Game One Hundred-Fifteen: Cubs (59-55) vs. Pirates (46-69)
Game Time - 12:05pm C.T.
Coverage - TV: Comcast SportsNet - Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 175
Location - Wrigley Field, Chicago
Tom Gorzelanny (4-2, 6.23/1.15) vs. Zach Duke (9-10, 3.40/1.24)
The Cubs will look to win their second game in a row against the Pirates, but a 17-run output is not likely again today with Zach Duke on the mound for the Bucs. The Pirates' southpaw always gives the Cubs his best and it figures to be more of the same today ... especially facing his former staff mate, Tom Gorzelanny.
Tom Gorzelanny will face his former team for the first time this afternoon. Gorzelanny must remember winning the game is proving a point. Gorzelanny figures to have a lot of energy and nervousness when the game begins. The first two innings will be a big test for the Evergreen Park native.
The Cubs will likely be without Aramis Ramirez and Milton Bradley once again this afternoon. Ramirez was in the original starting lineup on Friday but was a late scratch due to a head cold. It turns out Ramirez was sent home "with an infection in his tonsils" according to Lou Piniella. The Cubs did not want him to infect the team.
Like Ramirez, Milton Bradley was in the original starting lineup on Friday. Bradley was a late scratch due to tightness in his right hip that he suffered on Thursday going for a foul ball.
Both players are said to be day-to-day, but Piniella said he was not sure how long it would take to get Bradley back in the lineup. Bradley will receive treatment for his injury. When asked about Bradley, Piniella responded with "we'll see on Milton"
Lou Piniella is apparently not thrilled with Geovany Soto right now. Look for Koyie Hill to get a lot of playing time, especially if he keeps hitting the way he did on Friday. Also, Jeff Baker will be at second today against the lefty, Zach Duke. Baker received the start on Friday against a right-hander and should receive more playing time due to the fact he is hitting ... and Mike Fontenot is not.
If Aramis Ramirez is ready to go this afternoon, Lou should insert Jake Fox in left for the slumping Alfonso Soriano. As Ron Santo put it on Thursday afternoon, Soriano has become an automatic out. For the Cubs to think about life after game 162, Lou Piniella must begin utilizing players that are producing at the plate ... and in the field.
While the offense must do their job, it all begins with Tom Gorzelanny ... and one run and one win at a time.
Tom Gorzelanny will make his first start at Wrigley Field as a Chicago Cub this afternoon ... against his former team. Gorzelanny struggled at Wrigley against the Cubs over the last three years. He is 1-4 in his last five starts at the Friendly Confines with a 6.44 ERA. But that was against the team that now signs his paycheck.
Gorzelanny was great his in Cub debut against the Reds but was far less than average in his last outing against the Rockies. Gorzelanny left in the second inning with a bruised foot after a comebacker by Dexter Fowler knocked him out of the game. When Gorzelanny was in there, he was not missing too many bats. The southpaw gave up six runs on six hits in 1 1/3 innings.
The former Pirate figures to be out to prove a point today ... and hopefully he will be able to harness that energy into a win. The Cubs pen, for the most part, received a good day off on Friday and with the long road trip starting on Monday, another quality start will go a long way towards getting the pen back on track.
Tom Gorzelanny is 1-1 in two starts with the Cubs with a 7.27 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP.
- Ronny Cedeno - 4-for-12 with a double and a walk
- Lastings Milledge - 2-for-4 with a double and a walk
The Cubs will face Zach Duke for the third time this season. While Duke has not beat the Cubs this year (0-1 in two starts with a 3.21 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP), he has held them in check for the most part. The Cubs have hit the ball pretty good off of Duke but have not scored many runs ... sound familiar? The Cubs' offense has managed 15 hits against the southpaw in 14 innings but only five runs and three walks. Duke has struck out six batters and served up only one longball.
After a stellar July (1-3 in five starts with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP), Duke has struggled in August to the tune of a 0-1 record in two starts with a 5.11 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. Both his ERA and WHIP are season highs while teams have hit .314 against him in his last two outings ... also a season-high, by nearly 50 points.
Zach Duke might be reacting to all of the moves his team has made over the past month ... but he always shows up against the Cubs. For his career many of his better outings have come at the Cubs' expense. This afternoon will be his 16th career start versus the Cubs. Duke is 4-6 with a 3.09 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP ... his best career line against the other 29 teams.
Zach Duke will not help the Cubs offense. They must take advantage of every opportunity he gives them ... and not leave another victory on base.
- Jeff Baker - 2-for-6 with a home run
- Milton Bradley - 5-for-10 with 3 doubles, a triple and a walk
- Mike Fontenot - 1-for-1
- Jake Fox - 2-for-3
- Kosuke Fukudome - 1-for-6
- Derrek Lee - 10-for-40 with 2 doubles, a home run and 3 walks
- Aaron Miles - 5-for-13 with a walk
- Aramis Ramirez - 11-for-35 with 6 doubles, a home run and 2 walks
- Alfonso Soriano - 15-for-33 with 4 doubles, 2 home runs and 2 walks
- Geovany Soto - 4-for-17 with a double and 3 walks
- Ryan Theriot - 12-for-32 with 3 doubles, a home run and 2 walks
Let's Talk Cubs Baseball....
Today's lineup:
Theriot - SS
Bradley - RF
Lee - 1B
Fox - 3B
Baker - 2B
Soriano - LF
Soto - C
Fuld - CF
Gorzelanny - P
Lou did not have a pre-game press conference. Aramis is feeling better but not available today. Shooting to return on Sunday.
I know that I have benn away for a week but, Jeff Baker batting fifth?
Hottest bat in mlb last 10 days.
It sucks when you're more disappointed by your RHB than your LHB (namely 6 & 7).
Nice play by Fox to end the first.
I think sending Lee had a lot to do with the fact Soriano is not hitting.
Wow what's going on? We are getting calls in our favor today!
I like McCutchen he is a good looken young player.
Gorzelanny with a nice 2-out RBI single
With Soto driving the ball a little better, I would like to see him hitting 6th.
With Baker as hot as he is, it made think of a line-up for the stretch run that looked like this:
Fukudome/Theriot
Bradley
Lee
Ramirez
Fox
Baker
Soto
Theriot/Fukudome
Pitcher
Man, they could really kick some ass fielding that batting order every day.
I agree, especially with the way Soriano is not hitting
Neil...What would you do with Soriano?
Right now, sit him.
Gorzelanny has lost control. Where's Rothschild?
There is nothing else they can do until the ownership comes in. There is NO way any team claims Soriano or trades for him. There is TOO MUCH owed and his performance has dropped off the cliff.
Way to limit the damage that inning!
LET'S GO OFFENSE! LET'S GO!!!
Ask and you shall receive... Baker-sauce doing some big things!
JEFF BAKER!!!!
Piniella MUST BENCH Soriano. He has killed Duke over the years and nada today.
Ron and Pat where just talking about Soriano. Both agreed that they have never seen him slump like this. Pat pointed out that he seems to be ahead of everything and Ron explained that when "you're not hitting, you're anticipating. he is seeing pitches and he isn't staying back and hitting. he is anticipating and swinging early." and missing!
SIT HIM DOWN!
Sorry, meant to type:
...he is NOT seeing pitches...
Pat is gonna have to give his:
"Fasten your seat belts" line before the 8th from now on.
They are gonna lose this thing. Unless they bring Guzman in now, and let him get the 5 out save.
Sorry again, I am at work and not paying attention. Guzman's out already. I'll just shut-up now.
Good to see Aramis back
Let's see a 1-2-3 out of G-Unit.
Just in for the finish.
What is occuring CCO?
Mind giving me some updates to how we got here? Thanks!
Matt, Jeff Baker with a 2-out RBI single in the first. Gorzelanny drove in the second with a 2-out RBI single in te second.
Baker hit his second homer as a Cub in the sixth. Duke pitched an excellent game.
Baker's been a real find so far hasn't he?
Cool day.
Sam Fuld -- seen this movie before, haha
SAM FULD WITH ANOTHER GREAT CATCH!
Kevin Gregg -- seen this movie before too.
He's getting hammered.
And Marmol throwing (mostly) strikes.
That sound like a nice catch! PLAY SAMMY FULD!!! Damnit Lou, how much more do you have to see?
I was just looking at Soriano's full season of ABs. He has hit HRs in back to back games 4 times this year and has 1 mulit HR game all year. He had 5 HRs in July - his "hot streak" month. In his last 60 AB's (not counting today) he has 0 HR, 13Ks, 4BB's.
Back to the game...sounds like Gregg is trying his damnedest again to blow this! Pat and Ron are groaning about the fastballs down the middle. "They just aren't expecting a fastball right down the middle"
well, there you go. Go Cubs Go.
Cubs win!!! Cubs Win!!!
Gregg looked horrible again...trying to give the game away.
Amazing catch by Fuld...hope he did't hurt himself.
Soriano looks done for the season.
Guzman/Marmol looked great.
We have the opportunity for a sweep...\
feels good to say...but hollow.
Right now...any win will do.
GO CUBS.
Nel...is this the least amount of comments you've had for "Talking Cubs Live"?
Suzy, the lowest no. The lowest in a while, yes.
No one is excited about this team right now. Just listen to the radio or at other blogs. Maybe a good trip to the left coast will help.
NATION REPRESNT!
CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!
RECOGNIZE!
I'm starting a Cubs group called, "Cubs fans against Kevin Gregg as closer"....
First of all, dude probably injured a teammate (Fuld), who was reckless crashing into the wall on yet another smoked line drive off of him (I bet money on something coming out about Fuld being hurt later on...he was stretching his arms in the OF after the catch, and his knees banged pretty good). Second of all, he went like 3-2 with every damn batter that inning. Face it, he's the worst closer in the league. Yes, even worse than Lidge. I can't stand seeing him out there everyday.
EXCELLENT outing by Gorzelanny, and I'm very happy with Jeff Baker, and let me say that crow tastes good on that one...I wasn't sold on him, but now I am. Soriano is also a bum. He ranks up there with Gregg as guys I'd like to see "run into" Tonya Harding...along with Miles. Did you see how weakly Miles hit that ball?!? It's not even a righty-lefty thing with him, like it was with Bradley....He sucks all around, and I cannot believe he gets a pass for having a .185 avg this late in the year. It's unbelievable.
But...biggest props of the day go to Sam Fuld for his effort. You can't teach heart...and that guy has a lot of it. If Soriano had been out there, we might still be playing baseball right now.
With how pathetic Gregg is I just think now would be a great time to grab Smoltz. No cost to us, he would provide a solid HOF type leadership, the guy is a gamer, and I think he's got something left in the tank in a closer role. I just think this could be a late season no-brainer for Hendry (hmm, that's asking a lot I guess).
Also, Gary, I really liked your proposed lineup earlier. Soriano just HAS to sit already.
neil when is the last time the cubs had a winning west cost trip?
Last year. If I remember correctly they won 2 of 3 against the Padres with the only loss coming to Greg Maddux. And I have a memory of them splitting against the Dodgers.
Okay, I just went and looked it up. Here you go:
June 2 - June 4 - won 2 of 3 in San Diego
June 5 - June 8 - split the 4 games against the Dodgers. Won the first, lost the middle two and won the last.
Only blow out was the 7-3 loss on Saturday and I think that was a game started by Zambrano
They split a four-game series in San Francisco from June 30 - July 3.