LaRussia and Wells

I was lucky enough to be at the game this evening and one of the most disturbing things I noticed was Kip Wells body language in the 7th and LaRussia/Duncan/Molina's indifference towards it. To be fair, Wells should have gotten out of the inning with nary a run scored. Rolen's error on Theriot's ground ball was the beginning.

Well's body language after his walk to Lee (right after the error) is what really disturbed me. After the free pass, Wells made his way to the back of the mound methodically while fixing his gaze on the bullpen. He expected to be taken out. Before taking the mound again to face Ramirez Wells shot several more glances to the dugout then back to the bullpen, seemingly expecting to see Percival trot out to relieve him. Even as Wells was toeing the rubber and looking in for the sign for the first pitch to Ramirez Wells took one last quick glance out to the pen, clearly in disbelief that he was still in the game.

Immediately, I knew that the at bat with the Cubbies 3rd baseman was going to end poorly. Wells was not in the right state of mind to get the batter out. Instead of thinking about pitch selection he was wondering about hitting the showers. The thing that concerns me most about this is that neither Duncan, LaRussia, nor Yadi noticed his hesitancy to continue pitching. Not only did Wells expect to be taken out... it seems to me that he WANTED to be taken out.

Anyway... im not sure if any of you noticed this little transaction from at home on TV or if you were at the game. But I noticed it then and was convinced (and rightly so) that there was no way that that at bat by Ramirez could have ended positively for the Red Birds.