It was Hit City in Chicago. Both batters and balls.
The Cub pitchers, maybe angry about pitching so poorly, maybe “backing” Michael Barrett, threw ?at? or, at least, hit Astros. Derrek Lee hopefully put an end to all this &*@$#!! when Dan Wheeler “retaliated” in the 8th yesterday by quietly taking his base. No tantrums. No swear words (or worse.) Mr. Lee, you is DA MAN. Thank you sir.
On the 10th inning show on 740 KTRH, Carl, the host, is asking callers if they “believe” in this team, since we just won 3 of 4, and we’re “hitting.” Well, the problem is that baseball is not T-ball.
Hitting, are we? Wel, let’s look at Stro hitting during the series:
Thurs- 10 H, 5 BB, 0 SB, 3 R and !!!26!!! LOB ( 7 H, 3BB and 2 R off Prior)
Fri – 17 H, 5 BB, 4 HR, 2 GIDP, 4 SB, 15 R and 15 LOB (8 ER off Wood and 6 off Farnsworth)
Sat – 10 H, 8 BB, 1 SB, 7 R and !!!23!!! LOB (3 ER off Zambrano and 4 R from 3 E)
Sun – 16 H, 5 BB, 1 HR, 2 SB, 10 R and !!!23!!! LOB (5 runs off bullpen)
Fielding – only 2 errors. But errors don’t measure how many balls would have been handled by better fielders. And Everett is still on the DL. And I can’t believe how much better he is than Bruntlett or Vizcaino.
Pitching -Roy gave up 6 ER in 8 innings and won anyway. First time this year he has given up that many runs and still won. Clemens gave up 5 ER in 6 innings and eeked out a W, thanks to Brad Lidge, who came in after Chad Qualls was pulled with 2 RISP. Carlos Hernandez gave up 3 ER in 5 1/3, but even more important, Harville, Wheeler, Qualls and Gallo DID NOT GIVE UP A N Y runs or even walks, earned or unearned!!!!!!! For once!!!!So Brad got a much needed day off. (note that David Weathers was released with a 4.52 ERA, lower than every other reliever not named Lidge.)
Speaking of the bullpen, let’s look at the ERAs:
Bullinger – 5.86
Gallo – 5.14
Harville – 5.56
Qualls – 5.68
need I say more?????
So what is there for me to “believe” in?
1) Timely hitting? With over 20 guys LOB in 3 of 4 games? I don’t THINK so!
2) Good fielding? Puhleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!!!
3) Good Starting Pitching? Not this past series.
4) A quality bullpen? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
5) Luck?
NOW you’re talking. To win even 90 games (wild card), either we will have to win 3 of 4 of the remaining games or San Fran, San Diego, LA, the Cubs will have to collapse. Or we get lucky and they get unlucky at the same time.
Possible? Sure. Anything is possible except pregnant men. (too bad)
Believe? Do I believe they can overcome pitching, fielding and hitting problems? I seriously doubt it. But I’m gonna root for my guys anyway. Youneverknow…….
Tags: Cubs, Houston Astros, MLB
Lisa,
Hop on board the Red Sox bandwagon, there’s plenty of room.
AC
Okay, we must be counting our LOBsters differently. In order to have 26 in a nine-inning game by my count, that’s leaving the sacks juiced in eight innings (3 x 8 = 24) and two on in the other inning. You can’t do that on ten hits and five walks. I seem to remember stranding about a dozen in that game.
What I see as being different is guys are hitting it out again. Dunno how long it will last, though. Oh, and Bagwell seems to be picking it up. I don’t know if those two things are enough.
Oh, and an aside. I got a letter from Tim Redding. In it, he thanks his fans on the internet for their support. Dunno if that applies to anyone reading this or not, but I figured I’d pass it on just in case.