Free Passes in Houston

Cubs 4 Astros 12

What started out as a promising night...turned out to be a nightmare. The Cubs pitching allowed 7 more walks. I do not understand all of the walks and 2 out trouble. Do these pitchers not realize there are 7 more guys behind them with gloves? This is the pure definition of teamwork, they just do not trust one another. Rusch was horrific. The offense got 'em up and Rusch let 'em down, got to be able to get outs. A manager can only attempt to put the right guys in the right situations, but when he does the player has to perform more often than not. Tonight was the 'than not'. Wellemeyer comes in and does the job with the bases loaded in the 4th, comes back in the 5th and gives up 6 runs, all earned on 3 hits and 3 walks, while giving up 2 home runs. Was he throwing under hand? Give me a break. They just called him up on Sunday and he just got rocked.

This has been one of the problems this year, the bullpen. Between the young arms and the dead arms, it is an adventure everyday. Mr. Hendry has to address this problem in the offseason. I think the young arms will be better next year and more consistant (Novoa, Wuertz, Ohman), but you have to let the dead ones go. There is not a starting pitching staff that can be perfect everyday, you have to have a bullpen that is reliable and can stop the other team long enough for their offense to catch up. I think this is the major reason Woody and Prior have had so many arm problems the last few years.

In 2003, Dusty knew his bullpen was unreliable. So he did what any manager would do and rode his horses 'til they could go no more. And 2 years later he still does not have a setup man or closer. Everyone is on the 'Get Dusty Out Of Town' bandwagon, but what I wonder is how many games has he had his starting line-up on the field, his starting rotation in tact and his bullpen setup the way it was planned out of Spring Training? I will find out....

I said it last night...NO WALKS and NO EXTRA OUTS..Houston got the free pass tonight.

Tuesday - Greg Maddux(9-9/4.54) vs. Andy Pettitte(10-8/2.62)

The Cubs have their work cut out for them tomorrow. Pettitte has been lights out his past several starts and it will not get any easier on Wednesday with Roy O. Maddux has to continue what he started last week. Right now they are back to 7.5 out, a loss tomorrow would just about put an end to the post-season hopes.

On a side note, the play-by-play for Astros radio, Alan Ashby and Milo Hamilton are just impossible to follow....I thought the WGN TV guys were bad...

Go get up on the guys early, throw strikes, hold the lead and just win!!!