Game 139 Thread / Astros @ Cubs (2 of 3)
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SP | Brandon Backe | SP | Carlos Zambrano |
9-12, 5.42, 122 K, 72 BB, 159.1 IP | 13-5, 3.53, 114 K, 61 BB, 168.1 IP | ||
CF | *Michael Bourn | LF | Alfonso Soriano |
LF | Ty Wigginton | 2B | *Mike Fontenot |
SS | Miguel Tejada | 1B | Derrek Lee |
1B | #Lance Berkman | 3B | Aramis Ramirez |
3B | #Geoff Blum | RF | Mark DeRosa |
RF | Hunter Pence | CF | *Jim Edmonds |
2B | *David Newhan | C | Geovany Soto |
C | Humberto Quintero | SS | Ryan Theriot |
P | Brandon Backe | P | #Carlos Zambrano |
While Cub fans are hoping that the team's bats will come back to life (no EBH's among the club's last 27 hits), the greater concern right now is with Carlos Zambrano.
All Cubdom would like to see that the two extra days of rest Zambrano got when his scheduled Sunday start was pushed back to this evening have proven beneficial to his "fatigued" "dead" tired arm. If nothing else, in the span of those two days, the calendar turned from August to September.
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Final Minor League Records
The minor league season ended over the weekend and here's how the lil' Cubbies fared.
(WHOOPS! - I guess Boise still has 2 games left. Close enough... )
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TCR Tuesday Notes
Just a few things that have been lying in my "in" box...
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Game 138 Thread / Astros @ Cubs (1 of 3)
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Game 137 Thread / Phillies @ Cubs (4 of 4)
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SP | *Jamie Moyer |
SP | *Sean Marshall |
11-7, 3.81, 102 K, 50 BB, 160.2 IP |
3-3, 3.52, 43 K, 13 BB, 46 IP |
||
SS | #Jimmy Rollins | LF |
Alfonso Soriano |
2B | *Chase Utley | CF |
Reed Johnson |
LF | Pat Burrell |
1B |
Derrek Lee |
1B | *Ryan Howard |
3B |
Aramis Ramirez |
CF | #Shane Victorino |
2B |
Mark DeRosa |
RF |
Jayson Werth | C |
Geovany Soto |
3B |
Pedo Feliz | RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome |
C |
Carlos Ruiz |
SS |
Ronny Cedeno |
P | *Jamie Moyer |
P | *Sean Marshall |
Carlos Zambrano was scheduled to start Sunday for the Cubs, but Z and his dead arm ("muscle fatigue in his triceps," according to the Cubs) are going to skip a turn. WSCR also reported this morning that Rich Harden, whose velocity was markedly down against the Phillies on Friday, will skip his next turn, meaning he won't pitch until sometime after the Houston series. Can I say it? Oy, oy, oy. (Nice to have an 11-game lead in the Wild Card race, however.)
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Game 136 Thread / Phillies @ Cubs (3 of 4)
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Angel's in the Bullpen
Angel Guzman (September '07 TJS) had what was likely his final rehab outing last night at Iowa, pitching the 8th & 9th in a GF non-save situation in an I-Cubs victory, throwing two shutout inings (31 pitches - 23 strikes). With his minor league rehab going well, I fully expect the Cubs to reactivate Guzman from the 60-day DL on Monday when the MLB active rosters expand to 40.
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Ramirez versus DeRosa for Player of the Month
With three days left in August, the Cubs have two legit contenders for player of the month honors in August. The only player of the month winner so far for the best team in baseball has been Geovany Soto's rookie of the month honor in April, although he's certainly a strong contender to win it again in August. His only real competition is the July winner, Ian Stewart who has a slight edge in OPS and both have 20 RBI's in August.
All the NL contenders after the jump...
Game 135 Thread / Phillies @ Cubs (2 of 4)
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SP | Joe Blanton | SP | Rich Harden |
(NL) | 1-0, 4.03, 27 K, 15 BB, 38 IP | (NL) | 4-1, 1.47, 70 K, 14 BB, 49 IP |
SS | #Jimmy Rollins | LF | Alfonso Soriano |
CF | #Shane Victorino | SS | Ryan Theriot |
2B | *Chase Utley | 1B | Derrek Lee |
1B | *Ryan Howard | 3B | Aramis Ramirez |
LF | Pat Burrell | CF | *Jim Edmonds |
RF | Jayson Werth | 2B | Mark DeRosa |
3B | *Greg Dobbs | RF | *Kosuke Fukudome |
C | Carlos Ruiz | C | Henry Blanco |
P | Joe Blanton | P | *Rich Harden |
A few aftershocks from last night's game...the come from behind win was the 38th for the Cubs this season, second to the Yankees 39. It was their 19th win when trailing in the seventh inning or later, best in baseball ahead of their current foe - the Phightin Phils.
Today, ex-teammates do battle as Rich Harden and Joe Blanton take the mound. I'm sure a steak dinner at Morton's is on the table for the winner.
Some more game notes fun after the jump...
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ABH - Anybody But Hamels
I think I'm taking the 2008 Cubs for granted. I headed to my car for my commute home last night just as the Phillies were scoring three runs in the sixth. And even with Cole Hamels carving up the lineup, I never thought we were out of it. I tuned into XM radio by that point and it had Pat and Ron going and Pat was carrying on that the Phils bullpen has been worked hard lately. If the Cubs could just work up that pitch count up on Hamels. If he could go eight, the Phils would just go to Brad Lidge which probably wouldn't have done the Cubs much good considering he's a perfect 31 for 31 in save opportunities. The key was to get into the pen before that. After seven, Hamels was up to 108 pitches but due up third, and Charlie Manuel obliged by pinch hitting for him.
Boom. Mike Fontenot goes yard on Ryan Madson. As I heard Bob Brenly say on the replay, "ABH - Anybody but Hamels".
Next up, Soriano sounds like he just missed one for a double. After the Theriot single, Derrek Lee stepped up and I'm sure many the skeptical Cub fan were expecting the double play that he seems to be so prone to hitting to this year. But he already had two hits on the night and his one out sounded like a well-struck ball to the outfield. He's also managed a .923 OPS over the last 7 days. Chad Durbin left his control in the bullpen though and the bases were loaded for tonight's hero.
Whenever a Cub hits one deep, you can always tell with Pat if it's going out or not by the first or second word. He tries to put some excitement in any ball that looks like it has any chance but there's just this little extra inflection he puts in his voice when a ball is definitely going out. When Soriano hit his double, it wasn't there. When Fontenot and Ramirez hit there blasts, I could tell right away just by the subtle change in Pat's voice.
After missing on the first pitch to Ramirez and considering Durbin just walked Lee, I figured Ramirez would be taking. Instead I'm listening to Pat Hughes calling yet another Cubs comeback victory.
Ramirez is certainly the game's hero, but let's be sure to give Kerry Wood his deserved praise. Working on his fourth straight game against the four best Phillies hitters was no small task. He had a bit of breathing room, but an outstanding outing by him as well to navigate the ninth inning for his 28th save.
The Win Probability chart after the jump...
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Recent comments
Dolorous Jon Lester (view)
I think if you had ranked players by how much the team could ill afford to have them miss significant time, Steele would be right at the top of the list.
crunch (view)
steele MRI on friday. counsell expects an IL stint.
no current plans for his rotation replacement.
hellfrozeover (view)
I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1.
crunch (view)
amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.
neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.
Eric S (view)
Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it).
crunch (view)
boo.
crunch (view)
smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.
this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.
crunch (view)
i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things. the default is delay. i would choose brown.
like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.
anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.
Childersb3 (view)
Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.
I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.
If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.
Give him a chance.
But Wesneski probably gets it