Sunday, June 06, 2004 |
The Anti-Closer
Not so for the Cubs. Now in fourth place in the NL Central, the Cubs starting shortstop -- Rey Ordoñez, replacing Alex Gonzalez -- has a .061 average. Sergio Mitre, who essentially replaced Juan Cruz in the "Marginal Rookie To Be Brought Up And Sent Down Whenever A Hole Appears" rotation slot, is 2-4 with a stratospheric 6.51 ERA. Ace reliever Mike Remlinger hadn't thrown a single pitch in the regular season until May 25th.
And then there was Mark Prior, whose absence from Wrigley has dampened a lot of spirits. So you could be forgiven for the expectation of a win against the Pirates Friday night. And through six innings and 85 pitches, Prior was brilliant.
It wasn't enough.
Joe Borowski blew the game in the ninth, giving up two runs, the difference, and maybe, hopefully, his role as closer. He's now 2-4 on the season with an 8.02 ERA. Convert three of those blown saves to wins, and the Cubs are now second place in the division, with a 33-23 record. He's spent all the guts, the raw stuff he lived off of last year.
Last year, Borowski stepped in when Antonio Alfonseca turned into a gascan. Now, someone else needs to step in. But who?
Update: JoBo has been placed on the DL:
"It's not like a sharp pain or anything like that," the right-hander said. "It's more a dull feeling, like you're carrying a weight around with you. I just started noticing it was taking longer to come back.That weight, Joe, is probably the burden of the blown saves you've saddled the team with.
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