Matt Clement threw away the Cubs’ chance to win Friday night in St. Louis with a wild throw to first base, and Antonio Alfonseca did likewise Sunday.
If a pitcher can hit a target 60 feet 6 inches away when he’s on the mound, why can’t he make a 90-foot throw to first base without the ball winding up in right field?
Manager Dusty Baker addressed the recurring problem Saturday, the day before Alfonseca’s untimely error became the 11th of the year by a Cubs pitcher. Asked if anything could be done to fix the problem, Baker replied: “Most of them aren’t forced errors. Some of them are errors of frustration or rushing the defense rather than taking the time. How do you practice taking your time?”
Alfonseca had time to throw out Albert Pujols on his chopper in the seventh inning Sunday, but he lost his grip and made a horrible throw that brought home the go-ahead run. Baker said it could be categorized as another “unforced” error.
“If he had fielded it cleanly the first time … ” Baker said, ending his thought.
Alfonseca, who was upset at not being called on to save Saturday’s game, did not respond to interview requests Sunday, staring ahead into his locker and shooing away reporters with a shake of the head. He was the seventh Cubs pitcher to commit an error, joining Mark Prior (three errors), Matt Clement and Shawn Estes with two each, and Juan Cruz, Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano with one apiece.
Shawn Estes, who has made two errors, insisted Cubs pitchers have been fielding their position well of late, in spite of the statistics. But against an offensive-minded team like St. Louis, any mistake is magnified.
“Against a team like this, you can’t give them extra outs,” Estes said.
“No. 1 through 8 in their lineup is very solid. We can’t give them extra bases. We can’t give them more outs, to this team more than any other.”
Offensive defense
Defense by the Cubs’ pitchers has been statistically abominable this season. In just 43 games the pitchers have committed 11 errors in 86 chances, an .872 percentage. The team’s pitchers committed only 13 errors all of last season. And nearly half of those 13 were committed by pitchers no longer with the team: Jason Bere, Jesus Sanchez, Ron Mahay and Steve Smyth.
2003 PITCHER C E PCT
Juan Cruz 6 1 .833
Mark Prior 12 3 .750
Kerry Wood 7 1 .857
Matt Clement 9 2 .777
Shawn Estes 16 2 .875
Carlos Zambrano 13 1 .923
Antonio Alfonseca 3 1 .667
All others 20 0 1.000
Totals 86 11 .872
2002 PITCHER C E PCT
Joe Borowski 15 1 .933
Antonio Alfonseca 18 1 .944
Juan Cruz 18 3 .833
Matt Clement 33 2 .939
Jason Bere 17 2 .882
Ron Mahay 3 1 .667
Jesus Sanchez 3 2 .333
Steve Smyth 3 1 .667
All others 129 0 1.000
Totals 239 13 .946
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