Game 19 Recap: Cubs 11, Diamondbacks 3

Easy Win

W - Zambrano (2-1)

L -  Petit (0-2), Kryptonite, Mortals.

Box Score, Photos

Things to Take from This Game

1.  Z. Pitches

Not so much a dominant game from Z as a comfortable game.  Zambrano walked two and K'd three, working one weakly hit ball after another.  Only in the seventh did the "scattering" of eight hits result in a serious rally, and by then the game was out of reach.

2.  Z. Hits

Zambrano had arguable the two hardest-hit balls of the night, with a lined shot of a double to very-deep right-center and an opposite-field home run, as well as a single. 

3.  Others Hit

Soriano had the first and biggest blow, a three-run homer in the third, followed by a Fontenot two-run shot in the fourth.  Koyie Hill continued his good start to the season, with three hits, and Bradley looked good with a couple of lined singles and a walk.  Soriano in particular looked locked in, just barely missing a leadoff homerun and patiently letting Petit pitch around him for a walk in another at-bat.

The never-in-doubt details, below.

Game Recap

Inning 1 - Top

• First pitch swinging, Soriano hits one 413 feet to right center.  Flyout.  Damn.
•  Theriot chops one up the middle, Felipe Lopez makes the throw to first.  Two outs.
• The railing padding on the visitors' dugout protective fence is brought to you by Lone Buttes casino.  Heh.  Lone Buttes.
• Fukudome walks.
• Fukudome tries to steal, Montero makes a nice throw and gets Fukudome.  End of inning.

Inning 1 - Bottom

•  Z starts Lopez 3-1.fastball down the middle, Lopez lines one to deep center.  Fukudome took a wrong turn on the ball, and it one-hops the wall for a double.  Tough read, Brenly thinks it had a lot of slice on it.
• It does my heart good to know that Augie Ojeda still is employed as a Major League Baseball player.
• 3-1 on Ojeda, who's trying to bunt.  Fastball, 3-2 count.
• Ojeda grounds one up the middle,  6-3 with Lopez going to third.
• and Tracy walks on four pitches.  Egads.
• 3-1 on Reynolds.  No control on the slider so far tonight
• Parachat points out that Len and Bob are sounding very subdued tonight.  True, it's sort of odd.
• Roller to Theriot, Miles' throw just does compete the 6-4-3 double play.  Nice escape by Z.

Inning 2 - Top

•  Hoffpauir hits one 407 feet. Another flyout to center.  Nuts.
• Bradley swings and misses at a change up inside, strikeout.
• Yet another warning-track flyout, as Fontenot hits one deep the opposite way to left-center.  Inning over.

Inning 2 - Bottom

•  Jackson flies to Fukudome in straight-away center, just short of the warning track.  Lots of near-misses so far, on both sides
• Z gets his 1200th K (of his career, not this game, to dust off the old Sportscenter joke) when Chris Young stares at a slider
  • and Wow, no sooner do I write the joke than Brenly says it.  Uncanny.
• Montero rolls to Hoffpauir, unassisted

Inning 3 - Top

• Hill K's looking.  Yusmeiro Petit is not this good....  Then again, the one game I saw at Wrigley last year, he beat us.
• Miles singles to straight-away center.
• Z shoots one through the 6-5 hole for a single. Miles to second.
• Soriano takes a rolling slider and lines one over the left-center wall, 3-run homer. 3-0 Cubs.
• Full count, Theriot takes a fastball low and away for the walk.
• Fukudome pops a curveball into shallow right-center.  Young and Upton are playing deep, no one gets a great break on it, and it fall in for a hit.
• Hoffpauir grounds into the 6-4-3.

Inning 3 - Bottom

• Upton pops one down the left-field line for an out.
• Petit with a soft liner to Miles, who also makes a nice hop-catch.
• Heh, Len references the you-tube of Gathright jumping over a car. Len says he also does Ozzie Smith-like backflips.
• Lopez lines a single to right.
• Ojeda lines a slicing single to center, runners at 1 and 2.
• Tracy rolls into an easy 6-4 force.

Inning 4 - Top

•  Bradley reaches down and lines a fastball into right for a single.
• Fontenot lines a homer over the right-field fence.  Looks like a fastball that tailed back over the plate.  Just a few feet short of the swimming pool. 5-0 Cubs.
• Hill lines one to the right of Lopez, into center for a single
• Full count to Miles, Hill is running.  Miles bounces into a 4-3 force.
• Z also rolls into a 4-3, Hill to third.
• Soriano not nibbling as they pitch around him.  Another slider off the corner, and he takes first base.
• Theriot lines a single to center, scoring Soriano.  Petit out, Rauch in.  6-0 Cubs.
• Jon Rauch is enormous.
• Nice shot of how much space Rauch's number takes up on the back of his jersey, compared to Ojeda's
• 3-2 to Fukudome.  A ton of curves so far from Rauch.
• Fukudome walks.  Bases loaded for Hoffpauir.
• Hofpauir lines a sharp single to right, scoring Theriot.  Upton makes a nice throw to home, limiting everyone to a single base.  7-0 Cubs
• Bradley with a slow roller to Lopez, 4-3, inning over.

Inning 4 - Bottom

•  Reynolds lines a double down the left-field line.  It one-hops the wall, hits it at an angle and bounces up into the stands.  A weird consequence of the weird angles in the outfield fence. 
• Jackson can't advance the runner, bouncing out to Fontenot at third.
• Chris Young lines one just out of Soriano's reach down the left-field line for a double.  7-1 Cubs
• Montero with a lazy fly to Soriano.
• Wickedest pitch of the night, a sharp slider with lots of horizontal movement, Upton swings for strike 2.  Now a full count, and Upton flies out to Fukudome.

Inning 5 - Top

•  Fontenot K's swinging.
• Hill breaks his bat and dumps a single just over Ojeda, into shallow left-center.
• Miles flies out to center
• Zambrano smokes a liner to deep right-center, hitting off the top of the wall.  Hill scores.  Maybe the hardest hit ball of the night. 8-1 Cubs
• Soriano dumps a single into center, scoring Z.  9-1 Cubs
• Theriot looks at a called strike three inside, and is none too happy about it.

Inning 5 - Bottom

• Papa Trans calls, but looking at the TV indicates that Z had a very quick and easy inning, 1-2-3.  

Inning 6 - Top

•  Papa Trans still on the phone, but Esmerling Vasquez is in to pitch, and Fukudome walks on four straight.
• Hoffpauir with a slow chopper to first, 3-6 force.
• and Bradley walks. Vasquez looks like Juan Cruz, except isn't very good.
• Fontenot flies out to deep left.
• Hill with a nice inside-out swing, lines a single to left to score Hoffpauir.  10-1 Cubs
• Miles with a weak pop to left-center, Young grabs it.

Inning 6 - Bottom

•  Tracy with a soft fly out to Soriano
• Reynolds squibs one to first, 3-1 putout.
• Z not striking anyone out, but coaxing lots of weak contact.
• Jackson walks on an inside fastball  Z sitting around 90 mph tonight, thought that one was clocked at 93.
• A sharp slider, Young K's looking.

Inning 7 - Top

•  Incredible.  Z hits an opposite-field home run.  He stays on a fastball away, and after making contact, just sort of watches it for a bit before going into the trot.  Just did get out, but still a hell of a poke to the opposite field.  11-1 Cubs, and Z needs a triple to hit for the cycle.
• Soriano flies to right.
• Theriot K's swinging at a high fastball
• Gathright hitting for Fukudome, rolls out to second.

Inning 7 - Bottom

•  Reed Johnson in for Soriano
• Montero singles to left-center
• Upton singles to right-center, Bradley cuts it off but Montero goes to third.
• Josh Wilson must have come in for Ojeda on a double-switch with Vazquez came in to pitch, and he singles to Johnson in left, driving in Montero.  Z not getting hit hard, so much as the hits are falling in.  11-2 Cubs
• Lopez with a soft bouncer, Miles charges and goes to first, 4-3 putout.  Run scores, 11-3 Cubs
• Ryan Roberts (who?!?!) pinch-hits for Vasquez.  Bounces out to Miles.  Wilson to second.
• LouPa checks on Z, but he stays in the game.  Tracy promptly flies to shallow left-center, where Gathright makes a nice running catch.

Inning 8 - Top

Inning 8 - Bottom

• Guzman in to pitch. 
• Reynolds flies into foul territory down the right-field line, Bradley makes the catch.
• Jackson rolls a single into right.
• Young pops out to Miles.  Another weak AB for young
• Montero shoots one to Fontenot's right at third base, it hits off the heel of his glove for a single, runners at 1 and 3.
• Ted Lilly has managed to sneak a gigantic moth onto the top of hitting coach Gerald Perry's hat.  Pretty funny.
• And Upton with an easy fly to center.

Inning 9 - Top

•  Tom Gordon's Fossilized Bones in to pitch.
• Miles rolls to first, unassisted
• And Guzman does the same.
• Johnson chops one to third, inning over.

Inning 9 - Bottom

• Wilson grounds to miles
• Tony Clark in to pinch hit, and K's swinging.
• Roberts walks.  
• and Tracy K's swinging.  Two pretty easy innings for Guzman to close out the game.

Parachat Recap

Inning 1

• Some other sport is having playoff games.  Meh.
•  Things we know about Tom Skilling
• Fake-buckers.
• Juan Cruz is thin.
  • Except where it counts.
• Len and Bob seem to be having a quiet night.  Why?

Inning 2

•  Complaining about other sports
• Getting updates about those stupid other sports
• Racists.
• Mister Whipple loves me.
• Parachat goes bilingual

Inning 3

•  Crunch's pee and poop-based method of communication.
• Admiring a nacho-eating fan.
• Sweating.
• What is the sound of.....
• Give Ron Santo a catch phrase
• Old-timers night in Parachat.
• mlb.tv's miserable product

Inning 4

• Getting off the lawn.
•  The RIAA
• More RIAA discussion.  It's suddenly like 2001 again, in Parachat.
• Live Nation
• Pork
• Ice Cream
• Nerds and Fouls
• We still can't stop talking about Corey Patterson
• Or Pork.
• What's on the tip of your tongue?
  • Student Bodies.
    • oh my.
      • oh, it's a movie, I'm told.

Inning 5

• Donk
• Killed by paperclips 
• We love Koyie Hill.

Inning 6

• Mercifully, being on the phone with Papa Trans lets me avoid the worst of discussions about "nasty chicks."  Hooray for avoiding the parachat Misogynistic Moment (tm.)
• Jason Kendall and the CDC.
• What does Kendall get us?
• The Juan Pierre trade

Inning 7

• A horrible, horrible, marmalade vs. jam joke. 
• The Kings of Leon
• Goya
• The Goat People
• We don't like Karl Ravech
• Deep fantasy leagues
• Oh come on, we're making Rosie O'Donnell jokes?  Have we really sunk to such depths?  What happened to the vaunted parachat creativity?

Inning 8

• Influenze
• Vaccines
• Sugar
• Hating Iowa
•  Rewarding Child-Care with sex.
• Racist Elmer Fudd
• Putting funny things on other peoples' hats.

Inning 9

•  Does Tom Gordon look like Donovan McNabb?
  • No.
• Things we know about our local True Value stores
• Grouting Tile.

Cubs record in games recapped moves to 2-1.