The Cubs managed to salvage one game from the Cardinals Sunday, bringing their record on the current road trip to 1-5. Everyone on the team seems to be happy they are still there mired in one of the more miserable seasons in recent memory, which by the way includes the miserable seasons of 2009 and 2010. They all rest tonight comfortable in the thought that their GM Jim Hendry stands behind them affirming their indispensable necessity and just plain old irreplaceable status. The same goes without saying for the wonderful manager Mike Quade. No one more suitable could be found anywhere in baseball and you can look that up if you like.
The last two games with St. Louis were notable for the fact that for the first time in recent memory the Cubs put together innings in which eight or more hitters came to the plate and they scored runs that were not the result of a home run by Aramis Ramirez or a run scoring on a double play. This happened in the first inning of Saturday's game when, of all things, two players actually walked in consecutive at-bats. Of course, Marlon Byrd immediately hit the first pitch for an easy out, but then Soto doubled, and, miraculously, Alfonso Soriano worked himself into a favorable count and hit a three-run homer.
These heroics were, unfortunately, all for naught, as the team completely self-destructed after a bad call at second base on an inning-ending double play ball tied the game. After that it was all over. No one respects the Cubs, which is why teams get away with the kind of tactics Matt Holliday employed on his slide. Holliday batted several times after that play and many times in Sunday's game, but nary one pitch even came close to brushing him back. Nor was the poise of any Cardinal disturbed by a Cub pitcher, despite the assurances of the Cubs broadcasters that the team would remember that play for a long time to come.
The Cubs played well on Sunday, in fact they put together another inning in which they actually played baseball, stringing together hits and walks and all kinds of things you would never expect, really hard things like not swinging at pitches two feet out of the strike zone and going from first to third on an outfield hit, you know, the kinds of things that just seem beyond the norm. Of course, when you are all safe and sound and assured of your future with the franchise and you are twenty games or so under .500, this sort of effort seems a little easier.
Mike Quade tried his best to mess it up. After the Cubs broke through for a four-run 6th, Quade left Dempster in to struggle through a three-run Cardinal response in the bottom of the inning even though Demp had showed signs of coming apart in the previous frame. He even let the pitcher bat for himself in the top of the seventh and come out to start the inning and allow two hits before he summoned Marshall from the pen to put out the fire because, gosh, you had to let the big guy out there. Otherwise, he would presumably get all bothered and disturb the delicate chemistry of the team that is so essential to finishing out the year and getting ready for next year.
Fortunately, the trio of Marshall, Wood, and Marmol kept things under control and the Cubs managed to add two insurance runs on a Soriano homer to win the day. Even in victory, though, this is a hard team to watch, especially in the knowledge that improvement or just plain change recedes ever farther beyond the horizon.
No comments:
Post a Comment