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 Here is a little baseball knowledge for you folks out there at home. When you walk the lead-off hitter in an inning....90% of the time the opposing team will score. I know, I know, that sounds absolutely crazy and unfathomable. Yet, it's true. I first heard about this statistic either through Steve Stone or Baseball Prospectus or something and I've been paying more attention to it over the past couple of years and sure enough....if it's not 90%, it's pretty damn close.
Anyways, Michael Wuertz decided he'd go ahead and walk the lead-off hitter in the tenth inning last night and you can guess what happened next. A sacrifice to get the runner to second, a wild pitch and a single later and the Cubs lose 2-1 in 10 innings to the Astros, a team the Cubs should just pound on nine times out of ten.
In their first full game without Alfonso Soriano the Cubs offense was stagnant. They've been extremely horrible against left-handed pitchers all season, but last night was worse than normal. Luckily, Rich Hill threw one of his best games of the season as he went seven strong innings and gave up only three hits. I don't know what else to say about the game, it was a fairly frustrating game to see.
Now, onto the roster moves. Eric Patterson was called up and it looks like I was wrong....maybe. It sounds like he's going to play some left field. I really don't understand this unless he's an excellent defender, which he can't be since he just started out there. On top of that, the reasoning behind bringing him up over Felix Pie was that Patterson was the 'hotter' hitter.
"We're trying to bring up the guys who are hot and can fill the need we have," Hendry said. "If we need somebody for pure defense, it would be Felix. We kicked it around a lot of different ways, but in the end, you listen to your people. There were no negatives about Felix."
Now, I wasn't a math major but when I see Patterson had hit .233 over his last ten games while Pie has hit .333, it makes me wonder what the hell is going on. I'm going to be looking into this quite a bit more in the next couple of days because it doesn't make sense and I'm beginning to feel that the Cubs know something about Pie that others don't.....like he may not be good enough to play in the Majors? Either way, Patterson is supposed to get a start tonight in left field, so that should be interesting, I guess.
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2008 Cubs Preview
maybe they think they got the right Patterson this time... Patterson does have 14 bombs at AAA and 62 ribs, that's nothing to sneeze at (unless you have allergies)
The offense at Iowa this season is ridiculous, they have a bunch of mashers. The Cubs just want him to hit lead-off and score runs. Nothing more.
I remember when Corey Patterson tried to hit bombs as a lead off hitter.
I've got the cubbie fan depression and self loathing starting to kick in. It began last week with the Phils and is continuing now. Just watching them and expecting bad things to happen and sure enough it does.
There was not a chance in hell that the cubs scored another run in that game if they played 15 more innings. Nobody got clutch hits. I started to cry in my beer after watching Cedeno, Pagan, and now Patterson. They have two guys in the lineup (maybe three) who are a threat to hit it out.
Another gripe, I thought Lou made a double switch to keep Howry in for two innings? What happened there?
Jack, I had the same thoughts about that statement from Hendry. After seeing the move, I went onto the Iowa sight to check out his recent stats and I was absolutely confused on why he was coming up. They have gone with the hot guy recently in call ups but this goes 100% against that theory. If they think Pie can't play in the majors, I would imagine we could see him in a major trade this offseason. Anyway, I hope Patterson can provide some added spark with Theriot at the top of the lineup.
I don't think Howry has the ability to throw two innings. the double switch may have been made in thinking that it would take the Cubs two innings to get back to that spot in the batting order. I know I read something yesterday about how Lou says he has too many one inning relievers. Howry has only thrown 2 innings three times this season in 53 games.
I can see if they didn't bring up Pie because they are running out of 'options' with him. I know MLB clubs are only allowed to option players back to the minors so many times before they have to clear waivers to do so (see: Ankiel, Rick-the past few years before this season). He should have just said that. Especially if Soriano isn't due back before Labor Day. That's when the rosters expand and Pie would be up anyways, so there wouldn't be much threat in wasting an 'option'.
I don't think they are completely sold on him starting in CF next season. He's going to have to have a strong spring in 2008 to hold down the job.
Patterson may have a better stroke going right now over Pie. Batting averages don't always tell the whole story. Pie may be hitting 27 hoppers through the infield and dropping bloops infront of the outfielders. Patterson might be hitting rockets all over the field right at people.
And if Pie wasn't good enough to play in the majors don't you think the cubs would have dealt him at the deadline, Hendry said people were inquiring about him?
Valid points Hank, but .233 is a pretty low average.
I think the Cubs just might not be positive he can contribute in the majors, at least offensively.