Abbatacola: For Cubs To Succeed, Dempster Must Avoid 'Mistakes'
By Matt Abbatacola--
HOUSTON (WSCR) -- In his opening day post-game press conference, Mike Quade told us that Ryan Dempster made "two mistakes and they left the ballpark." Mistake number one came in the form of a grand slam off the bat of Neil Walker and the second, a two-run shot from Andrew McCutchen that extended the Pirates lead to 6-2. Pittsburgh would eventually win the first game of the season and take the opening series at Wrigley.
Dempster was picked by Quade as the opening day starter. It was his first as a Cubs' pitcher and his first opening day start in eight seasons. It was not a bad choice, just not one that I would have made. I would have gone with Zambrano.
The guy at the top of a rotation is your ace. The guy to end a losing streak or get you a big victory. He's the guy going to the mound for your team and those other eight starters know that something special could happen that day.
Dempster is a solid starter and could be my number three guy anytime...What he needs to do this year is avoid the big inning. Quade can refer to those unfortunate times as "mistakes," but I'll call it fatigue, loss of control, and lack of movement on his fastball. That's what I have seen in three innings of his first three starts this season.
In those three innings, (top seven against Pittsburgh, top five against Arizona, and bottom seven against Houston) Dempster has faced 15 batters giving up five doubles, three home runs, and seven earned runs for an ERA of 31.50. In the Pirates game, Dempster entered that inning with his team trailing. Against Arizona, the Cubs and Diamondbacks were tied and the inning ended with the visitors leading by three. Last night in Houston, Grabow came from the 'pen to end the inning for Dempster when the Cubs' four-run lead was cut to one.
Dempster did earn the victory last night, his first of the season. He improved his career record against Houston to 6-11 with a slight increase to his ERA against the Astros to 4.41. He is off to his worst start as a Cubs starter (1-2 with a 6.30 ERA). Dempster is on pace for 200 innings of work and 219 hits allowed - based on 30 starts. It would be his fourth consecutive season of 200 innings, but the first time as a Cubs' starter where he would finish with more hits allowed than innings pitched.
Quade gave Ryan Dempster special recognition by naming him to the top of the rotation. After the Pirates loss, the manager even said, "he's earned the right for me to ask him," when Quade was asked about taking his starter out of the game before he gave up the two-run homer to McCutchen. Dempster lobbied to stay in the game and his manager listened.
If the Cubs are going to win the NL Central this year, they'll need more than just strong outings from Dempster to accomplish that goal, but I wouldn't mind seeing one in his next start.
