Game 53 Recap: Cubs 2, Dodgers 1

1010-1010

W- Howry (1-2 ), getting to a W/L record against the Dodgers franchise that looks like binary.

L- Park (1-1 ), not getting Z a win, inconsistent strike zones

Things to Take from This Game

1. Lowe rolls, Z keeps us in it.

Derek Lowe looked pretty unstopable. After getting Lee to GIDP with the first two hitters on in the first, Lowe didn't look like he was challenged much by the Cubs offense all night. Z didn't have his best stuff, but labored through 8 innings and 130 pitches while only giving up one run. That came in the fourth, the result of a couple singles followed by two walks, the second one bringing in a run. It would have been a miserable way to lose a 1-0 game, but...

2. The top of the 8th vs. the bottom of the 9th.

The Dodgers had a chance to add some insurance runs in the 8th, as the Cubs defense lets Zambrano down and he's suddenly nearing 130 pitches with a bullpen that has just begun to warm up. Z gets out of it, however striking out Kemp and keeping the game at 1-0. Compare that to the bottom of the 9th, where Saito has a very, very rare fit of wildness. Like Z, he battles hard with far from his best stuff, but Soto manages a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to tie up the game at one.

3. Pulling out a tough win in the 10th

Pinch-hitting, Fontenot lined a double into the left-center gap. Soriano then hit a little blooper down the left field line that just did drop in fair territory. Fontenot scored uncontested, giving a very satisfying result to a hard-fought nail-biter of a game.

The sweeping details, below.

Game Recap

Inning 1 - Top

• Z begins by going 2-0 on Pierre.
• and after a 3-1 count, walks on a low and inside fastball to lead off the game
• 0-2 count to Maza. Who is Maza?!?
• Z doing a nice job of holding Pierre close, nearly picks him off on two consecutive attempts.
• Maza grounds one slowly a few feet to the SS side of the 2B bag. Theriot waits for it to come to him, steps on the bag just ahead of Pierre, and throws to first for the DP.
• Ethier pulls a grounder to DeRosa's left. He makes a nice running dive for it, gets up and throws Ethier out. Nice defensive inning for the middle infield

Inning 1 - Bottom

• Soriano pulls one through the left side hole for a single.
• Theriot inside-outs one through the right side hole, also for a single. Soriano to second.
• Lee taps one back to Lowe, 1-4-3 GIDP. Soriano to third. Nuts.
• Ramirez walks on a 3-2 pitch just outside.
• Fukudome hits one on the ground to Hu, who takes it to the 2B bag.

Inning 2 - Top

• Martin singles to left.
• Loney hits a grounder to DeRosa, easy 4-6-3.
• Kemp walks. Z squeezed a bit, not too thrilled
• Z shatters Dewitt's bat on a check-swing foul. Pretty nasty to watch.
• Dewitt hits a foul down the left field line. A fan reaches out for it and.... the Cubs left fielder catches it, ending the inning. That's nice.

Inning 2- Bottom

• Soto hits a sharp liner to left, but it is hit hard enough for Pierre to come in and make a diving catch.
• DeRosa bounces out to Dewitt.
• and Johnson bounces to Hu. Easy innning for Lowe.

Inning 3 - Top

• Hu lines out to Fukudome
• Lowe grounds out to second
• Z has Pierre 0-2, and throws a fastball strike on the outside corner. Except it's called a ball. Z comes back two pitches later to K Pierre swinging at a fastball.

Inning 3 - Bottom

• Z K's swinging
• Soriano bloops one to shallow right, Maza catches it.
• Theriot grounds to Hu. 7 in a row for Lowe

Inning 4 - Top

• Maza flies to Johnson
• Ethier grounds to Lee unassisted
• Martin grounds to left for a single.
• Loney singles up the middle. Martin makes a big turn around second, Johnson throws in behind him to second, but Martin makes it back to the bag. 1 and 2 with 2 outs
• Z loses control of a slider, right into the back of Kemp. Bases loaded.
• and now it's 2-0 on Dewitt. Uh oh.
• Z with a bad check-swing to go to a 2-2 count. Fans are on their feet
• 3-2 count on an outside fastball.
• Ball 4 on a low and outside fastball. Martin comes in to score. 1-0. All of this with two outs, as Len reminds us.
• Hu rolls out to DeRosa, ending the inning

Inning 4 - Bottom

• Lee lofts a big fly ball, just short of the warning track in center.
• Ramirez walks.
• Fukudome lines a single into right, Ramirez has to stop at second.
• Soto pops to Hu.
• DeRosa with a foul-tip strikeout. Two more LOB.

Inning 5 - Top

• Lowe bounces out to Theriot.
• Pierre lines out to Theriot.
• Maza lines out to Fukudome. Quick inning for Z

Inning 5 - Bottom

• Johnson flips the bat at a two strike pitch on the corner, almost dumps it down the right field line for a double, just foul
• and now he dumps a blooper into left, and Pierre comes in to make another diving catch, this one diving more towards his right. Nice catch.
• Z K's swinging at three straight pitches
• and Soriano K's swinging at a slider low and outside.

Inning 6 - Top

• Ethier Walks
• Martin then bounces into an easy 6-4-3 DP. Yet another clean turn on the DP, so nice to watch.
• Loney flies out to Fukudome

Inning 6 - Bottom

• Theriot swings and misses at a slider, striking out.
• Lee with a slow, shallow roller to Hu, out at first.
• Ramirez lines out to Ethier, another 1-2-3 inning.

Inning 7 - Top

• Kemp with a slow roller to Ramirez, who throws high and wide of first. Looks like he would have been safe, regardless. Nice catch by Lee on the throw.
• Dewitt grounds to Lee, Kemp advancing to 2nd
• Z tries to pick off Kemp; it's really close, but with ball, Kemp and Derosa all arriving at the same time, the ball rolls away. DeRosa sort of falls over onto Kemp to keep him from advancing.
• Hu grounds to DeRosa, Kemp to third.
• Lowe with a soft liner to Fukudome, out of the inning

Inning 7 - Middle

• Sutcliffe does the stretch, wearing a Cubs hat and jersey. Nice rendition, laughing a bit as he finishes up. Gets a nice hand from the fans, and throws his cap out of the booth and into the stands.

Inning 7 - Bottom

• Fukudome with a shallow chopper to second. Runs very hard, but is out by a step.
• Soto grounds one just to the left of Dewitt, for a single. Looks like Dewitt wiffed a bit on the attempt to catch it.
• And DeRosa hits into a 5-4-3 to end the inning. Lowe is making this look simple.

Inning 8 - Top

• Pierre grounds out to second. Be sure to mark it off your Juan Pierre Bingo card.
• Maza K's looking at a slider.
• Crowd cheering on Z to finish off the inning with a strikeout.
• Instead, Ethier lines a one-hopper to DeRosa, which eats him up and goes in to right for an error. Didn't have too much time to get in front of it, but still, did play it off to his left side a bit.
• Z hits 120 pitches for the night as he faces Martin
• They're scoring Ethier's ball as a hit? wow.
• Martin grounds one solidly through the left side hole. Runners on 1 and 2
• Just now we get Howry warming up in the pen.
• Loney with a bit of a slow roller right at Theriot. He makes a slight bobble, therefore needing to throw to first, and hurries the throw, which one-hops Lee. Lee can't pick it, and the bases are now loaded. Error on Theriot. Wow, this inning got ugly, quickly.
• LouPa comes out, and doesn't pull Z. Z stays in with 125 pitches thrown, to face Kemp
• Crowd again cheering on Z at an 0-2 count.
• 130 pitches....
• Kemp K's staring at a slider with a bit of hang to it, that nips the inside corner. Phew, phew, phew.

Inning 8 - Bottom

• Jonathan Broxton, who is a Very Large Man, in to pitch.
• Broxton blows a 98 mph fastball past Johnson
• Hoffpauir in to hit for Z.
• No good comes of swinging at 99 mph fastballs at the letters. Hoffpauir K's
• Or 96 mph fastballs at the letters. It probably was more hitable than the 83 mph knee-buckling slider on the corner, but either way, Soriano K's.

Inning 9 - Top

• Ascanio makes his Wrigley Field debut.
• Dewitt bloops to Theriot.
• Hu flies out to Johnson
• Mark Sweeney hits for Broxton. 0 for his last 15, he walks.
• Eyre warming up
• Pierre K's looking at a bit of a hanging curve.

Inning 9 - Bottom

• Saito in to pitch.
• Saito walks Theriot to lead off the ninth.
• Now 2-0 on Lee. Very rare for Saito to have any sort of control problems.
• 3-2 on Lee
• Theriot runs, and Saito throws a fastball that drifts into the inner-corner of the plate. Lee yanks it deep but foul down the left field line
• On a breaking pitch, Lee flies out to left. Tough battle.
• Saito hangs a 2-2 slider to Ramirez, who fouls it back.
• Saito certainly doesn't have his good stuff. A fastball way high goes to 3-2 count.
• Next pitch, Saito throws a fastball over Martin's head, to the backstop. Bounces right back, so Theriot can only go to second as Ramirez walks.
• Fukudome vs. Saito
• Cedeno runs for Ramirez
• Huge chants of Foo Koo Doh May
• 2-0 count
• Fukudome hits a tough hopper to Loney's right, who makes a nice play on it. He tosses to Saito at first, and on a very close play, Fukudome is called safe. It's an odd play, as the throw is behind Saito and he has to stretch his glove arm back a ways to grab it. As he does, his foot just does barely miss the corner of the bag. Bases loaded for Soto, one out
• 2-0 on Soto
• 3-1 on Soto.
• Soto swings through a fastball, 3-2
• Soto flies just short of the warning track in right. Theriot scores, Cedeno to third, 1-1 game.
• Fukudome takes second, uncontested
• As Len points out, with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth and a tie game and a runner on third, Fukudome should just stand on second base and not move
• A fastball gets away from Saito, up and in on DeRosa. Just does get out of the way
• 3-1 on DeRosa. Waves at a slider, 3-2.
• Saito cranking up the fastball to the low 90s, DeRosa fouling it off
• Finally, DeRosa gets jammed a bit, flies out to Right. Throws his bat to the ground in frustration.

Inning 10 - Top

• DeRosa to third, Cedeno to second, Howry in
• Maza with a grounder up the middle. Howry had been going away and making Maza look bad, but Brenly observes that the Cubs help Maza out by going inside on him.
• Howry K's Ethier on a fastball on the outside corner.
• Martin pops to shallow center.
• Loney K's swinging at an inside fastball

Inning 10 - Bottom

• Chan Ho Park relieves Saito. Heh. On a night where Fernando Tatis is playing for the Mets, and with Scot Elarton also called up. I'm amused.
• Johnson flies to left
• Fontenot pinch hits for Howry.
• Fontenot slices a double into the left-center gap.
• Soriano reaches for a low and away breaking ball, and flips the bat at it, blooping it down the left field line. It lands just fair, between the bullpen plate and mound. Fontenot scores uncontested, and the team runs to congratulate Soriano between first and the pitcher's mound. Cubs win, 2-1.

Parachat Recap

Inning 1

• Three Cheers for Sutcliffe
• WGN's new logo: we don't like it.
• Your Daily Moment of Bush Chest-Bumping an Officer.
• Humberto Cota: Busted.
• How do you walk Pierre?
• Whirlyball.
• "non-cartoon based insurance." Does anyone buy it?
• We are not fans of Brett Myers. (Duh.)

Inning 2

• The Sanctity of Marriage, Southern-style
• How to cook pork.
• Parachat interfering with relationships
• Rotoworld's biases
• Bad '08 offenses.
• Honorary Catholics
• Honorary Jews
• Tom Cruise's anti-fire witchcraft
• Switching Folger's crystals with crystal meth.

Inning 3

• Good years and bad years to watch the Cubs on acid.
• Man's worst nightmare. ~wince~
• Can you trust TCR? (Yes. Trust me, you can.)
• Pistons or Red Wings, who gets better ratings in Detroit tonight? (Who cares about Detroit?)

Inning 4

• Bleacher etiquette enforcement?
• The World's Greatest Insults.
• Time to pay attention to the game.
• Fantasy-relevant callups for the rest of the year
• Dave Chapelle skits
• throwing shoes at TVs

Inning 5

• Crunch's new favorite band.
• Something about basketball. Eh.
• Jay Bruce

Inning 6

• Rickrolling has jumped the shark.
• Accidental pasting.

Inning 7

• Robbing the cradles, plural
• Who is going to get sick for us, so that Len and Bob will give us a shout-out during a broadcast?
• Sosa and McGwire in togas. Yes, togas.
• Sarah Silverman. How funny is she? (Eh, funny enough.)
• Rick Astley's wife.

Inning 8

• Old women love Pat Hughes
• DeRosa's error
• Why wasn't anyone warming up?
• Why is LouPa leaving Z in?
• Anxiously watching Z struggle through the inning.
• Teen-witch dark-comedy/drama TV series at the turn of the century
• Ooohing and Ahhing at Broxton's stuff.

Inning 9

• Evaluating Ascanio's stuff.
• The Braves' extreme Home/Road split
• Turner Field in August.
• Dairy Queen Commercials
• Herpes Commercials
• RALLY BEES!
• Desperately cheering on the Cubs.
• PONIES!?
• RALLY ARABIC!
• "It's like the Civil War, only minus Abe Lincoln and add Ronny Cedeno" - bizmarquis.
• More cheering
• Accusations that I'm using parachat to sabotage the Cubs rally.

Inning 10

• Crunch recycles a "hey, look at my bizarre you tube video I found" link, IN THE SAME GAME. Pretty lame, Crunch.
• Is Crunch getting sent to the Parachat AAA team? If so, who do we call up?
• We still don't like the new WGN logo
• Johann arrives. We notice.
• Manute Bol's stint as a minor league hockey player.
• Whipple loves the Manute Bol Meme
• and this picture.
• RALLY ARABIC!!!!!!
• Craziness in parachat as Cubs win.

Recap record goes to 7-3.