Game One Hundred Fifty-Nine: Cubs (96-62) vs. Brewers (88-71)
Game Time - 7:05pm C.T.
Coverage - TV: Comcast SportsNet, ESPN - Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 187
Location - Miller Park, Milwaukee
Ryan Dempster (17-6, 2.99/1.21) vs. Jeff Suppan (10-10, 5.06/1.53)
Updated - 5:52pm C.T. - According to a report from the Sun-Times, Lou Piniella announced his rotation for the NLDS - Ryan Dempster in game one, Carlos Zambrano in game two, Rich Harden in game three with Ted Lilly in game four.
On March 31st the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers kicked off the 2008 season. The Cubs started the season with two losses to the Brewers then picked up the first win of year behind Ryan Dempster. A magical summer and 156 games later, the two teams will finish what they started so many months ago.
Lou Piniella's crew opens the last series of the regular season behind their Game One starter in Ryan Dempster. Piniella will send Dempster, Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis to the mound while the Brewers will go with Jeff Suppan tonight, Dave Bush for the injured Ben Sheets on Saturday afternoon and CC Sabathia on three days rest on the season's final day.
The Cubs are undefeated at Miller Park this season (4-0 against the Brewers and 2-0 against the Astros) and will have a big influence on which team they face in the National League Division Series. The Brewers and Mets are tied for the NL Wild Card while the Phillies hold a one game lead over the Mets in the East. While the Brewers will try to celebrate making the post-season against the Cubs, the Mets will face the Marlins and the Phillies will take on the Nationals....
Ryan Dempster will make his final start of the regular season tonight with a chance to post his 18th win. Dempster has put together a great year and figures to turn his performance into dollar signs in the off-season. Without a doubt, Ryan Dempster has been the most consistent starter for Lou Piniella this season.
Dempster is coming off a solid start last Sunday against the Cardinals. He allowed 1 run on 6 hits in 5 innings the day after the Cubs clinched the National League Central Division crown. Dempster not only ended the Cubs home schedule with a solid win over the Cardinals....but completed an impressive 14-3 year at the Friendly Confines.
Dempster is 2-1 in his last 4 starts with a 3.24 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP....in the second half, 7-2 with a 2.57 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP.
Dempster is 3-3 in 12 starts on the road this season with a 3.22 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He will make his fifth start against the Brewers tonight....4-0 with a 2.52 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP (8 runs, 7 earned, on 19 hits in 25 innings with 24 strikeouts and 9 walks).
Brewers' stats against Dempster this season:
- Ryan Braun - 2-for-11 with a double and a walk
- Mike Cameron - 0-for-8
- Craig Counsell - 2-for-3
- Ray Durham - 6-for-12 with 3 doubles
- Prince Fielder - 4-for-10 with a double and a home run
- Bill Hall - 0-for-9
- J.J. Hardy - 1-for-10
- Corey Hart - 0-for-9 with 2 walks
- Jason Kendall - 3-for-9 with a walk
- Jeff Suppan - 0-for-1
- Rickie Weeks - 2-for-4 with 2 walks
Jeff Suppan has been inconsistent at best this season. He put together an impressive August (5-0 in 6 starts with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP) and was one of the many reasons the Brewers led the NL Wild Card race by 5 1/2 games at the beginning of the month....since September 1st, a totally different story.
Suppan is 0-3 in his last 4 starts with a 10.47 ERA and a 2.20 WHIP while opponents have hit a robust .382 against him. Suppan is coming off a horrible start against the Reds last Friday....5 runs on 5 hits (2 home runs, one each by Joey Votto and Jay Bruce) without a walk and 2 strikeouts.
Suppan is 3-3 in 12 starts at Miller Park this season with a 4.54 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. Whichever lineup Lou Piniella runs out should make Suppan throw a lot of pitches. In 172 2/3 innings....66 walks to go along with 199 hits.
In 2 starts against the Cubs this season, Suppan is 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP....they have hit .370 against him in 10 innings of work.
- Ronny Cedeno - 4-for-9 with a double and a triple
- Ryan Dempster - 1-for-4
- Jim Edmonds - 5-for-20 with 2 home runs
- Kosuke Fukudome - 1-for-5 with a double
- Reed Johnson - 1-for-5
- Derrek Lee - 20-for-42 with 7 doubles, 4 home runs and 9 walks
- Felix Pie - 3-for-11 with a double
- Aramis Ramirez - 10-for-37 with 4 doubles and a home run
- Alfonso Soriano - 7-for-36 with 2 doubles
- Geovany Soto - 2-for-5 with 2 home runs
- Ryan Theriot - 5-for-14 with a double
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Only Durham and Fielder look worrisome against Demp, and we have a host of players who have knocked Suppan all over the park, so look for this one to be #97 for us. Lee should have a good night, if he starts. But if not, Hoff has my vote over Ward.
Undefeated at WFN... Another reason I hope the Brewers make the playoffs... BUT... may the best team be granted October ball. We're not scared of any of em!
Tonight's lineup:
Soriano - LF
Fontenot - 2B
Lee - 1B
Ramirez - 3B
Hoffpauir - RF
Soto - C
Edmonds - CF
Theriot - SS
Dempster - P
Neil:
This could be a possible play off line up.
For what it's worth, this is my play off roster.
Pitchers: (11)
Dempster
Zambrano
Harden
Lilly
Marquis
Marshall
Marmol
Wood
Samardzia
Gaudin
Cotts
Position Players: (14)
Soriano
Edmonds
Fukudome
Pie
Johnson
Hoffpauir
Ramirez
Theriot
Derosa
Fontenot
Lee
Cedeno
Soto
Blanco
Jim....I think you might have it, except Ward will likely go instead of Hoffpauir on reputation alone.
What about Ward instead of Cedeno? The rest stays as is by Jim?
Jimmy Ballgame!!!! #19 as a Cub
I can't even decide what to think about these games. I hate the Brewers so much that I really don't want them to make the playoffs, but I'm certainly no fan of the Mets. I guess I'll just root for the Cubs to win and what happens will happen.
My thoughts exactly but I do feel the Cubs matchup in a short series better with the Mets than the Dodgers or Phillies
I'm looking for Zambrano out of the bullpen in another inning or two.
I am about tired of these 4 pitch walks....
Disappointing to see Pinella is going to keep Howry on the playoff roster. I will flip out if Bob costs us a title.
I hope Micah didn't hurt himself on that slip.
Good job by Dempster to work around the 'error' by Hoffpauir. Soriano and Hoffpauir did not bring their glove to Milwaukee...at least tonight.
Little Babe Ruth is 3-for-3
Alfonso is 0 for 3. Not what you'd like from a lead off batter.
What happened to making sure the game moved along at a good pace and charging a ball for long delays? Suppan has slowed this game down to a snail's pace and this is planned....
This is horrible and should not be allowed PERIOD!
Bad mistake by Micah there. Not helping your cause Hoff even though you came up with the hit.
As good as Micah was last night, well....
Bad baserunning
Nice outing by D. Now the pen gets a chance to redeem itself. Man, I hope someone shows up tonight. A couple of timely hits would help too.
What just happened to Soto? Game not televised here today... Gameday just said Injury Delay, then shoed Koyie pinch hitting for him.
Theriot missed that hit & run sign.
No number 18 for Dempster this year....
Also, Soto's hand is very concerning. Piniella did the right thing, should not see him for the remainder of the weekend.
Steve, it was the hand again. Swung at a 1-0 pitch and was in obvious pain. Piniella and Mark O'Neal took a look and removed him.....no updates from WGN Radio.
9 hits, 1 run. bonehead plays. I'm thinking that, subconsciously, the Cubs don't want to play in Shea again this year. Come on Marshall.
Thanks, Neil
Soriano has really stunk it up in left tonight. He made faces again like something is hurting.
Marshall was good. Lou must not have seen my memo that Marshall is now a long man. Maybe he wants Samardzjia to get a a couple of key outs under pressure--after his bases loaded walk last outing.
Soriano better wake up before Wednesday. He was playing very good ball before the Cubs clinched last Saturday. He is simply horrible tonight.
Hopefully, we can come back and win this game. If we don't the Astros are done. The Mets are down 5 in the 9th. They lose and the Brewers have the edge for the wild card. I'm starting to think we play the Dodgers in round 1. Left field would be very interesting in that match up.
Now, Gaudin is sucking with a balk and a 3 run HR. That's why Lou is stuck with Howry.
Well Gaudin just earned himself a spot at TGI Fridays to watch the playoffs...... What a shame...kind of forced Lou's hand to take Howry..... So it'll be Marquis, Marshall, Cotts, Howry, Shark, Marmol & Wood to go with the 4 starters of Dempster, Z, Harden and Lilly.
Something is clearly NOT right with Sori tonight. He is wincing all the time. Why is he in this game right now? We need him healthy for the playoffs. He serves no purpose being in the lineup tonight.
Don't worry, JimK. Jason Marquis will be the middle reliever in the playoffs. And I vote for Carlos Zambrano to join him in that role.
Either Gaudin's back shuts him down or he goes to Mesa for rehab--just in case he's needed late in the playoffs. Marshall and Samardzjia sounded OK listening to Pat and Ron on the radio. Pat says Lou wants to get Marmol and Wood a little work tonight too. Hopefully, they are sharp.
too bad the offense doesn't feel like fine tuning things tonight.
Lee and Ramirez have looked like sh** at the plate tonight...lazy and clueless swings.
I remember when Gaudin came over in the Harden trade folks were excited about how effective he would be and help bolster our bullpen.
maybe it's me..but he hasn't been that good since coming over.
maybe our SP's can just throw shutouts each game so we won't have to worry about bullpen issues.
Well our guys played tonight like they didn't have to win--and they didn't (barring a miracle). Hopefully, we can split the last two and get all good news from the infirmary.
Does anybody here really think they'd want Gaudin up in anything resembling a clutch situation in the playoffs? -- He has a 6.5 ERA..... .come the #$#$# off it.... It's beyond stupid....
McClung has the Cubs 10 up and 10 down since he came in in the 6th.
Gaudin looked good prior to his back injury.....hope he does rehab in Mesa for possible use later in the playoffs...
Looks like Sheets is going tomorrow.....hope we rope the Brew Crew....I'd rather have the Mets than the Dodgers in round one....
Baron it's not beyong stupid for people to have hope for Gaudin if you check stats.....
When Gaudin came over in July, he pitched 10 games going 2-1 with a 1.54 ERA and 1 walk and 13 K's pretty damn good numbers.....but then in August he pitched 9 games and although going 2-0, he had an ERZ of 7.71 with 6 walks and 13 K's. He had the back injury and has not looked good in the few games of September.....so...I think fans just want Gaudin to revert back to how he started with us.....
And hell, I think fans would put their hopes on Bill Campbell, Dickie Noles, or even Dick Ruthven if it meant keeping Bob Howry out of the playoffs!!
Well, the big positive from tonight....the Astros were eliminated from the wild card race.
Ryan Dempster pitched a very good game.
Joe S,
Not to be insensitive, but I could care less if Gaudin has a back injury ... sorry... its just too bad... go home and rehab.
baron....I'm hoping that you are saying "go home and rehab" to Gaudin (whom we confirmed tonight has not recovered from a back injury). He was definitely a long shot--as I mentioned when leaving him off my playoff roster a day or two ago. If your remark was not directed at Gaudin, it was out-of-line.
JimK....I took Baron's remark as being directed toward Gaudin and his injury.
Of course I was talking about Gaudin -- who else would need Rehab -- well maybe Z the way hes been goin.... I apologize for the rancorous tone earlier.... We are donking our way to a Dodgers 1st round series -- which would suck
Gaudin has an ERA of ~20.00 since his return from his injury ---- Shark, Marmol, Wood and Marquis for long relief -- everyone else needs to be benched.