   |
||||||||||||
       |
||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Game Thirty-Three: Cubs (18-14) vs. Reds (13-20)
Game Time - 6:10pm C.T.
Coverage - TV: Comcast SportsNet - Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 183
Location - Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati
Carlos Zambrano (4-1, 2.11/1.17) vs. Aaron Harang (1-4, 2.98/1.08)
The Cubs are in need of a win tonight, plain and simple. Lou Piniella's crew has lost 5 of the last 7 games against division rivals and they are close to erasing the positive start to the season. After the first four games against Dusty Baker's new team, the Cubs are 2-2.
The Cubs will try to avoid their first 3-game losing streak of the season. Aramis Ramirez status is unknown as of this writing. Reports mentioned Ramirez was still hurting on Monday and said he could not go after taking just four swings in the cage.
Lou Piniella is contemplating going with a 13-man pitching staff over the weekend against the Diamondbacks. Jason Marquis' spot in the rotation will be skipped and Piniella wants Sean Marshall stretched out for when Scott Eyre returns, possibly by Friday. Reports indicated Felix Pie could be the odd man out if the Cubs add a pitcher into the mix.
Carlos Zambrano has been the ace the Cubs have been missing for the past several years over his first 7 starts of the season. The sign of a good pitcher is being effective when he does not have his best stuff ....and that describes Zambrano's last 2 starts. Zambrano surrendered only 1 run to the Brewers on 7 hits in 6 1/3 innings his last time out. But a bad 9th inning by Kerry Wood and Alfonso Soriano cost him his 5th win of the year....and this was after throwing 7 shutout innings against the Nationals in his previous start.
Zambrano's team needs him tonight to step up and continue pitching the way he has over the first six weeks. The Cubs need a boost and hopefully Zambrano will keep the Reds offense off the board while his offense tries to figure out Aaron Harang.
Big Z will face a Reds' team he has struggled with in the past but dominated earlier in the year. Zambrano gave up only 2 runs in 8 hits in 7 innings on April 16th to the Reds at Wrigley and earned his second win of the year.
Zambrano is 11-9 in 24 career starts, 28 games, against the Reds with a 3.35 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP....at Great American, Zambrano is 6-2 in 10 starts with a 3.22 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP.
- Adam Dunn - 12-for-51 with a double, 6 home runs and 14 walks
- Edwin Encarnacion - 10-for-31 with 2 home runs
- Ken Griffey, Jr. - 12-for-33 with 5 doubles and 2 home runs
- Aaron Harang - 0-for-7
- Jeff Keppinger - 5-for-15 with a double
- Corey Patterson - 0-for-4
- Brandon Phillips - 8-for-27 with 3 doubles and a home run
- Joey Votto - 4-for-9 with 2 doubles
Aaron Harang has pitched much better than his record indicates. Harang has allowed 3 earned runs or less in each of his last 3 starts and lost his last 2 games by a combined 8-3 score. Reports indicated after his loss to the Cubs on April 15th at Wrigley that Harang was ill, the Cubs scored 5 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings....his worst outing of the year.
Harang is 8-4 in 16 career start against the Cubs with a 4.62 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP....at home this year, Harang is 0-1 in 3 starts with a 2.14 ERA and a remarkably low 0.86 WHIP.
- Ronny Cedeno - 2-for-13 with a home run
- Mark DeRosa - 4-for-12 with a home run
- Kosuke Fukudome - 2-for-3
- Derrek Lee - 13-for-38 with 2 doubles and 5 home runs
- Felix Pie - 2-for-7
- Aramis Ramirez - 8-for-33 with 3 home runs
- Alfonso Soriano - 3-for-15 with a double
- Geovany Soto - 4-for-6 with 2 doubles
- Ryan Theriot - 5-for-18 with a double
- Carlos Zambrano - 2-for-10 with a double and a home run
Let's Talk Cubs Baseball....on the Anniversary of the 20 K's
Trips to the Northside
© 2005-2008 5&11 Online Productions| Creative Commons License | Contact |
Subscribe
Neil, please don't post the lineup unless Cedeno is in it. I think DeRo needs a day off, he seems to be struggling lately.
I am on my way to coach my son's T-Ball game.
Talk to you later.
Drew, your wish is my command....but you forgot to ask for Aramis Ramirez.
Tonight's lineup:
Soriano - LF
Theriot - SS
Lee - 1B
Ramirez - 3B
Fukudome - RF
Soto - C
Cedeno - 2B
Pie - CF
Zambrano - P
Looking at the lineup i have a feeling this is going to be a big night...we get cedeno's hot bat back in there and ARAM's return is HUGE, not to mention we have the Z-Pack on the hill...lets hope tonight gets us rollin again!
Thanks Neil. I was hoping for Aramis but I didn't want to get greedy. This was my personal wish for the lineup tonight (I'm glad Lou is starting to listen to me). DeRo needs a night off, plus he's a perfect lineup double switch guy. I also agree with Lou about Pie, if what he's doing is giving Pie a few starts in a row to try and get going. If he does perfect, if not send him down once Eyre is ready.
I'm a little anxious about our 3-4-5 and 8 hitters tonight. Lee has played all 32 games, has only 4 hits and 1 RBI in his last 5 games. He may need a day off. Aram is hurt and Dome seemed a little less effective the last 2 games.
As Neil mentioned Harang, the Reds' ace, has pitched a lot better than his record. We may have to win with 3 or 4 runs tonight. We need a gem from Z tonight, and I think he will deliver.
I think we're going to have a lot of problems scoring runs off Harang tonight ... hope I'm wrong.
JimK, Did you see that one of the guys you wanted us to acquire in spring training (Michaels in Cleveland) was designated for assignment yesterday. He could likely be had for very little though I suppose with Reed Johnson we don't need him at this point.
He's Back (ARAM)...good start
Right now we are in a bit of an offensive slump...but when Soriano and A-RAM get hot...everybody better look out!
Hope they start getting hot today
Soto and Zambrano with the strike 'em out, throw 'em out.
Z strikes again!..his ability to pick guys off like that is huge
Ryan, great point. I do hope they can calm him down. 37 pitches in 2 innings is too much.
Z's falling behind every hitter. Too many 3-ball counts...
David... You're right--We don't need Michaels with Johnson on the roster. My main interest in Cleveland was lefty starter/reliever Laffey and prospect Beau Mills (1b) with Murton and one of our stock pile of reilevers going to the Indians to back up Borowski. Michaels was the Payton like back up outfielder.
Keep checking the Giants for lefty pitching (present or future). I found another lights out guy today--Ben Snyder at Hi A San Jose. I'd take him and reliever Hinshaw, AAA for EPat + right now.
That's why my man Ronny Cedeno needs to be in the lineup!
Great approach at the plate by RC Cola!
Great piece of hitting by Cedeno/ Fuku ...also great at-bats by Lee and Aramis.
The name of the game is making the best of whats given to you.
Rather than sending Pie down to Iowa is it legal to ship him over to Japan for a year? He could learn the Japanese approach while playing some real AAAA ball. I think MLB needs to look into adopting a partnership with the Japanese baseball league similar to that of the NBA Development League where teams could have the option of sending a couple of players over there.
Drew, i think ur overal idea is great but if we send all of our players over do you not think the style of play over there would change? Idk just a thought and it will probably never happen but its an interesting idea.
Good evening fellas,
Nice job by Cedeno way to get the runs in.
Nice rip by Soriano, another good play on him, I think it is only a matter of time before he gets hot.
Nice slide by Big Z!!
RC Cola is fuckin awesome...
A-Ram is fuckin awesome...
Umm...anybody know why Marshall is being stretched out..when Gally is already stretched out lol...?
Seriously tho..how hard is it to put a guy who throws 94-97 with control in the rotation?
Cedeno reminds me of why I miss the "Soriano on the DL" Cubs so much. Johnson deserved a better fate as well.
Ryan, I agree it'll probably never happen and honestly I just came up with the idea off the top of my head. But my idea would be to have each MLB team be able to send maybe one position player and one pitcher over there to one of the Japanese professional or minor league teams. Each Japanese team would say have a limit of 2-3 American players on the team at one time so we wouldn't impose our game upon them. Also they would have complete managerial control. Obviously my proposal is anything but complete and lacks major insight, but it was a fun thought.
Hubert i def agree on the ARAM and RC thoughts...but i only partially agree with the gally comment (i am assuming thats the 94-97 with control guy) only because he is for the most part untested at the majors and there will be alot of pressure on him if he is put in the rotation however...i feel we should give him a few more chances in relief and if he pitches well we should place him in the rotation, put marquis in the bullpen as a guy who only pitches to eat innings in blowouts and leave marshall as the long man...then once Rich gets it straighted out in AAA (an he will) put him back in the rotation and remove either Gally (if he has struggled in the rotation) or Lieber (only b/c he is very vauluable as the long man) and then figure out Marsh and Marq however u want...what u guys think?
Keep it up Z!!! Did you see the silver size red scrape on the elbow of his right arm when he tagged the hitter. I'm glad that's all he got when he slid into first.
Good observation and call JimK...I never noticed that but now i see they are taping it up
Marshall = Lilly w/o movement. Same on the cutter/sinker velocity, tops at 88. Has an average curve...
Gally's curve is a disgusting hammer. Plus he can command the 4-seamer and 2-seamer on either side of the plate. I know he's untested, but honestly, you gotta test the kid sometime. If Mr. Cueto is electric, then Gally has just has good of stuff, but w/ more velocity (iunno where the hell it came from though LOL)
What is going on with the defense?
Way to get the D fired up Neil...haha...big DP and it think tonight is a credit to how good Big Z really is b/c he clearly doesnt have his best stuff yet he still looks better than most
I ask myself the same question with Theriot. He seems to be leading the league in errors. His bat is making up for everything though.
Bad defense usually hurts, but Z picked up DLee and Cedeno. Z is now trying to do his least favorite thing--bunt.
The problem is that we kind of have a logjam of middle IF's. Fonty is a decent bench player, and Theriot's bat is surpassed by Ronny's newly discovered talents, plus Ronny's obvious speed.
Am I just being biased or does anyone else think Theriot was able to keep his foot on the base? Regardless it wasn't the best throw by Cedeno and I'm surprised he went to second, but I think Theriot drug his foot over the bag. Nice idea by Pie to try and do something to get him going, wasn't the best bunt but it worked.
Even when Zambrano K's he makes the pitcher earn it..
I am watching mlb.tv so its the Reds announcers and they just said something that i thought was crazy (i know nothin new) anyway they said that this year Lou is less aggresive as far as steals and such b/c we dont have any speed...however it has seems to me we are attempting way more steals than last year...what do u guys think?
This would be a great time for D-Lee to get out of his mini-mini-slump lol.
F***...-_-;
Drew...sorry man, but Theriot was off the bag when he caught the ball. Some ump will give the "in the neighborhood call" but in all fairness, I thought he was off the bag.
Ryan, I agree with you. I think they are running more.
Can some come up with a logical reason as to why Pie did not try to steal during the Zambrano or Soriano AB? Especially on Bako.
Agustin...Cedeno got the error on the throw--but the DP took care of that. DLee is tired, and Lou needs to give him a day off.
I agree Ryan. Last year our running game consisted of Soriano before he blew the hammy. We are running much more this year, although we don't have a premier base stealer (we can't count Pie because he is never on base!).
Soriano hopped!
Jim, I agree Derrek Lee looks tired....3-for-21 on the road trip and 2 errors.
Fuku might be a lil' tired also..
Ryan, you may have mis-heard. The announcers talked about Lou's managerial career, and the speed reference may have been to his Reds teams. They did mention the current Cubs aggressiveness on the bases.
Hubert, you beat me to it. I think Fukudome is as well.
I don't know if Z goes out for the 9th--but here's a standing ovation for Z's effort tonight!!!
K Wood is special too! Great team victory tonight.
NATION REPRESENT!
CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!
Fitting Kerry struck out 2 of the 4 batters he faced. Solid game and a great game for Zambrano!!!
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Gooooo...hey Chicago
Biggest play of the game to me was the bunt by Fuk. I don't normally like the 5th guy in the lineup to bunt, but there are certain situations and I think this was one. It moved up 2 runners in a 1-0 game and Cedeno had a great hit to drive them both in. Fuk has such great baseball sense. It seems he is always thinking which is something that is missing in modern day baseball. I personally think there are too many guys going for the long ball too often. This game shows a bunt can be a big play in determining a win or loss. Great game tonite! GO CUBS!