Cubs 21-15, 2nd (-1.0)
Diamondbacks 23-14, (+3.5)
POTG: LF Soriano (4 H, 2 R, RBI, 2B)
Runner Up: SS The Riot (2 H, HBP, R, RBI tho’ another CS), 3B A Ram (2 H, 2B, R, RBI), RF Kosuke (2R HR), SP Ryan Dempster (6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W [4/63], QS [6])
Maybe not so much for that vaunted Arizona Diamonbacks attack. I know I may be tempting something, saying that before the last game of the series, but I have faith in Z in making me look right and a backup plan of the game just being rained out. It is painful outside right now and may not be any better the rest of the day. IF they do get the Sunday afternoon game in, it will a hard game to play.
Back to Saturday first. Dempster had another very solid outing. His walks will forever get him into trouble, but that’s just the guy he is. His BB/9 and K/BB ratios are no different than they’ve been in the rest of his time with the Cubs. Dempster’s just giving up less hits than normal and half as many homeruns per game. The best part is looks to be possibly sustainable:
Dempster’s either added a pitch or changed a pitch, because he’s getting as many groundballs as he’s gotten during his career and the Cubs infield is sweeping them up. I hope someone paid to cover the Cubs notices this and does a story on at some point, because I’m very curious what’s going on. If you can get ground balls and you can get strikeouts, the walks aren’t going to end you. If Ryan could somehow cut down on the walks, he’d have a league top ten season, but what he’s doing now is pretty special too.
Good to see Soriano finally break out a bit. The four hit day got him hitting about 200 for the first time all season. He’s going to need a few more of those go be back to normal. Also nice to see Fukudome finally get his second home run, because we were all going to start to worry if it lasted much longer.
Insert same Marmol rant here as last time. If Chad Fox can’t come into a game to protect a five run lead after not pitching for four days, then Chad Fox really shouldn’t be on this roster.
Off to set up the maximum overrun on my TiVo – today’s game sure won’t be done by 4:20, if it’ll be done at all.