After Derrek Lee drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning Monday, I texted Marc Silverman telling him he should apologize for riding the Cubs' slugger for not being a clutch hitter.
Silvy wrote back that it was about time.
It's true that Lee's grounder earlier with the bases loaded should have been a double-play (credit Reed Johnson for the error), and his slide into the plate wasn't exactly Rose-into-Fosse, but still he came through in a huge game.
As did Alfonso Soriano. As did Carlos Marmol, even though didn't you think that last fly after the botched call on the foul ball into the dirt was going out?
Bob Howry? Not so much. Fukudome? Not so much.
It was a great game, and it's why I chose to watch the Cubs over the Sox Monday night.
I saw a stat on ESPN that said D Lee has the second most walk off/game winning hits in the entire NL.
Thats not clutch?
Cubs pulled out a huge win. They own the Brewers. CC should beat the breaks off that second baseman. Terrible throw! Brewers showed they have no heart. Cubs beat CC and that is good enough to win the Central.
Obviously one 1 good game doesn't make an entire season. I've watched most of the Cubs games this season and if you ask me, overall, I've been disappointed with D. Lee, especially this Summer. He had a nice start to the season, but he's been struggling overall in the past month or so. There's always a story behind stats which is why I rarely base everything on stats alone. Maybe Lee has the most game winning hits or whatever in the NL, but out of how many chances? There have been a ton of games where Lee has stranded many baserunners and for a team like the Cubs who reportedly have scored the most runs in the Majors this season so far, the man should already be above 100 rbi's by now hitting in the 3rd slot. I sure hope yesterday's game will help him snap out of it, but we can't continue to have 1 good game and then the next 4 or 5 games with no production again. Anyway, I'm not trying to nitpick Lee because obviously the entire offense has been slumping, but he's supposed to be one of the leaders of the team, so much is expected out of him. Otherwise, good game for the team last night. Z vs. Sheets tonight should be another good one!
Lee should also wear a robin's egg blue shirt with an "S" on it and a red cape. He is going through a rough patch. He'll come through it.
I agree Edgar, but perhaps, you answered your own question.
Maybe its just that he is getting WAY MORE CHANCES than most people, so maybe you just notice him screwing up proportionately more as well??
tuubs3
(i love playing Captcha Rorshack)
tuubs3 that could be a cool name of a band or a british sitcom about roomate potsmokers....like half baked meets 3's company.
Talk about struggling... how about Fukudome?
He was an All-Star?
How about 2 good games?
hahaha... alright Culzie. Touche. I suppose anything is possible if you put it that way.
Another good game by the Cubs tonight against Sheets. Now score more runs for Harden tomorrow and make it 3 in a row!!
i like this...everytime someone gets picked on in this blog, they come up HUGE that night in the game.
Who can we pick on now?
That Ramirez....only going 4-4 w/ 3 doubles....UGGGGG!!!
That game-winning RBI stat is way misleading. You can have a game-winning RBI in the first inning if you knock in the first run and your team never relinquishes the lead. A more telling stat is batting average after the 6th inning. Check that one out. Also, BA with runners in scoring position after the 6th inning.
Lee is having a subpar year. Period. Has he had some big hits? Yes. He's also already eclipsed his career-high in GIDP (22 so far). Not good, especially for our #3 hitter. Nevermind that when Soriano went down he was leading the Cubs with 15 homers, and in the nearly six weeks Soriano was down, Lee managed to hit a total of two -- 2! -- jacks?! The Cubs are what, 15-17 in one-run games? How many of those games might the Cubs have won if Lee didn't kill yet another rally by GIDP?
His pitch recognition is flat-out awful. The Cubs would be well-served to issue take signs to him on 2-0 counts, because it looks to me like hasn't found a slider low & away that he can resist rolling over to the shortstop.
He was hot in March, April, part of May. Since then he's declined. Lee should have been benched for a few games weeks ago. Lou keeps saying he wants more lefthanded hitting, but he refuses to use Hoffpauir when he brings him up and lets moss grow on Darryl Ward. Why have these guys if you're not going to use them?
And Seedy -- you're spot-on about Fukudome. He looks lost at the plate. He's run out of gas. Theriot really should have been in the ASG. Fukudome got there because he had a hot April.
One last point about Lee: he's got a lower OBP and is being out-slugged by Mike Fontenot (!). Little Mikey has half as many homers in far few than half as many ABs -- and he's all of 5' nothing and tends to hit in the 8 spot.
LET ME CLEAR MY THROAT!!!!
excuse me a sec....now what were you saying???
I was at Monday's game and Wednesday's game at Miller Park. Monday's was about as exciting as it gets.Drama was high clear to the end with the strike-out correctly called back and then the long drive to center that Soriano hopped up and gloved to end it.Wednesday's game was Dempster all the way. He probably could have gone the distance, but the game was already over, so the bull pen got a little work.
Lee did his usual defensive performances, saving errors because of his teammates' poor throws to first and robbing Brewer hitters of doubles down the line with great fielding. He'd be invaluable even if he hit.220.
Wednesday night got a bit nasty because Brewer fans were disgruntled and Cub fans fueled the heat by adding insult to injury. Security handled things well though and threw out two or three fans from both sides sitting in front of me who had become a a bit too obnoxious. Sometimes I guess remembering that baseball is a game and that young Americans are still risking lives in war are truths too easily forgotten.