Game Seventy-Six - Cubs 7 White Sox 1
WP - Ryan Dempster (9-2) LP - Javier Vazquez (7-6) Save - None
The Cubs won their 14th straight at Wrigley Field for the first time since June 4 - July 10, 1936 and their sixth straight against the White Sox behind another dominating performance by Ryan Dempster. Dempster allowed only 1 run in 8+ innings on 10 hits with 4 strikeouts and a walk. The key to Dempster's success was staying ahead in the count for a majority of the game and the three double plays turned by the Cubs defense. Dempster threw first pitch strikes to 26 of the 32 hitters he faced.
The Cubs offense gave Dempster a 2-run lead in the 1st inning and then Aramis Ramirez, Eric Patterson and Derrek Lee took care of the rest. Lee drove in the first run of the game with a single to right center and added a RBI double in the 8th inning. Eric Patterson had another tremendous game hitting behind Kosuke Fukudome. Patterson was 2-for-3 with 2 walks, 3 runs scored, 2 RBI's and his first career home run.
Patterson gave the Cubs a 4-0 lead with a 2-run dinger that landed in the basket in right center in the 5th. Aramis Ramirez hit his 4th home run of the series a batter later, his 14th of the year gave the Cubs a 5-0 lead. Ramirez drove in his 8th run of the series with a RBI double in the 7th.
With the win the Cubs improved to 20 games over .500 for the second time this season....and swept the Sox in round one of the Crosstown Classic.
The Cubs continue to play like an entirely different team at Wrigley. Lou Piniella's crew played a complete game on Sunday night. All phases of the team clicked....outstanding pitching, great defense and the offense was not only patient, they hit the ball where it was pitched and with power.
To this point of the season Ryan Dempster has out performed all expectations....and his numbers prove the point. Dempster's ERA dropped from 2.76 to 2.63 and he became only the 5th Cubs' pitcher since 1945 to win his 9th straight at home. Jon Lieber won 11 in 2001, Rick Reuschel won 10 in 1979 and 9 in 1977, Bob Rush won 10 in 1956 and Johnny Schmitz won 9 in 1948.
Dempster allowed 10 hits, but 8 were singles and only 2 doubles. He threw 103 pitches, 74 for strikes (Lou Piniella stated after the game that Dempster would be pushed back to Saturday for his next start due to the amount of pitches he threw on Sunday). Dempster faced the minimum on only 6 pitches in the 5th and the only run he allowed was in the 7th.
Jermaine Dye doubled to right to start the 7th. Mark DeRosa robbed Nick Swisher of a single to right with a good diving stop and threw out Swisher from his knees....Dye advanced to 3rd and scored on a single to center by Joe Crede, his only hit of the series. With the score 5-1 at the time, Dempster retired the next two batters (Dewayne Wise and Alexei Ramirez) on just 3 pitches to end the inning. At the end of 7 complete innings, Dempster had thrown only 82 pitches.
Dempster took the mound in the 9th after working around a lead off double by Jim Thome in the 8th. Dye led off the inning with a single to right, Eric Patterson made a good play to cut the ball off and hold Dye to a single. Swisher followed with an infield single that Aramis Ramirez let roll....the ball hit the bag. With two on and no outs, Lou Piniella made the slow walk and brought in Bobby Howry.
Howry retired the next three batters on 10 pitches to end the game and complete the sweep.
The Cubs offense took advantage of control problems by Javier Vazquez in the 1st inning....and once they got the lead, they kept tacking on. Vazquez walked Kosuke Fukudome and Eric Patterson on 8 pitches to start the game. Fukudome stole 2nd, without a throw, during Patterson's at bat.
Piniella started the runners with a 1-2 count on Derrek Lee. Lee singled to center, Fukudome scored easily and after Orlando Cabrera bobbled the ball, Patterson scored to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead....very good baserunning, what one would expect from a Major Leaguer.
Vazquez settled down in the 2nd and 3rd innings. But a "little single" by Ryan Theriot in the 4th flipped the order and setup the 3-run 5th inning.
Vazquez hit Kosuke Fukudome in the elbow to start the inning (Vazquez walked a season-high 5 batters and counting the hit batsman, 6 free base runners and 3 of them scored). Eric Patterson followed and golfed a 0-1 pitch from Vazquez into the basket in right center. Derrek Lee struck out for the first out of the inning.
Aramis Ramirez crushed the first pitch from Vazquez into the bleachers in left center to give the Cubs a 5-0 lead.
Derrek Lee worked a 1-out walk in the 7th after falling behind in the count 1-2 to Octavio Dotel. Aramis Ramirez worked the count to 3-2 as well before depositing a double into right center that rolled all the way to the ivy. Lee scored from 1st. Ozzie Guillen intentionally walked Jim Edmonds and Mark DeRosa reached on an error by Joe Crede to load the bases. Ryan Theriot battled Dotel, ran the count to 3-2 but struck out swinging on the 43rd pitch of the inning.
Eric Patterson beat out an infield single to short with 2 outs in the 8th and scored on a double to right by Derrek Lee that just missed leaving the park....the Cubs 7th and final run of the game.
After struggling to score runs in Tampa, Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee both stepped up during the weekend series....and for the time being, Lou Piniella might have found a good combination at the top of the lineup with Kosuke Fukudome and Eric Patterson. Everything is working at Wrigley right now. Lou Piniella is pushing all of the right buttons....
The Cubs get a well-deserved day off on Monday and then welcome the Baltimore Orioles to Wrigley for the first time on Tuesday. Sean Marshall is scheduled to face Jeremy Guthrie in the opener of the 3-game series.
A few thoughts....
* I can't sleep! I so amped up right now I feel like punching the heavy bag in my basement or doing headbutts.
* Incredible depth this weekend. Fontenot, patterson. We didn't even get a chance to use Hoffpauir.
* We do need another #1 or #2 type of starter.
I believe Jim Hendry will make a stealth move.
* We need the April and May Carlos Marmol even more.
* I really hate Guillen and Kenny Williams. All they did the entire weekend was bitch about the Cubs, fans, Wrigley Field etc.
* Teams that worry me: Phillies, Milwaukee and yes
the Rockies.
Let them whine Jim.
Maybe they gave them bulletin board material. We just swept their asses.
Yeah, but who won the 1906 world series between the white sox and cubs?
Thought so, the 1906 world champion chicago white sox.
World Series Title count:
WHITE SOX 3
CUBS 2
Now paint that on your wall!
To Matt Haggard,
The Cubs' asses will be swept for the 1st time at U.S. Cellular Field!
Hey Matt Haggard,
The Cubs' asses will be swept at the Cell, anf if not eat this, White Sox 3 titles; Cubs 2 titles
Your Cubs' asses will be swept at the cell.
Make a comment, you chicken sh**! I'll kill myself 30 minutes before the possible game clinching world series game if the Cubs have a chance to win it.
Don't be jealous because the White Sox won un 2005 and the Cubs haven;t won in 101 years, yes 101 years, in 1907. Everybody knows that the Giants were real champions of 1908. Even Harry Pulliam realized that and made a mistake, so he committed suicide in July of 1909,
Write that book!
http://www.fatmember.org/music/bands/290/photo_537_image.jpg
Wayne...so glad you're a Sox fan. You represent the south side very well.
A picture says a thousand words...http://www.fatmember.org/music/bands/290/photo_537_image.jpg
Wayne...you have to change the dope dealer that sells you bad stuff...
I guess we'll have to wait and see for the next series but so far your talking the talk...We have swept you twice in a row dumbA*S!
Last year we rocked you out of contention and I think OOOOPs we just did it again. Have a great week knowing that Minnesota is just 1.5 games behind and just be happy that there are two good teams in Chicago for the first time in a looooong time! The Cubs and the Bulls!!!
For further motivation see Gene's post repeatedly during the week!
Wayne we here at CCO generally use this site to post ideas and comments with regard to OUR favorite team. Now because I do not even know if there is a Whit Sox site such as this I cannot comment but I believe strongly that we would not jump into that site and begin to reveal our ages with mind boggling incompetence. We here in the North are about class.
Please Wayne, support your team and their fan base with a bit more maturity because the decent fans on the South Side deserve better representation than that.
Should be another great series this weekend and we genuinely hope it is competitive and you guys maybe even win one..... **Wink and a Grin**
When did this site become a place for Sox fans to cry?
curt - since I'm assuming they have no place else to go. probably can't get enough fans together to post to a site such as this. It is a shame too because I keep wanting to rout for the WSox, since they are in Chicago. But everytime I get close, someone like Wayne comes along and crashes brings thoughts of the terrible experience I had a Marlin Stadium in the 03 playoffs. Just pathetic. I must say the Twins fans are a lot classier than the WSox ones I've come across, so looks like I'll be routing for them. Oh well.
These games were great! Can't wait to beat them again in a week:)
Hey,
I'm not a White Sox fan. I just wrote that to see if there was anybody on this site who would take that comment seriously. My dad is a White Sox fan, and paid me $100 to write that. I'm sure you would too. Eamus Catuli!, if that makes you feel better. I don't take this too seriosly. Even Derrek Lee on PTI said that the Crosstown Classic means nothing different than any other series. However, I am not a baseball fan.
The only cities I rib are Chicago and New York. I even went to bleedcubbieblue.com and southsidesox.com and pretended to hate the opposite team. On BleedCubbieBlue.com I said that the Cubs couldn't win a World Series if they had a 10-run lead needing only 1 out, and on SouthSideSox.com I said looks like the Sux are going to lose 35 in a row to the Cubs. You know the Cubs will win the next 32 meetings, excluding exhibition.
I just don't understand why the Cubs' colors are red, white and blue. Since when is a Cub red, white or blue. I've always known a Cub to be Brown. So why isn't there Brown in your team colors.
I'm sorry to offend you, but I pick on the Sux also. Just not on Cubs sites!
I make a no comment on Wayne.
Just wanted to mention something I thought of. The Cubs seem to be doing this effortlessly. Thats a good sign of a good team.
Some teams, like the Rays, when they play at their best, can hang with anybody. Like they did against us. And sometimes have enough talent that even when they are off can hang. I feel like the Cubs are the latter. As long as they dont get too cocky and take off games, which is what they seem to do on the road, to a point. This is fine. When they need that extra effort, its there.
By no means am I saying that the Cubs shouldn't hussle or give their all. I'm just saying that they are good enough that they dont have to be at thier best to win.
I will also be happy to get out of this interleague play stuff. It worries me every year. The momentum swings when they play the White Soxs can be awesome but can mess up a season too. The series next week is very important for the rest of the season. Every year seems to swing on the White sox series. Just watch. We sweep the White sox next week or at least win the series, we'll sore and they will fall apart.
Were good enough we dont need momentum swings as much.
wayne = moron.
So the Sox won in '05? Guess what? Its 2008 and noone cares what happened three years ago when the White Sox got lucky.
How are we going to get swept at the cell? The Cell is even more HR friendly than Wrigley, and we have a lineup that makes the Sox lineup look like little leaugers..
Ah, Wayne is just mad that there isnt a chicagowhitesoxonline.
We own.
DON'T PICK ON WAYNE, HE'S SUICIDAL. HE SAID SO WHEN HE SAID HE'LL KILL HIMSELF IF THE CUBS WIN IT ALL. I'LL PRAY FOR YOU, WAYNE. IF YOU NEED ADVICE OR HELP, DON'T HESITATE TO CALL ME AT 442-3758!