Tonight is the first official Cubs Social Media night, where the Cubs are actively courting twitter nerds. They’re having a fancy panel at the Captain Morgan Club, and get to hobnob in the right field bleachers, trying to out-tweet each other while enjoying their free t-shirts, baseball cards and one hot dog. Make sure to follow Julie (@JulieDiCaro), as she’ll be keeping us abreast of any and all advancements on and off field tonight.

As for the on-field action, the Phillies limp into Chicago tonight. Vance Worley was supposed to start for the Phils, but due to elbow soreness, he’ll be replaced by Kyle Kendrick (0-3, 7.32). On the mound for the Cubs is Matt Garza (2-1, 2.56). Garza struggled through 5 innings in his last start, which was his first since his courageous battle against the flu. Hopefully he’ll have his rhythm back tonight and mow through the Phillies.

» Continue reading “Live Game Thread: Cubs Social Media Night (7:05 Central)”

Randy Wells had a bit of a struggle last night, leaving the game in the fourth inning after allowing four runs. Among those who scored was Joe Blanton, who Randy walked on four pitches. How do you feel about walking the opposing pitcher, Randy?

“Obviously the walk to the pitcher is unacceptable and it makes me want to throw up,” Wells said. “I made a pretty decent pitch to Rollins and he just kept it fair. But that has nothing to do with it. It was downhill before that even happened.”

Dale Sveum, how did that inning make you feel?

“It was too bad because he was pitching pretty well and he just couldn’t even find the strike zone,” manager Dale Sveum said. “Things were looking good going into that inning and the lineup was set to just run right through it and he couldn’t even get through the pitcher without walking him.”

So you feel sad and angry? Us, too. Back to you, Randy. What exactly happened?

“It’s mindboggling to me,” Wells said. “I can watch the tape and see but it’s obviously a mechanical thing. Runners get on and the tension gets high and you kind of rush and speed up and I’m just burying [pitches in the dirt] that aren’t even close. You have to make pitches when your back is against the wall and I didn’t do it tonight.”

(snip)

“I had a pretty good changeup going,” he said. “The gameplan was working. I just got away from it and lost command of the changeup. I threw way too many, back to back. I brought the hitters back into the count and didn’t make the pitches when I had to.”

Oh, Randy.

» Continue reading “Sunday Headlines & Game Thread: Cubs @ Phils, 12:35 Central”