Random Rant
My random rant for today is having Ryan Dempster pitch in the 9th inning. I know that most managers would use their closers in the top of the ninth in a tie ball game, but Dempster seems to continually prove that method wrong as he seems to only get out of pressure situations. I also must add that in the beginning of the inning on a 2-2 count to David Wright, Dempster threw a perfect pitch that the homeplate umpire, Paul Schrieber, called a ball. Who knows what would have happened if he actually made the right call. I would have liked to see Kerry Wood be used in that situation. Many Cubs fans say that Wood should not be used in a situation like that. Why not? We called him up from the minors for a reason. We know that he can pitch and pitch effective and if he was not pitching effective then we probably would not have called him up.
Filed under: Random Rant
That was Dempster’s first non-save blowup since Mid-may, and he’s just had 2 before it. The numbers basically go as following for Demp in the non-save spot: 1.1 innings - 8 ER, 17.1 Innings - 0 ER.
The call for Dempster was right as well; It was either team closer who’s on a day of rest and hasn’t given up an ER since June 10th or Pitcher just back from the DL who hasn’t been in a major league game for over a year.
You can’t really say he hasn’t given up an ER since June 10th because he was on the DL for such a long time… but I realize what you are trying to say because there were not many pitchers to choose from, but you also can’t make the excuse that he hasn’t made an appearance in over a year or else we should not have called him up.
They called him up because they believe he is ready to work his way back into being a factor for the Cubs. They said this. The Cubs want to get him back into the ‘major league groove’ and throwing him into the fire like that is not a good idea. Of course he’s not ready for that, what other pitchers in his position would be? That doesn’t mean he gets to stay in the minors all year. He’s going to get back into things but through lower-pressure situations.