Saturday, August 22, 2009

Wells deserves better, Cubs can't get much worse

Friday: Dodgers 2, Cubs 1


An error by the sure-handed Ramirez and a two-run double by a career .185 hitter.

That pretty much sums up Friday's performance, at least when you add in the fact that the Cubs tallied one--uno, un, unus, eins--hit on the night. The Cardinals and Rockies lost, but they needn't look in the rearview mirror for the Cubs, for they are now 1-4 on this all-important West Coast road trip and appear to have no interest in working their way back into the thick of the playoff race.

On the bright side, Randy Wells lowered his ERA to 2.84, Sam Fuld stole a home run from Manny Ramirez, and Carlos Marmol pitched a scoreless inning (thanks in part to Fuld's catch).

Despite pitching 6 2/3 innings and allowing no earned runs (two runs total), Wells' record dropped to 9-6 because of the minimal support provided by the offense. Here's hoping J.A. Happ and Tommy Hanson stumble in their next outings as we root for Wells in the Rookie of the Year race.

Today's game should be interesting, with Ted Lilly making his second start since coming off the DL and knuckleballer Charlie Haeger taking the mound for the Dodgers. The Cubs have two more chances to right the ship on the road before coming home for a 10-game homestand.

Did you know ...

Mark Reynolds is just one home run off the NL-leading pace of Albert Pujols (Phat Albert has 39). However, Pujols has struck out just 51 times compared to Reynolds's 169.

Adam Wainwright and Jason Marquis are tied for the NL lead in wins (14).

Zach Greinke leads the AL in ERA (2.44), but is just 3-7 since May 31.

No comments:

Post a Comment