Strongest performance- Manny Ramirez, Russell Martin and James Loney.
You could argue that the whole Dodger team deserves to be mentioned here but I've gone with the three Dodgers who in my mind by far had the biggest impact on the series.
Manny has completely changed the dynamic of this Dodger team. He seems to be a guarantee to get on base all the time and because of that it allows players like Eithier and Loney to get more hits. Manny was 5 for 10 in this series with 2 hr. While he drove most of his runs in when LA had a big lead, he was still on base constantly and always a huge threat to get on. He changed this team and has now made the Dodgers a legitimate contender to win the World Series.
Russell Martin batted .308 in this series and while he only got 4 hits, he made each and every one count and made the Cubs pay with just about all of them. He drove in 7 runs in the 3 games with a hr and 2 rbi doubles. One of those doubles included the backbreaker in game 2 after all of the Cubs errors that were committed, leading to a 5-0 Dodger lead. It needed to be more than just Manny in this series for LA to win and Russell Martin became a major offensive threat in this series.
James Loney officially only went 3 for 14. But his grand slam in the 5th inning of game 1 pretty much clinched this series and sealed the fate of the Cubs immediately. He like Martin didn't get a lot of hits, but the hits he did get made the Cubs pay. He drove in 6 runs for the series including a 2 run double in the 1st inning of game 3 once again pretty much sealing the fate of the Cubs early on.
Weakest performance- This time I am going with a whole team and that team is obviously the Cubs. Each and every player on that team should be embaressed excluding Reed Johnson and Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano got majorly screwed over with all of those errors. In reality he didn't actually pitch that bad of a game but was doomed when every infielder comitted a pathetic looking error. And how does Pinella justify not giving Johnson one at-bat. He energized the Cubs the whole season coming up with clutch timely hits. Instead Fukodome went hitless the 1st two games and after Pinella swore he wouldn't play him again replaces Edmonds with him instead of Johnson. It was so much worse than that however as the Cubs looked completely lost at the plate. They were late on their swings so much that it wasn't just that they weren't getting on base but they couldn't even fly out. It was all groundouts or reaching for pitches low outta the strikezone. This performance was the worst playoff performance I have ever seen from any team in any sport in any year that I have been watching sports. Changes have to be made and I think it starts with getting rid of Lee and Soriano. Soriano swings at every ball thrown in the dirt and Lee although he had an ok series in comparison to everyone else constantly grounded into dp's the whole season. There will never be a weaker performance in the playoffs than the 2008 Chicago Cubs.
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4 comments:
I agree with your analysis, but I really don't think the changes on the Cubs should start with getting rid of Soriano and Lee. I have no answers as to why Soriano has been horrible the past two post seasons but he has carried this Cubs team at times the past two seasons to allow them to even have a chance in the post season. As for Lee, this year he did hit into far too many DPs but unless I am mistaken, he hasn't done that in previous years at the same rate. I think this year was a fluke for him hitting into so many of them and am looking for many good things out of him next season. I just don't think I could justify getting rid of Lee because he hit into double plays when he was a solid bat and glove all year for us. It isn't reinventing the wheel...they just flat out got outplayed.
So...what are you going to write about now?
Although I have been a Soriano fan since day one (when he was a Yankee), I found myself during his second stint on the DL this season contemplating a trade for one unhappy Boston resident despite his age. That one sure came back to bite me. Manny is just automatic when it comes to the postseason and Soriano...well he's got the one of the worst postseason averages I've ever seen. Should we get rid of him because of that? Maybe. I think the blame can be placed on a lot more than just him. We need mentally tough players that can handle playing for a team that hasn't won a World Series in 100 years. I honestly don't know if there is such a player.
The one thing we do need to do in the offseason is sell the team...to Mark Cuban. He'll take the pressure off the team and put it on himself. He'll get kicked out of postseason games to fire the team up. He'll let goats run free in Wrigley. He'll keep black cats off the field. He'll keep goofy looking guys wearing headphones out of the front rows. Most of all, he'll pamper the team until they can't remember what pressure is.
Cuban in 09!
I'm not totally against Cuban but the guy acts like he is actually a coach or a player on the team and thinks he has the right to run his mouth off. And one of the things Dallas is most known for is choking. So I'm not totally sure Cuban would be the difference. And Jeff although I do talk about the Cubs the most, my topic is the MLB playoffs despite the fact that it says the Cubs. It's a mistake. So I'm good till the end of Oct. and then I gotta worry what I'm gonna talk about.
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