Bases Loaded and No Outs....

By Neil on June 24, 2008 12 Vote 0 Votes

Game Seventy-Seven - Cubs 5 Orioles 7
WP - Jeremy Guthrie (4-7) LP - Sean Marshall (0-1) Save - George Sherrill (26)

Lou Piniella's crew lost for the first time at Wrigley Field since May 17th after not being able to come up with big hits in the last two innings. The Cubs left 5 on base in the 8th and 9th innings after Jim Edmonds and Aramis Ramirez brought the Cubs to within two runs. The Cubs loaded the bases in the 9th inning after a single by Geovany Soto, a walk by Mark DeRosa and an infield single off the bat of Ryan Theriot. George Sherrill then struck out the next three batters....Ronny Cedeno, Kosuke Fukudome and Henry Blanco on 11 pitches. For the first time in over a month, the Faithful were stunned and Lou Piniella was a man of few words after the tough loss.

The Cubs put themselves into position to win the game, but all three pinch hitters Piniella called upon with the game on the line in the 8th and 9th could not come through.

Sean Marshall was very good the first time though the lineup. He allowed only 1 hit and struck out 4 without a walk but the Orioles made adjustments and Marshall ended up allowing 4 runs on 6 hits in his last 2 2/3 innings with a walk and 3 strikeouts. Piniella described Marshall's outing with a short, fitting answer "O.K."

The middle relief did not keep the Orioles from tacking on. An error by Eric Patterson opened the Orioles 3-run 6th inning. Michael Wuertz struggled once again and while the runs were unearned, Baltimore's offense plated 3 against Wuertz. The big hits....a double by Alex Cintron and a triple by Brian Roberts.

Before and during the game the long rumored trade for Brian Roberts this past winter was discussed. Lou Piniella actually mentioned three of the names that would have been sent to the Orioles. While Sean Marshall and Ronny Cedeno have contributed to the Cubs this season, Brian Roberts was the difference on Tuesday night....3-for-5 with a triple, 2 runs scored and a RBI in his first game at the Friendly Confines.

The Cubs ended up losing a tough game that looked to be over in the 6th inning. The entire team appeared flat but never gave up and kept chipping away....the problem is they waited too long to make their move for one of the few times this season.

Lou Piniella said after the game the Orioles beat his team and that was all. No let down from the weekend, just beaten....and that is truly the case. The Faithful are witnessing one of the best first halves in the history of the organization. This was only one loss in the third week of June, at home, during a long season. With that said, it was the way the game ended that made it so difficult to swallow.

The Cubs offense could not find a rhythm against Jeremy Guthrie. The only run they managed until the 7th was a solo shot off the bat of Kosuke Fukudome. His 6th of the year cut the Orioles lead in half in the bottom of the 4th....2-1.

The Cubs offense hit into four double plays on the night that put an end to several innings....and when they needed their trademark patience in the 9th, it was no where to be found.

Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez started the 7th with back-to-back singles to left off of Jeremy Guthrie. Jim Edmonds stepped in and hit his 3rd home run in 3 games....his 3-run shot to left cut the Orioles lead to 7-4. Geovany Soto followed with a walk but Mark DeRosa hit into the team's fourth double play of the night and Ryan Theriot grounded out to 2nd to end the inning.

Daryle Ward made his first appearance off the DL and walked on the 9th pitch of the at bat to start the 8th. Fukudome put together a tremendous 12-pitch at bat, but grounded out to 1st and Kevin Millar forced pinch runner Jason Marquis at 2nd. Eric Patterson singled to left on the first pitch.

With runners on 1st and 2nd and 1-out, Derrek Lee grounded to 3rd. Melvin Mora threw to 2nd to start the double play, but he had to throw around Fukudome and pulled Brian Roberts off the bag....Eric Patterson was called out, after all Roberts was "in the neighborhood" and Lee reached. Aramis Ramirez singled to right to plate Fukudome....7-5 Orioles.

Dave Trembley brought in George Sherrill to get the final 4 outs. Piniella replaced Jim Edmonds with Matt Murton. Murton worked the count to 3-2 before flying out to left to end the inning.

Two big positives in the loss: 1) Daryle Ward returned and showed why he is so important off the bench. 2) Carlos Marmol was effective, not nasty but effective....a good sign. 11 pitches, 5 strikes and a hit batsman.

Tuesday night was only one game....

Ted Lilly is scheduled to face fellow southpaw Brian Burres in game two on Wednesday.

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Bad luck with divisions, really. The Brewers have the third best record in the NL.

It sucks, but you'd think the Cards would start to come back to Earth at some point. The Brewers, however, are legit in my view.

Wild cards coming out of the central. Fine with me if it's the Cubs...as long as we don't end up in third place (still, a 5 game cushion is nice from being out of the playoff race -- and late June is too early to scoreboard watch ... just keep winning series!)

DL

We are having an awesome season so far, but... is anyone else concerned that we are only 3.5 and 5 up on the Cards and Brewers? It "feels" like we should be up 7 or 8 games. It just too close for comfort!

Show

Murton is a joke. I was actually surprised he flew out. I was expecting a weak ground out to the pitcher. He's dregs as far as MLB players go.

I agree, Jason, on giving up on those four players, but unfortunately the trade value of Murton and Hill is in the gutter. Hopefully it's not too late on Ronny, but it may be as well. I'd guess we could get someone for Pie and a package of some of the reasonably good prospects, to which I'd say let's do it. As you said, the window of opportunity is only open so long. We need to go for broke this year. I believe Hendry will. Remember, the trade deadline is over a month away and talks rarely heat up until after the AS break.

As far as the road games ... still only 4 games under. Were 1 under before getting swept at Tampa, and they beat everyone there the way the Cubs do in Wrigley. I'm confident they get better on the road and end up around .500. I'm still thinking this is a 100-win team. So was everyone else here until a solitary loss last night.

As I said on the "live" thread. It's one game. Things happen. I played on teams that got beat by ridiculously inferior competition when we were trying just as hard as we always did. It happens in this sport. That's why you play 162 and not 16.

MarioC

Edmonds' "deal with the devil". heh I love it!

chris

This was just one game so let's not hit the panic button just yet. However, I can see no evidence that wuertz or murton belong on a mlb club at all. I know for a fact we have better options in our system. These 2 are definitely the ones that need to be traded/sent down when big z and soriano return. I agree with the other guys about patterson. I would like to get an extended look at him to see if he can continue to look as good as he has these last few games.

GaryLeeT

Since we're on the subject of Cedeno. I don't know how that guy functions at all with a wad of tobacco the size of a baseball in his mouth.

Boseph Heyden

If anything, we learned tonight why Eric Patterson is more ready for a permanent major league setting than Cedeno, Murton, and even Hoffpauir. Granted, Patterson didn't and hasn't been in that 9th inning, down by a run or two situation, but you look at his at-bats and he doesn't try to do more than what the team needs unless the opportunity provides himself. On the other hand, Murton's only at-bat ended with him giving a powerful uppercut swing at a pitch near the letters that lead to an easy pop fly, Cedeno's 9th inning AB was him swinging at everything, with no regard for the strike zone, and Hoffpauer's last 9th AB, and his AB that sticks out in my mind, was him taking homerun swings with runners on and down by two when all he needed was a base hit.

Heck, if there's a single reason to keep Fontenot around, that's that reason: he tries to give the team productive ABs, not the win.

Mike

Bryan, I agree with you. I expected nothing from the Murton at-bat, and wasn't disappointed. For a guy who supposedly "kills left handed pitching", I've yet to see a quality at-bat.

I personally was really gnawed at the Cedeno and Fukodome at bats. Ronnie just seemed overmatched, and eager to get back to the dugout. That was an atrocious example of a major league at-bat. And I agree wholeheartedly Bryan on Fukodome...the first pitch is high and tight. Take one for the team, drive in the run, and as Bob Brenly states, "keep the line moving". He looked sad in those ultimate "bail and flail" swings. We did indeed miss Reed Johnson yesterday.

IMO, we should have sent Murton and Cotts/Wuertz down, and kept Johnson/Hoffpauer. But hey, just one guys opinion.

GaryLeeT

If the Cubs were at least a .500 road team, these winnable, but lost home games, would not be so tramatic to us Cub fans. That road record just gnaws at me and keeps me from beliving whole heartedly that this team has what it takes to win it all. With no dominant team in either league, this is the Cubs' best chance, in my liftime of 47 years, to win it all. Anything less, would be a complete failure.

Bryan

While it was a great "no quit" effort last night (and certainly fun to watch) we did learn quite a bit.

Murton's days are likely over with the organization. I can't recall the last time that guy had an RBI, or even a quality looking at-bat. Replacing Edmonds for him last night was truly a bizarre, and bad move.

Cedeno reverted back to his Ronnie of old...no plate discipline and no intensity. For those who have clammored for him to replace Theriot, the two are on very different playing levels currently.

Fukodome needs to take a lesson from the Reed Johnson play book. With the bases loaded and one out, and the pitcher missing the strike zone, take one for the team, and get the "hit batter" v. dancing half way out to first base. Turn your back, take the pain, and get to first with the RBI. That's what lead-off hitters do.

Marshall is a wonderful "once through the lineup" pitcher. Nice first 3 innings, though unfortunately baseball is a 9 inning game.

And lastly, Lou needs to stop playing the right/lefty matchups, and continue to play the hot hands. He definitely had a huge senior moment last night. While I truly like his style, sometimes he out-maneuvers himself. Murton, Cedeno and Blanco with the game on the line...those were really bad choices...and reinforces (as one poster stated last night) that sending Johnson to the DL (for just the numbers) was a very bad decision. Murton's bus ticket should have been punched with an easy decision by the organization.

We should also be very cautious in that the Brewers and Cards are playing great ball, and doing it on the road against some quality teams.

Jason B. from AZ

The Cubs do have a great record, as it stands now, in late June.

However, they are just 5-5 in their last 10 games.

I don't expect them to win every game, but they have to be careful to not get complacent, and they must absolutely take every winnable game thrown their way.

This team is currently in love with playing at home. If they want to do that in the playoffs, they better have the best record (and then hope that the All-Star game goes their way).

Some seasons, 87 or 89 games will win you a division. If I had to bet on it right now, I would say 96-98 will be needed this year.

Teams play up to their level of competition...that is why the Cards and Brewers may hang around for a while. Ultimately, this is the Cubs' division to lose, but I hope Hendry isn't holding back from pulling a Rich Harden trade because he doesn't want to part with one of his "untouchable" farmhands.

As Hendry has consistently proven, today's "untouchable" is likely tomorrow's dfa after-thought. Please get something for Pie, Hill, Murton, and Cedeno, while you still can. If the A's don't want them, then trade our farm guys for other clubs' farm guys (that the A's hopefully will take for Harden!)

Lee is getting older. Aramis and Soriano are at their peak. Wood is a great story now, but an injury could happen any minute. Edmonds' deal with the devil runs out on sometime in November.

Yes...this team can absolutely contend for a few years in a row. Barring unforeseen injuries. The window of oppty is now. Let's not waste this moment.

Aaron

side note....Samardzija pitched alright tonight at AAA, but took the loss, and had this line: 6 IP, 7 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K's, 1 HR allowed.

on another note, Jose Ceda got the save in AA, which was his 2nd, and pitched 2 innings, giving up 1 hit, 1 BB, but had 4 K's. His ERA at AA now stands at 1.35. Perhaps we have found another Marmol in our system? Since his return to a relief role, he has 12 K's in 6 innings, and all told at Daytona and Tenn., he has 65 K's in 61 innings.

people keep saying Samardzija gets the call, but I'm thinking Ceda. Might we see a trade of Wuertz or Cotts, with Ascanio returning, and Ceda being called up?