Road Trip Analysis: Cincinnati, Florida, Boston

Record: 3-4
Final Record: 20-25

The Cubs made their first trip to Cincinnati this season when they headed there last week for the first of the two scheduled two-game series on the Cubs schedule this season.  I'm not going to sugar coat it; the results of the trip to Cincinnati were catastrophic.  Two winnable games, which had we had won we would now be mere percentage points below .500, were thrown away by lack of effort and the worst defense you will see in the Major Leagues.

The first game was winnable by all means.  The Cubs had a 4-0 lead until the 6th, when Carlos Zambrano began his regularly scheduled blowup inning.  But he remained out there, and the Reds continued to hammer him while the bullpen struggled to get warm.  Zambrano had been carrying a three-hit shutout through five innings.  A walk, five hits, four earned runs with more to come on the bases with just one out later, Zambrano was relieved by Marcos Mateo.  But the damage was already done, as threw a wild pitch to score the go-ahead run and then a two-run homer to Jonny Gomes.  It wasn't just the ill-timed decision making that cost the Cubs this game; it was the lack of effort and the sense that they had given up.  Too many times I see this team sulking and just going down without a fight.  This is exactly what happened here, as if the Reds coming back was inevitable.

Just when it looked like it couldn't get any worse, of course, it did.  The Cubs came out the next night and the pitching staff, led by the starter that night Matt Garza, shut out the Reds.  In earned runs, at least.  The futile Cubs defense allowed the Reds to literally tie and win the game with seven runs, all of which were preventable by not throwing the ball away!  An error in the 4th by Carlos Pena was magnified after Garza hurriedly whipped the ball into the dugout throwing it home to get a runner.  That scored all three runs to tie the game.  Then in the 8th, the Cubs held a 5-3 lead, which Kerry Wood blew when he threw Ryan Hanigan's sacrifice bunt down the left field line trying to aggressively get the force at third.

I've only seen one other play like this one before, and it was in Game 5 of the 2006 World Series when Justin Verlander threw David Eckstein's bunt into left field trying to do the same thing.  But unlike that play, the ball this time got all the way down the line and to the wall.  Two more runs scored and the game was tied again.  Watching this play live, it's hard to describe the frustration that a Cubs fan feels when watching this stuff.  Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks was known as 'The Human Highlight Reel' for his stunning ability to light up a highlight reel.  The Cubs as a team basically create the Human Incompetence Reel.

These two games should have been won.  They were key division games early in the season and the weather nullified much of the home field advantage.  This is a series the Cubs needed to win if they are going to get back into the NL Central mix.  They put together wins here and there this season, but they aren't going to win anything if they ever have another game like this (photo, left) or allow seven unearned runs.

After all of this, the Cubs headed to South Beach for their last series ever at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens.  Surprisingly, the Cubs won both games there in efficient fashion.  Not so surprisingly, it was their first sweep of the season, albeit a two-game series.  The Cubs did not commit an error in either game.

This led to the Cubs' first trip to Fenway Park in Boston since the 1918 World Series.  News of this World Series came up recently, when a report stemming from a document released by the Chicago History Museum suggested that the Cubs blew the Series for money, much like the White Sox did a year later.  I don't know the truth to this document, and it very well could just be the Sox player hassling the Cubs indirectly about something else.
 
Marlon Byrd was interviewed by Comcast SportsNet on Thursday night after the win against Florida and, when asked on his outlook for the Boston series, he replied, "Sweep Caroline."  I agree that the whole Sweet Caroline tradition at Fenway is really annoying, but hearing this stuff out of him gets tiring to be honest.  Last season, Byrd guaranteed the playoffs in May when the team was falling out of contention.  Well, you saw how that turned out.

The Cubs seemed overwhelmed by an American League offense in the first round on Friday night.  All three games were on national television, with WGN, FOX, and ESPN handling the games, respectively. After an uneventful 15-5 loss Friday, the Cubs bats woke up in the 8th inning of the game Saturday night, and the Red Sox collapsed which was reminiscent of the Cubs' defense collapses.  In a stunning change of momentum, the Cubs put up eight in the 8th and won 9-3.  As the Cubs closed out the bottom of the 9th, the huge contingent of Cubs fans that had traveled to Boston were chanting 'Let's Go Cubbies' at Fenway Park, an action pretty much unprecedented.  Every game at Fenway Park since April 2003 has been a sellout, so it's always full of Red Sox fans.  But Cubs fans took over Fenway late on Saturday.  Although that was nice, it was the only win in the series loss.

The Cubs were quietly shut down by knuckleballer Tim Wakefield on Sunday night.  Such a loss can be expected from the Cubs, as this is one of those games I notice where they just give up at a certain point.  The indifference of the group makes them less interesting to watch for sure, and this is the primary factor in the Cubs attendance struggles of this season.  But either way, this road trip was very up and down.  Mostly down, though, and the Red Sox-Cubs series generated nothing more than publicity for historical content, not a key turning point like it could have been.

Believe it or not, I have faith in the Cubs coming up in the next few weeks.  A nice, long homestand against three bad teams in the Mets, Pirates, and Astros is the perfect time to get into a groove, especially as the ivy will be grown, the weather will be nice, and the fans will be there.  And they'll need to get into a groove, because they then play 20 straight games against teams who had winning records last year.  But I have faith they will, because this team has hung in there despite slow starts from Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena, who are both hitting very well now.  Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner will be huge to this team, as the Cubs will no longer have to deal with immediate five-run deficits by way of James Russell every fifth day.  Hopefully, the Cubs will get lucky for once.
 
  

Homestand Wrapup: Pittsburgh, Cincinnati

Record: 2-5
Final Record: 35-47
Games Behind First: 11.5 GB

Wrigley Field isn't an advantage for anything these days.  The Cubs' home record fell to 20-23 after a very poor homestand.  The Cubs should've won two of three against the Pirates and two of four against the Reds, but they can never beat the teams they're supposed to and also can't beat the teams better than them.  The evil Pirates who probably now have destroying the Cubs as their only achievement this season, came to Wrigley Monday night.  Alfonso Soriano hit a home run for the Cubs only scoring, and Jose Tabata hit a go-ahead double in the top of the 9th to win it 2-1.  Soriano went deep two more times the next day but the Cubs only managed three runs.  Luckily, Ted Lilly was on his game and the Cubs snuck out a 3-1 win.  Wednesday was a game we would've had if it wasn't our defense failing us for the millionth time.  This time it was Aramis Ramirez in the top of the 8th, after a pitching duel between Tom Gorzelanny and Brad Lincoln in a 0-0 game.  An error putting on Andy LaRoche haunted the Cubs after Garrett Jones doubled to center to score him and later Sean Marshall walked in a run.  2-0.

The Cincinnati Reds came to town feeling pretty confident.  Behind the young superstars Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Mike Leake and Drew Stubbs as well as the veterans Orlando Cabrera, Scott Rolen, and Bronson Arroyo, they were in first place heading into this series.  Soriano said before the series, "If we lose three, it could get ugly."  It's going to get ugly now, as the Cubs only put up a fight in two of the games and only won one.  On Thursday Tyler Colvin hit a clutch two-run single in the 8th to tie the game at two, but Drew Stubbs knocked in the go-ahead run in the 10th and the Reds won it in extras.  The Reds also won Saturday, 12-0 and for the Cubs there was literally nothing to report.  Brian Schlitter gave up five.  Yay.  Soriano hit an RBI single and Geovany Soto hit a two-run double in a three-run sixth in a 3-1 win Saturday, with Randy Wells pitching maybe his best game of the year.  It's been a struggle for the guy this season, so it was nice to see him pitch well and against a good team.  There were nine homers hit on Sunday.  Nine!  The Cubs' two were both from impressive Tyler Colvin, but the Cubs were blown out badly 14-3 from the Reds homers by Jonny Gomes, Paul Janish, Corky Miller, Brandon Phillips, Drew Stubbs, Drew Stubbs, and Drew Stubbs.  Stubbs surprisingly hit three homers although he is not necessarily known for his power.

Because of my busy week the last week, I didn't watch an out in a game of this homestand.  The week long drought was the longest since I became a Cubs fan on a day-to-day basis in mid 2006.  If you have something else to do with your spare time, right now I suggest you do so.  Watching this stuff is depressing.  Monday's game was promising in Arizona, but that doesn't mean anything anymore.  The problem I have with this team is that there are no strong spots.  We are bad against lefties, bad against righties.  Bad at home, bad on the road.  Bad in April, bad in May, bad in June, bad in July.  We aren't constantly getting swept and then sweeping other teams, but rather we are consistently bad against all.  We lose so many series that you wonder if there is ever a bright spot for this team.  I would feel that we are much stronger if we were streaky and won five in a row to lose five in a row right after because there is a good chance that sometime they could continue the winning formula over the rest of the season.  But no, this year we are just boring and losing.

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.