Mea Culpa

I left off in the middle of the Wednesday game, won in heroic fashion by a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth by, of all people, Darwin Barney.  Actually, Barney is on a bit of a roll and he was the sparkplug of the entire homestand.

Anyway, the victory had very little to do with the right-handed lineup that I hate so much, which provided a reliable loss against a really good left-handed pitcher Friday night in San Francisco.

Sveum actually changed it up Friday night, playing Campana in CF and letting Clevenger catch.  Campana had a first inning hit, but otherwise did nothing whilst Clevenger was clearly overmatched.

What I really don't like about this lineup, aside from not giving the opposing pitcher a different look every now and again, is that, for some reason, none of the Cubs right-handed hitters show any patience at the plate, whereas their left-handed hitters generally do. The same was true last year when Fukudome and Pena were the only guys who worked the count.

So what happens here is that you put in right-handed hitters like Baker and Johnson and so on who ought to hit lefties but do not, instead making quick outs.  You also sacrifice defense, especially when Baker plays.  Last night he messed up two foul popups, although it did not matter in the outcome.

Last night's game, besides the messed up popups, involved several eccentric decisions and plays, not that, despite the Soriano three-run homer in the ninth, the Cubs were ever really in contention.  One was the weird steal attempt by Starlin Castro who stopped cold just before second base, allegedly because he thought he heard a foul ball.  This seems like baloney because he never actually looked back toward the plate.

The ninth inning after the homer was a bit of an adventure.  LaHair hit a pinch-hit double.  This prompted the first of several odd moves.  Ian Stewart was sent in to run for LaHair.  Now the idea that Stewart is a superior base-runner is news to me.  He proved it on the next play when Barney hit a soft groundball to the third base side that he beat out for an infield hit.  Stewart remained rooted to the spot at second base when the third baseman and pitcher both had to move out of position in an attempt to field the ball.

Stewart's baserunning error determined the outcome of the rally.  The Giants put in a left-handed pitcher, knowing the Cubs only right-handed bat on the bench was the truly awful switch-hitting Koyie Hill.  Sveum chose to stick with Clevenger, who grounded out weakly to first base, advancing the runners.

You'll never know whether a baserunner would have scored from third on the grounder.  It kind of brings up another objection to the righty-lefty lineup juggling.  At the end of the game, the manager is pretty much left with only left or right-handed choices to pinch hit.  Poor ones at that.  In this case, Sveum had Stewart, Hill, and DeJesus.  Hill cannot hit anyone.  Stewart and DeJesus have been bad against lefties all year, batting under .200.

Anyway, Sveum was in a box there, but I think if he had it to do over again, he might have managed it differently.  I hope so.  Tonight's another chance.  It should be a good matchup between Garza and Cain.