Bipolar Season

Ya kinda knew it was coming. In a season with so many highs and lows, you knew the Cubs were going to lay an egg today against Houston after an exciting win the night before against the Brewers. As usual, a guy named Wandy kicked our butt, and a guy whose name sounds like “underpants” knocked our pitchers around. Not only that, but the Cubs acquired a familiar face, Steve Trachsel. With the NL Central bunching up tighter and tighter, their is going to be a shortage of Rolaids in the Chicagoland area.
Marshall Mess
Like Ted Lilly the night before, Sean Marshall was a complete disaster from the get go. Marshall, like Lilly also had a bad first inning that could have been much worse. Marshall walked three batters, gave up a double, and had a wild pitch and got out of the inning with Houston scoring only one run. He wouldn’t get so lucky in the fourth. Aramis Ramirez fumbled Ty Wigginton’s grounder for an error to start the inning. After Chris Burke singled, Marshall got two outs before rookie Hunter Pence hit a long drive to left for a 4-0 Astros lead. Marshall then gave up a single and a walk before Lou came out to put him out of his misery. Marshall gave up four runs — one earned- and five hits in 3 2/3 innings with four walks. The 3 2/3 innings was his third shortest outing in 18 starts. Like Carlos Zambrano, Marshall has also had a miserable August, going 2-3 with a 6.18 ERA. After the game, Lou let Marshall know he wasn’t happy.
“You can see why we’ve gone out and gotten a veteran pitcher who’s been through this before,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. He was referring to the Cubs trade with the Baltimore Orioles earlier in the day. The Cubs got veteran pitcher Steve Trachsel, a former Cub, for Rocky Cherry and third baseman Scott Moore. With the Cubs pitching staff coming off three bad outings, Zambrano, Lilly, and Marshall, the starters could use a shot in the arm.

Offense Not Much Better

The starting pitching hasn’t been the only thing that has been stinking up the place. The offense has been anemic. They made another bad pitcher look like Cy Young. Rodriguez, who’d been 0-3 in six previous August starts, allowed four hits and earned a rare road victory. He is 2-9 away from Minute Maid Park. The guy is decent at home, but horrible on the road. The offense, with a slumping Derek Lee and Ryan Theriot, a gimpy Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano, and inconsistancy from the rest of the team, is really picking a bad time to start slumping. Pinella also blasted the offense;
“You are not going to hit every day. That I can tell you,” Piniella said. “But down the stretch we are going to have to swing the bats with more consistency. There’s no question.”

Let’s hope we find some offense soon.

Now What?

Stealing a page out of Ned Yost’s playbook, Houston is also calling up a left with only one major league start to go against the Cubs. And why not? The Cubs are 13-21 against lefties, and when there is a weakness on your team, your opponent will keep hammering you until you figure it out. The Cubs are sending Jason Marquis to the mound, hoping for a quality start. With the Cubs unable to get on a roll, every team in the Central still thinks they can win it. Milwaukee, St Louis, Cincinnati, and Houston, who have won three of their first four games under new manager Cecil Cooper, all believe they have a shot to win it. The Cubs are going to have to make September a winning month. After having losing records in April and May, the Cubs were one of the most succesful teams in June and July, with winning records in both months. They were under .500 for August, and if they want to make it to the playoffs, that’s not gonig to cut it. The Cubs need their pitchers to not allow the opposing team to jump all over them, and the bats have to wake up. Period. Let’s start tomorrow.
Go Cubs!