From Now On, That's How You Drive!

Hell of a game last night. I have a few observations to share, but the one thing that really stuck out for me was what Wood did AFTER he tried to groove a fastball past Jason Bay and gave up the donkey.

Instead of melting down, he got the next 3 batters on 12 pitches.

Strike (swinging), Ball, Strike (looking), Strike (looking)—Strikeout Looking
Strike (swinging), Strike (swinging), Ball, Ball—Ground Out to 3B
Ball, Strike (swinging), Strike (swinging), Strike (looking)—Strikeout Looking

It was impressive. So much so that I yelled at the TV...






That IS how he's supposed to "drive." That's what we all expected from him. No messing around. Just nasty fastballs on the corner and sick sliders that make the hitter pee themselves a little bit. Wood showed me something last night. Now let's see if he can bring that kind of nastiness to EVERY batter, not just the ones after he gets faced. I for one think he can.

More thoughts after the jump.

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1. Felix
Marty may hunt me down and kill me for saying this, but even AFTER he drove in the game winning RBI, I still think he's really gonna struggle this year. Why? His swing is waaaaaaaaaaay too long. All you have to do is watch one at-bat and you can see what the scouting report is on him.

Work the fastball up and in. Then go away, away, away with the breaking ball.

He can't get his swing started fast enough to touch either. Now that being said, if he can stay with pitches like the one he hit last night or if he can compact his swing to get to the inside stuff he could really succeed at the big league level. But those are two really big 'ifs." Sorry, Marty.

2. 30 LOB in 2 games
When Len mentioned this last night I nearly fell out of my chair. 30 guys? And we won both games? How in the hell does that happen? If I was a Pirates fan (shuddering) and I saw that stat, I think it would be time to put a hose on the tailpipe and close the garage door. There is no way we can continue to do that and win games. That is, unless they've changed the schedule without my knowledge and we play ONLY the Pirates for the rest of the year.

3. Those Darn Scrappy Pirates
Coming into this series, I thought of the Bucs as the SF Giants of the NL Central. I now realize that assessment was way off base and a tad mean.

They've got some solid position players and a TON of left-handed pitching (both in the rotation and in the bullpen). I swear they threw 30 consecutive lefties at us on Monday. That doesn't bode well for the season series. As everyone knows, the Cubs can't hit lefties for shit (especially the soft-tossing and the "just-called-up-to-face-the-Cubs" variety). In what now looks like a more competitive division than was previously anticipated, we HAVE to win against these guys. Mark my words...if we don't win the division, it will be because we lose a ton of games we shouldn't against the Pirates (and probably the Giants too because karma is a bitch).

Anyway, another "a win is a win is a win" type game for the Cubs. Here's hoping they can actually win one in 9 innings tonight. I'm not holding my breath.

Go Cubs.

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Go Cubs.