Well it's goddamn amateur night at Minute Maid Park. It's only the 5th freaking inning and here's what we've been treated to so far.
Top 2nd - bases loaded, nobody out against Villone. Ramon Martinez pops up, Damian Miller grounds into the slowest goddamn double play I've ever seen. How can anybody be that slow? No runs scored. 0-0.
Bottom 2nd - Every Wood pitch is a belt-high fast ball or a curve in the dirt. 2nd and 3rd, nobody out. Ausmus strikes out swinging and the 1st base ump misses it. Of course he hits an RBI sac fly. With 2 out, Wood strikes out Villone, Miller loses the ball (it's sitting next to home plate) and a runner comes home. Miller gets the ball and tags the runner, but loses the ball. Great day for Miller so far. 2-0 Astros.
Bottom 4th - Wood gives up a single to career .125-hitting Villone before Biggio launches a 2-run bomb. Nice. 5-0 Astros.
Top 5th - Cubs again load the bases with none out. Goodwin strikes out. Glanville hits an RBI sac faly, but Ramon Martinez gets run down on the bases. Great day for Ramon so far. 5-1 Astros.
Bottom 5th - Aramis Ramirez double clutches on a slow grounder so Kent gets a "base hit." In response, Veres starts serving up batting practice. 6-1 Astros. To compensate, Veres throws a wild pitch. 7-1 Astros. More batting practice. Finally, the Cubs infield accidentally executes a routine double play, ending the inning. 8-1 Astros.
You like to say "it's just one of those games" but it's actually the third one in the last five games. And two of them were Wood's.
Seriously, there's something very wrong with Wood. He's genuinely no better an option than Shawn Estes at this point, and it really doesn't look like a slump to me. He seems to be incapable of throwing the ball where he wants to. Is it his back? Or is there something to this pitch count stuff we were all talking about earlier in the year. And what is up with this "circle the mound, rub the ball, grab the bag, circle the mound before you throw the pitch" Rick Sutcliffe imitation crap? When did Wood become so painful to watch? Whatever it is, if he doesn't get back on track soon the Cubs are D-U-N done.
My stomach hurts. I'm turning this shit off. Have a good night.
posted by
Derek at 8:00 PM MST [link] --
w
Isn't it fun having Mark Prior in the starting rotation? You've seen the stats elsewhere, but it's so fun typing them that I'll show them to you again. Since his return from the DL:
Here's what Jeff Kent had to say after going 0-3 against Prior, including two strikeouts during which he contacted the ball exactly once:
I classify him as a kid who's still going to go through more seasoning to really have better command of his pitches.
Jeff, take another look at those numbers I typed above, and then take a look at yesterday's box score. If Prior had any more command the opposition would just stop showing up at the ballpark. Just take your beating and move on.
So I await tonight's game with bated breath - the game's on WGN, so I'll get to see it. The division lead is there for the taking. It used to be you could count on Wood to follow up a bad start with a really good one, but lately Kerry's had a few consecutive mediocre starts followed by last Saturday's pathetic one. If he can't pick it up today, I can't be too optimistic about a strong finish for the Cubs this season.
And finally, a few words about the Cubs' recent flurry of player acquisitions. The problem isn't so much the wisdom of any of these moves in particular. You can come up with a rationale to justify each on an individual basis.
Lofton and Ramirez for Hernandez and Hill? We had no centerfielder (Patterson out for the season, Goodwin for a month) and Ramirez's youth and potential was worth taking a flier on. (I genuinely feel good about this move.)
Glanville? Needed another CF with Goodwin still out (though I would've called up Kelton).
Simon? Maybe Choi needed a change of scenery and more at-bats. (Hey, I gave it my best shot, I can't actually justify this one.)
Womack? Grudz is out and who knows how long he'll need to fully recover from his broken hand.
It's when you look at them all together (as Rob Neyer did yesterday) that you begin to feel a bit nauseated.
Kenny Lofton
Aramis Ramirez
Doug Glanville
Randall Simon
Tony Womack
Four of these guys started yesterday - Glanville didn't start only because Lofton plays his position. For the most part, if any of these guys had been traded to any other team, you probably wouldn't even have noticed.
The funny thing is, in a way it really doesn't matter who the Cubs play in the field. Half the starting lineup has changed since Opening Day, but nothing about the Cubs' performance has changed at all. Win 2, lose 1, win 1, lose 2 ad nauseum. Why? Well, partly because it makes sense that merely switching fungible mediocre players around isn't that likely to produce any tangible results. But also because of the number of differences between today's Cubs pitching staff, both starting and relief, and the Opening Day staff:
Zero.
posted by
Derek at 12:53 PM MST [link] --
wMonday, August 18, 2003
Another lost weekend.
For those of you who may have blinked and missed it, here's the chronology of the Cubs' recent ascent to the top of the NL Central (all times Mountain Daylight Time):
Friday, 3:45 PM: Cubs move into tie for NL Central lead
Friday, 8:19 PM: Cubs take sole possession of first place
Saturday, 2:14 PM: Cubs fall into tie for NL Central lead
Saturday, 2:31 PM: Cubs fall out of first.
That was fun!
Not much to say about yesterday's 3-0 loss: I missed all but the last two outs, and was glad I did. Nomo's good, the offense obviously sucked, but what else is new. The main sore point for me is that Carlos Zambrano lost in his first start since being named "favorite Cub" by the Let's Play Two staff last week. Sorry about the jinx, Carlos.
Saturday's 10-5 loss is another story entirely. I've never seen Kerry look so awful. He made Shawn Estes look good. Here are some fun facts:
Number of times LA had scored in double digits before Saturday: 1 (4/20, 16-4 over Giants)
Number of times LA had given up 5 or more runs and still won before Saturday: 3 (5/9, 9-5 over Expos; 7/9, 6-5 over Cards; 7/18, 8-5 over Cards)
That was some rare air the Cubs were breathing on Saturday.
Fortunately, in the division nobody wants to win, they remain in second place. They stand a mere half game behind Houston, who managed to lose 2 of 3 to the post-fire sale Reds. Meanwhile, the Cards were swept by Philly. "Winning ugly" will be the only way to describe the eventual NL Central champions. Well, maybe just "ugly."
Still, a pretty good run over the past couple of weeks. With the easiest September schedule of the division contenders, staying within a couple of games of 1st may be good enough to propel them to the playoffs. Of course, if the real Kerry Wood doesn't return at some point, they're in serious trouble.
Enjoy your day off, boys!
posted by
Derek at 12:57 PM MST [link] --
wReigning NL Central Division Choke Artists
Eamus Catuli
AC016097
wOfficial Let's Play Two Favorite Cub (TM)
Carlos Zambrano
3-3, 3.22, 68 K
5/31: ND,8 IP,0 ER,1 H,9 K
Next start: 6/05 @ SD
