The Cubs let another one slip out of their hands on Sunday, losing to the Reds 5-3 at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. Today’s loss marked the ninth time this season that the Cubs lost a game in which they had a lead and also ended their week long road trip at 1-5. The Cubs clawed back from two runs down in the seventh after a wild pitch and a two run homer off the bat of Tyler Colvin. However, the lead was short lived as Joey Votto hit what turned out to be the game winning home run off Ryan Dempster in the bottom of the inning.
Piniella was grilled by the media after the game about his decision to leave Dempster in to face Votto in the seventh instead of going with left-hander Sean Marshall. However, I think that it is hard to argue too much with his decision as Dempster has been the team’s best starter and he was pitching well once again today. Sure, Sean Marshall has been outstanding out of the bullpen and he would have been a better match up against the left-handed Votto. However, Dempster had been fantastic and Piniella went with his gut and decided to try to ride his ace to a victory. Sometimes you just get beat and that is what happened today.
Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez continue to struggle as they went a combined 8-for-46 (.174) on the road trip. Piniella said that he is done talking about them which is understandable, but it remains such a big issue for this team. They have been extremely inconsistent scoring runs and I think the struggles of those two players has alot to do with it.
The Cubs will begin an eight game home stand tomorrow against the Florida Marlins. This is a team in desperate need of some wins right now if nothing more than just to gain a little bit of confidence.
