Game Ten: Cubs (6-3) vs. Phillies (4-6)
Game Time - 6:05pm C.T.
Coverage - TV: Comcast SportsNet - Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 174, 183
Location - Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia
Carlos Zambrano (1-0, 1.32/0.80) vs. Brett Myers (0-1, 6.30/1.80)
Lou Piniella's crew started out the current 6-game road trip on a positive note, they swept the Pirates....and now it's time for the other team from Pennsylvania. Carlos Zambrano will get the task of opening the series tonight against one of the best offensive teams in the National League.
Jason Marquis was originally scheduled to start the first game of the series but he has the flu and has been pushed back to at least Sunday. Carlos Zambrano will pitch on normal rest tonight in search of his second win of the season.
Carlos Zambrano is 3-2 lifetime versus the Phillies in 6 starts with a 2.79 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. Big Z did not face the Phillies explosive offense last year and is 1-1 in 2 career starts at Citizens Bank Park with a 2.51 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP.
Tonight will be the Cubs first look at former Brewer, Geoff Jenkins in a Phillies' uniform.
- Ryan Howard - 2-for-10
- Geoff Jenkins - 13-for-47 with 2 doubles, a triple, 2 home runs and 3 walks
- Jimmy Rollins - 3-for-17 with a double
- Chase Utley - 2-for-10 with a double
The Phillies' former closer returned to the starting rotation during the off-season when the Phillies acquired Brad Lidge from the Astros. Brett Myers received a no decision against the Washington Nationals on March 31st and the Phillies lost the game 11-6. Myers picked up the loss his last time out on Sunday. The Reds beat the Phillies 8-2 at Great American and Myers allowed 4 runs on 8 hits in 5 innings with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts.
Myers is 5-3 with a save in 11 career appearances, 7 starts, versus the Cubs with 2 complete games....a 2.53 ERA and an amazing 0.96 WHIP.
- Mark DeRosa - 3-for-7
- Derrek Lee - 10-for-22 with 4 doubles, a triple, 2 home runs and 3 walks
- Aramis Ramirez - 6-for-21 with 2 doubles and a home run
- Alfonso Soriano - 4-for-16 with 2 home runs
Let's Talk Cubs Baseball....
ESPN Radio saying Jimmy Rollins is out of the starting lineup tonight (ankle?). Would like to say it helps, but apparently BigZ dominates the guy....
Tim: it helps
Tonight's lineup with Fukudome in center and hitting in the 2-hole.
Soriano - LF
Fukudome - CF
Lee - 1B
Ramirez - 3B
Ward - RF
Soto - C
DeRosa - 2B
Theriot - SS
Zambrano - P
Rollins is due. It helps.
Matt likes our chances with Medium Z on the mound.
Fun lineup.
The Cubs are also due against Myers. Lets whup em.
Matt, Neil likes the lineup. Neil hopes Medium Sized Z continues pitching the way he has this year.
Ive read that XM has a Spanish language broadcast of this game for anyone that can or wants to listen. Matt's learning Spanish at school so he's gonna try and listen to some of it.
Adam is going get in on this. Adam has always liked this and he's decided to try it this time. Adam thinks this is the funniest thing he's ever seen.
He's also wondering why Kosuke is playing center. Is it just so Lou can get Ward some AB's? Adam's curious.
Scott must have missed when Big Z became medium sized Z. Scott is also wondering if Kosuke Fukudome spoke in the third person, would it sound all that weird since it would be coming from his interpreter?
Scott hopes he just blew your collective minds.
Adam thinks Scott raises an interesting question...a question that may not have an answer.
Yes ya did Scott. Matt thinks you jumped the shark with something that good, this early.
Ward plays well in a starting role, just not all year long. Fuku is getting a break tomorrow, so maybe Ward will get back to back starts?
Big Z became Medium Z when he showed up at Camp all mean and lean.
Man, if Lee keeps this up we may see a repeat of 2005...
He'll just kill bad pitches.
Theres your WGN radio back to back Jacks, Ronny!
Scott doesn't think Matt has to worry as Scott has plenty more up his sleeve
The whole world knew Dobbs was running. Dumb move by the Phils.
It's only week 2, but what a pleasure to watch Soto. Finally, a catcher who isn't an automatic out, and can defensively make a difference. I believe he may already have more RBI's than Koyie Hill had last year.
Scott, Neil gave Z the new nickname when he saw him in Spring Training for the first time.
Neil liked the back-to-back jacks!!!
Z is doing exactly whats needed so far. The guy has been bloddy brilliant so far.
Baron is all set with Appleton Estate Rum, a bag of Jerky, and an eagerness to see Z continue the domination...
Baron loves fridays too.
Hi everyone.
Looks like Rich Hill will be pitching out of the pen
this weekend according to Lou. Our southpaws will be Marshall, Hill and McCabe.
Baron is not happy with Z..
Neil hopes the offense will wake up, they look very tired.
Looks like an out...
Dome-AY caught the ball. Ran into Soriano, dropped it.
Got it back....good job Soriano
Sori-ANO....Clap, clap, clap, ....
whats up with Z's velocity tonite...
88-90 mph fastball??
wow...other than ARAM,that was an abysmal 9th...What is the deal with Ward anyway....I'm kind of annoyed with him, Theriot, and DeRosa grounding out ALL the time. Imagine if Fukodome had caught that ball too. It might've been a different game..who knows? what I do know is that Pie would've caught that.
note that Angel Pagan is off to a .990 OPS, .385 Avg, .460 OBP start....
and we have Darryl Ward, whose rear end has its own zip code..
Hendry is a doofus...
Aaron, the replays I saw showed Fukudome did catch the ball. It was in the web of his glove. He made a couple of steps and it appeared Soriano hit his glove and the ball came out.
I agree Pie would have caught it, but so did Fukudome.
Baron thanks for backing up myself and Agustin about Pagan....He also had a nice day yet again for the Mets....Yes, only 10 games...but still....his contribution would be great, and I think Hendry's move alone right there with Pagan should get him fired.
As I said before, we declined Floyd, were actively trying to trade Jones, leaving us with just Soriano, Pie, and the bench "star" Ward. Pagan was cheap too, so it's not like it was a risk to hold onto him.
If Pagan blossoms into an effective everyday player, I don't think I, nor you, Agustin, or many Cubs fans would ever forgive Hendry for that move.....doofus is right, Baron...I can think of a lot more things to say about his ineffectiveness as GM....I'm so tired of people coming out in his defense for the Lee, ARAM, Lofton, etc. type of trades too, because those were COMPLETELY salary dump fire sale moves. Hundley for Grudz and Karros was also considered to be a wash by many, but we lucked out with their production. Genius he is not, as the Cubs didn't even think either would contribute. They had Hill and Choi, but needed veteran back-ups for both. Turned out to be a very nice move, but genius Hendry is NOT....I do, however, think that signing Lilly was a good move, but please keep in mind that Lilly was like plan F for the Cubs last year, and he kind of just fell into Hendry's lap, and this year Lilly has been terrible, spring training and regular season too. Soriano was the best FA available as well, but that doesn't mean he was a great fit...Fukodome was Hendry's plan A, B, C, D----Z.....which he stated himself, and clearly shows that he is a TERRIBLE GM, and terrible visionary. As a GM, you have to be proactive, and not put all your eggs into one basket....you need to make the big moves (signing Fukodome, re-signing Lee, ARAM, Z, and Wood), but it's the little moves that make a huge difference.....giving young guys a shot, rather than taking re-treads like Jones, Burnitz, Floyd, etc.
I'll say this guys....one of the dumbest moves Hendry has made involved not keeping Hamilton, and not signing Ankiel when he was out of options and placed on waivers after Spring Trainig....especially considering the lack of depth the Cubs had in the OF at the time, it further brings to light his poor planning and lack of vision. Everyone knew about Hamilton's promise---it was just off-field questions that seemed to have been resolved. As for Ankiel, ALL the teams knew he was a great hitter as a pitcher, and they all knew he put up outstanding numbers in the minors, so it would've been a no-brainer considering we were looking for powerful and athletic outfielders.
(sigh)
btw---Pagan is a switch-hitter, and considered by Baseball America and other publications to be a five-tool player...but, whatever, I'm sure Ward and Reed Johnson are totally worth it, right?
I hope this isn't going to be like last year were
we only beat the teams with loosing records. If my memory is correct, we only had a winning reocrd against the following .500 or better teams:
Colorado and Milwaukee.
Not a good stat.
Aaron, I love that you just post to bitch...I have not seen you in the past five game during our winning streak.
Hamilton - - Meth addict, it was a risk and still is a risk. I wish him nothing but the best, but it is still a risk. I hope he has a great career.
Ankiel - - First of all is a freak, a pitcher turned power hitting RF'er, I am sure you would have been all over that. It's odd that every other team in MLB passed on him, if EVERY team knew he was a great hitter.
Pagan - - Did nothing for us besides run the bases with his eyes closed, there was no room for him on this team. And this is ten games, please dont start an Angel Pagan fan club yet. Reed Johnson will be a bigger asset to our team when it is all said and done.
BTW...Lilly was on Hendry's radar the whole time along with Gil Meche...Marquis was the back up plan.
Post good and bad, and keep it short.
Shaun...Hendry, it is, isn't it?
must be related, because you seem to have a man crush on a guy that somehow has survived 3 managment regimes, 2 presidents, and now 2 ownerships, all with only 2 playoff appearances......hmmmmmm
Aaron, we get it, you hate Hendry, but after every lose we don't need you posting about how bad Hendry is and how he didn't do this or that. Because face it, Hendry did get us Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, Fukudome, DeRosa, Pinella, Leiber, and got us home town dicounts from Zambrano and Ramirez, and with out all those guys we wouldn't even be in a position to make a run at the playoffs. And who cares if Hendry didn't have a back up plan for Fukudome, cause get what, we GOT him. Try looking at the positives, like how good Dome is so far, and Lee looks like he is back to his '05 form, and Soriano is starting to heat up and steal some bases, and Soto looks like he's picking up were he left off last year.
And no my last name is not Hendry. I just have faith in this team. So with that being said, here's to taking 2-3 from the phillies, and starting another 5 game winning streak tonight.
Well said Nick......oh and Aaron thank you for keeping it short.
The only time that Hendry really did a horrible job was during the 2006 season. His affinity that year for counting on wounded pitchers and signing 6 secondbaseman was not a job well done.
I mentioned on today's other topic that the Cubs get a big PASS on the team's first 10 game sequence. That's the "so called" bottom line.
Maybe the Trib covered the April 7, N.Y. Times story on Sam Zell and the difficulties/losses now being incurred by the big newspapers. Ad revenues are way down due to the economy and subscrbers are too because anything anyone needs to know is posted on CCO. I saw the Times' story this morning.
But here is Zell's predicament--and it could affect the Cubs. He's also paying interest on the $8 billion the Trib borrowed as he took over. The Cubs sale is foundering which Zell had perceived as a $1 billion reduction in debt. I was hoping tht the sale would happen quickly to get the Cubs out of the Trib's losing picture.
The Times reports that the Trib will have to sell newspapers like Newsday and severely cut expenses (like maybe Cubs payroll). I'd hate to see an Aram for Brandon Wood and Ervin Santana deal to save $13 mil a year. At least JH's budget likely is frozen. It may have been earlier as their were hints that Dome and Lieber might be the end of new contracts.
Anyway, the Trib has a bankers' and financial analysts' conference call on April 17th which will likely be widely reported upon. This post isn't exactly baseball--but since everything the public needs to know occurs here on CCO, I felt I should post.