Cubs 28-18, 1st
Astros 26-21, 3rd
POTG: 3B A Ram (2 H, HR, 2 RBI)
Runner UP: 1B D Lee (3 H, R), 2B Mark DeRosa (2 H)
I missed the two biggest plate appearances of the game – the Geoff Blum walk, and the Hunter Pence grand slam – while the channel happened to be flipped to something else. Don’t look at me, I didn’t have the remote (that time.) As painful it is for Ryan Dempster to killed by walks, he is Ryan Dempster and that’s why he does. The bigger problem here was the batters not doing what they have been doing, and only putting two runs on the board.
It was almost the opposite of what happened in the last Pittsburgh series: Lee and Ram got hits, no one else did, and the Cubs didn’t walk much either. Only two on the game, with Edmonds (catch or no catch, didn’t look good otherwise) and Hoffpauir’s PH appearance. Besides Soriano, no one struck out all that much, but everyone was pounding the ball into the ground.
I know nothing about Jose Ascanio; I remember the Cubs treading Will Ohman for someone, but I didn’t hear his name much in Spring Training. He had issues with baserunners here, but his stuff seems good enough that he deserves as much a chance to secure the last bullpen spot as anyone else they’ve cycled thru that slot already. I do not expect to see much more of Chad Fox – the very vague injury return assessment is a Prior-ese – and rather the Cubs give younger guys chances to see if they’ve got something. It is only the last spot in the bullpen anyway, the guy that only exists to eat up innings when everyone else is tried – you might as well see if someone can surprise everyone.