Game #35 Preview: Marlins (16-17) @ Cubs (14-20)

Losers of seven of their last eight games and four in a row, the Cubs try to salvage the finale of the three-game series with the Marlins.

From my office window, I see lots of clouds, fog, and in the alley behind Mr. Beef, a couple guys who look like they're ready to start throwing punches. Forecast says there's a 70% chance of rain by 3pm. I foresee a nearly 100% probability that I'll be disgusted by the second inning.

Pitchers: Chris Volstad (3-2, 4.12) vs. Carlos Silva (3-0, 3.50)

Volstad has racked up four ND's against the Cubs but has pitched pretty well each time out. Silva, making his sixth start as a Cub, got rocked pretty hard last Friday in Cincinnati, though he was the beneficiary of that offensive explosion on Starlin Castro's debut night and collected a victory for his five-inning, ten-hit, four-run effort. Also noteworthy (?): Silva mentioned having shoulder discomfort following the game. Perhaps all of those pins that Carlos Zambrano has been sticking in his Carlos Silva voodoo doll are finally taking hold.

Good history: Silva is new meat to most of the Florida hitters, but against Volstad, Mike Fontenot is 4/11 with a home run and The Man Who Used To Be Aramis Ramirez (not in today's starting lineup) is 4/8 with a HR. 

Bad history: Kosuke Fukudome has gone 1/10 against Volstad, while Alfonso Soriano is 0/9 with 4 K's and Derrek Lee, who stroked a pair of doubles last night, is 2/11 with 4 K's.

Lineups:

As mentioned, A-Ram, down to .159 after last night's oh-fer, is sitting, with Jeff Baker, hitting just .220 himself, starting at third. Also, Castro is hitting in the second spot in place of Theriot, who is resting with "a tight hammy, not considered serious" according to Wittenmyer.

Fish: Coghlan 7, Sanchez 3, H. Ramirez 7, Cantu 5, Uggla 4, Paulino 2, Ross 8, Carroll 9, Volstad 1.

Cubs: Fukudome 9, Castro 6, Byrd 8, Lee 3, Soto 2, Soriano 7, Fontenot 4, Baker 5, Silva 1.

Tags: 
Game preview
Carlos Silva
Submitted by Cubnut on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 12:42pm
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Comments

Submitted by Jace
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 12:48pm

Well, at least they removed one gaping black hole from the middle of the lineup...

Submitted by QuietMan
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 12:51pm

Juan Cruz no longer an option. Injured.

https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/138582...

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 12:54pm

"I foresee a nearly 100% probability that I'll be disgusted by the second inning"

Lol

I made my kid's cereal today and when I poured in the milk I saw Tyler Colvin's picture on the carton.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 1:22pm

hahah

Submitted by Jace
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 1:36pm

Crunch - your buddy jakester just popped up in the comments of the last thread...

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 1:58pm

i'm not getting into that.

i've already lost my ass to that guy in a past internet lawsuit.

http://i35.tinypic.com/f1iof4.jpg

according to my records he hasn't cashed his internet lawsuit check yet so that makes me kinda nervous about our past settlement.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 1:36pm

Nice, one. At least this lineup give me a small bit of confidence that Lou is alive. For a while I thought maybe Trammel was rolling him around like Uncle Bernie.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 1:55pm

for Corey patterson...

that's the 2nd prospect on Mike C's awesome list of prospect from other teams that has been sent down.

Submitted by navigator
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 3:29pm

Oh, I'm guessing the Achilles surgery he had last September has something to do with it. He didn't see much action in ST.

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 3:22pm

Marlon Byrd is the tits.

Submitted by navigator
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 3:36pm

I'd love Marlon to death if he do something about his throws to the plate tailing so far off line. They were tailing far right this spring and the Dback announcers predicted that the league would run without fear against his arm.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 3:52pm

So, it doesn't count that he threw someone out at home in the last few games?

Submitted by W Flag
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 3:36pm

yeah!

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 4:06pm

Carlos The Stopper Silva back to his old tricks. I guess he's going to win the Cy Young on a list place team. He's the new Steve Carlton.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 4:11pm

i'm pretty sure he spent the offseason looking for desolate dirt road crossroad intersections seeking the devil in order to inquire about a possible deal.

Submitted by Charlie
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 4:45pm

Those helicopter rentals aren't cheap, so the ridiculous deal he signed with Seattle really helped a lot.

Submitted by H_Vaughn
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 7:38pm

The Marlins announcers were schticking it up over Silva's contract. It's okay for us to kid about it, but he's 4-0, so they can get bent.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 7:40pm

hahaha

Submitted by billybucks
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 4:08pm

I expect Mount Z is about to erupt.

Can't be having much fun.

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 4:10pm

Cubs win! Cubs win!

Meh.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 4:12pm

5 games til .500 !!

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 4:15pm

castro back in the 8 hole friday according to lou...

theriot has a tight hamstring...held out for cold weather...

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 4:25pm

going 2-4 for will get you that demotion every time.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 4:16pm

pulled in the 8th to put in another righty against John Baker.

ouch.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 4:21pm

ronnie woo is making sure people realize he still exists by screaming over the part of the park where the post-game media room is...after a few minutes of it...

"have you ever met ronnie woo-woo?" - reporter
"who?" - silva
*reporter laughter*

Submitted by Jace
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 5:23pm

http://www.jeff-samardzija.com/bio.asp

Wow... I can't believe he has his own website... I needed that. Strongly recommended if you need a chuckle...

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 5:56pm

That flaming ball looks like it is going to end up a high and well of the plate for a ball, so the website looks pretty accurate to me.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 6:18pm

bwhaha.

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 7:05pm

LOL!

Wow, click on the HOME link. The flash animation is totally over the top and obnoxious.

Submitted by The Joe
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 9:30pm

http://www.jeff-samardzija.com/merchandise.asp#

I have the two-sport poster of him shirtless on the ceiling above my bed.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 9:50pm

http://www.allauthentic.com/images/products/i...

Submitted by The Joe
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 10:24pm

Except Bo was good.

Submitted by The Joe
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 10:32pm

Wow, I really just can't get enough of this website. I'm scrolling through the photo gallery wondering what sort of filter is used for deciding on the images. First there's a glorious picture of him running with the football with his fingers are firmly wrapped around the facemask of a defender...but then, there's, what looks like one of Tim's cartoons, which is slamming Someninja's shortlived baseball career. Either he's got a great sense of humor or they're slapping every photo google finds onto the website.

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 10:05pm

Jack of all trades, master of none.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 6:17pm

if you don't in this age and you're a high end pick or player...your agent sucks.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 6:05pm

Jim Palmer on Corey Patterson being called up: "it gives them a guy who can bat leadoff".

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 11:09pm

what????????????

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 9:04pm

One out bottom of the 9th, Ludwick on first, Cards down by 8. Pujols doubles against the wall and Ludwick busts his ass to come around and score, the crucial 2nd run... more importantly getting Pujols a worthless RBI.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Thu, 05/13/2010 - 12:17pm

he's got to get his RBI's somehow, he pretty much gets the Bonds treatment now with runners on.

/bitter owner of Pujols this year in fantasy ball

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Thu, 05/13/2010 - 12:49pm

The funny thing about the Bonds treatment is that it's self-fufilling. If the umpires would call the strike zone correctly, then pitchers wouldn't be afraid to pitch to these guys. The fact that they get a shoebox sized strike zone makes the pitchers say "screw it, I'll just walk him".

Submitted by rokfish
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 10:57pm

Cant we all just enjoy a rare cubs win and a day off for
Aramis Ramirez to work with his well known batting coach.

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 11:09pm

This from today's Tribune web article on today's game:

"The Cubs still have room for much progress."

Submitted by Charlie
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 11:25pm

That's some quality word putting togethering.

Submitted by The Joe
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 11:28pm

...and also news to me.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 11:56pm

only 5 games to .500!

Submitted by Cubster
on Thu, 05/13/2010 - 6:33am

saw that Cashner and Vitters are doing well after their promotions...

from the Baseball America daily list/prospects report...

CHC AAA Cashner, Andrew
6 5 1 1 1 6 1.50 W (1-0); First start at Triple-A goes just as well

CHC AA Vitters, Josh 3B
4 1 2 0 .462 2 2B (3); Promotion to Double-A hasn't slow him one bit

Submitted by Cubster
on Thu, 05/13/2010 - 6:39am

Glad I'm not DeRosa's doc...

A brutally honest Mark DeRosa said Tuesday that the left wrist surgery he underwent last year was a "total failure" and will remain out of the Giants' lineup for at least a couple of days to determine his next course of action.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100...

Submitted by jacos
on Thu, 05/13/2010 - 8:44am

When DeRosa's surgeon was asked to comment he only said
"HIII! Everybody!!!"

Submitted by Charlie
on Thu, 05/13/2010 - 9:47am

They should go back and forth in the press debating just who is the actual failure. That'd be fun.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Thu, 05/13/2010 - 9:24am

my money is on Dr. Kremcheck

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