Cubs Visit Bahstan in 2011

The 2011 schedule is out and the Cubs get a mix of the AL East and Central during interleague play. Ben Affleck* can mug for the cameras between May 20-22(fine by me as long as he brings his wife with him) as the Cubs wrap up a 7-game road trip with a trip to Fenway. Good luck getting tickets. It's the first Cubs trip since Babe Ruth beat them in the 1918 World Series.

*Go see "The Town" though, 90% of it is excellent.

Speaking of May, the Cubs get 17 home games that month and 11 on the road, which seems like some sort of important milestone in how the season should be going.

Other highlights include:

- The season starting on a Friday(April Fool's to be exact) and it will be the season and home opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates, followed by a three game set versus the Diamondbacks. Hope it's warm.

- Cubs wrap up their home/road series for the year versus the D'Backs and the Rockies in April.

- The friendly home May schedule turns quickly into a 10-game road trip through St. Louis, Cincy and Philadelphia.

- The Yankees visit Wrigley Field June 17-19, then the Cubs "travel" to play the White Sox and Kansas City Royals. They'll finish up their home and home with the White Sox the first weekend in July.

- The season ends with three at St. Louis and then three in San Diego with the final game on Wednesday, September 28th. The shift in starting and ending days of the season is an attempt by the league to make sure the post-season doesn't go into November again.

The rest of the Cubs news fit to print after the jump...

- Tom Gorzelanny is supposed to throw a simulated game game Sunday in Florida and could return to a 6-man rotation to finish out the season. Dempster, Coleman and Ninja will pitch the non-simulated games against the Marlins this weekend.

- Carlos Silva will get some treatment on his elbow over the next week and is still trying to return for a start or two before the season finishes.

- The Double A Tennessee Smokies took game one of their best of five in the Southern League championship last night over the Jacksonvile Suns (Marins affiliate). Captain Archer (hat tip to Dr. Hecht for the nickname) dominated with 6 shutout innings, giving up 4 hits, 1 BB and racking up 8 K's. Aaron Shafer, Blake Parker and Esmailin Caridad finished off the 5-0 shutout. Brett Jackson went 1/3 with a BB and a 2B (and a K).  Robinson Chirinos and Brandon Guyer went deep.

- Wittenmyer confirms that a Bob Melvin interview will happen and also says Hendry is flying to Arizona to have a second chat with Ryne Sandberg. As mentioned numerous times in the comments yesterday, Fredi Gonzalez turned down the interview offer by the Cubs, apparently confident he'll be Bobby Cox's successor in Atlanta. Quade and Eric Wedge seem to be the other candidates at the moment and of course the pipe dream that the Cubs will get the honor of paying Joe Girardi $3-4M is still out there. Quade is 13-7 by the way, since Lou rode off into the Florida sunset.

- Starlin Castro should be back in the lineup tonight...my heart's a flutter.

- Week 1 recap at The Bear Truth as well if you're interested...actually, you don't have to be interested, just go ahead and read it.

Tags: 
Cubs 2011 Schedule
Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 12:57pm
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Comments

Submitted by Arizona Phil
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 1:02pm

The most important thing is, the Cubs have a FOUR-GAME series at Arizona at the end of April.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 2:05pm

HAHA! That's right PHIL.

We will expect no less than some killer on-the-scene reporting from you!

Anyway - what would a Bob Melvin bring to the table over Quade, Sandberg, and Wedge? Interestingly, both Melvin and Wedge have career losing records. After thinking about it - maybe that is a great fit for the team.

:D

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 2:50pm

castro out a 3rd game tonight...still day-to-day

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 2:53pm

wittenmyer lies

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 2:55pm

The Cardinals announcers last night said Castro would be back today right after they finished explaining how Wainwright always dominates the Cubs, since 2007.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 3:04pm

2B DeWitt, SS Barney, CF Byrd, 3B Ramy, 1B Nady, LF Soriano, RF Colvin, C Hill, P Zambrano

via CM...

Submitted by Charlie
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 3:16pm

What, no Baker?

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 3:24pm

quade's been marching him out vs. the lefties and mostly leading him off...he doesn't see much vs. the righties lately.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 3:30pm

That'll happen when your OPS is 928 v. lefties and 202 v. righties.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 3:23pm

bet they're just thrilled by that ratings bonanza matchup

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 3:27pm

Campana-CF, Jackson-RF, Guyer-LF, Lalli-1B, Chirinos-C, Canzler-3B, Thomas-2B, Gonzalez-SS, Carpenter-SP.

pardon my ignorance, but is Guyer considered a possible CF'er in the majors? (defensively of course)

Submitted by Charlie
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 3:53pm

Last I heard he's a plus corner outfielder and probably a notch below average as a CF. I'm not positive where I heard that, though. I'm sure AZ Phil will come around with an eye-witness report soon.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 4:34pm

All I know is the same stat info you have, plus the usual impressions and biases.

But I think Guyer, Jackson and Campana are all centerfielders (which creates an interesting situation re Marlon Byrd).

Last year, when both were at Daytona, Campana played mostly center (86 games, with 22 in left), Guyer mostly right (49 games, with 18 in center). Then when Guyer moved up to AA, he played center almost exclusively (54 games, with 1 in left).

Campana has to play center, since he doesn't hit like a corner OF, so the other two guys end up yielding the position to him.

Submitted by chuck
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 4:34pm

In 46 games after the all star break Guyer hit .424 with an OPS of .1183 compared to Starlin Castro's .376 and .990 in 26 games before being promoted. Could he be ready next year if we found a way to get rid of two big salaries?..... although I haven't the faintest idea how that could be done.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 4:47pm

thanks for the replies

I was just wondering about his defensive capabilities at playing CF, nothing you'd really be able to decipher from the stats.

I found this AZ Phil comment with a search
http://www.thecubreporter.com/2010/08/18/derr...

sounds like CF might be a bit sketchy for him (more a DeRosa super utility player) and we'll see if he can keep up the hot hitting, cause he's definitely out-playing his expected offensive performance level.

Submitted by Arizona Phil
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 5:29pm

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 2:27pm.
Campana-CF, Jackson-RF, Guyer-LF, Lalli-1B, Chirinos-C, Canzler-3B, Thomas-2B, Gonzalez-SS, Carpenter-SP.

pardon my ignorance, but is Guyer considered a possible CF'er in the majors? (defensively of course)

============================================

ROB G: Yes. Guyer is an athletic defender and can play all three OF positions (CF is his best spot, IMO, because he has plus-range), and he played 3B in HS (getting pushed to OF at UVA only because Ryan Zimmerman was there), so he should be able to handle 3B and 1B, too. And the Cubs actually drafted him as a second-baseman in 2007, although he hasn't played there (yet).

The big problem with Guyer is staying healthy. He spends too much time on the DL.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 5:51pm

I misinterpreted your previous comment then.

Thanks.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 3:28pm

from Muskat's blog

Carlos Zambrano heads into Wednesday's game at Busch Stadium with a 5-0 record and 1.85 ERA in six career starts at the Cardinals' home. He's one of 16 pitchers in the ballpark's history with at least five wins and the only non-St. Louis pitcher on the list. This data is for the new Busch Stadium, which opened in 2006. No other non-Cardinals pitcher has more than three wins on the list. Zambrano's 1.85 ERA is the best by any pitcher in the history of the ballpark. Next closest is St. Louis' Jaime Garcia (2.20 ERA).

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 4:59pm

Obviously trying to out-do the whammy the Cardinals broadcasters put on their starter last night...

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 4:27pm

pujols back tonight...r.franklin leaves for personal reasons

Submitted by The E-Man
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 5:29pm

In looking at the home page of the Globe online sports, the lede was that "Adrian Gonzalez and the Padres..." are coming to the Fens.

The Cubs got lumped in w/the Brewers thusly: "In addition to the Padres, the Sox will host the Cubs and Brewers in interleague series."

That's it. No "Its been since 1918!" or "The hot ticket next summer will be when the Cubs come to Beantown!"

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 6:36pm

boston?

it will be a wicked pissah of a game.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 7:51pm

k.hill stealing on y.molina with 0 out?

okay, whatever...it worked.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 9:34pm

Best power hitter in Pittsburgh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhcSowCkoFM

Submitted by rokfish
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 10:51pm

Az Phil or whoever

the cubs have won two thirds of games played since
lou retired if given the choice would it be because

1.lou is gone
2. quade is running the show
3. playing better because there is no pressure.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 11:19pm

4. our new socialist nation full of commie nazis redistributing wealth. free bobby scales. vote glenn beck.

Submitted by artskoe
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 11:48pm

After 8/28 I don't think Albert will allow #4 above to happen. He is superman.

# 3 is partial reason, also new kids showing they learned well under Sandy.

Unless Girardi is available, Ryno will be given a shot. And I will back him right until the first loss! Then, when he gets kicked out of a game, I will be right behind him again. Passion is the name of the game!

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 11:28pm

5. Neifi!

Submitted by JoePepitone
on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 11:50pm

Rob --

I'm getting a malware warning when I navigate to the site. This is new as of this evening -- I visited earlier today with no warnings. The warning reads,

"Warning: Visiting this site may harm your computer!
The website at www.thecubreporter.com contains elements from the site rpc.blogrolling.com, which appears to host malware – software that can hurt your computer or otherwise operate without your consent. Just visiting a site that contains malware can infect your computer.
For detailed information about the problems with these elements, visit the Google Safe Browsing diagnostic page for rpc.blogrolling.com."

Obviously, I came here anyway but I thought you should know.

Submitted by Jumbo
on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 4:55am

I was going to post this too. I saw the same thing

Submitted by Cubster
on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 6:19am

7. Michael Barrett

Submitted by Cubster
on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 6:24am

After earning his sixth straight victory in the Cubs 7-3 victory over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, Zambrano announced again he was retiring after his contract ends.

"Because I told you the other day, or last year, or this year, whatever, this will be my last contract," he said. "So I don't think I will be playing any more. …

"Life is short. Believe me. And sometimes you miss things with your family. … Sometimes you miss things in life because of baseball that you shouldn't miss, and I don't want to (miss) any moment for my daughter, any moment for anything that happens, especially in my family.

"Believe me, baseball takes a lot of time from us. So I think, depending on what happens in my career, I think this will be the last contract."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball...

Submitted by Charlie
on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 6:26am

That's actually sneaking up on us pretty soon, isn't it? 2013 or something like that?

Submitted by Ryno
on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 6:47am

Dear TCR, when I open your website, I get this message. It's a Chrome thing, but I thought you would like to know.

Submitted by Ryno
on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 6:48am

You can click to proceed, but then it gives you another warning, telling you that www.thecubreporter.com contains content posted by The Real Neal.

Submitted by jacos
on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 7:25am

Ha

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 9:25am

Tools - Internet Options - Security - click on the Custom level - scroll down until you see one called "Learn Something", then click Enable and finally "OK" at the bottom.

Submitted by Ryno
on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 1:23pm

:)

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 3:43pm

I thought you'd like that.

Submitted by springs
on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 10:58pm

Awesome response!

Submitted by Rob G.
on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 8:34am

I disabled the blogrolling site, as of 8:30 am CST. Let me know if you still get it.

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