Z Lets Bat and Arm Do The Talking as Cubs win 2-1
Zambrano pitched solid, going into the seventh inning while giving up
just two hits and no runs. Z did walk a season high five while striking
out seven.
He didn’t allow a hit until Adam Rosales lined a single to left with one out in the fifth inning.
|
“I felt good,” said Zambrano, |
|
“Zambrano pitched really, really well — really well,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “He got a little tired at the end.” |
Carlos also made a couple of stellar defensive plays. He slipped in behind the runner to cover first base on a Brandon Phillips’ foul pop near the first base stands in the sixth inning. Derrek Lee caught the ball and threw to Zambrano to double Chris Dickerson off of first. Dickerson was caught sleeping on a nice heads up play by both Z and Lee.
Then in the seventh, he grabbed a line drive up the middle, catching it after hitting it up into the air off his glove.
Zambrano reached the milestone 100th victory on his third try. His first win since defeating Florida on May 3.
When asked about Randy Johnson winning his 300th game and whether or
not he could get to 300, Big Z had some interesting things to say:
|
“Three hundred? Me?” Zambrano said. “No, I’ll be out of here in five years.” “After this contract, I’m done,” said Zambrano, who is signed through “I want to stay home and see my daughters grow up and hang out with my “It’s good to be here, it’s good to play baseball — don’t get me |
Would be sad to see a guy with so
much talent leave the game early. I have a feeling after Big Z is gone,
we are going to laugh at some of his antics and in fact miss them.
The Cubs opened the scoring in the top of the first courtesy of an infield single by Ryan Theriot and walks to Kosuke Fukudome, Lee and Mike Fontenot to force home the run.
Micah Owings
and Zambrano then matched zero’s for the next three innings, with
Theriot being the only Cub to reach second during this time after a
single and a stolen base in the top of the third.
That was until the top of the fifth with Big Z leading off. This is
where things got weird. As we know Big Z is a switch hitter. After
striking out left handed in his first at bat against Owings, Carlos
decided to try it right handed. Nice choice as he hit a BOMB to center,
giving the Cubs what proved to be the winning run.
The next few innings were nothing but a few walks and a bunch of outs as once again, the two pitchers were matching out for out.
Enter Carlos Marmol
in the bottom of the eighth and Cubs fans were standing on the window
ledge. Was the pen about to blow another gem by a starting pitcher?
Marmol walked Jerry Hairston
leading off the inning. Something Carlos has done A LOT of lately. I
think when a guy from the pen walks the lead off hitter, that pisses me
off more than anything. You get paid to do one thing, THROW STRIKES!
After getting Chris Dickerson to ground out, with Hairston moving to
second Brandon Phillips tripled in the gap scoring Hairston and putting
a runner on third with one out.
Those fans on the ledge are now on their tip toes.
Laynce Nix then popped out to Koyie Hill out in front of home plate. He then walked Ramon Hernandez to get to Jay Bruce and i’m thinking “WTF are you doing? Throw a damn strike!!!”.
After getting ahead of Bruce with a 1-2 count, he induced him into a ground out to second ending the inning.
In the top of the ninth, the Cubs with a chance to add an insurance
run, failed to do so with Theriot flying out to center stranding Hill
at third and Soriano at second.
And just when you thought the fireworks were over with Marmol and maybe those fans on the ledge could come back inside, enter Kevin Gregg in the bottom of the ninth.
Gregg got two quick outs on a grounder to Theriot and a fly ball to Reed Johnson in center. So your thinking, ok maybe we will get a 1-2-3 inning here. WRONG!
Ryan Hanigan
singled to center and things got stupid…..again! Jerry Hairston
struck out, but ANOTHER wild pitch on strike three, this time with Hill
behind the plate for those of your that wanted Geo’s head on a platter
the other night in ATL. Hairston was able to reach first and Wilkin Castillo, pinch running for Ryan Hanigan went all the way to third.
Gregg was then able to get Dickerson to pop out to third on a 1-0 count to end the game. WHEW!! Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win!
Cubs Game Notes
Carlos Zambrano’s seven strikeouts tied his season high. Batters swung
and missed 15 times, also a season high…..This was the Cubs third
consecutive one run game….the Cubs are hitting 32 points higher at
home (.266) than on the road (.234) while it’s 3.88 home ERA is 60
points lower than its road ERA (4.48)…..Marmol recorded his 60th
career hold passing Bobby Howry for third on the Cubs all time
list….Chicago is 21-8 when playing errorless ball, and 6-17 when
committing an error … the Cubs are 23-4 when holding a lead entering
the seventh inning and are 18-7 when scoring first…..Carlos Zambrano
and Micah Owings, have won the last three N.L. Silver Slugger Awards
for pitchers … Zambrano earned the honor in both 2006 and 2008 while
Owings took home the award in 2007…..Zambrano’s 1,225 career
strikeouts rank sixth in franchise history…..Zambrano’s 18 career
home runs rank first in franchise history ahead of Fergie Jenkins
(13)…..Z now has 94 wins since the start of the 2003 season rank
fourth in baseball … Johan Santana is first with 105…..
Cubs at the plate
Alfonso Soriano
went 1-for-4 with a double, stolen base (6) and a walk. The Fons is
just 8-for-43 his last ten games with just one home run and one run
batted in. For the year Sori is hitting .243 with 13 HR’s and 26 RBI’s.
Ryan Theriot went 2-for-5 with one run scored and a stolen base (8). Theriot is hitting .286 with 5 HR’s and 22 RBI’s.
Kosuke Fukudome was 0-for-3 with a walk. Fukudome continues to have a solid year overall and is hitting .302 with 5 HR’s and 20 RBI’s.
Derrek Lee was 1-for-3 with a walk. Over the Cubs last 10 games,
Lee is 9-for-27 (.333). He is really bring his average up as of late
and for the season D Lee is hitting .263 with 6 HR’s and 21 RBI’s.
Micah Hoffpauir went 0-for-4 with a couple of strike outs. Hoffpaur is hitting .275 with 4 HR’s and 17 RBI’s.
Koyie Hill was 1-for-4 on the night with a single and a couple of strike outs. Koyie is hitting .269 with 2 HR and 7 RBI’s on the season.
Mike Fontenot was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk with the RBI
coming on the walk. Font has really been picking it up at the plate as
of late and is hitting .333 (10-for-30) over the Cubs last 10 games.
Fontenot is hitting .232 with 5 HR and 24 RBI’s.
Andres Blanco
went 0-for-3 and continues to struggle. Can you say we miss De-Roe?
Blanco is hitting just .150 with 0 HR’s and 1 RBI since his call up.
Cubs on the mound
Carlos Zambrano controlled the game making sure his team wasn’t
going to lose as he not only pitched 6 2/3 strong innings, but also
homered and made a couple of great defensive plays. This is the way
Carlos needs to do his talking with his play instead of his mouth.
Zambrano is now 4-2 with a 3.72 ERA on the season.
Angel Guzman
pitched just one third of an inning, coming in for Z in the bottom of
the seventh and getting Jonny Gomes to hit into a fielders choice to
end the inning. Guzman has been one of the few solid relievers out of
the pen lately and boast a fine 2.45 ERA on the season.
Carlos Marmol was very shaky again. After once again allowing a
lead off walk, a problem that has to have Lou ready to choke Carlos,
Marmol gave up a run scoring one out triple before working his way out
of the inning without allowing the tying run to score. Marmol has now
walked seven guys in his last six innings of work. Carlos is 1-1 with
three saves and a 3.46 ERA on the season.
Kevin Gregg manged to get the save pitching the ninth, but not
without fire works. Another dropped third strike allowing a runner to
reach base in the ninth inning, could have once again done the closer
in. This one came with Hill behind the plate, the first one with Soto
back there. Is Gregg’s stuff that good? Or are the pitcher and catchers
not on the same page with signals? For the season Gregg is now 0-1 with
a 4.81 ERA and 10 saves.
Series Record 1-0
Season Record 27-25
Road Record 11-15
Home Record 16-10
D Lee making fans eat crow!
not sure about the rest of you, maybe you’re one of those D Lee haters
bashing him all over the internet, but i have always been a D Lee
supporter through the thick and the thin. Regardless of his stats, he
brings an invaluable leadership quality with him. To me that is HUGE
with the losses of great club house players like DeRosa, Woody and Hank
White (Henry Blanco for those of you that been under a rock the past
few years).
I’m very happy to see D Lee coming out of his funk. Not only do the
Cubs need it with A Ram out, they will still need it just as much when
he comes back.
Bradley i’m afraid is going to be a total bust, not playing more than
50-75 games….MAX! Wish they would have waited out the free agent
period and signed Abreu for less money and less years.
Did I mention that the reigning ROTY, is hitting around the mendoza line with one effin home run and like 10 rbi’s. 
Since May 1st, Lee is right there in the top four of all first baseman with a minimum of 75 at bats.
Since May 15th, Lee has been even better although still ranking fourth among first baseman with a minimum of 51 at bats.
While Lee’s power numbers for home runs don’t quite stand up with the
others, the RBI numbers are not his fault. He can’t knock guys home
that are not on base now can he?
None of this mentions the amount of errors he saves the infielders with
his defense or the great plays he makes on foul pop ups near the
stands. Sure he makes an error here and there, and no his error in ATL
didn’t cost the Cubs the game, but he saves way more runs with his
glove than he gives up.
I hope all you fans dogging D Lee keep eating your crow and learn to
keep your mouth shut and root for your team regardless of stats. If
they wear the Cubbie uniform, you should be pulling for them 100%. Sure
it’s ok to give your opinion, but to make posts all over the internet
about trade this guy, bench this guy, fire this guy, etc… every time
a loss happens and going to the park and booing just for the sake of
booing don’t make you cool, it makes you stupid. As KB would say, LIQIS!
Who’s Hot and Who’s Not
Who’s Hot
Ryan Theriot
Who’s Not
Kosuke Fukudome
Post also featured on CubbieFans.com
The Highs, Lows, and Oh-No’s of a 4-2 homestand
Ok, everybody breathe.
The Cubs are back over .500 after a 4-2 homestand, with three wins
against the pesky Marlins (could have been a 4-game sweep) and a split
with the Giants (including Tuesday’s loss against 2008 CY Young winner
Tim Lincecum).
Saw some good things from this homestand. Saw some of the same problems, and also saw a potentially devestating injury.
So, without further adieu, here we go:
Highs
The Riot. Somebody’s got to hit for power for this team, so why not
slap-hitter Ryan Theriot. Nice, especially the slam against the Marlins
to help snatch victory. Those are the kind of hits that can turn a
season around.
DLee. Good to see him get going a little more and driving the ball.
Still striking out a lot more than I can remember, but at least he’s
showing signs of life.
Fontenot (offense). He can hit, and he’ll get his chances to do so in
this lineup. Settling in at third, but it was nice to see ARam back out
there Monday night.
Bullpen: Looks like Marmol may be back. And Kevin Gregg was 3 for 3 in
saves. Also, a great job in Saturday’s win win Harden wasn’t exactly at
his best.
Reed Johnson: The scrappy Johnson made another outstanding catch that
probably saved the game Monday night. I love his defense, now if he
could just pick up a few key hits here and there…
Bobby Scales: Wanted to get him in here in big, bold letters.
How great that a career minor-leaguer finally gets the call, picks up a
hit in his second at-bat, scores a run, and makes one hell of a play in
the field. Great job Bobby. Hope you can stick around for a while.
The Lows
Timely/Situational hitting: Seems we have regressed back to the Dusty
days as far as getting those big hits with the bases loaded and no outs
or 1 out. Had plenty of chances to poke some runs in all weekend, and
never seemed to put games away.
Geo: I get the feeling his shoulder injury may be a little more serious than the team is letting on.
Milton Bradley: I heard Nolan Ryan praise Bradley during a radio
interview last week as one of the best hitters in the game right now.
Six hits for the season, 2 HRs / 2 RBIs, .138 average, but that OBP is
.305. I just expected a little more from him, but maybe he’s still
trying to make the adjustment to NL pitching. A tad worried, but still
hoping he comes around.
The Oh-no’s: Big Z’s hamstring. I hope this is just a minor
deal, and think that it probably is, especially after seeing him
throwing today before the game. Still, a 15-day trip to the DL means
he’ll miss his next 2-3 starts. We need him back healthy if we are
going to contend.
Now, off for a five-game road trip against division rivals Houston and
Milwaukee. Let’s hope this team can continue its winning ways.
Will Marmol eventually become the closer?
I find myself asking this question a lot. Marmol knows the experience of pitching with the game on the line in front of 40k at Wrigley having done it many times whether it was the 8th or 9th inning. Meanwhile, i don’t think Kevin Greg has a clue what he is about to get himself in to. It’s not that i don’t think Gregg has the tools or the ability, i actually believe he has both and could be a very good closer on a winning team. Part of his problem last year was from not having the strength in his legs with the knee issue, causing his mechanics to be off and his stats to inflate. That’s just my opinion of course. However, until you experience Wrigley in the 9th inning, you can’t possibly understand what team mates are trying to tell you. We Cubs fans are very passionate about our baseball and many of us live and die with the team every summer, actually deciding whether or not we had a good year on if the Cubs had a good year. So in other words, Kevin Gregg you’re no longer pitching in front of 8,000 angry Marlins fans, and instead will be pitching in front of 40,000 hungry for a championship fans every time out in Wrigley. Will you thrive in the spotlight, or will your butt cheeks pucker up and we’ll be seeing Carlos before the All-Star break?
mlblogscubbiefansdotcom
Recent Comments