Rick Renteria finally figured out that the Cubs played sloppy baseball and said so. Wow! Now maybe we can take some steps to correct the problem.
At least the Cubs played a good game today and Edwin Jackson even pitched an acceptable game, in large measure because he finally decided to change speeds once and a while.
Most of the Cubs improvement came from playing their right-handed hitting lineup. Actually this lineup is, right now, the best lineup they can field on an everyday basis with the exception of having Schierholtz and Ruggiano platoon in RF and dropping Castro to #6.
I cannot understand why a team like the Cubs would not play Olt everyday. He pretty much hits a home run whenever he plays and for a team that lacks power and the ability to score runs, what's wrong with playing a guy who can produce, at least occasionally.
The other thing I don't get is why Barney doesn't play everyday as well. If you do not score a lot, defense becomes an issue as well. Today Barney contributed on offense and defense as well, but he really did excel in the field, as he usually does. Runs the other team does not score are often as important as runs they do score.
In contrast to Barney's performance, take Bonafacio's defense in Friday's game. Missed tag on a pickoff attempt because he was positioned a foot away from the base, wild throw on a sure double play. Two runs allowed.
I don't mean to single out Bonafacio either. He has been a pleasant surprise so far and played a good game today. I continue to believe his career performance will ultimately prevail, but while he is doing well, let him play CF where he can do the least harm defensively. He is not a good infielder and never has been, which is why he has never been able to stick in the infield on any team.
Today was the sixteenth game of the season, roughly one-tenth of the year. 5-11. Which is on a pace to lose well over 100 games.
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