Losing to the Cubs is just embarassing. No other way to say it.
Quick thoughts:
- Brandon Claussen is a maddening pitcher, and I don't think that's ever going to change. He pitched fairly decently, for him anyway, but he still managed to throw 114 pitches in six and two thirds innings. Narron pretty much didn't have a choice when Claussen loaded the bases in the seventh. When your pitcher's pitch count is getting that high it's usually not a good idea to let him pitch through such a high leverage situation. But that's on Claussen because if he could be a little more efficient then it wouldn't have been a problem. If he's at 90 pitches then I'm sure Narron would have left him out there, and maybe the outcome would have been a little different. I'm kind of tired of Claussen as a starter.
- Esteban Yan shouldn't be used in a tie game with the bases loaded. What the hell was that? Where was Todd Coffey? Or David Weathers even? Would it have made a difference to bring one of those guys in? Maybe, maybe not, I don't know, but I'd rather not put that kind of pressure on Yan just yet.
- Joe Mays lowered his ERA to 9.84 on the season. This bullpen would be funny if it weren't so painful.
- Quinton McCracken! With a hit! For extra bases even!
- Eric Milton tomorrow, so we've got that going for us. No seriously, that's probably a good thing. A split really wouldn't be so bad, but dear God in heaven losing three of four to the Cubs would be an abomination. Let's hope it doesn't happen.