The headline describes the extent of the Cubs offensive production today, and wow is that scary. I don't have much to say about this game, John Danks pitched really well and the Cub offense did what it has done all year and failed to pick up that elusive clutch hit. I do think Ryan Dempster pitched well, negating the majority of his walks with double-play balls.
As far as the "tough decisions" Lou eluded to, enough is enough with this offense. Every team at some point or another over the course of a season has the mythical Jake Fox character, defined as the minor leaguer tearing it up or the bench player with a hot bat. Armed with an extremely limited and unrepresentative sample size, fans and writers fall in love with this guy and demand he plays.
I wouldn't say I have fallen in love with the Jake Fox character, but I've become so fed up with Alfonso Soriano that anything at this point would be a breath of fresh air. Plus-.400 Iowa batting average aside, Jake Fox needs to, at least temporarily, become the starting left fielder on the Chicago Cubs. If not him, then last year's version Micah Hoffpauir.
I don't know if you blame his knees and DL him or simply sit him, but Soriano needs to sit. He has 3 RBI's in nearly a month. He is hitting sub-.150 this month. The one hit he has had lately (13th inning home run in Cincy) came in a game in which he went 1-6. Sure he is a "superstar" and a "streaky" hitter that can carry the team, but there comes a time when even those excuses can't make up for killing an offense.
Will sitting him for next 3-4 games damage his psyche? It may, but there has so much talk of Soriano's psyche since he has gotten here (mostly on how uncomfortable he'd be not hitting leadoff) that it makes you wonder about a guy who is supposedly that emotionally fragile. I just don' think a guy who has accomplished what he has in his career can be that mentally weak. I think most of it is a bunch of nonsense, and that he'd take a benching in stride like a professional. If it is his knees hampering him, then more so what is the problem with a quick benching?
No comments:
Post a Comment