Game 48 Recap: Cubs 1, Dodgers 2 (11 innings)
One to forget on Memorial weekend
Game Center, Box Score, Play by Play, Game Chart, Photos
W -Billingsley (3-0), finding ways to lose
L -Guzman (0-1), finding ways to win
Things to take from the game
1. Second Guessing
It's been a good day for the armchair managers. Let's see:
- Lou pulls Hill, who has thrown 66 pitches in 6 shutout innings, so that Ward can pinch-hit with a runner on second and two outs in a 0-0 game. Doesn't work.
- Lou asked Barrett, hitting fourth and with no sac. bunts on the year, to bunt with runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out in a 1-0 game in the eighth. Doesn't work.
- With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, Lou pinch hits Aramis Ramirez for the hot-hitting Pagan, a move that requires Jones to enter the game as a defensive replacement. Doesn't work.
- Lou pulls Wuertz, after an effective seventh, for Eyre, who hasn't pitched in a week, to start the eighth. Doesn't work. (Eyre gives up HR to Ethier, tying the game)
- Wolf looks sharp, for Wolf, to start the game. 1-2-3 easy, with some big curves, Lilly-style.
- So all this business has been made about messing with Hill's delivery out of the stretch. (Most of which, I wonder, would have been better left alone, as opposed to giving him something to have to deal with in the middle of the season) On his first two pitches out of the stretch, Hill starts with a big leg kick where he just dangles that leg there, seemingly for at least a full second, if not longer, before moving towards home. It was really, incredibly deliberate. Second pitch from the stretch was a slide step. Will be curious to see what this does, longterm, in the battle against the base-stealers vs. the battle against the guy at home plate with the bat in his hands.
- Heh. Hill promptly picks off Furcal by using this exaggerated, suspended leg kick. He sees Furcal break before he's come toward home with the leg, and chucks it over to Lee to pick Furcal off as he heads back to first. Rather easily.
- Furcal with a tough start. Now he boots what likely was a 6-4-3 ball in the first. 2 on, 1 out instead of out of the inning. Inning ends, however, with a Pagan K and Barrett then trying to steal third on a 2-0 count to Izturis.
- with two outs and a runner on first, Theriot grounds back to Wolf, who spins and throws to second, thinking he needs to start a double-play. Count the number of outs again, Randy.
- fifth inning of a game with nothing going on, and Murton leads off with a double, followed by a bunt single by Pagan. Pagan then takes second on a not-that-wild pitch from Wolf. It barely gets away from Martin, a few feet, but Pagan breaks immediately, and Martin doesn't risk the throw with a runner on third.
- so Izturis is up with a base open and the pither behind him. Wolf tries to pitch around Izturis to get to Hill and the potential double play. (At least, that's how I'm seeing it.) If Izturis swings at any of this crap, he's doing Wolf a favor. On a three-one count, every pitch either a breaking pitch or a nibbler, Izturis hits a weak ground ball to third, which can't score the run. Hill now up with one out, and the runners still on second and third.
- and Hill proceeds to strike out. Soriano battles Wolf, with a bunch of foul balls, before finally walking on a 3-2 count to load the bases with two outs. It'll come down to the Theriot AB.
- and Theriot grounds out. No runs scored in an inning that began with runners on second and third, and no outs.
- nice play by Izturis to get Hill out of a mini-jam in the 5th. Barehands a check-swing grounder to get the man at first.
- Am I the only person who let out a loud HA HA HA at Brenley's fabulous "high chopper" pun? With the camera focusing on a helicopter flying overhead, Brenley asks Len "do you know what that is? (pause) it's a high chopper."
- Wolf has thrown a lot of pitches through six, and has, as I recall, a reputation for falling apart late in games. So he is removed for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the sixth, with his shutout going.
- Murton pops out to start the seventh, and reveals to me a new, ugly feature of Dodger Stadium: Russel Martin chases after the pop up, catches it, and backs into this really cheap, flimsy wire "fence" that separates these new up-close seats from the playing field. It didn't offer almost any resistance against his body at all, as he tumbled into the seats. Very nice play, but the player's union should be raising hell about the danger these super-premium seats pose to players.
- Another stranded runner. This time, it's Pagan, doubling with one out in the seventh, who doesn't score. Hill, who has a shutout going with only 66 pitches thrown, is pulled for Ward as a pinch-hitter with two outs. Is it worth taking down Hill to see if Ward can score a runner from second with two outs? Debatable.
- top of the Eighth, Soriano singles off of Seanez, and Theriot hits a ball to straight-away right field on a hit and run. With Brady Clark guarding the line, the ball lands, nearly getting to the wall before Clark does a nice job cutting it off. On the one hand, it's a disappointment that we only have runners at first and third. Ont he other hand, it could have been a fly-out
- Lee promptly singles to make it a moot point, 1-0 Cubs in the eighth.
- With Aramis having a scheduled off-day, Barrett is hitting cleanup. With runners on first and second and nobody out in a 1-0 game, Lou has our cleanup hitter with zero sacrifice bunts on the year, lay down a sacrifice bunt. Right back to the pitcher, Lee out at third. Bind-boggling. We wind up loading the bases in the inning, but Aramis pinch-hits and drives a ball to the wall, for an exciting but unproductive final out to the inning.
- There have been a few questionable calls by Lou. Aramis came in to pinch-hit for Pagan. Granted, Aramis is the far superior hitter, but Pagan's been hot, and now Jones has to come in to replace Pagan in center, in what is still a 1-0 game, late.
- And along with that, Lou takes Wuertz out of the game, after an effective seventh, in favor of little-used Scott Eyre. First appearance in a week.
- and there you have it. a HR to the only batter he's likely to face, Andre Ethier. Tie game.
- Lou has spent the rest of this inning looking pissed. WGN keeps cutting to him waving and gesturing and gesticulating, at what or whom it's hard to say. They then show him berating Barrett after the inning, about where he's setting up for pitches.
- Howry works the rest of the eighth inning. His fly-out-to-the-warning-track ball bamboozles three straight Dodgers.
- This game has really slowed down. Guzman seems to be pitching well in extra innings. Maybe it's an L.A. thing, bu there seems to be absolutely no enthusiasm for a 1-1 game in extras.
- Maybe Guzman's not pitching so well. back to back walks to start the bottom of the eleventh.
- Ramon Martinez (yes, he's still around) takes his secondary lead off of second, stumbles, and Barrett tries to pick him off by throwing behind him. Martinez just breaks for third, and makes it. Should have run directly at Martinez. Winning run is how on third with no outs. Guzman out of the game.
- Marmol in, an intentional walk to load the bases and create the force at home. (As Brenley asks, why not just have the exiting pitcher do that, instead of the guy who needs to throw strikes, the rest of the way?)
- the game ends with Pierre getting a game-winning hit-by-pitch that would have been a game-winning wild-pitch, had Pierre's body not been there. That's a new one.
Inning 1
Is Al Yellon gellin'? Neighbors having quickies. Home Runs in Bunches. Ryan Braun updates.
Inning 2
Duties of Parachat greeters. Accounting puns. Rice and beans.
Inning 3
How baseball is like the card game of Hearts
Inning 4
Who, exactly, are the Big Ten baseball champions? Some school that no one has ever heard of, or cares about, outside of one of those rust-belt states. Wanderlust.
Inning 5
Why your state sucks and mine doesn't. That Izturis at-bat. Bratwurst. Meatie-veg. If pitchers used the tricks of "heel" pro wrestlers. Intent of memorial day.
Inning 6
Wolf puns. Offensiveness. Cheating at crosswords puzzles.
Inning 7
the informational goodness of Gameday. TMI? Real People.
Inning 8
Sweet Baby Jesus's BBQ sause. Things we care about more than the Bonds HR chase. Reptiles on my window. Marriage prospects. Worry about Eyre. Frustration with Eyre. Rhyming couplets for Howry and Eyre (Howry and Eyre and set fire to my hair, etc.)
Inning 9
Reconsidering LaTroy Hawkins, in light of Eyre and Howry. Hancock's Dad's lawsuit against the restaurant.
Inning 10
If you win a debate against a stoner and he's too high to figure it out, have you actually won? Libertarians and Vegetarians: is there a difference?
Inning 11
pickle-related slang. Ramon Martinez: is that really him? Ringtones. Final Countdown. Final Countdown ringtones.
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