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.
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.
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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For those of you not recovering from the worst flu imaginable followed by four straight days of hardcore drinking and college basketball, you are probably already aware that Lou answered a bunch of lineup-related questions yesterday.
I don't know if I should be excited, relieved or worried. I'm gonna go with worried.
Question #1: Who is going to be the Cub's closer? This one really wasn't in doubt other than the brief back scare a few weeks back. Howry stunk up the joint all spring. Marmol was Marmol. And "The Artist Formerly Known as Kid K" managed to pitch enough consecutive innings to become the sexy choice. EVERYONE wants this to work out for Kerry. Fans, players, management...pretty much everyone not a White Sox or Cardinals fan (ie people with their souls still intact) are hoping he can really make it this time. The problem is, with that many folks collectively pulling for him AND the fact that this is the friggin' Chicago Cubs we are talking about here, all signs point to big trouble. I don't want to be a "Debbie Downer" here, but the chances of this story having a happy ending are about a trillion to one. I hope I'm wrong. I'm praying I'm wrong, actually. And therein lies the rub.
Crap.
Question #2: Who is going to be in the 5-man rotation?
This one was a tad less obvious. After the three sure things (Lilly, Z and Hill) there were 3-4 guys competing for 2 spots...a young guy with a smoking hot wife, an angry veteran who had already pissed off the manager two days into Spring Training by demanding a trade, a seasoned veteran coming off major off-season surgery and a starter/closer/starter. Exciting, no?
Dempster looked good enough to lock down one spot this spring. His velocity wasn't great and neither was his control, so this is obviously a solid move. There is still a chance he could be back in the pen by mid-season, but I bet he gets a ton of chances to make it (or blow it depending on your overall outlook) before that terrible idea is even considered.
That left three more.
So, Lieber had more wins, a better ERA and more K's in basically the same number of innings as Marquis. So he's the big winner, right? Not quite.
Marquis gets the nod and Lieber is now long relief (aka stuck in Purgatory). Everything I read says this is only because the Cubs are still trying to find a sucker to take Marquis off our hands and not listing him as a starter drives down his value. Whatever.
All I see is a pitcher who did everything asked of him this spring AND didn't bitch being rewarded with the always fun duty of eating up innings when someone (Read: Marquis) poops the bed. My excitement is almost palpable.
Question #3: Who wins the center field job?
This one came down to Pie's one healthy testicle versus Fuld's two. It's gotta suck when you get beat by a guy with less healthy balls. Enjoy AAA, Sammy.
Question #4: Brian Roberts or no Brian Roberts?
Still up in the air last I checked, although we did sign Ex-Blue Jay Reed Johnson today. So we've got that going for us, which is nice. Right?
Sigh.
Go Cubs.
UPDATE: Here is quite possibly the funniest thing that will ever be written about Reed Johnson. Kudos to Hire Jim Essian!
Johnson is basically what you’d get if you took away a chunk of Matt Murton’s power, added a bunch of strikeouts, marginally improved his defense, and then slugged him in the lower back with a baseball bat.
I don't care who you are...that's funny.
Go Cubs.
UPDATE #2: Just went back and reread this. Yikes. After some serious edits, the post is now available for your reading pleasure in actual English. My bad. Go Cubs.
Posts
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.
HOUSEKEEPING NOTES:
RSS: We added a RSS feed for FOTG, so now you can add us to your daily blog readings by just clicking the link on the right. You're welcome.
Comments: I removed the "registered users only" restriction, so now you can comment anonymously if you want to. I did this in hopes of increasing the amount and frequency of comments, so feel free to add your thoughts/criticisms without telling us who your are (wusses).
Go Cubs.