Cubs-Sox Series

The Cubs won the first three games at Wrigley Field this year despite having key players out with injuries, then lost the next three games at U.S. Cellular.  Let’s look at what happened during those last three games:

1. The Cubs were playing without Alfonso Soriano, Reed Johnson, Scott Eyre, and Carlos Zambrano (who was supposed to pitch the third game).  Ryan Theriot missed the first 2 games due to injury.  Jim Edmonds and Kosuke Fukudome played injured, and Darryl Ward just returned from a lengthy absence due to injury.  The Cubs were forced to play guys out of position, resulting in errors, and their hitting was greatly affected by the injuries.  In addition to the injuries, Aramis Ramirez was 0-13 in the series, and was distracted by the fact that he needed to return to the Dominican Repuplic for family reasons.  He asked to have Sunday off, which was Game 3 of the second series, but the Cubs refused.  He did miss the next 3 games.
2. Game 1:  In the first game, the Sox led 4-0, and Dye was thrown out at third on a steal.  He was called safe, and by the White Sox radio postgame analyst’s own admission, this bad call allowed the Sox to get 4 more runs that inning, making the lead 8-0 and making any Cub comeback very difficult.
3. Game 2:  The Cubs led 2-0, and with 2 outs, pitched to Dye instead of walking him to get to Thome.  Dye was on fire, and Thome hadn’t had a hit in a long time.  Dye hit a 2-run homer to tie it.  Later in the inning, the Cubs threw Crede a breaking ball, and he hit if off the wall to give the Sox a 3-2 lead.  I’ve said for 3-1/2 years that Crede sits on breaking balls, and you can’t throw him one in a key situation.
4. Game 2:  With the game tied 5-5 in the 7th, the Cub batter hit a double that any player in the league would have easily scored from first on, but Edmonds, running on a very bad leg and due to all the other outfield injuries forcing him to stay in the game, only reached third.  He didn’t score, and this run would have made it 6-5 Cubs, and their late-inning relievers would have had the opportunity to take over.  Again, injuries played a significant factor.
5. Game 2:  Marmol, who should not have been brought in in the 7th, gave up the game-winning homerun.  That’s not his situation.
6. Game 2:  With a man on third and less than 2 outs in the 9th, down 6-5, the Cubs did not squeeze and did not score.  The Sox had used almost all of their relievers, so if the Cubs tied it with a squeeze, they would have been in good shape.
7. Game 3:  Early in the game, the Sox had second and third, no outs, when Crede clearly struck out.  The umpire said he checked his swing, resulting in Piniella being ejected.  The call was horrible.
8. Game 3:  With the Sox up 1-0 in the top of the 5th, the Cubs had a man on first with no outs.  Cedeno grounded into a force at second, and clearly beat the throw to first.  The umpire called him out for a double play, the Sox fans went crazy as they knew he was safe, the interim Cub manager came out to argue, and the fans continued to cheer.  The Cubs should have had a man on first, one out, with the top of the order up.  This was a momentum changer, the crowd was into it, and next inning, Brian Anderson hit a 2-run homer to make it 3-0.
9. Game 3:  With 2 outs in the Sox 8th, Thome was up with a man on and a 3-1 Sox lead.  I immediately said the Cubs needed to bring in Cotts, a left-hander who had warmed up and was ready, as the Cubs couldn’t afford to go down by more runs going into the 9th.  The Cubs let Ascanio, a righty, pitch to Thome, and he hit a 2-run homer to make it 5-1.  The Cubs got the first two batters on base in the 9th, but being down 4 runs instead of 2 was a huge difference.
10. The Cubs’ baserunning was pathetic all series, helping the Sox in both series.  At Wrigley, Cedeno slid into first and was out by a hair and Marquis turned toward second on a hit and was tagged out.  At U.S. Cellular, in Game 3, the Cubs were doubled off second twice.  Yes, this is the Cubs’ fault, but these were gift outs for the Sox.
11. Piniella, after the second series, said, “I would have liked to have played them at full strength.”

One point about Mark Buehrle.  I went to Game 3 and watched him quick pitch guys and not give them a chance to get set in the batter’s box.  If I was the opposing manager, I would tell my players to go to the on-deck circle after every pitch and put pine tar on the bat.  I’d delay each pitch as much as I could.  Then, when the umps tried to stop it, I would say that when Buehrle allows the batter to get set before the pitch, I would then stop the delays before every pitch.  It was ridiculous.  When no one is on base, batters don’t have time to take practice half-swings that they normally take before each pitch.