Same Old, Same Old

This is getting a little tiresome.  Great starting pitching, no hitting.  The Cubs managed to split the remaining two games with the Reds.  They almost blew the first one when Sveum brought in Marmol to relieve Villanueva in the ninth.  It is hard to completely second guess this move in light of Marmol's prior success against Votto, but you knew deep down that Marmol would blow it.  Another strategy would have been to walk Votto and let Villanueva pitch to Phillips.

Anyway they came back to win it in the tenth.

The same thing cannot be said of the Thursday game.  The Cubs wasted a gutsy start from Samardzija that was marred only by a Frazier home run in the sixth.  Here's the thing, though.  Samardzija threw over a hundred pitches in six innings, partly because he tried to strike everyone out, but also because the Reds worked counts and got guys on base.  Latos, the Reds starter, got into the eighth inning on roughly the same number of pitches.

Same old, same old.  Jeff Hoyer had to fly in to assure Sveum he still had a job, which, in my experience of observing baseball for many seasons, probably means he is on pretty thin ice.  Sveum did not do anything today to reassure fans of his strategic genius.  The Cubs managed only one scoring chance when they got the first two batters on base to start the eighth inning and chased Latos.  I suppose you cannot really question the Ransom sacrifice in that everybody does it even though there is no evidence to suppose the strategy gives you a statistical advantage.  But Soriano?

I've written very often of how bad Soriano is with the game on the line.  He proved it once again today by striking out swinging on four pitches without ever seeing anything near to being a strike.  That was pretty much it for the Cubs.  DeJesus battled Broxton before grounding out on a difficult chance.  Chapman disposed of the Cubs in short order in the ninth.