After sweeping the Cardinals, the Cubs ran their streak to five, winning the first two games against Miami. Since then they have played badly, losing the next three. Friday's game was kind of pathetic. The Cubs walked nine times, added two hit batsmen, saw 180 pitches and wound up scoring only three runs. Even Maddon had to acknowledge that feat was nearly impossible.
What's wrong, I think, is as much mental as physical. The only guys really paying attention are Bryant and Rizzo, sometimes Happ. The Cubs will roll up the pitch count with patient at-bats, but as soon as they have the pitcher on the ropes they shift into swing mode. So it looks like they only score now via the home run, even though their patience creates opportunities to build innings.
A good example of this trend was the ninth inning Friday. After Schwarber struck out trying to hit a three-run homer with nobody on base, the Rockies closer got into a wild streak. Happ, Bryant, and Rizzo drew consecutive bases-on-balls. So with one out and the bases loaded, after the Rockies pitcher has thrown nothing even remotely near the strike zone, what does the cleanup hitter Ben Zobrist do? Of course, he swings at the first pitch and pops out to shallow left field. What are these guys thinking, I wonder.
No comments:
Post a Comment