Game 65 Recap: Cubs 5, Mariners 4
Unlikely Heroes
Game Center, Play by Play, Box Score, Photos
W- Howry (3-3), the Cubs Bullpen, light-hitting shortstops L- Morrow (3-1), finger-wagging Things to take from this game 1. Good Bullpen Work Marquis pitched well enough through 5, got in trouble in the sixth, and wound up getting pulled after Ibanez hit a three-run double. Wuertz, followed by Marmol, Rapada and Howry, slammed the door, allowing the Cubs to come back late. Howry, in particular, looked very good in the eighth and ninth 2. Scoring early, scoring late We scored three in the first off of Weaver, featuring extra-base hits by Soriano, Pie and Fontenot, as well as a Floyd single. The big play of the game, however, came in the bottom of the eighth. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out, down by 1, Izturis (yes, Izturis) hit a two-run, go-ahead single. Howry made it stick. 3. Odd dust-up between Jose Guillen and Tim McClellan You can read the details, below. Gotta run!- Nice start to the Cubs half of the first: Soriano stretches a blooper down the LF line into a double, Pie smokes a triple to the CF vine, scoring Soriano, and Floyd laces a single to score Pie. Fontenot caps the extra-baseathon with a triple. 3-0 at the end of one, Weaver getting hit hard.
- BJB with a story of how when he and Ron worked together in a booth in '90-'91, Ron would lose his reading glasses on his nose, and accuse Bob of having taken them. Heh.
- Koyie Hill with a double down the RF line, then gets pickled when he breaks towards third on a ball hit back up the middle, which Weaver managed to field. More bad Cubs running.
- Marquis is sailing along. How many good pitching performances with Koyie as the catcher, before it's a bone of contention? Only one base-runner through four IP
- Floyd 3 for 3 so far, in the fifth. flips this one out to left, nice piece of hitting.
- I always liked Weaver, and can't help but feel bad for him. He's showing his disgust with himself in the fifth, even though he didn't give up a run. Angrily swipe-catches the ball thrown back to him, a couple pitches after giving up the opposite-field hit to Floyd. the WGN close-up shows him grimmacing in anger.
- and now, in the 6th, poor Weaver gets hit by a pitch right on his throwing arm. Looks like it hurt, but he stays in to run, at least.
- Marquis might be losing it a bit, as he then walks Ichiro, and just visibly seems to be laboring
- And there's a pink backback in the bullpen. I think it's by Rapada. Probably one of those zany hazing hijinks, where they emasculate the rookie by making them do humiliating things like carrying around pink backpacks? Oh, the humor, oh, the cruelty.
- And with that bit of social commentary, DeRosa boots a ball at third. Weaver Scores. A walk to Guillen then loads the bases, all this without a hit in the sixth.
- and the real killer comes when Raul Ibanez clears the bases on a double, 4-3 M's. Fontenot hesitated a bit on the relay throw to the plate to try to get Guillen, not sure it would have made a difference
- and today's weirdness is Jose Guillen confronting the home plate umpire after he scores. It looks like Guillen accidentally bumped in to Tim McClellan as he was crossing home plate. Guillen pushed off a bit on McClellan, and McClellan gave him the finger. Er, the wag of the index finger, like don't do that. Guillen then comes up to McClellan, puts his hand on McC's belly, and has a nice chat with him! Finally the Mariner manager, Hargrove, drags Guillen off, and that's the end of it. Dumb play all around, as McClellan probably shouldn't have been right in the line of the runner, Guillen should habe known better than to push off, and McClellan should have let it go as just a part of the play, due to bodies getting in the way.
- Cubs half of the sixth, Koyie Hill walks, takes second on a wild pitch, can't score on an Izturis single to right. Guillen throws a rocket in to home, keeping Hill at third. Jaques Jones in to pinch hit for Marquis, to try to drive in the runner from third with one out. He flies out, as does Soriano. Can't get that run back, still down 4-3.
- That was the most godawful 7th inning stretch I've seen in..... well..... in two or three days, I guess..
- The Fray at least makes an effort to talk baseball, for five seconds, before we get a half inning of discussion about the music business.
- Clay Rapada's first MLB apperance. I've barely ever seen him throw, before. Comes in with runners on first and second, one out in the eighth. In to face Ibanez. Gets ahead with a called strike, gets Ibanez way out on front of a change up for a foul strike. Ibanez continues to be way out in front of another off-speed pitch. Eventually, gets the fly-out. Howry comes in to get Sexon on another fly. Between them and Marmol, some good bullpen work.
- Brandon Morrow comes in for the 8th, and begins by walking DeRosa and Fontenot. Koyie Hill up to bunt (I keep typing Koyie, for the practice, and because "Hill" alone means Rich Hill, to me). Good bunt (with, it sounds, some help from a lucky bounce) and we get runners at 2 and 3 with one out, down a run, in the eighth
- a pair of interesting decisions here: first, not to pinch hit for izturis, and second, to pitch to him when the pitcher's spot is up next (with Pagan getting ready to pinch-hit on deck) and first base open)
- and Izturis comes through with a single down the LF line. With a bobble, both runs score and Izturis takes second. 5-4 Cubs. Morrow looks terrible. Can't field a bunt by Pagan, either. Morrow out, Green in, strikes out Soriano for the second out, Pie grounds out for the third.
- Howry to keep pitching, for the save, since Dempster has gone four nights in a row.
- A few pitches in to the ninth, and Howry continues to look good. Keeps throwing fastballs at 91, 92, on the outside corner to Betancourt. The blows him away with a fastball upstairs.
- More of the same. Howry just keeps painting the outside corner with low-90s fastballs. Bloomquist goes down. Johjima makes contact, at least, but grounds out weakly to Izturis. Cubs win. Howry looks great.
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