So Many Chances; Theriot to Rest; Should Floyd Be the Starter?
Following last night's 10-hit, 10-walk, but only 4 runs performance, the Cubs are now 16-22 since moving to a season high 8 games above .500 on August 1. And yet they are still just one game behind the division leading Brewers. During that same time frame, the Los Angeles Dodgers have gone 17-20 and have gone from 1 game back in the NL West to 6 games back. Just another way of confirming the mediocrity of the NL Central.
A few other notes:
Ryan Theriot is going to get a break for Ronny Cedeno tonight, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. In his past 30 games, Theriot has hit just .228/.280/.325, all from the first or second spot in the order.
Cliff Floyd has hit cleanup the past two games. He has a 739 OPS against righties this year, almost entirely due to a strange lack of power. Overall, his .094 Isolated Power is less than half of his career average of .204. He is hitting a lot of balls on the ground: he has a 1.51 GB/FB ratio, well above his career average of 1.09. He is a veteran with a good track record, but should he really be playing over Daryle Ward (982 OPS against righties this year) or Mike Fontenot (816; with Mark DeRosa moving to right) or Matt Murton (718, but better defense)?
Jason Kendall's arm notwithstanding, that acquisition has worked out quite well so far, with Kendall hitting .289/.384/.394 in 46 games for the Cubs. That is just about the best-case scenario.
The Cubs face Matt Albers tonight. After two quality starts, he got pounded by the Brewers his last time out. Time to wipe that grin off his face.
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the NL Central
I think "mediocrity" is too kind of a word. I would have gone with "patheticity". Sure, it's not really a word, but I think it gets the point across better than any real word could.
Anyway, worth pointing out, if no one else has yet, that the Cubs have a much easier schedule the rest of the way than Milwaukee does. The best teams the Cubs face is St. Louis (for 4 games), while the Brewers have 4 in Atlanta and 4 against San Diego.
schedule
Hopefully Atlanta will not have given up by the time the Brewers play them. Of course, Atlanta's youngsters still may be better than anything the patheticity-laden NL Central can put up against them.