Red Hot Lou
A red-faced Lou Piniella, with steam coming out of his ears
The Cubs lost yesterday, wasting a respectable pitching performance by Jason Marquis. I'm not going to suggest that Lou Piniella is going to get steamed after every loss, but yesterday's defeat was just so 2006 that Sweet Uncle Lou had to've been a little perturbed. And maybe Cub fans should be, too. For starters, our newly-disciplined Cubs drew a whopping two walks yesterday, while our pitching staff gave up five.
Three of those five walks came in innings where the Cubs gave up runs, and that's all you really need to know. Well, there are a few other things. At one point in yesterday's game, Lou brought in Cliff Floyd to pinch hit, and then promptly subbed him with ... ugh, Ronny Cedeno when the Reds brought in a lefty reliever. Ronny failed to get a hit, leaving two men stranded.
Yet, while it's annoying that the Cubs lost, I suspect it's way, way too early to get up in Lou's grill about things. (Note to our journalist friends reading this - c'mon, you're jealous. You wish you could say "get up in his grill" in one of your articles.) The Cubs are bound to lose in annoying fashion from time to time, but if Lilly and Marquis can continuously deliver pitching performances like their first ones, then the Cubs will stay close in a lot of games. And really, that's about all we can ask for.
Marquis
The one thing I wonder about is why Uncle Lou pulled Marquis after only 6 innings. He was pitching very well, he'd only thrown 82 pitches, and it was a cool (okay, friggin' cold) day.
I was opposed to the Marquis signing, but one of the things Marquis' defenders point to is the fact that he's an innings eater. So why not let him eat another inning?
Cedeno
Ronny not only made an out in a huge situation, but he did it by swinging on a 2-0 pitch that was, reportedly, out of the strike zone. So I'm not even as concerned about the outcome of the at-bat as much as the at-bat itself. It's proof that Cedeno should never be put in that situation, if it all possible. And yesterday it was certainly possible, as Lou actually went out of his way to put him in there by taking the bat out of Cliff's hands. I'd like to see Piniella be a little less "cute" in the future and just do the smart thing.
I was listening to Pat & Ron
at the time of the Cedeno switch. My thought was that Dusty would never have made that move because he was taking the bat out of a veteran's hand and giving the at-bat to a kid.
As Dusty would say, Sweet Lou didn't set Ronny up for success.
What bothered me
was the use of Theriot as a pinch runner/defensive replacement. Murton is neither that slow nor that bad a defender that he needs replacing in such a situation.
If Piniella doesn't make that move, Theriot takes over for Floyd and we're in much better shape. Really just a few very silly moves that I hope isn't part of a trend.