LOS ANGELES. August 23, 2009. It was the final game of the season for the Cubs in L.A. and Dempster was in the driving seat. The question was would he be able to drive handfuls of unhitable pitches at the inform Dodgers whose machine appears to be headed towards the play off.

The first innings was a scoreless situation which the Cubs had the better of. They got two men on but D Lee grounded into a double play and next up Ramirez popped out. Ethier doubled for the Dodgers but Dempster got three out before they could score.

In the 2nd Jake Fox homer’d to give the early lead to the Cubs and when it was the Dodgers turn Aramis Ramirez erred.  As a result Kemp got to 2nd base. Abreu then singled to get the RBI and it was the same Kemp who got in for the score. Ouch! I hate it when walks or errors score. When the 2nd ended it was tied at 1-1.

The stalemate continued thru the 3rd, 4th and 5th.

In the 6th Aramis made amends for the error and hit a nice triple off a Billingsley pitch. Fukudome drove out a double (28) to get Aramis home. Jake Fox then singled to get Fukudome home. Fourth up Fontenot reached on a fielders choice but Fox was out. Koyie Hill then grounded into a double play. The Cubs at bat over. It was 3-1 for the Cubs. The measure of the pitching battle was that at this point the Cubs had 9 hits and the Dodgers only 3.

The Dodgers 6th at bat saw Ex-Cub Pierre, who was pinching for Billingsley, get a single. The news came thru that the St Louis were 5 runs to the good in San Diego in the 6th. Who cares! Not much the Cubs could do about that. They had to concentrate on their own game. And they did. Fontenot took a flying dive to stop a solidly hit Furcal ground ball and in the prone position tossed to Theriot to tagged out Pierre and then have a real shot at the double play but he wasn‘t successful. Ethier then grounded into a double play. End of 6th. Cubs still to the good 3-1.

I had a great feeling. Are the Cubs giving up on the season? No way!

McDonald replaced Billingsley to pitch the 7th. Theriot got a single but the Cubs didn’t add to the score.

Dempster, who had pitched 83 pitches, was left in the game by “The Guru” Lou. Twelve pitches later he had the three Dodgers up to bat out.

At the start of the 8th Ramirez. A. got a single for the Cubs. Fukudome was out at left field. Fox singled but Aramis was out. Hong Chih Kuo replaced McDonald and got the final Cub of the inning out. It remained 3-1.

When Dempster gave a walk to at the start of the Dodgers 8th Lou took his customary slow stroll out to the mound to pat Dempster in a manly way on the rear end to say job well done. He made a couple of fielding changes and brought Grabow in to finish the 8th. But Grabow gave Abreu a walk. Two on. Loretta grounded into a force out.

Then the Cubs got the breaks that have been a long time coming. Fontenot got Abreu out at 2nd base. It looked a close call. I’m not complaining. Next up Hudson hit a ball out just over 2nd base. It bounced and Martin got in to score. But the score didn’t count. Wally Bell, the 3rd base umpire was calling time out just before the ball was pitched. Good call although the home fans were unhappy. The replay will prove them wrong. Bell was waiving his hands in the air before the ball was pitched.

Castro, who was a pinch runner for Loretta, and Hudson were out on the next double play. The Cubs were 2 runs to the good at 3-1.

Although they didn’t score in the 9th the Cubs Koyie Hill did get a double. But I think that was because they were anxious to get to the Dodgers and Carlos Marmol closed out the game with a ground out and two strike outs. Nice! No sweep here! Who says the Cubs are throwing in the towel on the season?

A.L.

Chicago Baseball Insider

If the Cubs were ever going to stand a chance of taking the game it would necessitate more than just Lilly‘s pitching. The Cubs Offence was going to have to get some runs too. But as it turned out it was the Dodgers pitcher who got the batting back up.

The Dodgers scored in the 2nd and the 4th. Matt Kemp got the first homer and Casey Blake got the second. Lilly did well as games go except for the two homers. He only left another three men on bases in his 6 innings pitched with 80 pitches and 55 strikes.

It was still 2-0 for the Dodgers when Heilman came into the game in the bottom of the 7th to pitch for the Cubs. The Cubs had their own chances leaving men on bases nine times with five hits and five walks. But they were unable to capitalize.

A swarm of bees took residence in the park during the latter half of the game which caused a distraction for some of the fans to the amusement of others. Then in the 8th with Cubs runners on 2nd and 3rd Broxton, in to pitch instead of the Dodgers starter Haeger, put a ball in the dirt and it went by the catcher. But for the fact that it hit the leg of the Home Plate umpire the likelihood is that at least one run would have got in. Isn’t that life. Don’t the successful always get the breaks? And it was a real break for the Dodgers because they eventually got out of the 8th with their 2 run lead intact. Sherrill came in to close for the Dodgers and gave the home fans a scare when Soto got a single and he then gave Soriano a walk. Baker and Fox were the two already out. Theriot who was pinched in for Fuld ran it all the way to a full count. But the 7th pitch was grounded out and the game was over.

It was more than just a routine loss for the Cubs because the St Louis Cardinals won to take an eight game lead in the Standing. The eight ball that the Cubs are behind… it is now as large as the moon. That is what the Cubs now have to aim for.

A.L.

Chicago Baseball Insider

We all have a short attention span when the worry of how tough things are for the Cubs is to the forefront of our brains. But let me remind you what I said yesterday!

“In a perfect world where there were no fielding errors and the pitching staff were strong and confident and not giving up walks the Cubs would be well on the way to the Play-offs”. I also said that just “one slip” was enough to tumble you out of the game! Prophetic words?

The Dodgers had no fielding errors versus just one for the Cubs! That was the difference between the sides, that and the Dodgers pitcher Randy Wolf.

As close games go this was a true chess game of the pitchers. Wells gave up only two runs out of 7 hits and where he will find the pain is that with two out an Aramis Ramirez error was responsible for Hudson for the Dodgers getting to 1st base and extending the innings. It was simply the bobble of the ball. This was in the 2nd innings and Russell Martin was also base.

Two on, two out! Up comes your nemesis, the opposing pitcher. So how do you feel when he gets the end of his bat to your 91mph breaking fast ball and hits it out to hop off the centerfield wall and all you see is two runs romping home and the pitcher Randy Wolf, your opposing pitcher scooting around for what turned out to be the game winning double. What do you do? At the end of the game you join your manager in a quiet corner and silently shed a tear with him!

I take real positives out of the game. Wells never let his shoulders down. He pitched another four innings and only gave up four scoreless hits. He gave his team a real chance. And they tried hard too. By the way, another positive for Cubs: The Cardinals also lost to the Padres.

But the Wolf was too strong for the visiting Cubs. He pitched a great game. He only gave up one hit. His two blemishes were in the 3rd innings, first was the walk he gave to San Fuld and the second was the single hit by Theriot to get Fuld home for the Cubs’ only RBI of their 9 innings. Yes, the Cubs offence will feel real bad but there is not much you can do when the opposing pitcher freezes you out with a brilliant performance.

The Cubs lost 1-2 to Dodgers by one error and one double. My betting is that they will try even harder tomorrow.

A.L.

Chicago Baseball Insider

When you are walking a tightrope the way the Cubs have been recently one slip is all that is required to send you toppling off and out of the game. That’s what happened to Angel Guzman and the Wrigleyvillers last night.

You can’t ask any more of the team than they keep you in the game and the Cubs hitting side did just that. The Dodgers got a run in the 1st to give them a one run lead. It was Ethier who got the RBI to get Furcal home. Furcal had started with a single and reached 2B on a Gorzelanny pick off throwing error. The Cubs replied in the 2nd with a homer from Fukudome. Back came the Dodgers in the bottom of the 2nd to get a further run off a Furcal single to take Russell in. By the way Russell started with a walk.

In the 3rd Bradley was hit by a Weaver pitch and eventually Aramis Ramirez got the RBI for Bradley to touch home base and tie the game. It was 2-2. And so it stayed for the 4th, 5th and the top of the 6th. Gorzelanny had only pitched 82 times with 52 strikes when “The Guru” Lou chose to take him out of the game.

Maybe it was a matter of keeping him in good shape for what’s to come! Well, it didn’t work. In came Guzman and 20 pitches later the balance of the game had changed. Manny Ramirez got a single off the first pitch. Blake got a single off Guzman’s 5th pitch. His 7th pitch was a sac bunt by Hudson. The next four were intent balls to walk Loney and the next pitch, no. 12, a 91mph middle of the box fast ball was hit straight out to left centre field for the grand slam. It took 8 more pitches to get the next two Dodgers out, but the damage was done.

Caridad pitched the 7th for the Cubs and gave up an RBI to Blake who singled to get Manny home for the last run of the game. It ended at 7-2 for the Dodgers.

In a perfect world where there were no fielding errors and the pitching staff were strong and confident and not giving up walks the Cubs would be well on the way to the Play-offs. Right now a number of things are going wrong for the Cubs.

I was encouraged at the end of the game to learn that the team have not thrown in the towel and will continue to strive for perfection. The gradient for the Cubs gets ever steeper. Lance Armstrong could show them how to continue up the hill with a will to win no matter how steep it gets.

A.L.

Chicago Baseball Insider

My belief is that he did not believe in his own ability and allowed nerves get the better of him. He meekly surrendered the home run pitch for Kyle Blanks to hammer straight out over the fence in centre field for the 3 RBI walk off win. Sorry about this but I just have to use it… Kyle didn’t end up firing Blanks all night.

Gregg has been with Anaheim, the LA Angels and the Florida Marlins and where he goes next is a real guess. July/Aug ’09 has done his career no good at all. I feel sorry for him. He must feel very lonely. But I feel sorrier for the Cubs. They really did well defensively tonight and were closing in on what would have been an excellent close game win.

But there is no point in Cub fans moaning about how the Padres celebrated as if they had just won the World Series. It was only natural. They are bottom of their Division with 50 wins and 70 losses. It was their Christmas time coming early. They had been frozen out all night by an excellent Ted Lilly and Grabow and Marmol followed up neatly.

With two out and one on as a result of the first Gregg walk (to Ekstein) the Padres must surely have thought it was over. There was a full count when the Gregg pitch to win the game for the Cubs, a nice waist high 93mph fast ball, was hit to left field by Headley for a double and get the tying run home.

For the Cubs the game was still on and Lou still trusted his closer. He instructed a walk be given to Kouzmanoff to load the bases and have the chance of outs at every base. And I have already told you how it ended. Along with everyone else right now I feel sick. The Cubs backs are really up against it but it is better that it happen now while there are still 46 games to go, 24 of which are in Wrigley Field. Although the Cardinals are 6 clear games ahead 3 are between the Cubs and the Cards. I’m saying it again… it is not over… not yet.

Oh! I nearly forgot to tell you that in the 8th Aramis Ramirez was back and back on song with a the single to get Derrek Lee, who had tripled, home for the potential win.

P.S. What’s this I was recently telling you about support other teams get… the attendance at tonight’s game 23,420 many of whom were wearing Cubbie blue. Remember to have a look at the attendance at the next Cubs home game (25th Aug). My guess is that there will be 30+ thousand even after tonight’s loss.

A.L.

Chicago Baseball Insider

The other game on today of interest to the Cubs was the San Diego V St. Louis game and it also went into a rain delay at the top with the 8th with the Padres one run to the good over the Cardinals at 5-4. Eventually it resumed and the Cardinals pulled the game out of the fire to get a run and a walk off home run in the 9th to give them a 5 game lead over the Cubs in the NL Central Division. The Cubs have 4 make up games on hand.

A.L.

Chicago Cubs Baseball Insider

Gorzelanny (5-2) threw the first pitch to Pirate McCutchen who was out on a fly ball to Bradley who was back for the Cubs after a day’s hip rest. He then gave Milladge a walk but got the next 3 up out.

In the Cubs 1st Bradley got a single and then was moved around the bases with infield play to give Baker an RBI. Result 0-1.

The Gorz held the Pirates scoreless again in the 2nd but did give up his second hit of the day. He made good amends in his at bat and drove home Soto who had started his offensive day with a nice double (12) to right field. The 2nd ended at 0-2 for the home team.

The top of the 3rd saw the 3 up Pirates dispatched with strikeouts. The Cubs didn’t score in the bottom of the 3rd but former Cub Ronny Cedeno was chalked with a fielding error to put D Lee on 1st. And at the end of the 4th it was still 0-2.

As much as I love the Air Force showing their stuff to the Cub fans on Air Display Weekend sometime I think it can be a distraction because the beginning of the 5th young Tom Gorzelanny gave two walks in a row to Vazquez and Cruz. Larry Rothschild the pitching coach went out to the mound (I assume) to tell him to keep his mind on the job. A bunt by Duke and a sac fly by McCutchen got Vazquez home for the only run of the game by Pittsburgh.

Baker homer’d in the 6th to get the last run of the game for the Cubs and it ended up 1-3.

Duke for the Pirates pitched 7.1 innings and gave up the 3 runs and 9 hits. Gorzelanny pitched 5, Guzman 2, Marmol 1 and Gregg 1. Gregg gave me a fright in the 9th when he gave up a double to Delwin Young (pinching for Cruz). Next up was Moss. Two men were already out. Gregg took Moss to a full count with the first 5 pitches. Fortunately I didn’t have time to lift the receiver to call my analyst because the 6th pitch was a 93mph chest high fast ball and the Moss swing of the bat was the cue to start the Cub Fans singing their winning end of game song. Strike out!

Unfortunately Cub Ramirez is still using throat lozenges and is needed back. Of the two men who took a turn at 3B, Baker did a reasonable job but Fox was given the benefit of the only Cub error of the day.

My man of the game was 6ft 2in Tom Gorzelanny.

As long as the Cubs don’t look over their shoulders at the previous games or at the Cardinals they will be ok. A repeat performance tomorrow would be real nice.

A.L.

Chicago Cubs Baseball Insider

The 1916 Giants won 14 and tied 1 and then won the next 12.  The tied game was subsequently replayed. I take my stats very seriously and as far as I’m concerned the Cubs have the record. So what’s the point, you ask? Well, all I am saying is that anything is possible and records can and are there to be broken.

So were the Cubs going to start on the road to recovery this afternoon? The game was against the bottom on the Central Div Pittsburgh Pirates with Morton (2-5) pitching. Randy Wells is 8-5.

The Friendly Confines turned into Dream World in the first two innings. It being Air Show weekend there was a fly-past of Wrigley Field from 6 of the Air Force’s finest from Andrews Air Force Base. Spectacular stuff indeed. I personally think that they were trying to catch the 3RBI homer from Kosuko Fukudome in the 1st. but that came after Triple for Sam Fuld (his first) was advanced home by a D Lee single.  At this point the Cubs heavenly clouds were only forming because their fluffy white heaven came in the 2nd when all hell broke loose on the sinking Pirates. Morton pitched to 6 Cubs in 2nd and was replaced by Bootcheck after Hill tripled, Wells walked, Theriot singled (RBI), Fuld singled, Lee walked for Wells to score and Fox doubled for 2RBIs.

Bootcheck was handed the poison chalice and drank liberally from it. He pitched to 8 now in form Cubs. Fukudome walked, Soriano singled for an RBI, Baker singled (2RBIs), Hills was struck out, Wells singled (RBI), Theriot popped out, Fuld was hit by a pitch, Lee doubled (2RBIs) and the innings ended when Fox struck out. And it was only the end of the 2nd. 0-14. Dream stuff indeed.

A lull came in the 3rd when there were no runs.

The Pirates were batting in this game just in case you thought the Cubs were hitting the pitching machine because they scored 2 runs in the 4th, an RBI to Moss when Jones scored and Moss got home on a double from Jaramillo.

But the Cubs were still in angry mood because in the bottom of the 4th they kept their foot on the gas to rack up 3 more runs. Hill singled, Theriot singled, Fuld walked, Lee doubled again and got 3 more RBIs. Jackson replaced Bootcheck and got the next two up out. It was 2-17.

Another lull came in the 5th and 6th and the 7th and 8th when no runs were scored and the fans had time to relax and guzzle their beers. Well after all it was a hot day. Me, I was positively breathless and I was thirsty because I never drink when I‘m working typing my reports. Yea…. Sure! By now I was counting the chickens to make sure. Yep, it was 2-17. By the way D Lee had been replaced in the 5th by Fontenot but no matter what happened after that Derrek was my man of the game. He was 3 for 3 and notched up 2 runs and 7 RBIs.

A positive for the Pirates was that Jackson did his manager proud. He stemmed the Cubs tide and allowed no more runs. The Cubs did try hard to get more because they loaded the bases in the 8th but it ended 2-17.

Wells finished off the Pirates to get the Cub fans singing the winning end of game song. It’s been so long since it got a rendition that I had nearly forgotten the words. Now wouldn’t a repeat performance tomorrow do all our hearts a power of good? It would take our mind off the recent credit crunch on Cub wins!

A.L.

Chicago Cubs Baseball Insider

It started ok for both teams. In fact to my mind up to the beginning of the 4th Dempster had the edge.  He only gave up one hit: a single to Utley in the 1st. The Phillies Lee gave up 3 walks and 2 singles.

But along came the 4th and trouble. Victorino got a single. Utley was given a walk and Ryan Howard homer’d to take the lead for the Phillies with 3RBI’s. Then the 6th man up, Feliz snatched himself a home run. Score 4-0.

It was the bottom of the 5th before the Cubs could open their account. Baker started with a double and third man up Theriot got a single to get the Baker run home. At the bottom of the 5th it was 4-1.

Walks are all very well if you get the next 3 out to end the innings before the walker can get in to score but walks that score really hurt. They are cheap runs. You had Utley in the 4th and now at the top of the 5th a further walk was granted to Howard which he cashed in on to steal second base, his 5th steal this season. Feliz singled to get Howard home.

Although Soriano singled in the 6th the Cubs couldn’t convert it and the score at the start of the 7th was 5-1.

One of the reasons that the Phillies are the World Series Champs is that they don’t sit on their laurels and they certainly didn’t in the 7th. Victorino doubled and Utley got a single to get the run home before he was tagged out at 2nd to end their innings. No run came for the Cubs and the Phillies were now 6-1 up.

I begun to wonder did it even matter who won the game after I listened to Jim Belushi singing the 7th innings stretch. It was worth it to have been there to hear him belt it out. If his voice had been a baseball bat he would have scored a home run. However it wasn’t enough to encourage the Cubs to score.

As evidence of the depleted Cubs pitching staff Justin Berg was sent in for his Major League debut to replace Dempster at the start of the 8th. He did a nice job and gave up no more runs. The Cubs weren’t able to add to their solo run of the afternoon. It ended 6-1.

The Cubs were swept at home by the Phillies for the first time in 25 years. Let’s hope it will be at least another 25 years before it happens again. I am more hopeful about the Pirates visit tomorrow.

A.L.

Chicago Cubs Baseball Insider

They may be down after tonight but luckily for them they are not at the bottom. They are still in second place in the NL Central Division, 4 games behind the Cardinals who have played 4 more games. It is now only a matter of Lou “The Guru” Piniella putting things right. And at least we can be sure of one thing, he is trying things.

So ok, last nights effort to bring Jeff Samardzija in for his first Major League start didn’t work. The kid is good and I have no doubt he will learn a valuable lesson from the mauling. And don’t underestimate the lesson he will have learned from watching Carlos Marmol who pitched out the close in the 9th. Carlos gave up all those walks Wed night and tonight he had his stuff back. Now I know you will say that by then the game was basically over and I will concede that but remember it is after all baseball and as we know it is never really over till it is over. If the Phillies were able to get 8 runs in the 4th to give them a 12-1 lead there was always the possibility that the Cubs could get 9 or 10 in the 9th … they had narrowed the gap in the 5th with 2 runs to make it 12-3. At least a real positive is that they didn’t give up and they did get 2 of the 9 required in the 9th to extend the game.

To run through it quickly the Phillies got 2 triples and a double and 2 runs home in the first to start it 2-0. A Baker single in the 2nd got Fukudome home to make it 2-1. Victorino homer’d in the 3rd to rack up more 2 RBI’s for the Phillies and it was 4-1.

It was still all to play for at the start of the 4th but Young Jeff gave up a run when Ruis singled. Two men were still on bases after he got Martinez out on a ground out. “The Guru” Lou knew how dangerous the next man up Rollins is and he stepped in to protect his young protégé. Samardzija was relieved by Sean Marshall who by the end of the 4th was wishing he was somewhere else. His first 36 pitches chalked up a homer to get 3 RBI’s first ball up for Rollins, the 2nd out, a single, a walk, a further homer with 3RBI’s to Ibanez, a double by Werth and a single to give an RBI to Feliz. The eight ball that the Cubs were behind must have looked as big as the Anish Kapoor “Cloud Gate” a.k.a. “The Bean”, the sculpture down in Grant Park. So there you have it. At the end of the 4th it was 12-1 and the final result was 12-5.

The Cubs have lost 6 of their last 7 games but that won’t deter the Cub fans. Me, I am continuing to believe but I now have my fingers crossed for tomorrow’s game. Let’s get some runs!

A.L.

Chicago Cubs Baseball Insider