Tag: game story

Game 65: Cubs 10 – Braves 5

Cubs 41-24
Braves 32-33

POTG: C Soto (HR, 2H, 2R, 3 RBI)
Runner Up: LF Soriano (2H, SB, CS, IBB, 2R, 2BB), 1B D Lee (HR, 2 RBI), 3B A Ram (3 R, H, RBI, 3 BB), RF Fukudome (2 H, SB, R, RBI), 2B DeRosa (2 H, RBI), CF Johnson (H, 2 RBI, SF)

Good old destruction. The thing about Lilly’s starts during this stretch is you’re almost always going to have a chance at a comeback, because he’s going to give up a multi-run home run to start the game, and then hold the line there.

The Cubs got plenty of offense from a lot of the lineup. It helped a lot that Tom Glavine’s got very little left and probably shouldn’t have stuck around for this season. It got a little intresting when Howry got poked around enough to give up two rounds and make it a game, but the Braves bullpen is not a strength and Soto was able to bust the game wide open.

Eyre’s one out appearance to stop the Braves produced this fanastic set of quotes:

“I didn’t even know who I faced,” Eyre said. “By the time I got to the mound, Geo was talking to [ Aramis Ramirez] when I go, ‘Hey, who are we facing here?’ He goes, ‘[Ruben] Gotay.’ But it wasn’t Gotay. He came up the next inning. I don’t know who I faced. I wasn’t paying attention. I was trying to make sure I got an out.”

Good thing we’re all professionals here. Eyre’s “scoreless inning streak” is such a joke, it’s been nice that it’s been barely mentioned. Eyre’s been good this season, but he’s also been in for less than an inning most of the time – tough to give up runs when you’re not facing more than one batter. If anything, it’s a testament to not giving up base runners – only five so far this season.

Game 64: Cubs 3 – Dodgers 1

POTG: RP MARMOL (1.2 IP, 2 runners marrooned to preserve the lead)
Runner Up: SP Jason Marquis (6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2K), 2B Mark DeRosa (3 H, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR)

It was really three guys providing all the effort – DeRosa was responsible for the offense, Marquis had an usually good starting effort, and Marmol escaped the jam and set up an easy save for Wood. I could’ve gone with any of those guys, but Marmol’s outs felt like the biggest ones of the game.

The problem with doing this so delayed is I can’t remember the things which really stick out to me. This was the Sunday night game, but was it the “Al Oliver” game? I lost my mind for about 15 minutes after that conversation. I loathe that broadcasting team.

Last 16 games
3 Soriano
2 D Lee
2 Z!
2 Edmonds
1 Dempster
1 Gallagher
1 The Riot
1 Lilly
1 Fukudome
1 none
1 Marmol

Season Total
9 Z!
7 Soriano
6 D Lee
5 Soto
3 Fukudome
3 Marquis
3 Dempster
3 Lilly
2 Fontenot
2 A Ram
2 Johnson
2 The Riot
2 Marmol
2 no one
2 Edmonds
1 Lieber
1 Hart
1 Hill
1 Cedeno
1 Lieber
1 Howry
1 Wuertz
1 Gallagher

Game 63: Dodgers 7 – Cubs 3

Cubs 39-24
Dodgers 30-32

POTG: LF Soriano (HR)
Runner Up: none

I choose to remember this game as Z going along fine, and then an error unfairly deraling things. It totally couldn’t be his fault, that’s impossible. 13 hits is surely an acceptable number.

I just talked down Maddux as a pickup, but how about Lowe? He’s looked pretty effective both times the Cubs have faced him, and the Dodgers are going nowhere. He’s not a long term solution and he’s got a rep for not handling pressure well, but he’s still in his contract year on a team that seems to be scuffling and may not want to keep him around (especially since his price will surely be going up.) A groundball pitcher in Wrigley always seems like a good idea.

Offense was really spread out and not so great. Alas.

Game 62: Dodgers 3 – Cubs 0

POTG: none
Runner Up: none

I’m sure I watched this game. But I was so tired a this point, I may have just been staring at a blank screen for 3 hours. I recall nothing happened, and the box score indicates that’s pretty much right. I’m no scientist, but you’re not going win many games with 4 hits and no walks. Kuroda was just plain awesome.

Game 60: Padres 2 – Cubs 1

Cubs 38-22
Padres 24-37

POTG: SP Ted Lilly (7.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 8 K)
Runner Up: SS The Riot (2 H, 2B)

Yea, they got owned by Maddux. No, this doesn’t mean they should sign him. This was more the Cubs making him look by going after him too strong. Maddux can still beat you if you let him average 10 or less an inning, and the Bell/Hoffman combination is still strong enough to shut the door when the Padres are capable of getting the  that far.

Maddux Game Scores:
Good: 70, 74, 71
Okay: 64, 65
Below Average: 49, 45, 32, 50, 47, 59
Horrible: 16, 26

Yes, he can still throw a game game, but he’s throwing a lot of disappointing ones and he’s relying a lot on the his team to get the outs for him.

The whole “do you need another starter” argument is another one entirely, but if you agree that the Cubs should trade for one, you ought to be aiming higher than that. When the Cubs brought Maddux back last time, it made he was four years younger and hadn’t declined nearly as much. It was decent tactical move that happened to have some nostalgia thrown in. Picking Maddux over other options would be all nostalgia now, and that’s not something a playoff team can afford. I’d be happy for him if some other team picked him up for One Last Run, but I also wouldn’t mind the Cubs facing him during that run.

Meanwhile, in a season where Lilly’s pitched bad and won, this was an actual good perfomance. He may have hung around just a little too long, but he did enough in this game.

Game 59: Cubs 9 – Padres 6

Cubs 38-21
Padres 23-37

POTG: LF Soriano (HR, 2B, SB, BB, 3 RBI, 2 R)
Runner Up: SS The Riot (2 BB, SB), 3B A Ram (2B, 2H, RBI), CF Reed Johnson (2 H, 2R, 2B, 2 SB), RP Scott Eyre (1.1 IP, H, K, 0 R, 1 stranded)

Lots of walks, and a few steals. The Cubs really didn’t do a lot to Wil Ledezma, but getting him to 100 pitches before the end of the 5th is quite something. A lot of it was just talking the walks he was giving, because the cubs didn’t start getting hits until the relievers came in. (And then they started getting big hits.)

Any game your team steals six bases is a fun game. I so do not miss Barrett.

Hart sealed his fate for the time being by coming in and being completely ineffective. Cotts was no wonder himself, but he did get the ground ball they were looking for. Marquis was as really just as bad as Ledezama, but his bullpen was just a bit stronger, thanks to Eyre, Howry and Wood.

Game 58: Cubs 7 – Padres 6

Cubs 37-21
Padres 23-36

POTG: SP Z!! (5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, ER, 4 BB, W; 3 H, 3B, RBI)
Runner Up: SS The Riot (3 H, R, RBI), 3B A Ram (2 H, R, 2B), CF Edmonds (2 RBI, 2 2B)

You can’t hold the short start too much against Z; this was a rebound thing after the 130 last time out, and they understandably wanted to get him out early if at all possible. After an iffy first inning, Z was solid for everything after the Gerut pickoff, and more than made up for the 1st inning with his hitting.

This really shouldn’t have been a close game, but Marmol struggled when he came out for his second inning – this time runners were on when he gave up the home run.

Despite scoring 7, it seems like the Cubs left some runs on the table. At least they took as much advantage of a replacement pitcher as they could, and you always like it when the team puts a heavy load on the bullpen in a the first game of a series.

Game 57: Cubs 5 – Rockies 3

Cubs 36-21
Rockies 20-37

POTG: CF Edmonds (2B, 3B, 2 RBI, BB)
Runner Up: RP Bobby Howry (1.2 IP, 2 K, 0 H + BB, 0 R), SS The Riot (2 R, 2 H), 3B A Ram (2B, IBB, 3H, R, RBI),

3 straight versus the Dodgers, 4 straight versus the Rockies, undefeated homestand. There was a bit of “well, how good are they REALLY” before this set of games started, and winning 7 in a row quiets those for a bit.

My memory of this game is Gallagher being wild (2 HBP!), and that leading to his short perfomance. But he wasn’t so wild that the Rockeis weren’t swinging at his pitches – no walks on the day – and they were doing a lot of missing. 8 Ks in 5 2/3 is greatly impressive, and he’s credited with giving up 3 runs only because Wuertz was back to being completely ineffective for eight pitches.

Edmonds giving the Cubs something out of CF versus lefty was a big improvement over the nothing they were getting before. They needed someone to step up with Lee out of the lineup (and the weirdness of Hoffpauir being the #3 hitter – I can’t understand how attached regulars get to their normal spot in the batting order, but it obviously means more to them that it’d seem.)

Game 56: Cubs 5 – Rockies 4

Rockies 20-36
Cubs 35-21

POTG: LF Soriano (HR, 2 H, R, 3 RBI, HBP, SB)
Runner Up: 3B Ram (2B, BB, R), C Soto (2 2B, RBI), RP Cotts (1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, K)

After winning some with singles, this is a stretch of winning it with power – 7 of the 11 hits were for extra bases, and all the run scoring plays were of XBHs.

Dempster was due a bad outing. This wasn’t really that bad, but very inefficent to only make it thru five innings. (He did make it up a bit with the bat.) Luckily, it was a good night from Wuertz, Cotts, and Howry to pull the game to the closer. Not the greatest Marmol as sub closer for Wood. His trend of giving up long flies when he gives up anything at all keeps on going, but at least he didn’t walk anyone before it.

I think the Cubs still like Glendon Rusch, but they sure treat him badly as an opposing pitcher. He’s back in AAA last time I checked.