on to tomorrow…

…………I was watching the HAWKS come back from a 3-goal deficit on the road to tie with five minutes left in the 3rd, only to lose with roughly a minute left in regulation.

Not a good night for Chicago sports……….

it was good talking to you in the bleachers. Wish the game was a little better.

Why leave Z on the basepaths? Sure seemed like Gaithright’s time if you ask me. Can you imagine if Z had gotten hurt running the bases? I think he was at Murph’s before the game.

I was sitting down LF line by 3rd base and Lee is definitely hurting, but I’ll pin this loss on Marmol, not Lou. We don’t even go to the bottom of the 9th if Marmol does his job.

Lou definitely tried to pull this one out of his ass tonight and obviously it ended very badly. Hill was only supposed to play 3rd in an emergency but yet Lou pinch hits for Fontenot like its nothing. And Reed Johnson has been pretty ice cold on top of that.

This team really does have alot of talent. I’m not giving up hope yet.

When Johnson came in for Fontenot would be an understatement. I was sitting in front of Al ( having flown in from NYC) and pretty much went ballistic, not so much about A-Ram but about Lou’s typical by the book , never think an inning ahead managing. Johnson is not hitting that well. Fonty already had a huge HR but hey the book says I MUST PUT in righty to face a lefty EVEN IF I HAVE NO ONE TO PLAY 3B. I mean if this is game 7 of the World Series MAYBE but this is a tie game with two outs and Johnson simply does not have enough of an upside to force Fontenot to be pulled.

FYI weird site scene. On the concourse HUNDREDS of people were gathered at the TV’s about half of which were showing the Bulls game. With about 12 seconds left , up by one and the Celtics with the ball, huge chants of
“DEFENSE, DEFENSE” went up from the crowd. I glanced over to the TVs showing the Cubs game at the start of the 9th and they were on Koye Hill at 3rd. Defense indeed.

………..at 2B and Johnson in the OF made much more sense than sending Hill to 3B? You save Soto’s bat in that case, right?

this game was completely lost by the management staff. I cannot believe that we are where we are right now, to loose like this – Lee just looking completely incapable at the plate, and the ridiculous blunders of fundamental baseball – just stinks to high heaven.

Yeah, I love Lee, but he is not playing up to par right now. Our defense isn’t very good and when we can’t hit we are done, done.

…and it seemed like rookie night. Most of the fans were expecting the imploding – which eventually happened. Not sure if this has an effect on the game, but it definitely had an effect on the ambiance.

I’d call them astute

…is that a few hundred people had gathered in the concourses to watch the Bulls game with no regard to what was happening on the field. Granted, the Bulls were in a playoff game and a tight situation, but in all my years watching Cub games – that was a first.

It looks like the First Pitch Threads are sporadically not appearing in the Game Threads section of the site. Generally not a problem since they post to the front page, but once they fall into the archives, they’re tougher to find.

No big deal, just wanted to see if this was expected or if it’s a bug.

Remember when Al suggested a Kevin Millar type who could help take the pressure off the team and, in doing so, motivate the club? Well, maybe we had a good clubhouse motivator all along and unfortunately let him go. Good stick and versatile glove, too. Went by the name DeRosa…

This team seems to be getting worse, not better.

wow

Maybe after you sleep on it you will remember a few things in the game more clearly:

Like how on one bunt, the pitcher did not get to first base in time for Lee to make the put throw for the out…..that was not Lou’s fault, was it?

And on D. Lees throw throw to second, the throw was too high, and the attempted catch by T was sloppy, and the ball goes through the top of his glove….that was not Lou’s fault.

Hill playing third base could have been a bad move if he had needed to make a play and muffed it, but Hill never had to make an important play, and did not muff anything, so that did not come into play, so why blame Lou on something that did not happen.

D Lee could not get wood on the ball on his most important at-bat in the game, that was not Lou’s fault, unless you do not think Lee should have even been in the game, in which case who would you have had play first base? And how would your replacement have represented something better than Lee? Lou has to play with the players he has available, no one better than Lee was available to play first base, that really is not Lou’s fault.

Gregg could not pitch a second inning, apparently because of his bad knee, which it seems no one on this site wants to talk about of take seriously, but it came into play in last nights game. A healthy and effective Gregg on the mound in the 10th could have been huge. That the Cubs have a closer with a bad knee, and that he can often only be used for one inning, well, that is not Lou’s fault either.

And give some credit to the outstanding defensive play by the Marlins in the 9th inning, the more I watched the grab deep toward second base by the SS and the toos to second for the out, the more impressive it looks. If that ball goes through, Cubs win, we are all happy, and Lou looks just fine. That fact that the play is made it not Lou’s fault.

I could go on, and maybe other posters will, but the bottom line, the Cubs did not lose this game because of Lou, they lost it on the field because of plays they did not make, hits they did not get, and a great defensive play in the 9th by the Marlin SS.

1. I agree about Lou mismanaging this game, and it’s hardly the first this season. I still look back on a game early in the season, I think it might have been the season opener, when Lou took Dome out for defensive purposes, but left Milton in.

Then Milton badly misplayed a fly ball. Luckily that particular move didn’t come back to bite us, but it was still bizarre.

1. I have less of a problem with Lee playing (because of his defense) than I do him batting 4th. If he’s banged up, and you refuse to put him on the DL, at least stop batting him in a run producing spot in the order.

…who is meeting me at the Nisei on Saturday before the game?

Damn – here we go again.

Leaving Z in the game to run the bases after he got the single was foolhardy.

As my mother used to say, it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt

If Z is hurt running the bases, man, all hell breaks loose on Sweet Lou!

Don’t do that any more Lou, the “Cub karma” is too bad to tempt fate like that!

More games like these and I’m gonna call the guy who wanted to sell me stock in Rolaids. Put the whole damn team on the DL

Send Miles to the Moon for all I care

“This is embarrassing.”

and Vinny pulled a Lou last night. One won, one lost. It is not the end of the world.

let’s admit our mistake(s) and move on.

Blame him for the loss…gave up 6 runs on 3 hits and didn’t even record an out.

Same things I thought of last night

1)In the 10th inning, Theriot has to make that catch. It was high but still catchable. Even if it pulls him off the bag and he does not record an out, it at least prevents the go ahead run from scoring. Granted, in the end it did not matter but there is bound to be another game where he is going to have make that catch/decision.

2)A couple of more bad breaks with the bat and runners in scoring position. Reed’s groundout in the 9th appear to have seeing eye single written all over it and Dome’s smash with Soriano on Second had double written all over it.

3)Patience did not seem to be much of a virtue last night. Some questionable called strikes that would have put our guys in hitters counts.

4)Was Heilman overthrowing because he did not want anybody to hit it to third? I have to imagine that he might have felt the need to be perfect because he had a suspect left side of the infield.

5)Carrying 12 pitchers is bad. Having your 2 (Guzman/Patton) most replaceable pieces unmovable because of their contract situation makes the situation even worse. Even if Lou wanted to go to 11 pitchers to provide some temporary bench help until ARAM is ready, I am not sure he can. However, if Cotts can be sent to the minors, he should be, then call up Scales, when ARAM is healthy, send Scales down, and bring up Waddell. When Cotts proves he can pitch effectively again, then consider replacing Waddell w/him if Waddell is ineffective at the major league level.

… who have an issue w/ blaming this on Lou. I think he managed this one just fine, if you see it another way, ok, but to make the headline that this is about Lou… I totally disagree.

This loss was about an offense that continues to sputter and a bullpen that continues to be ineffective. The Cubs were only able to score 2 runs, two solitary solo HRs against Volstad, then nothing against the Marlins bullpen. Take away three Cub games where they scored 10 runs or more and this team is averaging about 3 runs per game. This is a concern and it was again shown last night. The offense is playing poorly. Lee continues to swing a slow bat. Theriot’s numbers continue to plunge. Bradley and Fontenot, despite their contributions last night are still struggling. Reed Johnson isn’t a starter and while Soriano has had some great contributions, he continues to be an all-or-nothing hitter and last night it was nothing. The offense continues to show concerning trends and this was a far bigger issue last night than Lou.

Also of bigger concern was the bullpen. Its hard to say bad things about Marmol but he didn’t get the job done last night. Gregg threw a ton of pitches and Heilman, who was supposedly is moving up the charts couldn’t retire a single batter last night.

Cub players continue to struggle… batters, relievers. They are now below .500 and are continue to dig a hole. The players did not perform last night and to put this on Lou, I think, doesn’t accurately portray what happened last night.

Find a reason to run onto the field and lose it on an ump. This team needs a serious kick in the ass.

I think this is a perfect time to see what Micah can do at first as a full time player. Put DLee on the DL.

Milton Bradley is entirely too focused on the umps. He is waiting to get “screwed.” Just swing the bat like we know you can!

Z running for himself had me livid.

Thank god for Sori or else this month could have been A LOT worse.

I’ve been writing this in my head ever since I turned off the blackhawks game, with 30 seconds to go, and the blackhawks down by two.

This game was a failure on the part of Lou Piniella. And he wasn’t even outmanaged by the Marlin’s staff; he simply didn’t play the game right.

Marshall pitched a great game last night, and it’s terrible that he won’d get credit for it. This is the second time that Marmol has come in and lost a great game. The difference is, last year when Marmol blew Harden’s first win, we didn’t know that there was anything wrong with him.

This time, we DID know it. We knew that Marmol’s knee was futzed, and we saw him pitch yesterday, in the blowout. The top of the eight, up by two was NOT the time for Lou to bring in a struggling pitcher. Heilman should have pitched the eighth, and instead of being wild because of getting up and sitting down two or three times, I think Heilman probably would have been perfectly fine. Before the top of the tenth inning last night, Heilman had held the entire Marlins lineup to three hits over his entire career. Dan Uggla was 1-13 against him, for pete’s sake.

But instead, Lou sends Marmol out there, and Marmol didn’t find his stroke till after two walks and a bunt that resulted in a tie game with the error on the throw to first.

Then, in the bottom of the 9th, Lou makes another mistake — pinch hitting Reed Johnson for Mike Fontenot. Fonty had already hit a homerun in the game. Reed has been struggling at the plate, AND when you put in Reed and pull Fonty, you have to put Hill in at third and Soto as catcher. So why not use SOTO to hit? Or even better — WHY DID ARAMIS RAMIREZ SIT? Reed Johnson hasn’t showed ANY of the power he had last year, you KNEW he was going to hit it on the ground, and with Bradley at first and two outs, he’s not going to beat out a throw.

After that it was all over. You can point fingers at different players — Marmol didn’t pitch well, Gregg didnt’ pitch well, Heilman puked all over himself in the 10th. Miles and Theriot both had errors. Some people are blaming Lee, and I’m unsure why — he didn’t so anything but play as hard as he can.

But we lost this game because Lou made bad decisions.

Positive things I saw:

1) Marshall pitched an excellent game. If he can replicate that, then I say we have a very good, long-term franchise pitcher in him.

2) Fontenot is, if possible, getting better at third. There was one play he made where he charged the ball, scooped it up and flung it across to Lee very nicely. To me, this at least means that we can be a little more flexible in seeking infield help; personally, I’d be happy to drop Miles altogether, but I don’t see how we could move him and his $5mill salary for anything of value. And Fonty had a nice home run, too.

3) Milton Bradley showed he still has his bat. That was a beautiful homer. But, later in the game, he struck out on a called third strike that he clearly thought was high — he moved his hand up to where he thought it had gone. But after the strike call, he held his tongue, and went into the dugout, where he was angry for a few seconds, and then went over and calmed himself down. THAT’s the Milton Bradley we need. I hope he’s still a little laggy running in the outfield, because I’d like for him to be faster.

4) I saw plenty of focus and desire to win on the part of all the players, even Riot and Miles after their errors.

So, what do we do?

First, I think we need to really make sure Marmol is ok, and rest him a couple of days. Give him time to pitch in games that AREN’T close. I realize that’s hard to do right now, but if our pattern holds, today or tomorrow will be blowouts in one direction or the other.

Second, I am worried about Lee. All of the discussion about him on this board lately, I’ve followed the “DLee Decline Myth” thread closely, and one comment I remember was “when’s the last time Lee crushed one foul to left”. Well, in at least one at bat, he fouled three or four at-bats off… to right. Bam, bam, bam, all off to right. If there’s one infield spot we have real depth at, it’s first base. Let Lee rest another week, and start Hoffpauir. I’m not looking to write Lee off, but SOMETHING is wrong RIGHT NOW.

Third, sit Soto. Catcher is the other place we have depth; let Hill start another week.

Fourth, either DL Rami, or put him back in the game! We need his bat.

Anyway, that’s what I think. Let’s get them today.

I didn’t get the game. Hopefully they will play better today.

Did get to see one helluva basketball game though.

Was watching it on the Cubs cam and managed to capture this amusing shot.

Down goes ARam! Down goes ARam! Down goes ARam!

Not to worry – he was fine. Got up and took several more grounders before walking off. No sign of a limp.

Looks like there’ll be batting practice. Heading on over.

What happened?