Game 125 Thread / Reds @ Cubs (1 of 3)

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SP Johnny Cueto SP Rich Harden
8-11, 4.90, 136 K, 53 BB, 145 IP (NL) 2-1, 1.80, 49 K, 14 BB, 35 IP
LF *Chris Dickerson LF Alfonso Soriano
SS Jeff Keppinger SS Ryan Theriot
RF *Jay Bruce 1B Derrek Lee
2B Brandon Phillips 3B Aramis Ramirez
1B *Joey Votto CF *Jim Edmonds
3B Edwin Encarnacion C Geovany Soto
CF *Corey Patterson RF *Kosuke Fukudome
C *Paul Bako 2B Mark DeRosa 
P Johnny Cueto P *Rich Harden

 That sure seemed like the longest one day break from baseball for some reason. Back to the Friendly Confines, where the Cubs have already surpassed their 44-win total from last year with a 45-17 record. The Reds limp into town, depleted and desperate enough to start Corey Patterson. And in honor of Dusty's return, let's discuss the Cubs leading the majors in walks with 501 and on pace for 655 which would break the club mark of 650 set in 1970. Of course, those walks don't mean much if you're not driving them in. The Cubs compliment those walks with an NL leading .284 batting average and .834 OPS with runners in scoring position. That's base-clogging done right.

Tags: 
Gameday Open Thread
Rich Harden
Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 5:51pm
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Comments

Submitted by Vince
on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 7:54pm

Looks like you might need some help Chad. Better get over there and vote!

http://www.anothercubsblog.net/index.php/tournamen...

Submitted by mannytrillo
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 10:20am

That tournament is some funny shit...Some of the write-ups are laugh out loud funny.

Submitted by Vince
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 5:35pm

Well some people are highly offended by it, which makes it even funnier. Too bad you couldn't make it past the first round Manny. I did all I could.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 10:56pm

some people are too busy pretending they're running the show to realize they've been trolled...adding unintentional humor for those separated from the whole thing.

whole thing seems to have run its course by round 1.

Submitted by navigator
on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 8:43pm

You can tell Rich Harden is pitching, his opponent looks like Cy Young, not some rookie with a 4.80 ERA on a last place team.

C'mon Cubs

Submitted by billybucks
on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 10:25pm

A good night -- Harden brilliant again, Marmol still groovin', Fukky gets a big (although kinda cheap) hit, and the Brewers (Sheets) and Cards both lose!

FWIW -- Tyler Colvin hit his league-leading 10th triple tonight.

Submitted by Hrothgar
on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 10:31pm

what are the odds barrett makes that baserunning play soto did?

Submitted by nohit
on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 10:48pm

Who?

Submitted by 433
on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 10:54pm

Random observations:

Marmol hasn't given up a run in 38 days.

How demoralizing is it to be a Brewer these days? After the traumatizing 4 game sweep by the Cubs, the Brewers put together a nice 12-6 run -- and lost a game in the standings over that span.

Even worse for them, If the Cubs play just about .500 baseball (19-18) from this point on, the Brewers would have to go 25-10 to win the division.

Harden's line with the Cubs: 42 IP, 14 BB, 59 K, 7ER.

The Cubs are on pace to win 100 games. 23-14 gets them there.

Don't tell anyone, but Theriot is 5th in the NL with a .316 BA.

Soriano has 61 RBI's in 76 games -- that's a pace of 130 RBI's in a 162 game season. So much for not getting enough RBI opportunities at the top of the order.

Wood has 25 appearances since Memorial Day and has only given up runs in three of those games.

Good times.

Submitted by Cubster
on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 11:03pm

who would have thunk that on August 20th...

the two teams with the best records in baseball @ 77-48

would be the Tampa Rays and us.

Hope I can say something similar on Oct 1st.

Submitted by Cubster
on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 11:07pm

...also the play that Soto scored from 3rd on the bunt by Harden is my nominee for most intelligent play of the year. I can't believe that Encarnacion couldn't hear those lumbering footsteps behind him.

Submitted by Jordan
on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 11:25pm

Traveling in China for work so no replay, BBTN, or streaming mediacenter...can someone describe the Soto play?

Oh, and the Cardinals lost to the Pirates. Heh. That's gotta hurt.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 12:11am

runners on first and third with one out...Harden bunted down the third base line.

Encarnacion fielded it and Soto basically went down the line just behind him and took off as soon as he threw it to first.

Submitted by rokfish
on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 11:31pm

great cubs win took advantage of what was given
but corey patterson should have caught that ball.

oh well

i think the cubs should be able to set there playoff
rotation however they want.
do we think zambrano is still gonna pitch game one.
steve stone thinks if we play arizona we should
pitch dempster,zambrano,harden

what do we think?

Submitted by rokfish
on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 11:31pm

great cubs win took advantage of what was given
but corey patterson should have caught that ball.

oh well

i think the cubs should be able to set there playoff
rotation however they want.
do we think zambrano is still gonna pitch game one.
steve stone thinks if we play arizona we should
pitch dempster,zambrano,harden

what do we think?

Submitted by navigator
on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 11:47pm

Memories.... It seems like only yesterday we were agonizing like this:

Safety squeeze bunt play lifts Chicago past Cueto, Cincinnati
By Hal McCoy

Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

CHICAGO — When spring training begins next February, manager Dusty Baker needs to start from scratch, as in holding up a round white thing and saying, "This is a baseball."

Among 16 National League teams, the Cincinnati Reds are 14th in hitting, 14th in defense and 13th in pitching. There are no tangible statistics for measuring fundamentals, but the naked eye says the Reds are 16th.

Dead last, which is why they are dead last in the National League Central standings.

More about tonight's game from an OHIO perspective here (including Dusty claiming he told his infield to watch for the safety squeeze and KPatt blaming Wrigley Field itself for his muffed catch)
http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/...

Submitted by 10man
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 12:43am

Classic. The 2008 Reds are a pretty good imitation of the 2006 Cubs.

Submitted by billybucks
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 8:42am

Love Dusty's defense: "I yelled 'watch the safety squeeze' to the infield". If that's the case, why wasn't the shortstop covering third on the obvious bunt situation, so as to keep Soto close to the bag? Doesn't the manager set the defense?

I think Dusty meant:

"The pitcher might bunt, and, if it's a good bunt, the guy on third might ty to score when we throw to first. A good return throw to the plate will get the runner. Don't make a crappy throw. So, head's up!" Clap hands twice.

Didn't see Dusty's post-game -- did he bring Darren?

Submitted by Green Lantern
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 1:07am

i cannot blame encarnacion for that play....what else is he going to do? not make the throw to first? to get to soriano with the bases loaded? that seems like a pretty bad option.

he basically did the right thing, you can't look the runner back to third bc he knows there's no one behind him....once that bunt is down the only thing you can do is take the easy out at first and then try to turn two.

Submitted by Chad
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 1:27am

Most times a bunt is the catcher's call. i don't know where the call was or if encarnacion even heard, but the catcher has to see soto to far from the bag and let his guy know.

Submitted by Little Nate Lewis
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 6:36am

"Most times a bunt is the catcher's call. i don't know where the call was or if encarnacion even heard, but the catcher has to see soto to far from the bag and let his guy know."

While Cueto was pointing toward Soto at third, Bako was pointing toward first.

Submitted by Andy
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 8:20am

And Baker was pointing at Krivsky.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 8:53am

*golf clap*

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 9:41am

I was thinking the same thing.

Well played Andy

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 2:58am

as Chad noted, it's the catcher's call there, but if Encarnacion at least gives Soto a look back that's probably enough to give him a pause and keep him from scoring. The play would have been damn close if Votto didn't make such a bad throw as well. I do wonder if Soto or the Cubs noticed on the first pitch to Harden that the shortstop was covering second on that play and Soto could go up the line as far as the third basemen went.

Great baserunning to make up for the piss-poor DeRosa play and Soriano pickoff from two innings earlier...

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 3:06am

31 for the division...28 for a playoff spot.

Submitted by Little Nate Lewis
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 6:44am

Good write-up by McCoy of Lou's Cincy Days....

http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/shared-ge...

Submitted by Dmac
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 10:16am

Lots of nice base clogging last night - but Fuku may need to sit down.

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 12:15pm

After last night?

He was 1 for 3, with 1 BB and 2 RBI.

If he wasn't benched before last night, he isn't going to be benched after it.

Submitted by mannytrillo
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 12:38pm

True, but something needs to be done. This guy has been horrible the last past 2 months.

Since June 28:
.209/.293/.301/.594 2 HR, 14 RBI
Since May 3:
.245/.344/.362/.706 7 HR, 37 RBI

Nobody's defense is good enough to make those numbers up.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 12:54pm

Especially not a right fielder's. If Dusty were still here he'd replace him in right with Cedeno.

Submitted by mannytrillo
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 1:06pm

No Neal, Dusty would just try and make him a leadoff hitter...

Submitted by dcf
on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 1:36pm

At the game last night. Weather was almost California-like (and particularly nice for Chicago in August). Stadium was packed (announced attendance in excess of 41,000) and the crowd was into it. All three pitchers for the Cubs looked dominant. Cueto certainly has a live arm, and he was sort of "effectively wild". He had two HBP and came really close to hitting someone at least two other times. When he got ahead, he threw a few real nice changeups.

Good weather, a great crowd and a Cubs win. A great night at the ballpark and, for me, a great example of why I like going to Wrigley so much.

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