Game Seventy-Six: Cubs (47-28) vs. White Sox (41-33)
Game Time - 7:05pm C.T.
Coverage - TV: ESPN Sunday Night Baseball - Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 184
Location - Wrigley Field, Chicago
Ryan Dempster (8-2, 2.76/1.09) vs. Javier Vazquez (7-5, 4.13/1.31)
It's game three of round one....it's the Cubs versus the Sox, it's the North Side versus the South Side....it's the Crosstown Classic. While many in attendance tonight will be carrying brooms with them to the old ballpark, Lou Piniella's crew will certainly receive the best the White Sox have to offer. Neither team wants to get swept in these series and the Sox have a lot to prove....especially with the way the Chicago media has reacted after the first two games.
Eric Patterson should be in the starting lineup tonight. Lou Piniella said he earned another start after his performance on Saturday. And the Cubs offense will have the tough task against a pitcher they have a history against, but one that has had just as much success against them. The Cubs will look to keep the streak going not only at home, but against the Sox.
In other news.... According to a report from Scout.com, Jeff Samardzija will be promoted to Triple-A and join the Iowa Cubs rotation on Tuesday. With Kevin Hart on the DL with a concussion and both Sean Gallagher and Sean Marshall with the big league club, the I-Cubs need a starter and Samardzija has pitched much better of late. The Shark is 3-5 this season with a 4.86 ERA....44 strikeouts with 42 walks in 76 innings at Double-A Tennessee.
Ryan Dempster is coming off a solid outing against the Rays in Tampa but picked up a no decision in a 3-2 Cubs' loss. Dempster gave up a run on 6 hits in 5 innings with 6 strikeouts and 2 walks. Neal Cotts replaced Dempster to start the 6th and gave up the lead on his first pitch to Evan Langoria.
The last time Dempster pitched at Wrigley he tossed a complete game gem against the Braves....but was over shadowed by the injury to Alfonso Soriano. Dempster is 8-0 in 9 starts at the Friendly Confines this year with a 2.93 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. Dempster must keep the ball down tonight against the Sox, especially Jermaine Dye, and not give them any help. Dempster has been throwing a lot of strikes of late. In his last 2 starts, 14 innings, he has 17 strikeouts to just 2 walks. If Dempster reverts to his ways of the end of May it could be a very long, short outing for Dempster.
The Cubs are 11-4 in games that Dempster has started this season.
Tonight will be Dempster's first career start against the White Sox. The Cubs' former closer is 0-1 (A.J. Pierzynski's home run in 2006) in 7 games with 3 saves, a 3.86 ERA and a 0.71 WHIP.
- Orlando Cabrera - 9-for-28 with 3 doubles
- Joe Crede - 0-for-3
- Jermaine Dye - 0-for-1
- A.J. Pierzynski - 3-for-4 with a home run
- Jim Thome - 2-for-9
- Juan Uribe - 0-for-4
- Javier Vazquez - 0-for-4
The Cubs will see another familiar face on the mound tonight in Javier Vazquez. The former Montreal Expo has struggled away from the South Side this season and is coming off a string of starts in which he has allowed 4 runs or more....but has a winning record.
Vazquez is 2-1 in his last 3 starts with a 7.27 ERA and a 1.79 WHIP while opponents have hit .333 against him. Vazquez is giving up a lot of runs, but the Sox offense is scoring more with him on the mound. Vazquez is due for a good outing and like Ozzie told Big Z, maybe it could wait for another start or two.
Vazquez is 2-4 in 8 starts on the road this year with a 4.11 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP.
Tonight will be the 15th career start for Vazquez against the Cubs. He is 3-3 in his first 14 with a complete game and a 4.84 ERA with a 1.33 WHIP....last season, 0-0 in 2 starts with a 3.86 ERA and a 0.79 WHIP. Vazquez struck out 16 Cubs and walked only 1 in 14 innings. The Cubs must be patient and make him work tonight.
- Ronny Cedeno - 1-for-3
- Mark DeRosa - 6-for-19 with a home run
- Jim Edmonds - 8-for-17 with 3 doubles and 2 home runs
- Mike Fontenot - 1-for-3
- Derrek Lee - 16-for-44 with 6 doubles and 3 home runs
- Aramis Ramirez - 7-for-24 with 2 doubles, a triple and a home run
- Kevin Tapani - 1-for-4 with a home run
- Ryan Theriot - 1-for-6
Let's Talk Cubs Baseball....
It's hard to beat a good team three in a row, but I like our chances tonight. We're at home, have some momentum and we have handled Vasquez better than the Sox have handled Dempster.
Some say on CCO that the Sox will soon fold--but IMO they will compete all season long. Quentin and Swisher are good young players to go with a couple good young pitchers. And they have some solid veterans. Let's Go Cubs!!!
Tonight's lineup:
Fukudome - RF
Patterson - LF
Lee - 1B
Ramirez - 3B
Edmonds - CF
Soto - C
DeRosa - 2B
Theriot - SS
Dempster - P
Red Sox just beat St. Louis in 13 innings. Lets win this and get some more breathing room.
Maybe, just maybe a 13 inning game will slow down the red birds.
Why is Kevin Tapani on that list?
Its a sign of things to come.
Dempster's going deep. Yeah!
Hubert, I was trying to "slide one in". I have done that before and thought it might get a chuckle out of all that read it. Believe me if the one hit had not been a home run, I would have not posted it.
I remember the Sandberg stat against Maddux.
Have you done it other than that this year. You really may have slid one by us, haha.
No Matt, that was the only other time this season.
Wasn't that a lovely into.
Bite me ESPN
Has anyone heard how Reed Johnson's back is doing?
I would rather have him in LF than Patterson.
The Rainbow is shining on Wrigley. Good stuff.
I hope that weight-lifting rat from the batting cage that Ozzie referred to makes its way to the white sox dugout and bites him in the ass.
My pick to click:
Fukudome
Cliff- I love the comment! LOL!
Could someone make a photoshop render of Cliff's comment?
Id BUY it!
Andy, reports on Saturday stated Johnson would likely be placed on the DL after the weekend. But earlier today a report stated Johnson felt better....so we will have to wait.
Ward is supposed to be activated this week and Sean Marshall has to be activated as well....so there will be movement.
I could really get used to watching EPat playing good ball like he has this weekend...
hello! Great base running by Patterson,
it might turn out to be huge. Good start!
30 pitches for Jav-y in the 1st inning... that's good baseball.
Not a good way to start the inning by Dempster. A leadoff walk...
Very good patience in the first inning.
2nd DP in as many innings.
ducksnort.
Rough inning for Dempster....but effective.
Dome is taking more hittable strikes lately. Strike 3 was over the plate and seemed to fool him.
We had a small ball chance there to score.
We need to crush these guys
A strong inning for D, but there getting some hits. Let's go offense. We likely need more than 2 runs tonight.
D is throwing the Maddox bender that comes back to the plate very well tonight. Swisher admired two of them--including a called strike three.
WAY TO GO EPAT. 2 run homers are BIG!!!
Stretch!!!
YES!!!
5-0 good guys.
ARAMIS!!! 4th home run this series!
Aram says I can't let you embarass me EPat!!
First of big league career for EPat!!!
ARAMIS!!!
I Like E-Pats potential in the 2-hole He is going to see a lot of pitches to hit ahead of D-Lee and A-Ram.... He has speed and power..... I could see a 15 HR, 30 SB guy
Baron - I couldn't agree more. I've always thought Fukudome was the prototypical 2 hole hitter but in this lineup EPAT could put Lou in a difficult position when Soriano comes back.
I hope we see Marmol for the 8th tonight. He needs to confront his wildness instead of worrying about it. In the last two games he seemed to be putting a more exaggerated snap in his wrist when he threw the ball. It seemed like he was trying for more stuff. Hopefully we see more "smooth" and his usual control tonight.
Interesting splits for EPat: (milb.com)
.382 avg in day games
.403 avg w/ runners on
.390 avg w/ runners in scoring position
*only 189 AB sample size but interesting nonetheless
*should be noted, those stats are for the 08 season only. Not career.
Cliff, great stats!
Cliff and Baron....wouldn't that be a great problem for Lou to have.
Aramis!!! 8th RBI of the series....
FYI, Lee was behind 1-2 in the count and worked the walk. Both Lee and Ramirez went to a 3-2 count
John Miller just stepped on my observation. Ozzie said yesterday that he would pitch to Edmonds anytime. But apparently not tonight in the 7th.
Hey Guys,
Just got back from the in-laws, This is very fun beating the white Sux.
I think it is safe to say Ramirez is HOT!!!
Need this run...keep tacking on. Soto just missed, a very good catch by Dye.
Soto's avg. is slipping fast. He is hitting just .200 in June. I am a little concerned about that. I hope he can get hot again soon!
I love watching Dempster pitch.
If we can hold onto the 5 run lead in the 9th, Dempster will have his 9th win...highest in the Cubs pitching staff (yes, more than Zambrano). I think Demp is our ace now. He could easily have 10 wins by now if he had received just a bit more run support on his road starts.
Ozzie is a freaking dou$%& ba$%
Ryan Dempster has to be right up there with Brandon Webb for NL Cy Young lead... Wouldn't that be a story??
I guess D gets the chance tonight for a complete game, because he's hitting in the 9th. More power to D. If someone gets on, I hope we see Carlos. Carlos needs to get back on the mound.
me too nick! This guy concentrates like
Mr. Miyagi likes. Waxin waxout!
Dleeeeee!!
Duas, don't worry about Soto just yet. He is hitting the ball hard and putting it in play
Tonight - ground out to short, ground out to 3rd, walk and deep fly out to right center
Patterson has really impressed me this series. JimK I am with you, I would like to see Marmol finish this one out.
What a nice weekend.... comin of that terrible Tampa Bay series....
Good way to ward off those Monday morning blues...
Marmol is up and ready, and Lou sits him and gets Howry up. Unless Marmol is hurting, that doesn't make sense to me.
JimK,
I think Lou is trying to get Howry some work so he can get back on track and maybe start to take some of the work load off of Wood and Marmol.
NATION REPRESENT!
CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!
Cubs Win!!!! Sweep the Sux!!!!!!
Go Cubs Go!!!
TURN ON THE HOOVER!!!!
With the Cards' loss today, our lead is up to 4.5 games...most since 2001.
Awesome series! Let's not even play our home games anymore...just chalk 'em up as wins.
Go Cubbies!
Dempster wants it!!!
Congrats to the Cubbies on the sweep. Way to rebound from the Rays series. And as I stated earlier in the season...A-Ram = Cubs highest OPS, and Cubs most dangerous hitter at the moment. Also, good sign: D-Lee finally covering the outside corner and driving the ball the other way. Only way he'll get pitches to pull is to abuse the outside pitches.
when the cubs play again write me back me let know o.k.rickyfgray@aol.com