"Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, Really Hates Us!

UPDATE:

Phillies (47-41) @ Cubs (40-50)

Phillies lineup v. Ted Lilly (3-8, 4.08; 1-4, 6.43 all-time v. Phillies)
Rollins 6, Victorino 8, Werth 9, Howard 3, Francisco 7, Ransom 5, Ruiz 2, Valdez 4, Blanton 1

Cubs lineup v. Joe Blanton (3-5, 6.41; 0-0, 2.75 all-time v. Cubs)
Theriot 4, Colvin 9, Lee 3, Ramirez 5, Byrd 8, Soriano 7, Castro 6, Soto 2, Lilly 1

 


— According to Bruce Levine, Carlos Zambrano had a 25-pitch throwing session in Mesa, following the completion of his anger-management counseling. Zambrano and the Cubs are supposed to decide next week where Zambrano will be headed for his rehab stint.

— Paul Sullivan wrote that Jim Hendry and Ted Lilly got together before last night's game to discuss Lilly's future. Lilly, who will start this afternoon's game against the Phillies' Joe Blanton, was awful in his last two starts before the break, against the Reds and Dodgers—5 homers, 18 hits and 14 ER allowed in just 10 1/3 innings.

The Mets are getting lots of mentions as a potential suitor for Lilly, and Sullivan also mentioned the Twins, who were supposedly hot on the trail of Cliff Lee, before the Yankees and eventually the Rangers closed in on him. The Twins' pitching staff obviously needs something or someone right now; maybe it's Lilly.

— Turns out Joey Votto has something in common with White Sox fans everywhere: he hates the Cubs, too.

When I first came upon this, my thought was, "What a jerk." But after thinking about it, I arrived at the same point of view that Mully and Hanley expressed on WSCR this morning--good for Joey Votto and good for baseball. In a day when players switch uniforms so routinely and develop loyalties with each other because of past associations, sharing an agent, sharing a sponsor, etc., it's refreshing to hear one guy express pure, competitive contempt for another guy just because he's wearing a different hat. 

Speaking of Byrd, he showed up in John Dewan's latest "Stat of the Week." The Cub All-Star leads all Major League centerfielders in Defensive Runs Saved with 12. He is joined among the outfield leaders by Carl Crawford (13 runs saved in LF) and Ichiro (11 runs saved in RF). Pretty good company. According to Dewan, Byrd's previous season-high was 8 runs saved back in 2006 for Washington.

— Finally, loved this tweet from former Major League pitcher C.J. Nitkowski (@CJNitkowski) commenting on Jamie Moyer's horrendous outing last night:

Jamie Moyer hit 2 batters in an inning for the first time in his career. Amateur.

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Re: Lilly Watch 2010, plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, Really ...

Byrd has a real shot at a Gold Glove if he can just hit a touch more.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

Byrd deserves a gold glove.

As a left fielder.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

And anyways you shouldn't play with Ouija boards. They're a porthole to hell.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

Robinson Chirinos continues to mash the ball at AA (.323/.408/.592). I'd be interested to know, from Arizona Phil or anyone else, how his defense at 2B looked when he primarily played there at lower levels. His offensive numbers don't appear to be a fluke, as it is now 1 1/2 seasons of excellence at the plate. It seems that he could be a short-term option at 2B and, as an added bonus, back up behind the plate. He's certainly a more intriguing option if Theriot leaves than Matt Camp, or a move of Castro to 2B and the promotion of Barney to MLB SS. Any thoughts?

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

AZ Phil has not been a Chirinos supporter, proving that Phils can disagree.

And over the last year or so, AP has been a Camp follower(!).

I love the fact, by the way, that Chirinos and his backup at Tennessee, Clevenger, both made the SL all-star team.

The Cubs are deep in catchers right now. Brenly has been surging, too.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

you realize he's 26 years old in AA and hasn't seen a pitch from any pitcher he doesn't want to swing at?

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

Well, Chirinos has 236 ABs in AA between '09 and '10 and has drawn 36 BB versus only 26 SO - doesn't seem too shabby. The 26 yo issue is definitely a concern, but every now and again a late bloomer is the real thing.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

just an 11-game winning streak from .500...

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

Make that 9 now.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

9 more to go, still an 11-game winning streak

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

Yeah, you were right all along. I don't know what I was thinking. Too much alcohol.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

Can't agree re Votto. He appears to have let a loser team into his head, which, to me, diminishes him. The old-school mensch thing to do would have been to praise Byrd's play(s) and say nothing else. See Sandberg, Ryne.

Also, considering that Votto is a) really good at baseball and b) a Cub-killer of the first order, I'd say he hardly needed to go the yappy, White-Soxy route at all.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

Gee, I wonder if Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) resents Ken Rosenthal...

From Twitter: "D-Lee's friends tell @Ken_Rosenthal he'd waive no-trade: D-Lee sez: 'I would bet that not one of my friends knows who Ken Rosenthal is.'"

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

burn.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

Ever seen a sports "beat writer" who wishes he was a pundit so badly?

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

First step on the road to punditry for Sullivan would be to lose the Alfalfa haircut.

http://bit.ly/dmzVRf

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

cuz everybody knows rosenthal, andy jack-er, gammons, et. al. are right out of the pages of gq...still, point taken: sully looks like a 40+ year old virgin...

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

when the hell is bob getting back from vacation? did he go down to rocky point with grace? =p

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

rocky point?

oh the stories I could tell.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

grace and bren tell too many on the air...evidently it's a good thing bren is bi-lingual on more than 1 occasion according to grace.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

I missed the TV broadcast. Who was sitting in with Len today?

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

todd hollandsworth

he did a really nice job, but his voice and delivery is a bit too close to len's (in style and delivery, not substance). i'm used to the conflicting yet complimentary voices of len/bob. for the most part i didn't have a problem telling len/holly apart, but it kinda just melted together unless i was paying attention.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

Give me zonk or give me death!

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

that's what pat hughes says

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

we have to wait until an 0/26 pitcher walks with the bases loaded to get a run in order to tie in the 5th.

yes, cubs baseball is back.

time to give rudy another million bucks.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

aram homer onto waveland...i think he's back.

*checks team record* hmm...

*checks calendar* hmm...

DAMMIT.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

At least it is before the trade deadline.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

I don't know what the Cubs need to do to get this guy (and Lee) going earlier in the season. Taking 2-3 months to get going is just inexcusable. Just saying "it's early" is not gonna cut it. If Spring Training isn't long enough for these guys, maybe they need to play winter ball...

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

It's not like batting .200 through the All Star break has been A-Ram's M.O.

Re: "Lilly Watch 2010," plus Joey Hates Us; He Really, ...

Lee had a bad first month last year. Not 2-3. Ramirez has clearly had injury issues this year.

For their careers, their first/second half OPS numbers are as follows:
Lee: 854/880
ARam: 812/871

They are moderately better in the second half, but it isn't exactly a huge difference.

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