The Cubs did finally pull it out, thanks largely to two late hits by Fukudome. I've always thought that Fukudome was seriously undervalued by the fans and the organization, mainly because, although he can get into some bad habits and bad slumps, he is a fundamentally sound player who always has an idea of what to do in the field, on the bases, and at bat. He is especially valuable for the Cubs in that they play such bad fundamental baseball nearly all the time and they don't seem to care. It was also good to see Wells straighten himself out and Cashner and Marmol come through in relief.
One of the things I really hate about the all RH lineup, aside from the fact that they don't score many runs, is that it comes wrapped with all sort of defensive deficiencies built in, namely, Soriano, Baker, Nady, and lately Soto. The latter three showed their wares at various times today. Nady especially seems to be a lazy or incompetent outfielder who never gets a good jump to put himself in a position to make a clutch play. And Soto? Well, he is starting to look as bad behind the plate as he did last year. Can this guy block anything? Next time I go out there, I am going to keep count of the number of pitches he drops or misplays. It is a lot.
So be thankful for small favors. Even though they left ten men on base, they pulled it off. I lost count of how many guys Soriano stranded. Blevins must have been really wild to walk Theriot in the ninth, as this The Riot had previously either struck out on three or four pitches or hit the first pitch weakly for an easy out. Blevins was probably so disturbed by doing so that he managed to serve up a pitch that Kosuke could handle on the first attempt just to get it overwith.
The Cubs, or at least Tom Ricketts, announced they had hired a new guru to handle statistical analysis. That's a step in the right direction because whoever is doing it now is either incompetent or not getting through to Lou. Whatever the reason, he is going to have his work cut out for him with some of these mopes.
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