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Cubbyblue's Archives
Sunday Funnies: How's your faith hanging there, Cub Fans?
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Ryan Dempster waiting at the baggage claim from hell.
It's so cruel watching Ryan Dempster pitch one outstanding game after another and still not get his first win of '12.
Well, I guess he did give up 4 earned runs so his ERA ballooned to 1.97, but still.
Please give to the Score Some Runs for Ryan Foundation, Cubs.
As you read the following, furrow your brow and in your head use your sappiest, most serious voice.
Matt Garza's 9th inning hair
What a dominant performance by Matt Garza.
The Philadelphia Phillies get one eensy weensy perfectly placed bloop single from Jimmy Rollins to lead off the game.
Then it's just Garza magic for 7 innings - one walk, no runs, Cubs 3 Phils zeeero.
Rafael Dolis gets 3 straight in the 8th.
And then it's Carlos Marmol.
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Randy Wells' Monty Python act.
Oh Randy Wells.
You can't do this any more, brother...
Is Theo Epstein working a Marlon Byrd trade with Boston?
Of course that's an imagined conversation between Theo Epstein and Boston GM Ben Cherington, but...
Sunday Funnies (sort of): Cubs watch Cardinals' ring ceremony.
I get that Dale Sveum was trying to be all high-roady (and I even admire that) having his Cubs watch the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals have their ring cememony.
But for the Cubs it had to be pretty galling.
I didn't have the tv on.
Maybe they showed it, maybe the Cubs were all perfect gentlemen..
And maybe this is what they were all actually thinking.
LaHair's grand slam made it by a hair.
When the Chicago Cubs were up 9 (nine!) to nothin' over the St. Louis Cardinals, the best word I could come up with was "exotic".
Because that's how it felt.
Two days in a row of massive Cub bat-damage?
That's like being on some island in National Geographic where the lizards all have fur and bring you rum drinks.
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A round of applause for Arizona Phil and his Cubs ST coverage!
I thought I knew a little about baseball til I started reading your posts here at TCR, Arizona Phil.
The depth of your knowledge and your frank, watchful eye have kept us all deeply in the loop of our favorite team.
Thanks.
And now...2012!
Whatever the hell it turns out to be.
Should be gorgeous weather on Opening Day.
Seriously, can't believe how fabulous the weather's been.
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Some new apps for your iCubs.
If you're a modern, savvy human, then you gotta keep up with the times.
That means always getting the latest and newest stuff.
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Happy St. Pat's Day. As in Hughes.
After the season of the Bear
There are Hawks games and Bulls games to spare
But you can't wait for the day
When you hear Pat Hughes say,
"Chicago Cubs baseball is on the air"
(Sorry if I got a little deep there.)
Happy St. Pat's, everyone!
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Jeff Beliveau's pitching pause.
That was the first time I'd seen Jeff Beliveau pitch.
Len and Bob made a big deal about this little pause Beliveau employs right when he rears back to throw.
(In the illustration I say "windup", but he was throwing from the set position.)
I didn't think much about it.
But then he proceeded to strike out all 3 Dodgers he faced, and two more the next inning.
With Garza not looking so hot (dry AZ air?) the Cub bats getting just 5 hits and no runs, Beliveau was the most exciting thing about Sunday's zero to five loss.
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A Chart of the Soler System
(This of course inspired by Rob's headline yesterday)
So, I don't know jack, do you?
The other day somebody said that Jorge Soler was gonna sign a contract with the Cubs, he just couldn't find his pen.
Now it's all kindsa teams trying to get close to Soler, apparently.
The Cubs, represented in the chart as the USS Enterprise, still seem to be the closest.
But the Yankee Evil Empire suddenly came on the screens, and not alot Captain James T. Epstein can do with his phasers against those guys.
And the Black Hole of Miami now opened it's hungry mouth.
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Recent comments
Arizona Phil (view)
Childersb3: Miguel Cruz walked six in 1.2 IP in his last start, so I guess he is improving. Wilme Mora also walked six in one of his appearances a week or two ago, and one or two others have walked five. I don't know what would be the most I have ever seen a pitcher throw in a game out here, because the manager / pitching coach usually gets the pitcher out of the game if it gets too ridiculous.
As for the attendance, probably about 20 of the 25 were early arrivals for the Savannah Bananas game who came over to Field # 1 to see what was going on, and once they saw all the bases on balls (12 walks by Cubs pitchers and four by Angels pitchers) they ran away screaming. I'm used to it so it didn't bother me that much.
Childersb3 (view)
Jed has added Teheran, Tyranski, Kissaki, and now Straily and Nico Zeglin today.
Zeglin is 24 yrs old. Pitched well at Long Beach St in '23 and well in some Indy Ball.
They also added Reilly and Viets in late ST.
Have to search for MiLB arm depth anywhere you can and at all times!!!
Childersb3 (view)
25 in Attendance!!!
Phil, is that a backfield record?
Also, 6 BBs for Cruz in 2 IP. What's the most walks you've seen in one EXT ST outing that you can recall?
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
He has a pulse. Apparently that’s the only requirement at this point.
crunch (view)
cubs sign dan straily...for some reason. minor league deal.
welcome back.
zac rosscup is down in mexico trying to make it happen...maybe they could throw him a contract, too. junior lake is his teammate. shore up a bunch of holes with some washups.
fullykräusened (view)
The great thing about going to live sports events is you don't know if you're going to see something historic. Today I went to the Cub game, after putting the liner back in my coat and fishing my Cubs knit hat out of the closet. I needed all that- my seats are in the upper deck, left, so the east wind was in my face. Both teams failed to capitalize on good situations, but both starters did a good job to accomplish this. So, we go to the bottom of the sixth inning. The Cubs tie it up, and then Pete Crow-Armstrong comes up. We all know he would still be in AAA if not for injuries, and future Hall-of-Famer Justin Verlander absolutely carved up the young fellow up in his first two plate appearances. So this time he hits a fly ball. The wind was blowing in and had suppressed several strong fly balls- including a rocket off Altuve's bat that Canario hauled in (does anybody else remind me of Jorge Soler?) , but the ball kept carrying and carrying. 107mph, legit angle and carry. The crowd went nuts, the dugout went nuts. Maybe, just maybe, I saw the first homer from a long-term Cub.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
Which was my original premise. They won the trades but lost their souls. They no longer employ the Cardinal way which had been so successful for so long.
crunch (view)
STL traded away a lot of minor league talent that went on to do nothing in the arenado + goldschmidt trades. neither guy blocked any of their minor league talent in the pipeline, too. that's ideal places to add talent.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
Natural cycle of baseball. Pitching makes adjustments in approach to counter a hot young rookie. Now it’s time for Busch and his coaches to counter those adjustments. Busch is very good and will figure it out, I think sooner than later.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
In 2020, the pandemic year and the year before they acquired Arenado, the Cardinals finished second and were a playoff team. Of the 12 batters with 100 plate appearances, 8 of them were home grown. Every member of the starting rotation (if you include Wainwright) and all but one of the significant relievers were home grown. While there have been a relative handful of very good trades interspersed which have been mentioned, player development had been their predominant pattern for decades - ever since I became an aware fan in the ‘70’s
The Arenado deal was not a deal made out of dire need or desperation. It was a splashy, headline making deal for a perennial playoff team intended to be the one piece that brought the Cardinals from a very good team to a World Series contender. They have continued to wheel and deal and have been in a slide ever since. I stand by my supposition that that deal marked a notable turning point within the organization. They broke what had been a very successful formula for a very long time.