We all feared the return of Chris Volstad to the big league starting rotation. But with the trades of Ryan Dempster and Paul Maholm, the Cubs were faced with little choice. Even though the Cubs didn’t win last night, Volstad was better than we’ve seen him most of this season.
‘‘That’s as good as we’ve seen,’’ Sveum said. ‘‘There’s plenty of time to prove that what we saw in spring training is the type of guy he is.’’
Volstad, who’s 0-13 (5.49 ERA) since his last win July 10 of last season, said he has quit looking over his shoulder after two demotions to the minor leagues and tried to think less and pitch more.
‘‘I feel like this has been a year of the biggest strides for me personally,’’ said Volstad, whose winless streak reached 21 games. ‘‘It’s been a tough year, for sure. But making it through something like that is obviously going to help me in the future.’’
With Volstad in good head space, we can now look forward to the return of Matt Garza, which is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday in San Diego.
‘‘Better believe it, dude,’’ said Garza, who has been sidelined by elbow stiffness since July 21. ‘‘I’m champing at the bit and ready to go. … They told me Tuesday a couple of days ago, so that’s what I’m shooting for. If it changes, it’s not my control.’’
Not so fast, said manager Dale Sveum, who needs to see how Garza’s elbow responds Sunday, and maybe Monday, before making a decision.
‘‘I’m glad he thinks that way,’’ Sveum said, ‘‘but it’s not his decision.’’
Better believe it, dude.
The Cubs will try to avoid being swept by the Dodgers today at 3:10 Central. Justin Germano (1-1, 1.98) will face Joe Blanton (8-9, 4.59). I can’t find the TV info, so you might be able to watch it on WGN, but I don’t know for certain.
Jeff Baker to the Tigers?
I also heard that bJax and Vitters are being called up.
They’re up and the cubs are getting 2 players to be named later. Need some good news since the news is so bad today…
Time to go Moneyball for the rest of the season and look at the process instead of the outcome. I hope they can get a decent return for Soriano.
I take it everyone else is still recovering from their escapades last night.
Watching the game,and if this is like the last 2 games,unless the Cubs score 10 runs, the Dodgers should take the lead by the fourth…
Thank you Soriano &Rizzo , for killing the rally. Lrt’s see if he rest of my prediction happens…
So, Jackson and Vitters are called up, and there’s no reaction here? No STOP THE PRESSES! news breaks?
Huh.
http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/8236539/chicago-cubs-call-top-prospects-brett-jackson-josh-vitters
eh. If they were better prospects, they would have been brought up with Rizzo.
Also, you can find position players pretty easily. I don’t envision either BJax or Vitters becoming anything more than average MLB players that can have the holes in their skillset hidden in a deep lineup. When we get some pitching prospects that start turning heads, then I’ll get excited.
Seriously, who were our last hyped pitching prospects? Cashner? Coleman? Marmol? Spellcheck? We’ve seen Castro and Rizzo turn out to be pretty good position players, so unless we’ve got another Castro or Rizzo on our hands, meh.
I refuse to lower my expectations any further with this club.
Jackson and Vitters brought up?!?! I was sleeping off the tree injury and then at the movies, dammit!
Are they in the lineup? How have they done?
What movie?
What did Jackson do in his first two ABs?
WHERE IS EVERYONE?!?!?!?!
Jackson just made a fielding error, and the Dodger tied it. Unfortunately, I think I’m. Going to be right about the Cubs losin…
Beef Castle just hit a home run !!!!!!!
And Baker is gone, too? YES!!!
Miss a little, miss a lot today. . .
And, now the pitchers give up the lead and are about to give the Dodgers the lead. I’ m not even going to read Dale’s excuses after the game.
3 runs in….
This will be the first time the Cubs will be swept by the Dodgers since 1998….
Is that Tim Wallach coaching 3B for the Dodgers?
Weird.
Yes…
Vitters now up….
And pops up…
That was an ugly slide by Jackson,but at least he is safe. Vin Scully was just finishing talking bout Soriano and his lack of production, and he gets the hit. The cubs need about 6 more runs…
Brett Jackson buzzed off his adorable golden brown hair. UGH.
Tie game on a Rizzo HR!! Woooo!
And Camp blows it by giving up a billion hits/walks in the 9th.
It’s gonna be a long end of the season. Time to see how the kids hold up.
On the plus side, Rizzo and Jackson looked GREAT today. Well, Jackson not so much in the field, but he’s no Soriano.
1. Theo/Jed now say Dempster was not allowed to listen in?
2. How did Campanarama take being sent down ?