Pinella Letting Emotions Get the Better of Him

In commenting about the recall of Triple-A reliever Carlos Marmol, Lou Pinella says, "we'll have some interesting things for you on Monday and Tuesday". This may be the beginning of a major shakeup in the Cub bullpen after they allowed five 9th inning runs to the Mets to lose a heartbreaker this Thursday night.

The Cub bullpen has been under the gun due to the ire that has been directed towards it by their manager for a few high profile meltdowns in the first month and a half of the season. Yet, the peripherals for five of their relievers is solid. Ryan Dempster, Willie Ohman, Michael Wuertz, Neal Cotts and Rocky Cherry have pitched 65% of their team's relief innings and have put together the following line: 75.2 IP, 1.203 WHIP and 71 k's.

Additionally, in a park that's been a favorable hitting environment so far this season, Cub relievers have posted a 4.11 ERA while the National League as a whole is currently sitting at a 4.36 ERA. Cub starters have been even better.

The Cub offense has also been slightly above average. This team appears to be slightly to solidly above average across the board.

With the Cub pythagorean W-L record standing at 22-17 but their real record sitting at 18-21, perhaps Pinella should sit back, relax and write-off his team's semi-tough start to bad luck.