Work unfortunately interfered with my viewing of the Cubs broadcast tonight. However, I think we can take three important things from tonight's 12-3 win over the Pirates:
-The Cubs absolutely own Pittsburgh in the Lou Piniella Era. Thankfully.
- Nate McClouth belongs on a good baseball team.
- Carlos Zambrano is going to make a push for the Cy Young this year.
- Jim Edmonds still sucks.
See you tomorrow for Game 2!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Game Preview: Cubs at Pirates, 5/23/08
No time for long-windedness today; the matchup is Big Z vs. Zach Duke. It's good to be playing the pirates again.
Back with a recap after the game!
Back with a recap after the game!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Recap: Cubs at Astros, 5/21/08
Well, at least we didn't have to use Carlos Marmol.
We seemed in for a really fun game after the first, when Derrek Lee belted a two-run shot into the visiting bullpen in left, and Geovanny Soto followed with an RBI double, scoring Micah Hoffpauir. Unfortunately, the offense decided to shut it down after that, hacking after first pitches, taking only two walks, and generally making life easy for Shawn Chacon, who lasted seven innings despite his trouble in the first.
This seems to illustrate a bad trend for the Cubs' offense: namely, an inability to produce on the road. As a team, the Cubs have a very good .311/.393/.501 batting line at Wrigley, compared to a troubling .252/.341/.378 line on the road. The home split is probably due for a bit of a correction (.347 BABIP) , but the Cubs have got to find some way to take their patient home approach on the road with them.
Sean Gallagher struggled, giving up 8 hits and 5 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. Most of the damage came on Carlos Lee's three run homer in the third. Gallagher seemed upset by the outing, but I wasn't as troubled by his performance as I was by that of the Cubs' offense. Gallagher only gave up one walk and had four strikeouts. His stuff just wasn't particularly sharp tonight, and he got hit. It happens.
Michael Weurtz relieved Gallagher in the 5th and proceeded to walk his first two batters (including one wildly flailing, light-hitting J.R. Towles). He thankfully struck out Chacon to get out of the jam.
An interesting moment occurred in the 6th, as Scott Eyre was put on the clock for violation of MLB's twelve second rule. Len and Bob mentioned during the telecast that the league is working to reduce the length of games. There were a number of instances where home plate umpire Joe West was seen casting irritated glances in the direction of the pitcher's mound, working to speed up the pace of play. It seems worth noting that he didn't seem to mind Bob Howry's deliberate pace; the rule seems more concerned with avoiding wasted time than with interfering in a pitcher's particular routine (though Jose Valverde did have a ball returned to him after tossing away the first one given to him -- one of the many elaborate and borderline insane rituals Valverde likes to engage in).
Jon Lieber through a scoreless seventh, and Bob Howry struck out the side in the eighth. It's good to see Howry finally coming into form. Once he gets up to his summertime velocity in a week or two, I think we'll finally have a legitimate alternative to bringing Marmol into a game.
The game ended on a frustrating note, from my perspective. Aramis Ramirez took a one-out walk against Valverde to bring the tying run to the plate. That brought Micah Hoffpauir to the plate (who actually had a decent day, going 2 for 4 with a double and scoring a run), who struck out swinging at three pitches, all down and in. Soto popped out to record the final out and earn Valverde his 14th save.
Now, if I'm Micah Hoffpauir -- a rookie in an important 9th inning situation against a reasonably dominating closer that I've never faced before -- I'm pretty sure I have to take at least one pitch. Valverde had just walked Ramirez on 5 pitches. He'd started wild last night too. And taking a pitch gives me the opportunity to at least see a pitch and get a better sense of his delivery and how the ball comes out of his hand. I'm not a major league baseball player, but this line of thinking seems reasonable, no? Instead, Hoffpauir flails at three pitches way out of the zone, letting Valverde get ahead and providing no incentive for Valverde to throw a strike. If Hoffpauir even takes a pitch for ball one in that AB, the entire complexion of the at-bat potentially changes.
Ah well. Soriano will be back in the lineup tomorrow, Hoffpauir will be riding the pine, and all will be right with the universe.
Other notes:
Jim Edmonds Watch: ....Nevermind what I said about all being right with the universe. Edmonds hit two long flies today, each sounding like home-run balls off the bat, yet both dying on the warning track. Bob Brenly was once again apologetic for Edmonds, suggesting that he simply must have caught the ball near the end of the bat. Maybe, Bob. Or maybe Edmonds is washed up and can't get a home-run ball out of the yard anymore. On the bright side, Edmonds didn't ground into any double plays tonight. Can we release him yet?
-Ryan Theriot was picked off at first tonight in the second inning. Someone buy first-base coach Matt Sinatro one of these.
-Lance Berkman made an impressive leaping catch to rob Theriot of a hit in the eighth inning. Immediately following the play, my buddy in Houston -- an Astros fan -- texted me the following: "Did you see lance leap like a majestic puma?"
- Breathe easy everyone: Z's fine, keeping his miraculously durable reputation unblemished. You may all now point to the sky in thanks.
- In related, unsubstantiated rumor, Mark Prior tried emulating Z's appreciative gesture to the heavens after completing his latest round of towel drills. Unfortunately, he tore his rotator cuff in the process. Expect San Diego to move Prior to the 60-Day DL any day now.
We seemed in for a really fun game after the first, when Derrek Lee belted a two-run shot into the visiting bullpen in left, and Geovanny Soto followed with an RBI double, scoring Micah Hoffpauir. Unfortunately, the offense decided to shut it down after that, hacking after first pitches, taking only two walks, and generally making life easy for Shawn Chacon, who lasted seven innings despite his trouble in the first.
This seems to illustrate a bad trend for the Cubs' offense: namely, an inability to produce on the road. As a team, the Cubs have a very good .311/.393/.501 batting line at Wrigley, compared to a troubling .252/.341/.378 line on the road. The home split is probably due for a bit of a correction (.347 BABIP) , but the Cubs have got to find some way to take their patient home approach on the road with them.
Sean Gallagher struggled, giving up 8 hits and 5 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. Most of the damage came on Carlos Lee's three run homer in the third. Gallagher seemed upset by the outing, but I wasn't as troubled by his performance as I was by that of the Cubs' offense. Gallagher only gave up one walk and had four strikeouts. His stuff just wasn't particularly sharp tonight, and he got hit. It happens.
Michael Weurtz relieved Gallagher in the 5th and proceeded to walk his first two batters (including one wildly flailing, light-hitting J.R. Towles). He thankfully struck out Chacon to get out of the jam.
An interesting moment occurred in the 6th, as Scott Eyre was put on the clock for violation of MLB's twelve second rule. Len and Bob mentioned during the telecast that the league is working to reduce the length of games. There were a number of instances where home plate umpire Joe West was seen casting irritated glances in the direction of the pitcher's mound, working to speed up the pace of play. It seems worth noting that he didn't seem to mind Bob Howry's deliberate pace; the rule seems more concerned with avoiding wasted time than with interfering in a pitcher's particular routine (though Jose Valverde did have a ball returned to him after tossing away the first one given to him -- one of the many elaborate and borderline insane rituals Valverde likes to engage in).
Jon Lieber through a scoreless seventh, and Bob Howry struck out the side in the eighth. It's good to see Howry finally coming into form. Once he gets up to his summertime velocity in a week or two, I think we'll finally have a legitimate alternative to bringing Marmol into a game.
The game ended on a frustrating note, from my perspective. Aramis Ramirez took a one-out walk against Valverde to bring the tying run to the plate. That brought Micah Hoffpauir to the plate (who actually had a decent day, going 2 for 4 with a double and scoring a run), who struck out swinging at three pitches, all down and in. Soto popped out to record the final out and earn Valverde his 14th save.
Now, if I'm Micah Hoffpauir -- a rookie in an important 9th inning situation against a reasonably dominating closer that I've never faced before -- I'm pretty sure I have to take at least one pitch. Valverde had just walked Ramirez on 5 pitches. He'd started wild last night too. And taking a pitch gives me the opportunity to at least see a pitch and get a better sense of his delivery and how the ball comes out of his hand. I'm not a major league baseball player, but this line of thinking seems reasonable, no? Instead, Hoffpauir flails at three pitches way out of the zone, letting Valverde get ahead and providing no incentive for Valverde to throw a strike. If Hoffpauir even takes a pitch for ball one in that AB, the entire complexion of the at-bat potentially changes.
Ah well. Soriano will be back in the lineup tomorrow, Hoffpauir will be riding the pine, and all will be right with the universe.
Other notes:
Jim Edmonds Watch: ....Nevermind what I said about all being right with the universe. Edmonds hit two long flies today, each sounding like home-run balls off the bat, yet both dying on the warning track. Bob Brenly was once again apologetic for Edmonds, suggesting that he simply must have caught the ball near the end of the bat. Maybe, Bob. Or maybe Edmonds is washed up and can't get a home-run ball out of the yard anymore. On the bright side, Edmonds didn't ground into any double plays tonight. Can we release him yet?
-Ryan Theriot was picked off at first tonight in the second inning. Someone buy first-base coach Matt Sinatro one of these.
-Lance Berkman made an impressive leaping catch to rob Theriot of a hit in the eighth inning. Immediately following the play, my buddy in Houston -- an Astros fan -- texted me the following: "Did you see lance leap like a majestic puma?"
- Breathe easy everyone: Z's fine, keeping his miraculously durable reputation unblemished. You may all now point to the sky in thanks.
- In related, unsubstantiated rumor, Mark Prior tried emulating Z's appreciative gesture to the heavens after completing his latest round of towel drills. Unfortunately, he tore his rotator cuff in the process. Expect San Diego to move Prior to the 60-Day DL any day now.
Game Preview: Cubs at Astros, 5/21/08
Today's matchup is Sean Gallagher vs. Shawn Chacon.
This is Gallagher's third major league start after pitching out of the bullpen earlier in the season. He's pitched about as well as can be expected for a rookie coming out of the bullpen, throwing ten innings over two starts with a 4.35 ERA. His stamina should improve today -- as it did in his last start -- as he continues to adjust to a starter's workload. Look for him to improve his K/BB ratio today against an aggressive Astros lineup. Assuming he's got decent stuff working, I'd expect him to get a lot of quick outs and get into the seventh pretty easily.
Shawn Chacon has achieved the somewhat dubious distinction of receiving nine straight no-decisions, mostly the result of poor run support. He's given up three runs or less in six of those starts, and gone at least six innings in all but two of them. He did get shelled in his last outing, however, as the Rangers chased him with one out in the fourth after giving up eight runs -- five of them earned -- on six hits and five walks. He also gave up three homers in that game. Aramis Ramirez pounds the living daylight out of Chacon, hitting .588/.600/1.706 in 20 plate appearances for a monstrous 2.306 lifetime OPS against him. Mark DeRosa is the only other player with more than 10 plate appearances against Chacon, hitting a pedestrian .167/.313/.250.
News out of Cubdom:
-Z has shoulder stiffness. Crap. I think we can all agree that a trip to the DL is the last thing Zambrano -- who, given his tendency to start slow and then blister through the summer, seems poised for a strong run at Brandon Webb for the NL Cy Young this year -- or the team needs. Let's hope it's nothing.
-Dayn Perry has an interesting article on the Cubs' early success at FoxSports.com, providing a statistical analysis of why the team has been winning and how likely they are to keep it up. He suggests that while the defense and offense are likely the real deal, the rotation has been pitching above its head thus far, citing Dempster's unsustainable .211 BABIP, Marquis' typical second-half implosion, and Marmol's overuse up to this point. It's a reasonable argument, especially from someone who isn't necessarily a close follower of the team. Marmol's overuse is definitely a concern, but I think if Marquis continues to struggle like he has, there's no way Lou -- who, if nothing else, hates, HATES losing games -- allows him to stay in the rotation til the all-star break, let alone until he starts his annual second-half collapse. And if Marquis and Dempster need to be replaced, we've got good young pitching in Marshall (and -- crossing fingers here -- Hill) to pick up the slack. He finishes with this:
"Overall, you've got a team that's not capable of maintaining their current 100-win pace. As well, if those pitching concerns come to be realized, then the Cubs will have problems repeating as division champs in the suddenly respectable NL Central."
Even if the pitching staff totally implodes, the all likelihood is that it will do so alongside St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Houston, all of whom have suspect pitching and even more suspect bullpens. Suggesting that The Cubs are in trouble in this division is just plain alarmist.
-Paul Sullivan checks in with an amusing report on former Cubs. My favorite part? Steve Trachsel, on coming out of the bullpen.
"Trachsel told the Baltimore Sun he’s been in the pen about 20 times over the last 5-6 years, but has yet to be used. 'I just never came in,' he said. 'You don’t want me coming in, bases loaded, nobody out.'"
Admitting you have a problem is the first step towards retirement, I suppose.
Game time is once again 7:05 CT. 2 out of 3 ain't bad, kids. Let's go get it.
This is Gallagher's third major league start after pitching out of the bullpen earlier in the season. He's pitched about as well as can be expected for a rookie coming out of the bullpen, throwing ten innings over two starts with a 4.35 ERA. His stamina should improve today -- as it did in his last start -- as he continues to adjust to a starter's workload. Look for him to improve his K/BB ratio today against an aggressive Astros lineup. Assuming he's got decent stuff working, I'd expect him to get a lot of quick outs and get into the seventh pretty easily.
Shawn Chacon has achieved the somewhat dubious distinction of receiving nine straight no-decisions, mostly the result of poor run support. He's given up three runs or less in six of those starts, and gone at least six innings in all but two of them. He did get shelled in his last outing, however, as the Rangers chased him with one out in the fourth after giving up eight runs -- five of them earned -- on six hits and five walks. He also gave up three homers in that game. Aramis Ramirez pounds the living daylight out of Chacon, hitting .588/.600/1.706 in 20 plate appearances for a monstrous 2.306 lifetime OPS against him. Mark DeRosa is the only other player with more than 10 plate appearances against Chacon, hitting a pedestrian .167/.313/.250.
News out of Cubdom:
-Z has shoulder stiffness. Crap. I think we can all agree that a trip to the DL is the last thing Zambrano -- who, given his tendency to start slow and then blister through the summer, seems poised for a strong run at Brandon Webb for the NL Cy Young this year -- or the team needs. Let's hope it's nothing.
-Dayn Perry has an interesting article on the Cubs' early success at FoxSports.com, providing a statistical analysis of why the team has been winning and how likely they are to keep it up. He suggests that while the defense and offense are likely the real deal, the rotation has been pitching above its head thus far, citing Dempster's unsustainable .211 BABIP, Marquis' typical second-half implosion, and Marmol's overuse up to this point. It's a reasonable argument, especially from someone who isn't necessarily a close follower of the team. Marmol's overuse is definitely a concern, but I think if Marquis continues to struggle like he has, there's no way Lou -- who, if nothing else, hates, HATES losing games -- allows him to stay in the rotation til the all-star break, let alone until he starts his annual second-half collapse. And if Marquis and Dempster need to be replaced, we've got good young pitching in Marshall (and -- crossing fingers here -- Hill) to pick up the slack. He finishes with this:
"Overall, you've got a team that's not capable of maintaining their current 100-win pace. As well, if those pitching concerns come to be realized, then the Cubs will have problems repeating as division champs in the suddenly respectable NL Central."
Even if the pitching staff totally implodes, the all likelihood is that it will do so alongside St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Houston, all of whom have suspect pitching and even more suspect bullpens. Suggesting that The Cubs are in trouble in this division is just plain alarmist.
-Paul Sullivan checks in with an amusing report on former Cubs. My favorite part? Steve Trachsel, on coming out of the bullpen.
"Trachsel told the Baltimore Sun he’s been in the pen about 20 times over the last 5-6 years, but has yet to be used. 'I just never came in,' he said. 'You don’t want me coming in, bases loaded, nobody out.'"
Admitting you have a problem is the first step towards retirement, I suppose.
Game time is once again 7:05 CT. 2 out of 3 ain't bad, kids. Let's go get it.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Recap: Cubs at Astros, 5/20/08
A single baseball game can pretty easily become a microcosm of a player's or team's season, reflecting what's good or bad, done well or poorly. Tonight had the feel of a microcosm game, as Ryan Dempster illustrated all the reasons why Cub fans should be less than comfortable with him playing an important role on our pitching staff.
It's not that Dempster's performance -- 2 BB, 5 Ks, and 4 Earned Runs in six innings of work -- was all that lousy. Take away Hunter Pence's grand slam swing in the bottom of the fourth and maybe he gets out of that inning with only a run or two given up. But Dempster had almost no control tonight, yielding only two walks (to Carlos Lee and Geoff Blum in the fourth, just before Pence's grand slam homer), but falling behind batter after batter and being generally inefficient with his pitches -- as illustrated by 109 heaves in a mere six innings. He actually pitched pretty well, given how often he was working from behind in the count.
On the opposite spectrum of mediocrity, Chris Sampson made efficient use of his less-than-overpowering stuff, giving up only two Earned Runs and 1 BB with 4 Ks in 6 2/3 IP. Sampson threw only 83 pitches despite getting 2 more outs than Dempster, and never seemed to get himself in too much trouble; the Cubs got their only two runs on a blast from Aramis Ramirez in the 4th with Derrek Lee on first. No Cubs baserunner got past second after that, their best chance coming with 2-outs in the seventh, when Mark DeRosa singled and Sampson walked pinch-hitter Micah Hoffpauir to bring Soriano to the plate. That ended Sampson's night as Doug Brocail came in to strike out Sori and end the threat.
Jose Ascanio made his first appearance of the season, an adventurous-but-ultimately-scoreless two innings that featured two walks and a strikeout. Ascanio is billed as a flamethrower, his fastball supposedly hitting the high nineties. I might have missed it in a momentary lapse of focus, but I'm pretty sure I didn't see any pitch faster than 95mph on WGN's radar gun. Regardless, he's going to have to throw more strikes if he wants to keep a job in Lou's bullpen. (then again, I suppose nothing's certain in a bullpen that can employ Chad Fox. Alas, I digress).
More than anything, though, I think this just gets chalked up to the law of averages. Like the loss against the pirates last week, sometimes a good team just gets beat by an inferior team. We don't know anything now that we didn't know before today: Ryan Dempster needs to throw more strikes, and the Astros have solid home run power in the heart of their lineup. Tomorrow it's solid youngster Sean Gallagher against professional journeyman Shawn Chacon. Let's hope for a laugher to give Carlos Marmol a much-needed three days off.
More notes from tonights game:
- Jim Edmonds watch: Jimmy E. went 0 for 3 with a walk tonight, grounding into a double play to clear the bases for Mark DeRosa and Micah Hoffpauir (who, as mentioned earlier, would single and walk, respectively). Now, I'm not saying that if DeRosa is in the 7 hole instead of Edmonds we score some runs in that inning. I am saying that Jim Edmonds is washed up and should not be on our team. As Colin at Goat Riders of the Apocalypse points out, Ted Lily is our second-most productive left-handed bat. I don't know much, but I do know this: Give him a starting job, and Felix Pie will outhit Ted Lilly.
- Also worth noting: Edmonds, supposed defensive whiz, put a ball in the dirt trying to throw out Miguel Tejada at third after Tejada tagged up on a sac fly in the fourth. Len and Bob were apologetic, claiming bad luck as the reason why the throw bounced in the dirt behind a slow-moving Tejada, about 3 or 4 paces in front of a desperately stretching Aramis Ramirez. I think it had more to do with the fact that Edmonds couldn't make a throw to third from shallow center field. I don't know much, but I do know this: Felix Pie throws out Tejada on that play.
- For a former (and brief) RoY candidate, Hunter Pence's .325 OBP is pretty bad.
- ...It's ever-so-slightly less bad than the Astros .323 team OBP. The team's only respectable OBPs belong to Lance Berkman, getting on at a Bondslike .467 clip, Miguel Tejada (.372), and -- strangely enough -- Captain Ruptured Anus himself, Kazuo Matsui (.386)! I'm not sure Tejada's even counts, though, because that respectable OBP is inflated by a thoroughly unsustainable .342 batting average. Combined with their pitching, I give it a month before the Astros are out of it completely.
- Derrek Lee really doesn't want a day off. I mentioned yesterday that he seemed to have turned a corner about midway through the game, where he started having better At-Bats and seeing more pitches. Well, today he broke out of his slump, going 3 for 4 with a run scored. Please Lou, don't give him a day off to play Hoffpowerless.
It's not that Dempster's performance -- 2 BB, 5 Ks, and 4 Earned Runs in six innings of work -- was all that lousy. Take away Hunter Pence's grand slam swing in the bottom of the fourth and maybe he gets out of that inning with only a run or two given up. But Dempster had almost no control tonight, yielding only two walks (to Carlos Lee and Geoff Blum in the fourth, just before Pence's grand slam homer), but falling behind batter after batter and being generally inefficient with his pitches -- as illustrated by 109 heaves in a mere six innings. He actually pitched pretty well, given how often he was working from behind in the count.
On the opposite spectrum of mediocrity, Chris Sampson made efficient use of his less-than-overpowering stuff, giving up only two Earned Runs and 1 BB with 4 Ks in 6 2/3 IP. Sampson threw only 83 pitches despite getting 2 more outs than Dempster, and never seemed to get himself in too much trouble; the Cubs got their only two runs on a blast from Aramis Ramirez in the 4th with Derrek Lee on first. No Cubs baserunner got past second after that, their best chance coming with 2-outs in the seventh, when Mark DeRosa singled and Sampson walked pinch-hitter Micah Hoffpauir to bring Soriano to the plate. That ended Sampson's night as Doug Brocail came in to strike out Sori and end the threat.
Jose Ascanio made his first appearance of the season, an adventurous-but-ultimately-scoreless two innings that featured two walks and a strikeout. Ascanio is billed as a flamethrower, his fastball supposedly hitting the high nineties. I might have missed it in a momentary lapse of focus, but I'm pretty sure I didn't see any pitch faster than 95mph on WGN's radar gun. Regardless, he's going to have to throw more strikes if he wants to keep a job in Lou's bullpen. (then again, I suppose nothing's certain in a bullpen that can employ Chad Fox. Alas, I digress).
More than anything, though, I think this just gets chalked up to the law of averages. Like the loss against the pirates last week, sometimes a good team just gets beat by an inferior team. We don't know anything now that we didn't know before today: Ryan Dempster needs to throw more strikes, and the Astros have solid home run power in the heart of their lineup. Tomorrow it's solid youngster Sean Gallagher against professional journeyman Shawn Chacon. Let's hope for a laugher to give Carlos Marmol a much-needed three days off.
More notes from tonights game:
- Jim Edmonds watch: Jimmy E. went 0 for 3 with a walk tonight, grounding into a double play to clear the bases for Mark DeRosa and Micah Hoffpauir (who, as mentioned earlier, would single and walk, respectively). Now, I'm not saying that if DeRosa is in the 7 hole instead of Edmonds we score some runs in that inning. I am saying that Jim Edmonds is washed up and should not be on our team. As Colin at Goat Riders of the Apocalypse points out, Ted Lily is our second-most productive left-handed bat. I don't know much, but I do know this: Give him a starting job, and Felix Pie will outhit Ted Lilly.
- Also worth noting: Edmonds, supposed defensive whiz, put a ball in the dirt trying to throw out Miguel Tejada at third after Tejada tagged up on a sac fly in the fourth. Len and Bob were apologetic, claiming bad luck as the reason why the throw bounced in the dirt behind a slow-moving Tejada, about 3 or 4 paces in front of a desperately stretching Aramis Ramirez. I think it had more to do with the fact that Edmonds couldn't make a throw to third from shallow center field. I don't know much, but I do know this: Felix Pie throws out Tejada on that play.
- For a former (and brief) RoY candidate, Hunter Pence's .325 OBP is pretty bad.
- ...It's ever-so-slightly less bad than the Astros .323 team OBP. The team's only respectable OBPs belong to Lance Berkman, getting on at a Bondslike .467 clip, Miguel Tejada (.372), and -- strangely enough -- Captain Ruptured Anus himself, Kazuo Matsui (.386)! I'm not sure Tejada's even counts, though, because that respectable OBP is inflated by a thoroughly unsustainable .342 batting average. Combined with their pitching, I give it a month before the Astros are out of it completely.
- Derrek Lee really doesn't want a day off. I mentioned yesterday that he seemed to have turned a corner about midway through the game, where he started having better At-Bats and seeing more pitches. Well, today he broke out of his slump, going 3 for 4 with a run scored. Please Lou, don't give him a day off to play Hoffpowerless.
Game Preview: Cubs at Astros, 5/20/08
Tonight's matchup is Ryan Dempster vs. Chris Sampson.
Dempster has pitched well so far this season, but, as any stathead will tell you, a lot of that is a result of an unusually low Batting Average on Balls in Play, and that he's due to come back to earth any day now. Personally, as long as he continues to keep his walk rates reasonably low (particularly for him), I'll be happy. With Ted Lilly slowly working his way back into form, we don't necessarily need him to be lights-out (though a continuation of that trend would be nice); avoiding a Marquis-esque implosion would suffice.
Chris Sampson is having a rough start to the year, giving up 28 Earned Runs so far this season (just under half of 2007 season total of 62) for a 6.46 ERA. The Cubs haven't seen much of him, which usually seems to bode well for the pitcher in question, for whatever reason. Derrek Lee and Jim Edmonds each have a home run against him, though. So we've got that going for us. Which is nice.
Other notes:
- Derrek Lee doesn't want a day off. Not surprising, given Lee's personality. I'm not sure it matters one way or the other. A few days off seemed to do Soriano some good (though comparing Soriano's April to his May over the past two years seems to indicate that maybe Sori just doesn't fire on all cylinders until the weather warms up a bit). But hitters slump sometimes. It's the nature of the game. Plus, Derrek's last two at-bats last night looked much better than any ABs I'd seen in the past week or so. Unless he's hurt or seems to be pressing, I think you have to keep him in the lineup -- particularly when the alternative is I-Cub DH Micah Hoffpauir.
- The prayers of a thousand Cub fans were answered last night as Chad Fox was placed on the 15-Day DL. The baseball Gods taketh as they giveth, though, as Fox's injury coincides with Rich Hill's trip to the 7-Day AAA Disabled List. You never like to see a player get hurt, but here's hoping Ascanio makes the most of Fox's spot and we add another young, strong arm to the bullpen. Here's also hoping that Rich Hill uses his week of free time to finally shake off the mental anguish of giving up a first-pitch homer to Chris Young back in October and that he quickly returns to being a productive member of the rotation. You did your job Rich; Sean Gallagher won a starting job. You can come back and bump Marquis out anytime now.
- Mike Piazza is retired. Other than megastars like Bonds and Griffey Jr. (and, somewhat inexplicably, Orel Herscheiser), Piazza might very well have been the first baseball player to enter my consciousness as I grew from wee lad into not-so-wee lad. His retirement feels like an important landmark in my life, as I find myself saying "Mike Piazza is old enough to retire? When did he get that old? When did I get that old?" Oh, to be 21 and wistful.
Game time is 7:05, CT. Beat the snot of that Sampson, fellas.
Dempster has pitched well so far this season, but, as any stathead will tell you, a lot of that is a result of an unusually low Batting Average on Balls in Play, and that he's due to come back to earth any day now. Personally, as long as he continues to keep his walk rates reasonably low (particularly for him), I'll be happy. With Ted Lilly slowly working his way back into form, we don't necessarily need him to be lights-out (though a continuation of that trend would be nice); avoiding a Marquis-esque implosion would suffice.
Chris Sampson is having a rough start to the year, giving up 28 Earned Runs so far this season (just under half of 2007 season total of 62) for a 6.46 ERA. The Cubs haven't seen much of him, which usually seems to bode well for the pitcher in question, for whatever reason. Derrek Lee and Jim Edmonds each have a home run against him, though. So we've got that going for us. Which is nice.
Other notes:
- Derrek Lee doesn't want a day off. Not surprising, given Lee's personality. I'm not sure it matters one way or the other. A few days off seemed to do Soriano some good (though comparing Soriano's April to his May over the past two years seems to indicate that maybe Sori just doesn't fire on all cylinders until the weather warms up a bit). But hitters slump sometimes. It's the nature of the game. Plus, Derrek's last two at-bats last night looked much better than any ABs I'd seen in the past week or so. Unless he's hurt or seems to be pressing, I think you have to keep him in the lineup -- particularly when the alternative is I-Cub DH Micah Hoffpauir.
- The prayers of a thousand Cub fans were answered last night as Chad Fox was placed on the 15-Day DL. The baseball Gods taketh as they giveth, though, as Fox's injury coincides with Rich Hill's trip to the 7-Day AAA Disabled List. You never like to see a player get hurt, but here's hoping Ascanio makes the most of Fox's spot and we add another young, strong arm to the bullpen. Here's also hoping that Rich Hill uses his week of free time to finally shake off the mental anguish of giving up a first-pitch homer to Chris Young back in October and that he quickly returns to being a productive member of the rotation. You did your job Rich; Sean Gallagher won a starting job. You can come back and bump Marquis out anytime now.
- Mike Piazza is retired. Other than megastars like Bonds and Griffey Jr. (and, somewhat inexplicably, Orel Herscheiser), Piazza might very well have been the first baseball player to enter my consciousness as I grew from wee lad into not-so-wee lad. His retirement feels like an important landmark in my life, as I find myself saying "Mike Piazza is old enough to retire? When did he get that old? When did I get that old?" Oh, to be 21 and wistful.
Game time is 7:05, CT. Beat the snot of that Sampson, fellas.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Recap: Cubs at Astros, 5/19/08
The replay showed that Geovany Soto's long shot to left-center should have been a garden-variety home run. Undeterred by the blown call, however, Soto got his homer the hard way, motoring his way around the bases into a stand-up, three run, inside-the-parker that proved to be the game winning shot.
The Cubs got their latest road trip off to a good start tonight, beating the Astros 7-2 in a game that was much closer than the score might suggest. The Astros kept it close through eight, scoring twice and getting their fair-share of runners in scoring position. Like many before them, however, the Astros' offense was undone by the rally-killing powers of Jim Edmonds and Carlos Marmol.
Ted Lilly had a fairly decent outing, going 5 1/3 innings and giving up both of the Astros' earned runs on 6 K's and 2 walks. He threw three perfect innings to start the game before control problems cropped up in the fourth, falling behind 3-1 to Miguel Tejada (resulting in a double), and, later in the inning, Hunter Pence, going 3-0 before catching up to a full count (thankfully, Jim Edmonds bailed Lilly out of the inning with an impressive-seeming catch...but more on that later).
Lilly continued to struggle with his control in the fifth, walking pinch-hitter Jose Cruz Jr. (and his sub-.300 OBP), and then giving up a run-scoring single to Michael Bourn after falling behind 3-1.
Despite the jams, Lilly lasted into the sixth before letting the bullpen take over. Lieber pitched an excellent inning and two-thirds, getting a double-play ball out of Hunter Pence to end the sixth and working a quick seventh. Weurtz was less than stellar in the eighth, giving up hits to Bourne and KazMat before handing things over to Carlos Marmol, who quickly snuffed out the mini-rally and put the Astros to bed.
The Cubs' offense pressed onward anyway, adding four superfluous runs -- punctuated by Aramis Ramirez's seventh homer of the year, a two-run blast into left center in the top of the ninth that put the game away well before Bob Howry struck out two in a perfect half-inning to end the game.
It all adds up to a fairly ho-hum win, given the way the 2008 Cubs' season has unfolded thus far: steady offensive production, reasonably solid pitching performances, excellent work out of the bullpen, and good defensive play.
Speaking of defensive play, however, there was one part of tonight's game that I thought was particularly interesting, and troubled me more than a little bit. I'm referring to Jim Edmonds' winding, twirling, over-the-shoulder rundown of Hunter Pence's long fly to end the fourth. Watching as it happened, I thought Edmonds misplayed the ball, taking a bad route and not having the speed to make up for it. He looked about two steps slow to me (perhaps residual ankle gimpiness from taking a foul off his ankle in the top of the fourth). My first thought -- as Len and Bob began heaping praises upon Edmonds for the great catch -- was that Felix Pie runs that ball down and makes the catch look easy. As they showed the replay, I was a little more impressed with Edmonds' play (mostly because the replay showed that Edmonds was actually running faster than it seemed initially). Still, if nights like these are a sign of things to come, I get the feeling that we in Cubdom are in for a lot of long floaters to center bouncing on the warning track, over Edmonds' head. I hope I'm wrong.
Other notes from tonight's game:
-Bob mentioned that Brad Ausmus was playing the role of tutor to rookie Astros catcher J.R. Towles. As a Cubs fan, I really hope Ausmus tutors Towles into another 15 years of .252/.325/.346 baseball.
-Where was Hunter Pence on Soto's HR ball? The ball seemed to lay in center field forever, until Bourn came dashing back to get the ball in the infield. Why wasn't Pence backing up the play? I have to think if Pence does his job there, Soto has a triple at worst.
-After two at-bats, I was trying to remember the last time I saw Derrek Lee take a first pitch. I'm pretty sure it was sometime last week. Maybe. Alas, my wonderings were for naught, as Lee took a first pitch in the seventh, and proceeded to have two really solid ABs to finish off the game. A corner turned, perhaps? Let's all hope so.
-Lance Berkman should grow his beard back. There's nothing about his doughy cheeks that's going to intimidate a pitcher. Nothing.
-CSN got a few shots of Cecil Cooper looking positively Dustyesque early in the game -- staring blankly into space for unsettlingly long periods of time -- which made me pity Astros fans a little more than I already do. Then Len mentioned that Cooper hates to bunt, returning me to my standard level of Astro-pitying.
Tomorrow it's Dempster versus Sampson. I'll have a game preview post up to get you the standard stats and some Cubs-related links from around the web.
The Cubs got their latest road trip off to a good start tonight, beating the Astros 7-2 in a game that was much closer than the score might suggest. The Astros kept it close through eight, scoring twice and getting their fair-share of runners in scoring position. Like many before them, however, the Astros' offense was undone by the rally-killing powers of Jim Edmonds and Carlos Marmol.
Ted Lilly had a fairly decent outing, going 5 1/3 innings and giving up both of the Astros' earned runs on 6 K's and 2 walks. He threw three perfect innings to start the game before control problems cropped up in the fourth, falling behind 3-1 to Miguel Tejada (resulting in a double), and, later in the inning, Hunter Pence, going 3-0 before catching up to a full count (thankfully, Jim Edmonds bailed Lilly out of the inning with an impressive-seeming catch...but more on that later).
Lilly continued to struggle with his control in the fifth, walking pinch-hitter Jose Cruz Jr. (and his sub-.300 OBP), and then giving up a run-scoring single to Michael Bourn after falling behind 3-1.
Despite the jams, Lilly lasted into the sixth before letting the bullpen take over. Lieber pitched an excellent inning and two-thirds, getting a double-play ball out of Hunter Pence to end the sixth and working a quick seventh. Weurtz was less than stellar in the eighth, giving up hits to Bourne and KazMat before handing things over to Carlos Marmol, who quickly snuffed out the mini-rally and put the Astros to bed.
The Cubs' offense pressed onward anyway, adding four superfluous runs -- punctuated by Aramis Ramirez's seventh homer of the year, a two-run blast into left center in the top of the ninth that put the game away well before Bob Howry struck out two in a perfect half-inning to end the game.
It all adds up to a fairly ho-hum win, given the way the 2008 Cubs' season has unfolded thus far: steady offensive production, reasonably solid pitching performances, excellent work out of the bullpen, and good defensive play.
Speaking of defensive play, however, there was one part of tonight's game that I thought was particularly interesting, and troubled me more than a little bit. I'm referring to Jim Edmonds' winding, twirling, over-the-shoulder rundown of Hunter Pence's long fly to end the fourth. Watching as it happened, I thought Edmonds misplayed the ball, taking a bad route and not having the speed to make up for it. He looked about two steps slow to me (perhaps residual ankle gimpiness from taking a foul off his ankle in the top of the fourth). My first thought -- as Len and Bob began heaping praises upon Edmonds for the great catch -- was that Felix Pie runs that ball down and makes the catch look easy. As they showed the replay, I was a little more impressed with Edmonds' play (mostly because the replay showed that Edmonds was actually running faster than it seemed initially). Still, if nights like these are a sign of things to come, I get the feeling that we in Cubdom are in for a lot of long floaters to center bouncing on the warning track, over Edmonds' head. I hope I'm wrong.
Other notes from tonight's game:
-Bob mentioned that Brad Ausmus was playing the role of tutor to rookie Astros catcher J.R. Towles. As a Cubs fan, I really hope Ausmus tutors Towles into another 15 years of .252/.325/.346 baseball.
-Where was Hunter Pence on Soto's HR ball? The ball seemed to lay in center field forever, until Bourn came dashing back to get the ball in the infield. Why wasn't Pence backing up the play? I have to think if Pence does his job there, Soto has a triple at worst.
-After two at-bats, I was trying to remember the last time I saw Derrek Lee take a first pitch. I'm pretty sure it was sometime last week. Maybe. Alas, my wonderings were for naught, as Lee took a first pitch in the seventh, and proceeded to have two really solid ABs to finish off the game. A corner turned, perhaps? Let's all hope so.
-Lance Berkman should grow his beard back. There's nothing about his doughy cheeks that's going to intimidate a pitcher. Nothing.
-CSN got a few shots of Cecil Cooper looking positively Dustyesque early in the game -- staring blankly into space for unsettlingly long periods of time -- which made me pity Astros fans a little more than I already do. Then Len mentioned that Cooper hates to bunt, returning me to my standard level of Astro-pitying.
Tomorrow it's Dempster versus Sampson. I'll have a game preview post up to get you the standard stats and some Cubs-related links from around the web.
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