The Cubs lost their sixth straight last night to the lowly Padres whom they swept at Wrigley Field a while back to stop another woeful losing streak. I guess we can expect this sort of performance from here on out, though, to be honest, none of the losses would seem to stem from the trades they made which largely shed veteran pitching.
Two of the losses were to lefties, so you might argue that the departure of the the right-handed platoon players Johnson and Baker could have affected the outcome, but, really, the Cubs always lose to lefties anyway and the presence of either of these guys in the lineup does not seem to matter much one way or the other.
As far as the pitching goes, the starting rotation is a mess, but actually Samardzija probably pitched the worst game of the six. Volstad pitched unexpectedly well, as did Germano. Coleman pitched badly, but no one expected him to do well. Wood pitched two decent games without any support. With Garza out probably for the season, Cubs fans cannot expect much in the way of pitching from here on out. Perhaps the rookie Raley will provide some hope tonight.
Which makes things especially depressing because the real reason they have lost six straight is they don't score runs. They have scored twelve runs in this stretch, an average of two per game, and six of those were Sunday in a tough walk-off loss to the Dodgers.
In this respect also, things are not likely to get much better. Jackson and Vitters were promoted to the team, though only Jackson seems poised to play every day. Jackson had a nice debut game Sunday, but struck out four times yesterday. Vitters hasn't shown much so far and it seems likely that Sveum will platoon him with one of his favorites, Luis Valbuena, who, last time I checked, was hovering around or below the Mendoza line.
Another reason for lack of hope seems to be the odd decisions Sveum makes with his lineup. It took him the better part of three months to settle on a steady set of platoons and a consistent batting order and bullpen rotation. So the Cubs had, at long last, a pretty good July. This whole process was wrecked by the trades and call-ups, so it is going to take him a while to get his head screwed back on.
Last night we had the strikeout machine Jackson batting leadoff and Castro in the five hole, both, in my opinion, not the best spots for their respective talents. If you are stuck with players who are impatient and do not get on base and, in general, have very little or no idea of situational hitting, the lineup is very, very important to maximize the slim chances of scoring runs. Again, in my opinion, though stats will back me up on this, Sveum is not very good at this and this is likely to lead to a lot more losses than even this flawed team merits.
Speaking of disconnects between upper management and management at the field level, I read where Bryan LaHair, who was finally showing signs of snapping out of a two month slump, will find it hard to get any playing time after Jackson's promotion. Am I missing something here? I mean, granted that LaHair has slumped since his promising start, but he is 29 years old. He belongs in left field, at least on a platoon basis. Right now he or any other outfielder is blocked by two players who do not figure to be part of a winner.
DeJesus is 32 years old and strictly a journeyman platoon player with a .261 average. It is hard to envisage this guy as anything other than a placeholder and even harder to see him as a major contributor to a winning team. Soriano has been showcased throughout the season in a desperate attempt to get someone to take him off their hands even if they continue to pay his salary. Every day Soriano shows why, despite his decent stats, he has no idea how to play baseball and is a menace in the field even when he catches the ball. But these players will play every day in preference to a player who might have the ability to contribute as a left-handed power hitter for several years to come and costs you virtually nothing. Shouldn't you at least try to find out if he can be straightened out, or are we dealing with an advanced case of Quade-itis?
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