Game Ninety-Two: Cubs (55-36) vs. Reds (43-49)
Game Time - 1:20pm C.T.
Coverage - TV: WGN - Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 189
Location - Wrigley Field, Chicago
Ted Lilly (9-5, 4.47/1.30) vs. Bronson Arroyo (6-7, 5.82/1.65)
Lou Piniella's crew will attempt to sweep the 3-game series against the Reds today behind Ted Lilly. Geovany Soto should receive a day off with a day game after a night game. Soto has played in 83 of the Cubs' first 91 games this season. Henry Blanco will likely start behind the plate and Hank White should receive more playing time in the second half of the season.
Ted Lilly must keep the ball in the yard today and give his offense time to score early and often against Bronson Arroyo.
In other news.... According to several reports, Rich Harden will make his Cub debut on Saturday against the Giants. Sean Marshall is likely the odd man out today when the Cubs will likely recall Micah Hoffpauir to replace Matt Murton on the active roster.
Alfonso Soriano has not taken batting practice since Saturday in St. Louis and will not participate in the upcoming All-Star game. Soriano will attend all of the festivities for the Midsummer Classic with the rest of his teammates. Soriano felt discomfort in his hand and a report on Cubs.com indicated his hand felt weak as well. The Cubs had targeted the first series following the break against the Astros as a possible return but it is looking like Soriano will not return until the series in Arizona that begins on July 21st.
Scott Eyre will begin a rehab stint with the Peoria Chiefs on Thursday and will pitch for Ryne Sandberg's club again on Saturday. The Cubs will not activate Eyre from the DL until after the break.
Ted Lilly has put together a good string of outings since leaving after only 3 innings against the Rockies on May 30th at Wrigley. Lilly has won his last 4 decisions and the Cubs are 5-1 in his last 6 starts. Lilly was the pitcher of record this past Saturday but after the Cardinals scored 3 runs in the 9th, he received a no decision.
Lilly gave up only 2 runs in 7 hits in 6 innings with 5 strikeouts and a walk to the Cardinals. The biggest key to Lilly's success of late has been the fact he is keeping the ball in the park....and that must continue today if Lilly wants to win his 10th game of the year.
Lilly is 5-2 at Wrigley this season in 9 starts with a 4.92 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP.
'The Bulldog' will face the Reds for the second time this season. Lilly lost to Cincinnati in the series finale on April 17th. Edinson Volquez beat the Cubs 9-2 and Lilly surrendered 5 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts.
Lilly earned his first win as a Cub against the Reds last season, the only one of his career. Lilly is 1-2 in 6 career starts versus the Reds with a 4.09 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP.
- Bronson Arroyo - 1-for-2
- Adam Dunn - 2-for-7 with a home run
- Edwin Encarnacion - 2-for-12 with a double
- Ken Griffey, Jr. - 4-for-13
- Jerry Hairston, Jr. - 5-for-21 with 3 doubles and a home run
- Jeff Keppinger - 4-for-9
- Brandon Phillips - 0-for-13
- Joey Votto - 2-for-7 with a double and a home run
The Cubs will get their first look of the season at Bronson Arroyo today. Arroyo has dominated the Cubs in the past, and after a horrible start to the season, is pitching much better of late. Arroyo has won his last two starts after suffering a horrible defeat North of the border. The Blue Jays scored 10 runs on 11 hits in just a single inning against Arroyo on June 24th.
Arroyo beat the Nationals 3-0 in his last start and did not allow a run in 6 innings of work.
Arroyo was 4-0 in 5 starts against the Cubs in 2006 with a 1.01 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP, last season....0-3 in 5 starts with a 3.58 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP, the Cubs hit .280 against him.
Arroyo has a winning record on the road this year. In 10 starts, Arroyo has posted a 4-3 record with a 7.17 ERA and a 1.91 WHIP while opponents have hit him pretty well.... a .346 batting average against.
The Cubs will face Arroyo for the 16th time in his career. He is 4-6 in 13 starts versus the Cubs with a 3.13 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP.
- Henry Blanco - 1-for-12
- Ronny Cedeno - 3-for-15 with a double
- Mark DeRosa - 7-for-14 with a double and a home run
- Jim Edmonds - 6-for-24 with a home run
- Reed Johnson - 3-for-11
- Derrek Lee - 5-for-22 with 2 home runs
- Aramis Ramirez - 7-for-28 with a double and a home run
- Ryan Theriot - 4-for-15 with a double
- Daryle Ward - 3-for-13
Let's Talk Cubs Baseball....
Subscribe
To have 3 pitchers with 10 wins before the all-star break... who would've thunk it? This team has the potential to have four 15-game winners...
Todays Line-up. I think Neil might be traveling...
Riot
Dome-AY
D-Lee
Aramis
Soto
Jimmy Hollywood
DeRO
Little Babe Ruth (As stated by Santo)
Lilly
Lets go get 'em
Today's lineup:
Theriot - SS
Fukudome - RF
Lee - 1B
Ramirez - 3B
Soto - C
Edmonds - CF
DeRosa - LF
Fontenot - 2B
Lilly - P
Time to tatoo Arroyo and get da sweep
The Rocket is hot!
Hey everyone!
Hate these early weekday games. I cant get up this early! >.
Little Fontenot with a solid double....
Damn National League 9-hole...
But The Riot slaps it down the middle! Woo!
THERIOT with the big 2-out RBI's
"Lilly and the Long Ball"
Sounds like a biography.
Does Lilly not want the lead? He seems to give it up as soon as he gets the lead. Come on Lilly!
According to WGN and Gameday, it seems that Lilly's fastball is in the mid-80's?! That's not really a fastball.
Nice play by DeRosa.
Lou has a short fuse today...
Let Jon Lieber go 3 or 4 innings..
He's our long man. Damn it, let him go long Lou.
Short hook on Lilly.
Should see Gaudin today
Nice start.
Lead-off walks tend to bite back. I would love to know the MLB percentage that lead-off walks come back to score.
Bad start...
Damn Lilly!!! I had that vocal cord surgery bright and early this morning...back home and watching the game. Didnt need a game like this when I cannot talk (for 3 days) that I want to cuss out the TV...lol
C'mon Cubs!!
And thats what the CCO is for, no?
The wind is blowing out, so dont get up hope CCO cheerleaders!
Heh.
Hey guys, I'm not watching the game, any word on if Lilly is hurt, or did he just have one of his games where he regresses back to 2003? Also, as much as I love Lou, honestly I think his bullpen usage is really questionable, for instance, Wuertz is a really effective late inning guy, so why bring him in when you have Gaudin, Marshall and Lieber all available long options? I think Wuertz should almost be a sub for Marmol to prevent overuse, not a long guy.
NOW you want to get Liever ready???? Why wasn't he brought in as the long man? Or even the new guy who spot starts? It's almost like Lou wanted Weurtz to bury himself so he can get rid of him---did you see how relaxed Lou looked in the dugout as Weurtz gets bombed on???
I agree Andrew.
And its like the ball is sitting on a tee with Mike Wuertz...
two losers of our bullpen=Wuertz and Howry...it's pretty much a given that if either of them enter a game they WILL give up inherited runs, or their own....
at least this time Wuertz got nabbed with the runs instead of our other guys...it's good to see that, because now the coaching staff, and Hendry will look at that, and be able to see concrete evidence of his ineffectiveness
WHat did I say.
Just chip away at the lead.
Remember Fonty's summer last season?
Little Babe Ruth!
On Lieber, does anyone remember the last time he faced the Reds? Maybe Gaudin....
The Cards just lost so let's rally Cubbies! The Brewers are kicking the tar outta Colorado unfortunately though :(
well, Lieber's un-success against this team continues...
I'm really glad Lou hasn't used Gaudin in this situation. Guys with low ERA's over the past few months who can effectively eat up innings out of the bullpen and who have a "Nice hard sinker" that would keep the ball on the ground just aren't right for situations like this. On the bright side, at least Lieber only gave up one run and not 4.
Nothing like a straight ball with the wind blowing out...
Andrew...all I have to say is I love the sarcasm...also, if he'd done what you said it'd probably still be 8-5, not 10-5
I was just going to make the point Bob Brenly made.....thats the first time I have seen the fans on the rooftops preparing for a possible homerun catch...
Holy Crap that was smoked.....and right after Geo told Lieber to keep it down...I think that ball landed here in San Diego!
10-5 but it's still early and their bullpen isn't great, I think we can do it.
White Sox better than the Rays...
Pfft..
Please tell me any of you didnt vote that way.
Thats a big break!
Not cool, Ryan.
Too bad we couldnt have made em pay more for the error....or well....at least it's one....now hold em!
You know I'm starting to REALLY think Fukudome needs to platoon with Reed more than Edmonds does....he has been AWFUL against lefties.....time to hit the cages....the LH pitchers have figured out his wail and bail crap.
Joe S., couldn't agree more....I remember a few years back we had a bunch of problems with lefties and they brought in a lefty BP pitcher.....Do we still have a lefty BP pitcher?
welcome to Chicago Gaudin
What's the deal with the no roster move? Were we just waiting for Wuertz to pitch himself into a demotion? Or we waiting to see if the revitalized Jason Dubois is for real?
Not a great start to the Gaudin era..
Can we please hold them
Just long enough to score some back...
Man games like this are crazy!
I went to the I-Cubs doubleheader yesterday and Samardzija looked REAL good. His fastball was consistently in the mid 90's and man that dude is tall in person. He went the complete game, they only go 7 in dh'ers in AAA, he struck out 7 with no walks and the only runs were 2 solo hr's in the 7th...not bad considering the wind was blowing out to center atlike 20 mph. He's now 3-1 with a 3.55 era.
Pie homered in the 1st game and had 2 hits in the 2nd to raise his average to .247 and Dubois hit 3 consecutive homers in the 2nd game with 4 rbi's. For those keeping track that's 16 dongs in only 110 ab's for Iowa...that's one every 6.8 at bats!
Iowa is now 19 games over .500.
Jason Dubois/Fukudome platoon?
I aint kidding.
I wish Len and Bob would accidently push the girls out of that window.
...Oops.
This one is on Lilly....
21 HR in 20 starts.... He is on pace to give up 40 HR on the season.....
6 hits and 2 walks in 2 innings??
Beat me to it Baron.
I was going to say that the offense done their job.
This is on Lilly and Lou.
I dont think staying with Wuertz was the answer. I would have went with Lieber after Mike got that last out.
Matt....that's hilarious...I was thinking the same thing, obviously jokingly, but it'd be funny....what the hell was that stupid girl thinking giving a sales pitch for american girl crap while singing....I was like, "enough already, get with the song"
i wish we could give the loss to Wuertz today....what a piss poor showing by one of our weakest links on the team!
our offense is clearly missing Soriano's big bat... i never would've said that after his terrible start, but he was starting to come on, and a lot of the games we've lost, he would've surely made a difference in at least a handful of them....oh well.
Aaron, I agree the Cubs miss Soriano's bat.
Today's loss is on the pitching staff. 7 runs at home should equal a win.
BAD LOSS, BUT WE'LL WHIP THE GIANTS! I CAN'T HELP BUT TO POST THIS AFTER SEEING THAT AC006299 SIGN OWNED BY LAKEVIEW. THERE ARE 6 POSSIBLE WAYS THAT SIGN WILL READ ON OPENING DAY 2009.
AC000000 WIN DIVISION AND WORLD SERIES
AC0000100 WIN DIVISION AND NATIONAL LEAGUE
AC0063100 WIN DIVISION ONLY
AC010000 WIN WILD CARD AND WORLD SERIES
AC0100100 WIN WILD CARD AND NATIONAL LEAGUE
AC0163100 WIN WILD CARD OR MISS POST-SEASON
CAN ANYBODY HELP ME WITH THESE 6 POSSIBLE OUTCOMES, ESPECIALLY NEIL? PLEASE RESPOND TO THIS, IS IT GO MY MIND! PLEASE TELL NEIL TO RESPOND! 4 OF THOSE 6 OUTCOMES INVOLVES 7 DIGITS. WILL THE CUBS ADD A 7TH DIGIT, IF NEEDED ? (I HOPE IT'S NOT NECESSARY)
Ah, eccentric as always Joet.
Neil. I think he wants you to respond, haha.
Oh well! I hope the Reds keep on bashing the ball this weekend. I will take 2 of 3 the rest of the year. That would give us 102 wins. 102-60 sounds pretty good to me! GO CUBS!
Gramps....I agree and 102 wins sounds more than pretty good to me.
Joet, you are right. When I interviewed the Lakeview Baseball Club a few years back they were starting to make plans if the Cubs reached a 100 years in between World Series titles.
Here is the link:
http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2006/12/cubs_ac_eamus.php
Man, a little bit of advice. Don't think about it. Enjoy this season. I think Gramps will agree, so far the best I can remember.
JOET has become a bit of a guilty pleasure for me...
I just picture him sitting next to Ronnie Woo Woo, and they are just screaming at each other, in a polite yet enthusiastic manner, the whole game.
Thats brilliant Jason B. Haha!