Well the Cubs are starting to look like the old, well, Cubs. They were smashed by the Giants last night, 13-0, and today they could only muster one run against the St. Louis Cardinals losing, 7-1.
Carrie Muskat has posted an article at the Chicago Cubs Website titled “Cubs unable to overcome deficit vs. Cards.” It really was pretty much what I expected. Tom Gorzelanny was starting for the Cubs after having been off for 23 days since taking a line-drive off of his hand. I figured interim manager Mike Quade would pitch Gorzelanny about five innings. However the Cubs’ pitcher only went 3 1/3 innings before being pulled and he had already thrown 75-80 pitches.
However today wasn’t all about the Cubs. Cardinals’ pitcher Adam Wainwright finally got his 20th win. He is now 20-11. At one point in early August he was 17-6 so he has struggled but not in this game. Wainwright is just one of three pitchers in the Major leagues to win 20 games this year. The other two are Roy Halladay of the Phillies and the Yankees’ CC Sabathia.
As Quade pointed out the Cubs have lost a couple of good hitters recently in Tyler Colvin and Geovany Soto. The Cubs have just scored two runs in their last four games.
I remember in 1968 Denny McLain won 31 games. In those days pitchers “going the distance” or, pitching a complete game was much more prevalent. There was not quite yet the specialty relief pitcher.
Apparently Gorzelanny was fine from a health perspective but just did not get the job done technically. In my pre-game write-up I said I thought the Cardinals would win. Wainwright has been steadier and usually when a pitcher comes back from injury like Gorzelanny they are not going to be extremely sharp.
As I look down the schedule of the Cubs’ for the rest of the year and as Muskat reports, they are facing an incredible cadre of pitchers playing for the Cardinals, Padres and Astros. If the Cubs’ season goes any further South then Quade may not get a shot at managing next year after all.
References:
Chicago Cubs’ Website, Carrie Muskat, “Cubs unable to overcome deficit vs. Cards”
Personal Experience
