May 2010

Jesus Morelli extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a 1st inning RBI double, leading one squad of Cubs to a 5-3 victory over the Giants on Field #3, while the other squad of Giants defeated the other squad of Cubs 6-2 on Field #2, as the EXST Cubs and EXST Giants played a Memorial Day Cactus League Extended Spring training split squad doubleheader at Fitch Park in Mesa, AZ. Both games were stopped after eight innings.

Making his first appearance on the mound since throwing 16 consecutive balls (no strikes) and walking all four batters he faced in a game versus the EXST Angels at Diablo Park on April 28th, RHP Chris Huseby appeared to be headed down a similar path today, throwing seven of his first eight pitches for balls, before allowing a two-run RBI triple. However, he then suddenly seemed to turn a corner, and proceeded to strike out the side on just 10 pitches (all strikes), stranding the runner at 3rd. Then after completing his one inning of work, Huseby remained in the game as a DH, grounding out 6-3 in the 3rd and reaching base on a HBP (glancing blow off his helmet) in the 5th, before heading for the clubhouse.

Here are the unofficial statistics for EXST Cubs players updated through May 29th. (There is no Official Scorer at Cactus League Extended Spring Training games, so the stats are not official).

Carlos Romero bounced a game-tying RBI single to right, Alvaro Ramirez lined an RBI single down the RF line, and Pin-Chieh Chen knocked-in two insurance runs with a two-run single, as the EXST Cubs rallied to score four runs in the bottom of the 8th to defeat the EXST Brewers 5-2 in Cactus League Extended Spring Training action at Fitch Park Field #3 this morning in Mesa. The game was pre-planned as a ten-inning contest, so that more Brewer and Cub pitchers could get game work.

Besides the four-run rally in the 8th, other EXST Cubs highlights today included Tarlandus Mitchell and Austin Kirk combining to fan ten Brewers in just 5-1/3 innings, and Jesus Morelli extending his hit streak to 15 games with a 1st inning single. (Morelli is now hitting 382/447/574 in 21 EXST games since being moved down to Extended Spring Training from Peoria).

Rafael Disla, Cody Shields, and Xavier Batista ripped RBI triples in a five-run Cub 7th, leading the EXST Cubs to an 8-3 victory over the EXST A’s in Cactus League Extended Spring Training action at Fitch Park Field #3 this morning in Mesa.

21-year old Cuban Defector RHP Juan Yasser Serrano got the start for the Cubs and went three innings, allowing one run on four hits and a walk, while striking out two. This was Serrano’s third appearance in the last week, and his pitch count has been increased each time out (one inning - 13 pitches last Saturday, two innings - 23 pitches this past Tuesday, and now three innings - 40 pitches today), as it appears that the Cubs are making an effort to get him through Extended Spring Training as quickly as possible. Serrano received a reported $250K bonus (essentially equivalent to "4th round money") when he was signed by the Cubs this past March.

UPDATE: Aramis Ramirez, who received a cortisone injection in his aching left hand yesterday, is back in the Cub lineup. Here's the batting order: Fukudome 9, Theriot 4, Lee 3, Ramirez 5, Soriano 7, Byrd 8, Soto 2, Castro 6, Wells 1

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It's such a spectacular day in Chicago today, it's easy to imagine I live somewhere else.

As for this afternoon's matchup at Wrigley, if it seems late in the year for the Cardinals and Cubs to be meeting for the first time, that's because it is. Not since 1999 have the clubs gone this deep into the calendar without looking directly into each other's hate-filled eyes.

Our Cubs, winners of 8 of 11, seem to have dodged two injury bullets: Jeff Baker's problem yesterday, which included the loss of vision in his right eye, has been diagnosed as an ocular migraine. According to @CarrieMuskat this morning, he is now fine and is uniform. Also, Carlos Zambrano has fully recovered from whatever he had yesterday that seemed like it might be appendicitis but turned out not to be, and he is also ready to go. (BREAKING NEWS: Z's problem was "food-related." Do you really need to know any more?)

Runey Davis drove-in four runs with a bases-loaded triple and an RBI single, Sergio Burruel knocked-in two more with a two-run single, and Jesus Morelli extended his hitting streak to 14 games with an RBI double, leading the EXST Cubs to an 8-4 victory over the EXST Angels in Cactus League Extended Spring Training action at Fitch Park Field #2 this morning in Mesa.

Yeeechhh! That was nasty.

Wednesday night at Wrigley, the Cubs spotted the Dodgers a 5-0 lead, squandered opportunities to get the game close or even, then did get the game close, failed to get it closer, and lost.

Here's a professional summary of the 8-5 defeat, which was interrupted by an 18-minute power outage in the fourth inning.

Some quick thoughts...

— Tom Gorzelanny struggled with his command from the outset and all in all, pitched just poorly enough to provide some public relations cover to Jim Hendry and Lou Piniella in the next few days, when, I'm thinking, they will officially yank the lefty from the rotation in favor of Carlos Zambrano.

The Cubs beat the Dodgers, 3-0, on Tuesday night as Ryan Dempster outdueled Clayton Kershaw. Derrek Lee had a single, double, and two-run homer, and drove in all three Cub runs.

It was Dempster's first victory since April 23rd, Lee's first three-RBI game since April 16th, and his first three-hit game since the fourth game of the season way, way, way back on April 9th. 

-- The I-Cubs' Andrew Cashner was named PCL Pitcher of the Week. That's what winning two starts while allowing one run and just eight hits over 13 innings will do for you. And let's not forget: he won the second of those games while dealing with the pressure of having TCR's very own Mike Wellman in the stands.

-- The Giants fan site, 22gigantes, pointed me to an mlb.com article in which the 30 MLB clubs were ranked for drafting success, based on All-Star appearances, Cy Young Awards, etc., won by their draftees in recent years. Cub draftees earned six such awards—four All-Star appearances plus ROY Awards for Kerry Wood and Geovany Soto—which tied the team for 11th place with the Giants, Marlins, and Cardinals.

Here are the unofficial statistics for EXST Cubs players through May 22nd. (There is no Official Scorer at Cactus League Extended Spring Training games, so the stats are not official).

Jae-Hoon Ha went 4-4 with two triples, a double, and a single, scored three runs, and drove-in two more, Jesus Morelli reached base four times on a single, a double, a triple, and a walk, scored twice, and knocked-in three, and George Matheus had two singles, a double, and two RBI, but it was left to Wes Darvill to drive-in the winning run as the youngster bounced a single through a drawn-in infield with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th, rallying one squad of Cubs to an 8-7 victory over one squad of the Giants on Field #3, while over on Field #2, Alvaro Ramirez doubled and tripled, drove-in one run, and scored another, Chris Huseby doubled, walked and scored a run, and Pin-Chieh Chen had two hits, a run scored, and an RBI, but the other squad of Giants clubbed five triples, a double, and a home run, and took advantage of two costly Rafael Disla errors to score four unearned runs, en route to an 8-4 victory over the other squad of Cubs, as the EXST Cubs and EXST Giants split a Cactus League Extended Spring Training split-squad doubleheader this morning at Fitch Park in Mesa.

21-year old RHP Juan Yasser Serrano made his debut with the Cubs on Field #3, tossing a 13-pitch, ten strike, 1-2-3 inning (4-3, 4-3, and 5-3). Serrano is the Cuban Defector who was signed by the Cubs for a reported $250K bonus this past March, and he appears to be a polished hurler who should advance quickly through the system. I would think he will probably get assigned initially to Daytona (fellow Cuban Defector OF Smaily Borges is already there), once he has gets his arm strength up to where it needs to be. Serrano is not a big guy (maybe 6’1), and he has a solid (almost stocky) build.  

First things first:

Earlier this afternoon, the Cubs officially signed 36-year-old Bob Howry, demoted Justin Berg to Iowa, and designated David Patton for assignment.

Howry has been well analyzed here and elsewhere, but just in case you've missed it...

The now-ex-former-Cub appeared in 14 games for the Diamondbacks before his recent release, was scored upon in 8, and was cut loose by the D-Backs with an ERA of 10.67 and 6 home runs allowed in just 14 1/3 innings pitched. He was coming off a decent season last year in San Francisco, where he had a 3.39 ERA, a 2:1 K/BB ratio, and allowed fewer home runs in 63 IP (5) than he did in just a few weeks this season in Arizona. (Park effects at work, both ways, maybe?)

As for the game tonight...

UPDATE: Apparently CSN Chicago jumped the gun on that one as Sullivan is saying that nothing has been agreed upon, although the Cubs are interested in bringing Howry into the bullpen fold.

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It appears that Carlos Zambrano's return to the rotation can be partially credited to the return of Bob Howry to the Cubs. He'll join the team this weekend after being released by the Diamondbacks earlier in the week.  Howry was 1-0 with the Diamondbacks and that's where the good news ends. He also had a 10.69 ERA in 14 IP, 1.674 WHIP, struck out 6, walked 6 and I guess this isn't a typo, but gave up 6 home runs in those 14 IP.  Howry did have a decent season with the Giants last year with a 3.39 ERA albeit a 2-6 record to follow up the 5.35 ERA he put up with the Cubs in 2008. If Fangraphs data can be trusted, his fastball is averaging 89.4 mph, down about 2-3 miles from where he's been most of his career.

Speaking of Z, he'll throw a 60-70 pitch simulated game on Monday and he may have found his spot in the rotation after tonight. Sloth was pitching a gem against the Phillies before a line drive knocked him out of the game hitting his bare pitching hand. Grab-Ass came in to finish the 7th inning and they head to the bottom of the 8th, up 2-0 and looking for their 4th straight win.

Theriot, 2B	#Victorino, CF
Castro, SS	Polanco, 3B
Lee, 1B	*Utley, 2B
Ramirez, 3B	*Howard, 1B
Byrd, CF	Werth, RF
Soriano, LF	#Rollins, SS
Baker, RF	*Ibanez, LF
Soto, C	Ruiz, C
*Gorzelanny, P	*Moyer, P

Jeff Baker gets an odd start in right field against the lefty Jamie Moyer. No word yet if Xavier Nady is injured or Lou just wanted to get Baker a start, albeit it with the current 5 outfielders already fighting for at-bats, worrying about Jeff Baker getting his hacks would be the least of my worries. For what it's worth, which is absolutely nothing, Baker is 2/7 against Moyer including 1/3 with a double last year.

Jeff Stevens has been called up and will take the bullpen spot of Esmailin Caridad who is back to the disabled list with a right elbow strain. Sean Marshall will get the bulk of the 8th-inning set-up duty until Lou and Larry change their mind again. Marshall's new job probably won't start until tomorrow though as Marshall has pitched three days in a row.

The Phillies are tops in the league in runs scored and tops in the league in OPS against lefties at .846. Good luck to you, Sloth (hat tip to Jacos for the find).

The Cubs go for a third consecutive win and try to close out the homestand at 4-4 before they get the crap beaten out of them in Philadelphia as they match-up with the Rockies.

Jhoulys Chacin (yo-LEES cha-SEEN), 2-1, 2.66, goes up against Carlos Silva (CAR-los SIL-va). Silva, 4-0, 3.40, is attempting to become the first Cub pitcher to begin a season 5-0 since Greg Maddux did so back in 2006.

Aramis Ramirez blasted a one-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the 11th to lead the Cubs to a 4-2 win over the Rockies Monday night at Wrigley. Lou Piniella's post-game press conference, the main topic of which was a player who never even appeared in the game, was at least as newsworthy as the main event.

First about the game:

The Cubs had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 courtesy of run-scoring singles by Aramis Ramirez and Koyie Hill, before the Rockies tied the game in the 8th inning on a single and three walks, two by John Grabow and one by Carlos Marmol. Marmol redeemed himself by inducing an inning-ending double play, nicely initiated by Starlin Castro, to preserve the tie. 

Here are the unofficial statistics for EXST Cubs players through May 15th. (There is no Official Scorer at Cactus League Extended Spring Training games, so the stats are not official).