown that they can score, when will they score more than 1 run per game?

Inquiring minds want to know.