Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Gorzelanny gets screwed again

Poor Sloth.

As I mentioned yesterday, this was his 3rd straight start against an opponent's ace.

And this ended up being his 3rd straight loss.

The truth is, after a rocky first inning, Gorzelanny actually pitched fantastic.  He gave up 2 runs in the first, and nothing after that.

The Nationals scored an unearned run in the 8th off of Grabow...the only reason it was unearned was because of a throwing error by Grabow himself off of a Nyjer Morgan weak roller just off the pitchers mound.  Morgan quickly stole second base, and then scored on a hit to left by Ian Desmond.  I'm sure glad Grabow signed him for all that money.

The truth is, Livan Hernandez was really good last night, and he pitched to the conditions...giving up a number of fly balls that just died in the strong wind. Look, Hernandez may not have much of a fastball any more, but he very well could be one of the smarts pitchers in the game right.  Different arm angles, changing speeds, great location...this guy is just like Maddux was in his later years....at least it seams like it when he plays the Cubs. 

For some reason, the Cubs just have enormous problems with soft throwing pitchers not named Dave Bush.

Offensively, not much happened.  Soriano scored on a botched double play attempt by the Nationals in the second inning.  They had a really good chance at scoring in the eighth, but Ramirez bounced out weakly on another outside pitch to end the inning.

You can't win them all, and when your number 5 starter faces the other team's ace, you probably should expect to win that often.  It's just a shame that Gorzelanny is victim of this.  He's pitching as well any any of the other starters.

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This afternoon, our ace, Ryan Dempster, goes up against Luis Atilano, who made his major league debut a week ago against the Dodgers...and pitched well giving up only one run in 6 innings of work.  Atilano was called up when Jason Marquis went on the DL with elbow problems.  Since this is a day game after a night game, It's possible that Soriano may get the day off and Colvin gets the start in left...also, Koyie will likely get the start behind the plate....but you never know, Lou's a crazy old man now.

Hopefully the Cubs can take this game and win their second series in a row.  Baby steps....