We waited ten months to see Matt Garza take the mound for the Chicago Cubs, and he didn’t disappoint in his return. He pitched five shutout innings, didn’t allow a hit until the fifth and struck out five batters. He even had a two-run double in the second inning, which, for awhile, looked like the only runs the Cubs might need all night. What was it like to be back on the mound?

I don’t think Shawn Camp will smile like this in the vicinity of Matt Garza anytime soon.

“I felt great out there,” Garza told reporters. “I had some butterflies and the first couple of innings flew by. I had to kind of stop myself at one point and just slow down, but it was fun. It was a long, long time and it’s nice to not only come back but pitch well. You don’t want to spend that much time working to get back and then pitch poorly.”

Dale Sveum was happy to see such a good performance from Garza as well.

“He was really good,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. “He had a really good slider. His command, for it being his first time back, was outstanding. Even when he missed, he didn’t miss by much. His velocity was good, too, consistently at 93-94 (mph). He was just outstanding.”

The only bad thing was that Garza couldn’t stretch his 85-90 pitch count farther into the game. Unfortunately, the bullpen didn’t take long to undo Garza’s good work.

In the sixth inning, Rule 5 pitcher Hector Rondon gave up a leadoff double to Neil Walker, who later scored when lefty James Russell walked Pedro Alvarez with the bases loaded. Moments later, pinch-hitter Travis Snider crushed Shawn Camp’s changeup for a grand slam.

» Continue reading “Chicago Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Garza Great, Bullpen, Not So Much”

Shawn Camp’s big ears and winning smile will be back on the Northside in 2013

In 2012, the Cubs needed a rubber-armed veteran to eat up bullpen innings, and Shawn Camp did so adequately. He was the Cubs’ only free agent this year, and we’d already heard that they were likely to re-sign him, and now they have.

The Cubs and reliever Shawn Camp have agreed to a one-year, $1.35 million contract that includes another $200,000 in possible incentives, the team announced Monday. Camp, who was the Cubs’ only free agent, returns to the team after appearing in a career-high 80 relief appearances. He finished tied for the Major League lead in appearances and ranked fifth in the National League with 77 2/3 innings.

I’d be shocked if he makes it through 2013 in one piece, but someone has to go out there and pitch in middle relief. It might as well be Shawn Camp. Shawn Camp is not the only free agent reliever the Cubs have in their sights. Right-handed Kyuki Fujikawa from Japan is said to be sparking the interest of the Cubs and other teams.

Fujikawa, considered among the top closers in Nippon Pro Baseball over the last decade, toured the facilities of Arizona and the Chicago Cubs in the last week. He is expected to also visit with the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers, both of whom have expressed interest.

(snip)

Fukijawa, 32, was 2-2 with 24 saves and a 1.32 ERA in 47 2/3 innings this season with Hanshin of the Japan Central League. Fujikawa is considered a power pitcher with a mid-90s mph fastball. He has averaged 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings in his career.

If he’s touring facilities, the Cubs are probably at the bottom of his list. And I can’t see the Cubs offering more than the Dodgers or Angels for a 32-year-old Japanese reliever.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Welcome Back Shawn Camp”

Friday will be the one-year anniversary of Theo Epstein becoming president of baseball operations for the Cubs. He already regrets coming to Chicago, if only for the loss of his youthful appearance.

“I have a lot more gray hair now than I did a year ago — my wife reminds me of that all the time,” Epstein said. “I do feel really energized by a lot of the things that are going on here.”

He walked into an organization that had one young impact player on the Major League level and a whole lot of unknown behind him. Theo feels better about the state of the organization today.

“I also wake up every day and recognize we lost 101 games and understand how painful that was for everybody, including me, and that provides further motivation to get out of this position that we’re in,” he said. “I think there were a lot of positives. That core, at least in my mind, went from one player to half a dozen, and if we can do that again in 2013, and we look up and we have close to a dozen players in our core, I’ll feel great about the overall health of the organization.

“I also want to make the playoffs and I understand that’s a big challenge, so I hope we hit on a few guys this winter and get off to a good start and we have one of those unexpected seasons.”

The Cubs might win the World Series next year!

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Encouraging Words From Epstein”

The baseball playoffs are a wonderful time of year. Wonderful, unless you’re a blog contributor trying to find news about a team that is never in the playoffs. Luckily for us, there are still people asking stupid questions over at Cubs.com. Our first contestant today is Jeremy from Atlanta:

What is the Cubs’ plan for Bryan LaHair? I’ve never seen a team bench an All-Star like they did. I know he struggles against lefties but in a season that was about training new players, how come he didn’t get any at-bats against lefties for practice? He couldn’t have done any worse than Brett Jackson or Josh Vitters did. LaHair did carry the offense in the first half of the season and he can hit right-handed pitching with power. If he could bat .260 against lefties and over .300 against right-handers, he would be a valuable starter. Why aren’t the Cubs working more with him?
– Jeremy M., Atlanta

Do these people understand the wealth of information on the internet? If Bryan LaHair could hit .260 against lefties and .300 against right-handers, he’d be great. But, as Carrie Muskat pointed out in her reply, he hit .063 against lefties (3-48). He hit .291 against right-handed pitchers, but his overall OPS was .784. LaHair also turns 30 in November, while Jackson is 24 and Vitters 23. Any idea why the Cubs might want to use more playing time to develop the two of them over LaHair? Plus, Jackson is way hotter.

» Continue reading “Monday Fun: Cubs.com Mailbag Extravaganza”

Alfonso Soriano continued his hot streak yesterday with another home run (7 in 13 games). He also made a diving catch off those rickety knees and got a double play out of the deal. So, Alfonso, how does it feel to be hitting again?

“I’m feeling so good at home plate right now,” Soriano said. “I know I didn’t hit (a home run) in like six weeks but sometimes it’s so difficult to hit one. Now I feel so good and I’m happy to help the team to win.”

Dale Sveum, is your continued confidence in Soriano being validated?

“Hopefully when the season’s over that media guide doesn’t lie,” Sveum said. “When you get enough at-bats for these guys who have had a track record like Soriano you look up sometimes and they might be struggling for a month and you look at the end of the year and they have their 30 home runs and 90-100 RBIs. It’s the way these guys are.”

And back to the Fonz, what’s up with your improvement in left field this year?

“I was working hard in spring training with (outfield coach) Dave McKay and I’m working hard in the season too,” he said. “I try to get better every day and prove to myself that I can play very good defense. That’s all I do is to work hard every day to get better.”

It is nice to see him giving max effort, despite the fact that he limps like he’s had both knees replaced.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines/Game Thread: Cubs Continue Rise To Top”

The Cubs’ losing streak reached a dozen games yesterday. At this point, none of us go into games expecting a win, but with Matt Garza on the mound, you might have expected a game closer than 10-4.

Garza put bookends on a brutal road trip when he gave up six runs (five earned) on seven hits and a walk in five innings Sunday in a 10-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. That one unearned run is misleading since it was Garza’s own error in the first inning that put a runner on board beforePedro Alvarez crushed a three-run home run.

Matt, anything to say?

“The last couple have been frustrating but you have to keep going and keep grinding,” Garza told reporters in Pittsburgh, including an ESPN 1000 correspondent. “I’m going to keep going at it. There is nothing else I can do. Just keep going every day going hard and grinding it out. It’s going to turn. It’s gotta turn.”

Mr. Sveum, any thoughts?

“He was getting beat by pitches he shouldn’t be throwing people, really,” manager Dale Sveum said, “He was getting beat by is fourth best pitch and he had a great fastball today. I don’t know why he wanted to use those pitches but it came back to haunt him, that’s for sure.”

It was offspeed stuff that did in Garza at Houston as well.

“I’ll have to talk to him again,” Sveum said. “He got into a situation against a couple of guys where velocity gets them. He decided to throw changeups. It’s not exactly protocol or what the game plan was. It’s unfortunate. They hit them out of the ballpark. A lot of times they will roll over on them too but that’s the way things are going.”

» Continue reading “Cubs Memorial Day Headlines/Game Thread: On to 13″

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”

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”

Well, the Cubs turned back into pumpkins today.

Chris Volstad held the Cardinals off for three innings, but lost it in the fourth and gave up four runs a la Jeff Samardzija of yesterday. The Cardinals are really good at hitting baseballs, did you know that? Of course, it could also be that the Cubs aren’t so good at throwing them. The final tally was 5-1 St. Louis.

Chicago got its lone run in the top of the sixth, when David DeJesus scored on Starlin Castro’s single. Soriano singled, sending Castro to third, but Ian Stewart and Bryan LaHair promptly struck out back-to-back to kill it.

Shawn Camp handed that run right back in the bottom of the seventh, when he served up a homer to Jon Jay (really?). The top of the order made it interesting again in the eighth, when a DeJesus single and a Castro double put two runners in scoring position with one out. But the Cubs – surprise! – couldn’t deliver, and would do exactly nothing in the ninth inning either.

That’s about the sum total of the excitement today. I don’t know… This was one of those games that was a grind to get through. The Cubs just couldn’t seem to string any hits together, and they ended up striking out a total of nine times and stranding seven runners on base. The best thing you can say about Volstad or Camp – the only two pitchers today – was that neither gave up a walk.

Soriano (hot right now, it seems) and Castro both had two-hit days, but Castro also had throwing errors in back-to-back innings, doubling his 2012 total for four on the season. It was just… a Cub kind of day. As good as the Cardinals are, we gave ‘em plenty of help.

Tomorrow is Jackie Robinson Day, so everybody will be wearing #42. Paul Maholm will square off against Jake Westbrook, which, to be honest, sounds exactly as thrilling as today’s game. Oh well… If you need something to sleep off your Saturday night party to, they’re on at 1:15 on CSN.

And invite me to your party. I’m bored.

It seems a bit early in the year to start discussing the pigpen moniker in regards to the Cubs bullpen. Last night’s culprit was Mariners reject Shawn Camp. He managed to allow three runs in two innings and left us clamoring for Rodrigo Lopez.

“I had a good game plan. I just think if I came out making quality pitches, you get good results,” Camp said. “I have been around this game long enough. I just got some balls elevated. My success is built on keeping the ball on the ground and that didn’t happen today.”

I think one problem, Shawn, is that you have precious few quality pitches left in you. Fortunately for your baseball career, none of the Cubs’ other options in the bullpen race did, either. We’re only four games into the season, and Camp is already dreading coming to the ballpark.

“I just think winning is contagious and pitching is contagious too,” Camp said. “Once people get rolling, all you need is that momentum going into a certain situation and pitching becomes contagious. It’s easy to come to the yard when you are having success. The hard part is when you aren’t having success.”

It’s hard for us when you’re not having success, too. But Mr. Camp wasn’t the only Cubs pitcher who struggled. Chris Volstad threw the first clunker by a Cubs starter so far this season.

He threw 25 pitches in the first inning and had 78 through four innings. He lasted just five, giving up three runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

“I think on a whole today, especially the first six, seven innings, we couldn’t get strike one,” manager Dale Sveum said. “That was big, especially to that lineup, who a lot of times will give you strike one. Other than that, I think his stuff was OK. He couldn’t throw his slider for a strike so he couldn’t get a lot of swings. I think his ball was moving off the plate a lot. I think his stuff was good, but he was averaging about 20 pitches an inning.”

But don’t worry, young Mr. Volstad knows how to get better.

“That first inning kind of got me; I just wasn’t in the zone enough,” Volstad said. “They were fouling off pitches and got me in a hole early. I felt I got better as the game went on and had the first inning, maybe if I kept that first inning down a little bit, maybe I could have stayed in the game. It’s something to work on.”

The only question is can he do those things to get better.

» Continue reading “Cubs Tuesday Headlines: Bullpen Still Sucks”