Farnsworth is Struggling
Lots of disappointing things in tonight’s 4-2 loss to the Cardinals – Moises Alou’s failure to drive home Sosa from third with 1 out in the top of the 8th, 3 relief pitchers brought in to get just one guy out in the bottom of the 8th and none of them doing the job, Ramon Martinez’s failure to turn two that resulted in the 4th Cardinal run, etc. All of which ended up wasting Kerry Wood’s strong performance after two straight bad starts.
The Cubs still had a good chance when Kyle Farnsworth entered the game in the bottom of the 8th with runners on first and second and no one out, but with the Cubs still up 2-0. Farnsworth, though, gave up a walk, single, wild pitch, and a sacrifice that led to both inherited runners scoring and two runs being charged to himself. After play on July 7, Farnsworth had a 2.13 ERA. Since then, he’s thrown 20 innings and allowed 14 earned runs, a 6.30 ERA. As the top setup man, the Cubs need him to pitch better.
UPDATE (8/28/2003 12:20pm): Is Moises Alou the anti-Shawn Estes? Here’s Alou in the Chicago Tribune on why he exited through the bullpen rather than head straight to the dugout when Baker replaced him via a double-switch in the 8th:
“It was the shortest way [to the clubhouse] and I was kind of embarrassed,” Alou said. “I played a bad game.”
When Estes pitches poorly, he has a habit of saying that he actually pitched well, the other team just got lucky. When Alou doesn’t play well, he admits it, which I appreciate.