Cubs Diaries

In their latest road trip the Cubs managed to play some horrendous baseball. I am not one to miss or turn off games, but a few were literally un-watchable. Straight up unbearable. Painful. Whatever horrible adjectives you can think of, that describes the Cubs latest road trip.

The Friendly Blogfines has a wrap up of the road trip, calling it "the worst road trip in Cubs history" While this may be hyperbole, when broken down the numbers really are horrendous.

A few low lights (from The Friendly Blogfines):

5 total runs scored. That's less than 1 run scored per game for those of you that may struggle with math or can't believe what you just read. A .160 batting average.

A .074 batting average with runners in scoring position.

6 extra-base hits. Derrek Lee had 7 of the 30 total hits, and didn't even play in the last game(illness). So take out his hits, and the team has 23 hits over that span, which is less than 4 hits per game.

33 runners left on base, including 13 in Friday's game at San Diego where they didn't score a run. Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Theriot are the 1-2 hitters in the lineup. On this road trip, they went 4 for 45, with no walks, 1 extra-base hit(Theriot double), no runs batted in, and 12 strikeouts.

If every time you reached 3rd base rather than home plate counted as a run, they still would've only scored 11 runs. That's less than 2 times per game they got to 3rd base.

As a Cubs fan, I'm really at a loss. How do I make sense of this disastrous road trip? Well, we can be glad that this didn't happen in September. We can also remember that the Cubs next face the Pirates at home. Hopefully, we can beat up on them and get our confidence back. I've been pretty optimistic all season about our talent, especially when it comes to our offense, but after this pitiful road trip I am extremely confused. The passion and optimism that got the Cubs off to such a hot start, has now evaporated. How do we get it back? Hopefully, with a few solid games they can recapture that optimistic spirit. All of those people who have those "believe" bracelets on, don't take them off quite yet. But, if you did take them off after these last 7 games, I understand.

And Lou--This is on you to get your team out of this rut. I hope you can do it. Your smugness makes me nervous. There is a fine line between being confident and over-confident. Think of it as a tight-rope, with under-confident on one end and over-confident on the other. Lou needs to keep his team nestled in the middle, balancing on that confidence rope. Let's be honest, Lou may be a statistician and know the game, but he doesn't seem to have mastered team psychology. He may be able to tinker with a line-up extremely well, but dealing with a intense fan culture, crazy personalities, and a seven game losing streak is a whole different ball game. I'm officially nervous about the rest of the Cubs season. Are you?

--- Daniel.

Last week there was a discussion on this blog whether Soriano is a new leadoff hitter prototype. Turns out, Lou Pinella has been thinking about Soriano and the leadoff position. Yesterday, against the Cards Lou decided to move Soriano to thrid in the lineup, and moved Theriot up to the leadoff spot.

The Cardinals won the game for a few reasons:

1) Pitching. Dempster pitched a decent game, but had a rough inning where he gave up 3 runs. Marmol essentially gave the game away in the 8th, and got injured in the process.

2) The Cardinal offense. We have seen already this season that this Cardinals team has significant offensive fire power. It is obvious that they are from the city with the highest murder rate in the USA (in all fairness, this is partly due to the disputed unicorporation line that divides the county from the city), because they are deadly with a wooden bat. Last night, Pujols also showed that he can do it with his legs in the pivotal eighth inning where he hit a single, stole second, and then scored on Ryan Ludwick's single. Pujols is really a once in a lifetime kind of player and its unfortunate that he plays in the same division as the Cubs.

3) The lineup change. Now, I know there are many who might disagree with me, but I love Soriano at the top of the order. OBP aside, there is something magical about a leadoff hitter who has the power to hit a dinger every time he is at the plate. Now, I know he chases wild pitches sometimes, I know he strikes out too much to be a leadoff hitter,etc. Just bear with me. I really feel that the success of many great hitters is in part due to psychology-- getting in the opposing pitcher's head, outguessing and manipulating a pitcher to throw the pitch you want, when you want it.

Soriano is extremely intimidating to pitchers at any spot in the lineup, but I would argue that he is most intimidating at the leadoff position. Soriano at leadoff also gives the whole cubs lineup a little extra bite, it is as if we are saying, "we are so fresh that our leadoff hitter can hit homeruns like your guy who hits third, that's how much better we are than you". Once we place a prototypical leadoff hitter in the lineup, our edge dissipates and we end up with non-intimidating Theroit up at the plate in the 9th inning with one out and the tying run on first. Admit that you would have rather seen Soriano. I'd put money on the fact that Lou was thinking the same thing, or he could have been distracted by the thought of a Doughnut.

We'll be live blogging the game tomorrow, be sure to join us. Nowhere else can you get this diehard humor and analysis. Also, A-Ram got a little hurt last night, it's unclear how long he will be out for. Enjoy your Saturday!



--- Daniel.