Road Trip Analysis: St. Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia

Record: 2-8
Final Record: 25-39

As the Cubs finished this road trip, they watched their spot in the standings drop to becoming one of the NL's worst teams.  The last loss to Philadelphia Sunday afternoon left them 3-13 in their last 16 games.

Albert Pujols didn't help the Cubs in their quest to return to .500 at all.  Walk-off home runs on back-to-back days at Busch Stadium propelled the Cardinals to a sweep.  The first homer, off Jeff Samardzija, was a well executed changeup below the knees.  The pitch was a ball, but Pujols homered anyway.  A moment like this mandates a sportsmanlike tip of the cap.

But on Sunday, Pujols had a much easier path to victory.  Rodrigo Lopez left him a fastball right down the middle, and Pujols had no issues driving it out of the park to become just the second player since Ron Santo in 1966 to hit walk-off homers in back-to-back games.  The Cubs were just simply beaten at the end of the day, although having been beaten in such a preventable manner was disturbing.  If Pujols can hit Cubs pitching that well, imagine the damage he could do in batting practice if he came to play for the Cubs.  Not that he will or anything, but an interesting thought.

The team showed a variety of ways to lose on this trip while the injury bug continues to infect the entire roster.  The Cubs were without Alfonso Soriano for the entirety of the trip, and weren't too impressed with the continued return of Randy Wells.  Giving up grand slams to scrubs like Miguel Cairo can never be a good thing.  And the only two bright spots on the entire trip were the highlights of the two wins.  Ryan Dempster shut down the Reds in seven innings, Carlos Pena launched a 443 foot blast to right field in Cincinnati, and Tyler Colvin hit what should have been the go-ahead homer in the opener of the Philly series, breaking an unbelievable 0-for-34 slump.

Besides these things, there weren't many positives that came out of this trip for the Cubs.  So I won't bore with complaints about the losing, because it's become more routine.  At least we know what we're getting here.  Nowadays, the phrase goes 'bad teams find a way to lose'.  With this brand of baseball, it appears Cubs fans will just have to Wait Till Next Beer yet again.  

Welcome to the Doghouse

John Grabow and Esmailin Caridad are the first to enter my doghouse on the Cubs.  The Cubs returned from their six game road trip to begin the season with a 2-4 record, although that mark should be 5-1.  On Wednesday in Atlanta, Grabow prevented the Cubs from getting their first win by allowing a two-run, go-ahead homer to Chipper Jones.  Just two nights later Drew Stubbs destroyed Caridad's offering into center field to blow the 3-1 lead.  Another two nights and another blown effort by the Cubs.  This time it was Grabow again, with the help of Alfonso Soriano.  In the 7th with Tom Gorzelanny still pitching, Soriano messed up a routine catch like no one else could and this resulted in the bases loaded with one out.  Miguel Cairo then singled off Sean Marshall to drive in a run, but the tied score didn't last long.  An inning later in the 8th, John Grabow loaded the bases, and Esmailin Caridad walked Ramon Hernandez to walk in a run.  After a Jonny Gomes sac fly, the Cubs were left staring at the scoreboard in disbelief for the third time in five games.

I don't see what has happened with Grabow and Caridad.  I really hope this is something they get over, but the Cubs offense wasn't playing too well on the road trip and the starters were just doing a fantastic job (exception: Carlos Zambrano).  For any of that to matter, the bullpen needs to do their job even if they don't get the big thanks for it.  As we saw, the Cubs were unable to do that.  I haven't seen a stretch like that for the Cubs ever, where the bullpen blows it three out of five nights in the 7th or later.  Hopefully I won't see that again.

I had confidence in this bullpen heading into the season.  Actually, I still do.  This was just a wake up call, and it should stay that way to all Cub fans.  The bullpen is young, and young instability is not really a problem the Cubs have had to deal with in the last few years.  Thankfully, we are young now but we need to be able to hand the ball to someone who can get outs.  This is not easy with young guys.  One night, Caridad might be firing fastballs past everyone, and the next night he's serving up meat balls obliterated all around the park.  Marmol could strike out the side, or he could walk the bases loaded and force in runs.  The main idea with all of this is that not too much should be expected from the bullpen, although there is plenty of upside.