September 2008 Archives

According to reports from the Sun-Times and the Tribune on Tuesday night, Felix Pie was chosen over Micah Hoffpauir to take the final spot on the Cubs post-season roster. While the official roster has not been released, the Tribune indicated Hoffpauir, along with Michael Wuertz, Kevin Hart and Koyie Hill will "report to the Cubs' facility in Mesa to continue working out in case they are needed for the NL Championship Series when the Cubs can change the rosters if necessary."

With the latest on Felix Pie, here should be the Cubs' 25-man roster for the NLDS....

According to several reports out of Chicago, the Cubs have picked up the option for 2010 Lou Piniella. The original 3-year contract Piniella signed with the Cubs in 2006 included a club option for a fourth season. Rumors circulated last week in New York that Piniella was contemplating not returning and with Jim Hendry and the Cubs picking up the option those rumors should be silenced for now.

With the Cubs in the playoffs there are a couple of things that are now certain. The Cubs will face the Los Angeles Dodgers and the first guy the Dodgers will see is Ryan Dempster. Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden will also pitch as will Ted Lilly if things go beyond Game 3 this year.

With four starters and the fact that Lou Piniella has mentioned carrying 11 pitchers on his playoff roster that means there will be seven more pitchers and it means that the Cubs will have 14 from the offense on the roster. With the Cubs clinching so early it gave Lou Piniella the chance to audition players for their addition or subtraction from the playoff roster. Some looked very good while some certainly did not.

Lou doesn't have to release his playoff roster until Wednesday morning but most Cubs' fans already know the sure things. It is those bubble players that are in question. The audition over the last week moved some players from the roster to sitting out and vice versa. We won't know for sure until the roster is official but I am going to take my shot at it.

The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers will kick off the NLDS on Wednesday evening at Wrigley Field. The Cubs won 5 of the 7 regular season games against the Dodgers, but the team that will take the field at Wrigley this week is a lot different from the one the Cubs faced in late May and early June....the additions of Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake helped turn around the Dodgers' season.

The wild card in the series could end up being Rich Harden. A majority of the Dodgers roster has not seen him before while the Cubs have faced all four possible starters twice this season with varying degrees of success. Gary Hughes has been scouting the Dodgers for the last two weeks and his reports should help the Cubs adjust to a very different Dodgers' team.

Game One on Wednesday, October 1st - 5:30pm C.T.
Ryan Dempster - Derek Lowe

Game Two on Thursday, October 2nd - 8:30pm C.T.
Carlos Zambrano - Chad Billingsley

Game Three on Saturday, October 4th - 9:00pm C.T.
Rich Harden - Hiroki Kuroda

Game Four on Sunday, October 5th - if necessary
Ted Lilly - Greg Maddux/Derek Lowe

All games of the NLDS will be televised on TBS with play-by-play on ESPN Radio...as well as Pat Hughes and Ron Santo on WGN Radio.

Here is a game-by-game look at how each starting pitcher has performed against the opposition this season as well as the career numbers compiled by both offenses.

Game One Hundred Sixty-One - Cubs 1 Brewers 3
WP - CC Sabathia (17-10, 11-2) LP - Bobby Howry (7-5) Save - None

The 2008 National League Central Division Champions completed the regular season the same way it began, with a loss by Bobby Howry to the Milwaukee Brewers. In between the Cubs posted a remarkable 97-62 record to finish the year with a 97-64 mark, 33 games over .500....the highest win total for any Cubs' team since 1945.

Lou Piniella did not use the bullpen by committee to finish the game but used seven different relievers on Sunday in what he termed 'bullpen day'. The Cubs pitching staff did a tremendous job against a Brewers' team fighting to make the post-season. Angel Guzman started the game and gave up only a hit in 2 strong innings with 4 strikeouts. The Brewers did not manage another hit until a leadoff double in the 7th by Ray Durham....18 in a row retired by Cubs' pitching.

Sean Marshall surrendered the hit to Durham and was eventually charged with the run after Michael Wuertz walked Craig Counsell with the bases loaded to force in the tying run. Wuertz walked two and finished his up and down season on a negative note after a great outing on Saturday.

The Brewers won the game in the 8th inning on one swing of the bat. Mike Cameron reached on a 1-out single to left off of Bobby Howry then Ryan Braun launched Howry's first offering to left center....it was a no doubter and Braun circled the bases with much joy and enthusiasm.

Cubs' pitching held a very good Brewers team to 3 runs on 4 hits with 3 walks and 10 strikeouts.

The Cubs offense managed only 1 run off CC Sabathia in 9 innings. For the first time since being traded from the Indians to the Brewers, 3 games, Sabathia beat the Cubs. The Brewers' ace threw 122 pitches in 9 innings with a walk and 7 strikeouts....his seventh complete game in a Brewers' uniform. The Cubs only run came off a fielder's choice groundout off the bat of Ronny Cedeno in the 2nd inning.

Lou Piniella emptied his bench late and the offense managed only four hits....two each by Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Theriot.

The Cubs finished the last week of the season with a 3-4 road trip and completed the final month with a 12-12 record....

Game One Hundred Sixty-One: Cubs (97-63) vs. Brewers (89-72)
Game Time - 1:05pm C.T.
Coverage - TV: WGN - Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 187
Location - Miller Park, Milwaukee

Angel Guzman (0-0, 7.04/1.70) vs. CC Sabathia (16-10, 2.80/1.14, 10-2, 1.78/1.09)

The final day of the 2008 regular season for most teams.... The Chicago Cubs will conclude the regular season portion of their schedule today with game number 161. It has been a long, strange, magically wonderful trip with more to come starting on Wednesday at Wrigley.

Today is the 1-year anniversary of the Cubs beating the Reds in Cincinnati....then waiting around and watching the Brewers play the Padres in the visitor's clubhouse. The Cubs went from worst to first and won their first division crown under Lou Piniella. One week ago, the Cubs were still basking in their first back-to-back post season appearance in 100 years....a lot has improved over the last year on the North Side and the Cubs have their sights set much higher as the regular season concludes today.

Jason Marquis was originally scheduled to start today's game, then Piniella toyed with the notion of Carlos Zambrano making the start and pitching only a couple of innings....but Piniella decided on Angel Guzman instead. Look for Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano and possibly Geovany Soto back in the lineup, but not Mark DeRosa. Piniella will use his regular everyday lineup against southpaws while using his bullpen, starting with Angel Guzman, to complete the final 9 innings of the season.

CC Sabathia will make his third straight start on 3 days rest in an attempt to get the Brewers into the post-season for the first time since 1982's Harvey's Wallbangers. If the Brewers beat the Cubs and the Mets lose they are in and will face the Phillies in the NLDS. If the Cubs win and the Mets win, Ron Santo will likely visit Shea Stadium for at least one game in the NLDS....and a third scenario would have the two teams playing Game 163 in the Big Apple on Monday.

In other news.... Lou Piniella announced on Saturday that Jeff Samardzija will join Carlos Marmol, Kerry Wood, Sean Marshall, Neal Cotts, Jason Marquis and Bobby Howry in the Cubs' pen for the post-season. Remember though, with Piniella everything is subject to change.

Finally....There is always a first time for everything. The Arizona Diamondbacks became the first team to fail to win a division after building a 5-game lead at the end of the first month of play. The D'Backs led the Dodgers by 5 1/2 games at the end of April.

Game One Hundred Sixty - Cubs 7 Brewers 3
WP - Ted Lilly (17-9) LP - Ben Sheets (13-9) Save - None

Lou Piniella's crew picked up their 97th win of the year behind a tremendous outing from Ted Lilly. After a horrible start to the season Lilly became the first Cub lefty to post 17 wins in a season since Ken Holtzman in 1970. Lilly followed up his 1-hit gem against the Astros at Miller Park, the last time he pitched in Milwaukee, by going into the 7th with a no-hitter against the Brewers on Saturday afternoon. Only two base runners reached in the first 6 innings, an error by Ronny Cedeno in the 2nd and Lilly walked Mike Cameron on 4 pitches with two outs in the 6th. Lilly even added a ground rule double, his first extra base hit of the year in the 2nd and just missed hitting a grand slam in 3rd. Lilly's outing was truly a tune-up as he dominated a very dangerous Brewers lineup fighting to make the post-season.

'The Bulldog' allowed 1 run on 2 hits with a walk and 4 strikeouts in 6+ innings on 80 pitches.

Daryle Ward, Mike Fontenot and Kosuke Fukudome supplied the Cubs RBI's on Saturday afternoon against Ben Sheets and company. Daryle Ward gave the Cubs a 2-run lead in the 1st inning with home run to right, his 4th of the year. 'Little Babe Ruth' chased Ben Sheets from the game in the 3rd with a bases loaded 2 run single to right. Mike Fontenot added his third RBI of the game in the 9th with a single to left. Kosuke Fukudome gave the Cubs a little breathing room in the 9th after the bullpen allowed a 4-1 lead to be trimmed to 4-3. Fukudome hit his first home run since August 24th, a 2-run shot off of Salomon Torres that gave the Cubs a 6-3 lead.

Carlos Marmol bailed out Lilly in the 7th after a he gave up his first two hits of the day. J.J. Hardy drove in the first Brewers run off of Marmol with a sacrifice fly to center. Marmol settled down and retired the next two hitters he faced to end the inning.

Jason Marquis struggled in his first relief appearance of the season. Lou Piniella stated before the game he wanted to get Marquis a little work out of the pen and unfortunately Marquis could not throw strikes. After issuing a 1-out walk to pinch hitter Russell Branyan, he gave up back-to-back singles to Mike Cameron and Craig Counsell that cut the Cubs lead to 4-2. Marquis then hit Ryan Braun to load the bases. After Piniella chuckled at Marquis, he replaced him with Neal Cotts. Marquis gave up 2 runs on 2 hits with a walk and a hit batsman in a third of an inning.

After a misplayed ball in shallow left center by Ronny Cedeno allowed the Brewers to score their third run of the game, Piniella brought in Michael Wuertz to face J.J. Hardy and Corey Hart with the bases loaded and one out. Wuertz responded with one his best outings of the season.

Wuertz induced a grounder to 3rd off the bat of J.J. Hardy that Casey McGehee made a fine play on to cut Counsell down at the plate. Hart then grounded out to short to end the inning....5 pitches, 4 strikes and 2 outs for Michael Wuertz. Kerry Wood pitched a perfect 9th in a non-save situation.

The Cubs 97th win of the year is the most for the organization since they posted a 98-win season in 1945. The victory also guaranteed the Cubs the season series against the Brewers. After dropping the first two, they have won 9 of 14 and are 9-7 versus Milwaukee with one big one left on Sunday....

Game One Hundred Sixty: Cubs (96-63) vs. Brewers (89-71)
Game Time - 2:55pm C.T.
Coverage - TV: FOX Saturday Baseball - Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 187
Location - Miller Park, Milwaukee

Ted Lilly (16-9, 4.17/1.25) vs. Ben Sheets (13-8, 2.98/1.13)

After a lackluster performance on Friday night at Miller Park, one of Lou Piniella's crews will get back to work today against the Brewers' longtime ace Ben Sheets. The Brewers could clinch a playoff spot today with a win and a Mets' loss....Johan Santana will pitch on 3 days rest against the Marlins' Ricky Nolasco, first pitch at 12:10 C.T. Their magic number is down to two and if the Brewers make the post-season for the first time since 1982, Manny Ramirez, Rafael Furcal and the red hot Dodgers would be the Cubs' first round opponent.

Ben Sheets was penciled in for this start for a week, then scratched on Thursday just to be inked in on Friday. The Brewers have no idea what they will get from Sheets in his first start since facing the Cubs on September 17th. The experts called Sheets last start against the Cubs the biggest and most important of his career....wonder how today's game will be labeled in what could be his last in a Brewers' uniform. In a weird twist however, the Brewers' bullpen has been performing quite well over the last week while the Cubs' pen has struggled.

Lou Piniella announced on Friday that Jason Marquis and Bobby Howry would pitch out of the pen in the post-season. There is still one spot left on the 11-man staff for fall ball and according to multiple reports Piniella will decide between Chad Gaudin and Jeff Samardzija to round out his pen.

With Ryan Dempster starting game one, Carlos Zambrano in game two, Rich Harden in game three and Ted Lilly in game four, the other six spots appear to be Carlos Marmol, Kerry Wood, Neal Cotts, Sean Marshall, Jason Marquis and Bobby Howry.

The 2008 Chicago Cubs will play only a 161 game schedule and not 162. The postponed third game in the Houston series because of Hurricane Ike will not be made up on Monday. The Astros were eliminated from playoff contention when the Brewers beat the Cubs on Firday night....Opening Day in 2009 should be very interesting.

On the injury front, it appears Geovany Soto is fine after leaving Friday night's game in the 6th inning. Soto was lifted for precautionary reasons after aggravating the injury on his left hand. Soto could be back in the lineup on Sunday along with Mark DeRosa in the finale of the 2008 season.....look for Henry Blanco behind the plate today.

Kerry Wood should pitch in the next two games regardless of the score. Wood did not pitch in what could have been the Cubs last game at Shea on Thursday and did not pitch in the opener on Friday. With off days on Monday and Tuesday, Wood will not miss that much consecutive time on the mound.

And lastly, Lou Piniella appeared very irritated during Friday's game and his post game quotes reinforced his demeanor. An unhappy Piniella is a good thing in a 'meaningless game'....he will have his team ready to play and win on Wednesday.

Game One Hundred Fifty-Nine - Cubs 1 Brewers 5
WP - Seth McClung (6-6) LP - Sean Marshall (3-5) Save - None

Lou Piniella's crew lost for the first time at Miller Park this season on Friday night after a poorly played ballgame. Other than Ryan Dempster the Cubs looked tired and did nothing against Jeff Suppan and Seth McClung at the plate. The Cubs ran themselves out of two innings and a rare catcher's interference call on Koyie Hill and a balk by Chad Gaudin opened the door for the Brewers 3-run 7th inning. After the error and balk, Rickie Weeks followed a single by Mike Cameron with a 3-run home run to left that put the game away.

Jim Edmonds hit his 20th home run of the year, 19th as a Cub, in the 2nd, the lone offensive highlight of the game. Two base running blunders cost the Cubs scoring chances. The Cubs put the lead off runner on in three straight innings but failed to add to their lead before Suppan left after 5 innings. Seth McClung gave up a hit and walked a batter in 4 innings of relief with 6 strikeouts. McClung overpowered the Cubs offense.

Ryan Dempster pitched a solid game and the only run he allowed came off a misplayed ball in left by Alfonso Soriano in the 2nd inning. Corey Hart reached on a bloop single to left with one out and scored on a double by Jason Kendall that sailed over the head of Soriano. The Cubs defense in left in right gave the Brewers extra opportunities but Dempster surrendered the 1 run on 4 hits with a walk and 4 strikeouts in 5 innings of work. Dempster pitched good enough to earn his 18th win of the year and if the Cubs needed to win the game to make into the postseason he would pitched longer than he did....Dempster threw 80 pitches, 49 for strikes.

While Seth McClung was busy retiring the Cubs offense, the Cubs bullpen gave up 4 runs to a Brewers' team battling to stay alive in the Wild Card hunt.

Geovany Soto left the game during his at bat in the 6th inning. Soto swung and missed at a 1-0 pitch from McClung and showed obvious pain in the left hand that has been nagging him in recent weeks. Lou Piniella and trainer Mark O'Neal checked on Soto and decided to remove him in the middle of his at bat. Updates on Soto were not provided during the game.

The Cubs dropped their sixth game of the year to the Brewers. With the Marlins beating the Mets, the Brewers are a game up in the Wild Card race and could clinch a playoff spot on Saturday. Prior to the game Lou Piniella called Friday night a tune-up....too bad his players did not get the message.

Game One Hundred Fifty-Nine: Cubs (96-62) vs. Brewers (88-71)
Game Time - 7:05pm C.T.
Coverage - TV: Comcast SportsNet, ESPN - Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 187
Location - Miller Park, Milwaukee

Ryan Dempster (17-6, 2.99/1.21) vs. Jeff Suppan (10-10, 5.06/1.53)

Updated - 5:52pm C.T. - According to a report from the Sun-Times, Lou Piniella announced his rotation for the NLDS - Ryan Dempster in game one, Carlos Zambrano in game two, Rich Harden in game three with Ted Lilly in game four.

On March 31st the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers kicked off the 2008 season. The Cubs started the season with two losses to the Brewers then picked up the first win of year behind Ryan Dempster. A magical summer and 156 games later, the two teams will finish what they started so many months ago.

Lou Piniella's crew opens the last series of the regular season behind their Game One starter in Ryan Dempster. Piniella will send Dempster, Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis to the mound while the Brewers will go with Jeff Suppan tonight, Dave Bush for the injured Ben Sheets on Saturday afternoon and CC Sabathia on three days rest on the season's final day.

The Cubs are undefeated at Miller Park this season (4-0 against the Brewers and 2-0 against the Astros) and will have a big influence on which team they face in the National League Division Series. The Brewers and Mets are tied for the NL Wild Card while the Phillies hold a one game lead over the Mets in the East. While the Brewers will try to celebrate making the post-season against the Cubs, the Mets will face the Marlins and the Phillies will take on the Nationals....