Game 142 Recap: Cubs 5, Pirates 10
Fallen
GameCenter, Play-by-Play, Box Score, Photos
W- Matt Morris (9-9), Cheating aging, death and karma L- Steve Trachsel (6-10), Jim Hendry Things to Take from This Game 1. Well, at least Eyre pitched well Eight pitchers used, and five of them gave up more walks than strikeouts. Trachsel was predictably bad, but wasn't helped any by Jacque Jones' very unfortunate bad jump on a Freddy Sanchez line drive to his right. (He broke to the left.) Did I mention the bases were loaded at the time? Wood had no control, Wuertz walked the only guy he faced, etc. etc. Matt Morris wasn't good, by any stretch of the imagination, but good enough to once again make Cubdom detest him. 2. Left on Base For awhile, it looked like the cubs could get back into it. We pulled from 7-2 to 7-5, on home runs by Soriano and Soto (his first in the majors), but Wood's performance in the eighth effectively ended that hope. We also left eleven guys on, including five from Derosa. Especially early in the game, it seemed like we were leaving a lot of guys in scoring position with two outs. On the other hand, it could have been worse - Pirates had 17 LOB. 3. We're out of first. The Brewers beat the Reds. Cheer the Bears on, then read the second-place details, below. Inning 1- Matt Morris is the highest paid Pirate, ever. This amuses me.
- BJB on MM: "Everything's just a little bit shorter and not quite as sharp as it used to be." Ain't that the truth.
- Murton, running for a foul ball in right, runs into the barely-above-knee-high metal fence on the right field foul stands. Tumbles into the stands, where some Cubs fans catch him. Nice cheer from all the fans, for his effort.
- A very uneventful first, otherwise.
- Some sort of rally by the Cubs in the top of the second that results in two runs. Was stuck on the phone with Pappa Trans and missed it Appears to have been a Murton hit, a Jones walk, Derosa advances them, Kendall singles them in. Soriano had a chance to do more damage with Kendall on third and Trachsel on second (after a Trachsel single and a wild pitch) but popped out. 2-0 cubs.
- LaRoche doubles against the wall in right.
- Steave Pearce (who?!?!) singles him in.
- Some slow pitch by Trachsel, tumbling down into the heart of the plate, I have no idea if it was his fastball or curve or god knows what, and Wilson belts it for a double to center. Pearce scores, 2-2.
- Matt Morris singles through the hole to left. Third base coach waves Wilson homeward, but Wilson hits the brakes, and sticks at third. Game still tied at 2, on very cautious base-running by Jack Wilson.
- Nyger Morgan singles right back up the middle. 3-2. Kevin Hart warming up for the Cubs.
- Wild pitch. Runners now on 2 and 3. Wasn't that wild, looked like it bounced right up into Kendall's chest protector, but then squirted away to his right a bit. McLouth walks on the next pitch. Len sounds exasperated. Bases loaded.
- Rust works faster than Trachsel
- Freddy Sanchez lines one to center. Jones takes a step and a half left, but the ball is hit to his right. He dives for it, it goes past him. All runs score, and Sanchez tries to go inside-the-park grand-slam. Thrown out sliding feet first into home, close play. 6-2 pirates.
- Upon further review, Sanchez was safe. Both my fantasy teams have been robbed of an inside-the-park grand slam. Kendall had to receive the throw to the right of home plate, and Sanchez's foot was in under the tag.
- Nyger Morgan with a ridiculously good catch, diving in full-sprint mode in right-center field to rob Ramirez, ending our half-inning.
- Kevin Hart in for Trachsel.
- Some large gentleman bowls a few kids over in pursuit of a foul ball. Gets booed.
- Hart gets through the third well enough. My feed keeps cutting out, so I haven't had a chance to really see him pitch, yet.
- Murton infield single behind third base, Jones with a sharp single to center, but Derosa with an easy GIDP to kill the rally. Murton to third. Looks like Marshall will come in, in relief, if Kendall can extend the inning. Nope, liner to third, Hart stays in the game.
- Jack Wilson singles, Morris bunts him over. Pignatiello comes in for Hart. Sweet, I spelled Pignatiello correctly, without checking. Nyger Morgan bounces one back up the middle, scoring Wilson. 7-2.
- Morgan tries to steal second, and Kendall's throw is two feet wide to the third base side. Morgan just barely overslides the bag, and an alert Theriot tags the heel of Morgan's shoe, as he's stretching to put it back on the bag. Nice play by Ryan.
- Getting very dark in Pittsburgh. Pray for rain.
- Fontenot hits for Piggy, walks. Soriano then swipes at a ball quite a bit outside, and launches it over the CF fence. 2-run HR, suddenly 7-4.
- Sean Marshall in for his first professional relief appearance. Can any good possibly come out of this?
- a GIDP and ground-out later, and the answer is "yes."
- Very quick top of the 6th for the Cubs.
- Pearce single and Paulino walk to start the sixth, sac fly puts runners at first and third, and Morris gets taken out for a pinch-hitter. Marshall's also coming out, in favor of Wuertz. He walks the pinch-hitter, Josh Phelps, and in comes Eyre to face the next hitter, Morgan. This inning is taking for-freaking-ever. Bases loaded. Somewhere in all of this, Soto came in for Kendall.
- Full count on Morgan, with the rain coming down pretty well. Strikes him out on a pitch low and away, Morgan with a feeble swing at it. Two down. McLouth flies out, and Eyre gets out of it. Nice work!
- Soto leads off the seventh with a solo HR off of some rolling junk from Romulo Sanchez. Right over the 378 sign in left-center, now down 7-5. Congrats, Geovany.
- Eyre with another effective inning- has really looked sharp. Walked Bautista, but Soto gunned him down when he tried to take second on a wild pitch.
- Chacon in. It's just a cavalcade of washed up suck, today, on the mound... Gives up a leadoff double to Ramirez.
- Only sound in the Pittsburgh ballpark is the "Let's go Cubbies" chant.
- Murton bounces back to the pitcher, Ramirez has to stay.
- Jones lines one, but right to Bautista at third. Would have been a run-scoring double.
- And a Derosa ground out ends a promising inning. Still 7-5.
- Wood in, Pearce walks to lead off the inning. Paulino (who, as Len notes, has really long arms!) hits one the other way to right, putting runners on 1st and 3rd, no outs.
- Jack Wilson walks on four straight, bases loaded, no outs. Jose Castillo in to pinch-hit for Chacon. Goes to a 3-2 count.
- Castillo hits one just out of Lee's reach, and just on the chalk line, for a two-run double. 9-5 and Ohman in. Lee got really mad, thought it was a foul ball. Looks like it got line, to me, but it was certainly close.
- Grounder to Lee leads to a weird rundown, with Wilson caught up between third and home. Run back to third, where the runner from second, Castillo, is now standing. Batter, Morgan, meanwhile, has made it to second. Result is an out, and runners on 2 and 3, right where they began.
- McLouth walk, bases loaded again.
- Sanchez with an RBI ground out. Tried to turn a 6-4-3 on it, but no hope. 10-5
- Maybe I should start live-blogging the Bears game. Benson for three yards up the middle
- Grossman clobbered for a sack, looks hurt. Blindsigded, someone missed a block, lucky to be able to hold onto the ball.
- Out of the eighth without further damage.
- 1-2-3, game over.
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