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The Cubs managed to pull out an extra-innings victory last night against all odds in a game they had won already going into the ninth.  Is anyone else getting tired of Jose Veras?

The Cubs have a significant investment in Veras whom they undoubtedly intend to flip at the trade deadline just as the Astros did last year.  The problem, of course, is that Veras stinks this year.  Maybe he is hurt.  I don't know.  But to justify the strategy, the Cubs and Renteria will have to risk losing games in order to showcase expendable "talent."

One of the problems I have with the Cubs and have had since the new regime took control is that they are run for the purpose of marketing and acquiring "assets," not, apparently, for winning games or building a team capable of winning games right now, today.

On that subject, it is hard to know whether what we have seen from Renteria is actually Renteria or some sort of front office directed style or just a guy who is afraid of making a mistake, so he makes lots of mistakes and takes care to manage in the most conventional fashion in order to avoid being accused of making mistakes.

In any case, one observation one may hazard is that if a new manager is given a lot of options, even if those options are inferior, he will use them to his detriment.  Hence, all the platoons.  Enough already.  The Cubs left-handed platoon is the weakest lineup the Cubs could field both offensively and defensively.  Moreover, the Cubs have three or four guys who either have some potential or have something to prove, namely, Lake, Olt, Barney, and maybe Kalish.  They almost never play.  Go figure.

On the theory that the Cubs are playing guys who are either established regulars or guys they intend to flip, I suppose this augurs well for their future.  Maybe they are safe.

Some unsolicited advice for Renteria:

• Enough with the bunts.  Bunts are outs.  If you only score an average of three runs or fewer a game, you cannot give up outs.  Last night the Cubs won only because the Cardinals manager made a blunder in allowing Rosenthal to hit for himself and pitch a second inning and because, after a miserably managed inning, Castillo hit a three-run homer.

• Enough with the platoons.  Find a regular lineup and stick to it with only a couple of exceptions like Schierholtz/Ruggiano.  I know that Bonafacio is hot and plays a lot of positions.  As long as he is hot, put him in CF and leave him there until he hits that inevitable 0 for 30 streak.  The alternative is Sweeney.  Come on.

• Figure out the bullpen.  If you do not have a traditional closer, don't pretend you do.  Russell is not the quick out lefty, Wright is.  Is something wrong with Wright, because he almost never pitches and hardly ever in the role he was acquired to fill?  By and large, the bullpen is OK, but has been overused.  Renteria needs to go an out or two longer with effective starters like Wood and Samardzija and Hammel.

I should note that the Pirates series confirmed our earlier observations that there was not a lot of difference between the two teams.  The Cubs went 2-4, but could easily have split or taken the series 4-2 with a couple of breaks and better decisions.  I actually think the Pirates will not be serious contenders this year.  They made very few off-season moves to repair weaknesses and their starting pitching is weaker.  They don't score runs either, much along the lines of the Cubs in that respect.