The Cubs offense has struggled all year to score runs against all major league pitching, but especially that of the left-handed variety. Unfortunately for our beloved North Siders, Sunday night’s starter happened to be a lefty. Dale Sveum, take it away:

‘‘It’s the same story with left-handed pitching,’’ Sveum said as his team’s record against southpaw starters fell to 3-15. ‘‘We were getting beat consistently on fastballs. We swung at pitches out of the zone as well as not doing anything with pitches in the zone.’’

Last night’s was another close game that the Cubs managed to turn into a not-as-close game. Once again, Dale Sveum.

“The thing that’s going on all year long is we get into close ballgames and something breaks down,” Dale Sveum said. “We can’t score if it’s close or we just can’t make a pitch when it’s close to hold them or shut them down to get the game into extra innings. We’ve got to be better at those things — somebody stepping up and getting a big hit when it counts, not when we’re four or five runs down.”

The “not when we’re four or five runs down” must refer to the once-again futile ninth inning rally, a signature of these 2012 Cubs.

» Continue reading “Cubs Monday Headlines: Sun Rises, Cubs Can’t Beat Lefty Starter”

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 did manage to break their “we haven’t led a game in 59 innings” streak last night, with a home run by REEDZ in the first inning. Unfortunately, that’s all the offense the Cubs would get, and they lost their ninth straight game, 5-1. Jeff Samardzija pitched well again, allowing only two runs in his six innings.

“I thought I battled with guy on base, put a couple of good swings on the ball,” Samardzija said. “I need to get a couple of quicker outs there (in the fourth inning) and get our offense back in the dugout. But I thought I battled and made some pitches.”

The two runs were on a strange play where David DeJesus appeared to catch the ball, but Darwin Barney knocked the ball out of his glove.

“It was one of those plays that was too much in the middle of us,” Barney said. “It was placed at a point where he didn’t have a chance to call it. It’s unfortunate. My job is to go until I hear somebody call me off and that ball was put into a spot where he didn’t know he’d have a chance until he got there. He probably didn’t know he’d be able to get there.”

Barney had a bloody elbow and hip after the fall because of the rocky surface on the warning track.

“I thought he caught it,” Barney said. “I went and when I was on the ground, I thought he had it in his glove and there it was. We both did our job and it just happened to turn out that way.”

Maybe gravedigger can help put some salve on Barney’s hip.

» Continue reading “Cubs Thursday Headlines: Still Streaking”

Get used to it.

Ehhhhhh.

Everything was pretty cool for the first three innings, but Randy Wells shattered our illusions when he handed the Phillies a four-run fourth. Both sides would add a run later in the game, which culminated in a 5-2 Cubs loss.

Starlin Castro and Bryan LaHair put the Cubs on the board the first chance they got. Castro lined a single and stole second (he nabbed two tonight, giving him 10 on the year), setting him up to score on LaHair’s double. Wells proceeded to cruise, holding the Phillies hitless through three.

But Randy lost it in the fourth. He faced eight Phils and surrendered four runs on three hits before he was lifted in favor of Michael Bowden, who mercifully killed the inning. Bowden went a total of 2.1 innings on mop-up duty and gave up another run in the sixth.

The Cubs staged a rally in the eighth, when Tony Campana, pinch-hitting for Shawn Camp, singled and later scored on Castro’s fielder’s choice. That was all they would get, though. Phillies starter Joe Blanton dominated Chicago, striking out eight over seven and a third innings.

In fact, the Cubs just sucked at the plate tonight, managing only six hits over the course of the evening and striking out a grand total of 11 times. As for walks, well, excuse me for a moment while I go sob in a corner.

Steve Clevenger, as you may have heard, flew back to Chicago to have treatment for the tightness in his side. Geovany Soto was scratched last-minute with back problems, giving us the pleasure of a Beef Castle start tonight. Unfortunately, it didn’t amount to much: 0-for-3 with a strikeout. Here’s hoping he heats up, because he may be all we’ve got for a while.

Hope for All CubKind Matt Garza faces Kyle Kendrick tomorrow at 1:35. Should you desire to view the contest, you may do so on WGN.

 I had this hilarious dream last night that Paul Maholm out-dueled Roy Halladay.  Most alarmingly, I didn’t wake up to find Maholm in my shower with a 127.00 ERA. Interesting.

Hey, speaking of pitchers, we have some news on the Dempster/Wood front:

PHILADELPHIA — The Cubs got some good news early on Friday as both Kerry Wood and Ryan Dempster threw good bullpen sessions as they work their way back from the disabled list.

Wood, who is working through shoulder fatigue, threw 25 pitches in the Citizens Bank Park bullpen, and the next step is to see how he feels on Saturday before throwing a simulated game on Monday afternoon.

“He did well,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. “He threw all of his pitches. He spun the ball really well, and we’re probably looking at, if everything goes good, a sim game on Monday, and then we’ll go from there. We’re shooting for Thursday [for] another sim game and then see where we are on Thursday.”

What? No towel drills? Did we just skip that part? Pffft. Kids today. No discipline.

Oh, and Ryan Dempster is coming along, too:

Meanwhile, Dempster continues to see improvement in his right quad and appears on track for his return.

“Everything went really well,” Sveum said. “His running went well, the bullpen went great. He’s ready to come back on his day.”

Dempster can come off the 15-day DL as early as May 3.

» Continue reading “Cubs Saturday Headlines: Cubs Call Up Castillo; Pitchers Kinda Getting Better”

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to LOHO’s presentation of Your Cubs Game Recap. Tonight, the role of Ryan Dempster will be played by Chris Volstad.

The Cardinals held off the sweep today with a 5-1 victory over the Cubs. Chris Volstad started out strong, allowing only one run over the first five innings. But in the sixth, he fell apart, and finally gave up the multi-run homer that put the game squarely out of reach.

The third inning was the only black mark on Volstad’s record until he lost it in the sixth. Two leadoff singles created a quick jam, but the only damage was an RBI single by Matt Carpenter, giving the Cards a 1-0 lead.

The first hero of last night’s game, one Bryan LaHair, led off the bottom of the fourth with yet another solo jack to tie it up. Unfortunately, that’s all the Cubs would do (besides, of course, stranding a bunch of runners in scoring position).

The Cardinals, meanwhile, took advantage of a gassed Volstad to score three runs in the sixth. Carlos Beltran drove in one with a double, and then MVP and Hero of the City of Saint Louis, David Freese, cranked a two-run homer to left center to kill the hopes and dreams of the Cubs faithful. Just to add insult to injury, he would also tack on a totally unnecessary insurance run in the seventh off of Shawn Camp.

» Continue reading “Cubs Game Recap: No Sweep Today”

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”

The Marlins had not hit a home run at home yet this season, meaning the home run volcano had not yet been fired. Enter the Cubs. Rafael Dolis pitched one scoreless inning, then was left in the game for a second when Hanley Ramirez hit a three-run home run. Was he left out there longer because of the unavailability of Kerry Wood?

“I still needed two innings out of that spot,” Sveum said. “We’re in a tie game. We would have thought about it but still we would have probably waited one more inning because if we scored then it’s Wood and then it’s [Carlos] Marmol.”

If Wood can’t return by the weekend and finds himself on the disabled list, Dolis is probably looking at more high-pressure situations at the end of games.

“He threw the ball OK, but walked a few guys, obviously,” Sveum said. “It all started with an unfortunate error. He would have got four pretty quick outs and it would have been a different story too.”

The unfortunate turn of circumstances in the eighth marred another good start by Ryan Dempster. He pitched six innings and gave up only two unearned runs (because of his own error).

“That’s about as good as you’ll ever see him throw a baseball,” Dale Sveum said of Dempster, who struck out eight. “He probably made two mistakes the whole game, pitch-wise. His cutter was almost as hard as his fastball and his split finger was ridiculous. That was as good as you’re going to pitch.”

Well, I guess it’s all downhill from here for Dempster.

» Continue reading “Cubs Wednesday Headlines: Monstrosity Erupts”

Finally, we get to see the Marlins’ home-run monstrosity for ourselves. Sort of. If we have CSN. Which I don’t. Let me know how it is.

Ryan Dempster goes for the Cubs tonight against righty Josh Johnson, and Clevenger gets the start behind the plate. Otherwise, no real surprises in the lineup. We won’t, however, be seeing Kerry Wood, as he has flown back to Chicago to get a cortisone shot in his shoulder. (Uh oh.)

Carrie Muskat tweeted that the Cubs took advantage of the nice weather for an early workout, and apparently the roof will be open for the game. Every other beat writer in the world appears to have either been chasing down Ozzie Guillen or Carlos Zambrano, so expect all manner of choice quotes in tomorrow’s papers. Paul Sullivan is winning the prize so far with this:

Lineup below the fold.

» Continue reading “Live Game Thread: Cubs @ Marlins, 6:10 Central”

Paul Maholm squared off against Jake Westbrook and the Cardinals today in a matchup that turned out to be precisely as exciting as I predicted it would. Despite teasing us with a promising first inning, Maholm returned to form in the second and the bullpen wasn’t any better. The Cubs slide to 3-7 with a 10-3 loss to St. Louis.

Maholm threw just 70 pitches today, 42 of them for strikes. He managed a 1-2-3 first inning that got everyone’s optimism generators warmed up, but promptly plunked Carlos Beltran to lead off the second, and it was downhill from there.

He followed that up by almost hitting Yadier Molina, and then never throwing another strike ever (give or take). His line for the day: 4.0 IP, 6H, 6ER, 1BB, 2SO. He also served up a three-run homer to Yadier in the third and hit Daniel Descalso too, for good measure. His ERA is a ridiculous and tragic 13.50.

Lendy Castillo and Rodrigo Lopez each pitched two innings of relief, and each gave up two runs. Castillo collected four strikeouts, but also gave up a two-run homer (to Matt Carpenter, the Lance Berkman fill-in) and a walk. If there’s such a thing as a “three true outcomes” pitcher, I submit to you that Lendy Castillo is that man.

» Continue reading “Cubs Game Recap: Maholm Gives Up 6 In Blowout”