By Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune –
CHICAGO — As the losses pile up for the Cubs in the first year of the rebuild, the new regime is looking at the game differently than the average fan.
Player development obviously is the bottom line, so if some of the Cubs’ kids are improving in small increments, they can feel better about the blueprint, even after a head-shaking loss like the 10-1 pounding the Astros dealt them Tuesday night before a crowd of 33,376 at Wrigley Field.
(PHOTO: Houston Astros Tyler Greene (23) congratulates hitter Brett Wallace (29) on his three-run homer in the third inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday, August 14, 2012. )
“This line of work attracts people who are normally competitive,” President Theo Epstein said. “You like to win at all costs sometimes. Losing in any context is disappointing. You also, in situations like this, get personally wrapped up in players’ developments.
“Sometimes you get upset not just at a loss, but when you see someone make the same mistake twice. And at the same time it’s just not the wins that make you excited. Sometimes you see a young player make an adjustment and do something better that next time. You see some improvement and it gets you excited.”
There wasn’t a whole lot of excitement Tuesday, as Chris Volstad fell into an early hole and the relief corps offered no relief.
Volstad extended his winless streak to 23 consecutive games, and must win once in his next five starts to avoid the dubious honor of tying Matt Keough and Jo-Jo Reyes for the longest winless stretch of any starter (28) since at least 1918.
Keough accomplished the dubious achievement for the A’s in 1978-79, while Reyes did it from 2008-11 with the Braves and Blue Jays.
“Just keep going,” Volstad said. “That’s all you can do. The past is in the past. The only thing I’m concerned with is my next game.”
Volstad is now 0-14 with a 5.51 ERA since his last victory — July 10, 2011 against the Astros, when he pitched for the Marlins. He’s still a long way from reaching the major league record for most consecutive losses, 27, set by former Cub Anthony Young in 1992-93 when he pitched for the Mets.
After two decent starts since his return from Triple-A Iowa, Volstad regressed Tuesday, giving up four runs on eight hits over five innings, including a three-run homer to Brett Wallace in the third to give the Astros a 4-0 lead.
Manager Dale Sveum said the loss was “based around one pitch (to Wallace), but I think he’ll tell you his stuff wasn’t what it has been the last couple of outings.”
Well, not really. Volstad, who waited more than 20 minutes before talking to the media afterward, didn’t think his stuff was that bad.
“That’s the way it goes,” he said. “One swing of the bat can change the game. … Take away one pitch and it’s 1-0 instead of 4-0 and the team is right there. I executed pitches after that, and I think that’s one of the biggest strides I’ve made, continuing to throw. Take away that (homer) and a couple of hits were just finding holes.”
Rookie right-hander Lucas Harrell limited the Cubs to one run over eight innings, evening the series at a game apiece.
Sveum said the Cubs “took a lot of fastballs and weren’t real aggressive on the fastball for a guy who throws a lot of fastballs.”
The Astros, who won for only the 12th time in 59 road games, are in the exact same boat as the Cubs, with a clubhouse full of prospects that normally wouldn’t be on the field for a team that actually was trying to compete.
They have sliced their payroll to just above $21 million, dumping players like they were changing bedsheets. The results have been atrocious. Until beating the Brewers on Friday, the Astros became the first National League team since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders to lose 34 games in a 38-game span.
Unlike Epstein, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow isn’t a household name in Houston and doesn’t have the same kind of pressure to turn around a losing franchise.
