It's just one game, but it is interesting to see how quickly the honeymoon, at least with Dale Sveum, has ended. I rather think deservedly so. Managers are rarely actually responsible for winning games. They are frequently responsible for losses, and in the case of Thursday's game, it is hard not to fault Sveum.
Removing Dempster was the right move, but sticking with Wood when he obviously did not have it was not. I've watched Kerry Wood a lot since his move to the bullpen. You can always tell from the first batter if he is going to be effective or not. Cubs managers generally defer to his iconic status and allow him to remain in the game to lose the lead or the game. Wood is either lights out or awful. He is also rarely effective when he comes in with men on base as opposed to starting the inning. The right move was to take him out for a lefty after the Zimmerman walk, but no one was warming up.
Actually, Cubs management as a whole genuflected to Wood's iconic status by signing him in the first place. Wood is not Kid-K anymore.
Another knock on Sveum. It is always a mistake to start Baker against a right-hander, and an even greater error to play him at first base. With a runner on third base and the game on the line, any left-handed batter is preferable to allowing Baker to hit. This is just a question of knowing your players. Perhaps Sveum will learn this as the season progresses, but you would think a management team that is virtually obsessed with statistical analysis would have figured this out already.
Finally, this whole aggressive running game is fine if you have the players to do it. Statistically, it is generally considered to be risky at best. I've got no problem forcing matters on the bases with Castro or DeJesus or Mather or even Barney, but Soriano? Come on.
And the whole run on contact thing with a runner on third and one out was a major blunder. You've got two chances to tie the game in that spot, so you cannot give them up on one swing when everybody in the park knows what you are going to do. I guess it means that you do not think your hitter can hit the ball to the right side or in the air or even bunt. So why is he batting then?
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