The Baseball Gods Hate Randy Wells

Wow, what a frustrating game to watch. Again. It seems like almost every game this year has had the feel like the Cubs were either in control or were in a good position to win the game. And then they have lost.

Another great effort by a starter was wasted. Randy Wells went 6 innings and only gave up 1 earned run. He lowered his ERA to 2.45. He’s given up 5 ER over 3 starts and has one win to show for it. Last year, he started the season by going 0-3 over his first 7 starts. Started slow last year, right? Nope. Wells gave up 12 runs in 43 innings over those first 7 starts in 2009. That’s a 2.51 ERA. I think I would have packed by glove away and said “Screw it, this is a silly game” and went home. Well Randy, welcome to 2010 where things don’t change.

The Cub offense only managed to put up 1 run against the rookie Mets pitcher, Jon Niese. But it wasn’t like Niese dominated. The Cubs threatened to score pretty much every inning. Here are your Cub base runners per inning:

1st: 1
2nd: 2
3rd: 1
4th: 2 (1st and 3rd, 1 Out. Soto and Theriot both strike out.)
5th: 3 (Bases loaded, 1 Out. Nady strikes out. Ramirez grounds out.)
6th: 2 (Soto scores on a Byrd infield single)
7th: 0
8th: 1
9th: 2

You should not lose a game with those opportunities. Especially when your starter gives up one run over six innings! If baseball ever decides to shorten games to 6 innings, the Cubs will probably be the best team in baseball. Their starters will all pitch complete games and give up about 2 runs. Unfortunately, they play 9 and the Cubs have a bullpen. After six solid innings by Wells, they wasted no time in coming in and sucking. Here’s the Mets’ 7th:

James Russell pitching.
Jose Reyes: hit by pitch (on an 0-2 count)
Gary Matthews Jr: strikes out. 1 Out.
Angel Pagan: Home Run. 3-1 Mets.
Luis Castillo: Lines out. 2 Outs.

*At this point, Pinella decides to bring in Samardzija to face the upcoming right handed hitters. I think we know what’s coming.

Jeff Samardzija pitching.
David Wright: Walks, steals 2nd.
Jason Bay: Doubles, Wright scores. 4-1 Mets.
Jeff Francoeur: Reaches on error by Ramirez.

Sean Marshall pitching.
Ian Davis: Singles, Bay scores. 5-1 Mets.
Wild pitch by Marshall, Francoeur scores. 6-1 Mets.
Rod Barajas: Grounds out.

Game over.

Through 7 Innings:
Randy Wells: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB
Bullpen: 1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB

Holy crap. Something has to be done. We knew the bullpen was going to be shaky. Now I’m hoping the bullpen can just get to shaky. They can’t get anyone out. I would not be surprised if Samardzija doesn’t make it through the day without taking a bus back to Iowa. Perhaps they can take a detour and drop him back at Notre Dame. That was a waste of 11 million dollars.

But let’s be honest- the offense was just as bad. Kind of. I mean, they were getting on base. They were getting hits. It’s not like the offense wasn’t working. But it’s like some mental block. Guys get on base and then we can’t even hit a sac fly? 26 men left on base. 26! I watched some of the Cardinal game last night too. You know what the difference is? The Cardinals capitalize. I guarantee the Cardinals do not have more scoring chances than the Cubs do. But when they get them, they take advantage of them and score.

And what the heck is going on with Aramis Ramirez? I’ve never seen him this bad. Another 0 for 4 night and now his average is down to .157. Even Randy Wells had two hits last night!

This is depressing.
-John Mark