Over the last few years it’s dawned on me that I hate the Milwaukee Brewers at least as much, if not more, as I hate the St. Louis Cardinals. This is an odd feeling for me, as, growing up, the Brewers were my AL team, and I spent many a weekend cheering on the Beloit Brewers, Milwaukee’s A ball affiliate.

I’ve heard steroids affect your sense of balance.

But somewhere between Prince Fielder yanking his shirt out of his pants, Brewers fans constantly whining about Cubs fans taking over Miller Park, and Ryan Braun being Ryan Braun, I developed a deep and abiding distaste for the Milwaukee Brewers. Sure, I still curse the Cardinals every chance I get, but my hatred of the Cards is twinged with a grudging respect for their continued success. My hatred of the Brewers is twinged with disgust of their food, their music, and their hilarious devotion to known cheater Ryan Braun.

It doesn’t help that they’ve signed the best third baseman we’ve had in decades (grumble, grumble) or that Dale Sveum insists on bringing all his cheesehead buddies onto the Cubs’ coaching staff.

My point is that I’m hoping for a win and a fight tonight.

» Continue reading “Cubs – Brewers Live Game Thread: I Hate The Brewers More Than The Cardinals”

A few seasons back, we had a term for the “good Chicago Cubs,” you know, the Chicago Cubs that showed patience at the plate, executed fundamentals on defense and the base paths, and managed not to give up 37 runs in the 9th inning. We called them the “Pod Cubs.” You know, as in the real Cubs are being kept in a pod somewhere by aliens (or something) and these are the fake Cubs who have been sent to play in their place.

(Actually, I’m not even sure what the original plot is that “pod” is supposed to suggest. Did the real people get kept in pods? Did the aliens come from pods? What movie is this even referencing?)

Anyway, the point of all this is that yesterday the Pod Cubs showed up:

Anthony Rizzo and Alfonso Soriano homered, Welington Castillo knocked out a career-high four hits and Carlos Villanueva earned his first victory with the Cubs, allowing two runs on four hits over seven innings in his third straight quality start.

“It was ugly,” Villanueva said, referring to the weather. “We had no idea (if we would play). We heard (Wednesday) we weren’t going to get the game in, and it was going to be tough. I tried to keep my guard up. You never want to drop your guard and then all of a sudden, ‘Hey, the game starts in 20 minutes and I’m just sitting at my locker not thinking about the game.’

Hey, that’s kind of like me. I was sitting here, watching TV and reading when Doc said “By the way, the Cubs are playing baseball right now.” Carlos Villanueva and I have so much in common, though he does have a way better mustache than I do.  I’m working on it.

The weather today is pretty miserable again, so perhaps we’ll see the Pod Cubs again? Maybe they’re activated by water, like Gremlins?

» Continue reading “Chicago Cubs Friday Headlines: Rain Brings Out Pod Cubs”

The Cubs lost again yesterday, and have one chance left to avoid an embarrassing 4-game sweep at the hands of the Brewers.  David DeJesus must be wondering why in the hell he signed that two-year contract with this team, but he’s soldiering on. He wants to show the young guys how to be professionals on a losing team. And he has plenty of experience having been a Royal and an A.

“It’s showing guys the professional side of it,” DeJesus said. “I’ve been through a lot of losing in my career so I understand it’s tough and it’s not something you want to be a part of. I understand that tomorrow’s another game, and tomorrow you have to show up and be mentally ready and physically ready to perform.”

(snip)

“It’s not fun coming to the park every day,” DeJesus said of teams in losing seasons. “You have a little more chance to lose than not. You have to understand this is a game of professionals. We’re men, we have to do a job, and we have to put our best foot forward.”

He’s right about the greater chance of losing. The Cubs are now 31 games under .500 and have gone 6-22 in their last 28 games. The Cubs should probably do their best to win today, as a weekend series with the Giants awaits. And the pitching matchups don’t look favorable.

Friday: RHP Chris Volstad (1-9, 6.28) vs. LHP Madison Bumgarner (14-8, 2.93)

Saturday: RHP Justin Germano (2-4, 5.91) vs. RHP Tim Lincecum (7-14, 5.30)

Sunday: LHP Travis Wood (4-11, 4.71) vs. RHP Matt Cain (13-5, 2.82)

Ugh.

» Continue reading “Cubs Thursday Headlines/Game Thread: Brewers @ Cubs, 1:20 Central”

The Cubs lost again to the Brewers last night. This time they did manage not to give up 9 runs in the 9th inning, so that’s something. The highlights of the night were Travis Wood’s home run and Darwin Barney tying the National League record with his 113th consecutive game played without an error.

“It was one of those things where when I was younger I always thouht that defense was my weakness so I put a lot of effort into working on it and getting it as solid as I could,” Barney said.

(snip)

“I don’t think it about it as much as last year,” he said. “Last year, making that transition there were a lot of plays that I felt were not as comfortable, primarily turning double plays. But we came in with a plan to fix those things and to work on the plays I had trouble with and secured that up.”

Barney’s mark ties the record for games played in a single season. He still has 10 to go to match Ryne Sandberg’s 123 over the course of two seasons and 29 to go to match Placido Polanco’s 142 for the MLB record.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Darwin Barney Greatest Defensive 2B Of All Time”

I’ve decided that the mount of effort I put into these game threads will be directly proportional to the amount White Sox fans care about their team, as judged by their attendance. As you can see, this what we’re left with.

Tonight Travis Wood (1-398,000, 5761.03) takes on Yovanni Gallardo (13-8, 3.62). So this should be a blast. (Onto Waveland. For the Brewers.)

» Continue reading “Cubs Tuesday Game Thread: How’s This For Effort?”

15. That’s the number of times the Cubs struck out against the Brewers last night. Add 14 the night before and you’ve got the beginnings of a pretty impressive streak. Oh, and Paul Maholm  gave up four runs in only four innings.

“He just couldn’t keep the ball down in the inning, he gave it up,” Sveum said. “He got the ball up to Braun. His change-up was up, so he just couldn’t get the ball down.”

Maholm was not pleased when Sveum pinch hit for him in the fifth inning.

“I understand it, but I’m never going to agree with it,” Maholm said. “I want to go deeper into the game, but I completely understand the move, but me, I want to be out there.”

Maholm has thrown just 14 1/3rd innings over his past three starts during which he has given up 10 earned runs.

And the Cubs could have used some of the 10 runs they scored Tuesday night, as they were shut out.

“Today we really didn’t put together any good swings or anything,” Sveum said. “(Greinke) kept the ball down, we just didn’t cover the outer part half of the plate.”

Geinke has now run his Miller Park record to 15-0 since being traded by Kansas City before the 2011 season.

“When you have chances and you don’t come through, you start pressing when you have a guy like him on the mound,” said Cubs outfielder Tony Campana, who struck out four times Wednesday. “They are tough guys to hit against out there. It’s not really an excuse because you just can’t chase stuff like I have been doing the last couple days.”

Especially when your only value to the team is base stealing.

» Continue reading “Thursday Headlines/Game Thread: Cubs @ Brewers, 1:10 Central”

At the beginning of this season, we wondered if Ryan Dempster or Alfonso Soriano had anything left in the tank. They have both shown that there is some baseball left in their bones, and last night was a prime example. Dempster threw five perfect innings on his way to seven shutout innings and his first win since last July.

“I was thinking about a perfect game,” Dempster said. “I’m not an idiot. I know I hadn’t had any on base. It would have been fun, but five innings is still just five innings.”

Good work enhancing that trade value, Ryan. Alfonso Soriano hit a home run in the first, marking eight consecutive series with a home run. We all know about the obstacles to him being traded, but has the Fonz been thinking about the possibility he’ll end up elsewhere?

‘‘I don’t know; I don’t want to try to think too much,’’ said Soriano, who also has full no-trade rights but has said for more than a year that he won’t stand in the way of a trade. ‘‘The [front] office, they know what they have to do. My part is to play the game.’’

Well, Alfonso, just keep hitting home runs, and try not to limp too much.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Old Men Lead Cubs Over Brewers”

The Cubs continue their quest for the top spot in next year’s draft tonight against the Brewers. Returning from a less-than-stellar trip to San Francisco, at least they won’t have to contend with the likes of Ryan Theriot. They won’t have to face the likes of Aramis Ramirez, as he’s suffering some injury at the moment.

Unfortunately for our beloved Northsiders, the Brewers will be trotting Yovanni Gallardo out to the mound tonight. He’s 4-4 with a 4.22 ERA this year, but 5-1 and 2.77 lifetime against the Cubs. Trade bait Ryan Dempster will pitch for the Cubs. He’s 0-3, 2.90 this year and 15-6 2.75 career against the Brewers.

On another note, Dale Sveum has had a change of heart about Starlin Castro. According to Bruce Miles:

 Sveum says you don’t bench a player for the kind of mistake Castro made.

Maybe someone told him about Quade benching him last year and he wanted to do the exact opposite. Lineup after the jump.

» Continue reading “Live Game Thread: Cubs @ Brewers, 7:10 Central”

The Cubs were on the verge of ruining Mother’s Day, facing a sweep by the Brewers. Jeff Samardzija and crew managed to band together to defeat the Brewers on the strength of the bullpen and late-inning offense. Spellcheck had only given up one run in five innings, but having thrown 91 pitches, Reed Johnson was sent to the plate to pinch hit for him.

“They caught me pretty quick there coming down the dugout,” Samardzija said. “But when you have guys like Reed and them to pinch hit for you, especially with the top of the lineup coming up it’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Johnson’s home run briefly put Samardzija in line for the victory, until reliever Shawn Campcoughed up the lead in the bottom of the inning. Camp then got credit for the victory when the Cubs went ahead for good in the seventh inning.

“It’s always good to be able to affect the game like that,” Johnson said. “I knew that he was up there pitch count wise so anytime we have a leadoff situation that’s usually my at-bat as well. Just go in there and put a good swing on it is all I was trying to do.”

Oh, Shawn Camp. Always looking to steal wins from the starters. Was pinch-hitting for Spellcheck the hardest decision Dale Sveum has ever had to make?

“I wouldn’t say it was a tough one,” Sveum said. “He was at his 90 pitches, he pitched well numbers wise, but the ball was up. You can tell it wasn’t coming out of his hand like it can. It was a time to pinch hit, a time to take a shot and the bullpen was rested. It wasn’t that tough of a decision, no.”

Oh, okay.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Escape From Milwaukee”

Cubs starter Chris Volstad was cruising through yesterday’s game. He had given up three hits in the first five innings, then something named Edwin Maysonet came to the plate. He hit a grand slam.

“It’s been really hard, frustrating,” said Volstad, winless in his last 18 starts. “I’m working my [backside] off and don’t have a lot to show for it.”

(snip)

“That’s the way it’s been for every game,” Volstad said. “I’ve done so well except for one inning. It’s hard to pinpoint the difference. I’ve got to keep working.”

Dale Sveum, any ideas?

“He was doing well and it just got away from him again,” Sveum said. “The slider got him in trouble again. It’s a pitch he needs but it’s getting hit too often and too hard. He was put in a situation to get a ground ball and couldn’t get out of it and close that thing down. It just got out of hand again.”

So… any changes in the works?

“You’re going to consider it,” Sveum said. “There are options and things you can try and other people you can try. We’re all frustrated with the starts and the innings and the five shutout innings and one big inning. Whatever, six, seven starts in, we can’t get a grip on it.”

Ladies and gentlemen, your newest Cubs starter, Casey Coleman!

» Continue reading “Cubs Sunday Headlines/Game Thread: Happy Mother’s Day!”