Cubs hit bottom, 55-83
Pirates breathe the beautiful air of Not-Last place, 56-83
POTG: CF Juan Pierre (2B, 3 H, 2 SB, CS, R, 2 RBI)
Runner Ups: 2B The Riot (2 BB, 3B, R), 1B D Lee (3 H, RBI, 2 SB), LF Matt Murton (3 H, BB), C Henry Blanco (2 H, R), SS Ronny Cedeno (2B, 2 H, R), RP Carlos Marmol (2 IP, 2 H, 2 K, 0 R)
Justin Shapiro has a better baseball team than me. It can not get lower than this.
EVERY GAME WITH THE PIRATES IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS, in four easy steps
1) starter blows, Pirates jump to the early lead, (quite likely a defense misplay in here.) I mentally chalk the game up as a loss at this point, but for some reason keep on watching.
2) Cubs rally back to make it a one run (or less) game, based on A Guy I Actually Like getting the big hit. I chide myself for giving up on the game so early, but still attempt not to actually get into it to avoid heartbreak
3) nothing happens for a long long time. I watch with one eye on the TV and one eye on something else. (Did some reading and some programming last night, actually.)
4) Ryan Dempster comes in the 9th, is wild as all get out, and loses the game
On that, I agree with this
“I’m sure there are people who don’t want to see me out there when the game’s on the line,
and this
“I’ve got to be more aggressive and go after people. This is ridiculous. I’m a big-league pitcher. Start acting like one. Start throwing the ball over the plate. They didn’t hit a ball out of the infield and they scored a run. That’s pathetic.
There were a few new background twists, at least.
– the crowd was announced as 31,494. 31,494 would be the season low, and it’d also seem to be 10,000 more than who were actually in the ballpark. The only recent comparable would be the Maddux 3000K game – it was as if there had been a 2 hour rain delay and half the crowd had filed out. The difference being, the crowd had never filed in to begin with. I think everyone expected attendance to plummet starting last night – school’s started, and it’s the September of a third straight disappointing season, each worse than the last. It was still quite amazing seeing the bleachers so empty.
(and it got me thinking about looking at the schedule for a good game to see. Tickets are now much more available.)
– the Jerome Williams era has ended. What was your favorite memory? Mine was thinking he’d be an adequate fourth starter. I’m kinda thinking this means we should consider the trade with the Twins to be Adam Harben for Phil Nevin and Williams, since Harben coming in meant Williams had to be pushed off the 40 man and exposed (which is why Oakland got him; kinda surprised we ran out of people to push onto the 60 man DL!), but then if Jerome wasn’t gone now, he would’ve been gone sometime before the beginning of the 2007 season anyway, so maybe it’s not fair. He was really never going to get another shot in the organization, so it’s a slight disappointment we couldn’t flip him for someone else’s mess, but I guess maybe that was an unreasonable hope. (Like giving him one more shot was an unreasonable hope.)
I’m eagerly scanning the Oakland Tribune for the angry Jerome Williams interview sure to come. At least he got to go (close to) home.
– the Cubs have apparently decided to be innovative and taken the minor league development tact of “one pitcher for four innings, another pitcher for three innings” to the majors with Juan Mateo and Carlos Marmol. (Actually, this was just an accident, but the only way you’re going to get either of these guys to pitch seven is to pitch both of them on the same day. At least Marmol’s not walking anyone from the pen.)
– it’s just now occurred to the Cubs that Wade Miller has no velocity and will not be getting any velocity any time soon. Dusty doesn’t read the minor league scouting info, does he?
– there’s no way A Ram should’ve been thrown out there, but that’s not why the lost the game. Though Dusty must’ve been thrilled at the natural double switch it allowed.
– the Cubs have reached 100 SB on the season, for the first time since 1996. The club, especially in the second half of the season, has lots of speed and bunting ability – it’s about as suited to play small ball as anyone. And their offensive numbers are horrible. I wonder what that means.
– It actually sorta can get worse…
KCR 52 88 .371 —
TBD 55 84 .396 3.5
CHC 55 83 .399 4.0
PIT 56 83 .403 4.5
I don’t put much stock in finishing last for draft position, since the MLB draft isn’t actually an ordered selection of the best players available, and the Cubs will be able to offer as more money than the others if they’d like.
I’d generally not like to finish last, though when you’re this close, I’m not sure the difference means all that much.
The Cubs need 8 wins to get to 63 and clinch a 100 lose season. That’d take a win percentage of .333, which isn’t much and this whole idea sounded ridiculous two weeks ago. Now, I’m not so sure.
April 13-10 (.565)
May 7-22 (.241)
June 9-18 (.333)
July 14-12 (.538)
August 11-17 (.393)
September 1-4 (.250)