Wood Dazzles, But Cubs Fall to Indians

The Cubs did a lot of things well today, hitting with runners in scoring position was not one of them.  The Cubs registered nine hits, took five walks, but were a paltry 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, and left eleven men on base.  Solid performances up and down the Cubs pitching staff as well, only allowing one run on four hits.

At the Plate:

• Emilio Bonifacio did well out of the lead off spot today going 2-for-4 with two singles and a stolen base.
• Anthony Rizzo has had a hot start to the spring, he continued that today as he went 2-for-3 with two singles.  Rizzo is now five for his last seven, and is hitting .500 in Cactus League play.
• Mike Olt, Logan Watkins, Albert Almora, and Darwin Barney all had one hit in the loss.  Almora got the start in center, and Olt started at third, both went 1-for-3.

On the Mound:

• Travis Wood was brilliant today, much like he was all of last year.  Wood worked three scoreless innings giving up one hit while striking out three.
• Justin Grimm took the loss as he struggled a bit in the inning he worked.  Grimm gave up one run on two hits while walking one, and striking out one.
• Hector Rondon, Chang-Yong Lim, Marcus Hatley, and Tommy Hottovy combined to work four scoreless innings, giving up only one hit while walking one, and striking out three (each pitcher tossed one inning).

 

Cubs no-hit streak contest; Standings (3 games left)

Darwin Barney broke up the no-hitter against Kershaw in the first inning….hahaha, bet you never thought you would see that sentence.  Only a handful of contestants remain as there are only nine total points remaining, time to get creative with your picks guys, and girls.  @chicagosports91 extended his lead to three points last night, but it still up for grabs, get your picks in for today’s afternoon affair.  Good luck, and go Cubs!

 

Soriano, Wood lead Cubs to fourth straight win

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There’s hot, and then there is what Alfonso Soriano is doing.  Soriano is unconscious at the plate right now, his latest reminder to the rest of baseball that he can play was a two home run performance last night as the Cubs pounded the Angels 7-2 for their fourth straight win.  In his last eleven games Soriano is hitting .400 with eight home runs, and seventeen RBI’s, wow.  Anthony Rizzo, Starlin Castro, and Darwin Barney also got in on the long ball fun to pace the Cubs attack.  On a night where every fly ball was dangerous Travis Wood carved up a dangerous Angels lineup.  Wood worked 6.2 innings giving up two runs on four hits while walking two and striking out five to pick up his sixth win of the season.  The Cubs are now eight games under .500 and nine games out of a wild card spot, just pointing that out, not insinuating anything, yet.

PICTURE OF THE GAME

Game Highlights:

All five Cubs home runs
Wood’s strong outing
Travis Wood postgame

A grand old time at the ballpark as Cubs take White Sox to the woodshed

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It really doesn’t get much better than this, I mean I’m a Cubs fan, it’s the small victories that make me happy because the larger ones aren’t here yet and haven’t been for some time.  I have faith the bigger wins will be here soon enough, until then I am going to bask in the glow of the Cubs beating the crap out of the White Sox this week.  It was the Travis Wood show today as he worked six solid innings for his fifth win of the season, and blasted his second home run of the season which also happened to be a grand slam.  The three game “series” between the Cubs this week ended with the Cubs winning all three, and outscoring the Sox 24-6.  That’s fun to say.

PICTURE OF THE GAME

Game Highlights:

Barney RBI single puts the Cubs in front
Travis Wood grand slam!
Travis Wood’s great performance, on the mound
Nate Schierholtz goes deep
Luis Valbuena also goes deep

Feldman better at the plate than on the mound in loss to Reds

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Scott Feldman and the Cubs pitchers have basically said that’s enough and are tired of waiting around for their offense to do anything so they are taking things into their own hands.  Feldman launched a two run shot to give the Cubs an early 3-0 lead but you know those don’t last, silly.  Feldman had one really bad inning which included a Ryan Hanigan 330′ three run homer, and the Cubs couldn’t find anymore offense the rest of the way as the Reds took game one of the series 7-4.

PICTURE OF THE GAME

Game Highlights:

Valbuena’s RBI Single
Great catch by Scheirholtz
Barney with a beauty of a play
Barney Sac Fly

Cubs listless as Pirates finish off sweep

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Maybe it was because it was getaway day, maybe it was the hour and forty-seven minute rain delay, but the Cubs were seemingly ready to get out of Pittsburgh as fast as possible in this one.  The Pirates jumped all over Edwin Jackson early as they scored twice in each of the first two innings, and that was plenty to silence the already quiet Cubs.  To the Cubs credit, they shut the Pirates down the rest of the way but once again couldn’t find enough offense.  The Cubs were able to score once in the fourth and once in the seventh, but they couldn’t string together a rally, not even a fake one.  For the series, the Cubs only scored six times and walk away with three straight losses.  Not a great start to an eight game road trip as the Cubs now head to Cincinnati for a three game weekend series, this trip could end up disastrous.

At The Plate – The Cubs could only manage seven hits in this one, and were 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position, so not a lot of chances all day.  David DeJesus was back in the starting lineup and was 1-for-4 with a double, his thirteenth of the season.  Starlin Castro was 2-for-4 with two singles in the loss to get his average back up to .270 on the season.  Alfonso Soriano, Darwin Barney were the only other Cubs in the starting lineup to get hits, Scott Hairston and Ryan Sweeney added hits off the bench.

On The Mound – Edwin Jackson had a rough go of it, then the rains game to end is day.  Jackson worked three innings giving up four runs on six hits while walking one and striking out six, his record fell to 1-7 on the season.  The Cubs pen was outstanding in this one, go figure.  They worked a combined five scoreless innings giving up three hits while walking two and striking out five.  Rafael Dolis, Carlos Villanueva, Carlos Marmol, and Kyuji Fujikawa were the ones that did the stellar work.

Up Next – The Cubs travel to Cincinnati to take on the Reds this weekend, another stiff test.  Series preview coming up shortly.

Game Highlights:

Full video recap
Jackson’s outing
Sweeney’s RBI single
Rizzo’s RBI groundout

Matt Harvey does it all to beat Cubs

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Another frustrating one run loss for the Cubs, just when you thought they might be starting to win these close games today happens.  It was a stiff test as the Cubs were facing off against all everything Matt Harvey, and he was as good as advertised, well, after the first inning.  After falling behind 1-0 on a David Wright home run in the first the Cubs answered right back with two runs in the bottom half to take a 2-1 lead.  Edwin Jackson pitched right with Harvey for the whole game until Harvey got in his way, with the bat.  That’s right, not only did Harvey get the win on the mound, but he got the game winning hit in the seventh inning.  The Cubs still had a chance in this one, but a questionable send by third base coach David Bell took the Cubs out of the eighth inning.  Bell has been fine all year, so I’m not going to pin this on him, but it hurts to have the game tying run cut down at the plate for the second out of the inning when it could have been first and third with one out with Castro and Rizzo coming to the plate.

At The Plate – The Cubs didn’t have much going against Harvey, but did have a very good first inning, and threatened late.  The Cubs could only manage six hits on the day, but were 2-for-3 with runners in scoring position.  Starlin Castro had a solid day going 2-for-4 with a run scored, he’s now hitting .287 on the season.  Anthony Rizzo was 1-for-4 with a double, his twelfth of the season, and a run scored.  Alfonso Soriano, David DeJesus, and Darwin Barney recorded the other hits in the game.

On The Mound – Edwin Jackson was solid, but ended up registering his sixth loss of the season.  Jackson worked 6.2 innings giving up three runs on seven hits while walking one and striking out four.  James Russell was solid out of the pen going 1.1 scoreless innings giving up one hit while striking out two.  Kyuji Fujikawa was continues to string together good outings going one scoreless inning while striking out two.

Up Next – Game two of the series at 12:05 PM CST.  The Mets will send Jeremy Hefner to the mound and the Cubs will counter with Scott Feldman

Game Highlights:

Soriano’s infield single results in two runs
Barney and Castro turn two
Barney gunned down at the plate

Cubs win second straight series behind strong Samardzija

 

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I know it sounds funny given the Cubs struggles, but they are playing their best baseball of the year right now.  They have played well for the majority of games earlier this year, but now they are putting together more complete efforts and the result is more wins.  With the win the Cubs take the series from the Rockies, this is the Cubs second straight series victory, both over winning ball clubs.  The Cubs jumped on the Rockies right away as David DeJesus led the game off with a solo home run.  After the Rockies got that run back in the second Jeff Samardzija helped his own cause in the third by launching a two run homer to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead.  The Rockies pulled to within one run in the sixth but the Cubs broke it open with a three run seventh inning en route to a 6-3 victory.  Samardzija earned his second win of the season, his first since opening day, hopefully he can build on that, what was most important for him was finally being able to work deep into a game and control the outcome instead of handing it over to the pen in the fifth or sixth inning.

At The Plate – The Cubs made the most of their hits as they pounded out nine while scoring six times.  The top of the order did most of the damage as the Cubs one, two, three hitters were a combined 6-for-10 with three RBI’s, and three runs scored.  David DeJesus was 2-for-3 with his fifth home run of the season, an RBI, and two runs scored.  Starlin Castro was 2-for-4 with an RBI, and a run scored, he’s now hitting .282 on the season.  Anthony Rizzo continues to produce, he was 2-for-3 with a walk, a double, and an RBI, he now has twenty-nine RBI’s on the season.  Darwin Barney is starting to find a groove at the plate he was 1-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base, and two runs scored.  Jeff Samardzija had a great day all around, he was 1-for-2 with his first home run of the season, two RBI’s, and a run scored.

On The Mound – Really nice to see Samardzija pitch instead of just throw and try to miss bats.  He has the stuff to miss bats but also get quick outs, and that’s what he did today.  Shark went eight innings giving up two runs on five hits while walking two and striking out seven to earn his second win of the season.  James Russell worked just one-third of an inning striking out the only hitter he faced.  Kevin Gregg took it from there, things got sketchy, but he was able to get out of the ninth to preserve the win.  Gregg worked two-thirds of an inning giving up one run, unearned (on a Gregg error), on two hits.

Up Next – The Cubs welcome the Mets to Wrigley Field for a three game weekend set starting Friday.  The Cubs are off tomorrow, their second straight Thursday without a game.

 

Game Highlights:

Samardzija goes deep
Samardzija’s strong outing
DeJesus with a sweet grab to end the game
Castro scores in the seventh
Rizzo’s RBI single
Castro with a big insurance RBI
Great defense from the Cubs
DeJesus’ lead-off homer

Villanueva makes case for spot in the pen as Rockies rout Cubs

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  Carlos Villanueva was so very good for parts of this season, but the last few times out have not gone so well.  With the recent struggles it wouldn’t be surprising to see Villanueva head to the bullpen when Matt Garza returns.  I know who he can replace, Shawn Camp , more on him later, he didn’t help his or the Cubs cause tonight.  The Cubs were never in this one and it was over before it started it seemed as the Rockies jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the third inning.  Things got worse in the fifth as the Rockies added two more to take a 7-0 lead, that’s when the Cubs woke up, with some help from the Rockies.  The Cubs scored once in the fifth, and twice in the eighth to make it 7-3 but they wouldn’t get any closer.  The Rockies tacked on two more runs in the ninth thanks to Carlos Gonzalez putting an exclamation point on his night with his second home run, he ended is evening 5-for-5 with two home runs, and three RBI’s.  Seems about right when it comes to Car-Go and the Cubs.  Two games in this series and two blow outs, one each way, wonder what tomorrow will bring.

At The Plate – The Cubs could only manage seven hits in this one, but they had their chances to score more than the four runs they did.  The Cubs were only 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position in this one, and they left seven men on.  David DeJesus was 2-for-5 with a run scored as he raised his average to .281 on the season.  Darwin Barney found some magic in this one, he was 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, and two RBI’s, that performance raised his average to .186, going to need a few more of those from Darwin.

On The Mound – Carlos Villanueva was hit hard all night, even the outs were loud outs.  Villanueva worked five innings giving up seven runs on twelve hits while striking out one, the loss dropped his record to 1-3 on the season.  Hector Rondon continues to prove he belongs out of the pen as he worked a scoreless inning while walking one and striking out one to lower his ERA to 3.68 on the season.  Michael Bowden also seems to be finding a comfort zone out of the pen, he worked two scoreless inning giving up two hits while striking out one.  The only thing comfortable about Shawn Camp is how opposing hitters feel in the box against him.  Camp is getting really close to be designated for assignment, he worked one inning tonight giving up two runs on three hits while striking out one, his ERA climbed to a robust 7.31 for the season.

Up Next – The rubber match of the series as Jeff Samardzija looks for his second win of the season.  He will be opposed by a familiar face, Jon Garland, first pitch scheduled for 7:05 PM CST.

 

Game Highlights:

Thank you, Rockies
Barney goes deep, imagine that

Cubs chase Chapman, but fall just short

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Well, how should we look at this loss?  Be thrilled that the Cubs fought back against arguably the best closer in the game only to fall just one run short.  Or say that this was the typical Cubs “fake rally” where they get just close enough to give us fans some hope, then fizzle out.  Maybe a little of both I guess, fact remains the Cubs left way too many guys on base in this one and that was the difference.  The Cubs trailed 4-0 in the sixth before getting two runs in the bottom half to pull within two.  Unfortunately the Cubs pen couldn’t keep the Reds in check over the next two innings as they built their lead back up to four runs heading to the ninth.  The Cubs, somewhat miraculously touched up the untouchable Aroldis Chapman in the ninth inning, scoring three runs off the flamethrower.  Unfortunately, with the bases loaded and trailing 6-5 Darwin Barney struck out with the bases loaded to end the threat and the game, not a game to remember from Darwin Barney, more on that later.  So close, so frustrating, so encouraging, so many things pulling us in different directions, welcome to the 2013 Cubs.

At The Plate – The Cubs had a solid game at the plate, but on one hand they could have been so much better.  They scored five times on fifteen hits, that’s hard to do, too many opportunities wasted in this one.  Anthony Rizzo is now far removed from his early season struggles as he was 3-for-5 with a double, and a run scored, he’s now hitting .243 on the season.  Alfonso Soriano was 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored but it was the at bats he had where he didn’t get a hit that hurt the most.  The Cubs four hitter was 0-for-2 with zero RBI’s in this game with the bases loaded, both at bats came with less than two outs, unacceptable.  Nate Schierholtz had another good day going 2-for-4 with an RBI, but he also left five guys on base.  Luis Valbuena continues to string together good games here and there he was 3-for-4 in the loss.  Really rough game for Darwin Barney, he was 0-for-5, he left eight men on base, eight, by himself, including striking out with the bases loaded to end the game.  Tomorrow is another day, Darwin, go get em.

On The Mound – Carlos Villanueva didn’t have his best stuff in this one, but he did all he could to get deep into the game.  Villanueva went 5.2 innings giving up four runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out four.  Michael Bowden really struggled out of the pen, and it was his own doing as he worked 1.1 innings giving up one run on three walks, ugh.  Kameron Loe wasn’t much better has he work one inning giving up one run on two hits while walking one.  Kevin Gregg had another solid outing as he worked a scoreless ninth inning while walking one and striking out one.

Up Next – Game two of the series as the Cubs trying to even it up.  Jeff Samardzija looks to get a little deeper in the game as lately his pitch counts have been elevated too early, it would be nice to see him get some run support as well.  That won’t exactly be easy as the Reds will counter with Tony Cingrani who has been really good in the first few starts of his career.

Game Highlights:

Castillo’s two run single
Barney turns a DP
Schierholtz RBI single
Soriano’s RBI Double
Castro makes a nice play

Thanks for reading,
– George