Locally, nationally and seemingly everywhere in between, the topic of the day was whether Cubs manager Lou Piniella made the right decision pulling starter Carlos Zambrano after only throwing 85 pitches.
It seems as if a majority of people out there believe that Piniella screwed the pooch on that one. The Chicago Sun-Times said it was a Lou-sing call. Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune said that Piniella's quick hook was costly, arguing that by not opting to use Jason Marquis in game four may come back to haunt the Cubs.
The verdict: I am going to side with Piniella on this one. Knowing that Zambrano is going to have to pitch game four, Piniella made the right move for the situation (being that the Cubs are going with a three-man rotation.) Piniella's been making these moves all year, at least he's been consistent and has a reasoning behind what he did--unlike past Cubs managers.
Also, take this into account. Coming into the game, Carlos Marmol, who took the loss in game one, had only given up a combined four runs in August and September. That's 30 2/3 innings with 43 strikeouts and an ERA under 1.20. It's not like he was bringing out Dave Veres, Antonio Alfonseca or Mark Guthrie.
Also take into account that the Cubs offense didn't score a run after the sixth inning. Big Z coulda pitched the rest of the game. The Cubs didn't score, and you can't win if you don't score!
Moving on from last nights game with these final notes:
- 1-10 with runners in scoring position is not going to get it done. There is hope for the Cubs offense who hit several line-drives right at people, which prevented potential runs from scoring. Hopefully tonight those shots will find some holes.
- Stephen Drew is officially on my baseball sh*t-list. Drew hit another clutch home run against the Cubs and made several Gold Glove caliber defensive plays which saved a few runs from scoring. And to top that off, he's a Drew--and with that comes BCB's great headline "Funny, he doesn't look Drewish."
- I'm just gonna come out and say it now--TBS broadcasting sucks. Did any of the head honchos realize that this is the MLB playoffs, not the NFL on FOX. Dick Stockton has no place in a baseball booth. I'd rather hear Tim McCarver's nonsense than Dick's. Take note of Dick's Dumb Remarks (might be a new segment, According to Dick):
- Tonight's starter for the D'Backs is Ron (not Doug) Davis.
- D'Backs outfielder Chris Young led MLB rookies in home runs (Ryan Braun and his 34 HRs would disagree.)
- The Cubs traded Michael Barrett for Jason Kendall. Funny, that's not how I remember it. Mikey B. was traded to San Diego for Rob Bowen in June, and in July Bowen was traded to Oakland for Kendall.
I spent a lot of time reviewing game one, so I'll keep it relatively short for game two.
The Cubs will send Theodore Roosevelt Lilly A.K.A. "Mr. Neversmile" in what is definitely a must win game for the Cubs. Teddy truly has been the Cubs stopper this year with a 9-1 record in 16 starts after a Cubs loss.
The D'Backs will counter with Doug Davis. Davis is a certified Cub killer. He owns a 7-5 lifetime record with a 3.39 ERA against the Cubs. Davis out dueled Lilly in August at Chase Field, striking out eight Cubs in the process.
The Cubs will likely have a different looking line-up tonight.
- Mark DeRosa (career .301 against LHP) might bat second against Davis.
- Matt Murton (career .400 against Davis) will likely get the start in right field.
- Jacque Jones (career .294 against Davis) will probably start in center field and bat eighth.
- Kendall (career .313 against Davis) should get the nod behind the plate.
It's only one game. This series will go all the way to game 5.
Take a breath...let's WIN tomorrow.
JUST BELIEVE,
Matt
I echo Matt's sentiments. Let's go out and win game two and shut everyone up!
Remember, "It's Gonna Happen!"
TAKING THE EXTRA BASE:
Sox fans now have another reason to hate Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti. Mariotti echoes the sentiments of people with thoughts with this simple statement: "Grow Up."
No comments:
Post a Comment