Last Night Made Me Cry (well…almost)
This is going to be short because I see no need (and lack the desire) to look hard at this game. It was close the entire time but never should have been. There should not have been lead changes or nail biting moments. The Cubs literally beat themselves in this one. I’d rather forget it and move on. Also, I didn’t follow this one all that closely. I periodically checked the score via cubs.com’s gameday. Here’s a recap of what I saw when I checked in:
4th inning: Dempster wild pitch brings in the Brewers’ first run to tie the game. Depressing way to tie the game.
6th: Cubs go up 2-1 on a Burnitz single. There’s Burnitz again, let’s hope he stays hot.
7th: Brewers take the lead with a two run shot. Damnit.
9th: This is where it got bad. Novoa intentionally walks the bases loaded only to walk in the winning run. I couldn’t believe what I just saw.
If you asked me to think of the worst way to lose a game, I would point to last night. Half of the Brewers’ runs were GIVEN to them by the Cubs. About the only positive I can think of in this whole debacle is that the Cubs’ performances tend to swing from very impressive to down right depressing and vice versa. Let’s hope that today we see a Maddux who goes 7 or 8, some hot bats and no errors from anyone on the Cubs.
posted by DS @ 8:10 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Not only is it heartbreaking to lose yet another game by 1 run (I believe the 5th 1-run loss of their season, and we've only played 26 games), but allowing 9 walks is completely unacceptable. You just cannot allow that many guys on-base without any effort.
Lyle Overbay was walked 4 times. Granted, he can do the most damage to the Cubs' pitching, but there's no excuse for pitching around him to that extent. He may be hot right now, but he's no Barry Bonds.
No fire in the belly.
And Berry's done, I think. Three operations on one knee at his age—I don't see a big come back. Of course any major leaguer could hit up a storm with the strike zone they give Berry, about the size of a basketball.
Yeah, where is that killer instinct? Can the Cubs hold on to win games? Can they come back from big deficits but finish opponents off?
I keep thinking back to the Reds game on ESPN. Wood was pitching, and the bats were hot early on. HRs all over the place - 4 HRs in the first 3 Innings. Everyone - Corey, D-Lee, Burny, Ramirez - gave them a 5-1 lead.
Couldn't hold on, lose 7-6. It's performances like these by which the season gets defined. I just hope we can wake up a little bit and show some determination. Many teams would have crumbled completely under the weight of losing so many important players, and while the Cubs have been far from heroic, they've managed remarkably well under the circumstances.
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