This team is really not competitive against the better performing teams. Despite making the game interesting in the end, the effort tonight was futile and pretty much reflects the team's performance for most of the year. Lilly was awful for the second straight start. I have always felt Lilly was very much overrated. When he is good, he can be quite good. When he is bad, well, you get what you got tonight. Lilly is at best a 4th or 5th man in the rotation and I really don't think he has ever been much more. Whoever picks him up is not getting a game changer.
The Cubs continue to play sloppy baseball. Witness the second inning when Lilly botched up a sacrifice and Fontenot, who for some reason was playing shortstop, bungled up a double play ball. They managed to strike out 13 times and walk only 3. I know the umpire was inconsistent, but Billingslea was not a strike machine either. Something gets into these guys with men on base, and it is not good. Theriot continues to swing at the first pitch no matter where it is and continues to kill rallies. Why does Lou like him at the top of the order? Who knows? He needs to bat 8th and he needs right now to platoon with Fontenot.
On the bright side, Ramirez looks like he is rounding into form and recovering from his injury. If this trend continues, they may expect to win occasionally when they do not get a superlative start and turn the game over to Marshall and Marmol. Maybe they can even hope to play .500 ball from here on out. Of course, they are still 11 games under .500 and best case scenario they can only hope to be 9 under at the break, so this doesn't really cut it.
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