The Cubs were locked in a 2-2 tie yesterday when Reed Johnson came to the plate. With runners on first and third and two out, of course REEDZ bunted and drove in the winning run.

“That was on his own,” Dale Sveum said. “He’s a good bunter, and I remember once in Boston, he did it against us with the bases loaded and it turned into a monster inning.”

Is REEDZ now the Cubs’ most tradeable player? Is tradeable a word?

“I guess you would always be shocked but where we are at now every player in here hears the rumors,” Johnson said. “I don’t really pay too much attention to them because I have always had rumors over my 10-year career and never been traded.”

Johnson has the reputation as a real good corner outfielder who will somehow always make the big play on offense or defense with the game on the line.

“It is a situation for me where when you are packing your stuff that’s when you believe you are headed someplace else,” he said.

Whatever happens, his mom will keep him apprised of the situation.

“I feel like my mom could be my agent because she always has an idea of where I’m going to go but I never end up anywhere,” Johnson said. “I might have to fire her.”

I’d be happy for him if he ends up on a playoff-bound team, but there’s not going to be much return for a fourth/fifth outfielder.

» Continue reading “Cubs Sunday Headlines/Game Thread: Reed Johnson Showcases Grit For Trade Suitors”

Last night I wrote about the Pirates being in contention in the NL Central. Heck, they even pulled off a trade for a starting pitcher (Wandy Rodriguez), trying to boost their rotation for the playoff race. But the Cubs are enjoying their role as spoilers, and did what they can to start the Pirates’ playoff ship sinking. Paul Maholm led the way to a 5-1 Cubs victory.

“He’s been coming out with all four pitches every night,” manager Dale Sveum said. “He’s staying with the game plan, he’s not shaking off, he’s not doing anything that he shouldn’t be doing. He’s making all the pitches and getting ground-ball double plays and strikeouts. He’s really prepared and doing obviously a great job. It’s something you don’t see too often after five or six starts.”

He became the first Cub lefty starter to have five consecutive starts of at least 6 innings pitched and 1 or fewer runs allowed since 1918. Any chance Maholm gets traded this week?

“Paulie is just one of those guys that’s been around for a long time and I think he’s somewhat coming into his own too,” Sveum said. We forget he had a 3.6 ERA last year even if the wins and losses aren’t there. You have a 3.6 ERA and you have a pretty good year. You take his first start away and maybe one other one and he’s been pretty good for most of the year.”

Is that Dale Sveum’s sales pitch?

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Take That, Resurgent Pirates!”

The Cubs will be trying to ruin everything for the Pirates again tonight. The Pirates are 13 games over .500 and only 1.5 games behind the Reds, but the Cubs will hope to send them into a tailspin that will send them back to the losing team we’ve known for the last 20 years.

On the mound for the Cubs tonight is former Pirate Paul Maholm (8-6, 4.09). He’ll be opposed by James McDonald, who I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of. He’s 10-3 and has a 2.93 ERA. He’s had a good year, but has given up 4 or more runs in 3 of his last 5 starts.

Lineup after the jump

» Continue reading “Live Game Thread: Cubs @ Pirates, 6:05 Central”

It was a stormy night in Chicago, but
the Cubs managed to score more runs than the Marlins before the game was washed out. Jeff Samardzija only made it through five innings and got a no-decision, but looked again like the starter from earlier in the season. We should all be grateful fr his progress, as he may wind up the number one starter in a week or so.

‘‘I understand what my role is with this team and what it’s going to be in the future, and I’m really trying to do everything I can today so down the road when you are relied upon, you’re ready to take the reins and do what you’ve got to do.

‘‘Is that the situation you want? Obviously, I want to be the guy, but it also would be nice to have Dempster or Garza throwing in front of you or behind you.’’

And his humility is boundless.

» Continue reading “Thursday Headlines/Game Thread: Cubs Sneak In Win Before Rain”

Yes, I survived the massive storms that ripped through the area today. Thanks for noticing. Since none of you bothered to ask if I survived, I will point out that it’s now in the low 70s here, and all the windows in the cabin are open. So suck on that, those of you left in the deep fryer.

Uh, so the Cubs are still in Atlanta, and also STILL in the basement in the NL Central, but ONLY ONE GAME BEHIND THE ASTROS. The dream is still alive.

Tonight the Cubs send Paul Maholm (who I swear pitches every other day at this point) (2-4, 4.71)  to the hill to face  some dude named Randall Delgado (2-5, 4.18).

I know that this isn’t a headlines post, but I just had to point this out. Dale Sveum was asked about his fondest memory thus far in baseball, and he chose PITCHING DURING THE HOME RUN DERBY IN 2005.

ATLANTA — Dale Sveum had thrown plenty of batting practice, but never on such a big stage as the 2005 Home Run Derby, which was part of the All-Star festivities at Comerica Park in Detroit.

“Throwing in a Home Run hitting contest is kind of overwhelming in a way, because everybody is sitting there watching,” said Sveum, now the Cubs’ manager. “When you throw B.P., nobody is really watching you. [With the Home Run Derby], you know it’s on TV, millions of people watching.

“There are a lot of firsts involved,” he said Monday. “You’re throwing to Hall of Famers and regular hitters and All-Stars, and talking to them and getting to know guys who you don’t know, and you know they’re great players. Having your son on the field, those are the things you can’t replace or take away. He’ll never forget being on the field.”

» Continue reading “Cubs Live Game Thread: I Don’t “Get” Dale Sveum”

The baseball Diamondbacks have been as welcoming to the Cubs this weekend as real diamondbacks, which is to say not very. The Cubs were snake-bitten again last night on their way to a 10-5 loss. At least they scored 5 runs, right?

The Cubs actually scored more runs Saturday than they had in their previous three games combined (three), but, as Sveum said, “We left a few people out there, too, in key spots.”

Despite 14 hits, the Cubs went 2-for-11 with men in scoring position, making them 3-for-19 through the first two games of the series.

“We’ve got to get better with men in scoring position. That’s the bottom line,” Sveum said. “Our core guys have to start doing something in the middle of that order.”

David DeJesus and Starlin Castro both had four hits but neither scored a run. Paul Maholm did hit a two-run home run, but also gave up six earned runs in 3.2 innings.

“You watched it,” he said. “I didn’t make pitches. I made a pitch that I thought I was getting out of it. Didn’t make any pitches after it.”

Maholm was referring to a throwing error by third baseman Luis Valbuena that preceded four straight hits, including a two-run triple by Paul Goldschmidt.

“You make a pitch you think you’re getting out of it, and all hell broke loose,” he said.

The Cubs are 1/2 game ahead of the Padres for the first pick in the draft, though.

» Continue reading “Cubs Sunday Headlines/Game Thread: Cubs Can’t Win In Desert, Either”

In case you were doing something better than watching the Cubs last night (I was watching B-movies on Netflix), you might have missed another depressing Cubs loss. Jeff Samardzija continued his recent trend of not pitching very well.

“I’m beginning to notice about the 80-pitch mark, the ball gets up,” Sveum said. “Even though there’s no velocity (drop), the ball gets up and that’s where the walks start coming in. So we’re going to have to monitor that because it’s definitely getting to be a pattern.”

Jeff’s season is definitely not headed in the right direction.

Samardzija said he feels “better” than he did early in the season when he went 2-0 with a 1.03 ERA in four starts. Since then he’s 1-5 with a 5.95 ERA over his last seven starts.

“It’s just those times when there are runners on base, you need to really bear down and make your pitches,” he said. “I left that splitter up to Montero, which was a big pitch. Those are make or break times in the game.”

So, Mr. Sveum, the D’Backs had a late scratch from a lefty starter to a righty, but you stayed with the same old crappy right-handed hitting lineup. Any explanation?

Sveum said he had time to change the lineup but believed it wouldn’t make much of a difference against Collmenter, whose “funky” delivery makes it especially difficult for anyone who hasn’t faced him several times.

“We had no prior history with him. None of our hitters had ever faced him,” Sveum said. “I saw it last year. For [hitters who’d] never faced him before, he’s a completely different pitcher. He’s a guy you have to face three, four, five times before you get a reading on that arm slot and everything.”

So you don’t think any of the Cubs hitters would have hit him. I’d still rather give Bryan LaHair a shot there than Jeff Baker. But maybe it’s just me.

» Continue reading “Cubs Saturday Headlines/Game Thread: Cubs @ D’Backs, 9:10 Central”

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”

See that water falling around Paul Maholm? That's Pirate Fans' tears.

Let’s just hit the highlights here:

• The Cubs are back at PNC Park tonight at 6:15 pm on FOX
• The Cubs are playing the lowly Pirates, who are AHEAD of us in the standings
• The Cubs are trying to avoid losing 11 games in a row

That pretty much sums it up. I’m torn about whether I want to see this team break the losing streak, or keep going and see how many games they can actually lose. Is that wrong? Eh–it’s not like it matters, anyway.

Paul Maholm (4-3, 4.73) is back in his old stomping grounds tonight to take on Kevin Correia (1-5, 4.50). If you believe Len, the fact that Paul Maholm is back in town is responsible for the Pirates drawing 25,000 fans in this series. I, for one, call shenanigans on that theory. Pirates fans are notoriously horrible–I doubt they even know Maholm plays for another team yet.

» Continue reading “Cubs Live Game Thread: Here We Go Again”

The Twitter is all aflutter this morning with news that Anthony Rizzo could be a June call up. I’m not exactly sure where this news started or why, but it’s what the Cubs blogosphere has been saying since Spring Training. Nice of you to join us, beat writers.

So, we have yet another chance to get our brains blown out by the White Sox today, which is actually less fun than it sounds. Knowing that this team couldn’t really compete (even in the NL Central) doesn’t make watching them lose any easier. With Kerry gone, Marmol, Castillo, Clevenger and Soto on the (official or unofficial) DL, and the return of Koyie Hill and Randy Wells, the reasons to watch this team on a daily basis continue to dwindle.

I get it.

» Continue reading “Cubs Sunday Game Thread: Let’s Just Get This Over With”