July 3, 2019: Signs of Life

OK, I still will hold claim to my thought regarding Tuesday night in Pittsburgh… and how that loss was the low point of the Cubs season. Did the Cubs drop down another rung on Wednesday? After further consideration, I say no… but we did get kicked in the nuts again. Yes, there were signs of life in this one, but all that matters at the end of the day is just another L; we’ve seen way too many of these lately.

I liked the fact that the Cubs let Darvish pitch. Take off the kid gloves, and leave the guy in there to pitch through his mess. One of the things I don’t get about Darvish is why he sucks, more than normal, the inning after the Cubs score some runs. I know I saw the stats out there, and it was ridiculous; Yu added to those numbers today. Just after the Cubs went up 2-0, Yu gave it back and then some, giving up a 3 spot. This guy just keeps getting worse and worse. I’m trying really hard to find the silver lining with this guy; I’m trying really hard not to hate this guy. At the end of the day, he did give us a chance to win. And when Caratini hit his 2nd home run of the day, from the other side of the plate, things looked good. He needs to be in the lineup, which means Willson should play elsewhere, like he did tonight in the OF. He threw a guy out at the plate, which was awesome, but then was left out there to play the 9th, when Joe should have went to Heyward. Of course I also question the infield alignment with 2nd and 3rd and 1 out in the bottom of the 9th. I don’t think I would have played back, but… when the coaches made the decision to do that, they got exactly what they wanted: an easy ground ball out, except for some strange reason, Russell thought he could throw the guy out at the plate playing at regular infield depth on a slow roller. Dumb, dumb play. Let the trade Addison chants continue. What followed next would have been the 3rd out, which would have gave us a chance in extras, but instead was the game winning sacrifice fly. Kick, in, the, nuts.

Yes, Kimbrel isn’t off the hook either. Loved the move to go get him, but he’s no Chapman. It looks like we may have another tight rope walker as our closer; make sure to buckle those seat belts like Pat says, even tighter than normal. If you didn’t tonight, you flew through the windshield.

I hope they don’t fire Joe. I’m starting to get a bad feeling here. If they aren’t going to resign him, which they haven’t thus far, and are only going to resign him if the Cubs win the World Series, then what would stop them from letting him go now… at the All Star Break? I haven’t always seen eye to eye with Joe, but at the end of the day, think he’s an awesome manager. It feels more and more like something has to be shaken up… I just hope it isn’t Joe. Say it ain’t so… We already fired one Joe(l) in the middle of the season, and that Joe(l) had 3 titles vs Maddon’s one. Like I said, I’m getting a bad feeling.

OK, breathe… hopefully this is just another one of those slumps that we’ve been seeing way too much from a team with so much talent on the field. Yes, we are only 1 game back in the division, so it’s not like we’re burying a deep hole. Still, losing game after game, many of which we should have won, is not a winning formula. What addition or subtraction has to be made to jump start this team? Maybe we should talk about that next… come on Cubbies… I’d much rather talk about a win. Go Cubs!