There hasnt' been a more painful inning to baseball for me to watch than there was last night in the 7th.    As a Cubs fan,  I've sit through many painful innings,   but last night caught me with my pants down.  (No really, I like to sing the 7th inning stretch with my pants down)  

 Marmol,  the usual lights out slidin' assassin that he's more than capable of being, and we're more apt of seeing,  saw his stats tank quick...  real quick!     I know (maybe more than anybody) that somedays you're on...    and someday's you're off.    I guess that explains why I was really stuck scratching my head,   and was screaming for the managers to get a clue and pull him after he'd walked the first two batters.    It wasn't the fact that he'd walked two batters, was struggling to find the strike zone and damn near hit Derrick Lee from the bullpen while he was warming up and D.Lee was at home and ready to swing away, it wasn't just that.     He was all over the place and missing the glove.     Okay... so MAYBE I'd have let him pitch against one more player and hope and pray for a double play,    but once he nailed the next batter, Gabe Gross,  I'd have yanked his ass out of there.    But instead, Marmol tried to fight back enough to muster up two strikes against, only then to plunk Akinori Iwamura in the knee to force in a run, which led to the decision to him getting pulled.   I know he's a great pitcher,  but last night something was off.

The next bat, held by Carl Crawford,  was a high and inside pitch from Scott Eyre that was meant to be low and outside...  but when it left the bat,   there was no question about where it was going.    bye bye.   Sometimes you throw a bad pitch and nobody knows,  it can result in a strike out or a routine fly.   Sometimes you throw a bad pitch and everybody notices,   even the guy sitting in the upper deck.  

Which brings up my next point.      Was the bullpen coaches even paying attention to this?    Did they even notice Marmol was throwing wild there and consider warming up another pitcher as well.    A red flag may have been nearly taking out your first baseman at the ankles.   That's now 3 straight losses that have been attributed to the bullpen,  so you can blame the Cubs first sweep in favor of the bad guys to them,  who'd been leading the league with just a 3.22 ERA.   Until the 7th,   which I spent the remainder of with my eyes covered, then pillow over my face, until I finally gave up and went to do my laundry...    I just didn't want to hear about any more runs getting batted in.

Made me really feel for poor Gallagher though,    this kid deserves more wins than his record claims.    He's had nothing but solid pitching as a starter in the big leagues,  but unfortunately he's lacked run support, and now bullpen support.  

I hope I speak for everybody when I say that I hope we never go back to Tampa Bay (sounds like a great song lyric),  and I'm anxious to get back to Wrigley for the big cross-town show-down.   As Lou stated at the end of the game, topping his comments on the 7th inning, "I need a three-day vacation from Tampa-St. Petersburg."