What can you say...

Well - another loss. That's seven of the last ten games the Cubs have given up - not something that should characterize a team in the midst of a tight playoff race (with less than 8 weeks remaining no less). That is, not something that should characterize a team that desires to continue to entertain postseason hopes. And so, as one should expect - the Cubs dropped into third in the wildcard race, 1 1/2 games behind San Francisco, and 1/2 game behind San Diego.

In any event, I can't comment on the game too much because I had to travel to Southern Illinois last night, and WGN went out around Springfield, and (due to the storm), I really couldn't pick up the game until my return trip when I was finally able to pick it up in the sixth inning somewhere in central Illinois. By that time, of course, the Cubs were down 3-1 and the anemic offense that we have all come to know very well was manifest in all of its glory. The Brewers pitcher (Victor Santos) is apparently destined for future greatness, because although he had lost his five previous starts (and he didn't even reach the fifth inning of his previous three), he held the Cubs to five hits and one run over 6 1/3 innings. When was Santos' last win you ask? Well, surprise, surprise - it was July 16th against the hapless Cubs. And hasn't this been a recurrent theme for this ball club this year? A pitcher struggles against other teams, but then looks like a Cy Young candidate when facing the boys from the Northside. So the question is - are these pitchers just ramping it up and somehow finding their A-game consistently against the Cubs - or is it the Cub offense that makes bad pitchers look decent (e.g., Jose Acevedo, Jason Jennings, Kirk Rueter, et al) and good pitchers look exceptional (Victor Santos, Chris Capuano, Doug Davis)? Now I can't be certain, of course, but the fact that this phenomena occurs so often would tend to suggest the latter possibility. And if you have time to burn - try running the overall stats from those pitchers I just listed versus their splits against just the Cubs this year. I will say this much - As long as an utterly inconsistent and generally insipid offense continues to plague this ball club, the playoffs seem more and more to be nothing more than an ephemeral pipedream - and success during the postseason only the delusional hope of the lunatic fringe. That is, unless something changes - and soon.

Dusty rants...

One of the most frustrating aspects of this season has been the undue and unbalanced reliance on solo home-runs this season. This quote from Carrie Muskat's news report after Tuesday's loss to the Brewers sums it up pretty well...

"We stranded quite a few runners out there," Baker said. The Cubs lead the National League in home runs, and rely on the long ball. Maybe too much. "We've hit a lot of home runs but we haven't gotten a lot of big hits this season, and we have to find a way to get those runners across when we have them out there," Lee said.

Gee - do you think that might because the Cubs are not effectively grouping players together in the batting order? Why is it the Cubs seem to have an unusual penchant for knocking solo shots? One obvious answer (to me at least) is because they are spacing their best hitters and inserting frequent strikeout/groundout candidates between those players who have demonstrated a consistent ability to reach base. As a result, runners are frequently left stranded, and when homeruns are hit, no one is on base. Hence, the ball club is unable to take advantage of consistently good hitters (Walker, Garciaparra, Ramirez, Lee, and Barrett) advancing other consistently good hitters. Certainly other factors could be appealed to (such as poor base running, defensive lapses, and an inept bullpen, among other team woes), but most of the blame (again in my opinion) can be laid squarely at the feet of the manager - Dusty Baker, who refuses to make the tough decisions managers are required to make because he would (apparently) rather function as team therapist (worried that he was going to lose Sammy emotionally and spiritually????) than team manager. Is it blasphemous to say that I would like to see what the tough Southside manager Ozzie Guillen could do with this team? What would a few overturned tables and visible displays of anger accomplish? Perhaps nothing in the long run, but it would probably give us fans vicarious satisifcation if nothing else.

Clement draws another tough match-up...

Matt Clement (he of no run-support ignominy) runs up against All-star pitcher Ben Sheets tonight in what could be a turning point of the season for the Cubs (one way or the other). Meanwhile, Wildcard leader San Francisco goes up against the pitiful Expos. At least San Diego is playing the Braves.

And if you want to comment about any of this - too bad because this blasted hosting service hasn't gotten back to me yet with regard to why a comments feature isn't available even though I just included it in the html.