A Pleasant win, Theriot gaff, but teammates pick him up

The word pleasant doesn't come into my vocabulary very often. I guess it seems kind of "girly", but I think its the appropriate word for last nights win vs. the Dodgers. To start with, the ESPN commentary was actually enjoyable. Mainly because of my affection for Rick Sutcliffe and the numerous flashbacks to his career and adoration for the Cubs and Wrigley Field that he spoke of so often during the game. And Chris Berman....well let's just say that Berman and Sutcliffe would have my vote any day over Miller and Morgan for SNB.

The conditions were nasty with a windchill of 35 degrees at game start. I actually remember thinking last night how glad I was that I didn't have tickets to this game. Don't get me wrong, I always want to be at Wrigley, but the comfort of my 70 degrees at home with ESPN HD was quite comfortable. You are prepared for these conditions during April. You are not prepared for them at the end of May. It's kind of like how warm 50 degrees feels in January but how cold it feels in June. You track me?

Hiroki Kuroda was pitching a gem last night. Sean Gallagher was pitching well also, albeit not quite as well. The conditions really kept the bats at bay last night as a stiff wind was blowing hard in. Fast forwarding to the 7th inning, the Dodgers had taken a 1-0 lead on a 2-out rally in the 4th. The scoring run was almost thrown out at home by Alfonso Soriano, but the throw hit baserunner James Loney in the back prior to sliding into home. Defensive gems were all over the place last night for the Cubs. I remember 3 great plays by Kosuke Fukudome, a diving save by Lee, and a nice caught stealing from Geovany Soto.

The Cubs looked as though they might be shutout this evening with the conditions and I thought how unfortunate that would be for Gallagher. He pitched 7 strong innings and then was pulled for a pinch hitter, one Ryan Theriot after a Ronny Cedeno walk. I knew for sure Theriot would come through witha rock solid bunt. Well he didn't. It was as bad a bunt as I think Theriot could ever make. It went sharply back to Kuroda who fired to 2nd to get Cedeno. I was disappointed and I knew we'd get negative comments on our blog about Theriot this morning. So far none though! A couple of bright spots did come out of this however. First, give Theriot credit for hustling down the line. A lot of players with that bunt would have been victim of a double play. Theriot got down the line and no throw was able to be made.

Now The Riot was on first with Soriano at the plate. I was really begging for Theriot to steal, but Soriano drew the count full which allowed Theriot to start running on the pitch. Keep in mind Lou called this same play for D. Lee earlier in the game and was a strike em out throw em out victim. Lee was out by 2 miles btw. Soriano hit a sharp single to Juan Pierre in left field. Theriot was on the move, but his relentless hustly, along with Pierre's lack of an arm got Theriot to 3rd, only one out. I knew this was the game. Either Theriot scored or we'd lose.

What unfolded from there was pure beauty. Fontenot hit a slow grounder to 3B. Theriot didn't blink and came blazing home. Soriano was also running on the play (full count) so Blake DeWitt rushed the play and ended up missing the ball. Game tied 1-1. After Lee flied out and moved Soriano to 3rd, Ramirez singled home Soriano is a classic AB vs Broxton, and then Fukudome smoked a double inprobably down the 3rd base bag to get Fontenot home. The inning was awesome, the Cubs had Marmol and Wood ready to go. We were not going to blow this game.

Theriot delivered a single in the 8th as we were threatening again, but Soriano ended the inning by hitting into a double play.

For all of those that claim Cedeno is a better shortstop that Theriot, did you see the awful throwing error Cedeno had on a pretty routine grounder? I'll admit Cedeno likely has more range than Theriot, but you won't see Theriot airmailing D. Lee. After all, the guy is like 6-6....how do you throw it that high?

Anyway, a very poor AB by Theriot was overcome by hits from Soriano, Ramirez, and Fukudome and a timely error by Blake Dewitt.

I know the conditions really favored the pitchers, but could Sean Gallagher be a #5 starter for the Cubs? He'll for sure get another start or two, let's hope he continues to improve. He's been an admirable 5th starter so far.

And this just in....I still really hate Jim Edmonds (nice picture). I hate how he can't hit. I hate that he stuck it to us for so long as a Cardinal. I hate that he is getting so much playing time. I miss watching Zambrano plunk him at least once a game during their matchups (In Search of Lost Cool section). Can we please just cut him? If not, then I urge Lou to only play him as a late inning defensive replacement for Soriano. PLEASE?

THE RIOT!

Mark DeRosa interviews Ryan Theriot

I just came across this. Great stuff. Mark DeRosa sits down on his blog to have a conversation with Ryan Theriot.

Mark DeRosa's Blog with Ryan Theriot

Lot's of fun pokes at each other and Bob Howry. Theriot truly seems like a great guy to be around.

A tidal wave with Soriano

Jeesh, just as I apologize to Soriano, the guy goes out, stinks it up last week and costs us a gimme game against the Bucs by dropping a routine fly ball. I've played enough baseball to know that while the sun shines hard, sunglasses and shielding it with your glove isn't that difficult. At least I didn't take it as bad as Ron Santo:

Ron Santo reacts to Soriano's drop

Its like riding a wave with this guy. He's a terrible lead-off hitter except for 1-3weeks a year when he goes on a tear like he did just a while back. Even when he does that, wouldn't he be better suited as a middle of the lineup guy? I also have to express my frustration with Lou's managing of Soriano. Lou seems to want to cuddle and console this guy. It's obvious he needs to be pulled in late inning leads for a defensive replacement. However, even after his gaff, in yesterday's game vs the Dodgers, we are up 3-1 in the 9th and yet Soriano is still out in left field. How in the world does it not make sense to put Reed Johnson out there? Better yet, maybe Jim Edmonds can be our designated 9th inning fielder! Maybe there is a bright spot to signing him. Yet Lou is stubborn and wants to continue to nurse this overpaid moron along.

I can not put into words how frustrated I am right now. Theriot should be our leadoff hitter. Period. Even Fukudome is slumping. Theriot continues to get on base and steal. Anyone seen Soriano try to run the bases lately? He looks like he has a peg leg as he drags it behind him. There was a play yesterday when he could have gone 1st to 3rd but didnt. Then again he should have scored from 2nd on the next hit, but didn't. I'm really glad we are paying this guy incredible amounts of money. Meanwhile, lowly paid Riot is tearing it up still.

THE RIOT!

Sorry Sori

Dear Alfonso Soriano,

I am sorry I questioned you. I am sorry that I was frustrated with you. I still don't think you should be hitting lead-off, but any Cub that hits 7 HRs in 6 games and has 13 RBI in that stretch is quite alright with me. I cringe to think where we'd be this last week without you. I plead with you however to not just disappear next week. This team needs steadiness at the top of the lineup. Lee and Ramirez will get hot again soon.

And while we are talking about steadiness. How about The Riot? Batting .331 with a .410 OBP! Amazing how his naysayers have disappeared from our Blog the last month.

THE RIOT!

A little frustrated...

I have to admit that I have grown very frustrated with Alfonso Soriano. We paid this guy an incredible amount of money and with the exception of about a 10 game stretch last summer when he put us on his back and carried us, the guy has done nothing but really hamper us. Sure, he hit a nice 2-run HR in the 9th inning on Friday, and it would have meant more had we not coughed it up in extra innings. Let's not forget he made two blunders prior to that HR that might have kept us from losing it anyway.

But my beef isn't so much with his lack of production, because I know he will get hot in the summer. Rather, its his stubborness and Lou's stubborness to move him around in the order. Since when is a .167 OBP solid? ESPN put up a stat last night that said he has a .167 OBP when leading off an inning. 4th worst in the majors. That's just terrible. And I believe more than half of his HRs were solo's last year.

Lou was interviewed between innings last night on ESPN and they asked him about this. Lou did his best dodging bullet routine by explaining that certain players just can't hit in certain spots because they aren't comfortable. How can $136M not make you comfortable? My problem with this is that we really don't know if he's comfortable or not. We tried him for a short stretch last year, but didn't give him long enough. On top of that, the entire Cubs team was sucking royally when we tried that. We had a great opportunity as hot as this team was when Soriano came off the DL to put him somewhere that would not completely dislodge the order that had been successful. According to baseball-reference.com, since Soriano has been a Cub, he has started in the following position, this many times:

1st - 140
2nd - 2
3rd - 7
5th - 2

That's a total of 11 games outside of the top spot. Is that really enough to know if he's comfortable? If he wasn't being paid $136M then I guarantee Lou would tell him to just shove it and hit where he tells him to hit. However, BECAUSE he is getting that much money, I think he should hit wherever Lou wants him. I am tired of preferential treatment to these athletes just because they get a lot of money.

In my personal opinion, Soriano should be batting 6th. Based on the way this team responded with Reed Johnson and Ryan Theriot hitting 1st and 2nd, it just makes sense. We are now 2-5 in our last 7 games. I like the following lineup. Can you imagine the horror this would be for opposing pitchers?

1 - Johnson
2 - Theriot
3 - Lee
4 - Ramirez
5 - Fukudome
6 - Soriano
7 - Soto
8 - DeRosa
9 - Pitcher

I only drop DeRosa to 8 because he hasn't exactly excelled in the 6th spot so far. But, I would have no problem swapping DeRosa and Theriot. Yes, you read that correctly. We love Theriot here, but we love the Cubs more and will do whatever it takes to help this team be a winner.

Thoughts?

THE RIOT!

Ryan Theriot "Hard Work" award...

Today's "Ryan Theriot Hard Work Award" goes to Geovany Soto. Just a few days ago we were all a little scared about his consecutive strike-out streak. It's obvious he got in the cage and figured it out as he took the Brewers deep twice last night to make an emphatic statement!

And btw, The Riot is batting .323!