Cubs 20 under .500 ... and unhappy with umpires
Neither Major League Baseball nor whatever the umpires union is called these days will have a whole lot of love for Cubs manager Mike Quade on Monday morning.
The Cubs dropped a 7-5 decision Sunday to the Florida Marlins, and let’s be clear about one thing: the loss was the Cubs’ own fault.
They fell to 20 games under .500 at 38-58 largely because they couldn’t get a quality start out of pitcher Randy Wells and because their offense went from the second inning until two outs in the eighth between basehits.
But that didn’t stop Quade or his troops from taking off on second-base umpire Lance Barrett for an apparent blown call on a pickoff play in Florida’s 3-run eighth inning that gave the Marlins a 7-4 lead.
Kerry Wood had just put runners on with two outs on a hit batter and a walk. With Emilio Bonifacio at the plate, Wood wheeled and threw to second in an attempt to pick off pinch runner Brett Hayes.
The throw looked to shortstop Starlin Castro looked to have Hayes, but Barrett called him safe. Quade did not argue, but Wood kicked up a minor fuss.
Bonifacio then reached on an infield single before Wood issued a bases-loaded walk and a 2-run single.
Ballgame.
Quade teed off after the game.
“I saw the replay,” he said. “I think you guys know me. I don’t make a lot of excuses. I probably could have gotten run two or three times in this series alone. (I’ve been) thrown out three times. Young manager. All that (crud). It’s getting tough to watch some of this. I get ‘bang-bang.’ I have all the respect in the world for these guys.”
That wasn’t all. Quade did not seem to like the comportment of some of the umpires, whom he said made comments to his hitters near the end of the game.
“I’ve heard a lot of comments lately,” he said. “I try to stay out of it. There were a couple calls in this series that were mind-boggling and were crucial and huge, not just two-out, nobody-on stuff. And some comments made and some other things that irritate me.
“It was not a good series for us, but we had company. I hope that as accountable as we need to be, those guys are being accountable. A guy can miss calls, and things can happen, but, man, oh, man, I don’t know. There were quite a few of them.
“Those guys (the players) out there that are trying to win a ballgame got to go home and live with it. And I don’t blame those guys. Gosh darn it, we’re at the big-league level here, and I felt there were a couple of calls that were obvious one way.”
Quade threw in this kicker.
“I’m becoming a big fan of replay, even in this game,” he said. “And I don’t give a (darn) if it slows the game down another hour. Give me a challenge flag or two.”
Wood (1-5) took the loss, as he gave up 2 hits and 3 runs in his 1 inning. Not an excuse maker, Wood was not shy about talking about Barrett.
“It was a terrible call,” he said. “Absolutely terrible. Yeah, I didn’t make pitches after that, obviously.
“I get in a situation where I need to get out of a jam. I put a pickoff play on with Cassie. We execute it. Whoever that was (Barrett), he’s right on it. He’s right there on top of it, and butchered it … I think the crowd told him he missed it.
“Honestly, he’ll probably come back tomorrow and tell me they got it right. That’s what they do.”
Wood’s also a realist. Whether it’s injuries or umpires or just bad baseball, the Cubs are buried without hope in the National League Central. Wood was asked if the team still had faith it could put something together.
“I think we have to,” he said. “We haven’t won three in a row yet. August is right around the corner. That says it all right there.”