Nine in a Row

The Cubs completely dominated the Angels, much as they did in the opening series of the season in Anaheim.  The Angels are not a bad hitting team.  It is their pitching that stinks, largely owing to key injuries.  However, Trout and Pujols combined for a single infield hit through the home and home series in thirty ABs.  So one must conclude the Cubs pitching is pretty good.

I have to eat my words about Hammel this year.  I had observed that he could look pretty good through the first half, but tended to tail off spectacularly after the All-Star Game.  This year, though, he has maintained his stuff.  Last night he pitched a terrific game.

The only bad moment of the series was the Strop injury.  One hopes it is not serious, but any damage to a knee is going to sideline a pitcher for a bit at least.  Strop will have an MRI tomorrow, so one hopes for the best.  Strop is an integral part of the bullpen rotation, so losing him even for a short time is going to hurt the team.  Thanks to all the trades and such before the deadline, though, the Cubs are pretty deep and should weather the storm.

The whole LaStella story gets stranger by the day.  LaStella gave an extensive radio interview on Monday.  Basically he said he was disappointed to be sent down because of roster issues and the fact he still had options, but that he was not sulking about that.  He pretty much said, however, he had no interest in playing anywhere but at the major league level with the Cubs and that, for a variety of reasons, particularly his history of injuries, he was considering retirement  if he could not work things out.

I suppose one needs to credit athletes with being more complicated people than fans think.  In LaStella's case, however, you wonder whether it had to come to this.  In essence, LaStella was optioned to make room for Chris Coghlan.  On paper, Coghlan appears to be the more versatile player.  He can play a number of infield positions as well as the corner outfield spots.  LaStella, on the other hand, is strictly an infielder.

However, Coghlan is having an awful year and the Cubs had little problem parting ways with him after they signed Fowler..  Combined with the Oakland stats, he is hitting .158.  LaStella was batting nearly .300 and was a valuable bench player.  Coghlan, since his return, has appeared in only four games and none since Aug. 3.  He is 2 for 9 in those games, with 2 walks and 2 RBI, which is not exactly setting the world afire.  If they needed his bat and versatility so much, you have to wonder why he hasn't appeared in a game for a whole week.  So the Cubs have been more or less invincible since all this hoopla started. which possibly demonstrates they don't actually need either one of these guys, but you cannot help thinking this shuffling was not the best of all possible ways to handle the situation.