Chicago Cubs hats and other authentic Cubs gear.

TCR: No Good Will Come of This


Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 9:40am.

Quite a night for the Cubbies, who looked nothing like the team with the best record in baseball, other than the final result. Errors, defensive miscues, bad starting pitching, bad relief pitching and yet they overcame all that thanks to Craig Hansen's pitching and Geovany Soto's hitting. Soto had been on a steady decline since his monstrous April putting up OPS numbers of 1.048, .868, .747, .740 heading in August. But things have turned around for him and he's put up a 1.014 OPS with 20 RBI's matching his April RBI total with five games still to go this month. His seven RBI outburst yesterday tops his 6 RBI game in April versus the Brewers and is the second most RBI's for a Cubs catcher in a game trailing the likes of Barry Foote, George Mitterwald and Ed Bailey (since 1956).

If you happen to be wondering who had the most RBI's in a game for the Cubs since 1956 like I was, the answer is after the jump.

 (Drumroll)....Sammy Sosa had a 9 RBI game in 2002 versus the Rockies thanks to three, three-run home runs.

»

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

#1 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 10:10am.

Seven is more than six.

__________________________

Livin' just a little, laughin' just a little, ain't easy.

#3 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 10:24am.
I suppose I worded that poorly...so i tweaked it.

#4 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 10:30am.

Technically it was correct, but it definetly wasn't the standard use of the phrase ; )

__________________________

Livin' just a little, laughin' just a little, ain't easy.

#2 This will not help Dusty's reputation

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 10:22am.

Cueto with a strained elbow...

 http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080825&content_id=3365312&vkey=news_cin&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin&partnerId=rss_cin

#5 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by jacos on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 10:58am.

Is that game Sosa pulled himself out early of so he wouldn't embarass Rockies with 4 homers?

__________________________

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me- hst

#6 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Cubnut on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 12:18pm.
Rob, I noticed that on the B-R page you linked to, Soto's lowest OPS for a month was the .740 he put up in July, way off the numbers from April-May. The funny thing is, in all of Cubs history, in only 15 seasons has the team's regular catcher (400 or more AB) had an OPS higher than .740 for the year, and Gabby Hartnett was responsible for seven of those. Yes, Soto is a keeper.

#7 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 12:32pm.
i assume Rick Wilkens was one of those seasons...and Barrett has to have a few. I do wonder how Jody Davis fares when you adjust for the era they played in...

#8 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by big_lowitzki on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 12:52pm.

Well... he had a career OPS+ of 92.

He only had one season where he was over 100.

__________________________

Antagonizing TCR posters with my my "assinine" "socialist drivel" and my signatures since 2003.

#9 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Cubnut on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 2:02pm.
Yup, WIlkins and Barrett were both in there. Davis had a season in there, too, if I recall correctly.

#22 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by JoePepitone on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 10:05pm.

The funny thing is, in all of Cubs history, in only 15 seasons has the team's regular catcher (400 or more AB) had an OPS higher than .740 for the year, and Gabby Hartnett was responsible for seven of those.

++++++++++++++++++++

Jody Davis' highest OPS was .795 in 1983. In 1984, his OPS was .736. His only other season with an OPS higher than .740 was 1987 when he managed a .749 OPS.

For the year, Soto's OPS is .877 Yep, he's a keeper.

__________________________

JoePepitone

#10 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Dmac on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 2:04pm.

Isn't Cueto already way over his previous high for innings pitched? Quel surprise.

#12 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 2:47pm.

Cueto threw 161 last year. Is at 129 this year.

__________________________

Rooting for Laundry since 1987

#14 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 3:00pm.

fwiw, I was just pointing out that it wouldn't help his reputation, Cueto's pitch counts are pretty respectable.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/gamelog?play...

He's stayed under 100 in 8 of his last 9 starts and his tops is 120 on the season. He's had more games with less than 100 pitches than over 100 for the season.

#11 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Green Lantern on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 2:47pm.

yes, sosa was taken out of that game before his 5th AB, but i can't remember if he did it or if it were bruce kimm (either one is pretty surprising)

i was at that game....it was the hottest i've ever been at wrigley field....they had a hose in the bleachers that they sprayed the fans with between innings.

#13 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 2:56pm.
which game? the 9-RBI game was in Colorado...

#15 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by nohit on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 3:50pm.

Sosa left early in every 3 HR game I can remember. I always wondered why. I would never believe that it was out of respect for the other team. More likely, he didn't want to fail with all the flashbulbs popping...

__________________________

Equal Opportunity Offender

#18 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 5:48pm.
I'll excuse that on a case of temporary insanity for you... Game 1, bottom of the 9th, NLCS the entire 1998 season etc, etc...

#20 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by nohit on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 6:52pm.

As if he could walk away from those moments...

So, back to it then, do you really think he left the game out of respect for the other teams? If not, then why did he leave? I do recall that in at least two of those, he requested to come out of the game.

It's an honest question since I clearly don't have a good answer...

__________________________

Equal Opportunity Offender

#21 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Romero on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 7:56pm.

I remember watching this game on WGN (I'm pretty sure it was Chip Caray and Joe Carter on the call) and I remember they interviewed Sammy in regards to him leaving the game. Whoever interviewed him (I can't remember who gave the interview or when it was) asked him if he took himself out of the game or if the manager took him out.

Sammy's answer was that he "wanted to give Chad a chance to play".

You may remember "Chad" as Chad Hermanson, who came over briefly (from Pittsburgh?) in exchange for Darren Lewis (who then retired).

I remember the Cubs had a HUGE lead in this game. The lead was so big that Colorado took Larry Walker out of the game an inning earlier to give him a rest.

#23 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 10:11pm.

Do you really think Sosa left to avoid the limelight? The guy was an attention hog and if he didn't hit a 4th HR, no one would have cared.

yeah, it's a little odd, I agree, but I don't think anyone has a good explanation.

#16 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by jacos on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 4:17pm.

yeah that makes sense, he always tried to stay out of tough situations.

~rolled eyes~

__________________________

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me- hst

#17 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by nohit on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 5:43pm.

Okay, I did some research to be fair to Sammy. I still like the guy, despite any proven or unproven transgressions.

Turns out he hit 3 dingers in a game a whopping 6 times. Here's how it shook out:

6/5/96: HR #3 came in his last AB
6/15/98 (remember that month?): HR #3 came in his last AB
8/9/01: He left the game after HR #3. Stairs hit in his place.
8/22/01: He left the game after HR #3. DeShields hit in his place.
9/23/01: He had another AB after HR #3. F8.
8/10/02: He left the game after HR #3. Hermansen hit in his place.

So he left the game early three times, and once he did have an AB after HR #3. I don't know what any of this means or doesn't mean in terms of his intent, but there it is.

__________________________

Equal Opportunity Offender

#24 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 11:54pm.

It means that the games were blowouts and plenty of guys have had (ok not plenty but some) 4 HR days, so what was the point? Did he ever leave a game with a chance to hit 5 HR's?

__________________________

Livin' just a little, laughin' just a little, ain't easy.

#19 Re: Lucky Number Seven

Submitted by Chad on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 6:43pm.

parachat birds/bernies

__________________________

"I will ruin this house with my anger!" - Master Shake