Thursday, July 21, 2005

Ooooohhhh, that smell...

What is that, you ask? Well that's the stench wafting from the Great American Ballpark created by the Chicago Cubs. Looking back on this four game split, the Cubs were very lucky to get just that. 5HRs from the team on Monday and 5RBI on Tuesday by the one man wrecking crew named Aramis Ramirez. The starting pitchers went from...

fairly decent on Monday evening. Williams threw just a couple bad pitches when he was running out of gas in the 7th.

To "whew, we got away with that one" on Tuesday. Prior did not have much velocity early and was extremely wild, missing outside when Blanco was set up inside and vice-versa.

To what has grown to become typical from Wood on Wednesday. Pulled after 3IP again with an injury.

To barely getting through the 5th inning today with Maddux.

Although the offense scored a wonderful 25 runs in this 4 game set, they also left a collective 33 runners on base throughout the series. When they had the opportunity to "step on the neck" of the Reds, they tripped and landed on their nose.

The bullpen did what it has done all year, shine like gold then crap down their legs. After 4 2/3 of sparkling no-run, no-hit, 1BB relief in the first two games, the pen combined to give up 12ER over 8IP in the last two (including 11BB).

As has been stated here before, the roller coaster ride continues. And just in case you were wondering, the screeching halt at the end of the ride is going to be short of the playoffs. This team is not consistent enough in any area to make a run. They have significant holes in the all three facets of the game. The Cubs can look like a championship caliber team on some days. Too bad they don't look like it on the majority of the days.

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