Friday, June 03, 2005

More Cubs Crap

After reading around a little bit, I stumbled upon this further detailing just how bad Neifi Perez actually is. From Aaron Gleeman over at The Hardball Times:

Lost in the Cubs' sixth straight victory Wednesday night was the fact that the top of their lineup against the Dodgers looked like this:

1) Neifi Perez, SS
2) Enrique Wilson, 3B

Normally I would mock such a thing, what with Neifi Perez and Enrique Wilson being two of the worst hitters of this era and all. However, a) the Cubs won, b) Neifi is somehow hitting .315/.342/.475 this season, and c) he and Wilson combined to go 5-for-10 with three RBIs and four runs scored in the game.

And just so you don't think I was joking around with the whole "two of the worst hitters of this era" thing, here are top 10 "leaders" for worst Offensive Winning Percentage among active players with at least 1,500 career plate appearances heading into this season:

OWP
Juan Castro .235
Rey Ordonez .252
Henry Blanco .262
Mike Matheny .280
NEIFI PEREZ .284
ENRIQUE WILSON .284
Abraham Nunez .291
Mike DiFelice .298
Luis Lopez .302
Einar Diaz .310

The funny (sad?) thing is that the Cubs also have third-ranked Henry Blanco on the roster, and had second-ranked Rey Ordonez on the team for a while last season. Of course, I probably shouldn't laugh -- my favorite team is playing top-ranked Juan Castro every day and frequently batting him second in the order.

Bar Time

Nothing is worse than having to watch a Brewers game simultaneously with a Cubs game. After our horrible softball outing, we headed to the bar to drink our sorrows away. Unfortunately, the majority of our clan wanted to watch the friggin' Cubs. Most of the Cub fans are some of my closest friends, but I was ready to come to blows with them because they would not keep quiet. They insisted on rubbing it in that the Cubs swept the Dodgers earlier in the week, that they were able to beat the Padres last night, and that Neifi Perez is the team MVP behind only Derrek Lee. And for the record, Neifi Perez's career stats are as follows: .269 batting average, .301 on base, .380 slugging, resulting in a putrid .681 OPS. Enjoy the production now, because Perez is the epitome of sucktitude and will come crashing down shortly.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Brewers (Obermueller) vs. Padres (Peavy)

I decided to try something new for the game last night, so I decided to track pitches for Wes Obermueller since it was his first start since being declared the official fifth starter. I wanted to see how he would respond as an official member of the rotation, instead of being the guy who filled in for Benny Sheets over the las month.

Prior to last night's game, Obie has been pitching exceptionally well over his last two starts and bullpen appearance. Here are his stats for those three games.

I decided to try something new for the game last night, so I decided to track pitches for Wes Obermueller since it was his first start since being declared the official fifth starter. I wanted to see how he would respond as an official member of the rotation, instead of being the guy who filled in for Benny Sheets over the las month.

Prior to last night's game, Obie has been pitching exceptionally well over his last two starts and bullpen appearance. Here are his stats for those three games.

DateOpponentScoreDecIPHRERHRBBK
May 22@ MINL 5-6-6.0311032
May 17@ WASW 8-2W8.0200004
May 14@ PITL 0-2-1.0100001

Obermueller didn't have his best stuff last night, to say the least.
DateOpponentScoreDecIPHRERHRBBK
May 31@ SDL 4-8-2.2333050
Date Opponent Score Dec IP H R ER HR BB K
May 22 @ MIN L 5-6 - 6.0 3 1 1 0 3 2
May 17 @ WAS W 8-2 W 8.0 2 0 0 0 0 4
May 14 @ PIT L 0-2 - 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 1

Obermueller didn't have his best stuff last night, to say the least. Here is his line from last night:

Date Opponent Score Dec IP H R ER HR BB K
May 31 @ SD L 4-8 - 2.2 3 3 3 0 5 0

By comparison, here is Gary Glover's line from last night in relief of Wes Obermueller. Also, not too attractive.

Date Opponent Score Dec IP H R ER HR BB K
May 31 @ SD L 4-8 - 3 6 5 5 1 2 2

Here is the pitch track for both pitchers Wes Obermueller and Gary Glover:

WES OBERMUELLER
Inning Strikes Balls   Total per Inning
1 6 11           17
2 11 8           19
3 5 14           19
    Total pitches thrown:           55

 

Fastballs
Inning Strikes Balls Total per Inning
1 6 9           15
2 9 3           12
3 4 8           12
    Total pitches thrown:           39

 

Sliders
Inning Strikes Balls Total per Inning
1 0 1             1
2 2 4             6
3 0 6             6
    Total pitches thrown:           13

 

Curveballs
Inning Strikes Balls Total per Inning
1 0 1           1
2 0 1           1
3 1 0           1
    Total pitches thrown:           3

 

Fastballs
Inning Avg. Speed (strikes) Avg. Speed (balls)
1 91.16 91.55
2 91.78 90.33
3 90.50 90.00

 

Sliders
Inning Avg. Speed (strikes) Avg. Speed (balls)
1 0 86.00
2 84.00 86.25
3 0 86.33

 

Curveballs
Inning Avg. Speed (strikes) Avg. Speed (balls)
1 0 78.00
2 0 78.00
3 76.00 0

And now, here are Gary Glover's stats from last night as well.

GARY GLOVER
Inning Strikes Balls   Total per Inning
3 4 1             5
4 7 5           12
5 9 4           13
6 16 17           33
    Total pitches thrown:           63

 

Fastballs
Inning Strikes Balls Total per Inning
3 1 0             1
4 6 3             9
5 6 2             8
6 10 11

          21

    Total pitches thrown:           39

 

Sliders
Inning Strikes Balls Total per Inning
3 2 1             3
4 1 2             3
5 2 2             4
6 5 3             8
    Total pitches thrown:           18

 

Curveballs
Inning Strikes Balls Total per Inning
3 1 0           1
4 0 0           0
5 1 0           1
6 1 3           4
    Total pitches thrown:           6

 

Fastballs
Inning Avg. Speed (strikes) Avg. Speed (balls)
3 93.00 0
4 93.00 92.33
5 92.67 93.00
6 91.50 90.45

 

Sliders
Inning Avg. Speed (strikes) Avg. Speed (balls)
3 85.50 85.00
4 87.00 87.00
5 87.50 85.00
6 86.20 86.00

 

Curveballs
Inning Avg. Speed (strikes) Avg. Speed (balls)
3 74.00 0
4 0 0
5 75.00 0
6 73.00 74.00

Monday, May 30, 2005

Tough Schedule

It would have been really nice to be able to sweep the lowly Astros this weekend, or at least take two out of three from them. The upcoming schedule is pretty brutal. They open up with a three game set against San Diego, then head north for a four game weekend series with the LA Dodgers, and come home for three more against a now red-hot Yankees club. Those three clubs have combined for a .564 winning percentage, or 19 games above .500 to date. I hate to say it, but I would be satisfied if they won only four of ten.