(Photo Courtesy Arturo Pardavila III via Flickr)

Errors Kill Momentum

Home Runs Win Games, but Defense Wins Championships

The first two batters of the night for the Chicago Cubs would set the tone as they took on the New York Mets in the rubber match. Back to back home runs from Anthony Rizzo and Ian Happ would set Cubs twitter alight with unrealistic optimism that we may, in fact, have found the golden ticket back to the World Series. The end of the game came on quite a different note, as both excuses and pandering ran amok in a beleaguered effort to numb the pain of yet another Cubs loss that should have been a win. This is 2017 Cubs baseball, and the more it changes, the more it stays the same.

The lopsided victory by the Mets on Monday night squelched the Cubs offense in a 6–1 effort. The Cubs route on Tuesday, a product of the new and improved lineup fronted by Joe Maddon, ended with 14 Cubs runs plastered across the Citi field scoreboard. It was the 150th win for Jon Lester’s career, Anthony Rizzo had become the new archetype for a lead-off hitter, and the memes showered down through Cubs twitter in a torrential downpour.

Whether or not the optimism would turn into wins was on full display as the Chicago Cubs faced the New York Metropolitans for the third and final game in the series on Wednesday night. On the mound for Chicago was reliever-turned-starter Mike Montgomery filling in for the injured Kyle Hendricks [get well soon buddy]. Facing off against the Cubs lineup would be Gotham’s dark knight himself, Matt Harvey.

It takes time for a starting pitcher to prepare for a game — going through the pitch progressions with the catcher, reading scouting reports, planning out how to attack certain points in the opposing lineup, warming up while making final adjustments, before pacing yourself through 100+ pitches in front of a stadium filled with fans who can boo you off the field at the drop of a hat. Yet the first delivery from Matt Harvey toward the glove of Travis d’Arnaud would never arrive, and be instead violently placed over the wall in center field by one, Anthony Rizzo.

Is he headed to BP or is he headed to steal yo’ girl? Probably both. (Photo Courtesy Victoria Geisz via Flickr)

As I’ve said before, the first inning is the time that the good pitchers are most vulnerable, before they get a rhythm going and are still feeling out the strike zone. The Cubs wasted no time exploiting that fact. Ian Happ was the second batter of the game, and worked a 2–2 count before hitting the second home run of the afternoon over the right center field wall. The Cubs had scored 2 runs in the first 7 pitches of the game, and sealed an early exit for Gotham’s ace.

The problem with home runs is they are easy runs for the offense. You don’t have to leg out a double, you don’t have to steal a bag or run over the catcher at home plate — its just gone, and everyone jogs around the bases. Easy come, easy go. Hard fought runs lead to a greater focus on defense, an understanding that there is a scarcity of scoring opportunities, leveraging strong defense to be the stop gap. This is not what’s happening on the Cubs, and it can be seen every time the Cubs find momentum offensively [usually with the long ball].

All it takes is one lousy error to kill that momentum.

The Chicago Cubs have improved greatly on errors, moving from 3rd to 15th over a matter of 4 weeks. But, just when you think the “Championship Hangover” has worn off, it rears its ugly head again.

And I do believe we, as Cubs fans, have been subjected to far too many errors in the past 10 seasons (Photo Courtesy Jim Essian via Flickr)

Kris Bryant was playing the shift in the bottom of the 2nd inning as Jay Bruce stood in to bat. The shift had moved Bryant to the shallow outfield in right center, halfway between Rizzo at first and Happ at second base. Bruce grounded the ball toward Bryant in the shift, and the reigning NL MVP went to backhand the ground ball, and watched helplessly as it rolled under his glove and out into right field. Later in the inning, with runners at the corners and 2 outs, Jose Reyes hit a routine ground ball to Bryant’s waiting glove at third base. KB stepped to throw the ball to first base to end the inning, and the ball slipped out of his throwing hand, landing harmlessly on the ground next to him. Running with 2 outs, Curtis Granderson was able to score on the miss-played ball, closing the score to a 2–1 deficit in the second inning. The Mets had been handed 5 outs for the inning, and the Cubs had paid dearly for it.

Hope was rekindled in the top of the 4th inning as John Jay singled and Kyle Schwarber headed to the plate. It was an 89 MPH changeup down the heart of the plate, and Matt Harvey knew it was a mistake as soon as the ball left his fingertips. Kyle sent a Schwarbomb™ into right center field with distance that rivaled Aaron Judge for New York Supremacy. The 467 foot 2-run shot elevated the Cubs to a 4–1 lead, and everyone in Cubs nation celebrated what looked like an unstoppable offense. Little did anyone know that this would be the final time tonight a Cubs player would cross home plate.

The bottom of the 4th inning saw more defensive lapses by the Cubs lauded infield. Javier Baez couldn’t pull a ground ball out of his glove from Curtis Granderson, watching what should have been the second out of the inning cross first base un-impeded. Handing the other team extra outs would come back to bite the Cubs again. Later in the same inning Steven Matz grounded the ball back to Baez at short, who yet again could not make the play at first, allowing Rivera to cross home plate and bringing the Mets a run closer to the Cubbies at 4–2. The sacrifice fly by Juan Lagares on the next pitch put the Mets within a run. Looking back, it would be the turning point in the game. Javier Baez, the pride and joy of Cubs fans everywhere, had handed 5 outs to the New York Mets in the 4th inning, and the game would not be in doubt for long.

Paul Sewald would step in to pitch for the Mets in the 5th inning, and with Harvey in the locker room the Cubs long ball would be grounded for the rest of the game. The bottom of the 5th inning saw another bad play from Javy at short, bobbling the ball and not making the throw to Rizzo. What was first called as an out saw T.J. Rivera challenge the call and end up on first base with an error charged to Baez for his troubles.

Pedro Strop, crooked cap and all, was brought in for relief of Monty in the bottom of the 6th inning. After Walking Grandy, he struck out 2, before giving up a Juan Lagaras triple on a 95 mph fastball that was high in the zone, but not high enough. The Mets had tied it up at 4–4, and relief was nowhere in sight.

The Notorious Carl Edwards Junior worked a perfect 7th inning, keeping the score knotted up. Where CEJ gets into trouble is when Joe sends him out for more than 3 outs, which is exactly what happened on this mild New York evening. Edwards would be sent back to pitch the 8th inning in a 4–4 ballgame.

Pitching to Curtis Granderson, on a 2–2 count, Edwards delivered a perfectly placed 81 mph curve ball at the bottom of the strike zone. It never made it to Miguel Montero behind the dish. New York had taken the lead on, what else, a home run by the 36 year old southpaw hitter. Whatever happened next, it didn’t really matter, the extra outs had put confidence into a ball club that was on the ropes early, and the Cubs had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Pictured: the Notorious C.E.J. when Maddon asks him to only pitch only one inning (Photo Courtesy San Ching via Flickr)

Edwards put on 2 more base runners before he was pulled, and Hector Rondon with his highly suspect pitch location relieved him. Whatever hope the Cubs had of entering the off day with a win went up in smoke almost immediately with a 3 run homer by Lucas Duda. Add another RBI by Rivera, and the score topped out at 9–4 by the New Yorkers before the inning was finally brought to an end.

That was the final score, Mets 9 — Cubs 4. Granderson hit his 300th career home run, and the Cubs fall below .500 yet again. Blevins gets the win for the Mets (4–0) and Carl Edwards Jr. gets the loss for the Cubs (2–1).

Twitter was a flutter with fans who didn’t know what they were watching. “It’s just not clicking” some said as if it were a mechanical issue, “I don’t know what the problem is” tends to be the sentiment for most fair weather Cubs fans.

The Cubs dictate their wins through defense more so than through their offense. This is what every baseball fan needs to understand. Was a 3 run lead enough to win a ballgame? A resounding yes is the answer. It’s the extra outs and piss poor defensive lapses that will lose a game every single time. And unless the Cubs have 3 or 4 guys who will top 40 home runs like the Yankees of the late 1990’s then I suggest the focus be placed back on defensive integrity.

The Cubs had a 2 run lead before the Mets even registered an out, and on any given day in the majors, that should be enough to leverage a win. Even against a tough team like the Mets, even in a tough city like New York. Javy Baez and Kris Bryant need to forcibly remove their heads from the clouds and realize that them making plays in the field is what will propel this team back to the playoffs. Until that happens, until the infield stops giving extra outs to opposing lineups, only then will good defense make our good pitching great again. Only then will we have the defensive integrity to win games without having to score 9 or 10 runs to do it.

“Hey Guys, maybe we should field those grounders cleanly for a change” (Photo Courtesy John Gudorf via Flickr)

Joe Maddon has been making uncharacteristic moves all season, especially at the top of the batting order where 7 different hitters have led off this season for the North Side. Maybe it’s time we realize it’s not the offense that’s the problem and focus on the guys in the field. Until that happens, no amount of shuffling the chairs on the deck will keep this titanic of a season from sinking well before October.

Game 65/162

Big Ben Martin has a big deep love for his Chicago Cubs. They say that everything is bigger in Texas, and based on Big Ben’s love for the Cubs we would have to agree. When not playing the role of Big Ben he might be found as his alter ego Big Cynical Ben on Twitter.