Game Fifteen - Cubs 8 Mariners 1
WP - Ryan Dempster (1-2) LP - Garrett Olson (0-1) Save - None
Pitching, pitching and more pitching was the theme on Tuesday against the Mariners. Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Milton Bradley were absent from the lineup and did not make the trip to Peoria. With the performances Lou Piniella received, it would not have mattered.
Rich Harden made his long awaited spring debut. Harden surrendered two hits but did not allow a run in his two innings of work. Harden struck out one...swinging. Ryan Dempster followed Harden and after allowing a couple of hits in his first inning of work, he did not allow another base runner to reach. Dempster struck out a pair in three innings.
Despite allowing the Mariners' only run of the game, Aaron Heilman was dominant once again. Heilman allowed a run on two hits (two doubles) in three innings with five strikeouts. Jose Ascanio pitched a perfect ninth to close out the game.
Cubs pitching combined on nine strikeouts with no walks.
The Cubs 'B-Team' offense was led by Mike Fontenot, Doug Deeds, Koyie Hill and So Taguchi. The offense scored eight runs on 16 hits with six doubles off Mariners' pitching.
The Cubs scored five of their eight runs in the fourth inning. Jake Fox led off with a walk and scored on a double to center by Mike Fontenot. Garrett Olson was lifted for Miguel Batista and the Cubs kept hitting.
Fontenot advanced to third on a fly out to center off the bat of Reed Johnson. Doug Deeds followed with a double to right that plated Fontenot. Deeds advanced to third on a single to right by Koyie Hill. So Taguchi followed with a single to right that plated Hill and Deeds.
The Cubs tacked on to their lead in the seventh. Jake Fox reached on a 1-out double to center. Sam Fuld pinch-hit for Reed Johnson and doubled home Fox with two outs. Doug Deeds hit his second double of the game that plated Fuld. Koyie Hill followed with the Cubs third double in a row with 2-outs. Deeds scored the Cubs eighth and final run of the game.
Wednesday is the Cubs first of two off days during Spring Training (March 25). Lou Piniella's crew will face Team Japan on Thursday at HoHoKam. Carlos Zambrano is scheduled to face a lineup that will include Kosuke Fukudome.
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Neil, I love your site. It is the best Cubs site around!
Everyone if you get a chance, check out my Cubs Blog that I've been doing for about 3 monthes. I have a Live Chat on the Blog tomorrow night at 6:00 (PM CT) and I hope some of you will join me! You can start sending in questions and comments about the Cubs on the site right now! Here's the link:
http://cubsblog-cubbiefan07.blogspot.com/
Thanks,
Cubbiefan07
Marmol just blew the Dominican Game. And then lost it on a Willy Aybar error.
A combination of tough luck but not a good outing by Marmol at all. He kinda choked. He hung a slider to allow a double. A strike out. Then a hit and the run scored. Marmol later threw the ball to check the runner on first and threw it past Aybar and the runner advanced to 3rd. [Aybar should have caught it and there is a lot of foul territory]. A strike out. with a runner on third. A 3-2 fastball was hit hard directly to Aybar and he booted it, Marmol covered first and coaught the throw from Aybar but it was late. Game over. Netherlands stun the Dominican monster and the crowd[98%] Dominican was as silent as the Sunday Jesuit Mass. David defeated Goliath twice playing solid defense and pitching like pros. There was solid pitching over all in Pool D
Tin-Tin:
I was watching the game on TV. Marmol sucked Cuelo. David stunned Goliath y his whole freakin family.
Indeed Jim. and it is Culo. lol!
There are about 250,000 Dominicans that live on this Island. They were all there to watch that debacle. But you know what? They were not humble and were over confident twice. How is that possible? I don't know. At any rate, Puerto Rico should beat the Netherlands tomorrow. Loser of tomorrow's game gets to play a very hot USA team in the first round. The winner gets the runner up. I prefer the later. :-]
Neil; did Harden show any signs of injury or cautiousness while throwing?
I applaud the Netherlands but the DR was missing a ton of guys, I think Aram, Soriano, Manny and Neifi Perez (not) would have helped.
Yahooie! Now we get Carlos back. It's still Spring. So he blew it, the whole team sounds like they were who we thought they were. Better for Carlos to cost his team the season in MARCH rather than October, right? Foreshadowing or who ya crappin?
So...does anyone want to give Marmol the 8th inning job back? Gregg has looked pretty good so far, and I guess it doesn't really matter, but I just don't feel confident in what's between Marmol's ears. While I'm glad the DR team blew it, I don't like the fact that it was one of our own who allowed it to happen.
Heilman has to be looking good for the 5th spot right now with Marshall pulling long man duty out of the pen. I didn't expect this much from Heilman, but if he continues to pitch like this I'll be very happy.