Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, Stronger Teammates
With Aramis Ramirez back in the starting lineup, the Cubs won their fourth in a row, defeating the Giants, 4-2, on Monday night at Wrigley. The Cubs will have a chance to finish a 5-1 homestand when the teams meet Tuesday afternoon.
Why the Cubs won: Ryan Dempster, coming off his first loss and poorest start of the young season last week in Phoenix, earned his second victory with his best start of 2009. Dempster kept the Giants off the board until the sixth inning and allowed just 5 hits and 2 walks over seven.
Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg preserved the lead over the final two innings. Marmol looked great, fanning two and allowing just an infield single in his inning of work. (I imagine that Edgar Renteria will be seeing those three, nasty sliders in his sleep.)
On offense, once again, the big blow came from little Ryan Theriot, who cracked his third home run in four games. Theriot's two-run shot in the second inning gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead. The homer was fortuitous, considering that the Cubs blew a couple chances to break the game open, including a bases-loaded, none-out situation in the fifth inning, which yielded just one run.
Ramirez, by the way, went 0-for-3 plus a walk in his return.
On the move: Iowa infielder Bobby Scales, who would have replaced Ramirez on the roster if Rammy had been disabled last week, was summoned before the game to take the place of injured Carlos Zambrano. According to Cubs.com, the team will call up righthander Randy Wells to take Zambrano's next scheduled turn in the rotation, on Friday at Milwaukee.
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#1 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
Thanks for the recap.
#2 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
You're welcome. Always more fun to do after a win.
#3 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
Rick Ankiel has been carted off the field with his head and neck immobilized after the St. Louis Cardinals outfielder slammed headfirst into the fence following a running catch.
As an avowed Cardinals hater, I just gotta say, I hope he's okay:
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/11708559/
#5 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
Just saw the clip on ESPN. It's pretty hard to watch.
#8 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
We see guys run into walls on a fairly regular basis (I remember seeing Preston Wilson bash his head off of the steel door in right center not too many years ago), but the he crumpled against that wall just looked bad. I think when I saw it the first time I was less worried about a concussion and more worried about a neck or spinal injury. Looks now like his head took the brunt of it, though. Really scary fall, ranks way up there on the list of scary moments in baseball, since most baseball injuries are not that serious, and they are rarely life threatening.
#18 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
I haven't seen a player crash that hard since Josh Hancock.
#22 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
Ahhww, man... for all the razzing I gave Ankiel in parachat last night, I gotta respect the guy for playing that hard down 5 runs in the 8th inning. Damn, what a hit.
Do that at Wrigley and you'll be bleeding from your eye sockets.
#31 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
I am all for comedy and stuff... but I actually graduated high school with Josh Hancock. Maybe not the funniest joke I have seen on here.
#35 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
Forgive him... a side effect of parachats with bikemonkey and Mr. Whip is extreme desensitization. Throw in some of Carlos' web links and you're pretty much an emotionless zombie.
#44 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
Certainly no personal offense intended, Hawkeye, but we are in fact talking about a guy who was driving drunk, at twice the legal limit for intoxication, text messaging, speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, with illegal drugs in his possession and ignoring the lights from a service vehicle. He's not exactly Nick Adenhart, if you know what I mean.
But you're right, I should probably keep my taste in humor confined to Parachat.
#51 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
No excuses for the impairment, but to be fair, it's doubtful Hancock ever saw the service vehicle. That stretch of 40 (I-64) in St. Louis is a bit treacherous -- some sharp turns and a rise in the road right before where the truck was located. The vehicle was at the bottom of that rise, and even if you're sober, if there's a car parked in the lefthand lane, you're going to hit it. The crash was as much the fault of the service guy as Hancock.
#60 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
No personal offense taken. Your analysis of the situation is merited. The fact of the matter is that he was acting like an idiot and he paid for it with his life.
I am not an ultra-sensitive guy or anything, I just don't really see much humor in loss of life. Unless it is conjoined twin midgets who die in a freak gasoline fight. That ain't nothing but funny.
#4 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
So if Scales shows ANYTHING between now and Friday, there is a chance that when Wells gets called up, Gathright gets cut. Right?? Hendry has already shown he's willing to eat millions to dump dead wood, so eating the million bucks he dumbly guaranteed to Gathright should be no problem now.
#6 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
While you wonder about Gath (and rightly so), I wonder WTF with Bradley?!
HAs he just forgotten how to hit? Pressing beyond belief? Just bad?
It seems as if he is just freaked out, and doesn't know what hit him.
If he ever gets on a roll - we'll have something really special.
AZ PHIL is spot on: "...trade him."
#17 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
I think I know what is wrong with him. He is mediocre. Always has been, with the exception of last year.
#20 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
With the way HoffPower is hitting I don't understand not keeping that bat in the lineup. The guy just rakes. Even his outs are loud. He smokes to all fields. And he looked fine the other night in right field. The league may figure him out but until it does, my God Lou, keep that bat in the lineup and let MB sit on the bench and play with his band aids.
#24 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
Believe me - he is not "fine" in RF.
He is bad.
1B, stellar.
OF, bad.
#19 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
Can Scales play outfield at all?
#41 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
He's played it in the minors, but if you're expecting him to bat better than any of the other candidates, with the possible exception of Gathright, your hopes are misplaced.
#37 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
As a LH hitter he's rolling over the top of everything and grounding out to 2nd.
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/stats/individual_playe...
(this year at wrigley if the link doesn't work right)
Part of that is that he's probably pressing a little. Last year he spread the ball around a lot better:
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/stats/individual_playe...
(last year at texas)
He's K rate is about the same as it was last year, but his BABIP is down about .200 points from his career average, mostly explained by his hitting less than 1/3rd the line drives he normally hits, and a little bit of bad luck.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=369&...
Keep in mind this is the same guy who lead the tough league in OPS last year and hit .460 .526 .800 in spring training. Let's take a deep breath and give him 150 at bats before we run him out of town.
#7 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
"...Cubs will most likely call up righthander Randy Wells."
Again, if you read my post last thread, Jim Hendry during the game stated, "Randy will be starting in Milwaukee Friday night..."
so, unless it is a fake-out, or he gets hurt between now and then, I'd think the GM would be pretty accurate on the personnel move.
#11 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
Didn't see your comment. I was just quoting the Cubs.com article in which Piniella was less definite.
#9 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
Without Theriot hitting home runs, I wonder how many of these recent games the Cubs would be winning. I'm afraid of the answer, but it would be interesting to know.
#10 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
I'm very concerned about this whole TheRiot as power hitter thing. Does he think he is the next Ryno? Was it really Lou or Jim Frey who gave him a peptalk about pulling the ball?
#12 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
There is no reason at all to be concerned about that.
He has an interview on mlb.com and he talks about pulling the ball to the LF gap every once in a while. I think it will keep opposing pitchers on their toes.
#42 Re: Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, ...
I just wish he'd been doing it for the last two years.
One concern is that he's on pace for about 100K's, but hopefully with a little more respect he will be getting he can boost up his walk rate.
#13 TCR Contest...
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=psPXpWPP3yF...
one person had Z as first to the DL...
#55 Re: TCR Contest...
Should have put Rammy on the DL for my Contest entry, if nothing else.
#14 I'm sure 3/44...
but Vizcaino was indeed released...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5...
no press release from Cubs and I wasn't around much this weekend, so apologies if I missed it...
#15 Pie still can't hit..
but made the play of the night tonight...
Dbacks turn a triple play tonight versus Dodgers. 1st/2nd running when Casey Blake lines one to short.
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