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Game 3 Recap - Garza Discovers What Being a Cub Is Like
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| Pirates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 16 | 0 | |
| Cubs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 1 |
The Good: Let's start with Matt Garza's first start as a Cub. It wasn't perfection, frankly it was odd. The Pirates knocked 12 hits off him, all 12 being of the single variety and a handful of the pure 'effin luck variety including a check swing hit and run and jammed dribbler through the right side. Garza matched those 12 hits with 12 strikeouts though on 0 walks and threw 80 of his 106 pitches for strikes. I'm feeling confident the earned runs will look a lot beter if he can maintain that strikeout to walk ratio the rest of the year. Honestly it was a pretty epic start, if not for the seeing eye singles and some bad defense, most notably Ramirez botching a double play with a bad throw.
While the infield defense was a hot mess today, the outfield did a good job cutting off a few gap hits and keeping them singles and then of course Tyler Colvin's big throw in the top of the 8th and the face tag by Soto to preserve the Cubs lead.
Offensively, the Cubs got their first home run of the season by Soriano and Starlin Castro had himself another good day at the plate with three hits, two of them triples and a walk out of the leadoff spot. Carlos Pena looked like he had a grand slam that the wind kept in the park and got on-base with a walk and almost a bunt single to beat the shift if not for a great throw by Pedro Alvarez.
The Bad: The fan getting thrown out for obviously accidently knocking over his beer on Pena's double. Garza getting a little too much of the plate at times with 2 outs and 2 strikes. The infield defense, especially in the 9th. We know Marmol's going to get himself in trouble, but Castro had no good reason to try and make that throw that let the winning run score. And let's not forget Marlon Byrd still batting third and ending the game on a double play with the tying run at third base.
The Armchair Managing: Start with the lineup and Barney hitting second and Colvin hitting 8th. End with Reed Johnson leading off the 9th against Hanrahan instead of going to Fukudome. I was also a little surprised to see Garza come out for the 7th, but he was still hitting mid 90's and had just struck out the side, so I can't fault that decision too much.
Parachat Moment:
H_Vaughn: " Harry would love that backward it's atabat"
jumbo: 'gazra=azrag"
Diamondbacks come into town...Barry Enright vs. Randy Wells
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