Tuesday night's game was over in the first inning when Paul Malholm gave up five runs.
On Wednesday, a friend of mine who is a season ticket holder called with an extra ticket, so I went along. I usually don't go out to Wrigley this early in the season. There is a reason for this. It is really, really cold. Wednesday was no exception. Still, it was nice to visit and to get out to the park and I was happy to get the invite.
I wish I could say the game was exciting, but it was pretty frustrating. The Cubs got ahead in the first inning and after that it was a pitcher's duel. I love a good pitcher's duel, but some of the luster is removed when your core body temperature drops around ten degrees. Dempster pitched very well until the seventh when he served up a fat splitter to the Brewers reserve catcher that would up in the right field stands as a two-run homer.
The Cubs had a lot of opportunities to add on all day long. Once they got behind, they had scoring chances in the last three innings, but they could not deliver. One of the problems, of course, is that whenever they got a shot, Soto or Byrd or the pitcher seemed to be up and the whole rally would collapse.
The Cubs had three big problems last year: bad starting pitching after the injuries to Wells and Cashner, bad fielding, and bad hitting. They just did not score runs. They took some steps toward correcting the first problem by stockpiling decent or promising arms, but they have not really addressed the most glaring problem, which is that they just do not get on base enough or score enough runs.
I suppose, as a fan, one must be patient, but I really do not see any evidence of serious rebuilding going on right now. This is essentially the same team as last year with the subtraction of Fukudome, Ramirez, and Pena and the addition of DeJesus, Stewart, and LaHair. Really a wash.
The real problem this team has is an overly aggressive approach at the plate, especially with men on base. The opposite approach is hard to teach. Maybe the young guys can get it, but the real long-term problems are Soriano and Byrd and things will not get a whole lot better until they are replaced by Jackson and Rizzo.
Some incidental thoughts. I really like this Clevinger kid both as a hitter and a receiver. I'd like to see more of him in the lineup. Also - and I never thought I would say this - Soriano actually made a very nice play in left field on a sinking liner. The fans were so surprised that I think they didn't know whether to cheer or clean their glasses.
No comments:
Post a Comment