The Cubs and the Braves
The Cubs and the Braves
I was at the first game of today's Cubs/Braves day/night double header. We wandered down again, ever the stupid optimists....it began pouring at one point just as we hit Atlanta's downtown, and I said to no one in particular "I'm beginning to take this personally."
Still, we got the game in. And the clouds served to keep the sun from frying me into the world's largest pork rind.
However, I have been to better Cubs games.
I lost count after the fifth inning (Prior's collapse and shelling having driven me insane). But I'd wager it's in the middle teens the number of Cubs batters who got an out on the first or second pitch of the at bat. I knew it was a lot, and then I noticed Braves pitcher Horacio Ramirez's pitch count. In the seventh inning, his pitch count was still in the 60's.
By contrast, Mark Prior threw just over a hundred in 4 and 2/3, and reliever Sergio Mitre threw 50 his 2 1/3 innings out there. In seven innings, the Braves had seen more than double the number of pitches the Cubs had seen.
I don't bring this up to harp on how bad Prior or Mitre were today (Prior's stuff was off, and Mitre? he's not good, but I think he'll end up being a reasonably good reliever down the road), or to talk about how good Horacio Ramirez is (he's really not...he's a 5 or 6 on the talent scale, and he'd better name his firstborn Leo Mazzone Ramirez). I bring it up to say that today, in both games, but especially in the day half, the Braves were patient at the plate. And once again, the Cubs were not.
Was Ramirez good today? Yeah. He had some good stuff. But not that good. Not 3-hit shutout good. And I'd have bet my testicles that his stuff at 110 pitches wouldn't have been as strong as his stuff at 60 pitches.
Luckily for me and my testicles, Dusty Baker's Cubs are all about swinging at the first good looking pitch, and the only way the Cubs would have seen 110 pitches from Horacio would have been if games were 11 innings long, instead of nine, we'll never know how the Cubs might have done against a tired Horacio, or against a Braves bullpen that is almost as bad as the Cubs'
The Cubs handed Horacio Ramirez that 3 hit complete game shutout today, gift wrapped with a card.
There comes a point when you say, swinging at the first pitch isn't working, Dusty.
I was at the first game of today's Cubs/Braves day/night double header. We wandered down again, ever the stupid optimists....it began pouring at one point just as we hit Atlanta's downtown, and I said to no one in particular "I'm beginning to take this personally."
Still, we got the game in. And the clouds served to keep the sun from frying me into the world's largest pork rind.
However, I have been to better Cubs games.
I lost count after the fifth inning (Prior's collapse and shelling having driven me insane). But I'd wager it's in the middle teens the number of Cubs batters who got an out on the first or second pitch of the at bat. I knew it was a lot, and then I noticed Braves pitcher Horacio Ramirez's pitch count. In the seventh inning, his pitch count was still in the 60's.
By contrast, Mark Prior threw just over a hundred in 4 and 2/3, and reliever Sergio Mitre threw 50 his 2 1/3 innings out there. In seven innings, the Braves had seen more than double the number of pitches the Cubs had seen.
I don't bring this up to harp on how bad Prior or Mitre were today (Prior's stuff was off, and Mitre? he's not good, but I think he'll end up being a reasonably good reliever down the road), or to talk about how good Horacio Ramirez is (he's really not...he's a 5 or 6 on the talent scale, and he'd better name his firstborn Leo Mazzone Ramirez). I bring it up to say that today, in both games, but especially in the day half, the Braves were patient at the plate. And once again, the Cubs were not.
Was Ramirez good today? Yeah. He had some good stuff. But not that good. Not 3-hit shutout good. And I'd have bet my testicles that his stuff at 110 pitches wouldn't have been as strong as his stuff at 60 pitches.
Luckily for me and my testicles, Dusty Baker's Cubs are all about swinging at the first good looking pitch, and the only way the Cubs would have seen 110 pitches from Horacio would have been if games were 11 innings long, instead of nine, we'll never know how the Cubs might have done against a tired Horacio, or against a Braves bullpen that is almost as bad as the Cubs'
The Cubs handed Horacio Ramirez that 3 hit complete game shutout today, gift wrapped with a card.
There comes a point when you say, swinging at the first pitch isn't working, Dusty.
posted by Tommy at
00:16
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