Well, more fantastic than what happened on Wednesday, anyway. The Chicago Cubs played their first intrasquad game yesterday, and Jorge Soler did not disappoint:

All this during his first at-bat, no less. Bring him up!

MESA – Outfielder Jorge Soler was asked Thursday if he knew how much Chicago Cubs fans were paying attention to his exploits this spring.

After listening to the translation, he just smiled.

Aww. I  love him already.

» Continue reading “Chicago Cubs Intrasquad Action is FAN-tastic!”

Ace.

So, when I think of a pitchers’ duel, the names “Paul Maholm” and “Tim Hudson” probably fall in positions 8,437 and 8,438 on the list of pitchers potentially involved. Respectively.

But today, as he has been for the last four starts, Maholm was downright excellent. He gave up only three hits, and while he did walk three, he worked his way out of the jams. The bullpen hung on to close out a 1-0 victory over the Braves, giving the Cubs their second series win in a row.

For all that Maholm shut down Atlanta’s bats, the Cubs didn’t do much on offense either. In fact, the only time we had runners in scoring position was in the seventh, when David DeJesus singled and then advanced to third on a pair of groundouts. Bryan LaHair played the hero yet again, driving him in with an opposite-field single.

The box score will show a Starlin Castro triple. In reality, it was very nearly a two-out inside-the-parker. Castro lined a hit into deep right field that bounced past a diving Jason Heyward and right off of the foul line.

Pat Listach waved Castro (second questionably aggressive send in the past week or so…) and Dan Uggla made an excellent relay throw to nail Starlin at the plate. It was the third out of the inning, and to be honest, I don’t see why you wouldn’t play it safe and hold Castro up with LaHair coming to the plate.

Fortunately, the Cubs didn’t actually need any insurance. Jeff Russell threw the eighth and managed two quick outs, but got into a little trouble when he gave up a single and a walk. He escaped unscathed when Dan Uggla flied out. Rafael Dolis earned the save with a perfect ninth.

We get the day off tomorrow. Matt Garza, hopefully all rested from his flu, will take on Randy Wolf at Miller Park on Friday. Gametime is 7:10 pm on WGN. See you there!

WINNER

So… That happened.

Paul Maholm went head-to-head with Roy Halladay, God of Pitching, and like David with his slingshot, came out on top. Despite striking out only a single solitary batter to Halladay’s five, Maholm gave up only five hits, and the lone Philly run that he allowed came on a solo homer by Ty Wigginton.

The Cubs, for their part, managed to score three whole runs off of Halladay and another two off of the Phillies’ bullpen. The no-hitter jokes were thick on Twitter for the first three innings, as Halladay sat the Cubs down in order.

But then… Campanarama struck. Tiny Tony laid down a good bunt and beat it out to first, and it was all downhill from there. A stolen base and a bloop single later, the Cubs were on the board.

They scored twice more in the sixth, and would have gotten a fourth run had Alfonso Soriano not TOOTBLAN’d. After driving in Campana (again!), Soriano advanced to third on Ian Stewart’s RBI double. Darwin Barney grounded back to Halladay, who looked at Soriano, but fired to first. Sori, however, had bolted off the bag, headed for home, and stopped short when Halladay looked over.

By this point, Stewart was heading for third, so Fonsi had nowhere to go but home. Phillies first baseman Ty Wigginton fired to the plate to get a resignedly jogging Soriano and end the inning. Whoops.

» Continue reading “Cubs Game Recap: Maholm Outduels Halladay 5-1″

We all still know that the Cubs are going to continue losing a lot of games this year, but it sure is sweet to beat the Cardinals twice in a row in walk-off fashion. Once again, if you missed last night’s game, Megan wrote a game recap that well get you up to date. After a 0-14 slump, Alfonso Soriano had the game-winning RBI.

“The last two days I can feel my swing coming back,” Soriano said. “[Monday] I swung at a couple of bad pitches but [Tuesday] was more selective at the plate and I think that was the reason. When I swing at good pitches I hit the ball hard. I just try to be more selective at the plate because my swing is good.”

He actually broke his extra-base hit drought in the fourth inning with a double after starting the season with 12 singles. Mired in a 0-for-14 slump when the game began, Soriano went 3-for-5 against the Cardinals and actually delivered his second game-winning RBI of the season.

“It was nice to see Soriano come up huge,” manager Dale Sveum said. “I know he’s been a little down and struggling a little bit but he’s been working his butt off and it paid off. He’s been great.”

In the ensuing celebration, Soriano showed a youthful exuberance that’s been missing for awhile.

“I was so happy,” Soriano said. “I have so much emotion and love for the game especially when we’re winning. We have to celebrate when we win because that’s the best part of the game.

“It makes me young. These young guys, to hang out with them and to play with them, it makes me happy because I know that I’m 36-years old and 11 years in the game but with those guys I just feel like this is my first year in the big leagues too. I’m just happy to be a part of this team.”

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Cubs Get First Series Win”

Isn’t it nice when a plan comes together? Paul Maholm, the bullpen, and the bats all managed to not suck at the same time, helping the Cubs finally end their six-game skid with a 6-1 victory over the Reds.

While Maholm was not as good as his numbers might have looked last year with the Pirates, he’s definitely not as bad as he’s been in his last two starts. By itself, that’s cold comfort, but we actually got to see it in action today. Maholm only allowed one run on six hits over six innings. He did walk three, which is less cool, but he also struck out five, including Joey Votto.

The bulk of the scoring happened right up front. A scary first inning put a run on the board for the Reds, but Maholm was able to limit the damage and then retire eight in a row. The Cubs, meanwhile, evened the score in the bottom of the first, and then racked up four runs in a huge second. They would tack on an insurance run (what are these words that I’m typing) in the seventh.

So, there are a couple guys we should talk about today, and the first of those is Steve Clevenger. He got the start behind the plate today and collected three hits, an RBI, and a postgame-interview Gatorade-cooler ice bath. He’s currently hitting .538, which is very obviously not going to continue. But I do wonder just how much it’ll fall off, when it eventually does.

» Continue reading “Cubs Game Recap: Maholm Bounces Back”

Hero of the Day

Maybe it’s just my expectations drastically lowering, but I feel like today’s game wasn’t a complete disaster. Sure, they lost 5-3 to Miami, but there were some high points.

Jeff Samardzija, however, wasn’t one of them. Shark looked a lot Sharkier today, giving up five walks and eight hits over three and two-thirds innings. He got the hook after just 88 pitches, because Logan Morrison tried to take his head off with a comebacker. As far as we know, he’s fine – he struck out Giancarlo Stanton afterward – but the ball did hit him in the pitching hand, so better safe than sorry, I guess.

All five of Miami’s runs came off of Samardzija: two in the first, and three in the third. The combined forces of James Russell, Shawn Camp, and Carlos Marmol didn’t allow any runs, and Marmol actually looked pretty good today. He wouldn’t be Marmol if he didn’t give up a walk, but he also recorded a strikeout and his slider looked reasonably sharp.

» Continue reading “Cubs Game Recap: Marlins Complete The Sweep”

The Cubs started off strong – well, as strong as they get – behind Dempster today, who held the Brewers scoreless through six and a third innings before giving up a two-run homer. That sealed the loss for Chicago, who stranded runners in scoring position three times, but couldn’t come back.

The Good: The Cubs drew first blood in the first inning. David Dejesus doubled, advanced on Barney’s groundout, and scored on Castro’s sac fly.

The Bad: They didn’t do anything else for the rest of the game, despite having runners on second base in each of the last three innings.

The Good: Dempster put up zeroes for 6 1/3 innings.

The Bad: He pitched for 6 2/3. Dale Sveum apparently hasn’t yet mastered the ability to judge that ephemeral Dempster turning point between “acceptable starter” and “home run machine.” Brewers catcher (seriously, what’s with them? Last night it was Lucroy) George Kottaras cranked one deep in the seventh to give Milwaukee the lead.

» Continue reading “Cubs Game Recap: Demp Gon’ Demp”

Shockwaves were sent through the Cubs blogoshpere and twitter yesterday when it was announced that Randy Wells would be sent to Iowa to be in the starting rotation there. Before he started investigating the Des Moines nightlife, he took time to talk to the media and showcase his knowledge of clichés.

“I’m not going to sit here, lie and be the guy that says he is not disappointed ” Wells said. “I am, but it is what it is. It’s a point of your career where you have to buckle down. Maybe it is a wake-up call to see it’s not that easy to stay here.”

That’s good Randy. You worked buckle down and wake-up call in there. Anything else you can think of?

“It makes you stronger,” Wells said. “You go through these things, and as bad as that feeling in your stomach is, anger or disappointment or whatever it is you have to get past it.”

Well done, Randy. Strength through adversity. The other surprise of the day was the decision to send Wellington Castillo to Iowa.

“Welington Castillo was probably the most difficult [decision], and one where you had to make him understand that he’s an everyday catcher and will make a lot of money and probably play in All-Star Games,” manager Dale Sveum said. “He just needs to go down and play every single day.”

The only spots now still up for grabs are in the bullpen. More on that after the jump.

» Continue reading “Cubs Friday Headlines: Randy Wells Cliché Machine”

In the headline, when I said “Dempster Meets Expectations”, I didn’t mean the expectations of an opening day starter. I mean those that we have for Ryan Dempster after last season. He didn’t have the greatest of days yesterday.

 In his second-to-last spring tuneup, Opening Day starter Ryan Dempsterwas roughed up in a minor-league game.

The Cubs right-hander gave up six runs on eight hits over five innings with a walk and four strikeouts. The positive number for the Cubs is that Dempster stretched himself out to 88 pitches.

Hooray! He’s stretching himself out so he can throw more ineffective pitches. On the flip side, James Russell appears to be hitting his stride at just the right time.

 The only lefty that’s a sure thing for the Cubs’ Opening Day bullpen, Russell pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up just a hit. He now has 5 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings over his last three outings.

Of course, we all know that Russell is no Sean Marshall.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Dempster Meets Expectations”

Cubs players wait for their flight back to Chicago

Remember Saturday when we were so frightened that James Russell was forced to make yet another start? As it turns out, young Mr. Russell was the least of our worries for the weekend. He pitched pretty well last night.

Russell pitched well throughthe first 3 innings. He allowed 2 in the fourth after loading the bases with nobody out.

His night ended in the fifth after a leadoff homer by Jarrod Saltalamacchia and a single by Jacoby Ellsbury. “We wanted to give him a shot,” Quade said of sending Russell out for the fifth. “I think he earned that. We could have pulled the trigger earlier, but I thought he was OK 54 (pitches).”

“It was the swing before; I kind of got stuck in the (batter’s) box,” Baker said. “My front cleat got stuck a little bit. I dont think it’s that bad. Get some treatment tormorrow and hopefully be ready to go Tuesday.”