"At the end of the day, boys, you don't tell me how rough the water is, you bring in the ship." – Steve Stone
A Goat Riders Affiliate
Go Cubs!

Wrigley Rooftop Directory
Ryne Sandberg Fan Page
The Cubdom Photo Gallery
The Cubs Prayer
Cubs Calendar
Jim Hendry Page
Cubs Ownership History
Baseball Business Essays
TheCubdom Hall of Cubs


Recent Blog Updates

Editor's Pick:

Goat Riders of the Apocalypse
Bleed Cubbie Blue
Desipio Media Ventures
Hire Jim Essian!
Cub Reporter
Ivy Chat
Cub Town
Ghost of Paul Noce
The Cubdom
Thunder Matt's Saloon
View From the Bleachers
Cubby-Blue
WGN-TV Baseball Blog

Honorable Mention:

A Hundred Next Years
A League of Her Own
Agony and Ivy
Bad News Cubs
Baseball Diamond News
Boys of Spring
Bush League Times
Chicago Cubs Baseball
Chicago Cubs Blog
Chicago Cubs Online
Church of Baseball
Clark & Addison blog
College of Idiots
Cubs f/x
Cubs Hot Stove
Cubs Hub
CubsNet.com
Cubs Obsession
Five Outs to go
Gonfalon Cubs
Kosuke Fukodome
Lollygaggers
Out of Right Field
The Cubs Brickyard
The Other Fifteen
The Ted Lilly Fan Club
Temporary Bleachers
TheCubsfan.com
Wrigleyville23

Newbies:

Cubbie Nation
Holy Cow Bell
Ivy Envy
Towel Drills
Turning Two
Wasting away in Wrigleyville

Soldiering On:

Die-hard Cubs Fun
Fire Dusty Baker
Northside Lounge
Peoria Northsider Report
Yarbage Cub Review

Cubs Sites:

Desipio Boards
North Side Baseball
Cubscast.com
Inside the Ivy
The Heckler
My Wrigleyville

Just Read 'em!

Baseball Analysts
Baseball Musings
Baseball Prospectus
Baseball Think Factory
Hardball Times

Conglomerates

Baseball Toaster
Most Valuable Network
SportsBlog Nation

NL Central

Brew Crew Ball MIL
Bucs Dugout PIT
Crawfish Boxes HOU
Get Up Baby STL
Honest Wagner PIT
Red Hot Mama CIN
Red Reporter CIN
Viva El Birdos STL

NL East

Amazin Avenue NYM
Citizens Blog PHI
Federal Baseball WAS
Fish Stripes FLA
The Good Phight PHI
Sabernomics ATL

NL West

6-4-2 LAD, LAA
AZ Snake Pit AZ
Dodger Thoughts LAD
Ducksnorts SD
Gas Lamp Ball SD
McCovey Chronicles SF
Only Baseball Matters SF
Purple Row COL

AL East

Batters Box TOR
Bronx Banter NYY
Camden Chat BAL
DRays Bay TB
Futility Infielder NYY
Joy of Sox BOS
Over the Monster BOS
Pinstripe Alley NYY
Replacement Level Yankees Weblog NYY

AL Central

Aaron's Baseball Blog MIN
Bless You Boys DET
Let's Go Tribe CLE
Royals Review KC
South Side Sox CHW
Sox Machine CHW
Tiger Blog DET
Twins Geek MIN

AL West

Athletics Nation OAK
Halo's Heaven LAA
Lone Star Ball TEX
Lookout Landing SEA
USS Mariner SEA

Miscellany

Beyond the Boxscore
Minor League Ball

Chicago Sports

Blog-A-Bull
Section 8 Fire
Windy City Gridiron Bears

News Sources

Chicagosports.com
Cubs.com
MLB.com
Sun-Times Cubs
Daily Herald Sports
Daily Southtown Sports
BaseballReference.com

Falling off the Peleton...

Wednesday, June 9, 2004

The Tour de France is about ready to get going this year, and its time for some cycling metaphors. Jim Hendry and Dusty Baker have made several comments that the team is gonna just try and "draft" for a while until they get healthy and then make a run at it. However, in baseball, especially when you are playing within your division there is no such thing as drafting. You either win, or you lose. You either move ahead in the standings or you fall behind.

Since the Cubs have gone 8 and 13 since their off day May 17, the Cubs are definitely falling behind.

Today's game reminded me of the mid-90's Cubs. In a 4-12 loss, the Cardinals took complete advantage of an over matched Cubs pitching staff, with a manager who didn't know when to take the ball from his pitchers. In Prior's second start of the season, he had a horrible outing, allowing 5 runs in 3.2 innings. He walked 5 and left the mound after giving up a grand slam to Edgar Renteria.

Troublesome tactitioner Dusty managed the Club today. (As opposed to masterful motivator Dusty.) After walking the bases loaded, Dusty allowed Prior to pitch to Renteria which is something that his pitchers supposedly appreciate. Dusty sticks with his guys and allows them to work out of their own jams. On the other hand, when a guy has given up 4 hits and 5 walks in 3 innings, he isn't going to get out of an inning and just turn it around the next inning... even if his name is Mark Prior. Following Renteria's grand salami, Beltran retired Marlon Anderson on 3 pitches.

My next opportunity to second guess Dusty's tactics occured in the 5th inning when Dusty sent Glendon Rusch up to pinch hit. I realize the bench is short, but if it is important enough to pinch hit then use an actual hitter, and not a pitcher. Now, I realize that Dusty was going to pull Leicester and Rusch wasn't gonna pitch, but why not call on Zambrano or Wood? My second point isn't a real strong argument, but I was yelling at the TV, so it gets included.

Finally, the tactical error that got me angriest was when Dusty had Renteria intentionally walked in the eighth inning. There was one out in the eighth with Tony Womack standing on second. Dusty walked Renteria to put the double play in order against Ray Lankford. However, following Lankford, the following Cardinals were due to bat: Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds, and Reggie Sanders (with gimpy Albert Pujols on the bench.) Now, it should be pointed out that Scott Rolen had already hit an RBI double in the first and driven in 5 during the previous two games. Nor was Rolen's production against the Cubs a fluke like Mr. Mackowiak's baby birthing bashing spree. No, Mr. Rolen is sitting pretty atop the NL with 63 Ribbies through 59 games and is on pace to drive in 173. By walking Renteria, Dusty did not take the opportunity to get Edgar out and thus ensured that Rolen would come up with men in scoring postion unless Lankford hit into two. The result was another four innings scored immediately following Lankford's sac fly.

Drowned in the onslaught of Cardinal runs this series has been C-Pat's emergence from his slump. In the first thee games against the Cards, the much boo-ed centerfielder is hitting .333 with a .385 OBP. He has hit 2 dingers, and driven in 3.

Watched a bit of Basketball last night. Haven't watched much since the Bulls were broken up, but the Finals were on after the Cubs. Kobe Bryant was spectacular, and hit a jaw dropping 3 to force overtime. With about 2 or 3 minutes left in regulation, Kobe drove to the hoop and scored on what looked a bit like a finger roll. After watching that play, it reminded me a bit of MJ. Oh well, I wish the Bulls weren't horrible.

Posted by Byron at June 9, 2004 9:18 PM | Bookmark and Share | BallHype: hype it up!
Subscribe to The Cubdom - get emails with the latest Cubs info and pictures

This post has been tagged:

Leave a comment


AddThis Feed Button

Get The Cubdom email updates


Search

Google
Web
TheCubdom.com

eXTReMe Tracker
Since Mar 18, 2004

Recent Entries


Monthly Archives



Cubs Sale Articles

© 2004 – 2015 Byron Clarke
legal - about thecubdom.com - site index