"My homer went thiiiiis far."
Paul Maholm dug himself an early grave on Tuesday night in his first start as a Cub. Before he could record the second out of the game, the Brewers had put five runs on the board. The Cubs answered back, but not enough, and lost the second game of the series 7-4.
Of course, Maholm didn’t exactly make it hard for the Brewers. He issued two walks, served up two extra base hits – a double and a three-run homer – and plunked two Brewers. When he finally got Weeks (in his second at-bat of the inning, mind you) for the third out, you could hear the sarcasm in the extra-enthusiastic cheers. (Or they might have just been cold.)
Sveum left Maholm twisting for four innings in the actually-pretty-helpful wind, where he continued to give up hard-hit balls that were knocked down by the breeze.
Jonathan Lucroy of all people managed to tack one on in the third – he launched a solo homer where Braun and Ramirez had failed, making it 6-0 Milwaukee. Lucroy would also round out the Brewers’ scoring with an RBI single in the top of the seventh, the only run that the wobbly bullpen actually surrendered.
About that bullpen… We didn’t exactly break out the A-listers (such as they are) today, but after Rodrigo Lopez plunked his first batter, he was pretty solid for two innings. Rafael Dolis and Lendy Castillo both did their best Marmol impressions through three, combining for four walks, with Dolis giving up that Lucroy RBI.
The Cubs managed to answer back in the bottom of the third, stringing a few hits, a bad hop, and a sac fly together for three runs. Soriano collected another two RBIs, and he and David DeJesus were both 2-for-4 on the night.
The rest of the game was pretty quiet (except for all the Braun booing, HEYO!) until the ninth inning, when Geovany Soto took a Jose Veras curveball deep to left-center to make it 7-4. Unfortunately, that’s where it would stay until Darwin Barney grounded out to short, ending our long national nightmare. (I think it just felt really long, because it was hopeless from the very beginning.)
Tomorrow’s game will air on WGN at 1:20, and will feature Yovani Gallardo and Ryan Dempster. May the baseball gods help us all if the wind is blowing out.
On the good side, Soriano had a pretty good game yesterday.
Told you.
I truly believe he’s a fraction less crappy this season. (Like he’s now a 9.5 on the crapometer instead of being dialled all the way up to 11)
Every Brewer Fan I know is crawling out of the woodwork to give me grief this morning. As if beating this team is anything to celebrate.
Stay strong, Bob!! The Brewers still have the reigning STD (sorry, MVP) on their team.
I’ve pretty much stopped talking to people in Madison…for a number of reasons.
Was it something I said?
No…you’re fine…I’m just not a fan of most of the politics going on in this city.
So, I don’t get why some fans have been booing Ramirez. He didn’t choose to leave – he wasn’t offered a contract. He didn’t badmouth the team, city, or fans on the way out. He gave the team 8 years as its best and most productive player. What the fuck is wrong with the fans who were booing him, especially in the first game of the series?
I know it was a fairly small group of the fans, but you’d think those fucking cretins would show some appreciation and respect.
“fucking cretins” = answering your own question
I think it is a bit larger than “a fairly small group of fans”.
Ramirez was this team’s best hitter since Sammy Sosa.
People didn’t like Ramirez’s style of play and he was perceived as not very clutch.
In the end, Ramirez wasn’t a great leader and often times failed when the team needed him to carry it (especially at times when Derrek Lee or Alfonso Soriano were hurt). That’s not a failing of Ramirez…it’s a failing of Jim Hendry for not recognizing after 8 years that Ramirez needed more help.
Simply put, the Cubs offense has been the weakest part of this team consistently for the better part of a decade (with the exception of 2008), and Ramirez unfortunately is the poster child of the futility, though he was the least offender during that period. (I smell a post about this.)
Take your smelly post elsewhere.
I did.
Maybe threw batting practice, but he’s a shitty BP pitcher! You’re supposed to throw where the hitter can actually hit it with regularity, not out of the strike zone or AT the batter.
Now, Casey Coleman — THAT’S a GREAT BP pitcher!!
Not quite…Casey Coleman would be a great BP pitcher…in little league.
And here I was thinking “Wow, our SP’s might end up being better than everyone expects”
Garza will be good.
Samardzija might be good.
Dempster will be average.
Volstad is a head case.
Maholm is not good.
Overall, I’d say at best, this is an average starting rotation.