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Cubs love being 30 under, 64-94
Brewers uh uh lose, 73-84
POTG: RF Jacque Jones (3 H, 2B, HR, 3 R, 3 RBI)
Runners up: CF Juan Pierre (2 H, R), 2B Ryan Theriot (2B, BB, 3 R), LF Matt Murton (2 @B, 3 H, 3 R, RBI), 1B John Mabry (HR, R, 3 RBI, 2 BB), C Henry Blanco (2B, 4 H, 4 RBI, R), 3B Scott Moore (2 H, R, RBI), C Jose Reyes (H, 2 RBI)
How fast can I write? Not fast enough!
Cubs.com’s game story noted the same thing I did watching
guys in the starting lineup who are supposed to be in the starting lineup: 3 (the OF)
guys in the starting lineup who are supposed to be on the bench or in Iowa: 6 (Theriot’s not assured to be the starting 2B, Mabry for Lee, Blanco for Barrett, Moore for A Ram, Cedeno for Cesar, Marshall for Prior/Wood/Rusch?)
They’ve quite played out the string (and what a long string’s it been) with a odd amalgamation of bench guys and minor league talent. I’m sure I’ve noted this before, but this is what rebuilding actually looks like; a few guys trapped on a team with a lot of guys who are there because there’s no one better.
And we won, so that’s nice.
I’m not sure Marshall is going to make it – as a left hander, he’ll be giving 5,000,000 chances, but sticking’s another matter – but it’s nice to end the season with a start which reminds us why we’re bothering. In the same vein, it was nice to see Dempster look fine.
I’m purposely ignoring all JKR appearances, because his opportunities are inconsistent, so you’d expect his performances to match. He’s got to get it together much better next year, or they’ve got to move him to someone who has a use for him. It’s nice they didn’t use a good pitcher when up by 10, as close as they came to actually doing it.
If you told me at the end of the season, we’d get 287/335/504 out of Jacque Jones, I’d be pretty pleased. That’s 40 points better than he was hitting the last year, with boosts in slugging and power to near career high levels. While it’d be nice if he could accurately throw a ball, he’s beat all expectations this year and should get credit for it. Unfortunately, every Cubs fan seems to hate him and I was unsuccessful in changing people’s minds on this at all when I tried last night. But they don’t need to know that he’s useful for him to actually be useful. (Now, all he needs to do is not age at all.)
To be honest, I’m kinda relieved Glendon Rusch won’t be able to pitch till at least mid-2007, because that means he’ll be a desperation option when he becomes available, and that’s just what he should be at this point.
What’s the deal with Aardsma?
09/10: 2 IP (really good)
09/15: 2 IP (good)
09/19: 1.2 IP (okay)
09/25: 0.2 (bad)
Maybe the deal is he’s not being pitched because he was bad, but I don’t think you can be that good when you’re pitching that infrequent. An injury? An innings limit? When do those things happen for Novoa? The scorebook says he’s only pitched 12 times this month, but it sure doesn’t feel that way.