5-4-05 -- Thoughts from JT - Cubs 1, Brewers 4

ESPN Boxscore

What a depressing, depressing game. I think the Cubs enjoy keeping its fans in suspense, because with performances like this, we're never sure whether to cheer or cry.

After a bright and breezy start - Hairston Jr. being thrown out trying to steal third in a horrible move, and various easy innings for the pitchers - Blanco sent a pitch out of the park in the 3rd for a 1-0 lead. That margin would last until the 6th Inning, when the Brewers scored 3 runs on a sac fly and two RBI doubles for Carlos Lee and Damian Miller respectively. Zambrano left soon after, and Novoa gave up another RBI double in the 8th to provide the final score.

Positives
++ Jeromy Burnitz + Henri Blanco - defending the Cubs' honour
Burny provided the Cubs with two of the more memorable plays of the evening, throwing out 2 runners at home plate - Bill Hall in the 4th, Lyle Overbay in the 6th - and trying to keep the awful Cubs offense in the game.

Not only did Blanco score the Cubs' only run with a solo HR - only his 2nd hit of the season (2-20, .100) - but he caught Brady Clark stealing second.

These two provided some of the only bright moments in the game from our perspective.


Negatives
-- Batting/Baserunning
6 hits in the game overall. Only three runners advanced past first in the entire game (Hairston Jr, in the 1st, Blanco and Zambrano in the 3rd). Only one man made it on base after the 3rd Inning (Derrek Lee single in the 6th). The last 3 Innings of the game were 1-2-3 innings.

Performances like that as a team are awful, enough said.


I can't write about this anymore without being too negative. It is enough to say that it was a horrible performance, and we can only hope their bats are not so silent from hereon out.

Let's see a better performance tonight - Dempster vs. Santos.