Closing Time

By: Glenn Anderson

They say a bad day in Florida beats a good day just about anywhere else. After this series, I’d be inclined to say that’s just not true. The Cubs had three bad days in Florida - or at least three days where the Marlins had better ones.When the Cubs came marching into Dolphin Stadium, riding the wave of winning ten of their previous twelve games and a 3-game lead over the Brewers in the NL Central race, the scene was ominous at best. The wet climate, deep fences, and intimidating top of the Marlins order should have tipped the Cubs off that this wasn’t necessarily going to be a bright trip to the Sunshine State.

In stark contrast to the Pittsburg series at Wrigley, the visiting Cubbies were met by a left-handed Dontrelle Willis, who despite his rough season is always a threatening force on the mound - especially to a team that has had limited success against lefties. Also unlike the homestand, the seats at the Marlins’ home park held fewer than half the quantity of fans the Cubs had been blessed with at the Friendly Confines, and within the cavernous walls of a stadium built for football the game-time atmosphere easily could have been mistaken for batting practice.

Up to this point in the season, the Cubs have shown the ability to give opposing relief pitchers’ stats a blow over the course of a three-game set. But while the Cubs frequently threatened the various relief pitchers that were brought in relatively early in the second and third games, they failed to score a single run against the Florida bullpen. They felt the reliable comfort of a stingy bullpen in their favor, but the starters for the series - Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis and Steve Trachsel - were roughed up for 13 earned runs in 14 1/3 innings.

While it’s too late for the question to inspire any kind of change or insight, why would Lou Piniella elect Trachsel for the job of closing out the series, when Sean Marshall is busy gathering dust on the shelf of the Cubs clubhouse? It’s true, he doesn’t have the experience that Trachsel does (and Trachsel’s numbers against the Marlins are historically good), but I’d hope it would have been obvious that Trachsel is but a shadow of the All-Star caliber pitcher he once was. Marshall spent this season earning his stripes and developing into a fine young pitcher, possibly one who will collaborate with Rich Hill and Carlos Zambrano to form the rotation of the future for the Cubs (all three are products of the Cubs farm system).

Piniella may have wanted to go with a right-handed starter against a predominantly right-handed lineup, but while righties hit an unimpressive .341 against Marshall, it’s considerably better than the unsightly .476 that they’re hitting against Trachsel. I know there’s no need for a fifth starter for the remainder of the season, but if the Cubs managerial staff is intent on holding a spot starter on the roster for the playoffs, I sincerely hope they go with the numbers and keep the young southpaw.

Back to the brick wall the North Siders ran into in Miami.

It’s getting close to playoff time, and the Cubs are looking like they’ll be playing baseball in October. As such, the word “Curse” has started to be thrown around. The team isn’t concerned with history (as well they shouldn’t be, considering that Zambrano, Kerry Wood and Aramis Ramirez are the only current Cubs who were around for the most recent episode of the curse in Game Six of the 2003 NLCS), though if they blow the two game lead they’re fortunate to have with only three games left, it will be hard not to attribute it to that damned goat. But this past trip to Florida was not laden with curses.

As Derek Lee confessed after Thursday’s 6-4 loss, “They were the better team for three days. They just outplayed us. They outplayed us all year. Unfortunately, that didn’t change in this series… Honestly, they made some good pitches, especially when they had to.”

It’s a good thing the Marlins aren’t in playoff contention. If they were, there’s a good chance they would end the Cubs’ plans to play in their third consecutive postseason. After Thursday’s loss, the Cubs are now 0-11 in recent action against the Fish.

If there had been a beacon of the curse afoot at Dolphin Stadium, it would have taken the form of the men in black. Blaming the officials is never a good scapegoat in any professional sporting contest, but I don’t feel pointing out their poor performance would be out of bounds. Between the obvious botched call doubling up Alfonso Soriano at first base on Wednesday night, the fair call down the right field line off the bat of Miguel Cabrerra on Thursday night (that Derek Lee was convinced was foul), or one of any number of pitch calls by the home plate umpire any given night of the series, the officiating was suspect at best.

The main reason for bringing it up is the unspoken - but universally accepted - subjectivity of a strike zone in the eyes of any umpire. The strike zone will vary based on the plate umpire, and even he will often mix up his zone from game to game, however there’s a reason you never see players ejected for arguing balls and strikes the first time through the order. It sometimes takes one, two or even three at-bats for a hitter to get a good feel for the strike zone on that particular day, and generally speaking the MLB umpires do a fine job of game-calling.

This particular series was an exception. Aramis Ramirez was ejected on Wednesday night (rather quickly, I thought) for arguing a strike two call. It’s not that he was arguing that it was a ball, because that’s part of the human element that keeps baseball in its purest form. Instead, he was arguing that the pitch hadn’t been a strike earlier on in the game. The same happened to Mark DeRosa in the eighth inning of the same game on a 3-2 pitch that appeared to be at the knees, but off the plate and outside of the strike zone that had been established over the course of the game. Instead, home plate umpire Mike Reilly broke his zone to punch out DeRosa, leaving Cliff Floyd on second with two outs and the Cubs down by three.

Whatever the reason, the Cubs were swept by the team with the worst record in the National League, heading into what’s supposed to be a clinching stretch. Instead, their first place throne was preserved (I never thought I would say this, but…) thanks to a Cardinals victory. Never before had I been so happy to see the Redbirds win a game, but Brewers manager Ned Yost is showing his inexperience by evoking ejections in three of the last four contests he’s appeared in.

The Brewers’ woes (and thus, the Cubs good fortune) continued on Thursday night as a series of miscues and Yovani Gallardo’s first bad game in five starts led to a Padres victory in Milwaukee, sustaining the Cubs’ two-game lead with three remaining. Now the Cubs travel to Cincinnati to close out the regular season against a much-deflated Reds team. This will not be the same team the Cubs had to claw a series victory away from a week ago at Wrigley Field - They will be without future HOF member Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn and Josh Hamilton, who’ve all been sidelined with injuries since the last time the two teams squared off.

Carlos Zambrano gets the ball in the series opener, followed by Rich Hill and Ted Lilly. Ironically, the biggest question mark regarding the performance of the trio refers to Zambrano. Lilly is allowed one bad outing every now and then (and he had it in Florida), and Rich Hill, who’s produced significantly better on extended rest, will appear with exactly that. Zambrano hasn’t been near the playoffs since his first year as a starter, at which point he was overshadowed in the rotation by Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. While he thinks of himself as a top-flight competitor, I think Friday night’s game will be the first glimpse anyone gets at what kind of competitor Big ‘Z’ really is.

Glenn Anderson is a graduate of Chicagoland's Evanston Township High School and Pitzer College in beautiful southern California. He is a life-long, die hard Cubs fan; thankfully this has not damaged his psyche to the point where he can't intelligently comment on the team.

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