Ryan Dempster takes the ball tonight looking for his first win of the season, yes it’s June 5th already. Hardly Dempster’s fault considering he has a sub 3 ERA on the season. Here is how the Cubs line up tonight against Gallardo and the Brewers.
Campana CF
Castro SS
DeJesus RF
Soriano LF
LaHair 1B,
Clevenger C
Barney 2B
Stewart 3B
Dempster P
Thanks for reading, go Cubs!
– George
There was a few best’s at Wrigley Field on Wednesday afternoon, when it was all said and done the Cubs had won their third game in a row, a season best, and a big reason for that was their best effort yet in the patience department. All year-long we as fans have been hearing about this new “Cubs Way” but we really haven’t seen much of it, until today. The Cubs saw 180 pitches today, for comparison this same Cubs team saw 93 pitches in a game against the White Sox earlier this year, it was a loss, not a coincidence. Patience is so important, the longer the pitcher has to work on you the more likely they are to make a mistake and that’s exactly what happened in the bottom of the ninth. Darwin Barney got a hanging curve ball with two strikes from Kenny Powers, I mean Dale Thayer, and deposited it in the left field bleachers for an 8-6 win. Ryan Dempster was not at his best this afternoon but he battled through four and a-third and got some help from his offense, finally, to get off the hook and finish with a no decision after giving up six earned runs. Darwin Barney was the hero today, not just for his ninth inning efforts, he had a great day start to finish. Barney was 2-for-3 at the plate with a home run, three RBI’s, TWO WALKS, and three runs scored, now that’s more like it. Steve Clevenger returned to action behind the plate and was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI’s in the win. The Cubs take their three game winning streak across the Country to San Francisco where they kick off a four game set against the Giants on Friday. Full box score and highlights after the jump.
There is the potential to see some really bad baseball at Wrigley to start the week as the Padres are in town to take on the Cubs. These are two of the worst, if not the two worst teams in baseball. If anything the Padres could present the perfect opportunity for the Cubs to break out of their 12 game losing streak. Above all else the Cubs need to hit, it’s obvious, the main reason for the Cubs horrendous slide is the offense. The Padres are actually worse offensively than the Cubs, that doesn’t mean much because the Cubs just faced a team that was the worst in the league and they lit up the scoreboard (Pirates). The Cubs only need one win, once they get that I assume they will fall back in line with playing .500 baseball, but at this point who knows when this streak will end, hopefully tomorrow, full preview/breakdown after the jump, go Cubs!
I think Dale Sveum said it best after this one, “I’m a little lost for words now. It’s kind of the same thing” you’re not the only one Dale. Just when you think the Cubs have found every way possible to lose a game they go out and find another excruciating way to do so. Ryan Dempster was on the mound again for the Cubs so odds are it was going to be a low scoring game, and it was. Dempster was brilliant, what else is new? He went 7 and 1/3rd and only gave up one run on seven hits. Dempster had his command once again tonight as he only walked one guy while striking out seven, his ERA drops to 2.14, and his record falls to 0-3, amazing. Offensively the Cubs actually had something going, they pounded out 10 hits, but couldn’t push any runs across the plate, that’s hard to do. Starlin Castro, hitting in the two-hole for the first time this year was 2-for-5, but made the final out of the game by striking out against Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan with the tying run on third. David DeJesus made the biggest out just before Castro as he struck out looking with said tying run on third when a fly ball would have got the job done. Just terrible, the Cubs were 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 guys on base, what more is there to say, that tells you everything you need to know. Full box score, and highlights after the jump.
Continue reading “Less Than Perfect 10, Cubs Streak Continues”
Nothing worse than losing to the White Sox, except maybe banging your head against the wall over and over which is exactly what the Cubs are doing. For the second straight game against the Sox the Cubs faced a pitcher who had roughly a 6 ERA. For the second straight game they went up to the plate with absolutely no approach, swinging at everything, pitches in the zone, out of the zone, over their head, bouncing pitches. The fact that this has happened two games in a row is inexcusable on all fronts. Make an adjustment, both pitchers have struggled, why try to help them out? Anyway, Ryan Dempster finally had a rough outing as he was having trouble locating, and the Sox actually made him work, novel concept. To Dempster’s credit, he battled as usual. He ended up going six innings, he gave up four runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out three. With the loss Dempster falls to 0-2 as he sees his ERA skyrocket to 2.28.
The Cubs had nothing going all night against the Sox, at least until the 9th inning and two outs, better late than never, right? Alfonso Soriano had a great game at the plate going 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and two RBI’s. I’ll be the first to admit, I come down on Soriano a lot, part because of his contract (not his fault) and his inability to play LF the right way (not really his fault). So I will be the first to say that I have been blown away by his effort this year, he’s clearly hurt, but he goes out there every game, and hustles. That could not be said of him the last two years, so it’s refreshing to see for sure. Joe Mather had the other blow for the Cubs as he was 1-for-3 at the plate with a two-run homer in the 9th. Blake Parker looked great in a 1/3rd of an inning, then he got hurt, what else is new? This team is being destroyed by injuries, add Parker to the list, hopefully it’s not that bad. Full box score and highlights after the jump.
The Cubs look to exact some revenge under the lights for a rare Saturday Night affair. Ryan Dempster looks for his first win of the season, and HE WILL GET IT, book it! Let’s go Cubs! Here are the lineups.
1. Alejandro De Aza, CF
2. Gordon Beckham, 2B
3. Adam Dunn, 1B
4. Dayan Viciedo, LF
5. A.J. Pier..whatever, C
6. Alex Rios, RF
7. Alexei Ramirez, SS
8. Eduardo Escobar, 3B
9. John Danks, P
1. Reed Johnson, CF
2. Darwin Barney, 2B
3. Starlin Castro, SS
4. Bryan LaHair, 1B
5. Alfonso Soriano, LF
6. Jeff Baker, RF
7. Joe Mather, 3B
8. Koyie Hill, C
9. Ryan Dempster, P
Let’s go Cubs! Thanks,
– George
Ryan Dempster heads to the mound looking for some help. Dempster has been outstanding this year, however, his offense apparently doesn’t feel like scoring runs in games that he is pitching. Hopefully tonight will be a little different, here is how the Cubs will line up.
Thanks for reading, Go Cubs!
– George
Nothing says fun like a two game series, it’s rare, but they Cubs have two of them this week, the first being in St. Louis against the Cardinals. This is the third time already that these two teams have faced each other. The Cubs have played the Cardinals tough so far, splitting the six games they have played. The Cubs lost two out of three in St. Louis and took two out of three from St. Louis in Chicago. The Cardinals are licking their wounds after being swept over the weekend by the red-hot Braves. While the Cubs come in after avoiding the sweep in Milwaukee yesterday afternoon. If the Cubs are going to have success in this series they are going to need a solid effort from their starters. The Cubs pen looks tired, and Sveum is having to go to guys that no one in the Northern hemisphere trusts late in games. If the Cubs can get deep outings they should be in a great spot to get a split or even sweep the short two game set. Full preview/breakdown after the jump.
Continue reading “May 14 – 15; @ Cardinals – Series Preview”
The Cubs look to keep things rolling as they welcome the Atlanta Braves to Wrigley Field for a three game set. This will be the second series in a row where the Cubs will be facing one of the best teams in baseball. The Cubs first test was over the weekend against the Dodgers, and they passed with flying colors taking 2 out of 3. If the Cubs are going to do the same thing in this series they are going to need an outstanding pitching effort. They have been getting that lately, but they will be really tested in this series against the top run scoring team in the National League.
The Braves are led by the usual suspects in Chipper Jones, and Brian McCann, but are also getting solid production from Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward. The Cubs should be able to take advantage of a Braves pitching staff that has been knocked around a bit this season. The Braves come into the series with a 4.41 ERA which ranks 14th in the National League. The Cubs haven’t lost a series since the April 20-22 series to the Reds, let’s keep that going, go Cubs!
Full preview/breakdown after the jump.
Are you kidding me? Carlos Marmol has become the goat for the 2012 Chicago Cubs, and Cubs fans aren’t about to let their voices go unheard, I’m one of them. The latest episode of failure was this afternoon where the Cubs were sailing along to a victory and a two game sweep.
Ryan Dempster was dominant going 8 innings, throwing 101 pitches. Let’s stop right there for a second. I don’t want to start piling on Dale Sveum yet, I’m really going to try hard not to. Why is Ryan Dempster 
not starting the 9th inning? I’m sorry, I don’t understand why your #1 starter can’t throw more than 101 pitches. He’s coming back from an injury, I get that, but this is beyond ridiculous that he has to sit on the bench and watch his awesome effort go to crap because another guy on the team has the “role” of finishing games. Give me a break, nothing, nothing Carlos Marmol has done this year or last year warrants him getting opportunities to carry a Dora the Explorer backpack let alone close out major league baseball games.
I see the other side of it, trust me, Dempster did enough, he should be able to sit on the bench after 101 pitches and watch a competent pitcher get the final three outs. The Cubs have some of those too, none of which are named Marmol. James Russell starts the 9th the Cubs win, Rafael Dolis starts the 9th the Cubs probably win. Henry Rowengartner starts the 9th the Cubs definitely win. Another issue I have is why is Marmol allowed to get out of jams he creates, he hasn’t gotten out of one yet this year. If Marmol is coming in then there better be someone warming up in the pen just in case the typical happens. What, you don’t want to disrespect the mighty Marmol by having a pitcher warming up? Too bad, does it show a lack of confidence in Marmol, sure does, because that’s exactly the case, no one has confidence in Marmol, not even Marmol. Without Marmol’s “efforts” the Cubs would be at or just above the .500 mark and full of confidence, yet they sit at 9-16, dead last in the Central. But hey, at least Marmol’s getting his work in, you know, building his confidence in easy save situations.
Enough, Marmol is done, consider the closer position an open one. That’s what Sveum and Company should do, enough rewarding the contract, and what he is supposed to be, and start rewarding guys who are performing. Sorry, totally fed up with Marmol and the Cubs enabling him, back to your regularly scheduled programming, recaps and such coming up.
Thanks,
– George
Born on Third 