Game Fifteen - Cubs 3 Dodgers 7
WP - Charlie Haeger (1-0, BS 1) LP - John Grabow (0-1) Save - None
In front of the largest crowd in the history of the Cactus League (13,391), Lou Piniella's crew dropped their sixth game of the spring.
Ryan Dempster completed his longest outing of the spring. Dempster allowed his first two earned runs and walked his first batter of the spring in four innings of work. Dempster gave up a two-run homer to Manny Ramirez, his first of the spring, in the first inning. After dodging a big inning in the second, Dempster did not allow another run on Thursday afternoon.
Geovany Soto drove in the Cubs' first run in the second inning off of Chad Billingsley. The Cubs tied the game in the sixth on a RBI single by Tyler Colvin. But the Dodgers' scored five runs off of John Grabow and John Gaub in the sixth and seventh innings.
Carlos Marmol pitched a scoreless fifth. Marmol did not allow hit, struck out Matt Kemp but issued a two-out walk to Rafael Furcal.
John Grabow had another poor outing on Thursday. The Dodgers scored two runs on three hits with a walk during Grabow's inning of work. All three hits allowed by Grabow were to left handed hitters and the only lefty he retired plated a run ... James Loney drove in Xavier Paul on a sacrifice fly to center.
The other southpaw that pitched for Lou Piniella did not fare much better than the first. John Gaub gave up back-to-back singles to start the seventh. Reed Johnson stepped in and ripped a three-run homer over the wall in left. Gaub allowed three runs on four hits without a walk or a strikeout in one inning.
The Cubs slipped to 9-6 on the exhibition season with Thursday's loss ...
Matt Kemp reached on a one-out bloop double to center in the first inning. Ryan Dempster retired Andre Ethier on a fly out to right ... Kemp advanced to third. Manny Ramirez then launched a 0-1 pitch from Dempster over the wall in left center.
Dempster struck out James Loney for the third out in the first.
Mike Fontenot (wearing #88) led off the second with a single to left. Fontenot was thrown out trying to steal second with Alfonso Soriano at the plate. Soriano struck out swinging ... one of two on the afternoon for the Cubs' left fielder.
Chad Tracy (2-for-2 with a walk and a run scored) reached on a ground rule double down the left line. Geovany Soto followed with a single to right, Tracy scored ... 2-1 Dodgers.
Ryan Dempster walked Casey Blake to start the second. Dempster fell behind Blake DeWitt ,2-0, before giving up a single to left. Blake took third on Soriano ... and DeWitt advanced to second on Soriano's throw to third.
With runners on second and third with no outs, Ryan Dempster went to work against the bottom of the Dodgers' lineup.
Brad Ausmus popped out to second base for the first out. Billingsley tapped back to the mound and Rafael Furcal grounded out to short to end the inning.
Dempster worked around an error by Derrek Lee in the third. After Andre Ethier reached on the miscue, Dempster induced a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Manny Ramirez to end the inning.
James Loney led off the fourth with the Dodgers' fourth hit off of Dempster. But with two outs and Brad Ausmus at the plate, Geovany Soto threw out Loney at second to end the inning.
Charlie Haeger replaced Billingsley in the sixth ... and walked Derrek Lee on four pitches to start the inning. James Adduci ran for Lee. Adduci stole second and scored on a single to center by Tyler Colvin. Game tied at two.
Colvin stole second but Haeger found his control and retired Fontenot on a pop out to second. Soriano struck out but Chad Tracy walked. Soto popped out to Furcal to end the inning.
The Dodgers put the game out of reach in the bottom of the sixth.
John Grabow gave up a lead off single to Andre Ethier. Xavier Paul pinch ran for Ethier and advanced to third on a double by Garrett Anderson. James Loney followed with a sacrifice fly to center. Paul scored and gave the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.
Grabow issued a four-pitch walk to Casey Blake. Nick Green ran for Blake. Blake DeWitt singled to right, Anderson scored and gave the Dodgers a two-run lead. Chin-lung Hu ran for DeWitt. Brad Ausmus followed and grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
The Cubs will make the trip back to Glendale on Friday afternoon to take on the White Sox. Randy Wells against John Danks.
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I'd like to know what the radar gun says about Grabow's velocity right now.
Hello everyone. Bleacher Report has reported that Lou has set his lineup for the opener and it looks like this:
Theriot-SS
Fukudome-RF
Lee-1B
ARAM-3B
Byrd-CF
Soriano-LF
Fontenot-2B
Soto-C
Very interesting. Fotenot apparently won the job as of now because he is hitting and Baker is not.
At least this is a little lefty righty mixture. I am still hoping that Colvin will be starting in LF in about a month when Soriano still doesn't hit.
GO!! CUBS!! GO!!
Soriano (sic) may hit in April. He's a fastball hitter, and the pitchers aren't as sharp in April and early May as they will be later. So I expect Soriano (sic) to hit .250 or better early. Then when the pitchers start getting their breaking balls over with greater frequency, he'll return to the Alfonso we all know.
Now here is something to maybe consider. I think there is a possibility that Baker may not make the team. Tracy is hitting the ball well as well as Colvin. I am beginning to wonder if the Cubs will go a completely different direction especially that supposedly Fontenot is the starter at 2B. The bench could look like this:
Blanco-2B and SS
Tracy-3B and 1B
Nady-OF
Colvin-OF
Hill-C
I think this is a realistic possibility as Baker is not a guarantee. Just something to think about.
I like it. I never liked the idea of the Font/baker platoon, mainly because we're using a roster spot to keep an average wOBA at 2nd. I'd rather swallow the platoon split in order to get Colvin AND Tracy on the 25 man. Thinking about losing ARam's bat (when he needs a rest) and having Baker @3B w Font @2nd, just seems like we'd be spreading mediocrity through the whole infield
Why must ex-cubs constantly torment us? I mean really baseball god. Did Reed Johnson have to hit a three run homer? Really?
After what happened in the 6th and 7th inning, I'm not sure I want to be known as John G anymore. They aren't making me proud.