Something I Do Not Like to See

Joe Maddon was full of defense for his team's play in Game 1 of the Cardinals series.  He's right that the Cubs had a bad ninth inning and otherwise played pretty well.  But aside from not scoring runs or even threatening to score runs most of the time, the thing I did not like at all was putting in Jackson to pitch the ninth inning.  I know that in calculating the odds, Maddon must have figured that going up against Rosenthal in the bottom of the ninth was unlikely to result in a win down two runs and he had to figure he had a double-header coming up the next day.  But, look, you have to try to stay competitive and putting in Jackson strikes me as giving up, period.

Actually, the fact that Jackson is still on this team strikes me as pretty awful.  The Cubs only use him in lost games and really he takes up a spot that might be occupied by another bench player.  Supposedly the Cubs are looking for a really good starting pitcher and a left-handed hitting outfielder who is not Mike Baxter.  That's fine.  I continue to suppose they will not empty the vault for a pitcher like Hamels or Sale this year for reasons I outlined in an earlier post.  However, they ought to be able to unload or release Jackson and pick up a veteran substitute or too pretty cheap and these guys would help out a lot in the pinch.

Lester pitched really well again.  He is pitching in tough luck lately, but I have to say some of it is of his own making.  I don't remember him being this bad at holding runners when he was in the American League.  Somebody has got to teach him to throw to first every now and again or have the catcher do it because when Lester pitches against a smart team like the Cardinals every walk or single or safe on an error is the equivalent of a double and they are going to score runs even on shallow hits because by the time the ball is delivered they are half-way to the next base.  Right now the Cubs are not scoring runs or even threatening when they face half-decent pitching, so that has got to cost wins in the long run.

Just to finish off this little critique, I have now come to the conclusion the Cubs cannot win consistently with Starlin Castro in the lineup.  Lets face it, he may come up with a clutch hit every now and again, but he is a .250 hitter who does not get on base much and is inconsistent in the field.  I have a feeling Castro is going to be part of any package they swing before the trade deadline, though given his stats this year, he is not going to bring a big return.