Was That a Rerun?

It must have been a rerun, as the game the Cubs played this afternoon seemed very familiar. First off, soft-tossing lefty on the mound, all right-handed lineup guaranteed not to produce runs under virtually any conditions. Result: 10 hits, only one walk (these guys don't clog up the bases unnecessarily), 10 men left on base, 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position. 2-1 loss, a tough one for Silva, who, like his counterpart Mark Buerhle, pitched a good game.

Some additional observations. Another virtue of the righties of doom lineup is the certain presence of Xavier Nady either in RF or at 1B, neither of which positions he can actually play. Today it was RF. Both Konerko singles that drove in runs looked like they could have been caught and would have been caught by Fukudome, for example. In each case, there was a kind of loopy flyball into the shallow outfield that Nady watched for a little bit, approached tentatively, and then decided to play on a bounce.

If you have a team that just doesn't score runs but has excellent pitching, which is the case with the Cubs this year, you have to field your best defensive team every day. You cannot afford to allow any cheap runs. I don't get what is so hard to fathom in this proposition for Cubs management. So what if your best defenders don't get hits; your offensive-minded players don't either. The difference is the good defenders take away hits and take away runs; the lousy defensive players give them away.

Castro also had a hand in allowing the final Sox run, missing a tag on a sure out at 2B when Pierre should have been caught stealing. I don't want to single this kid out for blame. He is a young player and still learning to play at the major league level. The problem is that all the Cubs middle infielders play the same way. They never straddle or block the base. They always take the throw off to the side. Brenly is always on about this habit. Can't someone on the Cubs coaching staff actually try to teach them to make this play correctly?

Which brings up another frustration aptly noted by one of the post-game callers. He noticed that Guillen is always talking to his players and counseling them during the game, giving advice and instruction, even though he must know the Sox stink and are already hopelessly out of contention in their division, whereas Lou is generally sitting off to the side shrugging and smirking and grimacing and generally looking like some derelict they dragged in off the street and put a uniform on to take up space.

Time is running out for these mopes, which is a pity because you know the Reds can't last and the Cardinals are playing lousy ball the last month except for their series against the Cubs.