Game One Hundred Fifty-Eight: Cubs (96-61) vs. Mets (87-71)
Game Time - 6:10pm C.T.
Coverage - TV: Comcast SportsNet - Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 174, 188
Location - Shea Stadium, New York
Rich Harden (10-2, 2.03/1.06, 5-1, 1.66/1.06) vs. Pedro Martinez (5-6, 5.50/1.55)
Updated - 4:48pm C.T. - It's Official... According to a report from the Sun-Times, Lou Piniella named Ryan Dempster the Cubs' Game One starter on Thursday afternoon.
Weather permitting is the phrase that pays for the Cubs today. Rain is in the forecast in the Big Apple for the next several days and many think the Cubs will have to return to New York on Monday to make this one up. The Cubs are scheduled to play in Houston as well on Monday....if the Astros are still in the hunt. So while Lou Piniella is preparing for the post-season, maybe he should work out a rain schedule as well.
Tonight is scheduled to be the last regular season game for the Cubs at Shea Stadium....and if you ask Ron Santo, it could not come quick enough.
Rich Harden will make his playoff tune-up tonight against Pedro Martinez....who could be making the last start of his career.
Rich Harden is scheduled to make his last start of the regular season tonight. If the storm does show up as expected, Harden may not make an appearance tonight.....one thing is certain Harden will not start his warm-ups until the Cubs are sure they can play ball.
Harden needs this start. His velocity returned against the Brewers (Harden last pitched in the Miracle Comeback against the Brewers) in his last start but he struggled with his command. A mental error by Mark DeRosa helped run up Harden's pitch count and at the end of 5 innings he tied a season high with 115 pitches. Harden walked a season-high 6 batters and struck out 7....but gave up only 1 run on 1 hit. When he was in the strike zone, Harden was unhittable.
Harden is 1-0 in his last 2 starts with a 2.45 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP after posting a 3-0 record in 5 starts in August with a 1.82 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP. Harden has been a very good addition to the Cubs rotation and should start either game two or game three of the NLDS next week.
Tonight is the first career start for Harden against the Mets. He pitched an inning of relief at Shea Stadium on June 22nd of last year....no hits, no runs, no walks and two strikeouts.
- Marlon Anderson - 2-for-6 with a double
- Carlos Beltran - 1-for-5
- Luis Castillo - 0-for-2
- Carlos Delgado - 1-for-7 with a home run
The Cubs will face Pedro Martinez for the first time in a Mets uniform....and the first time since he pitched half of his games North of the border. Martinez is a shell of his former self and is 0-3 in his last 3 starts with a 7.88 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP while allowing a .358 OBA. Martinez was effective in August but has made only 19 starts in the final year of a 4-year contract with the Mets.
Tonight could be the final start in the Hall of Fame career of Pedro Martinez.
Pedro is 4-3 in 12 career games, 7 starts, against the Cubs with a 3.74 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP.
- Jim Edmonds - 3-for-13 with a home run
- Reed Johnson - 4-for-20 with a triple and a home run
- Derrek Lee - 0-for-3
- Alfonso Soriano - 7-for-43 with 3 doubles
- Daryle Ward - 0-for-3
Let's Talk Cubs Baseball....
Tonight's lineup:
Pie - LF
Theriot - SS
Hoffpauir - 1B
Edmonds - CF
Fontenot - 2B
McGehee - 3B
Fukudome - RF
Hill - C
Harden - P
wow - that's quite the line-up!
the string of lefties should give a good challenge to Pedro.
Also in the Sun Times.....Steve Stone throws a shot a Lou for leaving Zambrano in the no-hitter...and even refers to big Z as Sammy Jr.....
Ya know what guys.....I agree with Stoney all the way.....Here are the quotes from Stone:
''I don't agree with allowing Zambrano to throw 110 pitches,'' Stone said Tuesday on ''The Mike North Webio Show'' on wildfirerestaurant.com. ''I don't care if it's a no-hitter. The only job that Lou Piniella has to do, and still has to do, is make sure his pitchers are ready.
''I would have pulled him in the sixth. A manager is paid for some very tough decisions and no-hitters are delightful. You can always say you have a no-hitter.
''He is becoming Sammy [Sosa] Jr. They are creating another monster on the North Side.
Hoff-Power!!!! Sure hope he makes the playoff roster.....
Stoney, as much as I like him, is talking out of his ass.
What we really need from tonight is Harden just staying healthy.
Hoffpauir with his first career dinger!
Bryan, I more than agree.
Wow, I have always been a big admirer of Steve Stone, but I could not disagree more with the comment comparing Sosa to Z. That is way off, Zambrano is a competitor who demonstrates immature emotions at times due to his desire to win so badly. I believe this desire to win makes him want to be the guy the team depends on. However, I think he would rather win and not be that guy, then lose and be the best with the most personal attention. I don't think that was the case with Sosa. His passion was to be the guy everyone talked about win or lose! C'mon Stoney you can do better than that. Z has his downsides, and lets his emotions take control too often but he is no Sammy Sosa.
I've got a great trade idea. I read today that earlier in the season that many Mariners were ticked off at Ichiro and wanted to beat him up.
What if we trade Fukudome/Hill/Marquis and high minor prospect to Seattle for Ichiro. We'll tell them Fukudome is the nice version of Ichiro who can get along with everyone and do average enough that he can make the other players look really good. I think they'll fall for it.
Both walks scored. Harden's worst inning. Only 57 pitches after 4, maybe he can get it back in the 5th.
Boy, Pedro has 8 Ks with a 85 mph fastball...
his stuff has declined ENORMOUSLY.... this is the same guy that threw a 95mph fastball, with a nasty curve, unhittable changeup ---- the best pure stuff I've seen as a baseball fan --- well, i guess everyone gets old -- and hes holding us pretty good tonight..
If Lou was true to his word about playing the best players, he would start Hoffpauir over Fukudome.
First Zambrano and now Harden. I hope they are treating theses like spring training games, and will be ready when the bell rings.
Rob,
I would trade Fukudome, Hill Marquis, Wuertz, Howry and half our AAA team for Ichiro.
He is kind of a prima-donna --- but is a FAR superior player in every department to Fukudome -- average, speed, defense, and YIKES maybe his 9-12 HR suggests more Power...
Fukudome's hitting the last few months has been beyond Woeful..
baron...I think that's how we all felt about Pierre...but look how that turned out!
Let's give Kosuke another chance next year to see if he gets used to big Chicago market. I think many players have said that it takes some time to adjust to a city like Chicago...
Did anyone know Ichiro spoke English....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtImIqR5neU
uh -- its a little explicit..
HOFFF_POWER
HE CEEERUSHED that one
HOFF-POWER!!!!!
Might have just punched his ticket to the post-season....beware Daryle Ward.
Hoffpower!! HR off a LEFTY! that's big
Welcome to the coming out party for Hoffpauer. Excellent!
I'd keep playing. I don't think the heavy stuff's gonna come down for a quite a while.
that HR by Hoffpower was off a pitch that was low and away in the strike zone and he hit it to right. Good piece of hitting.
I thought that single Hoffpauir got on that nasty curve from Pedro, was even more impressive.
now that a run has scored in the bottom of the 7th...if they call it at the end of the 7th with Cubs up 6-4...is it regulation game or suspended?
Also, can someone who has experience tell me what it means to pitch to contact? is it just a matter of different sequence of pitches, or does the pitcher throw the pitches more so over the plate than on the edges?
Duas, the game is official and cannot be suspended at this point. If they had not completed the bottom of the 7th, it could have been suspended.
On the pitching to contact, Duas I am sorry but I do not know the proper way to explain it....at least not with a keyboard.
Talkin' about making a name for himself. The New York media will not forget the name Micah Hoffpauir anytime soon....
You pretty much had it right on what pitching to contact means. Its throwing hitable strikes but changing speeds or using some deception that causes the hitter to hit weak pops or ground outs.
Gary...thank you for picking up my slack.
Gary and Neil...thank you very much for all of your answers...appreciate it
Wow, Hoff Power, what a game!!
All Howry has to do is get 1 out, and he gives up back to back singles
I think Howry has just assured his fate in the playoffs. Sitting off the roster! Geez!
Howry is so washed up -- Ramon Martinez? I thought he had become a fisherman someplace.
So beyond Marmol and Wood, who are the right handed relievers in the pen for the playoffs?
Howry - no
Gaudin - hasn't looked great since returning from his back injury
Hart - hasn't shown good consistency in getting people out
The Shark - seems to be in the poor performances of others
Marquis - also in due to poor performance of others
how's that?..
Howry has been by far the worst of any of our relievers this year. Somebody please tell me why he is still on this team!!!?????
There is no way Howry makes the roster.
How about Fukudome? The only thing he has going for him is his defense and he throws home that far up the line? Church was a dead duck and any throw within a mile of home plate gets him.
I don't have access to the game so I just watched the last single Howry gave up on mlb.com gameday.
Koyie Hill really f'd up that play. the runner should have been out by a mile and he misses the tag by that much?!....let's cut him after this season.
Hey everybody......do you just get this feeling that the Cubs are going to pull this one out?
Sweet Justice, for Ronny and everyone else from the 1969 team.
Also, on the Stoney thing. I call bullshit. He's become such an arrogant asshole.
I'm glad it ended in 9 innings...although i wish they had called it after the 7th
A Disgraceful performance from the 2nd tier members of our bullpen.... Hart has given up 39 hits in 25 innings with a ~7 ERA -- thats pathetic...
Howry has lost it and Cotts/Gaudin are iffy.....
This was a game they just threw away.
Im okay with this.
I sooo wanna face this Mets team in the first round.
Just my opinion, here is my guess for the bullpen,
Wood
Marmol
Marshall
Cotts
Marquis
The Shark
Gaudin
I really, really hope Howry is not part of that.
I would also like to see Guzman get a good look this weekend in Milwaukee. He doesn't have the pin point control yet, but he's more than capable of getting the strike out.
Like I said in my post yesterday, this is great preparation to play teams with playoff implications.
2 nights in a row the score was tied in the bottom of the 9th. This is great to play these types of teams, but we need to sweep the Brewers to at-worst force a Mets/Brewers 1-game playoff in case Florida sweeps the Mets. I don't want to see Milwaukee clinching via a Cubs loss, but if they clinch via a Mets loss Ill take it. I actually want to see Milwaukee win the WC, because Mets fans rub 1969 in my face. Yeah, there's 4 of them that do that to me. In all honestly, I wouldn't mind us sweeping the Mets in the playoff and giving them the silent treatment. I won't rub it back. I actually feel bad for people who rub it in people's faces. Do you agree, Neil?
The only way to win 100 now is to play that make-up game with the Astros. Who wants that to happen?
Middle relief will be the one glaring weakness come the playoffs. Whenever these three get in together it always seems like we end up losing a lead and the game. Whoever came up with the hold statistic obviously never had these three in mind. These ERA's are way out of line
C. Gaudin (H, 2) 1.0 1 1 1 0 0 0 5.96
N. Cotts (H, 9) 0.2 3 2 2 0 0 0 4.41
B. Howry (BS, 4) 0.1 2 0 0 0 1 0 5.17
if i see any of bob howrys washed up ass in the postseason i will break something