2nd Fiddle

Lou is experimenting with new lineups. He is batting Fonzy second to save his legs (less base stealing). I'm really unsure of the logic there, but that's for another post. I don't imagine it'll last long (unless the Brian Roberts trade goes through), but Soriano has already made it known that he's not happy. Alfonso Soriano doesn't like hitting with guys on base in front of him. What?!?!? No wonder he only knocked in 70 ribbis last year with a .560 slugging percentage. Guys on base throw him off his game:

"I never batted second in the big leagues, but the first at-bat was with somebody on base," said Soriano, who was 1-for-3. "I didn't feel very comfortable. But it's the first at-bat. I will have to make a couple little adjustments batting second because I never batted second."

You've got to be freakin' kidding me! I support this guy all the time when BudMan rips him. I know the contract is horrible, but now we've got him and he's our guy. He's not the best player in the league, but he's a really useful guy who does hit really well. But when he says something like this, I don't even know where to start. It bears mentioning that as a whole, hitters do better with men on base because of the pitcher throwing from the stretch and the guy holding the runner on, which opens up holes in the infield.

September, 2007 (Oh, What A Night)

Sweet Bajesus! The Cubbies are now up 2 games in the Win column and 1 in the Loss. Tonight's game against the Cardinals felt in hand the entire game, until the bottom of the 9th (and a split second in the 6th). In the top of the 9th, Zambrano had thrown a 4 hitter giving up 1 run through 8. A true Ace performance from our ace. That's why he gets the big bucks.

While up 2-1 in the top of the 9th inning, the good guys had the bases juiced and Sweet Lou had to pull Big Z in order to get Ward in the game for a pinch hit. It was not a foregone conclusion with Z only having thrown 90 something pitches and a doubleheader tomorrow (it would be nice to rest the bullpen). But as always, Lou made the right move and pulled everyone's favorite 90 million dollar man for Daryl Ward. Ward rewarded the skipper by clearing the bases with a hard hit gapper for a double.

Now (after Fonzy Ks) the score is 5-1 in the bottom of the 9th. Bum Ryan Dempster comes in and gets Pujols out. Gives up a homer to Edmonds. Gets an out. Gives up a homer. Now it is 5-3. When one of the Catchin' Molina Brothers singles, Lou finally pulls Dempster. What an outing! Comes in with a 4 run lead and puts the winning run on deck. 2 outs and a man on first, Howry comes in. Then the winning run comes to the plate, because he gave up a single as well. Taguchi pinch hits and hits a frozen rope to center. Wunderkind Pie comes up throwing and actually holds everyone on. Bases loaded, 2 outs and finally Howry gets a ground out.

Kaboos Akata, so I switch over to the Brewers game. The Brewers happen to play my 2nd favorite team every night. Tonight it is the Reds. It looked in hand because the Reds had also been up all game. 6-3 in the 9th. The Reds get 2 quick outs, but then give up an infield hit and a homer. Now 6-5 in the bottom of the 9th. Luckily this one didn't get as crazy and the Brewers left the tying run at the plate. 1.5 game lead for My Cubbies.

So that game's over and I switch to the Yanks and Sox 4 hour and 43 minute epic (2 minutes shy of the MLB 9 inning record). I won't go in to too much detail, but the Red Sox were up 7-2 in the 8th when the Yankees batted around and took the lead for good at 8-7. What a night of baseball! There is nothing better than baseball playoff races and October. I love it!

Them's Fightin' Words

As you probably know, there was another ejection Saturday. Derek Lee had a high and tight one come at his head and there was some jawing going on between Lee and Chris Young for the Padres. Much speculation is that this is in retaliation for Alfonso Soriano's admiration of a dinger he hit (instead of putting his head down and running the bases). It is being reported on Chicago radio that Young said "I wasn't aiming for your body. I was trying to take your ******* head off." Lee went off and threw some windmill punches that never landed. I was somewhat surprised when I saw it, because normally he's such a great contact hitter. Obviously he got run and so did the pitcher. Our hitting coach who was pulling Jake Peavy off Lee was also run along with Peavy (who stated the day before that he was upset with Soriano for the slow homer trot).

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/bobby-cox-you-are-ejected-please-leave-the-bench/

Here is an interesting article on getting tossed. Apropos considering our amazing amount of ejections the past couple weeks. It is about Bobby Cox (who I despise), but there were some Cubs stats in there as well. Piniella, Durocher and Frankie Frisch, are on the top 10 all time. As well, I found the World Series ejections particularly entertaining. The Cubs are rarely in The Series, but look at how many times players and/or managers have been tossed! 3 Players in 1935 and 2 in 1910 including manager and famed double play combo anchor, Frank Chance. That's 22% of all WS ejections. FYI: Bench jockeying is yelling at someone from the dugout (had to look that one up). I also loved reading the reasons for the ejections. Proof of the old adage that arguing balls and strikes will get you tossed (almost) every time. Almost half of Cox's ejections are for critiquing the home plate umpire's zone.

Oh Captain, My Captain

Well, Lou's well-timed blow-up yesterday might earn him a couple days off. According to a Yahoo Sports article, he is out indefinitely. I do not think this is an entirely bad thing. Makes him a bit of a martyr to the players, since it was basically a fairly normal tirade (par for the course). It can accomplish his goal of rallying the team and hopefully gives them a new focus in a very tangible way (not having their skipper).

I think the article overlooked something pretty major. The article describes the tirade, but burries the reason he will be gone in the third paragraph, bumping the ump. You can't do that. Lou is not being suspended for kicking dirt or throwing his hat. Contact with an umpire will get you tossed and suspended for sure. But like I said, I'm not sold that it is a bad thing.

Also of note is that the savior, our top minor league prospect, Felix Pie has been recalled by the big club. Daryl Ward is out on the 15-day with a hip issue.

He bLOU his top

After our runners repeatedly cowered at the arm of Jeff Francoeur, Angel Pagan decided to tray and take 3rd with 0 outs on a catcher with 14 letters in his last name. It was a close play, but he appeared to be out. However, Sweet Lou blew his lid just for the sake of it, and hilarity ensued. He proceeded to break out the dirt kick and the ump hat swipe. The fans were hoping for a base toss, but had to settle for tossing their commemorative mugs on the field.

I know it's easy to second guess, but base running mistakes can occur even when you don't get thrown out. Earlier in the game, Ramirez failed to take third on a slow single through the infield and Pagan should have already been at third after roping ball into the corner. Having watched a few Marlins and Twins games this past week, it's upsetting how much better some organizations are at training ball players through the system.

At any rate, it won't be too long before the levee breaks. A move probably would have already been made if the NL Central wasn't so damned bad.

The Rumble in the Dugout

My Cubbies are on a slide. The season has not started out as everyone had hoped. Highest expectations were a 90 win team and average expectations were they could win 81 - 85. Unfortunately, the bullpen (a relative strength last year) has fallen apart. There has been no timely hitting and while 3 starters have been solid (Hill, Lilly & Marquis), the ace of the staff (Crazy Carlos Zambrano) has struggled. Things boiled over yesterday while Zambrano was in the middle of a meltdown. Big Z's ERA this season is a hefty 5.62, while he has never had a season ERA over 3.66 in his career.

Zambrano threw a pitch low and outside while Barrett was obviously expecting it inside. Michael ole'd the catch and let it pass. He then had a throwing error in to the outfield. When the inning was over, Carlos came at Michael, pointing to his head as if to say, "Where is your head?!?" Michael then pointed to the scoreboard and likely said something to the effect of, "Those 15 hits weren't my fault." The two came to slap-fight blows before they were very quickly broken up. Apparently the ruckus boiled over again in the clubhouse and Barrett went to the hospital for stitches to his mouth after the game.

2 things here:

1. Never fight a Cubs pitcher. Anyone remember when Farnsworth football-tackled Paul Wilson of the Reds who decided to walk towards the mound? Farnsworth pummeled him! The guy left with a shirt full of blood. Have you seen Carlos after a good inning or bad at-bat? The guy is nuts! He breaks bats on his knee and fist pumps like he's Ali. And Barrett? His last fight, he threw a sucker punch and failed to even phase Pierzynski. Bet on Crazy Carlos.

2. This had better energize the team. Carlos has already taken full blame for the fight and I think the two of them will be fine as it comes to teammates. But, Lou Pineilla had better get his stuff together. These guys need a fire under them and if Lou can get everyone together and really energize the team, they could string together some wins. He needs to throw a tantrem during a game, and soon. Get tossed. Throw bases, cuss at umps. I know he's got the fire. Energize and rally your team around this and get us some wins!