Hey, look, it's batting practice
It is for the D'Backs, anyway, as a few of them are out for a little early hitting this afternoon. Cubs manager Lou Piniella has forbidden b.p. for these last two days in Arizona. Apparently, Lou feels his boys have taken great delight in swinging for the fences both here and in Houston during b.p. and have forgotten how to hit during the games.
We'll see how it works. During this road trip, the numbers have been ugly for a few of the Cubs:
Derrek Lee: 3-for-17
Aramis Ramirez: 0-for-17
Geovany Soto: 1-for-15
What's more, Lee enters tonight's game having grounded into 20 double plays. That puts him atop the NL leaderboard by 2.
We'll see what the boys do to pass the time during b.p. time. Maybe the clubhouse guys have run off extra copies of the USA Today crossword.
Another road loss ... ughh. If we played the Dodgers in LA next, we'd probably get swept. AWESOME at home but totally FLAT on the road ... what gives? No wonder why us fans are so schizo :(
The Division and Wildcard will come down to 1 or 2 games and it seems like Lou is the only one who understands the gravity of the situtation. And apparently, only Lou has any real EMOTION, HEART, or COJONES. If we do make the playoffs, I pray it's not a 2007 redux.
Keep up the great work Bruce!
And good night.
you guys want Fukudome in the 5 hole? Do you want Ramirez to ever see a pitch again? Ever? Yeah, lets put a guy with no power, and is in a horrible slump in the 5 hole. That will break this offense out of the slump. My god. Am I the only one that sees the spinning around swing? Come on.......He's a 7th or 8th hitter at best, until he makes the adjustment and stops getting himself out.
Give Lee some credit, the 21st DP he just hit into, the guy had to back hand it.
Only the Cubs could have the tables turned on them like the Brewers are doing to them this year.
Seriously? You would think a veteran team would have somebody stand up, take charge, and not settle for awful road play and waste away a lead. Especially after the break. Then again, when you have "leaders" proclaiming that you hit the ball well after getting shut out and collecting 2 hits, you understand why.
There isn't enough liquor to stomach this.....
The Cubs have to realize that with that roof closed, the ball ain't going nowhere! They need to stop playing like they're at Wrigley when they're on the road and play more small ball, hit more lines drives.
Nice call Steve. This why I fear for the late season and close games. Everyone always steps up their pitching late in games, and the Cubs just don't get the idea of manufacturing runs. Look at last night. 3 innings lead off guy on, and you get lazy fly, after lazy fly. It's a joke.
That and where, are the runners being put in motion to open up holes? Lets just hope that this slide is followed by a hot streak. Starting pitching has been good, and everyone BUT BOB HOWRY, has been pitching well out of the pen.
I would say on paper we are solid, but 2004 taught me a lot. Lets just pray this isn't a repeat.
After tonight the Cubs are 2 games above .500 since June 1st. Not good.
... a shallow line-drive into the gap that rolls to the wall for a RBI Triple!
Yup ... and let's face it, Wrigley Field is basically a Little League field (esp. in July-August) compared to most other ballparks. And then you factor in the basket and the brick wall and it's a home run derby.
We need to learn to MANUFACTURE runs ON THE ROAD and I think that's what has Lou so concerned.
Thankfully, I will be out of town next week, so I'll rely on the 30 minute delay ESPN gamecast and get to watch that ball fly all over my computer screen.
We'll find out just how much heart this team has this weekend and next week. They have to win tomorrow, and take 3 of 4 vs Florida. Then rolling out Lilly, Zambrano, Dempster, and harden we shall see just how well we stack up against the Brew Crew. Brew Crew always brings added intensity vs the Cubs, and having Sabathia will only help them puff their chests even more. Remember they took 2 of 3 vs the Cubs at home, twice.
...That Soriano has been out for eight of the season's 16 weeks. That's a lot, considering Lou called him the team's best home run threat. So, theoretically, things should improve when Soriano gets back and gets his timing completely down.
This is a guy leading the league in DPs, and their is BIG difference from getting the Sammy Sosa and Ryne Sandberg type RBIs when he adds all those important late game rbis at home when he's up by 4 or 5, compared to RBIS that guys like Ramirez gets that actually win games or tie up games. See the Sox game, the Cardinal game, etc. I can name at least 4 or 5 games easy for Ramirez.
Lee has 2 hrs since May 30th, and like most Cubs inflates those numbers at home. The bottom line is name me the last game that Lee got a hit past the 7th or even 6th inning that broke a tie game or rallied the Cubs from a deficit. In all honesty, I can't think of one. It's been that long. That should NEVER happen for a guy of his caliber who should carry this team. Guys like Mark DeRosa, who hit less .200 past the 6th inning, fine. But not Lee.
So I beg to differ that there isn't "clutch" hitters or "money hitters". There are, and Lee isn't one of them. THat's all I am saying. If you can name a couple of occasions, I'll eat crow and accept that Lee is going through a funk, but I'm pretty sure he hasn't delivered.
On July 6 at St. Louis, he hit a double to right-center to score one and increase a 2-1 Cubs lead to 3-1 in the seventh. On July 9, he singled home a run in the seventh against the Reds. But my timing is stellar again, as he's just hit into another DP.
The thing about clutch hitting is you can be up with RISP and smoke a ball, and it gets caught. So you've done your job in one sense because you cannot guide the ball. Your top three in NL RISP are Orlando Hudson (.366), Cristian Guzman (.357) and Lance Berkman (.348). Berkman's BA is .339. Guzman's is .310 and Hudson's is .303. There's a slight uptick. Berkman is just a good hitter. Are Guzman and Hudson considered "clutch" hitters. I really don't know. Guzman's having a career year.
I hear you. I wish you luck in that clubhouse tonight. You get captain red @ss in Jimmy Edmonds, Ramirez who may rival his 0-28, Lee who couldn't buy a hit, and Piniella. Mercy. Throw in a surging Brewers team, and you have the perfect storm.
A 1 game lead, that a week ago was 4.5, and 5. Cue the David Bowie/Queen "Pressure"
Maybe Lou will reinstate BP tomorrow! Your comments are well-taken here and appreciated, too.
As much as I despise the Sox, give him credit. When he needs to call out his team after pathetic performance after performance, they come back and dump 10 on Texas. No way the Cubs should score 1 run vs Petit.
Piniella needs to call out Lee, Fukudome, Soto, and Ramirez. This isn't April. THese guys can handle it, and if not, they are mental midgets.
Somebody call Julio Zulleta fast!!!!
I can't take credit for this, as I saw it on another message board, but the new nickname for the great D-Lee?
Automatic Transmission.....because their is no clutch. As in clutch at bats. Which I was laughing out loud reading at work. Classic.
Enjoy the lazy flyouts gentleman. This offense is horrific and Marquis is due for a shelling.
I'm done being angry. IF they got no hit tonight by Petit, it wouldn't shock me. THey are that bad. THey'll be in 2nd by the end of the Brewers series when Sheets and Sabathia shut them out in back to back games.
let the swoon continue........
5th inning and another 6-4-3 for DAT-LEE ... ughhh ... :(
DAT-LEE ... good one! No Clutch, no Tiptronic, nada!
And I'm not arguing Lee's recent performances haven't been bad, but he's 23-for-68 (.338) with runners in scoring position and less than two outs and 7-for-27 (.259) with RISP with two outs. That's .316 overall (30-for-95).
The stats people tell you that while there is clutch hitting, there is no such thing as a "clutch hitter" per se because that's not a repeatable stat. In other words, a guy's RISP can be good one year and not so good another. Usually, a guy's overall BA is about the same as his BA with RISP.
But again, I don't disagree that Lee hasn't come through lately.
There was tonight's fourth, when both flied out with runners on first and second. I yield the floor.
Well we will see if they learned anything..Ramirez is hitting .219 since June...36 for 154.
Lee isnt much better not even hitting his weight. Be nice to see Hoffpauir some more, dont waste him on the bench.. When is Lou going to move Fukudome back to the 5th spot ?
Absolutely agree with you on that!! He had a nice rhythm in the 5 slot -- it gave him a chance to see some pitches and it protected Ramy. He also seemed to hit for more power.
Lou says he'll put who's ever hitting best in the 2 spot, so I would assume that's Theriot. Then we'd see Fukudome 5th.
.082 combined batting average? ,,, nice. Please come back Sori!!!!
D-Lee leading the league in grounding into DP's? I knew it wasn't just my imagination!! His swing is way too long and he needs to increase his bat speed - he swings in slo-motion!! Way too laid back too! send him back to Cali!!
..is my wife's favorite Cub, so I need to be gentle.. :-) But...I agree...he pulls way too many low and outside balls on the ground to the left side, setting up the easy double play.
Both Lee and Ramirez had bad at-bats in the ninth last night. We'll see if the no-b.p. edict pays off.