The Cubs Chronicle

A lot happened to the Cubs this weekend, as I was attending a wedding and Mother’s Day festivities (Happy Mother’s Day to my assuredly large mothers readership!). Here’s the rundown:

THE IMPORTANCE OF TOENAILS

The biggest news of course is that Sammy Sosa was placed on the 15-day DL on Saturday after having the toenail on his right big toe surgically removed. He had been fighting an infection on the toe for a month, which may help explain his loss of power. Unfortunately, none of the articles on the injury speculate as to how much time Sosa will miss. The implication seems to be that he’ll come back when his 15 days are up.

Troy O’Leary will likely get much of the playing time in RF in Sosa’s absence. O’Leary hasn’t had a league average OPS since 1999, when he hit .280/.343/.495 for Boston.

To replace Sosa in the lineup, the Cubs called up prospect Todd Wellemeyer. Wellemeyer started the year in Double-A. When he was promoted to Triple-A Iowa a couple of weeks ago, I wondered why. After all, he had only posted a 4.70 ERA in his short time in Double-A last year, and had put up a 5.48 ERA in 21.1 IP in Double-A this year. Since I wrote that, though, I have heard (though not taken the time to confirm) that he had had a bad first game this year, but pitched well after that. In 13 IP at Iowa, he has a 2.77 ERA, with 6 BB and 14 K.

Looking at the Iowa pitching stats, Rod Beck appears to have been the best option if the Cubs wanted an extra reliever (which they do, given that they don’t have a day off in 3 weeks). Beck has only allowed 1 ER in 22 IP. But the Cubs were probably trying to avoid another Alan Benes situation. If they called up Beck, they wouldn’t have been able to send him back down without subjecting him to waivers (the same goes for Will Cunnane). Calling up Wellemeyer gives them that flexibility, which is especially important given that Dave Veres will likely return soon. In fact, Wellemeyer may not even get in a game before Veres returns.

That said, I would have thought that Francis Beltran would have been the one called up. Beltran saw some time with the Cubs last year. And he has a 2.21 ERA in 20.1 IP so far this year. He’s only walked 3 while striking out 16.

The last time Sosa went on the disabled list was 1996. You may recall that the Cubs season immediately fell apart. The Cubs stood 62-62 on August 20, 1996, 5 games out of 1st (albeit behind three teams). Sosa had hit 40 homers in 124 games. The Cubs preceded to finish the season, in which Sosa didn’t play again, 14-24. Thankfully, Sosa’s injury this time around isn’t likely to keep him out so long.

Scott Lange and Dennis Goodman at Northside Lounge have further comments on the injury.

BELLHORN PUT IN LEADOFF SPOT

Heeding the advice of The Clark & Addison Chronicle and some of the Chronicle’s readers, Dusty Baker put Mark Bellhorn in the leadoff spot in Saturday’s game. It wasn’t a pretty debut there, as Bellhorn went 0-4 with 3 K’s. To Baker’s credit, however, he put Bellhorn back there on Sunday. Bellhorn went 1-3 before the game was called. The Daily Herald reports that Baker is going to leave Bellhorn in the leadoff spot for several games on a trial basis. The DH article also notes that we really have Baker’s fishing pal, Steve Sarley, to thank for Bellhorn leading off. Sarley suggested the move. Baker looked up Bellhorn’s performance their last year and decided to go with it.

WOOD THROWS 141 PITCHES

Also in Saturday’s game, Baker allowed Kerry Wood to throw 141 pitches (which Wood did in just 7 innings). The Tribune quotes Baker as saying, “We certainly didn’t want to take him to 141 pitches. But he was throwing better at 120 [pitches] than he was at 20. He had better command, and he said he had some more gas in the tank.”

I have a problem with managers that use this line of reasoning. Sure, a pitcher’s becoming fatigued from throwing lots of pitches is one reason to limit his pitch count. After all, you don’t want to lose a game because you left a pitcher in too long. But you also want to limit pitch counts because you don’t want to risk a pitcher’s short- and long-term effectiveness. That is, his effectiveness in the next couple of starts and his effectiveness in September. When managers defend high pitch counts, they almost always bypass defending the latter reasons for keeping pitch counts reasonable.

Maybe this won’t have an effect on Wood down the road. But there’s no reason to take the chance.

The Cub Reporter and Dennis Goodman have further comments.

GONZALEZ THE HERO AGAIN

Alex Gonzalez has apparently taken it upon his shoulders to prove sabermetricians wrong about the existence of Clutch Hitters. After homering in the bottom of the 10th to win Saturday’s game, Gonzalez now has 5 walk-off homers in Wrigley Field in his two seasons with the Cubs. The Cub Reporter and Dennis Goodman have more on Gonzalez and clutch hitting.

Dennis wonders whether the media will now portray Gonzalez as the Cubs’ best clutch hitter for the rest of the season. I have little doubt that at least Chip Caray will. Recalls a similar situation a few years back when Ricky Gutierrez delivered a few clutch hits early in the season and was referred to as clutch player for the rest of the season.

FUN WITH THE WIND

Sunday’s game was ultimately rained out, wiping away all stats (to the joy of Matt Clement and Brett Tomko). It sure was fun while it lasted, though, except for the threat of injuries due to wet playing conditions (Eli Marrero severely sprained his ankle). 40 mph winds blowing out to right-center. Anything hit decently in the air was a home run. It is days like these on which Wrigley’s reputation as a hitter’s park was built. (Wrigley was once a hitter’s park, but has played as a pitcher’s park for several years now.) Having these wind-really-blowing-out days every once in a while is fun to watch.

BENES STRUGGLES IN DEBUT WITH TEXAS

As the final item, Alan Benes, whom the Cubs recently traded to Texas, struggled in his Rangers debut. He started Saturday’s game for them, giving up 5 runs in 3.1 IP and taking the loss.

UPDATE (11:55pm): Brian Carstens feels Sammy’s pain. Or at least used to. He thinks Sosa should be OK by the time he’s eligible to come off the DL.