The Cubs beat the Padres 6-4 today in a rain shortened game at Wrigley Field. The Cubs got home runs from Alfonso Soriano (his 53rd lead-off homer), Geovany Soto, and two shots from Ryan Theriot. Ted Lilly pitched into the seventh inning and got the win for the Cubs.
MLB has decided that Ryan Dempster didn’t throw at the head of Brewers slugger Ryan Braun (that’s the third “Ryan” mentioned in this post. I’ve hit my limit.) last Saturday. I guess MLB has to look into these things, but this was pretty silly.
MLB hasn’t decided yet what to do about Milton Bradley’s appeal of his two game suspension for bumping an ump four weeks ago in a game against St. Louis. I’ve seen the bump several times and it was really minor. Even so, players can’t touch the umps, so I expect Bradley to serve some time for his indiscretion.
The Wall Street Journal has posted an article on their online edition about the Cubs’ tendency this year to strikeout. The article, written by Tim Marchman, contains the following information:
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The Cubs are 1st in MLB in striking out after starting a plate appearance with a 3-0 count
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The Cubs are tied for 3rd in MLB in striking out in the ninth inning when the team is down by one run
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The Cubs are 4th in MLB at striking out with a runner on third and less than two outs
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The Cubs are 11th in MLB at striking out with a runner on second and no outs
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The Cubs are 11th at striking out with the bases loaded
Marchman goes on to say:
“Most telling is their (the Cubs) performance in plate appearances that begin with a 3-0 count. Going into Tuesday night’s games, the average major league team had a .477 slugging percentage and struck out once every 19.44 trips to the plate in such situations. The Cubs are slugging just .214 and striking out once every 7.44 chances. No wonder manager Lou Piniella always looks so agitated.”
The entire article can be found at here.
I find those numbers absolutely incredible. How can a team collectively strike out every 7.44 times they come to the plate and have a 3-0 count on them? And how can they be slugging just .214 (that’s pathetic) when they have a 3-0 count, when the rest of the league is slugging .477 in the same situation? Perhaps most perplexing though is trying to figure out how the Cubs are 19-14 while doing this. Hmmm, maybe it’s not as big a deal as I first thought. Of course, it would be a good thing if the Cubs didn’t strike out so much, with or without a 3-0 count.
