You think your bullpen's bad? You have no ****ing idea what a bad bullpen is, my friend. Our closer has an opponents' batting average of above .300 and an ERA of above 7.00. In about 35 games. He's blown eight saves.
Today, it was the absolute epitome. Following the single worst umpiring call I've ever seen, our star reliever Scott Dohmann and our manager Clint Hurdle were ejected. Steve Reed came in and left 5-4 Cubs. Next inning, Rockies are up. Two outs, Jeromy Burnitz works a walk. The next hitter is pinch hitter Mark Sweeney, who leads baseball in pinch hits, pinch RBIs, and pinch batting average. He sees one pitch and hits it into the right field stands, making 6-5 Rockies. So now we're ahead!
Next inning, Cubs are batting against long reliever Adam Bernero. Nomar leads it off with a double. Next batter, Moises Alou, strikes out or something. Bernero then gets Sosa to fly out, so Garciaparra goes to third with 2 out. So the decision is made to take out Bernero and bring in Shawn Chacon, baseball's very worst closer.
The first pitch is a curveball about eight feet wide of the catcher; Garciaparra scores; game tied at 6. The very next pitch is hit about 420 feet by Aramis Ramirez. Two pitches and now the Cubs are ahead. After a single, Chacon then gives up a 2-run home run to former Rockie and mediocre Cub Todd Walker, making the game 9-6, out of reach.
This is the ninth time Chacon's given a game away. You've got to love it when your "go-to" closer has blown eight saves, has a 1-7 record (his only win was when he gave up a home run to send the game into extra innings and we caught a break and won it in 10) and has recorded exactly three perfect innings all year. Oh, and our manager refuses to release him despite unbelievable pressure citing "we said we'd go with him in November; it's a learning process; even the best relievers blow saves" blah blah blah.
So that's that. 👍 Do you have any idea what I'd give to see the Rockies with the Red Sox record? Consider yourself unbelievably lucky.
