Reflections on Cincy

Ouch...that one hurt.
The first series we lost this year - Cincy.
Their pitching is pretty good.
Ours isn't.
Griffy? Dunn? Who needs 'em?
2 weeks does not a season make, but batting below the Mendoza line does not a baseball player make.
Ahem, Fontenot, Miles, Bradley.
Lilly may very well be the most consistently good pitcher on this staff.
That's a scary thought.
Samardzija may not be the answer.
We're not sure what the question is yet.
Soriano is not carrying us any more. Our 10 days are up. Please check back around the end of May. And as always, thank you for calling.

Pitching decisions...

From the Gordo twitter -
Lou and Hendry met this AM: Final pitching decisions to go into weekend. 4 for 2 spots: Samardzija, Gaudin, Patton, Guzman

So, let's look.

Samardzija - started to hiccup just a bit late last year. Has had a less-than-impressive Spring. It's decision time - make him a reliever, which he did well for the bulk of his playing time last year, or move him to starter in which case means going to IA.
Gaudin - The Dark Horse better art of the Harden deal last year. Frankly hasn't impressed me yet, some good outings, some bad outings. Out of options - no way in hell he clears waivers and hasn't missed a bat all spring...But...keep him for now.
Patton - Pretty much unhittable this spring, but if there's one thing spring teaches us, it's that you have to read between a lot of lines to figure out what'll happen up north. However if you don't keep him, you lose him...
Guzman - Has never impressed me, at all. Not that he's not good. I'm sure he's a decent reliever, but just not needed right now.

Woo-hoo!

Boy...those Mets fans sure were excited to beat our minor league team. woo-hoo. Are the Mets really that sad? Well, yeah. I guess so. Man just seeing some of those fan closeups during the series - those are some PO'ed people...like more po'ed than normal New Yorkers. I guess a crappy bullpen will do that to ya.

And speaking of which - our bullpen hasn't been all that wonderful of late. Gaudin, Samardzija, Howry. None of them are really blowing my skirt up these days.

The Hoff had a great day. Gotta love that. Great enough for a playoff spot? Eeeeeeehhhh...that's still TBD. But it sure was a good start.

Now all that needs to be done is b-slap the Boo-hoo crew once more so we get the "Lay-zin' Mets" in round 1, and we're golden. Not to mention, I'd sure like th eopportunity to beat that fat bee-otch one last time...

Phone call...

Dang..I had this all written up, but Howry had to get out of it...how inconsiderate...eh well, here it is anyway...

"Hello, this is Lou. Oh hi Bud. Yeah. Well, I did put a representative team on the field. Now Bud, that's not nice...Well, I know I could've put in Marmol with the bases loaded and two outs in the 8th. How was _I_ supposed to know Jeff would walk Ramon Martinez. The guy has one hit during the Bush administration. I know. And Howry? Well, it wasn't a save situation and you know how those closers are...yeah....they get all goofy..that's right...Howry's had such a good season and with Wright coming to the plate, I really liked that righty-righty matchup. Yes I know Marmol and Wood are both righties too." C'mon Bud, now you're just being unreasonable...ok...next time I won't hand them the game...yeah...ok...love to the family...you too."

Would've been funny...for a minute anyway...

Power surge...

So it's pretty much offical - when Soriano hits, the Cubs win. 3 bombs last night, and amazingly, thanks to a minor bullpen hiccup, the third was NOT the winning run. Normally, there would be freaking out in response to Samardzija and Wuertz giving up 5 ER without recording an out, but honestly the bullpen has been so solid all year (with the minor exception of one particular guy..cough.cough.Howry.cough..) one can't really overreact to bad outings by a rookie and a minor league pitcher. Which is basically what Wuertz is. This year, he's a minor leaguer. Period.

But the bats came alive, which is hopefully a sign of good times to come. Time will tell, but in the meantime we can take solace in that the Cubs are hitting the piss out of the ball, and the magic number is sinking...

Fewer and fewer minutes until October...

Big Johnson

Oh wait.... hehe. Don't get me wrong, it's great that the Cubs won, but why did our bullpen have to piss away another great start by our pitchers...

The big bats came out again late and spanked the Pirates. I dig the fact that Johnson bunts for a base hit yesterday and hits the game winning HR today :).

Samardzija pitched very well after Lou shortened Z up. Gaudin gave up the lead but he's, been a great find from Oakland. Marmol closed it up. Nice job. Would've liked Z to get to 13, but oh well.

Brew Crew lost. Leads back to five. Hope the Cards get b-slapped, but that's secondary right now.

Astros come to town. We shall have to punish them.

One for the minute....two for the show...

poll is up for Howry.

A pol is up to vote for what Bobby's new nickname will be. Myself, I'm leaning more towards Gopher, but that's me.

Great outing by Z and the offense tonight. Good to see the bats come alive again on the road. With Dempster and Harden going, you're almost starting to talk Sweep...I dunno...

Samardzija gave up a run, but with a 7-0 lead, your job is to throw strikes. No biggie. Run with it kid. 2 of 4. So far, I'm happy...we'll see how long it lasts....

Hey. I'm just being honest...

Another minute, another W.