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50-Game Mark TCR Reader Survey: Question 4

How optimistic do you feel toward the remaining 2009 Chicago Cubs' season?

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By Transmission at Tue, 06/02/2009 - 10:59pm

Game 19 Recap: Cubs 11, Diamondbacks 3

Easy Win
W - Zambrano (2-1)
L -  Petit (0-2), Kryptonite, Mortals.

 

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.
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Game Recap
By Transmission at Wed, 04/29/2009 - 12:05am

We Have a Winner

In a close vote to decide the Official1 TCR Nickname for our Middle Infielders, we can now announce that with 100% of the 66 votes counted, the winner is....

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TCR Contests
By Transmission at Mon, 04/27/2009 - 10:29am

Recap of the Greatest Parachat Ever

This is probably best placed below the fold, so as to protect tender eyes.

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Parachat Recap
By Transmission at Fri, 04/24/2009 - 10:49pm

Pick the nickname

Below are the sixteen finalists from last week's Name That Double Play Combo contest.  If your submission is not on the list, it likely:

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By Transmission at Mon, 04/20/2009 - 12:18am

Name That Double-Play Combo!

Cubs fans, an opportunity presents itself that we cannot afford to ignore.  The starting middle-infielders on our team are:

  • Short
  • Skinny
  • "Scrappy"
  • Teammates since college
  • Own last names that rhyme with each other
  • Are generally just sort of adorable

And, someone surprisingly given Hendry's penchant for gathering unto the Ark two of every no-hit utility man, these guys are, most importantly

  • pretty good baseball players!

It's time to give Ryan Theriot and Mike Fontenot their own nickname.  Something that, after the Cubs win the World Series this year, will echo throughout the marbled halls of Cubs lore like "The Daily Double." 

More important, it should be something we can slap on a T-shirt and hawk outside of Wrigley, allowing the yet-unknown Adam who names this new creature in the Cubs garden to take home a generous 3% cut of TCR's profits on the venture.1

Of course, there already is a nickname in circulation, "The Cajun Connection."  That nickname however

  • is the name of several businesses
  • sounds like it could be a Sourthern escort service
  • is a bit of a mouthful
  • seems to have first been used by Paul Sullivan in a 2007 article
  • hasn't yet caught on to the point where it's cemented as their nickname

Follow me below the fold, wordsmiths, to discuss nicknames for our mighty middle infielders.

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TCR Contests; Nicknames
By Transmission at Tue, 04/14/2009 - 11:20am

Game 4 Recap: Cubs 3, Brewers 4

Blown.
W - Villanueva (1-0), Poorly designed stadiums

 

L - Gregg (0-1), the three and a half hours I could have spent grading, that now need to be repaid.

 

 

Things to Take from This Game

 

1.  Harden is just fine, thank you.
Harden hit 96 a couple times, sat at around 92, and gave up three hits, two walks (one intentional) and one earned run on a Hart solo homer through six innings.  He also struck out ten with a nasty changeup and a well placed fastball.  It's pretty cool to see that sort of line and think "yeah, that's about what we expect from our fourth starter."  The other run against Harden was an unearned run in the first.  (A slightly high Theriot throw pulled Lee off the bag, and eventually Braun drove in a run on a single.)

 

2.  Likely and Unlikely HRs.
Bradley got off the O-fer with a huge solo homer, and Hill hit a go-ahead two-run homer that put Harden in line for a win.

 

3.  But...
Lou hard to burn through his bullpen in the seventh and eighth, using Heilman, Cotts, Marmol, Marshall, Vizcaino and Gregg to preserve the lead going into the ninth.   He also pinch hit with Miles with a chance to drive in an insurance run from third with one out in the eighth, when Hoffpauir also was available, and Miles gave us an inning-killing GIDP.

 

4.  So...
A walk, a ground out, a Weeks game-tying double, and another walk into the ninth, and Gregg finds runners on first and third with one out in the ninth.  Braun hits a medium-to-slow roller three steps to Theriot's right.  Theriot chooses to try for the out at home instead of the double play, and Weeks just does get his hand on home in front of the tag.  Brewers win the game.

 

The second-guessing begins, below.
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Game Recap
By Transmission at Fri, 04/10/2009 - 6:58pm

Game 1 Recap: Cubs 4, Astros 2

Perfect Season?
W - Zambrano (1-0)
L - Oswalt (0-1)
S - Gregg (1)

 

Things to Take from This Game

 

1. Zambrano is Sharp
Zambrano cruised through six before getting into a bit of trouble in the seventh.  He got pulled before he could get himself too far into a jam, Heilman immediately induced a GIDP, but a run then went onto Z's account when Bourn "drove in" a runner from third with a 40 foot chopper up the first base line.  For Zambrano it was one measly run, 6 Ks, 3 BB, a bunch of ground balls and a very efficient first six innings, 98 pitches total.

 

2. Cubs Get to Oswalt Early
Soriano and Ramirez led off the first and second innings with solo home runs to left: Soriano's a bomb to deep left-center, Ramirez's a liner into the boxes more down the line.  Oswalt settled down and also induced one grounder after another through an efficient seven innings. The Cubs added two more runs with a Theriot sac fly scoring Fontenot in the 6th, and a Hoffpauir single scoring Fontenot in the 9th.

 

3. Bullpen works as planned
Heilman and Cotts got the Cubs out of a seventh-inning jam, allowing Marmol and Gregg to cover the eighth and ninth.  The run against Gregg came after Bradley had the ball pop out of his glove on a tough-but-ought-to-be-caught effort at a sinking line drive.  Overall, about all one could hope for on Opening Day:  The big bats hit a couple homers, the middle infielders got on and got around, the pinch-hitter pinch-hit, Z was Good Z, and set up the bullpen to execute their assignments.

 

The undefeated details follow.
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Game Recap
By Transmission at Mon, 04/06/2009 - 10:47pm

Worried

I'm worried.

I'm worried that our best hitter and best pitcher are two of the most injury-prone players in the game

I'm worried that we signed Dempster back before the economy completely tanked, and wound up over-paying.

I'm worried that the Dempster overpay caused us to trade away DeRosa, which, I worry, has greatly weakened our bench.

And, I worry, has greatly weakened our chemistry, whatever the hell that is.

I'm worried that Carlos Marmol will tire of his experiment living
amongst humans, and decide to return to his normal, alien form, go back
to the mothership, and report to the Martians that no, the earthlings
do not offer any worthy baseball competition.  Marmol the Martian will
then leave us as he explores other worlds in search of competition.

I'm worried that Carlos Zambrano is on the Livan Hernandez Career Arc.

I'm worried that you, gentle reader, won't follow me below the fold...

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Worries
By Transmission at Mon, 03/23/2009 - 12:28am

Backstop Backups

Time for that Player A, Player B, Player C contrivance, using the average of the five different 2009 projection systems available at FanGraphs.

 

  Ave.  Obp.  Slg.  OPS
 Player A  .277  .311  .412  .723
 Player B  .212  .285  .301  .585
 Player C  .229  .292  .363  .655

 

Player A also has 13 Gold Gloves, 12 All-star Game appearances, an MVP award and a World Series ring.

Player B also has...  well...  uh...  A Funny Middle Name.  He's 7 months younger than player A, too.

Player C also has... well...  uh...  A Funny First Name.  And middle name.  He's hurt just a bit in this comparsion because he's so incredibly anonymous that he didn't get included in Bill James' projection system, which usually has a tick or two higher offensive projections than the other four projection systems.

If you haven't figured it out yet...

 

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Free Agents
By Transmission at Sat, 03/14/2009 - 10:50am

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