John Gaub
Cub Bullpen Failure Is Not a Surprise
Derrek Lee crushed a two-run double, Aramis Ramirez and Tyler Colvin had two hits a piece (and Colvin also stole a base and scored two runs), and Ryan Dempster threw five innings of shutout ball before tiring in the 6th, as the Cubs and Royals played to a 5-5 tie in Cactus League action at Surprise Stadium this afternoon.
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Kung Fu Panda Not So Cute Today
Pablo Sandoval cranked a grand slam HR into the visitor's (upper) bullpen beyond the RF fence to cap a five-run third, and Jonathan Sanchez threw three shutout innings, as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Chicago Cubs 5-1 in Cactus League action under partly cloudy skies at cool & breezy Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa this afternoon.
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Snyder Doubles Cubs Pleasure
Brad Snyder crushed a game-winning two-run double off the CF Batter's Eye in the bottom of the 9th, scoring Bobby Scales from second base with the tying run and Sam Fuld from first with the winning run, as the Cubs edged the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-7 in Cactus League action in front of 11,775 fans under sunny skies (65 degrees) at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa this afternoon.
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Cubs Protect 5 from Rule 5 Draft
The Cubs added pitchers John Gaub, Blake Parker and Rafael Dolis along with catcher Welington Castillo and OF James Adduci to their 40-man roster. All five were eligible to be selected in the upcoming Rule 5 draft and the deadline was today to add them. Arizona Phil has been keeping track of this on the right sidebar of course. He had Matt Camp on his short list of players he thought the Cubs would protect - rather than Adduci - but he got the other four.
Besides Camp, I would guess that Steve Clevenger, Alessandro Maestri, Thomas Diamond, J.R.Mathes or Greg Reinhard might draw a little interest.
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Sun Sets on 2009 Solar Sox
Mike Leake (CIN) threw four innings of shutout ball and Lance Zawadzki (SD) had three hits, including a solo home run and a two-run double, leading the Peoria Saguaros to an 8-1 victory over the Mesa Solar Sox at HoHoKam Park this afternoon.
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Anticipated Pitching Duel Fizzles into Slugfest at HoHoKam
With two of the AFL's top starting pitchers on the hill, naturally the game turned into a slugfest, as the Mesa Solar Sox scored eight unanswered runs in the middle innings to overcome a 4-0 deficit, only to blow a four-run 8th inning lead, before scoring the game-winning run on a two-out single in the bottom of the 9th, en route to a 9-8 victory over Surprise Rafters in Arizona Fall League action this afternoon at HoHoKam Park in Mesa.
(And next time you come by, bring my stomach!)...
It's Cubs Picnic Day at HoHoKam
With most all of the Cubs front office personnel, Scouting Department, and Player Development staff watching from the picnic area high above the third-base dugout, Michael Brenly singled twice and scored once, Starlin Castro singled twice (increasing his AFL-leading batting average to .433) and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and four Cubs pitchers combined to throw seven innings of one-run ball, as the Mesa Solar Sox dropped the Peoria Javelinas 8-1 in Arizona Fall League action at HoHoKam Park in Mesa this afternoon.
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Crystal Ballin'
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Cubs Trio Help Solar Sox Glow to Victory
Starlin Castro jacked-up his AFL league-leading batting average to .423 as he ripped two singles, knocked-in two runs, and scored one, Josh Vitters tripled and scored, and John Gaub tossed a 1-2-3 7th, leading the Mesa Solar Sox (Cubs, Marlins, Red Sox, Angels, and Twins) to a 7-2 victory over the Peoria Saguaros (Padres, Reds, Indians, Braves, and Astros) in Arizona Fall League action this afternoon at sunny HoHoKam Park in Mesa.
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Cashner Looks Sharp at HoHoKam
The Scottsdale Scorpions stung the Mesa Solar Sox 11-1 today at HoHoKam Park in Mesa.
Cubs RHP Andrew Cashner (2008 1st round pick out of TCU) started the game for the Solar Sox and took the loss, but he actually looked very good, allowing just one run on three hits (no walks) with one K, 5/4 GO/FO, and 54 pitches (36 strikes), over 3.2 IP. He also showed an outstanding pickoff move to 1st base, nailing Diamondbacks 2B Pedro Ciriaco (38 SB at AA Mobile in 2009) cold in the top of the 2nd.
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Recent comments
Arizona Phil (view)
azbobbop: Yes.
Mike Wellman (view)
I’ve got Tim’s The Last Out too, along with some other prints of his work.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
Very well played game all around tonight.
crunch (view)
best starter and 2 top hitters from the team gone...and they keep on winning.
little ahead of myself here, but the RSox got 9 outs to find 6+ runs.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
Richard Gallardo just left the Smokies game with an arm injury after going to the ground following a pitch. Doesn’t sound good at all.
azbobbop (view)
Phil, do you think Wiggins will start out in ACL?
azbobbop (view)
The level of conversation on this site is intelligent, reasoned and informative. Miles ahead of other Cub sites.
Arizona Phil (view)
This was Jaxon Wiggins previous "live" BP on 4/5:
JAXON WIGGINS:
ONE INNING (20 pitches - 10 strikes)
one batted ball in play (F-9 by Stevens)
one walk (B. Davis)
one HBP (B. Davis)
two strikeouts (Peralta & Escobar - both looking)
three swing & miss
two fouls
four called strikes
nine called balls
Arizona Phil (view)
Prior to the Cactus League game at Papago Park, three Cubs pitchers threw "live" BP on Field 1 at the Cubs Sloan Park complex, including RHRP Ethan Roberts (June 2022 TJS) and Cubs 2023 2nd round draft pick RHP Jaxon Wiggins (February 2023 TJS).
Wiggins last threw "live" BP three weeks ago before being shut down for a couple of weeks, and this was the first time Roberts has thrown to hitters in almost two years.
JAXON WIGGINS:
ONE INNING:
25 pitches (11 strikes)
no batted balls in play
two walks (Suriel and J. Diaz)
three strikeouts (Carico, Lubo, and Escobar - all three swinging)
six swing & miss
two fouls
three called strikes
14 called balls
one WP
ETHAN ROBERTS:
ONE INNING
15 pitches (7 strikes)
two batted balls in play (G-3 by Carico and L-9 by Suriel)
two walks (Lubo and Carico)
no strikeouts
no swing & miss
two fouls
three called strikes
eight called balls
one WP
Mat Peters was bumped by Justin Steele from his scheduled game work at Giants, so he threw two innings of "live" BP with Wiggins & Roberts.
MAT PETERS:
TWO INNINGS
44 pitches (23 strikes)
five batted balls in play (F-7, L-7, F-7, G-6, G-3)
three walks
two strikeouts (both Lubo and both looking)
six swing & miss
three fouls
nine called strikes
21 called balls
three WP
crunch (view)
wall stole a HR from busch...double. nice to see him destroy a curve ball.
upon further viewing, that might not have been a homer in too many parks...it had a lot of hang time, though.