Archive for April 14th, 2008
April 14th, 2008
The Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan attempted his revisionist history for Dusty Baker’s return to Wrigley Field as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, beginning Tuesday night.
I don’t want to go point-by-point because recalling the Baker era since 2004 makes me yearn for an aneurysm. But this one makes me laugh: Baker was known as a player’s manager who coddled his team, unlike his successor. But Wood said they’re a lot alike. “There are not that many differences,” he said. “They both hate to lose.”
Wow. Both managers hate to lose? So they’re alike?
The difference is Piniella holds the players accountable. That’s why C Michael Barrett and SS Cesar Izturis, who would have been defended to the end by Baker last season if given the chance, instead were sent far, far away in the Lou regime.
April 14th, 2008
The 7-5 Cubs are doing some early-season damage control to keep pace with the never-surprising Cardinals (9-4) and the division-favorite Brewers (8-4). And they are doing it in rare fashion: extra-inning wins…on the road.Â
So far this season, the Cubs are 3-1 when games go past 9 innings. All three wins came during the recent Pennsylvania-road trip. The results were ugly, but effective enough to go 4-2.Â
Over the past two seasons, the Cubs went 6-14 (2006: 4-7, 2007: 2-7) in extra-innings games with a 3-8 (2006 2-5, 2007 1-3) road record.
Down the stretch, extra inning wins make the difference between getting into the playoffs and not. Just ask last season’s
Rockies, who won 11 of 21 extra innings games, including a 13-inning play-in game over the Padres (forced to play due to an overcrowded NL West).
April 14th, 2008
It’s too early to worry (what, me worry), but there are a few disturbing trends as the Cubs come home after a 4-2 road trip.
Other than Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster, the starting pitching has been bad. Ted Lilly, Rich Hill and Jason Marquis look lost. Hill has the best ERA of the three at 5. They’ve combined for just 32 innings in seven starts. That’s put a lot of pressure on the bullpen, which for the most part has done well.
The Cubs defense hasn’t helped the pitchers much. Lots of physical and mental errors so far. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.
Timely hitting is an issue as is getting runners home from third with less than two outs.
Despite that, the Cubs are 7-5. The team has shown resiliency despite the problems mentioned above. I guess I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty, but that’s tough to maintain over the course of the season.
It took a while for the team to get going last year, so maybe when the team starts playing well it can put the rest of the N.L. Central in the rear-view mirror.
I’m not as worried about the Brewers as I am the Cardinals. Tony LaRussa knows how to get the most from his players.
