Before yesterday the last time I saw Randy Wells start a big league game he failed to retire a batter, though he may have broken a sweat. By that low standard his outing versus the earnest young Royals of Kansas City was, I suppose, an improvement. After the first five hitters he faced hit safely and the sixth was walked, Wells' remarkable streak of futility with yours truly in attendance had reached the depth of a dozen consecutive batsmen. Might he again retire having retired no one? No, he persisted and slogged into the 7th, though it turned out that the game was already lost by the time he got around to recording an out. The sorry Wells appears more beleagured than big leaguer these days, and so, for that matter does the team he works for.
If there were highlights from yesterday's daytrip to KC for any Cub fans in attendance, and there were thousands of us, they were these:
*Of the three balls I saw the visitors swat into the seats while watching more than a half hour of batting practice, two were swatted by Marlon Byrd. I'll check him out against live, professional pitching tomorrow afternoon here in Des Moines.
*Reed Johnson, despite three strikeouts at the plate, also banged a double off the wall in the middle of what passed for a Cub rally and also made a pair of sparkling grabs in center field, one of them a do or die diver. He always seems to make a contribution when in the lineup.
*Geo Soto was all over the game; homering, doubling, plate-blocking, down-gunning. It would be nice if he made one or more of those occasional features a habit!
*Chris Carpenter posted triple digits several times on the scoreboard speedometer. Unfortunately, his stuff looks more imposing there, to the fans, than it apparently yet does to big league hitters. He may become a serviceable piece down the road.
Randomly, I saw LaHair and Castillo go back-to-back Friday night in Des Moines and they did it again yesterday while I was on the road. LaHair is now leading the PCL in homers and hitting .350+. Ho-hum...
That Liberace movie is on HBO this week end.
/just saying
wow...that rizzo K in the 8th was a swing even sammy sosa would rag on.
It's hard to compare two very different eras, but as good as Urlacher was, Butkus was better.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
cubs load the bases with 0 out...no one scores.
awesome!
I thought it would be strained neck from watching balls fly over his head
~~ right after Sveum stomped on his big right toe.
He sounds like Marmol minus the $9.8M.
i wonder how long until i.stewart asks to be traded...if for no other reason than to get ABs on someone else's AAA team
yet another day he didn't start...got a PH appearance, 0-1.
also, josh vitters continues to be unimpressive, 0-4.
b.bogusevic continues to make a joke of AAA...1-2 (HR) with 3bb...(.370/.475 avg/ob%)
"My right big toe is kind of sore, why do you ask?"
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Somewhere in the Cubs locker room, Bill Murray chimes in...
"an Army without leaders is like a foot without a big toe"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtbBmwgxKc0
I wonder how what converstion went.
"Hey Shawn, do you have anything that hurts?"
"My right big toe is kind of sore, why do you ask?"
i'm not sure the author of that report knows what "lights-out" reliever means.
if he means a reliever with spotty control that will throw 20+ pitches an inning in AAA is "lights-out" i wonder how high the praise goes for someone that deserves it.
he's got good velocity at least. he's worth taking a chance on.
s.camp on the DL (evidently sucking is an injury these days) with a "sprained right big toe" (no, seriously)...r.dolis up
File this under the banner of how's the Cubs organizational depth coming along...
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Must have stubbed that toe throwing the grand slam last night. How convenient.
per Roto...
But for 2013 the Cubs rotation depth is greatly improved.
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JB: I completely agree about the 2013 improvement.
In fact, the debacle that was 2012 was accelerated when Maholm/Dempster/Garza were gone which is a tough nut to crack for any team. If the trade deadline subtracts 2 starters this year from the Cubs they likely will have Villanueva and even Scott Baker should be ready by then...and if not then one AAA guy (Rusin, Vizcaino).
But for 2013 the Cubs rotation depth is greatly improved. Villanueva just shifted to the bullpen, Rusin is pitching well enough in Iowa that a half-dozen MLB teams would promote him today to their rotations, and this is all in spite of the total washout that is Scott Baker.
As for the Cardinals, they called up Tyler Lyons. His control will keep him in games, but I don't think he's about to embark a Hall of Fame career.