Déjà Vu

The Cubs starting pitcher gave up four runs and the bullpen matched that by giving up four more. Meanwhile, the Cubs offense was only able to muster two runs on the night despite matching the Reds with 10 hits. The final score was 8-2 in favor of the Reds. Did I not just write about this yesterday?

With the Cubs losing streak hitting eight games and counting, and with the season spiraling down the toilet, we are going to need other things to distract us and get us through the season. The last two nights of Cubs vs Reds baseball gave us something you do not see everyday. The statistical quirk will not ease the pain and frustration of how our team has been playing lately, but it is still something I found amusing. In both games the final score was 8-2, both teams recorded 10 hits in both games, and the Cubs committed one error in both games.

W: Volquez (4-2)

L: Davis (0-5)

W: Leake (5-2)

L: Garza (2-5)

Now back to focusing on the recap of last night’s game. Doug Davis was actually pitching ok, but created a jam in the 5^th inning that he was not allowed to try to get out of. Rodrigo Lopez was brought in, but he could not prevent two inherited runners from scoring in the frame, charging a total of four earned runs to Davis on the night. John Grabow struggled, loading the bases before serving up a grand slam to utility man Miguel Cairo. Jeff Samardzija came out for back to back appearance, and faired better than he did in the series opener, tossing a scoreless inning in relief to get the Cubs through the bottom of the 8^th.

On offense, the only highlights were off the bats of Darwin Barney and Blake DeWitt, with each going 3 for 4. Barney will probably be disappointed with the one at bat he did not get a hit in despite the solid day at the plate, as his lone out was occurred in a bases loaded, two outs situation. As for DeWitt, he also contributed a RBI. As I mentioned yesterday, he has certainly looked good at the plate in recent games, and is definitely boosting his trade value at the least.

With Jordan mentioning in a previous post about the potential hole at third base in 2012, it will be interesting to see if DeWitt can at worst play himself into a platoon role with Josh Vitters next season instead of being traded this season. Depending on what direction the Cubs decide to take in the off season leading up to next year, a DeWitt and Vitters combination at third base could be one option to consider. Like I said, it will be things like this that will need to keep us occupied as the 2011 season looks to become a long one.