Cubs Series Recap: Colorado Rockies Horror Show

Article first published as Cubs Series Recap: Colorado Rockies Horror Show on Blogcritics.



This recap is going to be a short one as we lost a game to Mother Nature on Wednesday. It's probably for the better since the Chicago Cubs (10-13) lost the series early on Monday and Tuesday. Monday's loss marked the first time the team would not be able to reach the .500 mark as they had previously attained the 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, etc. records. Aside from fun with numbers, there was not much else fun with the series and the team finds itself at a critical junction for the season.


No Love for Garza - I'm not talking about me, as I still like the Matt Garza signing, and I think he brings a great personality to the team. In return, the team has only given the pitcher something like 8 runs combined in his five starts. So, you would think that a three run lead to start Monday night's game would be enough, right? Well, when you have Starlin Castro commit three errors in one inning and then Garza adding another on his own, the result is Garza's third loss of the season. It's hard to get down on Castro since he is clearly the future for this team, but he'll need to learn the Wrigley Field grass along with the not so friendly April weather that comes with Chicago very soon. Seems like the Rockies were able to handle the elements just fine as they committed zero errors for the evening.

Russell gave us a chance - There's been a lot of talk on who should start in the Cubs' vacant fifth spot as a result of the injuries to Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner. James Russell got another chance on Tuesday, and although the Rockies scored four in four innings, the bats were really to blame for this game and yesterday's as well. With 24 runners left on base in Monday's game, the Cubs continued this extremely disturbing trend by leaving 19 stranded on Tuesday. Thus, the focus should be on how these hitters can start being more clutch. Manager Mike Quade continues to juggle the lineup in search of the right combination, and although he's getting production out of Kosuke Fukudome (5-for-5 on Monday) and Jeff Baker (.400+ for the season), the team is simply not producing enough runs on a regular basis.

Keeping Score: My prediction of 85 wins may start getting less hopeful if the team continues to play like this. At three games under .500, the Cubs will need to bounce back in order to stay in contention early for the division.

On Deck: The Cubs go on the road for a four game series versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. Wednesday's postponement (rescheduled for June 27) may have been what the team needed to regroup from two losses in a row and the longest losing streak (3 games) of the season. This make winning this series extremely "critical" for the success of the season.

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