Game 31 Thread - Maholm vs. Hudson

Soriano sits because of a sore knee and an OPS in the .500's.

Braves Cubs
*Bourn, CF
 *DeJesus, RF
Prado, LF
 *Campana, CF
*Freeman, 1B
 Castro, SS
Uggla, 2B *LaHair, 1B
#C. Jones, 3B *Stewart, 3B
*Heyward, RF Soto, C
Ross, C
 *Cardenas, LF
Wilson, SS
 Barney, 2B
Hudson, P
 *Maholm, P
Tags: 
Cubs game thread
Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 12:40pm
Return to Homepage

Comments

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 1:22pm

As I mentioned in the last thread, I think theocorp is handling this really well. He was never much of a hitter, in my mind, but Soriano does seem like a class guy, very nice and all.

Letting him go through "injury", which I am assuming is happening, is good stuff.

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 1:27pm

Sveum is also starting to impress me. I think he might actually mean it when he says results count. It is tough to stay on that philosophy when about 5 of your starters are Triple AAA caliber. But he is doing stuff I'd expect some of you guys to do.

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 1:42pm

Okay, one more thing. The Cubs are actually looking like a good team. They may suck on many levels, but coaching is huge - in my opinion - and they are a team that I am now trying to watch, rather than avoid.

We have a triple A team competing with the rest of the league. May not last, but it may.

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 1:51pm

Effing pollyanna...

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 1:42pm

Feel free to comment.

Submitted by Tito
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 2:21pm

Watch and learn.

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:03pm

lol

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 2:16pm

hey look, an out on the basepaths

LaHair due up next.

Submitted by johann
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 2:22pm

*bangs head on the desk* Wonder how many runs vs outs Castro's aggressive base running has given us.

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 2:42pm

So what happened there? Gameday just said Castro out at home.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 2:48pm

slicer down right field line, Heyward dove and ball landed right on line and bounced into right field.

Castro certainly didn't leave the box at full speed seeing if it was fair and then thrown out at home. Heyward bounced the throw to Uggla and Uggla threw it up the third base line by about 5 feet and he was still out relatively easily.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 2:38pm

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball...

Kinzer says he won't talk long-term extension for Castro during season.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 2:41pm

Marshall trying to choke away a lead again.

leadoff HR to Braun.

2-1 Reds, 1 out after striking out Ramirez.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 2:56pm

and lifted after getting 2 outs, but 2 singles.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:16pm

Ondrusek gets the final out and Reds win 2-1. Cueto/Greinke with 8 shutout innings each. Axford strikes out the first 2 hitters in the 9th, has 2 strikes on Stubbs and then gives up a single, double to Votto that scores Stubbs and a single to Phillips that scored Votto.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 5:17pm

Careen win #1500 for Dusty, 20th All-time

presuming around 80 wins the next 2 years, should move up to #16 by end of next season.

Submitted by johann
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:00pm

Malholm down to a 1.08 WHIP btw. He's been giving up too many HRs but overall he's been pitching better than his ERA. This is in opposition to James Russel who with a 1.32 WHIP is just begging for an ERA spike soon.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:05pm

fun fact: in an NL only roto league I dumped Maholm after the first week, but kept Volstad.

I am awesome.

Submitted by Tito
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:11pm

Not as awesome as me. I picked up LaHair during an off-season waivers period, then didn't hang on to him as a keeper prior to the draft.

FOR I AM COSTANZA, LORD OF THE IDIOTS

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:19pm

but you still have danks in your other league right?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 4:38pm

nah, I dumped Danks before his start Tuesday when he finally pitched well, although he didn't get the win.

Starting pitching in our mixed league isn't particularly hard to find though.

Submitted by Ryno
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 8:43pm

You should have dropped them both? :)

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:00pm

lahero strikes again...rbi single hit into the hole of the shift.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:03pm

and LaHair cashes in on the opportunity he didn't get with Castro thrown out, 2-out RBI single.

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:11pm

LaHair, he of the "I can hit everything they throw at me" Lahair?

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:10pm

The baseball knowledge is unique.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:12pm

Stewart with a half-ass defensive play giving up a 2-out double.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:13pm

followed by a BB.

Dolis up in the pen.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:15pm

gets Uggla to pop out to RF.

Be up to Dolis to finish it.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:17pm

is there a reason why s.maine is in AAA being their best reliever rather than in the bigs being the cubs best reliever? he's only getting out both lefties and righties...with control...

also, do lendy castillo and mike bowden exist?

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:19pm

Wood will probably go on DL after hurting his arm throwing his glove.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:28pm

that was boring, yet good...cubs win.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:29pm

1-2-3 inning for Dolis against Jones, Heyward and McCann.

Cubs take another series from a division leader.

Submitted by tem99
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:32pm

The only question left is whether this Cubs team is the best team in 2012, or best team ever?

Submitted by Rob Richardson
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:57pm

Things certainly have changed for the better haven't they.

Submitted by Eric S
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 9:17pm

best-est Cubs team ever?

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:37pm

Larry's last game at Wrigley

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:42pm

they gave him one of the "standings flags" for ATL from the outfield flag section. class.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:37pm

Cubs are 8-7 vs. Nationals, Cardinals, Dodgers and Braves

5-11 vs. Marlins, Brewers, Reds and Phillies

Submitted by John Beasley
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:49pm

Interesting stat, but a lot of that has to do with timing. This team started bad.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:32pm

Last time Cubs won a game 1-0: Aug. 3, 2011, @ PIT (W Garza, S Marmol).

This team is a Top-60 reliever away from being a .500 club. Considering what we thought we had, and also who's contributing nothing, that's saying a lot.

Submitted by johann
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:40pm

This team definitely has issues. Castro and LaHair will realistically both most likely see their stats drop a bit, as will Campana and Dempster. Yet on the other hand, I can also see Soto, Soriano and Stewart batting wise and Malholm and Volstad pitching wise seeing #s get better. We got a team right now pretty out of wack with player career #s both positive and negative, so will be interesting to see which way it goes.

Overall though if Rizzo shows an ability to cut down on strike outs and Castro learns to run the bases better it will be a pretty epic middle of the lineup we have with some excellent top of the rotation pitching.

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 4:05pm

Castro and LaHair are both stars. The rest I just am waiting for the fall. But Sveum is pretty good to be able to get this crew to be competitive. His not your mother's Qball.

Submitted by Eric S
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 9:30pm

Fredi Gonzalez has some Qball in him ...
“Huddy was outstanding. So much that if he would have come out of the seventh inning with no runs, I was thinking about letting him hit in the eighth, because he was that dominant.” ... “We swung the bats well. Even though we didn’t score any runs today, I can’t complain about our offense. They did a nice job defending us… It seems like we should have won two out of three, especially with Huddy’s performance today.”

On yesterday's win: “Good team effort. Danny battled to get that two-run single and get us over the top.” ... “Freeman’s going to go home 0-for-3, 0-for-4, and he hit three balls right on the nose. You can’t do anything about that. I thought we all had good at-bats against him. He just kept us off-balance. The old guy – I’m calling Dempster the old guy – he reached back one time and punched out Bourney with 93 [mph]. I think he pitched the whole night at about 88, 89.”

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 4:19pm

still a terrible offense and the pitching will only get worse.

Submitted by johann
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 4:37pm

Except imo Malhom and Volstad will both get better, as will Wood and Marmol. That doesn't mean they are great pitchers (though I think Malhom has actually been pitching well) but that thing Ryno was talking about with reverting to the mean applies here. They are pitching much worse than career #s and that's just as likely to revert back to a better mean as the good will be to revert back to a worse mean.

/edit not to mention take a look at the career #s of Soto, Soriano and Ian Stewart. Both are way underperforming those #s. If we're going to make the claim our good starting pitching will come back down a bit (which is a realistic point) you also need to accept that way underperforming players will most likely move back to their career mean unless you have nagging injuries. Soriano maybe might see an age drop off, but I just don't see it being this drastic. None of those players most likely will ever be part of a future team, but if we can see an uptick in performance from them and our back 2 pitchers, it will help mask a drop off in performance for our overperforming players.

Submitted by Newport
on Fri, 05/11/2012 - 8:21am

You think Maholm will get better? He better start clearing off space on a shelf for his Cy Young award.

Submitted by johann
on Fri, 05/11/2012 - 8:43am

He's overall pitching well and has a 1.080 WHIP but is giving up too many HRs and I do think he can bring that ERA down a bit. I don't think he's a star or anything but he seems to be a pretty good #4th pitcher.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Fri, 05/11/2012 - 11:51am

the new comments reminded me that I forgot to respond.

I believe all the players that may regress upwards will be tempered by all the players that will regress downwards. The team isn't winning these games easily and I don't think they have the pitching talent to keep winning 1-run games at anymore than a .500 clip.

I picked them to win 75 games and I'd be thrilled if they got there.

Submitted by George Altman
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 8:00pm

Which is why I would like to see them make a 4-5 yr commitment to Garza, land a proven #2/#3 starter in the FA market (e.g. Hamels), and hope this Samardzija is the real deal. Having those three plus a Maholm is a good starting point. Would also like to see the obvious trade deadline dumps (Soto, Dempster, Baker) bring back some effective bullpen help for 2012-2013.

The offense (right now) is obviously going to be built around Castro, Rizzo, BJax, Castillo/Clevenger, and LaHair (for as long he continues to hit). Not sure what Theo's plan is for the offense (FA, trades, or wait for the farm system).

Submitted by artskoe
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 3:41pm

Cubs at Brewers: Battling to get OUT of last place...

Submitted by The E-Man
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 4:08pm

This team definitely has issues.

Thank you Capt. Obvious :)

Campana is a bunting hit machine. There is no stopping him!

Last night the Braves corners were pulled in guarding against his bunting "magic." The little dude "crushed" a singe to left!

He actually does fuck up pitchers a bit. Its just, he has to have enough OBP accumen to make it worthwhile.

Overall, I am impressed with our starting pitching. I am unimpressed with the two costly bullpen veterans, who have cost the team 5 wins or more.

This team is looking like the 2010 Padres East! (except no "good" Heath Bell, or A. Gonzo)

It would be a hoot if the team can start sniffing .500 again.

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 4:16pm

did today's game come with a crack cocaine and antidepressant smoothie or something?

there's a bit of glow coming off this game for some reason. 13 wins, 5 away from .500...still crap hitting...still iffy pen. stewart's recent (odd) misplays aside the D is a bit tighter lately.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 4:21pm

Just "boring, but good Cubs win."

Nothing more...

Submitted by crunch
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 4:26pm

here and twitter are blowing up with hope. it's just an odd-ish coincidence after a pretty quick/uneventful game. not trying to poop in anyone's sandbox.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 4:45pm

not trying to poop in anyone's sandbox.

Dude, that is gross. Stop doing that!

I am liking the the starting pitching, actually. At least lately. Except for the "Big Funk" Volsted.

I'd like to see them sign Garza. We are going to have to wait until July to find out if its gonna happen.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 4:32pm

fun fact: Matt Bush was driving Brandon Guyer's truck when he crashed under the influence and Guyer is also being sued for $5M.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/rays/content/gu...

Guyer called up to replace Keppinger briefly as he was put on the restricted list for a personal matter.

Submitted by Charlie
on Thu, 05/10/2012 - 12:08pm

Ouch. On the other hand, why would you let Matt Bush borrow your truck?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 4:40pm

Colvin playing 1b for rockies at the moment.

X
You may login with either your assigned username or your e-mail address.
The password field is case sensitive.
Loading