Assigning Blame

There was a lot of talk in yesterday’s game chatter about how bad of a game Lou had.  I disagree with that; sure I can quibble with a move here or there, but overall I think he put the team in the best position to win that game.  I don’t want to come across as a Lou apologist, but ever since the Dusty experience I’ve found myself questioning my second guessing of managerial decisions.  Some of the specific moves are questionable.  For instance, I believe-and I’m guessing almost everyone here agrees with me-Bob Howry shouldn’t be pitching unless the game is completely decided.  For whatever reason, Howry’s been given about 10 million chances to work out his problems, but guys like Wuertz were shipped out at the first sign of trouble.  I understand the tendency of managers to give more leeway to veteran guys who have “been there before.” I hope that last night was the last straw for Howry; there’s no excuse for him to face another significant batter in a Cubs uniform.  But last night, Lou had to make a quick decision when Zambrano was pulled and Howry just happened to be that guy.  On some level, I understand the thinking; it was only the 6th inning and there was lots of time for both teams to score.  And as bad as Howry has been this season, he’d only given up 1 run in his previous 6 appearances (7 innings).  I know that’s cherry picking, but that’s probably what Lou was thinking.  Last night was still Howry’s worst appearance of the season, and the Cubs were still able to come back and tie the game.

Pinch hitting Casey McGehee in the bottom of the 9th is pretty ridiculous, I’ll admit.  I think Hoffpauir is a better PH option than him, even against a LHP.  Having DeRosa sacrifice bunt backfired, but it’s a completely defensible decision in that situation.  I wonder if McGehee is the PH if the sac bunt worked.  Hoffpauir was also probably a better PH option that Blanco in the 10th, actually Fontenot should have just hit for himself against Wright.  I don’t think Cedeno is a PH option at all at this point (and honestly, Blanco probably shouldn’t either); whatever gains he appeared to have made earlier in the season are gone (outside of April, he’s hitting .234/.285/.281). 

Anyway, the real reason the Cubs lost last night, and the previous 3 nights, was because of their failure to hit with runners on.  In the previous 4 games, which they’ve lost by a total of 10 runs, they’ve left 34 runners on base.  In every game, the Cubs had either the tying or winning runs on base as late as the 8th inning.  Last night was particularly painful, since the game could have been won in any of the 8th, 9th, or 10th innings.  Lee and Soriano both failed with the go-ahead run in scoring position and less than 2 outs.  There’s nothing Lou could have done differently that would have gotten those runs home.  The team was in position to win last night multiple times and the big money players failed to deliver.  It happens.  There’s still no reason to worry; the Cubs have better than a 99% chance of making the playoffs and a bump in the road like this doesn’t take away from the great year they’ve had.  The Cubs are still the team to beat in the NL and will still end up with home field advantage in the playoffs.  Sometimes the big picture stuff just needs repeating so that it’s not lost in small picture venting. 

Oh, and there’s nothing Lou could have done about Geoff F’in Blum.