The offense was out in the final two games of the second series in as many weeks against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs got wins from Rich HIll (in the first game) and Jason Marquis (in the second) for their first wins of the season. Dempster continued his strong start to the season with his third win (of course it's his second against Pittsburgh, so you should probably take that into account) in the third game.
The Cubs scored 13 in each of the last two games (13-1 on Sat, 13-6 on Sun) and won a close one to start the series off right (3-2).
With the win today along with losses by the Cardinals and Brewers means that the Cubs have taken their rightful place at the top of the Central Division (look for the standings tomorrow).
Friday's Games.
Saturday's Games.
Today's Games.
LWIB
Milestones near for two big league batters.
Manny being Manny is now 4 homeruns away from 500 and Junior is 4 homeruns away from 600.
Manny Ramirez and Ken Griffey Jr look to reach milestones soon and continue what has a trend last season (Big Hurt hit his 500th as did Jim Thome, Sammy hit his 600th, and Tom Glavine got his 300th win, also there was a rumor about someone passing Hank Aaron for most homeruns ever, but I'm not sure that it actually occured. Surely if it did, some stadium would have momentos representing that event right? Like the stadium where the player that acheived it played, right?)
Speaking of the Big Hurt, the Toronto Blue Jays released him a day after telling him that his playing time would be greatly reduced, eliciting a bit of a complaint from the future hall of famer.
These will definately be interesting stories to follow. I think that Frank Thomas still has a lot to offer (most likely as a DH in the AL, but if he'd accept it, he'd be a hell of a player off of the bench for anybody). This week should also get us a little closer to milestones and if either player gets really hot, one of them could reach a milestone this week.
Tomorrow the Cubs take on the Mets.
Showing posts with label LWIB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LWIB. Show all posts
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Phillies take the Series, but Cubs Avoid the Sweep (with some help from the Umps)
Game One-Friday
Cubs 3 Phillies 5
Zambrano got an early lead from back to back jacks by D Lee and A Ram, but didn't have his best stuff and let his emotions get away from him in the fourth.
A couple of near plays that should have gone the Cubs way ended up going the way of the Phillies and Carlos lost control of his emotion resulting in 5 runs in three innings and an end to the win streak.
Game Two-Saturday
Cubs 1 Phillies 7
For the third straight start, Lilly couldn't get out of the fifth. He gave up 5 runs in his 4 and 1/3 innings. Rich Hill was moved into the bullpen to try and "fix" his "problems", but right now, Lilly is struggling far more then Hill is.
Game Three-Sunday
Cubs 6 Phillies 5 (10)
In the 6th inning, the Cubs got a controversial homerun from Mark DeRosa. The umpire called the ball fair, replays seem to show that it was just foul.
The homer that might not have been gave the Cubs a 4-2 lead in the top of the 6th.
However, in the bottom of the 6th, the Phillies got 3 runs off of Michael Wuertz and the Phillies were in the lead by one.
Geo Soto got the Cubs back into it in the eighth with a check swing run scoring single.
With runners at first and second and one out in the 10th, the Cubs (out of bench players) pinch hit for Kerry Wood with Carlos Zambrano. He hit a ground ball that looked like it would be two to send the game to the bottom of the 10th still tied, but Utley's throw bounced and a hustling Zambrano was safe at first scoring Cedeno from second for a Cubs lead.
Howry came in a got the save, his first of the season.
Friday's Other Games
Saturday's Other Games
Yesterday's Other Games
LWIB
Well, if you watched Fox baseball or ESPN baseball this weekend, the only news worth talking about was the fact that the Red Sox and Yankees resumed their rivalry.
An interesting story coming out of that rivalry was the fact that a construction worker on the new Yankee Stadium who also is a Red Sox fan buried a David Ortiz jersey in the new stadium hoping to curse them. Yankee officals had it dug out of the concrete and are contemplating whether or not to press charges against the construction worker.
Ah, rivalries.
INTERESTING COMMENTARY
This one is thanks to Daddy Cleaver. Speaking of Red Sox/Yankees, the incomprable (when it comes to stating the obvious) Tim McCarver had this to say in Saturday's game on FOX Saturday Baseball...
Daddy Cleaver's response? "Ways? Let's see, there's, um, seeing it? And...um, well, peripheral vision is about all I can come up with."
Yes, in Tim McCarver's world, two things that are actually the same thing count as "ways". No word on whether he thinks about his family while on the road.
Thanks to Daddy Cleaver for giving us this instance of INTERESTING COMMENTARY as I was watching the Rangers make errors in route to a 4-1 loss to the Blue Jays. In case you were wondering, 3 of those four runs were unearned.
Cubs are off today, but here are the rest of today's games.
The standings after week two...
AL EAST W L GB
Baltimore 7 5 -
Toronto 7 5 -
Boston 7 6 .5
Tampa Bay 6 6 1.0
New York 6 7 1.5
AL CENTRAL W L GB
Chicago 7 4 -
Kansas City 7 5 .5
Minnisota 6 6 1.5
Cleveland 5 7 2.5
Detroit 2 10 5.5
AL WEST W L GB
Oakland 8 5 -
Los Angeles 7 6 1.0
Seattle 6 7 2.0
Texas 5 7 2.5
NL EAST W L GB
Florida 7 5 -
Philadelphia 6 7 1.5
New York 5 6 1.5
Atlanta 5 7 2.0
Washington 4 9 3.5
NL CENTRAL W L GB
St. Louis 9 4 -
Milwaulkee 8 4 .5
Chicago 7 5 1.5
Pittsburgh 6 6 2.5
Cincinatti 6 7 3.0
Houston 5 8 4.0
NL WEST W L GB
Arizona 9 3 -
San Diego 7 6 2.5
Colorado 5 7 4.0
Los Angeles 5 7 4.0
San Fran 5 8 4.5
Cubs 3 Phillies 5
Zambrano got an early lead from back to back jacks by D Lee and A Ram, but didn't have his best stuff and let his emotions get away from him in the fourth.
A couple of near plays that should have gone the Cubs way ended up going the way of the Phillies and Carlos lost control of his emotion resulting in 5 runs in three innings and an end to the win streak.
Game Two-Saturday
Cubs 1 Phillies 7
For the third straight start, Lilly couldn't get out of the fifth. He gave up 5 runs in his 4 and 1/3 innings. Rich Hill was moved into the bullpen to try and "fix" his "problems", but right now, Lilly is struggling far more then Hill is.
Game Three-Sunday
Cubs 6 Phillies 5 (10)
In the 6th inning, the Cubs got a controversial homerun from Mark DeRosa. The umpire called the ball fair, replays seem to show that it was just foul.
The homer that might not have been gave the Cubs a 4-2 lead in the top of the 6th.
However, in the bottom of the 6th, the Phillies got 3 runs off of Michael Wuertz and the Phillies were in the lead by one.
Geo Soto got the Cubs back into it in the eighth with a check swing run scoring single.
With runners at first and second and one out in the 10th, the Cubs (out of bench players) pinch hit for Kerry Wood with Carlos Zambrano. He hit a ground ball that looked like it would be two to send the game to the bottom of the 10th still tied, but Utley's throw bounced and a hustling Zambrano was safe at first scoring Cedeno from second for a Cubs lead.
Howry came in a got the save, his first of the season.
Friday's Other Games
Saturday's Other Games
Yesterday's Other Games
LWIB
Well, if you watched Fox baseball or ESPN baseball this weekend, the only news worth talking about was the fact that the Red Sox and Yankees resumed their rivalry.
An interesting story coming out of that rivalry was the fact that a construction worker on the new Yankee Stadium who also is a Red Sox fan buried a David Ortiz jersey in the new stadium hoping to curse them. Yankee officals had it dug out of the concrete and are contemplating whether or not to press charges against the construction worker.
Ah, rivalries.
INTERESTING COMMENTARY
This one is thanks to Daddy Cleaver. Speaking of Red Sox/Yankees, the incomprable (when it comes to stating the obvious) Tim McCarver had this to say in Saturday's game on FOX Saturday Baseball...
"Catchers bring that mitt up prematurely, and hitters have ways of finding that out."
Daddy Cleaver's response? "Ways? Let's see, there's, um, seeing it? And...um, well, peripheral vision is about all I can come up with."
Yes, in Tim McCarver's world, two things that are actually the same thing count as "ways". No word on whether he thinks about his family while on the road.
Thanks to Daddy Cleaver for giving us this instance of INTERESTING COMMENTARY as I was watching the Rangers make errors in route to a 4-1 loss to the Blue Jays. In case you were wondering, 3 of those four runs were unearned.
Cubs are off today, but here are the rest of today's games.
The standings after week two...
AL EAST W L GB
Baltimore 7 5 -
Toronto 7 5 -
Boston 7 6 .5
Tampa Bay 6 6 1.0
New York 6 7 1.5
AL CENTRAL W L GB
Chicago 7 4 -
Kansas City 7 5 .5
Minnisota 6 6 1.5
Cleveland 5 7 2.5
Detroit 2 10 5.5
AL WEST W L GB
Oakland 8 5 -
Los Angeles 7 6 1.0
Seattle 6 7 2.0
Texas 5 7 2.5
NL EAST W L GB
Florida 7 5 -
Philadelphia 6 7 1.5
New York 5 6 1.5
Atlanta 5 7 2.0
Washington 4 9 3.5
NL CENTRAL W L GB
St. Louis 9 4 -
Milwaulkee 8 4 .5
Chicago 7 5 1.5
Pittsburgh 6 6 2.5
Cincinatti 6 7 3.0
Houston 5 8 4.0
NL WEST W L GB
Arizona 9 3 -
San Diego 7 6 2.5
Colorado 5 7 4.0
Los Angeles 5 7 4.0
San Fran 5 8 4.5
Sunday, April 6, 2008
LWIB and An Offensive Outburst.... Finally
LAST WEEK IN BASEBALL
In this segment each week, I'll highlight the biggest story of the previous week.
In Opening Week, the obvious choice for biggest story is the slow (and I mean SLOW) start of the Detroit Tigers who have yet to win a game so far tuis season.
A lot has been made of their offense coming into this season, and on paper it is certainly fomidable. It has yet to make itself known as of yet, however. The pitching was supposed to be the question for this team, so people are getting a little worried due to the slow start the offense has gotten off to.
In my opinion, this lineup will produce (even with the injuries they've suffered early). Offense often starts out slower at the beginning of the season, partly because of the colder weather prevelant in many ballparks this time of year.
It's only one week, Tiger fans, no need to step off of the ledge yet.
YESTERDAY'S CUBS GAME
HOU 7 CHC 9 F
The Cubs offense woke up finally, culminating in a 5 run 7th inning that helped knock out Roy O and gave him his second loss in as many games.
Kosuke Fukudome continued his blazing start and Derrek Lee went 4-4.
Kerry Wood got his second save in as many opportunities.
This game also gives us our second INTERESTING COMMENTARY entry from Astros color man Jim Deshais.
Normally I would let something like this slide, but only if you recognize your mistake immediately and correct it. The Astros broadcasters continued as if nothing odd had happened. A player batting 2.000 should cause some follow up one would think, considering that IT IS IMPOSSIBLE! Just saying.
Yesterday's Other Games...
TB 6 NYY 3 F
BOS 2 TOR 10 F
KC 4 MIN 6 F
CWS 5 DET 3 F
CLE 1 OAK 6 F
SEA 4 BAL 6 F
TEX 1 LAA 2 F
SF 4 MIL 5 F
PHI 3 CIN 4 F
WSH 4 STL 5 F
LAD 1 SD 4 F
NYM 5 ATL 11 F
PIT 3 FLA 7 F
ARI 7 COL 2 F
Today's Games Already in Progress
Cubs give Carlos Zambrano his second start he'll be going against Brandon Backe who came back at the end of last season from Tommy John surgery and is now the Astros second starter.
Enjoy your games.
In this segment each week, I'll highlight the biggest story of the previous week.
In Opening Week, the obvious choice for biggest story is the slow (and I mean SLOW) start of the Detroit Tigers who have yet to win a game so far tuis season.
A lot has been made of their offense coming into this season, and on paper it is certainly fomidable. It has yet to make itself known as of yet, however. The pitching was supposed to be the question for this team, so people are getting a little worried due to the slow start the offense has gotten off to.
In my opinion, this lineup will produce (even with the injuries they've suffered early). Offense often starts out slower at the beginning of the season, partly because of the colder weather prevelant in many ballparks this time of year.
It's only one week, Tiger fans, no need to step off of the ledge yet.
YESTERDAY'S CUBS GAME
HOU 7 CHC 9 F
The Cubs offense woke up finally, culminating in a 5 run 7th inning that helped knock out Roy O and gave him his second loss in as many games.
Kosuke Fukudome continued his blazing start and Derrek Lee went 4-4.
Kerry Wood got his second save in as many opportunities.
This game also gives us our second INTERESTING COMMENTARY entry from Astros color man Jim Deshais.
"With that hit, Reed Johnson is now batting 2.000."
Normally I would let something like this slide, but only if you recognize your mistake immediately and correct it. The Astros broadcasters continued as if nothing odd had happened. A player batting 2.000 should cause some follow up one would think, considering that IT IS IMPOSSIBLE! Just saying.
Yesterday's Other Games...
TB 6 NYY 3 F
BOS 2 TOR 10 F
KC 4 MIN 6 F
CWS 5 DET 3 F
CLE 1 OAK 6 F
SEA 4 BAL 6 F
TEX 1 LAA 2 F
SF 4 MIL 5 F
PHI 3 CIN 4 F
WSH 4 STL 5 F
LAD 1 SD 4 F
NYM 5 ATL 11 F
PIT 3 FLA 7 F
ARI 7 COL 2 F
Today's Games Already in Progress
Cubs give Carlos Zambrano his second start he'll be going against Brandon Backe who came back at the end of last season from Tommy John surgery and is now the Astros second starter.
Enjoy your games.
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