June 2007 Archives

Game Seventy-Nine - Cubs 4 Brewers 13
WP - Ben Sheets (10-3) LP - Sean Marshall (4-3) Save - None

For the second day in a row the Brewers batted around in the 1st inning, they scored 4 runs in the opening frame but unlike Friday they kept tacking on runs and by the 3rd inning the Brewers had scored 7 runs and chased Sean Marshall from the game. After Rich Hill's 3-inning performance on Friday, Lou Piniella had little choice but to run out the back end of his bullpen. Marshall left after the 2nd inning and allowed 7 runs, 6 earned, on 7 hits. Scott Eyre could not shut down the Brewers and gave up 2 more runs on 3 hits. For as good as the bullpen performed on Friday, they were equally as bad on Saturday.

The Cubs offense was taken out of the game by the 3rd inning. Alfonso Soriano and Mike Fontenot combined for 2 runs in the 1st inning and Mark DeRosa hit a 2-run double in the 6th. The Cubs hit Ben Sheets hard in the first few innings but they were hit directly at Brewer defenders. In the 6th inning, Piniella emptied his bench and gave Soriano, Lee and Ramirez the remainder of the afternoon off. The Brewers proved they can bounce back from a disappointing loss and the Cubs season long winning streak came to an end at 7 games. Now it's the Cubs turn....

Game Seventy-Nine: Cubs (39-39) vs. Brewers (46-33)
Game Time - 2:55pm C.T. FOX Saturday Game of the Week, WGN Radio, XM Radio Channel 188
Location - Wrigley Field, Chicago

Sean Marshall (4-2, 2.44/1.08) vs. Ben Sheets (9-3, 3.09/1.18)

The Faithful knows what is at stake.... The Cubs get another shot at the first place Brewers today on National Television. The game was originally scheduled for a 12:05pm start but was moved to 2:55pm in order to accommodate FOX. It will be interesting to see how the Brewers bounce back today. After Justin Verlander threw his no hitter against them on June 12th, they won 12 of 14 entering play on Friday.

With today being the last day of June, what a month it has been on the North Side of Chicago. There was the Zambrano-Barrett game on June 1st, Lou Piniella was ejected on June 2nd, the beaning wars with the Braves, the Derrek Lee-Chris Young brawl, Michael Barrett was traded and the Cubs have won 17 and lost 10 while posting their first 7-game winning streak since 2005....

According to a report on ESPN 1000 in Chicago, the Cubs will recall Rocky Cherry from Triple-A Iowa before today's match-up with the Brewers. The Cubs have not made the move official and ESPN is not reporting who will be sent down in order to make room for Cherry.

Updated - 12:42pm C.T. - Billy Petrick will be optioned to make room for Rocky Cherry on the 25-man roster

Game Seventy-Eight - Cubs 6 Brewers 5
WP - Bobby Howry (5-4) LP - Francisco Cordero (0-2, BS 3) Save - None

A week ago Lou Piniella's crew appeared to be dead and buried in the weakest division in baseball. They had just lost two of three to arguably the worst team in the majors and limped back to Chicago to face the White Sox on the South Side. Since then the Cubs have rattled off 7 in a row and seemingly every win has been more dramatic than the last. The Cubs spotted the Brewers 5 runs in the first inning and with poor pitching and sloppy defense it appeared the Cubs had cooled off after a very impressive stretch of wins.

After Rich Hill ran up his pitch count in the first three innings, Piniella turned the game over to his bullpen and they responded with 6 innings of shutout ball, they bent but never broke and gave the offense ample time to mount a comeback. The Cubs cut the Brewers lead to 5-3 going into the bottom of the 9th. Alfonso Soriano singled to center with 1-out, Mike Fontenot followed with a single to right. With runners on 1st and 3rd, Derrek Lee hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored Soriano to cut the lead to 5-4. Aramis Ramirez stepped in and took the first offering from Francisco Cordero over the left center field wall....the only thing missing was Harry Caray shouting 'Holy Cow, Cubs Win!'. Ron Santo screamed, the Faithful jumped up and down and the Cubs ran out of the dugout to greet Ramirez at home plate. The word unbelievable came to mind and breaking even on the season never felt so good....to quote Harry, "You can't beat fun at the old ballpark."

Game Seventy-Eight: Cubs (38-39) vs. Brewers (46-32)
Game Time - 1:20pm C.T. WGN TV, WGN Radio, XM Radio Channel 188
Location - Wrigley Field, Chicago

Rich Hill (5-5, 3.13/1.06) vs. Yovani Gallardo (1-0, 2.70/1.05)

The Faithful knows what is at stake.... Two of the hottest teams in baseball open a 3-game series today at the Friendly Confines. The Cubs are 16-10 this month while the Brewers also have 16 wins, but two less losses. Lou Piniella just witnessed his crew play, without question, their best ball of the season over the last week. Now the challenge is to pick up where they left off on Wednesday. If the Cubs want to challenge the Brewers for the division, they must play well this weekend and surpass the .500 mark. With the first half coming to an end in 10 short days, a solid conclusion to the first half would help makeup for a lackluster start to the season.

Looking back since my last update a lot has happened. In thinking about it all I thought I would take a page from Brian and give you my opinion rambling style. But first a little bit of All-Star news. Micah Hoffpauir and Eric Patterson were named to the PCL All-Star team on Thursday. The Southern League announced their roster for the Northern Division All-Star team on Tuesday. Jorge Cortes, Jake Fox, Matt Craig and Mark Holliman will represent the Smokies.

Here is the latest from the farm and ramblings about the big league club....

In 1969 the New York Mets stunned the baseball world and broke the hearts of Chicago Cubs' fans worldwide by winning the World Series. The Mets began the 1969 season in a less than stellar way with a record of two games under .500 at the end of May. During the middle of August the Mets were 9.5 games and in third place behind the Cubs and Cardinals. But the Cubs went 8-17 in September and the Mets won 38 of their final 49 games and finished with a 100-62 record. Can history repeat itself only to tilt itself in the Cubs favor? As we head toward July, the Cubs find themselves close to being in a double digit hole behind the Milwaukee Brewers. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Cubs on the field during the first 3 months of the 2007 season. Teammates fighting, sloppy base running, bullpen blow ups, and inconsistent line ups, is the bad baseball behind us?

Not since the mighty swings of Mark Bellhorn have I been so enthused by a 20-something second baseman in a Cubs uniform, as I am currently with "Mighty" Mike Fontenot. Sure, it has only been 70 at-bats, but this guy is playing more like Ryne Sandberg than Ronny Cedeno.

Perhaps due to the spark provided by Fontenot, or perhaps because the team is just finally getting into a rhythm, the Cubs are playing their best baseball of the year. Are we setting ourselves up for a fall, though? Are the Cheese Curds simply too much of a juggernaut for the Cubs to catch? You know better....

Game Seventy-Seven - Cubs 6 Rockies 4
WP - Carlos Zambrano (9-6) LP - Jason Hirsh (3-7) Save - Carlos Marmol (1)

The Cubs' offense scored 5 of their 6 runs in the first 4 innings and gave Carlos Zambrano a very comfortable cushion to work with. Zambrano was very impressive once again and allowed just 2 earned runs in 6 innings of work. Billy Petrick made his Major League debut and Carlos Marmol picked up his first big league save.

Mike Fontenot went 3-for-4 with his 3rd home run of the season. He was 9-for-13 in the 3 game series while extending his hitting streak to a modest 10 games. Mark DeRosa scored the first run of the game, hit a 3-run home run in the 3rd inning and made another fine defensive play in the field, this time filling in at 3rd base for Aramis Ramirez. The Cubs won their 6th game in a row for the first time since 2005 and the sweep of the Rockies was the first at Wrigley Field since 1993.

Game Seventy-Seven: Cubs (37-39) vs. Rockies (38-39)
Game Time - 1:20pm C.T. WGN TV, WGN Radio, XM Radio Channel 184
Location - Wrigley Field, Chicago

Carlos Zambrano (8-6, 4.27/1.33) vs. Jason Hirsh (3-6, 5.06/1.38)

The Faithful knows what is at stake today.... The Cubs need to keep their offensive machine rolling while Carlos Zambrano just needs to be, well....Carlos Zambrano. The Cubs are playing good ball right now but face a challenge today in Jason Hirsh and a Rockies team that will be desperate for a win. A win today would be a great way to head into an off day on Thursday.