Cueto Quiets Cubs: Reds Win at Wrigley, 3-0

Righthander Johnny Cueto dominated Cub hitters Wednesday night, and a strong outing by Ted Lilly (7 IP, 5 H, 0 BB, just 1 unearned run allowed) was wasted as Cincinnati ended the Cubs' three-game winning streak.

Why the Cubs lost: No O—the offense produced no runs and four hits against Cueto in his seven innings. Overall, the Cub bats delivered six measly singles, two each by Soriano and Lee, and one apiece from Fukudome and Ramirez. In both the first inning and the fourth, they managed to put two runners aboard, but failed to capitalize. In total, Cub hitters only had four opportunities to hit with men in scoring position.

Milton Bradley, who rejoined the starting lineup, fanned three times in four trips, and is now hitting .043 (1-for-23). He still appears to be suffering from the groin strain, both at the plate, where his swings seemed mostly flat-footed, and in the field, where he wasn't running down fly balls so much as shuffling after them.

Ted Lilly's only shortcoming tonight was his defense. He made two errors, and the first one—a wild throw following a bunt single by Alex Gonzalez in the fourth inning—led to the only run the Reds would need on yet another frosty spring evening at Wrigley Field.

Angel Guzman and Kevin Gregg were each tagged for a run over the last couple innings. As Bob Brenly pointed out on Comcast, Gregg's inability to throw his breaking ball for strikes reduced him to a one-pitch pitcher, and young Jay Bruce, who also homered Tuesday night, tagged one of those pitches for an opposite field home run in the ninth.

Speaking of the Cub bullpen and per Rob's post earlier this evening, don't run out and buy that Luis Vizcaino Cubs jersey you've had your eye on.

Lilly has been here before:  The Cub southpaw went 17-9 last season and four of the losses were to the Reds, three of them at Wrigley. On the other hand, the Cubs also abused Cueto in '08, defeating him three times in four starts.

On tap for Thursday: A little ace-on-ace action in the series' rubber game as Aaron Harang (1-2. 2.70) meets Carlos Zambrano (1-0, 5.21). Weather forecast calls for partly cloudy skies and highs approaching 70, which will be a nice change after two cold nights on the lakefront.

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Ted Lilly
Game Recap
Submitted by Cubnut on Wed, 04/22/2009 - 9:31pm
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Comments

Submitted by The E-Man
on Wed, 04/22/2009 - 10:36pm

Well, Milton Bradley, I believe some of you were correct in picking that Hendry crapped-out at the table. This is a lot of money to pay for someone so totally useless now.

I never would have thought based on last year that Dome is really the valuable player now.

The boo-birds have started latching on as well, after Bradley's AB's. Small sample size, but big enough for me to see right now. Well, the Dodgers had Jones and made the NLCS, we will have Bradley.

Submitted by Ryno
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 7:16am

Dude gets off to a slow start and now he's useless? I recall a couple years ago Rammy tearing up spring training and then started the season weak.

And you know who else got off to a slow start?

Jesus.

So, yeah.

Submitted by The Joe
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 1:03pm

That made me laugh so much I had to stifle it so I wouldn't get in trouble.

Submitted by Newport
on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 12:02am

What? Are you in N. Korea?

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 12:16am

'Round Eye' or 'American pig-spy' would be my guesses.

Submitted by The Joe
on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 12:03pm

Good times. No, I was at work and I'm in constant visual contact with my boss.

Submitted by Thisistheyear
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 9:57am

I was in the right field bleachers at last nights game, and I must say the Cubs were really giving it to MB. I don't think they mind the 1-20 something start, so much as the lack of hustle on fly balls. At one point, when Jay Bruce made a running grab by the Reds bullpen, Cubs fans starting cheering and screaming that's how a RF makes a play and shows some effort.

It was bad last night, but it's going to get worse if he doesn't get better.

Submitted by Doug Dascenzo
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 10:20am

Fuck, man. Cubs fans are getting dumber and dumber. Some guys might hear boos and want to work harder and prove the fans wrong. I have a feeling Milton Bradley hears boos and says, "Fuck those assholes I'm not going to try anymore."

The other thing that's really starting to piss me off is how the fans boo every single ex-Cub this year. Booing Jerry Hairston is absolutely ridiculous. The guy was never supposed to be any good, and he lived up to those expectations for us. And to top it off, he's a local kid. Why boo him?

I feel like the retards going to games this year would boo Maddux if they saw him on a golf course in Vegas.

Submitted by Ryno
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 10:32am

I'll sell you this shirt for your next trip to Wrigley. $25

Submitted by jacos
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 11:47am

Bleachers are not all true Cub fans.
That is the one place in the park that's hard to defend "they are only there for the drinking" accusation.

Submitted by Thisistheyear
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 12:37pm

Very true for the most part. Hard to find true fans out there.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 04/22/2009 - 11:10pm

A little ace-on-ace action

that's hot...

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 04/22/2009 - 11:16pm

IF (big if) the Cubs do indeed just release Vizcaino after releasing Gaudin, Hendry and Crane Kenney can go blow each other. After feeding us the B.S. that the Cubs had a budget and needed to move DeRosa and Marquis to save money, they just blew $5.6M.

F them and apologies to all who sniffed this out long ago...

and F the mass media if they don't take them to task for it...

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 8:04am

If it is Vizcaino, I don't get it. In 3.2 IP he has given up just 2 hits, 0 walks, 0 runs, and struck out 3. At least let a guy fail before you boot him. He had a bad season last year in Colorado, which is not surprising, but in the SIX years prior to that he had a 4.06 ERA, averaged 71 IP a year with nearly a K per inning, and a 1.2 WHIP.

Sure he cost too much, but you are already paying him and if you release him you don't save any money. The likelihood that both Patton and Guzman will put up better numbers this year is, in my opinion, pretty low.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 12:30pm

"The likelihood that both Patton and Guzman will put up better numbers this year is, in my opinion, pretty low."

What's the logic of that emphasis on "this year"?

Patton and Guzman can't be optioned, so you're keeping them for this year and for subsequent years.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 12:33pm

I would be surprised if one of those guys doesn't put up better numbers than Vizcaino.

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 1:11pm

The emphasis on this year is that I would like the team to win this year.

And I am not disagreeing with the fact that one might also outperform him. I just think that given the 3 pitchers, at the end of the season Hendry will not have jettisoned the worst of the 3.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 04/22/2009 - 11:25pm

why take Lilly out in the 8th?

96 pitches isn't all that much, I definitely think he could go to 110 and was cruising along just fine.

If they did manage to keep it 1-0 heading into the 8th, Soriano singled and you probably try running there or a hit and run. But down two, you don't risk it.

Also, can Angel Guzman learn to put away a hitter or an inning? 1-2 on Hairston and 0-2 on Votto and both get hits...bah.

Submitted by Ryno
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 7:22am

Maybe, but David Weathers owns the Cubs. I'm cool with taking Lilly out there: they weren't going to score last night.

Just like me.

:(((

Submitted by The Joe
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 12:21am

"A little ace-on-ace action"

I prefer Max on Max.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STYsEXiuruU&feature...

Submitted by Cubnut
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 12:46am

Let the record show that I thought of the headline on this post HOURS BEFORE this showed up at mlb.com.

Mr. Selig, you will be hearing from our attorneys in the morning.

Submitted by crunch
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 1:22am

screw that...you should take the TCR private jet down to MLB headquarters and bitch slap the fool.

Submitted by H_Vaughn
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 5:38am

They'll be making a big mistake on a small sample size with Vizcaino. Relievers are volatile and he had a solid track record before hitting Coors last year. Just stick him in the back of the pen and let him sort it out, for Pete's sake. It's like Lou just can't believe those lying eyes of his regarding Cotts.

Submitted by Doug Dascenzo
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 10:24am

Let him sort what out? That 0.00 ERA?

Submitted by Andrew
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 7:04am

Yeah, this Samardzija stuff makes no fucking sense. I like the guy and he'll be good enough in the pen, but Vizcaino has been fine so far in the regular season. Exactly what is precipitating this move? Cotts and Gregg have sucked so far, but it's Vizcaino that gets booted? Brilliant. Why not just tell your pitchers to man up and stop throwing shit? Or put Gregg's ass on the DL to get his knee straight and then bring up help for the pen.

Even if you do want to get rid off Vizcaino, releasing him is going to cost you a pretty little sum, which won't make any fucking sense after Hendry cried poor this offseason. So, you gotta trade him, but leave it to the fucking Cubs to announce Samardzija's promotion BEFORE any trade actually takes place, absolutely killing any leverage you might have had with other teams in trading Vizcaino. Really, what's the point of announcing the fact Samardzija's getting called up an entire day before it happens? There's nothing gained by it.

All of this is not to mention that Samardzija is supposed to be our only starting pitching prospect of any worth. Yet, it's no surprise if the Cubs mis-manage this prospect too, burning option years for temporary bullpen help. It's as if they don't really understand the difference between starting and relief pitching, as if the two are interchangeable.

The past couple years being a Cubs fan hasn't been so bad, despite the fact that the front office has continually bungled roster moves like this one. I just don't understand either part of dumping Vizcaino (why even acquire him in the first place if you didn't want him?) or bringing up Samardzija. Perhaps it's just Hendry overly catering to his manager again, but if that's the case, I'm going to jump on the MannyTrillo bandwagon and call for his head. You're the boss, Jim, not Lou -- start fucking acting like it.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 9:13am

Completely concur.

Why on earth do you bring in your bullpen backup in April.

Chances are someone is going to get hurt, or becomes ineffective this year. Who comes up from AAA then? Ascaino or Wells? Seems really shortsighted.

Hendry's 40 man Roster management rears its ugly head again.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 12:52pm

"why even acquire him in the first place if you didn't want him?"

There is an answer to that question.

The Cubs had zero interest in Vizcaino. The Rockies must have given the Cubs something like the following proposal:

We like Marquis but for $5 million, not the $10 million you're paying him. Either pay half his salary, or pay $1 million and take Vizcaino.

The Cubs saved $5 million by "trading" Marquis, with our without Vizcaino.

Also, you're not getting a return on the $1.3 million you're paying Samardzija when he's in Iowa.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 12:59pm

that's true and all, but by dumping him now, they went from saving $5M to saving a little over $1M instead. Basically between Gaudin and Vizcaino (assuming a trade isn't worked out), they've could kept DeRosa.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 6:27pm

I don't understand how dumping him now costs us $4 million. If he's replaced with a minor league guy (which is what's happend so far) it costs us an extra $400K. Only if he's replaced by another experienced big leaguer would we lose the savings we made on the Marquis deal... which is doubly confusing because I thought you said the exact same thing earlier today.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 6:29pm

yeah, my fury is affecting my logic today. Nonetheless, $5.6M or so down the drain on pitchers lately.

and since it was Samardzija it didn't cost the Cubs anything extra since he was getting his $1.3M already.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 6:35pm

Maybe that's part of the reason he was called up.

Submitted by Cubster
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 6:35am

many job cuts announced at the Tribune yesterday including several well known sportswriters...Melissa Isaacson, John Mullin, Bob Sakamoto and Terry Bannon were all sacked (makes sense for a football writer like Mullin to be sacked, if Paul Sullivan or Phil Rogers was on this list you might say they were K'd...not as aesthetic if Sullivan wrote an article saying Felix Pie got sacked.)

The odd part is that it was announced in Craine's Chicago Business (but not in the Tribune or Sun-Times).

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=...

Submitted by The Joe
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 1:07pm

My friend Bob Sakamano was fired? That sucks.

Submitted by dleturno
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 8:08am

Useless? The dude has a bum groin. Ever had one? It sucks. He shouldn't be back in the lineup yet, IMO. In all fairness to him, one of his punch-outs was very borderline. It's a shame for a guy with such a keen eye at the plate to be fucked by umpires because of being fiery. Give it time. Weather heats up, so will he and you'll eat some crow.

Submitted by jacos
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 9:12am

And the fact he has not swung a bat regulary in a week and a half.

Submitted by artskoe
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 10:30am

Ditto.

Also Cotts should go on the DL to figure out why the loss of velocity in order to throw a strike.

No panic yet - Remember last year it took us until May to get over the first home series loss to the Brewers. BTW, have you seen their record? And the Pirates are beating up the Marlins!

Whatta world...watta world.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 8:53am

Video and rundown of some guys in Peoria

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/will-it-...

Submitted by Ryno
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 9:20am

Good, thanks! I'm going to catch a game or two when the Chiefs come to Ft. Wayne.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 11:45am

Vitters just has that easy bat speed that you love. Agree with the guy's assessment (narrow sample size caveate) that Flaherty looks a lot like a 3rd basemen.

Submitted by Newport
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 9:26am

Why don't we just give Patton back to the Rockies?

Submitted by TJ
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 9:38am

I agree with Newport completely. To think that Patton will be a servicable pitcher all year is absurd. I don't have to go into his history, it pretty clear that spring training was a fluke. If Viscaino is the guy cut or traded for a PTBN or low level prospect, it would be the second vetern with a proven track record let go keep Patton. This will bit us in the ass. I'm not saying Vizcaino or Gaudin are or were good bets, but at least they had a track record and relievers rebound often.

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 10:03am

Not to mention Wuertz.

Submitted by Jace
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 10:33am

Doing much of anything with the bullpen makes little sense to me at this point. Patton has not shown that Spring was a fluke at all. He has had three appearances total, two of which were pretty good. Doing anything with him would be premature.

Submitted by crunch
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 10:48am

patton hasn't pitched in a week.

his first 2 appearances were nice.

he worked 2 innings in a row and got pitched the very next day on his 3rd appearance for some reason, though...that one didn't go so smooth.

Submitted by Ryno
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 11:07am

Hope this isn't 3/44 or Scott Eyre is broke-ish, but WSCR reporting Bradley out of the lineup until he "comes to Lou and tells him he's 100%". And when he comes back he won't be hitting cleanup. Probably 6th.

Also being urged by Lou & Hendry to talk to the media a little bit.

Submitted by Charlie
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 11:32am

Strange. Why do they tell the press this stupid crap?

Oh. And who's going to break up our right-handed bats then? Nobody? I see. I hope Hoff gets some playing time (and makes some strides defensively).

Submitted by navigator
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 11:58am

"out of the lineup until he "comes to Lou and tells him he's 100%"

That's manager-eez for "he's not giving 100%"

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 11:43am

Vizcaino officially DFAed.

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 11:43am

According to ESPN.com, Chicago was trying to trade Vizcaino before bringing up Samardzija from Triple-A Iowa. But while general manager Jim Hendry attempted to work out a deal with other teams to save money -- including the Nationals -- the 34-year-old reliever will now be on waivers for up to 72 hours. After that, the Cubs will have seven days to release or trade him.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 11:46am

Freaking weird. It's almost got a Palmeiroish feel to it. Wonder what he did.

Submitted by Jace
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 11:52am

Yeah, this is just plain weird. It's gotta be a clubhouse issue...

Submitted by hellfrozeover
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 12:06pm

I realize Vizcaino had yet to give up a run but I can't really be the only one who felt uncomfortable when he pitched those rolling sliders down the middle in every outing am I?

I distinctly remember his first outing of the year even Bob Brenly commented on how Vizcaino got away with several sliders that never broke.

He had the results so far but I just had the feeling of impending disaster every time he stepped out on the mound.

All that said, DFA'ing him is criminally stupid. Somebody somewhere would have probably been willing to take on at least part of his salary (or maybe give up a mid-level prospect if we paid for the whole thing) if they'd waited a while first.

Submitted by Jace
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 12:10pm

There have certainly been some pitchers in the pen who have not consistently been getting results when put in the game. He was not one of them. Cotts, Guzman and even Gregg have looked shaky... But, I still wouldn't have done anything with any of them without at least a few more outings...

Submitted by Ryno
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 12:13pm

Like sands through an hourglass...

so are the days of our lives

Submitted by MikeC
on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 12:34pm

Bradley is also out for not running out ground balls and balls in the OF.

You may want to believe its because of his injury, but this is just how Bradley plays baseball. He has done it on every team he has ever been on.

I am sure he lied his ass off to Lou that he was a 100% and ready to go only for Bradley to lay the abortion of a game he played last night.

Don't want to run? Don't want to hustle? Don't want to even give a shit? Fine your out of the game until your fully healed (if the Cubs were smart they would start running his DL time so that 3rd year doesn't kick in) and your being dropped in the order.

Fellas its going to get a whole lot worse with Milton "I got my 3 year deal" Bradley. His only goal in life is not getting 75 DL days. He can milk the shit out of his injuries without ever hitting the DL. He missed 36 games last year doing it. Don't think he won't do it in Chicago.

What a waste of a roster space, and money.

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