You’ll never hear me complain about my job. The reason for that, I’d think, is pretty obvious: I recognize that I’m lucky as heck to be doing what I truly want to be doing, and whatever sacrifices I’ve made/will make to do this job have been/will be well worth it. But if I were going to complain about something, it would probably be something about the lack of sick days. I got bit by a nasty case of food poisoning starting at about 7pm last night, and, instead of sleeping, I spent my night … losing weight. (Wonder how I got the EBS up at 4am? That’s how.) So, suffice it to say, I feel pretty rotten right now, and incredibly tired. But the show always goes on here.
When asked about moving Bryan LaHair in the batter order after he went 0-5, leaving eight on base, Dale Sveum didn’t exactly rule it out. “Our core guys have got to start doing something in the middle of the order,” Sveum told reporters. “[I have to] give him a chance …. We have to change the approach or whatever’s going on.” LaHair was already hitting just .159/.321/.273 with runners in scoring position going into last night’s debacle.
RizzOMG: Darwin Barney doesn’t think Anthony Rizzo will have any problems adjusting to the big leagues this time around, Dale Sveum says he’s never been around a player getting as much hype as Rizzo, and Casey Coleman calls Rizzo confident but not cocky.
Oh, and the RizzOMG piece that you really want to know? Paul Sullivan says that rumor has it Rizzo will be called up on Tuesday for the second game of the Mets series, thereby avoiding Johan Santana on Monday. I’ll be at Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s games in the right field bleachers, so my fingers are crossed so hard that I’m losing circulation. Assuming I catch his first home run (and first hit), what I should I ask for in exchange for the ball? Signed bat? Signed jersey?
Sveum says the Cubs haven’t been stealing as many bases over the last month because they’ve been playing behind so often. When you’re down big, the running game tends to suffer, because (apparently) you don’t want to run yourself out of an inning (why would you want to do that in any situation?). The other obvious reason for less running? Tony Campana is drawing fewer starts, and he’s really the Cubs’ only top notch base-stealer. If you take out Campana’s 24 steals and 3 caught stealing, the Cubs are a pathetic 28 for 50 in stolen base attempts.
Jeff Samardzija was so miffed about his last start that he treated himself to a run up Camelback Mountain, and then a set of stadium steps at Chase Field, and then early batting practice, until pitching coach Chris Bosio had to tell him to stop.
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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NEWSLETTER
You’ll never hear me complain about my job. The reason for that, I’d think, is pretty obvious: I recognize that I’m lucky as heck to be doing what I truly want to be doing, and whatever sacrifices I’ve made/will make to do this job have been/will be well worth it. But if I were going to complain about something, it would probably be something about the lack of sick days. I got bit by a nasty case of food poisoning starting at about 7pm last night, and, instead of sleeping, I spent my night … losing weight. (Wonder how I got the EBS up at 4am? That’s how.) So, suffice it to say, I feel pretty rotten right now, and incredibly tired. But the show always goes on here.
