Archive - Apr 2008
EXST Cubs Rally for Victory at Fitch Park
Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 5:33pm.
Luke Sommer beat-out a dribbler down the third-base line for a game-winning infield single, as the EXST Cubs rallied to edge the EXST Angels 8-7 at Fitch Park Field #3 this morning in Mesa.
Game 27 Thread / Brewers @ Cubs (2 of 3)
Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 5:00pm.
Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview
| SP | Jeff Suppan |
SP |
Ryan Dempster |
| 1-0, 3.48, 11 K, 10 BB | 3-0, 2.90, 21 K, 14 BB | ||
| 2B |
Rickie Weeks | LF |
Reed Johnson |
| CF |
Mike Cameron | SS |
Ryan Theriot |
| LF |
Ryan Braun | 1B |
Derrek Lee |
| 1B |
*Prince Fielder | 3B |
Aramis Ramirez |
| RF |
Corey Hart | RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome |
| 3B |
Bill Hall | 2B |
Mark DeRosa |
| SS |
JJ Hardy | C |
Geovany Soto |
| P |
Jeff Suppan | CF |
*Felix Pie |
| C | Jason Kendall |
P | Ryan Dempster |
The Cubs are one loss from dropping out of first place behind the Cardinals and into a second place tie with the Brewers. A loss would also give the Cubs their first real losing streak of the season (I start counting at three) and they'd lose a second consecutive series to their main competition for the Central crown. So yeah, today would certainly be a nice day for a win.
Dempster will take to the mound to try and help accomplish that and he did start the one lone victory in the opening series. We'lll happily take another six inning, two walk, five strikeout, one earned run performance if you have it in you. He hasn't had a lot of experience versus the members of the current Brewers (possibly the reason for his last success), but do watch out for Jason Kendall who's 13 for 28 versus Dempster for a 464/583/536 line.
NL Central Smackdown: Shortstops
Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 1:02am.
|
2nd Basemen | Poll We march on around the diamond. Today it's the double play partner of yesterday's vote. The Cubs so far have the 2nd best first basemen and second basemen in the division. Can Ryan Theriot keep the streak going? Answer - no! |
Your scrap-tastic contenders after the jump....
UPDATE: Thanks to you wonderful readers, it was brought to my attention to check Tejada's projections since he revealed his true age. His WARP-3 three year projection is updated in the chart and went down from 4.13 to 3.2. I'd still rate him first though even though he now drops behind Hardy and Wilson in the WARP-3 projections.
Rank the NL Central Shortstops
Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 1:01am.
EXST Cubs Pitchers Throw Two-hitter at Fitch
Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 5:43pm.
Five Cubs pitchers combined to throw a two-hitter and Gian Guzman drove in three runs, as the EXST Cubs defeated the EXST Giants 5-1 at Fitch Park Field #3 this morning in Mesa.
Game 26 Thread / Brewers @ Cubs (1 of 3)
Submitted by Cubnut on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 5:06pm.
Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview
| SP | Ben Sheets |
SP |
Jason Marquis |
| 3-0, 0.96, 24 K, 4 BB | 1-0, 3.47, 15 K, 9 BB | ||
| 2B |
Rickie Weeks | LF |
Reed Johnson |
| CF |
Mike Cameron | SS |
Ryan Theriot |
| LF |
Ryan Braun | 1B |
Derrek Lee |
| 1B |
*Prince Fielder | 3B |
Aramis Ramirez |
| RF |
Corey Hart | RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome |
| 3B |
Bill Hall | 2B |
Mark DeRosa |
| SS |
JJ Hardy | C |
Geovany Soto |
| P |
Ben Sheets | CF |
*Felix Pie |
| C | Jason Kendall |
P | *Jason Marquis |
No, you're not imagining things--this is the Brewers' second visit to Wrigley Field in the season's first month while the Cubs have yet to visit Milwaukee and won't do so until after the All-Star break.
While the Cubs (16-9) were losing two of three on the road to the Nationals and scoring 10 runs this past weekend, the Brewers (14-11) were dropping two of three at home to the Marlins and scoring six runs. The Brewers, who led the NL in batting with RISP (.303) going into the series, went just 1-for-26 against the Marlins in those same situations.
How Does Gallagher Spell Relief? W-A-L-K-I-N-G...
Submitted by Mike Wellman on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 8:58am.
I delayed my end-of-homestand post for a day so I could see how Sean Gallagher followed up on his brilliant outing from last week.
The results? Mixed.
Gallagher retired the first ten Fresno hitters he faced. He entered the sixth having surrendered only one run and retired the first two routinely before an infield single dripped from the faucet. A stolen base followed, then an intentional walk, then an accidental walk and Gallagher called it a night, leaving the bases loaded and the water running for Carmen Pignatiello.
NL Central Smackdown: 2nd Basemen
Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 1:03am.
|
I started off with the first basemen yesterday and I'll leave the poll up until I get through all the positions. If you need a primer on all this, be sure to check out that first post as well on the first basemen. Today though we move to the second basemen. While Hendry tries to win by sheer numbers, it's about quality, not quantity. Your contestants after the jump.... |
Rank the NL Central 2nd Basemen
Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 1:02am.
Cubs "Hits" Of The Week (For the Week of 4/21 through 4/27)
Submitted by Cubnut on Mon, 04/28/2008 - 2:01pm.
Quotation marks make their first appearance in the Hits of the Week headline since this week's list includes two walks.
So here they are, the five hits...er, that is, offensive events...that did the most to enhance the Cubs' chance of winning during the past week, as measured by FanGraphs' Win Probability Added (WPA):
#5 Big Hit: Tuesday, v. the Mets, 4th inning-- With the bases loaded and two out and the Cubs already leading 1-0, Reed Johnson drives a single to left field, scoring Ronny Cedeno and Henry Blanco, and the Cubs' margin is three, which, on a day when the Mets can't seem to get an important hit, is more than margin enough. WPA .151