Game One Hundred-Ten: Cubs (58-51) vs. Rockies (61-50)
Game Time - 7:40pm C.T.
Coverage - TV: Comcast SportsNet - Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 185
Location - Coors Field, Denver
Tom Gorzelanny (4-1, 3.38/0.88) vs. Jorge De La Rosa (9-8, 5.00/1.37)
Updated 5:17pm C.T. - Jeff Stevens Optioned to Triple-A Iowa - Esmailin Caridad Selected from Iowa, added to Cubs 40-man Roster Caridad will be available tonight in the Cubs' pen and will wear uniform number 33.
The Cubs will complete the 10-game, three-city road trip tonight (4-5 in the first nine) with their first, and only, wrap around series of the season. A win tonight behind Tom Gorzelanny would give the Cubs a .500 record (5-5) on the trip and make the long, late night flight back to Chicago a little more enjoyable.
The Cubs have blown chances over the last nine games to gain ground or keep pace with the Cardinals. Lou Piniella's crew enters play tonight two full games back of the Redbirds.
Aramis Ramirez will likely be held out of the starting lineup for the second game in a row. Ramirez was still very sore on Sunday and told the media that his shoulder hurts when he swings. Jake Fox filled in for Ramirez on Sunday and should be in there once again tonight.
The Cubs received some good news on Sunday in regards to all of their injury woes. Ted Lilly is slated to make a rehab start with either the Peoria Chiefs or I-Cubs on Wednesday. If all goes well, Lilly could start the opener next Monday against the Padres.
In the Battle of the Southpaws tonight, the Rockies have played a little better against lefty starters this season (18-18) than the Cubs (12-10).
While the offense must do their job against Jorge De La Rosa, it all begins with Tom Gorzelanny ... and one win at a time.
The Evergreen Park native will make his second start of the season for the Chicago Cubs ... after an impressive debut in Cincinnati that included a standing ovation when he left the field. Tom Gorzelanny threw the ball extremely well. He found a rhythm early and threw strikes. Gorzelanny allowed just one run on three hits in 7 1/3 innings with a walk and six strikeouts.
The Rockies love hitting against southpaws, despite a predominately left-handed lineup. Colorado is 18-18 on the year against lefty starters and tonight will be a huge test for Tom Gorzelanny.
Gorzelanny has not faced the Rockies this season. He is 1-1 in two career starts against the Rockies with a 6.23 ERA and a 2.08 WHIP ... at Coors Field, 1-0 in one career start with a 1.50 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. The win came on August 22, 2007. He allowed two runs, one earned, on six hits in six innings with three walks and five strikeouts.
- Garrett Atkins - 1-for-3 with 2 walks
- Clint Barmes - 1-for-2
- Brad Hawpe - 0-for-3
- Todd Helton - 0-for-2
- Jason Marquis - 1-for-5 with a double
- Ian Stewart - 0-for-1
- Yorvit Torrealba - 2-for-2 with 2 doubles
- Troy Tulowitzki - 1-for-3 with a double
The veteran southpaw is one of the main reasons the Rockies have become one of the best teams in the National League under Jim Tracy. After a winless April (0-2 in four starts with a 3.57 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP) and May (0-4 in six starts with a 6.75 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP) Jorge De La Rosa was 4-1 in five starts in June with a 6.08 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP. While the ERA and WHIP were horrible, the 4-1 mark was more than expected from the southpaw.
Jorge De La Rosa then turned it on in July. He posted a 5-0 record in six games, five starts, with a 2.50 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP.
The Phillies knocked around De La Rosa pretty good in his last outing. He allowed seven runs on 10 hits in five innings ... and served up three home runs. The Cubs must make him work tonight and not let up. Early swings could mean a long night for the Cubs' offense.
De La Rosa is 5-5 in 12 games, 11 starts, at Coors Field this season with a 5.43 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP.
The Cubs have never beaten Jorge De La Rosa ... or scored a run against the lefty. He is 1-0 in four career games with a 0.00 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP (no runs on three hits in 6 1/3 innings with six walks and 10 strikeouts) against the Cubs. Tonight will be his first career start against Chicago.
- Jeff Baker - 1-for-3 with a triple
- Milton Bradley - 0-for-2 with a walk
- Mike Fontenot - 0-for-1
- Kosuke Fukudome - 0-for-1
- Derrek Lee - 0-for-2 with a walk
- Aaron Miles - 0-for-1 with a walk
- Aramis Ramirez - 1-for-2 with a double and a walk
- Alfonso Soriano - 2-for-3 with a home run
- Geovany Soto - 1-for-1 with a double
Let's Talk Cubs Baseball....
It'll be Samardzija vs. Martinez on Wednesday. That should be a good game.
Have Fun Draven
You know, It's time the Shark showed up
and showed us something...so far, he's pretty unexciting.
The Phils have been struggling lately which may be a good thing for Jeff...But I'm really looking forward to this matchup. I don't know what to expect from either pitcher.
That will be a nice series to see where we 'stand' with the elite NL teams right now. I think we should be able to take 2 of 3, meanwhile the Cards continue their soft August schedule.
I think the equalizer is that the Cubs have 9 games remaining against the pirates (6 at Wrigley)
The cards only have 3 (@ Pit, where they had to rely on late inning comebacks to win 2 of 3)
That should give us a nice opportunity to pick up at least 2-4 games if we can handle our business.
During our 9 games against Pitt, they play 3 against SD...3 @ Mil...3 @ Cincy
(We have 3 @ NY Mets during their series)
Assuming we can win 7 of 9 and 2 of 3 at NY
that puts us at 9-3
They will likely go 7-5 in that span (taking 2 of 3 from SD, Cincy, and Pitt, and 1 of 3 from Mil)
theres our 2 game deficit in the standings...now lets make it happen
Also, this is what I am relying on.
STL has one pretty difficult stretch left that no one seems to be talking about:
Startin Sept 11
3 vs. Atlanta
3 vs. Florida
3 vs. CUBS
3 @ Houston
3 @ Rockies
3 @ Cincy
3 vs. Milwaukee
and thats the end of their season...not the easiest
WE WILL CATCH THEM...WE WILL PASS THEM
ahh this sucks. i am going to thursdays game vs the phills, and i just saw that its cliff lee vs ryan dempster. hopefully dempster can be the dempster of last year and maybe we can scratch a few runs off of cliff lee. Well should be interesting to see what happens. anyway, lets get a big win tonight! GO CUBS GO!
Poor Stevens.....they ought to just put him up in a local hotel....and tell him not to bother to leave....just get his work in....
I missed the Hoffpauir move to Iowa. Who did the Cubs bring up in his stead?
This Esmailin Caridad is only 5-10 in the minors this year . . . .
When they activated Soto
Sent Hoffy down to get a few weeks of ab's to be ready for September call up.
I saw Caridad in Mesa, nice arm and fastball, hides the ball well. He got off to a good start and has been better of late.
Tonights lineup:
Theriot SS
Bradley RF
Lee 1B
Fox 3B
Soto C
Soriano LF
Baker 2B
Fuld CF
Gorzelanny
Not bad. That nap must have reinvigorated Lou's senses. He should get more rest!
Hopefully Soto and Soriano do SOMETHING.
Thank you for posting the lineup....
Ramirez will see the team doctors on Tuesday.
I met Kerry Wood today at the Whole Foods in Lincoln Park. Man is he a tall guy. Looks more like a basketball player. What a nice guy.
So Lou rests Fukudome, the hottest hitter, but plays Soriano, one of the coldest? I love Fuld's heart, but there is no way he can duplicate what Fukudome has been doing lately. Hey Lou, Fuld does play left field too.
The Cubs have had at least 1 error in 5 consecutive games. Until that streak ends and the trend reverses itself, the Cubs will remain pretenders.
WOW, just saw the WSOX DID acquire Rios
off waivers...interesting move...
Toronto's happy...Wish some would claim Soriano...but that is a fools dream.
White Sox vs Yankees in the ALCS...you can bank on it. Series will go 7, and could go either way in my opinion. Check out the White Sox roster now:
C-Pierzynski: .316 avg, 12 hr, 33 RBI
1B-Konerko: .285 avg, 21 hr, 70 RBI
2B-Getz: .268 avg, 2 hr, 28 RBI, 18 SB
SS-Ramirez: .273 avg, 12 hr, 49 RBI
3B-Beckham: .302 avg, 6 hr, 40 RBI
LF-Quentin: .232 avg, 11 hr, 27 RBI (only 57 games)
CF-Rios: .264 avg, 14 hr, 62 RBI
RF-Dye: .272 avg, 24 hr, 67 RBI
bench-
back-up catcher-Castro .136, 2 hr 6 RBI
other-
Nix: .226 avg, 8 hr, 19 RBI
Thome: .255 avg, 21 hr, 69 RBI
Kotsay: .245 avg, 1 hr, 6 RBI
Podsednik: .297 avg, 4 hr, 33 RBI, 17 SB
Rotation:
Buerhle
Peavy
Danks
Floyd
Contreras
pen-Jenks, Dotel, Linebrink, Thornton, Pena (only real ? marks are Carrasco and Williams)
I freaking love Kenny Williams. Dude has tremendous balls, and Reinsdorf is like, "let me see what ya got big boy"...and he knows his ass is on the line, yet he makes tough calls like that.
They had a hole in CF since Rowand left, and they just filled it. They had a hole in the rotation, and they filled it with Peavy. They had a case of underperformance at 3B, so they made the ballsy move, and called up recent draftee Gordon Beckham, who has ROY written all over him. They had a hole when Quentin went down, so they signed Scotty Podsednik also known as "Cub Killer".
So, let's see, we had a case of underperformance in LF, RF, C, 3B (without ARAM), 2B, AND a leaky pen, and all that Hendry could muster all summer long to fill the vacancies was a much delayed call-up of Jake Fox (worked, but severely late, and severely under-used unlike Beckham)-3B; Jeff Baker/Ryan Freel-2B (Freel has already been DFA'd), and there were no such replacements for the underperforming Soto, Soriano, and Bradley early on, and it absolutely killed this team.
You think for a moment any of these guys we have would last for a second on a ballclub managed by Guillen and operated by Kenny Williams?!? NOT a chance in hell. They'd probably cry about how things used to be with Hendry and Piniella. Guillen would make Piniella look like a chicken shit for how he handles his players.
I am on the bandwagon. I love Chicago baseball folks...I love Chicago sports in general. I've wanted to hate the White Sox for so long, but all they do is give me reason to like them.
It's like, I'm noticing that all around the league, teams are opening my eyes to what's really out there. There's ACTUALLY good baseball, and good management happening all around the league folks...you just have your blinders on, and can't see it. It's like the Rockies, and the Rays, and the Rangers, Brewers, etc., where they're developing good, young talent, and saying "to hell with the veterans"...and they're getting far more mileage and bang for their buck than they would be paying the likes of Soriano, Bradley, Gregg, Fukudome, etc. to stink up the joint the whole season, and do NOTHING about it.
I'm a Cubs fan, and I'm proud of it. But like others on here that are also fond of the Red Sox...I don't think there's any problem with liking other teams, so long as head-to-head, you pick the Cubbies.
I hope the Cubs win it all this year. But does a lineup that has the following even scare you:
Theriot: .295 avg, 7 hr, 44 RBI
Bradley: .266 avg, 8 hr, 28 RBI
Lee: .290 avg, 23 hr, 74 RBI
Fox (w/ ARAM out in all likelihood): .297 avg, 8 hr, 27 RBI
Fukudome: .275 avg, 9 hr, 40 RBI
Soriano: .250 avg, 19 hr 49 RBI
Soto: .223 avg, 8 hr, 27 RBI
Fontenot: .228 avg, 9 hr, 35 RBI
our whole team is a joke....save for, perhaps the starting pitching...and I've said it all damn year. I said Hendry wouldn't get ARAM's replacement until it was too late, and by then, we'd already be out of it. Well, we're certainly NOT mathematically out of it, but if he'd just brought up Fox when he should have, and if Piniella had balls and just went with Fox at 3B until ARAM came back, then I guarantee you, we wouldn't even be having this conversation....I bet that we wouldn't have even seen the Cardinals get Lugo, DeRosa, and Holliday. Why? Because I know that we were leading the league in quality starts, and if just 10 of those games had turned out in our favor, we'd probably be well over 10 games up on the Cards (as they wouldn't have the offense from the 3 that I mentioned, and would've tanked by now).
Hendry's the biggest, fattest, moron GM in baseball right now (every time I see pictures of him in the skybox, he's stuffing his face full of food...I swear, that's all he does). He doesn't get off his ass, and make moves. I'm not trying to be all weight-management on people and that type of stuff....But look around the league. The most successful GM's aren't fat. Look at Epstein, Cashman, Williams, Jocketty, Beane, Gillick, Melvin, etc. They're NOT fat, because they're constantly moving around, taking phone calls, making phone calls, checking on the minors...running all around. It's why Steve Stone said it's not an old man's job anymore. These are guys that are constantly on the move, trying to improve their respective teams. Because of that, they're not overweight (again, I'm not saying being overweight has anything to do with success), but I'm merely saying that if you're not trying to improve the team constantly, you most likely are sitting on your ass, thus you eat cheetos on a leather recliner, and sit back, hoping your offseason moves work out. They didn't!!!!! So, what would any of those younger GM's do? Hell, they'd either clean house, or they'd tweak it, and rectify their mistakes. It's just the way it is.
If the Cubs can get out of the bottom half of the first without committing an error, and giving up 3 runs, I think they might stand a good chance of winning.
What if they give up a 2 run homer?
And then a solo in the 3rd. So there is your 3-0 score.
Good ab for Theriot to start the game
anyone have a link for the Cubs game streaming...mlb.tv blacked me out for some reason
Aaron...I'm no good at links...but TVAnts is streaming.
My2p2.eu.com - you'll have to set it up...I don't have the direct link just put My2p2.eu.com on list of favorites.
http://mlb.mlb.com/flash/mediaplayer/v4/R20/MP4.jsp?calendar_event_id=14-245866-2009-08-10&content_id=5954137&media_id=&view_key=&media_type=audio&source=MLB&sponsor=MLB&clickOrigin=Media%20Grid&affiliateId=Media%20Grid&team=mlb&
It's mlb audio. You need a subscription.
I can't think of a worse contract in all of baseball than Sorianos.
He has a friggin .315 OBP... that is woeful
was Baker watching what happened in the first?
He swings at the first pitch
stupid baseball
Soriano loafs after a ball and we are down 2-0
6 stranded after 2 innings. Nice!
Great clutch hitting, as always.
OMG! What could be more demoralizing than having the bases loaded twice in two innings and come up empty both times?
Another HR. This is ridiculous.
We swing at so many bad piches
So much for our new hero Gorzy.
Next!!!
Soriano must have taken 6-8 steps before he readied to throw back to 2B. Another extra base gift...5 more years of this in LF.
When was the last time Sori made one of those rocket throws to get a man out?
I don't think once this season?
Mommy make it stop.
There goes the Gorzelanny era.
4-0 already. Looks like "game over" folks...unfortunately.
I hope Gorzelanny is okay, that was ugly.
That throw was ugly. No fundamentals. I actually smirked at that defensive play.
LOL...at this point...that's all you have to do. I will spare myself by just listening to it on the radio at this point. It must be awfully painful to watch. You can almost hear the air being let out of our balloon, and thus, our chances this season
Finally, I got to watch Caridad fight hand, in a twist...
Well, I never expected much of Gorzy, so maybe this is a good break for the "minor leaguer."
Caridad, what do we know about him? Produced by Japan. He seemed to be a smart pitcher who induced more groundballs.
Let's see if these true.
Bears play Saturday.
Hey everyone, 1st time on the board, what happened to Gorz? I'm stuck in Missouri where you can't see or here anything...
Jack, welcome to the CCO!
Gorzelanny appeared to roll his ankle on a comebacker to the mound off of Dexter Fowler's bat. He stopped the ball, it came loose and when he tried to throw it, he fell to the ground.
He made a couple of warm-up throws, then Lou took him out.
I guarantee you this...Lou's not napping right now.
wow what a bomb
The game is out of market for me so its not on TV.
What happened to Gorzelanny?
Gorzy got hit by a linedrive that bounced on the mound. Hit between his foot and shin.
He fell to the ground and attempted to throw the ball to home, but couldn't, a sissy soft toss. He then rolled on the ground as if in pain.
O well...
First ever review of a home run call for the Chicago Cubs
Just give it to him and put this pathetic team out of it's misery.
Another embarrasing night for the Chicago Cubs.
One team wants to be there, the other team has left the bases loaded twice.
Neil, you said it perfectly...truly EMBARRASSING!!!!!!!!
Jim Hendry taps the Cub's farm system for yet another one of it's finest. He couldn't possibly fit another feather in that cap of his.
The sin of not taking advantage of all those quality starts is coming home to roost now.
that's precisely what I mentioned earlier....it's a joke of a team.....and an even worse embarrassment of a GM....he has no balls, no foresight...they only foresight he has is that he'll be sitting in the skybox with bucket of cheetos and cupcakes and ho-ho's
Hey, no need to worry. Soriano will break out really soon, and carry this team on his back for weeks to come.
$18m joke.
The Cub response by the offense was resounding.
Alright, I'm gonna watch the espn documentary "Lost Son of Havana" about the great AL pitcher and Cuban desserter Luis Tiants.
Anyone with me?
I loved watching the ageless "El Tiante"
Chomping on his cigar and mowing down
the opposition in his heyday.
He was definitely a character and fun to
watch. I don't get espn Dorsaga...if they say what he's doing now...let me know. btw...it would be nice to know what his true age is/was also.
Suzy, yeah, I want to know his age, too. LOL
I believe you can watch the show online:
http://atdhe.net/7336/
From what I heard last night on espn, they'll show the documentary after this Tigers-Redsox game...
I don't know if the streamer (of that video link) will show what's after the game, though.
Bruised right foot for Gorzelanny, being taken for X-rays.
Put a fork in em.
I'll check back at the end of the game...
just to see if anyone else qualifies for the DL...lol
Todd Helton, WOW. Ninth hit of the series.
Time to give up on the Cubs. Football season is almost here.
How has Cutler looked so far this year?
And they took the drama out of the error streak early. Make it 6 games in a row.
Umm...maybe I've missed something..but is this the team that's supposed to overtake the Cardinals?
I know I may get booed for this, but I am a Cubs fan of 25 years and I don't want this team to win it this year. They've been crap most of the year and haven't been worthy of giving my love to this year.
I figure it better they don't want so it will nail the coffin shut on Hendry, Pinella, Rothschild and some of the players. Get a fresh new start for 2010 with a team that maybe can earn my love.
Dave Otto is such and optimist. "All it takes is one swing to get them going"
Yeah!!! Right!!!!
And then Pat Hughes says "You can catch up in a hurry in this park. It's not over yet."
Yeah!!! Right!!!!
are we in 2004? Man This team left their
man parts in the clubhouse. No fight Or pride in them
whatsoever. I can easily root for a bad team if they have
game in them but this guys look like a bad Grapefruit league
team. Lou should make them ride the public bus back to
Chicago instead of the airplane. Damn freaking De la Rosa...WTF??
Way to go Sorry-anal.
Tulowitzki with a triple, as soon as he hit I knew it. Soriano bobbled the ball.
Suzy, here's the Tiants show online, pretty crisp STREAM:
justin.tv/espn2k9/popout
Two thoughts:
*Why hasn't Piniella emphasized the Cubbie swagger this year? He used to talk about it so much the previous two years...and now nothing. Do you all remember that in Spring Training, Lou said that he was reading a bunch of books on some philosophy about managing a winning team (because of the two straight choke jobs in postseasons)? I think this year is a result of that crappy philosophy that he read!
*I'll bet you that if you bring Pujols to the Cubs, he will hit .200 for the rest of his career...
this is just embarassing leaving the bases loaded 3 times...are you kidding me?
Why doesn't Tulowitzki just hit a HR and get 9 RBI?
I guess 5 for 5 with 7 RBI is a pretty good night for anyone.
And I forgot to mention "The Cycle"
I take my hat off to him.
AARON HEILMAN YOU ARE TERRIBLE
WHAT A FREAKING JOKE!!!! Todd Helton has 3 freakin hits AGAIN! He should be HIT 3 times along with Tulowizki. He's 5 for 5 now hitting for the cycle and a questionable grand slam. YOU DON'T LET THE BEST HITTERS BEAT YOU! I know everyone elase has been killing us, but don't let those two kick your ass. These Cubs are really sucking ass. I'm embarrased! The Cradinals are 3 up now. DAMN IT!
Did they just learn how to get hits with men in scoring position?
what a grab
WOW! a few hours ago i considered tuning into the game.
Soooo happy i chose a little yard work on a beautiful evening instead.
but i am tuning into the audio now...just so i can hear Lou's postgame show.
"look..."