Regarding Wednesday's loss to the Pirates

Bits from Carrie Muskat's article, Cubs Fall in Similar Fashion.

Michael Barrett maintains he comes into every game with a mindset that will "prepare [him] for the worst."

What a stand-up guy. Is this the same mindset that prepares him to arbitrarily punch other players?

"Seems like razor thin always goes against us," Baker said.

You play Neifi Pérez and Ronnie Cedeno. You are a bad manager and use players who are also bad. If you call that razor thin, then yes, it always goes against you.

Any period of missed time for Mateo, who was making just his fifth big-league start and displaying increasing promise, would be a significant blow to a depleted Cubs pitching staff that already has used eight rookies this season.

Juan Mateo is one of eight rookies with mediocre stuff to start for the Cubs this year. What makes him any more important than Carlos Marmol, Sean Marshall, Rich Hill, Jae Ken Ryu, or Angel Guzman. They've all been bad, generally, while Marshall was OK.

And in Mateo's last 14 IP, he has allowed 26 baserunners, and his "increasing promise" has seen his ERA jump from 3.00 to 4.15. In two innings on August 30, he threw 53 pitches in 2 IP. The NL is putting up .314/.389/.419 against him.

Of course he could get better, but the point is that he is not the lynch-pin of this team. We get it, the Cubs have had a lot of injuries. Stop crying.

By the way, Rich Hill has a three-hit shutout through seven.