From Wrigley

The Cubs early season five game winning streak came to a close last night as the Cubs faltered against the Phillies, 5-3.  The game had its bright points for the Cubs, including back-to-back jacks in the first by D-Lee and Aramis Ramirez, the first time for back-to-back jacks this season.  Congrats to the lucky 720AM listener that won a cool grand from it.  Soriano also hit a solo home run in the 7th.  If only there had been runners on base when Lee and Soriano came up respectively.

I didn’t get a chance to watch much of the game last night, but from what I’ve read and the little I did see, Zambrano was just a little bit off, and his fastball wasn’t working that well for him.  That said he did manage to 6 innings, giving up 5 runs and on 9 hits and 1 walk.  The walk was Z’s second free pass issued this year.  So at least he’s not battling a control issue.  It was disappointing as a loss, but all streaks come to an end.  Now we have to respond well tonight.

Ted Lilly is making his third start of the season against Cole Hamels, both number two guys in the rotation, Lilly has gotten off to a real rough start and is 0-1, while Hamels has been really effective in his two starts, giving up two runs for a 1.20 ERA in 15 innings of work.  An All-Star and Cy Young candidate last year, Hamels is one of the best left handers in the game right now with a great change up that really keeps hitters off balance in contrast to a low to mid-90s fastball.  Hamels does have a little bit of trouble keeping the ball in Citizens Bank park though, and has given up the long ball to Ramirez and Soriano in the past.

Lilly on the other hand has been pretty bad so far, not making it through 5 innings in either of his first two starts and giving up 9 runs in 8 and a third innings…all earned.  The Phillies players have limited exposure to Ted in the past, but when they’ve seen him they haven’t hit him well, hitting a cumulative .153 with 2 home runs in 59 at-bats.  The Cubs really need Lilly to get on track and certainly we all home this is the game he’ll do it in.  The Phillies have a good club, but the Cubs with their 1 and 2 starters going really should take 2 of 3 in this series.  The ability to do that will largely rest of Ted’s shoulders.

Some of the Cubs are starting to get on track at the plate, which is good news.  Alfonso Soriano is riding a 5 game hitting streak, though he’s not hit multiple in those games and is still sporting a paltry .170 average.  He did hit a home run yesterday and one on Monday, though.  Aramis Ramirez is the guy the Cubs have been waiting to heat up and it looks to me like he’s starting to see the ball much better.  He’s got three home runs on the season, 2 coming in the last 3 games, and his average has climbed to .250 from somewhere below the Mendoza line this time last week.

Derrek Lee also continues to crush the ball and now has equaled is home run total from April and May of last year and we’re just a week and a half into this season.  Two years ago, when Lee hit a career high 46 home runs he hit 10 in April.  It would be fantastic to see him continue his pace.  Lee’s had multiple hit games in 5 of the Cubs first 10 outings this season and has been hitless in only three, and on Wednesday against the Pirates he had an 0-for, and still drove in 2 runs.

Fukudome is off to a similar start to Lee, but with a little less power.  What he lacks in power though, he makes up for in continuing to be one of the most fundamentally sound players I’ve ever watched.  He does everything right, at the plate and in the field.  He’s had a rough couple of games and it will be interesting to see how he fairs against a top notch left hander.   On that note, I’d expect Reed Johnson to get the start today in center, since Pie doesn’t hit lefties well.

This recap and preview has gotten way way way too long, so I’m going to go do some non-baseball related stuff today and hopefully catch the game later on tonight.

On the hill today for the start of the Cubs three game series in Philadelphia are club aces Carlos Zambrano and Brett Myers.  Zambrano is 1-0 in two starts this season and Myers is 0-1 in two.  In his first two outings this season Myers 13 hits with 8 runs (7 earned) in 10 innings while walking five, fanning two, and serving up two home runs.

Myers has “vowed to come out smoking” today against the Cubs, and he needs to step up to the plate if the Phillies are going to have a chance to win this game.  Myers has not been his normal self in his two starts where he’s been bit on the wild side and is sporting an embarrassing WHiP of 2.00 for a guy who is supposed to be his teams go-to guy.  As for the scouting report, Myers has the talent to be a Josh Beckett-like starter and features an above average fastball and a knee-buckling curveball that he uses as his out pitch.  He also throws a straight change on occasion and mixing in a slider and splitter regularly.

Where Myers gets rattled is on when the opposition gets a runner on base.  He tends to start overthrowing his pitches, trying to add just a little bit too much to his fastball and it will start to rise up in the zone, and his curve will start to roll over just a little bit.  Still, he is supposed to have a pretty good move to first, so the Cubs base runners need to be really mindful of that, lest we make some errors on the basepaths.

Most of the Cubs has been so-so against Myers in the past.  And I feel like I say this every day, one of the exceptions who has hit Myers well is Derrek Lee who is 10-22 with 4 doubles, a triple, 2 home runs, and 4 RBIs.  DeRo has also played pretty well against Myers in the past, you’ve got to figure he’ll be back at 2nd today after having last night off.  I also keep wondering when Soto’s next day off will be, then again with an off day coming up Tuesday, maybe he’ll catch all weekend.  I just don’t want to see him overused early on and be worn out come the end of the season.

The Cubs have to feel good to have their big right hander Zambrano coming up today.  In his as three against against the Phillies he is 3-0 with a 1.13ERA, his last start being in August of 2006.  Still, most of the Phillies have faced Z before, particularly Geoff Jenkins who was formerly with the Brewers.  None of the Phillies have hit him real well, Jenkins the closest thing to success with a .277 average and a couple of homers, doubles and a triple.

The Phillies are a better team than their 4-6 record suggests.  They are facing a scary proposition if Jimmie Rollins doesn’t get healthy for them, typically an iron man, playing all 162 games last year, sat out last night with a tender leg.  If the Cubs are lucky they’ll take it real easy on him the next couple of days and we’ll only see him in pinch-hit situations.  Otherwise they’ll be liable to end up with an otherwise superstar player at 75% for the rest of the season because he just can’t get healthy.  If Myers returns to form then this game should be a real pitchers duel.

Today’s weather in Philly is pretty nice, though cloudy.  72 degrees is what we’re looking at right now, about 4 hours out from game time, but there are thunderstorms that are threatening.  Hopefully it won’t be of consequence at Citizen’s Park, but I can’t predict who the hot player will be with any accuracy, so I’m not going to make ANY claims about the weather.

Since Monday the Cubs have played a full 36 innings of baseball. That should be four games. But no, that was done over the course of three games against the Pirates, thanks to 12 and 15 inning games. Last night was the only contest to end in regulation, ending with a scoreless 9th tossed by Kerry Wood.

Rich Hill got off to a really shaky  start and only went three innings after giving up three runs, all earned, in the bottom of the first inning.  Hill looked to settle down the following two innings before being pulled for Jon Lieber to start the fourth.  Lieber showed why he was such a great  pickup in the off season.  Lieber worked quickly and efficiently, giving up no runs over the next 4 and a third innings before Bob Howry came in an pitched a scoreless 8th.  After two extra inning contests in three days going into yesterday, seeing your bullpen eat up 6 innings in a regulation game was not what you were hoping for.  But the bullpen picked Hill up and did it without needing 5 or 6 guys  to do it.

Normally, the 4 and a third innings of relief would have made Lieber the player of the game, but Geovany Soto finally hit the ball where defenders weren’t, going 4 for 5 with a monster home run to center field.  The only time Soto didn’t reach base was on a hard hit ground ball in the 9th.  Soriano also continues to heat up a bit, going 2 for 5 with a steal in the first, a double, and two runs scored.  Lee had a strange day at the plate, going 0-4, but managed to bat in a couple.

The Cubs also increased their total stolen bases to a NL lead share of 11 steals so far in this campaign.  While we’re on it, the Cubs are 3rd in the NL in runs scored and RBIs behind the D-Backs and Braves.

Tonight the Cubs kick off a three game series in Philadelphia tonight at 6:05CT.  We’ll have a preview of today’s game this afternoon.

This is marginally baseball related, so I thought I’d post about it.  According to a new poll by Nature, one in five of their readers use performance enhancing drugs.  These are mostly scientist and the drugs are typically cognitive enhancers.  Given the attention performance enhancing drugs have received from the baseball community at large I find this kind of interesting.

I don’t think any true fan of the game is in favor of being more lenient on players that get busted using a performance enhancer, I know I’m certainly not.  Which is kind of ironic, I don’t have any problem with a scientist using a performance enhancer if it means he or she cures cancer, or aids, or doesn’t something else great.  I realize this may seem apples to oranges, but there is competition among scientists for grants, for awards, ect.  So is it really completely different?

What do you think?

Today’s the final game in the Pirates’ series and Rich Hill is on the mound against right hand tosser Matt Morris.  In Hill’s first start this season the Cubs ultimately let Rich down after a quality start.  Hill went 6 innings, giving up 2 earned runs with 4Ks and ended up with a no-decision as a result of sloppy defense, an unfortunate trend the Cubs have been setting lately.

Morris, an 11 year veteran, also had  a no-decision in his first start this season, going 5 innings and giving up 4 runs, 3 earned with a couple of walks and strikeouts to go along with it.  A former 20 game winner, you get the feeling that Morris is nearing the end of his effective time as a starter, with his numbers getting increasingly bad the last couple of seasons.  If you’re the Cubs, you like coming up against Morris with the current incarnation of the team.

Lee, Ramirez, and Soriano all have great numbers against Morris.  With Soriano hitting 5/9 with 2 doubles, one home run and three RBIs I’m going to call a break out game for him today.  Ramirez hit well yesterday and hopefully he’ll continue his trend and I expect Lee to get back on track.  Lee is sporting an outrageous 1.268 OPS against Morris.  You’d think that would be the team high, but Soriano is even higher, with a 1.711 OPS, albeit in a third of the plate appearances.

I also think that today might be a good day to give Daryle Ward the spot start in right for Fukudome.  Ward’s also hit Morris very well in the past and it would be good to get him some at bats.  Not to mention, as Len and Bob were talking about in last nights broadcast that Fukudome hasn’t played more than 120 so games in his career in a season, the Japanese season being closer to Triple A in length.   I also think we’ll see Theriot back in the starting lineup, he seems to be feeling a little better.

With the length of last nights game you’ve also got to expect Henry Blanco to get the start in place of what has to be an exhausted Geovany Soto.  While we’re at it, I say give Fontenot the start over DeRosa today.  DeRosa is 2 for 20 against Morris, and because of strategic switches last night he didn’t even manage to get an official at-bat despite being announced.  Not sure if you’ll see Pie or Johnson today, I think it will depend on how many other bench players get the start.  I’d wager you’d see Pie patroling center if Ward is in right, since he’s got a lot more range than Johnson.  If Fukudome is in the game I’d expect to see Johnson with Pie potentially entering later as a pitch runner or defensive replacement.

The bullpen was pretty depleted yesterday, having to pick up seven full innings.  Marmol and Wood each only pitched an inning so you know they are available, as is Jon Lieber who somehow didn’t end up in the marathon yesterday.  The crux is that the Cubs really need Hill to have a quality start today and go at least six innings, preferably longer.  Hill has the ability to toss a complete game, throwing two of them in 2006.

For the Pirates today you expect Paulino to be behind the plate for a couple of reasons.  One is that Doumit caught a LONG game last night, which is usually enough to switch the backstop.  Couple that with the fact that Paulino is the only Pirate to have more than three hits against the Cubs southpaw.  Paulino, along with Nyjer Morgan and Adam LaRoche are the only Pirates that have had success against Hill.  The team as a whole 17 for 78 against him for a paltry .218 average with eight RBIs, two walks, and 22 strikeouts.

If the Cubs can put together some error-free baseball again, then I like them for the sweep today.  If not, all bets are off.  Like I said earlier, I’m going to call for a big day for Alfonso because of his past success against Morris.

We had a regular marathon of a game today, 15 innings to take the win from the Pirates 6-4.  Today’s game was a night and day difference from the 12 inning contest Monday.  The Cubs played some solid defense with some downright great plays.  Soriano made fantastic play in extras to keep the game alive and Derrek Lee made a highlight real catch to double up a couple of Pirates on a bunt play.

Oh, and did I mention that Dempster had another fantastic outing?  His final line, 7 innings, 1 hit, no runs, 5K, 2BB.  He was dominate, and while I understand why Lou would pull him before the start of the 8th, it was ultimately a bad decision.  Marmol immediately got into trouble, putting two runners on before getting out of trouble after giving up 1.  Then Woody came in and blew his first save on the year on a solo home run.  Blown saves happen, and Wood has been pretty good so far, but folks need to see that Marmol is fallible and right now isn’t the answer at Closer.  I think, for now, Wood is still the answer.

An awful lot went on in this game, and I’m leaving a ton out.  Aramis had his best day at the plate, including hitting what was thought at the time to be a game winning 2-run home run.  Soriano managed a few hits today as well.  Lee and Fukudome had ‘off’ days at the plate, but Lee had a great day on the field.  I was wrong about Soto being the key today, though he did continue to make great contact.  Instead Pie ended up making the difference with a 2-run single in the top of the 15th against Pirates southpaw Dumatrait.  This was great to see because of how much he’s struggled against lefties.

Did I mention Dempster threw really well?  His stuff wasn’t as electric as his first start, but he located well and looked like he could have gone the distance and managed to not even throw 100 pitches.

The Cubs have won four in a row and will be looking for the sweep tomorrow night before going on to face the Phillies.  I really like the drive the guys are playing with right now.  I feel like last season we would have lacked the character and intensity to have pulled a win out of a game like this, and we’ve done it two days in a row now.  Not the kind of thing you normally expect from the Cubs, but I like it.

We had some relief troubles today, and they are going to be even more worn down after today’s game.  I can’t really blame Kevin Hart for giving up the home run in the 14th, he’d been in a couple of innings and really did pretty darned well, with that exception.  Wood and Marmol also had some issues, the rest of the bullpen fair well, including a quality outing by Bob Howry, very good to see.  We didn’t pitch Lieber, so he’ll be available tomorrow if we need some long relief, which given that Marquis-de-suck wasn’t at the park today because of illness, he won’t go deep into the game if he can even make the start.

Now its late, we’ll have a preview of tomorrow’s game bright and early in the morning.  In the meantime I’m going to go pretend the Cubs don’t really keep me up at night.

The Cubs made a roster move today according to Hardball the Cubs sent left handed reliever Carmen Pignatiello down to Triple A Iowa today and called up Sean Marshall.  Pignatiello had a horrendous outing on Monday after being called in to face two Pirates lefties.  Pignatiello walked both on four straight pitches.  Pignatiello had been shaky in his other appearance as well and after 2.2 innings was sporting a piss-poor 13.50 ER, which just isn’t going to work when you’re our only left handed reliever.

Marshall had made one start at Triple A, going 3 scoreless innings.  Marshall was in the starting rotation a decent bit last year and I must say I’m a fan of this move.  Marshall had a rough spring but has an awful lot of talent.  He’s got a decent sinking fastball, in the low 90s, and his best pitch has got to be his curve which is down right scary.  One thing that Marshall doesn’t do well though, and this is a real negative as a reliever, is holding runners.  I really don’t get how lefties have a problem holding runners.  Lilly and Hill have the same issue, and it just doesn’t make sense to me.

Overall, I’m glad to see this roster move and I hope Marshall doesn’t make me eat crow for saying that.

What can I say? Monday’s game against the Pirates featured some atrocious fielding. It was embarrassing really. The Cubs are on pace to allow more unearned runs than any other team in the history of professional baseball. Guys, you are supposed to be professions. Take pride in your glove work, good pitching doesn’t mean much if you can’t handle the ball when it is hit your way.

On the bright side, the Cubs managed to squeak out the win in 12 innings with Lieber picking up the win after pitching three excellent innings of baseball and Marmol picking up the save. It was a long day for both bullpens, which both teams starters being chased before 5 innings were up. That made yesterday’s off day so much more important.

Lilly looked good through the first three innings Monday. Then after some defensive miscues his cage got rattled a bit and he started missing on most of his pitches. It was a really good effort to start, but he finished very meekly. On the bright side, the Cubs bats seem to be doing well, tossing up a 7-run 3rd inning. Kosuke Fukudome and Derrek Lee keep hitting like gang busters and even Ronnie Cedeno got into the action, hitting a 3-run double in that big third inning for the Cubs. Now if only Soriano and Ramirez could get going we’d have one hell of an offensive club.

On to todays game, which pits Ryan Dempster against yet another left hander, Zach Duke. Dempster was incredibly sharp in his first start and to say his stuff had some nasty late movement is actually an understatement. I managed to catch part of this game on TV over my lunch hour and could not believe how much late movement he was getting on just about everything he threw AND he was throwing strikes. Where was this when you were closing last season Ryan? Of course, we’ve got to take it with a grain of salt until we see a couple of more outings.

Zach Duke on the mound for the peg legs. Duke, in his 4th season in the bigs, had a rough season last year, tallying 8 losses and a 5.53 ERA. In his only start in this young season, Duke didn’t end up with a decision, giving up 10 hits and 3 runs in five and two-thirds innings. That said, the Cubs should have some good looks at pitches, as Duke doesn’t give up too many walks, nor strike many guys out.

The good news for our boys in blue is that our struggling sluggers, Ramirez and Soriano, have tatooed Duke in the past going a combined 12-32 with a couple home runs and five doubles. Lee has also been pretty productive against Duke, hitting .400 against the lefty. Don’t expect Pie to get in today unless its late and there is a righty on the hill, which means that Reed Johnson will probably get another start in center today. So far I’m impressed with this guy, he’s definitely playing better than his career numbers would suggest…which also means he’ll probably cool down soon.

If Dempster continues in the same form he was in last week then the Cubs look good to me in this game. That is, assuming the Cubs can play defense better than your mom. If the Cubs are going to compete this year, I can’t stress the need for better defense more. Assuming Soto gets the start he’s going to be my pick today to be the difference maker. This guy hits the ball HARD. Just seems he keeps hitting it right at someone or being about half a Wheatie shy of a home run. Against the southpaw Duke and as close to the cusp as he’s been to really breaking out, I’ve got a good feeling. Lets just hope he can gun some runners when they, and they will, test his arm throughout the game.

I love talking like a Pirate. I don’t care for the Pirates, though they have helped the Cubs with late season trades a few times in recent memory, including the acquisition of slugger Aramis Ramirez a couple of years ago. So I can’t bemoan them too much. Anyway, on to the meat and potatos, or should I say salted meat and grog?

Today the Cubs start their first road trip of this very young season after taking the best of 3 games from the Astros on Sunday, bringing them to an even 3-3 record, the same record the Pirates currently hold. On the mound for the Cubs is lefty Ted Lilly, who looks like rebound from a shaky first start against the Brewers. Squaring off against the Cubs is lefty Tom Gorzelanny, a 14-game winner last season, in his first full year as a starter.

Gorzellany, a Chicago native and graduate of Marist High School, suffered a loss in his first outing, an otherwise quality start where he went 6 innings and gave up 3 earned runs against the Atlanta Braves. Tom features a nasty slider and typically throws his fastball in the low 90s, but on occasion has reared back and thrown upwards of 95, but this is atypical to him. He also features a pretty decent straight change. His problem in the past has been giving up a big inning, if he can avoid that today then the Cubs will have their work cut out for them.

Against the Cubs Gorzellany hasn’t faired too poorly, but has only face four current Cubs 10 or more times. Unfortunately he’s had tremendous success against our two struggling Cubs, Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano, who are combined 3-23 with a home run. Derrek Lee on the other hand has lit Gorzellany up, with 2 doubles, a home run and 3 RBIs with a .556 average. Lee is going to be my pick for player of the game for the Cubs. Again. Don’t expect to see Pie starting again today, but for Reed Johnson to get the nod against the lefty. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Pie get an at-bat later in the game though, once Gorzellany has been chased.

Lilly has faired pretty well against the current batch of Pirates, with the exception of Ronny Paulino, the Pirates backstop, who seems to hit Lilly like he is batting of a Tee. Paulino is 6-8 with 2 doubles and a home run lifetime against Ted. Other than that, he’s stymied most of the Pirates to date. Hopefully he can keep his mojo working and get on track. It would be great to see the Cubs start creeping above .500 and real off another few wins before the inevitable loss.

Its going to be a gorgeous day for baseball in the Pittsburgh today, the weather report is saying that the temp this afternoon should reach about 65 degrees and be nice and sunny with winds out of the southeast at 10-15 mile per hour, which at PNC, means it will be blowing directly out to left-center field. This could bode well if Gorzelanny can keep the ball down. Of course, Lilly tends to through a lot of balls that end up in the air…so you might see a couple of big hits by the stronger Pirates.

Big Z led the Cubs to a hard fought 3-2 victory on Sunday against Brandon Backe and the Houston Astros. Derrek Lee continued his hot start, belting a home run and a double, including the game winner in the bottom of the 8th. I don’t think its any secret now that Lee’s wrist had to have been bothering him something fierce most of last season, and its definitely no secret that he isn’t facing the same issues now. Even better is that historically April is not one of his better months.

The same can be said for Carlos Zambrano. Generally speaking, Z has been terrible in Aprils up to this point. But now, in 13 innings he’s given up two runs and is 1-0. As a placard at the game said yesterday, “Z + Bananas = Cy Young”. Ron Santo and Corey Provis were talking about Zambrano eating bananas in yesterdays pre-game…Santo said don’t eat too many or it will plug you up. Provis was barely able to get through the starting lineups he was laughing so hard. It was great, really.

Another big plus from yesterday’s game was Alfonso Soriano finally getting something started, belting a home run just barely into the basket in left field to tie the game at 2 in the 5th. Soriano has really been struggling at the plate so far, and his homer was only his second hit in 26 at-bats. Hopefully this will be what he needs to start to relax at the plate and do something positive. He also had a great day in the outfield, when in a highlight reel play he gunned Astro’s Speedster Michael Bourn at home on a Carlos Lee pop fly. Bourn, one of the quickest players in the NL, was out by 3 steps on the bang-bang play, giving Soriano his first assist on the year. You’d think after 19 outfield assists last year, teams would know not to challenge him. Mores the pity, but I’ll take it.

Fukudome went hitless for his first time as a Cub, but has still reached base safely in all the games this season, drawing one walk and going 0-3 in the contest. Aramis Ramirez also shows signs of heating up. He’s taken a few walks the last couple of games and went 2-4 yesterday, which is a good season. Next up are the Pirates in Pittsburgh, the first road trip of the season. We’ll have a preview for today’s game soon.