Cubs loss a big washout to Quade

Go to a baseball game, and chances are you’ll see something you’ve never seen before.

How about a manager arguing vociferously with an umpire over a game being delayed by rain?

There was Cubs boss Mike Quade out near home plate with rain and sea spray coming from every which way Wednesday night, letting the umpire crew chief Dale Scott have it after the umps called for the tarp in the top of the seventh inning at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs were down 7-4 to the Mets, who had runners on first and second with two outs. Quade was doing all kinds of gesturing and gesticulating, but to no avail.

The Cubs already had one game called, resulting in a loss. On May 14, umpires halted play after six innings, and the Giants came away with a 3-0 victory.

Quade’s point was that it was raining no harder than it was earlier, and he wanted his team to have a chance to bat.

“Look, we put ourselves behind the 8-ball blowing a really nice start,” said Quade, whose team grabbed a 4-1 lead in the first inning. “That’s not the umpires’ fault, that’s for sure. Everybody’s frustrated, not the least of which is me with the weather and what we’ve dealt with.

“But if you’re going to play in it, I just thought you keep playing. Dale had a forecast, and I had a forecast, and I think we were coming at it from two different directions. I figured when they put the tarp on, we’ll see you tomorrow at 1:20. And maybe he was trying to save the field.”

Aside from the rain delay, the Cubs have some real problems with their pitching. Casey Coleman started and could not make it out of the second inning. He gave up 7 hits and 6 runs.

Coleman came up from Class AAA Iowa in early April when Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner got hurt. Wells is supposed to come back Saturday, and it’s a good bet Coleman will be sent back down.

In 8 starts, Coleman (2-4) has a 7.32 ERA and a feverish WHIP (walks plus hits per 1 inning pitched) of 2.05. He retired the first two batters of the game, but gave up a walk and 2 hits in the first.

“The first inning with (Carlos) Beltran after two quick outs, I told myself it’s great timing, just throw strikes,” Coleman said. “Instead of just doing it, I thought too much about it.”

Things got no better after Quade pulled Coleman. Justin Berg threw 12 straight balls, walking three batters. Quade yanked him in favor of James Russell, who started Sunday at Boston. Russell at least settled things down by tossing 3⅔ innings and giving up 3 hits and a run.

“We’re inconsistent as a son of a gun,” Quade said of his pitching,”

Once again, one of the few bright spots for the Cubs was second baseman Darwin Barney. Although he didn’t get a hit, Barney made a diving catch on Jose Reyes’ popup with men on in the fifth.

“I kept thinking about talking about him as an overachiever,” Quade said. “Maybe I just misevaluated him. Maybe he’s not an overachiever. Maybe he’s just (darn) good.”