bangpath » Baseball

The Chicago Cubs Blow 2009

t0mmy berg — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:23:40 +0000

With the news today that the Tribune Company has reopened negotiations to sell the team with a second bidder, I thought it time to opine on the Cubs chances this year.

A couple of years ago I had a letter hand delivered to Andy MacPhail by a friend of the family who was in town to watch a Cardinals game in MacPhail’s box at Wrigley. In the letter I offered to be the team’s Moneyball guy, as I have some ideas on what it takes to make a winning baseball team. I did not know that MacPhail would soon be gone. My letter made its way to Jim Hendry and I have his reply letter in which he kindly declined my offer of assistance.

Things would be better for Cubs fans had he not declined my offer. Recall that last year the Cubs had arguably the best team in baseball. They ended the season with a whimper in the first round of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Dodgers due, I submit, to the fact that Lou errantly failed to start the electric Reed Johnson in Center Field in favor of the aging Jim Edmonds, and started Fukudome in right. Fukudome did nothing, Edmonds failed to spark the team, Johnson did not even have a single defensive inning or at-bat and the Cubs predictably but unnecessarily disappointed fans who had really believed that 2008, the 100th year of Cubs futility, would be the year they redeemed all those millions of fan-years of expectations.

So in the off-season, you might expect Hendry to keep the team together for a repeat. Though I had resolved not to give a damn about the Cubs going forward, I did tune in in mid-April. I was surprised when I saw the damage done to the team. Not only did they not keep the team together, they traded away its heart by dealing away Kerry Wood and Mark DeRosa. The clubhouse chemistry between DeRosa and Theriot was the core of what made the Cubs a contender last year. Gone. The feel-good story which had Kerry Wood in a comeback role as closer was finished. Gone. Wood was not the best closer in the game, but certainly he did a serviceable job, and he has a winning disposition. Also a good part of the team chemistry.

Why did Hendry deal these two players? According to news reports quoting Hendry, it was to make room for… Milton Bradley?!?!#?*!? Aaron Miles at second for DeRosa and Kevin Gregg for the Closer?!?!#@?!? Where to start. Gregg has proven to be several notches below Wood in the closing role. Aaron Miles is a serviceable player, but he does not have the spark with the rest of the team that causes guys to play above their baseline capabilities. And to top it off, they acquire the games biggest head case and worst clubhouse guy (possibly excepting Manny Ramirez) who comes in to hit … .110. You could not have made worse moves. It just isn’t possible.

So it is too bad that I am not working for the team. And it is too bad that Cubs fans will have to wait more decades for a shot to see the Cubs win the fall classic. I will be surprised if the Cubbies finish above .500 on the season. And then their other core players like Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez will be past their winning years. Once upon a time I was a Cubs fan. Now I am an angry ex Cubs fan.

Buh Bye Sweet Lou

t0mmy berg — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:22:49 +0000

If I were the General Manager of the Cubs, the first thing I would do is thank Lou for a great season and give him his walking papers. He is right that the offense performed dismally. But he did not have the right guys on the field. The stellar center fielder, Reed Johnson , did not even play in one inning, nor did he have any pinch hits. Are you kidding me? The series started out on the wrong foot because the right players were not on the field.

You play the odds and matchups in the regular season and over 162 games that is going to work out to alot of wins for a talented team like the Cubs. But in the post season, you have to go with your gut sometimes. Or you go home early.

The Cubs ARE Cursed

t0mmy berg — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:43:28 +0000

Apparently Lou Piniella has been possessed by whatever demon has cursed the Cubs. Why else would he choose to start the faltering Jim Edmonds in BOTH of the first two games of the NLDS against the Dodgers? To prove that he is a great season manager, but is NOT a great playoff manager?

Had he started Reed Johnson, the team would have had more spark and this would be a different series. Nothing against Jim Edmonds, he helped the Cubs out alot during the season, but he was the wrong choice. Rather Lou should have started DeRosa in Right Field, injury or no, Fontenot at second, who has been hot at the plate the last few weeks, sit Fukudome, and start Reed Johnson in Center. The Cubs would be up 2-0 instead of down 0-2.

Musings on Baseball

t0mmy berg — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 03:19:31 +0000

Nice finish just now to the Cubs series with the Brewers. Piniella will say to Dempster “You sure like to make things interesting, don’t you son!?” as they leave the field. Now I have been wondering whether this unbelievably annoying song “Go, Cubs, Go!” that I hear at the end of games is something they play just on TV or whether it is actually played at the ballpark. I had decided they couldn’t possibly play something that mensch for real, it must be only on the TV. But tonight I saw people in the stands mouthing the words along with the sound. Tell me it ain’t so. It is almost as bad as the purple dinosaurs the Vikings had for awhile in the 90’s.

What is really weird is that if you asked me earlier in the season which of the two teams I identify with would be in the playoffs this year, I would have said the Twins, not the Cubs. The Cubs were just plain awful. But you have to hand it to Piniella and even Jim Hendry. The team has jelled a good deal and play some reasonably good and exciting ball. Go Cubs!

Pitches per At-Bat Abysmal

t0mmy berg — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 01:50:14 +0000

Through 6 innings of play tonight against the Cleveland Indians, the twins have seen fewer than 60 pitches. With 20 batters having had at-bats, that is fewer than 3 pitches per plate appearance. How is that working out for them? 2 hits. It took just 7 pitches to retire the side in the first inning and 5 in the 6th. So they trade Castillo and all of a sudden the entire team is swinging at nearly every pitch thrown? They would do better if they never took the bat off their shoulders. And they would probably have had at least as many base runners. If I am the manager, there are a few choice words for the team. Not after the game, but during.

Twins Unfortunately Harken Back to Last Year

t0mmy berg — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 07:04:58 +0000

The twins have lost 4 of their last 5 games after a promising start to the 2007 season. Why? The same reason they lost to Oakland in the Division series last year. Is no one paying attention there? There is a reason people call their players the “piranhas”. They chip away at you. But they have recently been doing exactly the opposite and playing like herrings. In each of the last 2 games, the team has averaged about 11 pitches from the opposing pitcher through 7 innings. And that is with 6 hits. Each player to come up has been averaging only about 2.5 pitches per plate appearance. The result? Losses. When will someone wake up up there? When they take more pitches, they win. When they swing away, they lose. So which should they be doing? Despite the great respect I have for the management of the Twins, I have to wonder whether key managers are on a mental vacation. Or are they experimenting? Nah.

A Satisfying End to the World Series

t0mmy berg — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 03:49:35 +0000

Solid. Imperfect. Hard-working. It was a pleasure to see the Cardinals win it all. They are a team with a lot of character from the top on down.

Minnesota Twins Should Have Been There

t0mmy berg — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 00:18:08 +0000

As I sit here watching the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals open the 2006 World Series, I cannot help but think what might have been for the Twins. Nobody will remember that the Twins won the AL Central Division again this year. Well, they did not so much win it at the end, so much as the Tigers lost it in extra innings on the last game of the season. This may have been a crucial difference. Instead of travelling to New York and attempting to exercise the demons that have bedevilled them in the post season against the Yankees, the Twins as division winners hosted the A’s.

I had a sense of foreboding when they sat Johan Santana on what would have been his final start of the season so he could start game 1 of the division series. What would happen if they lost that game, I wondered? They did and then of course went on to lose the next two and they were done. The amazing winning streaks and Division win for naught before anyone could even catch their breath.

Why? The answer is best understood against the backdrop of how it was they won 96 games and the division after starting the season 12 under and being 10 and more games back of the Tigers late in the season.

Game after game from June on, the twins won because offensively, they took pitches, wore down the opposing starter and made good on their chances by being aggressive on the bases, getting men on base and getting clutch hits. Ozzie Guillen gave them a name, which could prove to be short-lived; the pirrhanas. It helped that they had Santana and Liriano pitching brilliantly. Radke also came back strong in the second half after a weak start. Add to that a solid defense and you have the ingredients for a lot of wins.

So what do they do in game 1 of the division series? First, they started Phil Nevin instead of Jason Tyner in the 8 spot. What? A former Cub who really did not have any hand in getting them the Division. Who strikes out a lot. Nevin is not a pirrhana, he is a pariah. For some reason, all the Twins hitters came out swinging against Zito in Game 1. Bartlett, who is one of the Pirrhanas, was swinging at first pitches and making outs early in the count. So too Punto. Tyner wasnt in the game. The only one who played true to Pirrhana form was Castillo.

The predictable result? Zito goes 8 innings on 92 pitches. At one point in the 4th inning he had pitched fewer than 10 pitches per inning. To make matters worse, he threw only 50% strikes, so the Twins had on completely the wrong strategy. The Twins lose 3-2 in Game 1. They lost because they changed their style of play from the Pirrhana style to one that did not fit the team. They played like the Cubs, not the Twins.

After that it was basically all over. They tried to change their style back midway through Game 2, but by then it was too late. Ultimately this was Gardenhires error. I see he just got a 2 year extension. That is fitting. He is a great manager. I just wonder whether he was possessed by some Demon right before the series, because he did not manage it the way he managed what was an excellent season.