July 2008
Well This Sucks…
My Internet is still ****** up, hence why
there still aren’t any new posts. The only way I can get some
sites to work is by closing explorer. It is weird… Anyway,
I’m thinking about moving to another site, due to the
censorship on this site, and I may want to write about other
things than the Cubs. We’ll see, changes will be made in a
few days.
Sorry…
For not writing at all during the all-star
break. I don’t think I have any readers, but an apology is in
order none the less. My computer was having very weird
problems. I had used Mozilla for years, and I upgraded to the
latest version when all of a sudden I wasn’t allowed to go to
certain sites (i.e. this one, facebook, google, ebay,
amazon), and this was very frustrating. Internet Explorer
wouldn’t work at all! I spent two days trying everything to
fix the problem, and I failed at everything I tried. I
finally uninstalled firefox, and IE works fine now. I don’t
like IE, but it’ll do. Anyway, yesterday’s game sucked, so
I’m probably just going to do a series recap instead of
individual game recaps this time. I may have a post about Jim
Edmonds later today though.
Hardy, Har, Har
Game Recap
Giants (39-55) @ Cubs (57-37)
Cubs Win in 11
Winning Pitcher: Sean Marshall (2-2)
Losing Pitcher: Brian Wilson (0-2)
Game Notes:
-What a first start for Rich Harden: 5 1/3 Innings, No Run, and 10 Strikeouts!! If he pitches like this every time, the Cubs are easily the NL World Series pick.
-What happened to Carlos Marmol? He’s walking too many people and giving up too many hits. Hopefully the all-star break will give his arm a rest and he’ll go back to his dominant ways.
-Jim Edmonds is breaking out of his slump, 2-4 today with a homer and 4 rbis.
-Theriot once again shows he’s a natural leadoff hitter, going 3-4 with 2 walks to raise his OBP to .396.
-Thank you Reed Johnson! I didn’t think the Cubs would win after that heart wrenching collapse in the 9th, but Reed Johnson comes through once again!
Notes:
Carlos Marmol has been added to the All Star team in place of Kerry Wood.
Game Recap
Sorry for no series preview (man this is getting off to a lazy start ehh?)
Game 1 of a 3 Game Series
Giants (39-54) @ Cubs (56-37)
Cubs Win!
Winning Pitcher: Bob Howry (3-2)
Losing Pitcher: Tyler Walker (3-5)
Save: Kerry Wood (24)
Game Notes:
-Probably one of Marquis finer starts of the year, pitching 7 scoreless innings and striking out 4. I guess he’s hearing footsteps after the Harden trade!
-Matt Cain is dominant. 7 Scoreless innings and 9 strike outs. It’s a shame that he is on such a weak team.
-Never intentionally walk Derek Lee to get to Aramis Ramirez. He will always make you pay, especially if the game is on the line. His 17th home run accounted for all three of the Cubs runs today.
-Theriot was safe on that steal attempt (just thought I’d point that out)
-I like Ryan Theriot leading off and I hope they stick with it when Soriano comes back (they won’t). He goes 2-4 today.
-Kerry Wood. I really don’t know what to say about our “All Star” closer.
Note:
Before the game, the Cubs sent down Michael Wuertz and recalled Kevin Hart from Triple A Iowa. As I’m sure you know, Wuertz pitched awful yesterday against the Reds. Also, Sean Marshall will now pitch out of the bullpen, rather than going to AAA to start.
Note To Readers
I keep having to clear my cookies whenever I
want to see new posts, so this seems like a problem. If you
go a couple of days without seeing a post, try clearing your
cookies if your desperate to hear my
thoughts.
Series Recap
Got a little busy the last few days, so sorry this is a bit late!
Cubs over Reds: 2-1
Cubs Record: 55-37
1st NL Central
Just some quick Points:
-Dempster and Zambrano both got their tenth win, while in the final game we Ted Lilly shows us that Rich Harden can’t fix all of our pitching problems! Dempster is absolutely dominant at home (10-0), while he’s still winless on the road. Zambrano is dominant everywhere he goes. -In his Cub’s debut, Gaudin immediately gave up a home run. But with the win blowing out the way it was yesterday, anybody pitching was giving up home runs!
- Even though I’m not Soriano’s biggest fan, I can’t help but feel that we could have won yesterday with him playing.
-Kosuke really might need two or three consecutive days off, he went 0-5 yesterday and did not look good doing so.
Cubs Acquire Rich Harden
What a way to react to the Brewers move! Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin for Matt Murton, Eric Patterson, Sean Gallagher, and Josh Donaldson. Harden’s got #1 stuff when he’s healthy, and Gaudin isn’t too shabby either. This trade is exactly what the Cubs needed to do. Zambrano-Harden-Dempster-Lilly-Marquis rotation is fantastic. Gaudin is a starter, so I don’t really know how he fits in the rotation at the moment, maybe Marquis will be on a short leash now. I’m hoping for that, for now though, Gaudin would be good addition to the bullpen. I can’t wait to see Harden’s first start. Playoffs wise, Zambrano-Harden has the potential to be just as good as Sabbathia-Sheets, if not better. Not to be too mean spirited, but I would be laughing off my *** if Sheets gets hurt (like he always does) and Harden does not. Good stuff like that doesn’t happen to the Cubs that often. It’s been awhile since the Cubs last made the playoffs two years in a row (1907-08, I’m just sayin’), so the only reason they’re not a lock this year for the division crown is the fact that they’re the Cubs.
Series Preview
Cubs (53-36, 1st NL Central) versus Reds (43-47, 4th Nl Central)
3 Game Series
Wrigley Field
Game One: Tuesday, July 8, 7:05 CT
Aaron Harang, RHP
(3-10,
4.47) vs Ryan Dempster, RHP
(9-3,
3.24)
Ryan Dempster is still winless on the road, but luckily he’s 9-0 at Wrigley. Aaron Harang only has one win in his last nine starts and his start was pushed back to today due to right forearm stiffness.
Game Two: Wednesday, July 9 7:05 CT
Johnny Cueto, RHP
(7-8,
4.63)
vs Carlos Zambrano, RHP
(9-3,
2.96)
Cueto is having a solid rookie season thus far and has only given up six runs in his last four starts. Zambrano was dominant in his first start coming off the DL and is 2-0 against the Reds this year.
Game Three: Thursday, July 10 1:20 CT
Bronson Arroyo, RHP
(6-7,
5.82) vs
Ted Lilly, LHP
(9-5,
4.47)
Arroyo hasn’t pitched well this year but he’s coming off of two solid starts. Lilly has pitched well lately, but is giving up too many runs in innings after the Cubs have scored for him.
Prediction: SWEEEEPPP!!!
C.C. Sabbathia Reaction
When I first saw this morning on ESPN news that this trade was official, I was a little worried. The Brewers now have arguably the best 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation in the NL, and they have a decent offense to go with it. After thinking about it for a while though, this trade definitely does not make the Brew Crew favorites in the division, that spot still belongs to the Cubs. The Brewers bull pen is still pretty bad: 10th in the league in ERA (although they are 19-8 in one run games). There offense really isn’t that great either when you look at them. They rely too much on the home run and they’re in the bottom third of the majors in OBP. This trade is really only a big help if they make the playoffs, Sabathia-Sheets in the playoffs would be pretty close to the Johnson-Schilling one-two punch the Diamondbacks won with. I do believe the Brewers win the wild card though, and I hope they would be knocked out of the playoffs before the Cubs face them. That three game series at the end of the season could be really big for both teams, quite possible deciding the division winner.
There are positives to this trade from the Cubs perspective also, now when the Brewers lose Fielder to free agency in the next few years, they won’t have the big bat of LaPorta to take his place. This also may be the shot in the arm Jim Hendry needed to make a move for a SP of his own; Rich Harden anyone?
First Post
Well, I guess the first post of a blog
should be a bit on an introduction to the basis of the blog.
Well, I absolutely love the Cubs, and I have many, many
thoughts concerning them. I am an armchair GM to the extreme!
My dream in life is to work in baseball, but since the odds
of that happening are very low, I have my sights set on my
second dream of becoming President. I’d prefer GM of a team,
but hey, I’m not picky. I’ve been toying with the idea of
starting this blog for a while, and when I found this MLBlogs
site, I figured I’d give it a go. So, thanks for reading and
enjoy!
mlblogscubbieblue
Recent Comments