Don’t Eyeball Dale Sveum and Other Bullets

The Cubs entered the record books last night – it was just the third time in the last hundred-ish years that a team has homered at least six times in consecutive nights. That would be the Nationals, off of the Cubs. What, you thought the Cubs were going to be on the positive side of the record book ledger?

  • Dale Sveum was ejected last night without leaving the dugout (after the ejection, he came out to get his money’s worth), and folks wondered what exactly happened. Well, in true Chuck Norris Dick Tidrow style, Sveum let it be known that he don’t take kindly to bein’ eyeballed. “I just didn’t appreciate him eyeballing our dugout for absolutely no reason at all,” Sveum said. “I just don’t think that’s right when you’re looking in our dugout for no apparent reason at all.” In other words, he was saying some things that he didn’t think merited umpire attention, home plate umpire Larry Vanover gave the dugout a dirty look or two, and Sveum escalated his comments. Heave-ho. Apparently it was balls and strikes related, so I guess I’m confused – Sveum was confident enough in Vanover’s vision to be certain that the umpire was eyeballing him, but not confident enough to be certain that Vanover could see the pitches properly? (Ba dum ching.)
  • The Cubs were quick to call the Nationals the best team in baseball after they received a second straight whoopin’ in Washington. I think that’s probably right, though I expect there are a handful of teams who, on the right consecutive nights, could bludgeon this Cubs team like that.
  • Ugh, here’s a depressing set of quotes from Dale Sveum regarding his young players not being ready for the big leagues (per the Tribune): “It’s probably safe to say that, no question about it. If we were in the situation the Nationals are in, we wouldn’t be developing at the big league level. Right now things aren’t going as well for the young guys, maybe aside from [Welington Castillo, who] is holding his own catching. But things aren’t going real well for the rest of the guys, so hopefully [they’ll make] a few adjustments. They’re going to be given chances. We have 26 games left. Hopefully you see some major developments to where you can say these guys will be fighting for jobs in spring training.”
  • Jim Callis chatted at BA yesterday and offered a few Cubs-relevant bits, including (1) he’s never heard from a single scout the suggestion that Dan Vogelbach could play left field (in other words, he’s first base only); (2) Albert Almora is a slightly better prospect than Jorge Soler, with a more well-rounded set of tools and a more important defensive position; and (3) the Cubs’ top five pitching prospects, in some order, would probably be Arodys Vizcaino, Juan Carlos Paniagua, Dillon Maples, Duane Underwood, and Pierce Johnson.
  • Nats GM Mike Rizzo, who was ever so briefly a candidate for the Cubs’ GM gig last year, is confident that the Cubs are in good hands, so long as the fans stay patient and allow Theo and Jed to do their thing. “I’ve known Theo for a long time,” Rizzo told the Tribune. “He’s a guy who has that conviction. He has done it before with the Red Sox, and built them into a world champion. … Certainly it doesn’t happen overnight. When you start … trying to change the plan in mid-course, get impatient and grab a couple of free agents because you have some money left over, then it really throws everything out of kilter. You have a very competent guy at the top in Theo, and the people underneath him because he always has brought in good guys.”
  • How about this fact, from Carrie Muskat: “Alfonso Soriano is one of six players in Major League history to reach at least 350 home runs, 400 doubles, 250 stolen bases, 1,000 RBIs and 1,000 runs scored. He joinsWillie Mays, Andre Dawson, Gary Sheffield, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez.”
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    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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