So during the most recent home stand and now two games into a tough road trip, the Cubs starting pitching has really turned around. Of course, this has made little difference to the results of this stretch, 5-7, I think, at last count.
Dempster pitched well on Tuesday night after the first inning, and Zambrano pitched well all around, surrendering a two run home run to Prince Fielder and surviving some really horrendous fielding throughout the game.
What these two games underscore is the same contention I have been advancing since spring training. This team doesn't score runs, it is not built to score runs, and the idiotic lineups especially against left-handed pitching do not do anything to remedy the situation. The fault lies in the fact that the team is overloaded with right-handed hitting and that their approach at the plate in almost any situation is fundamentally flawed.
OK, the bullpen blew a couple or three games on the home stand. So? The bullpen failures would not have been so catastrophic if this team scored more than two runs a game. The Cubs have scored two runs in this series, all in the first inning of the first game on a home run by Aramis Ramirez.
The Cubs have a decent enough lineup 1-4, after which it is all crap with the possible exception of Barney who is an OK #8 hitter. Tonight, the lineup 5-9 went 1 for 13, that one being a hit by the pitcher Zambrano, who sports a batting average better than anyone on the team except for Reed Johnson, an OBP better than anyone but Kosuke Fukudome and Reed Johnson, and an OPS better than anyone but Reed Johnson and Aramis Ramirez. Something is surely wrong here.
This problem antedates even the arrival of the celebrated hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo. It goes back to 2009. Actually, 2008 was a brief exception to this history of futility which goes back even further. That team knew how to work the count and play baseball. But it has not been helped by Jaramillo's aggressive style. Quite simply, Byrd, Soto, and Soriano, despite their deceptively attractive stats, have to change their style or go, preferably go.
I simply do not understand how the Cubs can consistently build their teams around exclusively right-handed bats and expect to win games. Tonight, Blake DeWitt played left-field instead of Alfonso Soriano. Blake DeWitt? The left-handed pinch-hitter off the bench was Tony Campana. Tony Campana?
The Cubs answer to this comedy is to actively peddle their best pitcher Carlos Zambrano. If any team needed change, it is this one. Zambrano is quoted as wanting to remain a Cub but only if there is change. I wonder what sort of change he has in mind.
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