It IS that bad for Lee and Fukudome
Lou's lineup features Michah Hoffpauir in right field tonight in place of Kosuke Fukudome. Once again, Lou is at a loss for words when it comes to Fukudome.
"I think you can talk to Kosuke yourself, or you can talk to the hitting coach," Lou said. "I don't know. I don't have an explanation."
We tried to talk with Fukudome, but he asked for a "day off." Actually, the Chicago media give him a lot of days off. Whatever. It ain't exactly pretty for Fukudome nor is it any better for first baseman Derrek Lee, who is celebrating his 33rd birthday today. Let's look at a sampling:
Right now, Fukudome is batting .262 with an OBP of .363 and a woeful slugging percentage of .383. His OPS (rounded to .745 by MLB) ranks 63rd in the NL. You can't have that from a corner outfielder.
In August, Fukudome batted .193 with an OBP of .293 and a slugging of .253. He had 2 doubles and 1 homer.
In July, it was a .236 BA, .306 OBP and .382 SLG. Really, it's been downhill for him since the middle of June.
As for Lee, he's batting .292 with a .363 OBP and .460 SLG. His OPS of .824 puts him 35th in the NL. He has no extra-base hits in September.
In August, he had 4 doubles and a homer.
In July, he had 9 doubles, 1 triple and 2 homers.
In June, it was 4 doubles, 1 triple and 2 homers. In May, Lee had a .269 OBP, with 7 doubles and 5 homers. His batting average that month was only .234. He had his best month in April, slugging .705 on the strength of 8 homers, 1 triple and 9 doubles.
Lou issued a warning today that those who play well will play down the stretch. Keep an eye on this. Here's the lineup:
Soriano, LF
Theriot, SS
Lee, 1B
Ramirez, 3B
Soto, C
Hoffpauir, RF
DeRosa, 2B
Johnson, CF
Marquis
now all the Cubs need is for the Reds to make the playoffs and everything will be fine.
..I was trying to lip read as he was strolling out, but the look on his face was all you needed to know.
..but I understand Marmol was trying to get the ball over the plate with the big lead.
..brought up an interesting scenario. If we get down to the final series and both the Cubs and Brewers have clinched playoff spots but the division title is still in question, it will be interesting to see how both teams play it.
Assuming everyone is fairly rested, I would still like to see the Cubs press on and basically treat it as a pre-playoff 'playoff' series as a tune up because that would give them home field advantage for both the NLDS, and let's hope the NLCS.
HOWEVER...that probably, well since the west has tightened I guess we could downgrade that to possibly, could mean a first round date with the D-backs. Honestly, I'd really rather not see them as that would mean Webb, Harden, and Johnson.
...When the Cubs are winning. Same with my e-mails. When the Cubs are losing, the e-mails come in fast and furious. When they're winning, not so much.
...winning...especially for Cubs fans, has a nice, calming effect. Sort of like the "cool, dude" buzz I would get after popping Vicodin after my knee surgery.
..this nice little offensive explosion and the big lead (though shrunk somewhat now) after losing so many in a row IS honestly like a big weight being lifted.
...based on the Astros schedule looks like the Cubs will miss Oswalt by one night. He's pitching right now and then would pitch on Thursday of this coming week.
Thanks for the hit and run..Can we get one in from third with less than 2 outs ?
Meant to mention, loved the numbers, but, the Brewers have 6 games with the Cubs to make up ground, the Phillies only have 2 with the team they are chasing..Thats huge when you have to make up ground. If you never play the team in front of you the last 2 weeks you rely on someone else to beat them and hope you win..
Marquis had 66 pitches, only 33 for strikes entering the fifth.
...50% strikes, that pitch count really isn't overly high.
...how did you like the play?
..what's wrong with that?
But that 66/33 split wasn't pretty.
Can we please move the runner and stay out of a DP...
Like giving one back....Does Marquis look like he is tiring to you all ?
Don't worry Ed in the Burg..if he is tiring, it will be spun to you (and me) as the "dead arm" period.
Nuff said.
...but what about Theriot? He's only hit .255/.352/.298 the past two weeks, and his seasonal line is starting to look pretty mediocre as well.
I'll get to him, too. He really needs a rest. Wouldn't hurt to throw Cedeno in there for back-to-back starts.
Be time for one of Lou's "nice conversations". 2004 had way too bagage to campare this team to that , plus they're much better with a better manager, but for Lou to not sit Lee is very reminicent. He has been terrible as well as Soriano and Ramirez. You cant sit em all, but you could in one game and send the message, "I have had it with you, figure it out".
I can not believe that this team could choke away September, but they are running out of games to make me think it wont happen. It was just so disappointing to see this team so listless after a day off..
So Lou has had it with Fukodome, fine, why the hell is Lee in the line-up ? Wouldnt Hoffpauir be better suited at first ? DeRosa in right and Fonetont at second. This is maddening with the Lee's struggles. You keep good defense and sorry "Mr. I never want to miss a game " Lee, you need a day off, his bat is very slow. Ramirez has become non-challant again, nice errors for the reborn defensive third baseman..
I really think they will pull out of this nose dive, but for the experts to say there is no way the Cubs blow this lead are in dire need of the lobotomy Zambrano needs.
It' about time to show some signs of life. This is a good team and for them to play this way down the stretch is unfathomable.
I don't like to pile on (except in the case of Bob Howry and Jason Marquis), but I just can't make excuses for Derrek Lee anymore. Bruce, thanks for those numbers - he's been really bad. He certainly doesn't deserve to bat 3rd anymore.
The past few days, based on the body language I'm seeing on TV, it looks like Soriano and Ramirez just don't care. Maybe Reed Johnson needs to start in LF, DeRosa at 3B and Fontenot at 2B for a couple of days to send a message to the "superstars."
My 10 year old and I were working on the playoff math today. That's how nervous we've become. We don't know if this is worst case, but it was our assumption: say the Cubs go 7-14 the rest of the way (i.e they win one game per series the rest of the way).
The Phillies would have to go 15-6 to tie the Cubs and 16-5 to beat the Cubs - they must do that with 2 more games against the Mets, 6 against the Marlins (who historically give them trouble), 4 against the Brewers, 6 against the Braves and 3 against the Nationals (who to their credit took 2 out of 3 last week). I see 7 losses there for the Phillies in their last 21, which would mean the Cubs would clinch by a nose. The Cardinals would have to go 17-4 to tie and 18-3 to win. That too doesn't seem possible considering they have 2 more with Florida, 6 against us, 4 against Arizona, 6 against the Reds and 3 against the Pirates.
Just win Cubs!
Great to have you here, Hoops. I appreciate the math. As Ed says, this is a better team than what it's showing, but some guys do need a wake-up call. I wouldn't mind seeing Hoffpauir at first base tomorrow, giving Lee the day game after the night game off.