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One to forget on Memorial weekend

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W -Billingsley (3-0), finding ways to lose

L -Guzman (0-1), finding ways to win

 

Things to take from the game

1. Second Guessing

It's been a good day for the armchair managers. Let's see:

1. Lou pulls Hill, who has thrown 66 pitches in 6 shutout innings, so that Ward can pinch-hit with a runner on second and two outs in a 0-0 game. Doesn't work.
2. Lou asked Barrett, hitting fourth and with no sac. bunts on the year, to bunt with runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out in a 1-0 game in the eighth. Doesn't work.
3. With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, Lou pinch hits Aramis Ramirez for the hot-hitting Pagan, a move that requires Jones to enter the game as a defensive replacement. Doesn't work.
4. Lou pulls Wuertz, after an effective seventh, for Eyre, who hasn't pitched in a week, to start the eighth. Doesn't work.  (Eyre gives up HR to Ethier, tying the game)

2. More slow curves than you can can swing a stick at Both Hill and Wolf pitched well, Hill especially so. His reworked legkick(s) out of the stretch seemed to be effective both at holding runners on, and without distracting from his ability to pitch well out of the stretch. 3. Whiff in the Fifth Murton doubles, Pagan bunts his way on, and with Pagan advanceing on a wild pitchwe have runners at 2 and 3 with no outs. To my eyes, at least, Wolf tries to pitch around Izturis, in hopes that he'll either chase something, or walk and set up a DP with the pitcher hitting. Izturis lays off some sliders in the dirt, but with a 3-1 count, he weakly taps one to third. No run scores. Hill strikes out, Soriano walks, and Theriot grounds out. That's runners on 2 and 3, no outs, no runs scored. On average, a team should score two runs from that point in an inning. 4. New ways to lose. Bottom of the eleventh begins with two walks issued by Guzman, Marmol in to intentionally walk a batter, then Marmol hitting Pierre to end the game, on what would have been a wild pitch to end the game, had Pierre not gotten in the way. That's a new one. All the nutty details, below

 

Elegia

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W -Seanez (2-0), Fate

L - Ohman (0-2), faith in a benevolent creator

S - Saito (15)

Things to take from this game:

1. The Magnificent Seventh

It isn't just that we came back from a 5-1 deficit with a seven run outburst. It's how we did it. Seemingly every hit this inning was opposite-field on controlled swings and purposefull at-bats. It was easily the most enjoyable half inning of Cubs offense all year.

 

2. The Execrable Eighth.

It was followed by the most frustrating inning all year. Wuertz got pulled after a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh, for Howry. Howry gave up three straight line drives, and looked pretty frustrated with himself upon exiting for Ohman. Ohman faced one batter, gave up a hit, and in came Guzman who gave up the lead. Five straight hits, total, to start the inning.

 

3. Take Jeff Kent. Please.

Kent had four RBIs off of Lilly, and also arguably the hardest hit ball, all night, which wound up being just a fly out to the center field wall in the heavy LA night. At least he flubbed an easy double play attempt.

 

4. Picked.

It's sort of a small thing to focus on, but Derrek Lee got picked off of second, the play after doubling in the tying run in the seventh. Without that, we would have had one more run, and, conceivably, a tie game after nine

5. Soriano feeling better?

He misplayed a ball in the outfield, but at least Soriano looked like an offensive force, today. He took third on the throw after an RBI double, and seemed to look good doing it. Three hits, two RBI and two runs scored out of the leadoff spot.

The details, in all their triumph and tragedy, follow.

Aww, Hell's Bells.

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W - Wells (2-2) , fat, white, middle-aged, millionaire men. L - Marshall (0-1) , Fairness S - Hoffman (13) Things to take from the game 1. Marshall's first start of the year It's odd. Marshall hasn't really impressed me with my one eye on the TV, and yet I look up, and he's pitched six shutout innings with 2 hits, 2 BB and 5 K. The Padres got some good swings at him that wound up being harmless outs, and there's no disputing the results. 8 K's when he leaves the game after 7, with really only one mistake. And he leaves on the hook for a loss.... 2. The Seventh Cubs load the bases on Wells, and the inning ends with a 4-6-3 GIDP by Izturis. Marshall puts one runner on, just his fifth runner of the night at that moment, and Kouzmanoff crushes one into the upper deck in the left field bleachers. We go from a 1-0 lead, and a chance to blow the game open, to a 2-1 deficit. Len mentioned, at the start, how the Cubs scored 9 runs in his 9 losses, last year.... 3. DeRosa's good night DeRosa and Murton were the only guys who seemed able to handle Padres' pitching. DeRosa's fourth hit of the night came with two outs in the ninth, an opposite-field triple off Hoffman that was within 3 feet of going out of the park. Jones comes in to pinch-hit, works a 3-2 count, and lines out to RF to end the game. We gave Hoffman a good scare, but missed a crucial chance to avoid Hoffman, entirely, in the 7th. 4. Brevity You don't need many points, when it's a 2-1 game won on a home run. More tough luck for Marshall. More interesting things than you thought could be squeezed from this game, below.

I stayed up for this?

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W - Peavy (6-1) L - Hill (4-4) S - Hoffman (12) Things to take from this game 1. Lee returns to the Lineup With Lee hitting third, we also get Soriano hitting first, and Theriot dropped to second. He looked better than his 0 for 5. Maybe that's not saying much. 2. Flattened Hill Rich Hill looked shaky from the very start. The curve wasn't breaking and the contol wasn't there, and as a result he gave up four HR, two to Cameron. That said, he still struck out 8. In any case, we got in a quick hole against Peavy, which is never a good thing. 3. Missed opportunities Cubs had several modest two out rallies ended without any results. Most of which I missed, due to a bad mlb.tv connection 4. No Payoff Overall, a very disappointing game to watch. Got to see Hill give up lots of home runs, the offense sputter, and not even a late-inning rally to keep things interesting as it approaches midnight.

One to Forget Game Center, Play by Play, Recap, Box Score, Photos, Game Chart

W - Massett (2-1), Joe West's ego, infield drying compound stock-owners.

L - Zambrano (4-4), Joe West, Soriano's legs, brooms.

Things to take from this game

1. Just a couple of bad innings

It's not much consolation, but Z actually looked good for most of the game. He totally lost it in the seventh, we didn't get him out of the game soon enough, and Cotts couldn't pitch out of the jam. (That AJ guy brought in four runs with one swing of the bat.) But other than thatinning and the third, Z actually looked sharp to me.

2. 2 out RISP

Barrett had a couple missed opportunities to knock in some 2-out runs. In the grand scheme of things, it wound up being the least of our problems, but at the time it seemed consequential. Sox had far, far more LOB, by the end of things.

3. Sox pitching

Massett looked shakey in the first, but settled down to give up only 3 hits and 2 runs through 5 and two thirds. The Sox bullpen didn't allow a hit until a Theriot single in the eighth.

4. What's up with Soriano?

At this point, I'm convinced that either Soriano isn't healthy, or he isn't hustling. Either way, it's noticable affecting his on-field play. (FWIW, my guess is this is health-related.)

5. Joe West strikes again

With West and Bucknor in this umpire crew, we should have set up a pool for whom would eject whom, and why and when. Answer winds up being West ejects Floyd in the bottom of the 9th, over balls and strikes, and West's inability to distinguish the one from the other.

More interesting observations than you can handle, below.

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W - Howry (1-3), Drama.

L - Aardsma (2-1), MLB.TV, FOX, and everyone else who conspired to keep me from viewing this game.

 

Things to take from today's game

1. Blowing in the wind

The fifth inning saw a series of home runs, including a particularly wind-aided one from Barrett, and another from Marquis.

2. Derrek Lee nearly killed Santo

Lee hit a pinch-hit grand slam, his first at bat in a week, in the bottom of the 8th, breaking the game open 11-6. The Cubs had already come back to take the lead in the inning, on a triple by Theriot, single by Soriano, and triple by Ramirez.

3. Rockin' Wrigley

Limited to the audio feed, it was impressive to hear the chorus of boos that preceded each A.J. at bat, the chants of "Let's Go Cubbies," and especially, the sing-along at the end of the game. It sounded as if 40,000 were joining in on "Go Cubs, Go."

Due to only having the audio cast, I don't have many observations about the game. Help me fill them in, on the message board. Parachat review, below.

 

 

Pagan Worship

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W - Lilly (4-2), Paganism, newspaper editors in need of another round of inane puns L -MacDougal (1-1) S - Dempster (9) Things to take from this game 1. The other Chicago team can play ugly ball, too. Four errors, passed balls and wild pitches. The Cubs capitalized on a very sloppy game by the Sox. 2. The other Chicago team's bullpen can blow games, too. Buehrle left with a 3-1 lead, and MacDougal tacked on two more runs to Buehrle's record. MacDougal had no control at all today, and wasn't helped by catcher Toby Hall, who was playing his first game from coming off the DL for shoulder injuries and spelling A.J. against the lefty. 3. The Bullpen strikes back. Howry and Dempster pitch 2 spotless innings, with 4 K's. Man, did we need that. 4. Lilly struggles through Lilly didn't have the dominant curve or sharp command of his fastball, but managed to pitch out of trouble all game. 5. Pagan's big game. It wasn't just the hitting (3-5 with a triple and 2 RBI), it also was the energy. His triple was on a ball that didn't get passed the spot on the first-base line where the outfield wall juts outward, and he then scored on a wild pitch on what would have been an impossible play for a slower runner. The details follow.

Collapse.

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W - Burgos (1-0), the forces of evil. L - Dempster (1-2), decency. Things to take from this game 1. We got the Mets' B-team today No Wright, no Beltran, no Reyes, no Easley, no LoDuca, no Alou. Starter Jason Vargas is making his debut for the Mets. Julio Franco is playing 3rd base. He played 3 games there last year, and hadn't played at third prior to that since his rookie year. In 1982. For 2 games. Gotay has never played SS before his one inning there, last night. David Newhan is an OFer playing 2nd base. Brenley mentioned something about a league policy requiring at least 4 "regulars" in a starting lineup, and wondered if Selig might put a phone call in to the Mets for this. Only if we beat them, Bob..... (ah, seems Bob was discussing a spring training policy? In any case, we're facing the B-team.) 2. The pitching "duel" Don't let the box score fool you: while Guzman and Vargas kept the game low-scoring through five, neither was really dominating. It wasn't the sort of pitching duel that has you oohing and ahhing. Vargas was "pitching to contact" and retiring Cub after free-swinging Cub on lazy grounders and fly balls. Guzman kept pitching out of minor trouble, inning after inning. Finally, Vargas started to lose it in the sixth, ending this faux-duel. 3. Cramps Guzman gets a cramp in his leg, batting int he top of the sixth. The Cubs procede to hit a pair of 2-run HR that inning (Pagan and Ramirez), and Guzman is pulled from the game, in line for his first ML Win. 4. Solid Middle Relief Wuertz and Ohman both pitched well. 5. The Ninth Dempster loaded the bases with one out in a 5-1 game when he walks Beltran. Dempster must have looked at the home plate umpire the wrong way, as the ump then gestures at him. Seemed like an overreaction on the umpire's part. Facing Chavez, Dempster goes 3-2 on him, then walks him, too. 5-2 game, winning run now at bat in Ruben Gotay. He gets Gotay in an 0-2 hole, when Gotay serves a single into left. 5-3, bases still loaded with one out... With Shawn Green up, Lou calls for Eyre, who has great numbers against Green in their careers. Green is removed in favor of David Wright. Wright lines the first pitch right back up the middle, just out of the reach of Izturis. 5-4, bases still loaded, one out. And with Delgado facing Eyre, he singles just past a diving Theriot. Murton tries to throw out the winning run at the plate, but his throw is way off the money. Probably wouldn't have mattered, anyway. We enter the bottom of the 9th leading 5-1, leave it with a loss.

 

All Wet GameCenter, Recap, Photos, Box Score, Play by Play W - Sosa (3-0) L - Hill (4-3), Mother Nature, every Cubs fan who stayed up to watch, everybody who now goes out and picks up Sosa in their fantasy league. Things to take from this game 1. It got played.

Three hours and seven minutes delayed by weather, the game finally started around 10 eastern time. Maybe 2000 people stayed for the start of the game.

2. Jorge Sosa

We got one-hit through 7+ innings by Jorge Sosa.

I will let that set in for awhile.

3. Did I mention that Jorge Sosa one-hit us? 4. Reyes tweaked something.

Running out of the box in the bottom of the eighth, Jose Reyes came up limping. Not sure why, yet.

5. Hill's start

Hill was a bit wild, with four walks, but really only looked bad on the HR to Easley. Still got a lot of strikes with the big bad curveball. Certainly not his best performance, but also probably not as bad as his line might indicate. In a game of Hill against Jorge Sosa, you really expect to win, even if Hill is having a bit of an off night. Tough game to lose so thoroughly.

The full run-down follows. I can't believe I stayed up for this.

A Laugher. (And we were the ones laughing!)

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W - Zambrano (4-3 ). The fight against high-blood pressure L - Maine (5-1) Important things to take from this game. 1. The Latest Lineup: For two days in a row, Theriot leads off and Soriano hits third. 2. Fontenot's 2007 debut : While I'm sure he is too esoteric of a player and the move too inconsequential for anyone here to have an opinion about it, nonetheless I will point out that he stroked a double in his pinch-hit appearance. 3. Like the title says: It's been a long time since we had a game that was over, early. Let alone, in a good way. 4. Z's return to form. Z had several dominating innings, and several more innings where he successfully avoided potential disasters, the sort of one-bad-inning-to-ruin-a-good-start events that we've seen from him before. He only struck out 3 through 8, and gave up a couple of shots to Shawn Green. But still, it was a great improvement. 5. Ramirez's mammoth grand slam. Aramis hit a tape-measure grand slam to blow the game open in the sixth. You'll be seeing it on the sports highlight show of your choice. And now, for what you really came here for....

An avoidable loss

GameCenter Recap

W - Heilman (4-2), (A win with only one pitch thrown!)

L - Wuertz (0-2), the Strike Zone

Important things to take from this game

1. The Lineup: With Lee out, DeRosa took over at first. Additionally, Blanco spelled Barrett for the night. With the lefty Glavine on the mound, Pagan played CF in place of Jones. Finally, Soriano got dropped to third in the lineup, with Theroit leading off and Izturis hitting second. 2. The Early Offense: The Cubs Offense (read, Marquis) staked Marquis to 4-0 lead after two innings. A combination of some shakey OF defense, balls dropping in, and a 2-run single by Marquis, and he had room for error, early on. 3. A Very Ugly Play: Bottom of the fifth, Endy Chavez lays down a great bunt. Ramirez gets out of the way just in time for Marquis, who then nearly hits Ramirez with the throw. The throw sails wide, into the basepath, and Chavez collides with DeRosa, hitting DeRosa's exposed throwing hand. Everyone stays in the game, but it looked really bad. 4. The Middle Relief: Marquis never really had it tonight, but held things together through 5+, exiting with a lead (and just 87 pitches thrown) but also with the tying runs on base and nobody out. It's times like this where you really need a knock-out performance from a middle reliever. Ohman in to face Green, overpowers him for the strikeout. Cherry in for the next batter, LoDuca, who doubles to score a run. Easley gets a sac. fly, and the game is tied at 4. Nuts. 5. From Bad to Wuertz. In the bottom of the 9th in a tie game, Wuertz gets two easy outs, then gives up a single to Reyes, a stolen base, and then totally loses it. 9 straight balls to load the bases. Facing Delgado withthe bases loaded, he goes to a full count. One pitch determines if we lose, or live to fight out the tenth. Two more foul balls later, and Wuertz walks in the winning run. Stunning how quickly he lost control of what looked like an easy inning. Mets win. The comedic relief is below.

A Lilly for Mother.

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W - Lilly (3-2), Mom. L - Lieber (1-2) S - Dempster (8) Important things to take from this game: 1. Lee's pain in the neck. Derrek Lee wasn't supposed to start today, due to a sore neck. He talked his way into the lineup, but then left after the end of the first inning. For the day, he was 0-1 with a GIDP. Daryle Ward came in to replace him at first. Early report from Len is "neck spasms, day-to-day." 2. The great starting pitching. Lilly was absolutely dominant, allowing one hit (which should have been an out) through seven. He got several called strike-threes on the Lilly-hammer. Lieber was hitable, but succeeded in pitching out of a few jams (with some help from the Cubs.) All told, it was a crisp, clean, refreshing game through seven. With that choice of adjectives, I feel the need for a cheap domestic "beer." 3. The Eighth Inning. With a 2-0 lead, 94 pitches thrown and only one hit allowed, Lilly comes out to start the eighth. Helms singles, Nunez singles, and runners are at first and third with no outs. Ruiz lines one to Ramirez, who catches it but then tries to double the runner off of first. It was ill-advised to begin with, before accounting for Ramirez's wild throw. The runner on third scores, the runner on first advances to second, 2-1 Cubs. A soft fly-out gets the second out. A line out to Soriano, and we escape the inning. Should have been scoreless, but could have been much, much worse. 4. The Ninth Inning. The Cubs load the bases with one out, and Ward up. Fabio Castro comes in to face Ward, Cubs respond with DeRosa off the bench. DeRosa is among MLB leaders with 4.33 pitches faced per AB. That percentage will be a bit lower, after walking on four pitches, for a much needed insurance RBI. Another run scores on a Ramirez FC, which should have been an inning-ending DP. Dempster pitches an effective ninth, with two ground balls, and an Utley single that ended with a Soriano assist, as he tried to stretch it to a double. My more extensive write-up is below.

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W - Alfonseca (2-1) L - Howry (0-3), Humanity Important things to take from this game: 1. Guzman's return. Other than the second inning, Guzman basically pitched well. He only walked one, struck out six, and had a few dominating innings. Still, he needs to work quite a bit on his command. 2. Soriano's running: On a play at the plate where he was tagged out, Soriano either lolligagged around the bases (if you believe Tim McCarver and Pat Hughes) or was limping a bit, perhaps from a tweaked hamstring (if you believe most of Parachat). The trainer came to check with Soriano in the dugout after he was called out at home, and Soriano also seemed to be going half speed in the OF on a Nunez triple, a few innings later. Stay tuned. 3. The Cubs Comeback. Down 5-1 and looking totally out of it, the Cubs rallied in the top of the 7th, led by a 3-run, pinch-hit HR by Matt Murton and super-clutch go-ahead double by Jacque Jones. 4. The weather. With the Cubs rallying and Geoff Geary struggling, the rain came down in buckets, delaying the game. The Cubs continued their rally after the return, but the rain then came down again in the ninth, when the Cubs again were trying to mount a rally. 5. The "relief" corps: Eyre couldn't strand the runner he inherited from Guzman. In the bottom of the seventh Ohman got the first two outs, before giving up hits to Rowand and Utley. Howry couldn't get Burrell or the Unstoppable Greg Dobbs out, or noted slugger Carlos Ruiz. With two outs, the relievers let in six runs. That made for a seventh inning where each team scored six runs. Game over.

Below is my more extensive run-down, written as the game progressed.

The Tribune is now reporting that Pie will lead off and play center for today's game in Chicago. As of this hastily written post in response to the briefest of announcements at ChicagoSports.com, there is no explanation of how the roster will be worked to fit Pie. Soriano reports he is feeling much better, and the MRI is negative. (No indication of a torn hamstring)

Since the Cubs are snowed out, what say we congregate in Parachat and discuss the game airing on ESPN 2? Seattle's much-hyped pitching phenom Felix Hernandez faces the Red Sox, tonight. His counterpart on the Sox seems to be garnering a fair bit of attention, too. - update - King Felix has an Interesting Statistical Event going, through 7 IP.  come join us.