Clark & Addison Blog - CubHub.net

Hearing that Bob Howry is coming into a one-run game tonight to relieve Ryan Dempster, I thought to myself: why? How is it that Lou doesn’t see that Howry has been too inconsistent (I’m being kind here) to be relied upon. Lou refuses to look at the numbers:

• His 5.54 ERA is a full two points above his career average
• In the past 30 days, he’s pitched 8 innings, giving up 10 hits and 5 runs - all earned.

Lou seems to really want Howry to come around, but tonight he finally pulled him at the first sign of trouble. Facing just two batters, CC Sabathiaflied out deep and then he walked Mike Carmeron. Lou yanked him for Neal Cotts, then Carlos Marmol finished off the inning.

With Friday & Saturday off for the hurricane, Z’s no-hitter on Sunday and Lilly’s 1-hitter yesterday the bullpen is fully rested.  So why is it Piniella calls on Howry first out of the pen in a one run game???? 

Howry just doesn’t have it. Honestly, I’d rather see Jason Marquis on the playoff roster rather than Bobby “Gas Can”Howry.

Ted Lilly got the message. He apparently took to heart the message Lou was trying to send to his team via shouting his frustrations in a post-game news conference from a room adjacent to the Cubs locker room. Presumably the team could hear Lou going off after Tuesday’s loss but his message was not anything they didn’t know.

Ted Lilly took it to the field last night and pitched eight stellar innings of ball. He also ran over Cards catcher Yadier Molina, knocking him out of the game even though Lilly was out on the play. That was a message delivered by Lilly to the rest of the league by way of the Cardinals. The message is this team wants to win and will run over people to do so - even pitchers running over catchers in full gear. Lou said on Tuesday the Cubs have to ‘roll up their shirts’ and ‘go out and kick somebody’s ass’. Ted Lilly did just that last night. Impressive.

He holds his lips tighter. He talks louder and faster. You can hear the rumble building in his voice. His words don’t come as easy. No one else gets to say anything when he’s around. The US Geological Survey is measuring all these indicators and confirms is now seems certain:  Mount Lou is going to blow!

Cubs manager Lou Piniella did not talk to the media after Sunday’s tough loss. Monday was an off day, then last night the Cubs did what they haven’t done all year until about two weeks ago; they blew the lead, didn’t get the timely hits, played sloppy, got the bad bounces and the opposing team did exactly the opposite to wrestle victory from the arms of the Northsiders. Again.

Lou’s postgame press conference shows that Lou is just about done being a bystander to His Team playing so poorly. He says he doesn’t have a problem with the effort, but the guys just aren’t getting it done. A wise manager like Lou Piniella knows he can’t take his frustrations out on the players.  Not entirely anyway. And the media, well, they get some shrapnel but I have a strong suspicion that Lou will vent his feelings in a very public way some time soon. It might be tonight, might be tomorrow, and unless the W flag starts getting a workout for the Cubbies, he will certainly boil over by the weekend.

Umpires should be on notice that Lou is about to pop a gasket. The guy just can’t tolerate losing and he knows his team has a cushion and can afford a correction in their win-loss record now. But as he points out, their lead just isn’t that big and if they continue to fail to execute they can get caught. So some unsuspecting ump can expect to feel the hot breath of Mount Lou erupting in front of a big crowd, on TV, and for the world to see some time very soon.  You can just feel it, can’t you?

Lou Piniella has proven masterful at pulling the right strings in his tenure as Cubs skipper. With the added bodies, Lou has more options for pinch hitting, spot starts and some creative double-switches. Dusty could never figure out how to double-switch, but Lou usually seems to make the right calls.

The first round of September call-ups are Micah Hoffpauir, Koyie Hill, Michael Wuertz and Casey McGehee. With miraculous timing, both Jon Leiber and Angel Guzman are also ready for activation from the DL. With Iowa in the minor league playoffs, Felix Pie and Rich Hill will likely join the big club once their season concludes.

Check out this update from MLB.com’ Carrie Muskat:

Hoffpauir’s stats at Iowa have had fans clamoring for his return. The left-handed-hitting first baseman/outfielder batted .387 in August with 12 home runs, 10 doubles and 39 RBIs. Since the All-Star break, he was hitting .366 with a .796 slugging percentage. For the season, Hoffpauir has a .362 average, with career highs of 25 homers, 34 doubles, and 100 RBIs.

These guys will help, and I have confidence Lou will plug them in just the right holes.

At this point in the season, things couldn’t be sweeter for birthday boy Sweet Lou.

 After notching their 6th win in a row last night with a come from behind 6-4 victory over a strong Philly team, capped off by MVP candidate Aramis “I Promise” Ramirez’ 8th inning grand salami birthday present to Lou, things couldn’t look any rosier for the Cubs. Right? Not so fast pal. Let’s not forget.

100 years is a long long time ago but what concerns me even more is what occurred only 7 short years ago when Sweet Lou laid a huge egg that still plays on my mind especially when I think about his Cubbies sporting the best record in all of the major leagues.

How can we forget that 2001 season when his Mariners lost to the Yankees 4-1 in the NLCS after compiling an incredible 116-46 .716 season record. Lou’s Mariners’ team was invincible but errrrrrrrrrrrr!!! thanks for playing. Lets all wish Sweet Lou a happy 65th Birthday but let’s hope he can remember how fast a good/strong/invincible team can get bumped off in the playoffs if they don’t bring their “A” game each and every pitch.

Submitted by: AJ

Note:  This is one of a series of “Guest Posts” submitted by fans of the Clark & Addison Cubs Fan Blog. If you are interested in authoring a Guest Post, please contact us with your idea!

Lou Piniella has been commenting on all the historical references coming up these days.  You know, the “…not since 1984″, or “last time that happened was 1935″, “a hundred years since…” stuff.  Lou says he’s not interested in all that, he just wants this team to focus on what is in front of them. Piniella has been here before and knows his squad has to finish strong.

With the LA Angels up 17 games in their division, they will clinch with weeks to go in the season. This will then present the challenge for them that Lou had with his 2001 Mariners team that won 116 games and got stale waiting for the playoffs. They lost the ALCS to the Yankees 4 games to 1 after just making it through the ALDS, winning game 5 at home over the Indians. I would like to see the Cubs cruise into the division title with about 7-10 days to go in the season - no excitement, no streaks, just winning series’. This would give them time to rest some guys, line up their rotation, and prepare to face (presumably) the NL West division champs, LA or Arizona. Once in the playoffs, victory goes to the hottest team.

Your Turn

Some great comments have come in lately from AJ on Cubs Never Out Of It post, and from Lamar Miller on the Joe Morgan Is A Putz post. 

AJ pointed out how with the Brewers 9 games abck of the Cubs in the loss column, they would need to go 26-5 in their remaining 31 games to beat out the Cubs assuming we slump to .500 (16-16) in our last 32 games. That’s an excellent observation that illustrates how well in hand this Cubs team has the division.  Just take care of business modestly and we are home free. 

Lamar added on to many of the posts and comments received at CubHub.net World HQ regarding the ineptness of Joe Morgan. That post was actually picked up by the Sun-Times and Reuters there was so much interest.

Remember - this is a site for all Cubs fans - your comments are encouraged. Join the conversation!

The Cubs diminutive (listed at 5 foot, 8 inches) reserve second baseman Mike Fontenot has found some power lately.  Maybe manager Lou Piniella will begin to take note as he has homered in 3 of his last 8 games - and Lou pinch hit for him immediately following two of those home runs!

On June 21 Fontenot went back-to-back with Jim Edmonds. Later that same inning Edmonds homered again, but mysteriously Lou pinch hit for Fontenot!  Lou later referred to it as a ’senior moment’, admitting his mistake. 

 Then on June 27 Fontenot homered in the 5th inning against the White Sox.  His next turn at bat, Lou pinch hit with Matt Murton who flied out.  Fontenot stayed in the game last night but did not come to bat again.  I wonder if Lou will sit him or play him in tonight’s finale in San Francisco?

Mike Fontenot is quietly hitting .321 over the past two weeks, going 9 for 28 with 3 doubles, 3 HRs and a .750 slugging percentage.

Lou Piniella has apparently anointed Reed Johnson for his lead-off batter in Alfonso Soriano’s absence.  Of course Lou is apt to change his mind on occasion, but for now that’s the way it is.  Reed provides some spark and has a gamer attitude, but he’s far from the prototypical #1 slot hitter based on his numbers.

Johnson has a .342 on-base percentage which is actually ten points higher than Soriano. But the entire world knows Soriano is a free-swinger and OBP is not his claim to fame.  Johnson is batting just .267 this year and has 13 walks in 176 at bats. He doesn’t steal bases with just 4 bags all year. So why then does Lou want him in the leadoff spot? 

Ryan Theriot is batting .310 with a .388 OBP. He leads the team with 13 steals and has 32 walks. He, too, is a gamer who can work the count and makes contact with just 23 strikeouts as compared to Johnson’s 28 k’s in 76 fewer at bats.  So why is Lou not comfortable with Theriot batting lead-off with Fukudome 2nd, followed by Lee, Ramirez, Soto…?  This was the lineup I advocated in March (with the exception of Soriano in the 5th spot).  Statistcally, this lineup matches the modern day thinking of ideal hitters for each slot.  You want an on-base guy who can run leading off, a contact guy who can hit situationally second, your best overall hitter third, your power guy in cleanup, and a big bat in the 5th hole to protect your cleanup guy.  That’s how you draw it up on paper and if you have the personnel, its a winning formula. 

So tell me why Lou doesn’t buy into this?  Sure, hard to argue with the manager of a team 20 games over .500 in June, but surely worth discussion…

Jim Edmonds time in Cubbie pinstripes could be coming to a close sooner rather than later. He is batting just .125, going 3 for 24 (all singles) since joining the Cubs. The boos are getting louder and louder for him and it figures Lou is making plans now for Life After Edmonds. In yesterday’s pre-game, Lou said there is no timetable on Edmonds but as a manager he has to find playing time for Micah Hoffpauir to see what he has there as well. Quoth Lou: “Obviously, defensive play is important, and I recognize that, but we need for Jim to hit,”

Edmonds has played a few days in a row this week, and I would expect him to start against righties for the next couple days as well. But Edmonds would need to find his stroke - and quickly - if he hopes to stick with a team managed by a guy who seems determined to win NOW.  Lou has shown his impatience with low-producers this year. The organization will give Edmonds every chance to prove the Cardinals and Padres were wrong to give up on him.  But Edmonds is not doing himself any favors in making a case to disprove the widely held belief that he is done as a player.

Roster moves are coming soon with Daryl Ward coming off the DL. Will Hoffpauir (batting .400 for the Cubs) stick or Edmonds? Or maybe a pitching shuffle again? Hard to say, but Lou has definitely shown himself to be a ‘what have you done for me lately’ manager this year.  And that is a very good thing.

Aquafina has created a Lou Piniella “bobblehead” Widget that will feature a Lou-ism as a daily affirmation.  Kinda silly if you ask me. But you can get the Widget for yourself at: http://www.aquafina.com/affirmations/