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Game 60 Recap: Cubs 5, Braves 9

Short Starts

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W -Moylan (2-1), over-umpiring.

L - Marquis (5-3), equal-opportunity plunking.

Things to take from this game

1. The First Pitch Hudson drilled Soriano with a fastball in the armpit, which more likely than not was purposeful. Tim Tschida immediately issues a warning to both teams, and the game progresses without incident. (Other than Lou getting a bit worked up when Sean Gallagher gets hit with an errant curveball) 2. Quick exits Marquis got the quick hook after 1.2 ineffective innings. Hudson left the game after 2+ equally poor innings, but in his case due to taking a line drive off the foot. 3. The Relievers Basically, their crew was better than ours. Gallagher pitched well in his first MLB performance, save an opposite field wall-scraping HR by Renteria. But Peter Moylan shut us down for 3 innings, and three others contributed for a scoreless inning each. Eyre pitched a couple of innings as he continues to try to work out the kinks. They need some more work, as he didn't have much control. The long-awaited resumption of observational goodness, below.
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By Transmission at Sat, 06/09/2007 - 7:34pm

Game 54 Recap: Cubs 10, Braves 1

And now, for something entirely different...

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W - Marshall (1-2), peace, tranquility, serenity and harmony

L - Cormier (0-1), discord, strife, turmoil and conflict

Things to take from the game:

1. No ejections, fights, ugly fan behavior, beanings, plague, pestilence, blown calls, or anything. Nothing.

2. The first inning

The Cubs half of the first featured a couple of typical Cubs plays. On a base hit to ride, Quade held Pie at third instead of testing Francouer's arm, which seemed unfortunate when Francouer then bobbled the ball. Then, Jones hit a bouncer that appeard headed for right field and an RBI, when the ball bounced into Aramis as he attempted to hurdle it. There's one we haven't seen yet, this year. Dead ball, Aramis out, Pie has to stay at third.

Any other day, this would have been another wasted inning. Today, however, DeRosa picks us up with a two-out Grand Slam. By the third inning, we were on the good side of a blowout.

3. Marshall continues to pitch well

Very well. Lots of first-pitch strikes, a sharp curve, good fastball, and really no trouble at all until the seventh, his final inning. 8 K and 1 BB.

4. The top of the order

Soriano had a homer and a triple. Pie went 2 for 5, including an all-speed double. Lee went 3 for 5 with a HR. Between then, they scored 7 runs. Ramirez and Jones also had a couple of hits, to boot.
All the happy details, below.

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By Transmission at Sun, 06/03/2007 - 2:10pm

Game 48 Recap: Cubs 1, Dodgers 2 (11 innings)

One to forget on Memorial weekend

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W -Billingsley (3-0), finding ways to lose

L -Guzman (0-1), finding ways to win

 

Things to take from the game

1. Second Guessing

It's been a good day for the armchair managers. Let's see:

  1. Lou pulls Hill, who has thrown 66 pitches in 6 shutout innings, so that Ward can pinch-hit with a runner on second and two outs in a 0-0 game. Doesn't work.
  2. Lou asked Barrett, hitting fourth and with no sac. bunts on the year, to bunt with runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out in a 1-0 game in the eighth. Doesn't work.
  3. With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, Lou pinch hits Aramis Ramirez for the hot-hitting Pagan, a move that requires Jones to enter the game as a defensive replacement. Doesn't work.
  4. Lou pulls Wuertz, after an effective seventh, for Eyre, who hasn't pitched in a week, to start the eighth. Doesn't work.  (Eyre gives up HR to Ethier, tying the game)
2. More slow curves than you can can swing a stick at Both Hill and Wolf pitched well, Hill especially so. His reworked legkick(s) out of the stretch seemed to be effective both at holding runners on, and without distracting from his ability to pitch well out of the stretch. 3. Whiff in the Fifth Murton doubles, Pagan bunts his way on, and with Pagan advanceing on a wild pitchwe have runners at 2 and 3 with no outs. To my eyes, at least, Wolf tries to pitch around Izturis, in hopes that he'll either chase something, or walk and set up a DP with the pitcher hitting. Izturis lays off some sliders in the dirt, but with a 3-1 count, he weakly taps one to third. No run scores. Hill strikes out, Soriano walks, and Theriot grounds out. That's runners on 2 and 3, no outs, no runs scored. On average, a team should score two runs from that point in an inning. 4. New ways to lose. Bottom of the eleventh begins with two walks issued by Guzman, Marmol in to intentionally walk a batter, then Marmol hitting Pierre to end the game, on what would have been a wild pitch to end the game, had Pierre not gotten in the way. That's a new one. All the nutty details, below

 

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By Transmission at Sun, 05/27/2007 - 4:43pm

Game 46 Recap: Cubs 8, Dodgers 9

Elegia

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W -Seanez (2-0), Fate

L - Ohman (0-2), faith in a benevolent creator

S - Saito (15)

Things to take from this game:

1. The Magnificent Seventh

It isn't just that we came back from a 5-1 deficit with a seven run outburst. It's how we did it. Seemingly every hit this inning was opposite-field on controlled swings and purposefull at-bats. It was easily the most enjoyable half inning of Cubs offense all year.

 

2. The Execrable Eighth.

It was followed by the most frustrating inning all year. Wuertz got pulled after a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh, for Howry. Howry gave up three straight line drives, and looked pretty frustrated with himself upon exiting for Ohman. Ohman faced one batter, gave up a hit, and in came Guzman who gave up the lead. Five straight hits, total, to start the inning.

 

3. Take Jeff Kent. Please.

Kent had four RBIs off of Lilly, and also arguably the hardest hit ball, all night, which wound up being just a fly out to the center field wall in the heavy LA night. At least he flubbed an easy double play attempt.

 

4. Picked.

It's sort of a small thing to focus on, but Derrek Lee got picked off of second, the play after doubling in the tying run in the seventh. Without that, we would have had one more run, and, conceivably, a tie game after nine

5. Soriano feeling better?

He misplayed a ball in the outfield, but at least Soriano looked like an offensive force, today. He took third on the throw after an RBI double, and seemed to look good doing it. Three hits, two RBI and two runs scored out of the leadoff spot.

The details, in all their triumph and tragedy, follow.

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By Transmission at Fri, 05/25/2007 - 11:13pm

Game 44 Recap: Cubs 1, Padres 2

Aww, Hell's Bells.

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W - Wells (2-2) , fat, white, middle-aged, millionaire men. L - Marshall (0-1) , Fairness S - Hoffman (13) Things to take from the game 1. Marshall's first start of the year It's odd. Marshall hasn't really impressed me with my one eye on the TV, and yet I look up, and he's pitched six shutout innings with 2 hits, 2 BB and 5 K. The Padres got some good swings at him that wound up being harmless outs, and there's no disputing the results. 8 K's when he leaves the game after 7, with really only one mistake. And he leaves on the hook for a loss.... 2. The Seventh Cubs load the bases on Wells, and the inning ends with a 4-6-3 GIDP by Izturis. Marshall puts one runner on, just his fifth runner of the night at that moment, and Kouzmanoff crushes one into the upper deck in the left field bleachers. We go from a 1-0 lead, and a chance to blow the game open, to a 2-1 deficit. Len mentioned, at the start, how the Cubs scored 9 runs in his 9 losses, last year.... 3. DeRosa's good night DeRosa and Murton were the only guys who seemed able to handle Padres' pitching. DeRosa's fourth hit of the night came with two outs in the ninth, an opposite-field triple off Hoffman that was within 3 feet of going out of the park. Jones comes in to pinch-hit, works a 3-2 count, and lines out to RF to end the game. We gave Hoffman a good scare, but missed a crucial chance to avoid Hoffman, entirely, in the 7th. 4. Brevity You don't need many points, when it's a 2-1 game won on a home run. More tough luck for Marshall. More interesting things than you thought could be squeezed from this game, below.
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By Transmission at Wed, 05/23/2007 - 9:33pm

Game 43 Recap: Cubs 1, Padres 5

I stayed up for this?

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W - Peavy (6-1) L - Hill (4-4) S - Hoffman (12) Things to take from this game 1. Lee returns to the Lineup With Lee hitting third, we also get Soriano hitting first, and Theriot dropped to second. He looked better than his 0 for 5. Maybe that's not saying much. 2. Flattened Hill Rich Hill looked shaky from the very start. The curve wasn't breaking and the contol wasn't there, and as a result he gave up four HR, two to Cameron. That said, he still struck out 8. In any case, we got in a quick hole against Peavy, which is never a good thing. 3. Missed opportunities Cubs had several modest two out rallies ended without any results. Most of which I missed, due to a bad mlb.tv connection 4. No Payoff Overall, a very disappointing game to watch. Got to see Hill give up lots of home runs, the offense sputter, and not even a late-inning rally to keep things interesting as it approaches midnight.
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By Transmission at Tue, 05/22/2007 - 9:46pm

Game 42 Recap: Cubs 6, White Sox 10

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W - Massett (2-1), Joe West's ego, infield drying compound stock-owners.

L - Zambrano (4-4), Joe West, Soriano's legs, brooms.

Things to take from this game

1. Just a couple of bad innings

It's not much consolation, but Z actually looked good for most of the game. He totally lost it in the seventh, we didn't get him out of the game soon enough, and Cotts couldn't pitch out of the jam. (That AJ guy brought in four runs with one swing of the bat.) But other than thatinning and the third, Z actually looked sharp to me.

2. 2 out RISP

Barrett had a couple missed opportunities to knock in some 2-out runs. In the grand scheme of things, it wound up being the least of our problems, but at the time it seemed consequential. Sox had far, far more LOB, by the end of things.

3. Sox pitching

Massett looked shakey in the first, but settled down to give up only 3 hits and 2 runs through 5 and two thirds. The Sox bullpen didn't allow a hit until a Theriot single in the eighth.

4. What's up with Soriano?

At this point, I'm convinced that either Soriano isn't healthy, or he isn't hustling. Either way, it's noticable affecting his on-field play. (FWIW, my guess is this is health-related.)

5. Joe West strikes again

With West and Bucknor in this umpire crew, we should have set up a pool for whom would eject whom, and why and when. Answer winds up being West ejects Floyd in the bottom of the 9th, over balls and strikes, and West's inability to distinguish the one from the other.

More interesting observations than you can handle, below.

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By Transmission at Sun, 05/20/2007 - 3:18pm

Game 41 Recap: Cubs 11, White Sox 6

Grand. Play by Play Box Score Photos Game Center

 

W - Howry (1-3), Drama.

L - Aardsma (2-1), MLB.TV, FOX, and everyone else who conspired to keep me from viewing this game.

 

Things to take from today's game

1. Blowing in the wind

The fifth inning saw a series of home runs, including a particularly wind-aided one from Barrett, and another from Marquis.

2. Derrek Lee nearly killed Santo

Lee hit a pinch-hit grand slam, his first at bat in a week, in the bottom of the 8th, breaking the game open 11-6. The Cubs had already come back to take the lead in the inning, on a triple by Theriot, single by Soriano, and triple by Ramirez.

3. Rockin' Wrigley

Limited to the audio feed, it was impressive to hear the chorus of boos that preceded each A.J. at bat, the chants of "Let's Go Cubbies," and especially, the sing-along at the end of the game. It sounded as if 40,000 were joining in on "Go Cubs, Go."

Due to only having the audio cast, I don't have many observations about the game. Help me fill them in, on the message board. Parachat review, below.

 

 

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By Transmission at Sat, 05/19/2007 - 3:57pm

Game 40 Recap: Cubs , White Sox

Pagan Worship

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W - Lilly (4-2), Paganism, newspaper editors in need of another round of inane puns L -MacDougal (1-1) S - Dempster (9) Things to take from this game 1. The other Chicago team can play ugly ball, too. Four errors, passed balls and wild pitches. The Cubs capitalized on a very sloppy game by the Sox. 2. The other Chicago team's bullpen can blow games, too. Buehrle left with a 3-1 lead, and MacDougal tacked on two more runs to Buehrle's record. MacDougal had no control at all today, and wasn't helped by catcher Toby Hall, who was playing his first game from coming off the DL for shoulder injuries and spelling A.J. against the lefty. 3. The Bullpen strikes back. Howry and Dempster pitch 2 spotless innings, with 4 K's. Man, did we need that. 4. Lilly struggles through Lilly didn't have the dominant curve or sharp command of his fastball, but managed to pitch out of trouble all game. 5. Pagan's big game. It wasn't just the hitting (3-5 with a triple and 2 RBI), it also was the energy. His triple was on a ball that didn't get passed the spot on the first-base line where the outfield wall juts outward, and he then scored on a wild pitch on what would have been an impossible play for a slower runner. The details follow.
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By Transmission at Fri, 05/18/2007 - 2:23pm

Game 39 Recap: Cubs 5, Mets 6

Collapse.

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W - Burgos (1-0), the forces of evil. L - Dempster (1-2), decency. Things to take from this game 1. We got the Mets' B-team today No Wright, no Beltran, no Reyes, no Easley, no LoDuca, no Alou. Starter Jason Vargas is making his debut for the Mets. Julio Franco is playing 3rd base. He played 3 games there last year, and hadn't played at third prior to that since his rookie year. In 1982. For 2 games. Gotay has never played SS before his one inning there, last night. David Newhan is an OFer playing 2nd base. Brenley mentioned something about a league policy requiring at least 4 "regulars" in a starting lineup, and wondered if Selig might put a phone call in to the Mets for this. Only if we beat them, Bob..... (ah, seems Bob was discussing a spring training policy? In any case, we're facing the B-team.) 2. The pitching "duel" Don't let the box score fool you: while Guzman and Vargas kept the game low-scoring through five, neither was really dominating. It wasn't the sort of pitching duel that has you oohing and ahhing. Vargas was "pitching to contact" and retiring Cub after free-swinging Cub on lazy grounders and fly balls. Guzman kept pitching out of minor trouble, inning after inning. Finally, Vargas started to lose it in the sixth, ending this faux-duel. 3. Cramps Guzman gets a cramp in his leg, batting int he top of the sixth. The Cubs procede to hit a pair of 2-run HR that inning (Pagan and Ramirez), and Guzman is pulled from the game, in line for his first ML Win. 4. Solid Middle Relief Wuertz and Ohman both pitched well. 5. The Ninth Dempster loaded the bases with one out in a 5-1 game when he walks Beltran. Dempster must have looked at the home plate umpire the wrong way, as the ump then gestures at him. Seemed like an overreaction on the umpire's part. Facing Chavez, Dempster goes 3-2 on him, then walks him, too. 5-2 game, winning run now at bat in Ruben Gotay. He gets Gotay in an 0-2 hole, when Gotay serves a single into left. 5-3, bases still loaded with one out... With Shawn Green up, Lou calls for Eyre, who has great numbers against Green in their careers. Green is removed in favor of David Wright. Wright lines the first pitch right back up the middle, just out of the reach of Izturis. 5-4, bases still loaded, one out. And with Delgado facing Eyre, he singles just past a diving Theriot. Murton tries to throw out the winning run at the plate, but his throw is way off the money. Probably wouldn't have mattered, anyway. We enter the bottom of the 9th leading 5-1, leave it with a loss.

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By Transmission at Thu, 05/17/2007 - 12:57pm

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