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Game Recap
Cubs Win Streak Ends at 5
The Cubs five-game win streak doesn't make it to six and and the loss coupled with the Cardinals win over the Dodgers, drops the Cubs back to second place. Ryan Dempster returned from the disabled list and was nothing short of awful. 5 IP, 9 H, 3 K and 5 ER, 6 total and the error was his own. But at least he didn't walk anyone! With the Cubs catching a huge break when Roy Oswalt left in the second inning with a back injury, the Cubs just needed some decent pitching to stay in this one and they sure didn't get it from Dempster or the bullpen.
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Lucky Number 13
For the second time in a week the Cubs go 13 innings, but manage the win this time to keep a half-game lead in the NL Central as the Cardinals defeated the Dodgers (Brewers lost again to drop 4 back). The class of the Central division since June, the Astros waltzed into Wrigley on the shoulder of the über-hot Wandy Rodriguez (4 straight wins and 0.62 ERA in July) and he didn't disappoint, holding the Cubs to a run on 7 strikeouts in 7 innings. Z matched those 7 innings and one run, although with just 4 K's and 4 BB's. That left it up to the bullpens and the Cubs' proved to be just a little bit better tonight
Alfonso Soriano had goat written all over him, going 0/5 with 3 K's and failing to run on a tap out to third base that he claimed hit his toe. Then with the bases loaded and 0 outs, he got one more chance and launched one deep to center on top of the center field restaurant for the win and give the Cubs the opener.
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Game 93 Recap: Cubs 10, Phillies 5
The Phillies Don't Go to 11.
W - Zambrano, (7-4), "working" from home and watching afternoon Cubs games, ending someone else's winning streak.
L - Moyer, (9-7), making the same reference to the same movie that everyone else always makes.
S - Gregg, (19)
Things to Take from This Game
1. A Balanced Attack
Seven different Cubs had RBI today, without benefit of a home run. Bradley, Soriano and Ramirez all had two-hit games, Theriot had both 3 hits and stolen bases. Perhaps most interesting, Bradley's five ABs were all with a runner in scoring position; he went 2-4 with a walk and an RBI. None of the hits were rockets, but I'll take it.
2. Well-pitched early...
Moyer had the Cubs fooled for the first three innings, and Z pitched well through the first five.
3. ... tense moments late.
The Phillies left the bases loaded in both the seventh and the eighth. Marshall faced one batter, Dobbs, who singled in two runs that got charged to Z. But Guzman then escaped from the inning, and eventually turned the game over to Gregg who escaped from the eighth and pitched an uneventful ninth for an impressive save. The Cubs also finally did some damage to the Philly relievers, getting to both Durbin and Lidge, allowing our relievers some breathing room.
The 5-2 Roadtrip details, below.
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Game 91 Recap: Cubs 1, Phillies 10
Illegitimate.
W - Rodrigo Lopez. (2-0) (Seriously)
L - Ted Lilly (9-7), Pre-mature aspirations of legitimation
S - Chad Durbin (1)
Things to Take from This Game
1. Aspirin.
2. Well, the bullpen pitched well. Mostly.
Lilly never looked comfortable. His 6/2 K/BB line looks good, but he fidgeted on the mound, was consistently wild in the strike zone, and it resulted in 7 ER in 4 IP. A 3-run HR by Ibanez in the first, and a 2-run job by Ruiz in the second, and the Cubs were out of it. Stevens and Heilman pitched well, before Guzman gave up a solo HR to Howard in the ninth.
3. Rodrigo Lopez, wtf?
The Cubs were shut down by Lopez, who departed for Chad Durbin and the embarassment of the three-inning save. I can't begin to understand the combination of events that led to the cubs being six-hit by this pairing.
4. Oops.
Soriano watched a routine fly ball clank off of the heel of his glove for a run-scoring error. You just don't see professionals miss fly balls in this manner; he didn't lose it in the lights, slip, get distracted, or anything. Just missed it. He then seemingly responded to the Phillies fans' mocking applause after he caught the next ball, by making an overly exaggerated graceful hop-catch on the ball after that. He did have three of our six hits, at least.
If you really want to, the details follow.
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Game 81 Recap: Cubs 1, Braves 2
Good Duel, Bad Result
W - Vazquez (6-7)
L - Zambrano (4-4)
S - Soriano (9)
Things to Take from This Game
1. Z does fine on short rest
Zambrano pitched an efficient six innings on three days rest, the only blemishes being a couple of run-scoring hits by McCann.
2. Vazquez pitches like an All-Star scorned
Not as much shame in this weak performance by the Cubs' offense, as Vazquez, Gonzalez and Soriano pitched well. Ramirez looked pretty good at the plate, with a couple hits to show for it. Soriano managed to sneak a couple hits in, as well, and Hill got the lone RBI. There isn't much to report in the way of missed rallies or failed execution or bad approaches at the plate, the team just ran into three good pitchers and...
3. Some good defense
Maybe no plays that make Sportscenter, but for the most part it was a well-defended ballgame. No errors, and some particularly good D up the middle. A satisfying game in everything but the result.
The hard-fought details, below.
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Cubs Win, Gatorade Cooler Loses Again...Bradley Sent Home.
I'll make this brief, but wanted a place to discuss the latest in "As Milton's World Turns". First though, the Cubs won, they hit a 2-run home run and a 3-run home run. It's nice to know those haven't gone extinct. Jake Fox and Geovany Soto did the damage and no truth to the rumor that Soto was promised White Castle if he hit one out today.
Randy Wells got his second win on the year, two solo shots being the only marks against him. After 98 pitches and 7 innings, the increasingly baffling Lou went to Carlos Marmol and he predictably walked two of the first three hitters, gave up a couple of hits with some assistance from Soriano losing a ball in the sun (which I admittedly didn't see) and was mercifully pulled for Sean Marshall who got out of the jam by inducing the 3-2-3 double play by A.J. Pierzynski with the bases juiced.
Game 69 Recap: Cubs 5, Tigers 6
5 Runs on the Road, Lilly Pitching, Not Enough.
W - Galarraga (4-7)
L - Lilly (7-5)
S - Rodney (16)
Things to Take from This Game
1. Fox, Fukudome lead Attack
Jake Fox staked the Cubs to a 3-0 lead on a big home run in the first. Fukudome had a triple and a double in the game, while Hoffpauir hit an impressive opposite field home-run in the ninth. An encouraging day from the supporting cast, but also a day with continued futility when there were RISP.
2. Lilly is Ineffectively Wild in the Strike Zone
Lilly got hurt on several breaking and offspeed pitches that got up into the heart of the strike zone. Just one BB to 6 Ks, but10 hits an 6 ER in 6 IP. Santiago and Ordonez each hit two-run homers off of him, and Raburn had two RBI hits. Cabrera also hit a homer that was incorrectly ruled a double.
3. No Dramatic Comeback, Today.
Rodney gave up the homer to Hoffpauir, but otherwise slammed the door by striking out the side.
The one-run-short details, below.
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Motor City Misery
11 Hits, 7 BB's for the Cubs offense....just 3 runs. One of those 11 hits was a solo home run by the somewhat rejuvenated Geovany Soto, meaning the Cubs needed 10 hits and 7 bb's to score the other 2 runs. The Yahoo box score says the Cubs left 13 on base as a team (seemed like 130), with Jake Fox and Micah Hoffpauir leading the way with 8 and 7 left on base each (some of those the same baserunners). The offensive ineptitude and Rich Harden's gopher ball won't keep me from making fun of the bullpen though, who managed to walk in the two deciding runs.
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The Gregg Game
I watched just two innings of last night's affair, tuning in as Micah Hoffpauir gave the Cubs the lead and turning it off right before Ryan Raburn's ball landed. The saying goes something like "a picture is worth a thousand words"...well here's my word quota for the night.
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Game 66 Recap: Cubs 0, Braves 2
A Loss, or a Metaphor?
W - Vazquez (5-6)
L - Dempster (4-5)
S - Soriano (6)
Things to Take from This Game
1. An Evening Full of Singles and Scoring Opportunities...
The Cubs had 9 hits off of Vazquez, all of them singles, and another hit off of Soriano in relief.
2. ...That Leads to Nothing but a lot of Getting Left Stranded on Second Base.
The Cubs left 12 men on base. Perhaps most
confounding was the decision to let Blanco bat with the bases loaded
and two outs in the sixth.
3. But at Least there are Consolation Prizes?
We can be happy that Dempster had a fine performance, gutting out 6.2 innings in the Atlanta heat. He still had some control problems, but other than McLouth, the Braves struggled to do much against him. And that has to make up for some of the frustration at getting shut out, right?
The futile details, below.
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Recent comments
Finwe Noldaran (view)
Phil: Great to see what Rosario is doing!
Do you think having Rosario may have influenced/impacted the front office's decision on including Hope in the trade for Busch at all?
crunch (view)
it's so crazy we got a new "barnstorming" harlem globetrotters-type baseball product that was introduced less than 5 years ago and is wildly popular all over the nation.
a notion left long in the past, unearthed, polished for modern audiences and popular as ever.
Arizona Phil (view)
No question right now Alfonsin Rosario is one of the Cubs Top 20 prospects (probably Top 15). Rosario is to the Cubs what Zyhir Hope is to the Dodgers.
Arizona Phil (view)
The Savannah Bananas will be playing the Party Animals at Sloan Park in Mesa this coming Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The games are sold out (15,000+ each night), and berm tickets are going for well over $100.
Arizona Phil (view)
RAISIN: In the game versus the A's at Fitch Park last Friday, Mule threw half FB and half SL (16/16), and one CH (which coincidentally was the only hard-hit ball off him -- a near HR line-drive double off the LF fence). FB was 91-94 and the SL (really more of a "slurve") was 80-82, and he got three swing & miss on each pitch (six swing & miss total out of his 20 strikes). So I think it is safe to say that right now, Mule is strictly a two-pitch pitcher (FB/SL),
Sonicwind75 (view)
Recalled it was sampled in a Nas song. Did a little sleuthing. It was a Nas song called "Hate Me Now" that featured Puff Daddy. Imploring the crowd to hate somebody seems a bit overly dramatic for a keyboardist but perhaps there is some other connection to the song.
In general there has been a weird overuse of Carmina Burana's O Fortuna in sports and commercials in past decade or so. Maybe it is a fallback choice if there isn't anything else.
Sidenote, while the O Fortuna part has become a bit pop-culture cliched; the overall piece is very interesting and rather expansive in scope. I played percussion in a production of it while in college. There is a rather jovial movement set in a tavern. In the score it calls for the clinking of beer steins. Let's just say we did a lot of research to determine the best sounding beer steins.
crunch (view)
ooof...this is just as likely as anything. professional organists are weird humans.
SheffieldCornelia (view)
Maybe it is only played when the hitter thus far in the game is "oh for two"-na at the plate?
crunch (view)
who was AB when it was being played? it could be something as corny as playing it for nick fortes because fortes/fortuna...fortes...marlins...fish...tuna...sigh.
while the cubs organ player isn't a frequent groaner weaponizing the organ song selection, they all dabble in it.
crunch (view)
in 2016 hendricks threw 190 innings for 45 earned runs.
in the shortened 2020 season hendricks threw 81.1ip for 26 earned runs.
in 2024 hendricks has thrown 21ip for 28 earned runs.