Close Early, Embarrassing Late … Yankees Bomb the Cubs in Finale – Cubs 4 Yankees 10

June 19, 2011 By 24 Comments

Game Seventy-One – Cubs 4 Yankees 10
WP – C.C. Sabathia (9-4) LP – Sean Marshall (3-2) Save – None

The Cubs finished the seven-game homestand with a 4-3 record after dropping the finale of the three-game series to the Yankees. The Cubs led 4-1 after the third but defensive miscues, too many walks and not enough patience against C.C. Sabathia cost Q’s squad a chance to win back-to-back series for the first time this season.

Randy Wells kept his team in the ballgame as long as he could. Wells line actually looks worse than he pitched. Wells was the victim of several defensive and mental miscues but he seemingly could not put the mistakes behind him and it cost him a chance at beating the New York Yankees.

Wells received a no decision after allowing four runs on five hits in six innings. Wells walked four, struck out three and threw 101 pitches, 56 for strikes.

Sean Marshall was hung with the loss after giving up back-to-back singles to Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano to start the eighth inning. Mike Quade sent Chris Carpenter, in his fourth big league game, to the hill to face Nick Swisher and Swisher made the rookie, and the Cubs, pay.

Nick Swisher launched a 2-0 pitch into the bleachers in right … Swisher’s three-run blast gave the Yankees a 7-4 lead.

The Yankees poured it on in the ninth and turned a close game into a comfortable six-run victory.

Quade’s pen allowed six runs on eight hits with two strikeouts and no walks in three innings.

Alfonso Soriano provided the Cubs biggest highlight of the game. Soriano cranked his 14th homer of the season in the third, a towering three-run blast off Sabathia that gave the Cubs a brief 4-1 lead. Soriano’s dinger Sunday night was the sixth of his career off C.C. Sabathia.

Aramis Ramirez (4-for-5 with a run scored) had another good night at the plate and in the field. D.J. LeMahieu doubled off Sabathia to start the fourth … the first extra base hit of LeMahieu’s big league career.

The Yankees scored nine unanswered runs Sunday night and squashed the Cubs chances of posting back-to-back series wins for the first time since last September 27 – October 3, 2010 against the Padres and Astros.

The Cubs lost for the 10th time this season on Sunday (1-10) and slipped back to 29-42 on the year, 13 games below the mediocre mark … The Yankees jumped out to an early lead with one swing of the bat. Brett Gardner ripped a 0-2 pitch from Randy Wells into the bleachers in right. Gardner’s first leadoff homer of his career and the Yankees first home run of the series put New York up 1-0.

Wells bounced right back and struck out Curtis Granderson swinging. Mark Teixeira worked a walk but was forced at second when Alex Rodriguez hit a ball into the hole at short. Castro fielded the ball and tossed to LeMahieu for the second out of the inning. Robinson Cano struck out swinging to end the inning. Wells threw 19 pitches in the first, 14 for strikes.

The Cubs got the run right back in the home half of the first. Reed Johnson led off with a double into the left field corner. Starlin Castro followed with a deep drive to left center that chased Granderson back toward the ivy. Johnson tagged and advanced to third on Castro’s productive out.

Jeff Baker hit Sabathia’s first offering to short … with the infield back Johnson scored easily to tie the game at one. Aramis Ramirez reached on an infield single but Soriano tapped back to Sabathia to end the inning.

Randy Wells retired the Yankees in order in the second … first time since the 7th inning on Friday Cubs pitching retired the Yankees in order.

Wells faced the minimum in the third after Curtis Granderson hit into a 4-6-3 inning ending double play. D.J. LeMahieu and Starlin Castro turned a very nice DP.

The Cubs took a brief three-run lead in the bottom of the third on one swing of the bat.

Starlin Castro led off with a single to right center on a 2-2 pitch. Jeff Baker flied out to right but Ramirez singled to left center. Alfonso Soriano stepped in with two on, one out and the game tied at one.

Alfonso Soriano hit a towering blast into the bleachers in left. Soriano’s 14th of the season and sixth of his career off of C.C. Sabathia put the Cubs up 4-1.

Geovany Soto followed with a double to left center … Luis Montanez grounded out to third on a 0-1 pitch to end the inning.

Randy Wells started the top of the fourth with a 4-1 lead and retired Teixeira on a diving catch by Aramis Ramirez in the shift. Wells then walked A-Rod … the Cubs first mistake of the inning.

Robinson Cano hit a tapper in front of the plate. Soto picked up the ball and made a strong throw to second. With A-Rod running, Castro took his foot off of the bag too early, Rodriguez was safe and Cano reached. The Cubs second and third mistake of the inning put runners on first and second with one out.

Wells was obviously bothered by the play behind him and appeared to lose focus. Nick Swisher ripped a 2-0 pitch into right. A-Rod scored … 4-2 Cubs. Wells then issued a one out walk to Russell Martin that loaded the bases.

Eduardo Nunez chopped a 2-1 pitch to third; Ramirez fielded the ball and stepped on the bag to force Swisher for the second out … but Cano scored, 4-3 Cubs. With runners on first and second with two outs, Sabathia flied out to left to end the inning.

Wells threw 26 pitches in the fourth inning … at the end of four Wells had thrown 68 pitches.

The Cubs had a chance to gain some of the momentum back in the bottom of the fourth but they wasted a leadoff double by D.J. LeMahieu. After Wells sacrificed him to third, Girardi moved his infield in and Johnson grounded out to third for the second out. Castro grounded out to the hole at short to end the inning … Sabathia retired Johnson and Castro on three pitches.

Wells retired the Yankees in order on eight pitches in the fifth … and Sabathia worked around a one out single to Ramirez in the bottom of the fifth.

The Yankees tied the game in the top of the sixth and ran up Wells’ pitch count.

Rodriguez reached on a single to left on a 2-1 pitch … the third time in six innings the Yankees put the leadoff hitter on. Robinson Cano hit a slow chopper to second. LeMahieu had to wait back on the ball and for A-Rod to run past him. Wells got ahead of Swisher 0-2 but Soto could not hang onto a foul tip on a 1-2 pitch. Swisher worked the count to 3-2 before lining a single into right. A-Rod held at third with one out.

After a wild pitch advanced Swisher to second, Russell Martin tied the game at four with a sac fly to right. A-Rod tagged and scored with Swisher holding at second. Wells missed three straight to Nunez before issuing ball four to put runners on first and second with two outs.

Randy Wells ended his night by striking out Sabathia looking on a 3-2 pitch.

The Cubs went in order in the bottom of the sixth.

Sean Marshall took over in the seventh and retired Gardner, Granderson and Teixeira in order on 15 pitches.

The Cubs went down in order in the bottom of the seventh on five pitches … five.

The Yankees took their first lead of the night in the top of the eighth. Alex Rodriguez singled to left center off Sean Marshall to start the inning. Robinson Cano followed and hammered Marshall’s first pitch into left center. A-Rod advanced to third and Quade went to his pen for Chris Carpenter.

The rookie right-hander in only his fourth big league game fell behind Nick Swisher 2-0. Swisher launched Carpenter’s next pitch into the bleachers in right … 7-4 Yankees.

Russell Martin reached on an infield single to the hole at short. Carpenter then retired Nunez on a fly out to right. Jorge Posada was announced and Quade went to his pen for James Russell.

After a discussion on the mound with Chris Carpenter, James Russell was finally given the ball and retired Posada on a fly out to right center. With Brett Gardner at the plate, Soto threw out Martin at second to end the inning.

Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto worked back-to-back one out walks against David Robertson in the bottom of the eighth. Carlos Pena hit for Montanez and grounded out to first. Soriano and Soto advanced to second and third.

Quade continued playing it by the book and sent up Blake DeWitt to hit for LeMahieu. DeWitt popped out to third to end the inning.

The Yankees made it a laugher in the ninth. Brett Gardner led off the ninth with a hustle double down the left field line off James Russell. Curtis Granderson followed with a triple to right … Gardner scored, 8-4 Yankees. Quade went to his pen again and brought in Rodrigo Lopez.

Mark Teixeira hit a double into the corner in right that Jeff Baker could not catch … a right fielder might have made the play. Granderson scored … 9-4 Yankees.

Alex Rodriguez then hit a 2-0 pitch deep to left. Soriano appeared to give up on the ball and allowed it to hit just before the wall. Texeiria scored … 10-4 Yankees.

Alfonso Soriano appeared to just stop and watch the ball, just another embarrassing play from the Chicago Cubs.

Lopez retired Cano, Swisher and Martin to end the inning.

The Cubs loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth … but Soriano flied out to center to end the game.

The Cubs put together a winning homestand (4-3) but bad defense and bad decisions cost them a chance at an impressive homestand against the Brewers and Yankees.

Box Score from Yahoo Sports

The Cubs travel to the South Side Monday and open a three-game series against the White Sox. Carlos Zambrano versus Gavin Floyd in game one.


Filed Under: Let's Play 2 - Game Recap Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
  • paulcatanese

    Too many FUNDEMENTAL mistakes and lack of hustle in the important part of the game, when it counted. And Wells glared at Castro and then Aram as to say “what the heck”.Announcers were kind to the Cubs in the beginning of the game but really gave it to them at the end.

    • Dorasaga

      Paul, though I still watch the games, I rather read about your stories during the wars (*) than watching this !@#$ team…

      *I was gonna say “armed forces baseball,” but is there a shorter, more common name you guys call yourselves?

      • paulcatanese

        Yes there is, I would say Lucky Jocks to be able play the game and recognized by the Armed Forces as Baseball,Football,Basketball and
        Bowling as morale boosters for the Services. It brings a part of home
        to the Services. Regular Service personal are the real people that do
        the hard ,unselfish,protection of our way of life. We were just an outlet
        and a rememberance of home. In the scheme of things we were very
        small and insignifigent next to the real people that worked very hard,and
        believed in America.

        • Dorasaga

          Ah, “We baseball players were just an outlet.” I like that.

          But no, I believe everyone contributed his part. I also believe that you should feel proud to have visited the war zones and played good baseball. The soldiers must need a sense of real time, a feel of home.

          • paulcatanese

            Thank you for the kind words. Let me point out that I was in the service
            right after Korea (1954) to (1956),and just before Vietnam. When in
            Germany I did have the opportunity to see first hand at that time the
            remains of the War(II) there we still bombed out buildings and rubble
            in many parts. It was a strange feeling, to be someplace that I knew a
            lot of men,civilians,and children were killed in those areas,our troops and
            theirs. It was a History lesson for me, a very grim one to see what war
            can do to a country and its population. This is in no way to constrew that
            what I did over there was anything connected to the brave people that
            walked and lived in those cities,or the troops (US) that fought for every
            inch.

            My off season duties were that as an MP in Frankfurt,and at that time,again
            I was lucky, I had patrol in the city of Frankfurt and had the opportunity
            to be around people,not on a base. The biggest thrill I had was escorting
            a GI back to his barracks after he had too much to drink. The only time I was reminded of War was when we were called out on alert, we could hear the
            other side in the cold war on our radios telling us where we were going to be
            for the alert. My partner and I were at a crossroad supposedly to direct
            traffic in the event of hostilies, and we spent the night in sleeping bags on
            the ground,waking up to snow covering us. The German civilians were
             quick to come and provide us with hot coffee and Schnitzel,rolls in exchange
            for c rations that they in turn would send to relatives that didnt have as
            much food as they did. Believe me, my weapon was a 45 pistol and I
            was so proficient with it  that not only could I not hit the target but not
            even the supporting 10×12 wooden background. I was a winner all right.

          • paulcatanese

            My last post was kind of giving a little background to get to the Baseball end of it. I have to be a little careful here cause I dont want to offend anyone on the site with my baseball exploits that they may not be interested in.The blog you were talking about seems very interesting to me and I will put things in  on this site until Neil spanks me.

          • paulcatanese

            In partial response to youre request on baseball and the Military I would like to point out two of my heros,but not all to say the least. Tops on the list were    
            Bob Feller and Ted Williams, both, and they could have,very easily forgo
            combat and played baseball on service teams,both chose not to and served their country in battle. Williams with two tours as a pilot and was shot down once. these are the kind of things that true Americans do in a time of war.

            Having said that,when I was in Germany and on duty, their were two MPs that were career soldiers and had the unfortunate time as prisoners of the North Koreans. What they had to say about the treatment made me feel just how lucky I was.

            I never, even for an instant took the opportunity to play baseball in Germany as a given because I could play the sport. In reallity it made me a better person,and a better ballplayer if you could envision that. I was proud to be able to do what you had mentioned earlier about bringing a little of home to
            many that were not able to play.

            I met some great guys that played, most of who had played minor league ball before being drafted for their two years of service. I had met ballplayers that were true to the sport on and off the field. Frankfurt was an exciting place to be in that time frame,all kinds of diversions,nightlife,restaurants, and other entertainment better lef unsaid. These diversions were not pursued by these guys and I learned what it meant to be faithful to a loved one, a very important lesson for me. I was un-attached at the time, but it was to serve me well when I did. Since this may be a lot to put on the site I will ask Neild if he prefers I do this on the community blog.

          • Dorasaga

            Please do.

            A significant amount of top sportsmen fool around and act like Hollywood celebs. I sometimes wonder if they “imagined” that is the way of being on the top. But you worked in difficult time with real people, baseball players who know what loyalty means… I am moved, among many other things.

            There were discussions about Soriano’s big Hummer mounted with huge boomers, and Wells partying with hockey players. You have stories needed to be told. These people who stayed, I don’t know how long was back then, 3? Four years? in the war zone at Frankfurt (front line to the Soviets). They have a real story you can transcribe for… Thank you, Paul.

  • Dorasaga

    I watched the last inning of Wells and Marshall’s two innings. They were doing OK. Don’t forget that the Yanks are patient hitters: made the Cubs staff worked 164 pitches. Meanwhile, from CC to Marquez, they only needed 130 pitches to make this Chicago National League Ball Club look very, very bad towards the end.

    Bigger problems: Quade played Baker everywhere, while placing Campana and Carpenter in positions to fail. I don’t know if I can say “speechless”…

    41,828 attended today. A thousand less from the day game Saturday; I guess those were Cubs fans, and at least 1/3 of the ones left tonight were rooting the Yanks. I can’t imagine more than 30,000 fans stayed towards the end for such embarrassment.

  • Aaron

    “Quade continued playing it by the book and sent up Blake DeWitt to hit for LeMahieu. DeWitt popped out to third to end the inning.”

    Yup….good call Quade, considering:
    http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=roberda08&year=2011&t=p

    In case you don’t want to look it up, lefties hit .161/.266/.179 against Robertson, while righties hit .240/.367/.280 against him….

    What made matters worse in that situation, is that two righties in Soriano and Soto worked walks, prior to him pinch hitting Pena for Montanez and DeWitt for LeMahieu.

    I CANNOT stand Mike Quade…..There…..seriously….how dumb can the Cubs get?

    It’s one thing where you second-guess as a fan, but it’s an entirely different thing when the entire baseball community in announcers for network tv, team broadcasters, and journalists start jumping in and stating the obvious. 

    Therefore, I find it VERY hard to believe that the Ricketts can continue to ignore what’s really going on with this team. They are COMPLETELY rudderless, stunt player development, and make crappy on-field decisions, in addition to the horrendous decisions by Hendry.

    Again, as I’ve always said on here, a complete overhaul is long overdue.

    Guys that have no business being on this team right now, include:
    Lopez
    Grabow
    Hill
    Baker
    Johnson
    Fukudome

    ….and the reason is simple:
    Coleman
    Beliveau
    Castillo/Clevenger
    Flaherty
    B. Jackson
    Spencer/Snyder/LaHair

    Those are all guys that could easily step into their roles right this minute. I have no delusions of grandeur that those players will somehow be the answer….not even close….However, all those veterans currently in the last year of their contracts have NO business holding up the rebuilding of this franchise. They’re literally holding it hostage right now. Each and every win the Cubs have, you’ll hear management start talking about the team turning it around, etc.

    Problem is, I believe I heard on the broadcast tonight that not only are they the only team in MLB without 3 wins in a row, but they’re also the only team without two series wins in a row.

    So, again, I ask the Ricketts and Quade….”WHY ARE YOU NOT COMMITTING TO THE FUTURE?!?!?!?”  

    • paulcatanese

      Aaron, with my evil mind I am trying to figure the same as you,Why? I have a sneaking suspision of how many of these young players that are not being
      played and put into position to fail or lose confidence were conected to
      Sandberg. I don’t really know,but it seems that the younger ones are being
      methodicly erased from the program or made to look bad. I know it sounds far fetched, but this crew of JH and Quade, I wouldn’t put it past them. I know it’s
      4:00 AM out here and I may still be half sleeping, but it woke me up to come
      down to post.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Hood/100000706523521 Richard Hood

      I am just trying to answer your last question. When you have a 2 year contract and the team you are building is not going to win for 3 or more years depending on how fast some of the kids move through the system. Why would you play for tomorrow? You will not be here when that happens unless you can continue to snow ball Ricketts and the fans will show up so he stays off your back. You can do a half ass retool to at least appear competitive until your contract gets renewed or you get let go. JH and Quade have no need to play the kids because they will not be here when it is time for them to take the helm.

  • Aaron

    Get a load of the joker talking again:
    “We’re playing a little bit better,” manager Mike Quade said. “The wins should follow. You just keep working through it to winning series. It’s funny, the three-in-a-row thing … but I’ll take two out of three the rest of the year and never win three in a row and be really happy about it. You can make a lot of money in this game doing that.”

    hmmmmmm

    Let’s take a look on the math there. First of all, the Cubs have played 71 games thus far. If they won 2 of 3 the rest of the year, that’d be roughly 66% of their remaining games, or 60 out of 91 remaining games, which would put them at 89-73…With that record, and if all things remain constant with the division and their respective winning percentages, they’d be tied with the Cardinals and Brewers at that record.

    The Cubs would have to go 60-31 starting tomorrow in order to even have a chance in the division, and that simply ain’t happening, and you can take that to the bank.

    • Anonymous47701

      Quade is just making a D@&n nusiance of himself everytime he talks, isn’t he? I mean the way these Cubs are playing right now, I wonder why he is managing this team. Either Quade doesn’t care or he just plain blind to see the reality of how this team is performing.

    • John_CC

      So you found the post-game interview…as I call it the post-game apologist show. 

      You didn’t believe me that he excused Baker because “let’s be honest, he’s not an accomplished RF” after saying that “Fukudome doesn’t make that play and he’s as good as they get” – wait, how do know that Fukudome doesn’t make that play.

      And then he won’t say a damn word about Soriano watching a fly ball land on the warning track, only “I’ll have to watch that one…ARod apparently thought it was gone, maybe that’s what they were looking at, I don’t know…”

      Excuses are bad enough.  But when the excuse you make is a direct result of position you put the player in…well, that is INEXCUSABLE.

      WHEN will SOMEONE be held ACCOUNTABLE?@!

      • paulcatanese

        John,earlier I listened to the interview, well actually only about 45 seconds of
        it. Watching him wring his hands and folding his arms and his sensless banter I had to shut it off. I already knew that he would use that approach. His constant bias to certain players and his constant thing of putting players in a position to fail is getting real old. As for Baker and his statement and saying Fukodome dosent make that play, he has ,many times and is one of the best in going to the line. Quade is just plain discusting and completely out of it. When he makes statements like he did, it just proves to everyone that he knows 0 about his players.

  • Anonymous47701

    A list of Players who need to go:

    RHP Carlos Zambrano
    RHP Ryan Dempster
    1B Carlos Pena
    INF Jeff Baker
    RF Kosuke Fukudome
    LHP John Grabow
    RHP Rodrigo Lopez
    3B Aramis Ramirez
    LHP Doug Davis
    RHP Jeff Samardzija
    2B/3B Blake DeWitt
    RHP Kerry Wood
    LF Alfonso Soriano (IF Possible)
    C Geovany Soto

    • Joey U

      I don’t understand the fans, why they keep paying good money to watch a AAA team? They need stay away from Wrigley.

    • Brp921

      I think it is time to start over. I would not suggest trading everyone on the roster, but if they would bring in a new front office, the only player that would be untradeable in my estimation would be Starlin Castro.

      • roseyc

        I agree they don’t need to trade everyone but they need to trade almost everyone.Here’s some suggestion but they need a baseball person not Hendry making these decisions before they even think about trading.The suggestion are Byrd to the Phillies and Pena to the Braves. Soriano has to go to the American Leauge to DH he can’t play the field

        • Anonymous47701

          I could probably see Byrd going to the Phillies, but I Think Pena should go to the Texas Rangers in a trade for Chris Davis and Darren O’Day.

  • paulcatanese

    Lineup for today,

    Campana  CF
    Castro       SS
    Fukodome RF
    Aram         3B
    Pena         1B
    Soriono     LF
    Soto          C
    LeMahieu 2B
    Zambrano  P

    And just leave it alone, Quade

  • roseyc

    Quade is in way over his head.He is strictly a minor league managerial material he doesn’t know which buttons to push to win close games and right a wobbling ship.Minor league manager just play with what they have and let them play it out but on the big league level you have to stay on top and play hunches but Quade by the book is back firing and this team’s fundamentals is the worse I’ve ever seen. He is not making an impact. He is truley a Hendry pawn

  • paulcatanese

    Ya think Castillo had a week? Congratulations to him.