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Cubs By The Numbers is a history of the ballclub by uniform number, but the biographies help trace the history of our beloved team in a new way. For everyone who's a Cubs fan, anyone who ever wore the uniform is like family. Cubs By The Numbers reintroduces readers to some of their long-lost ancestors, even ones they think they already know.
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Cubs Minor League Wrap: September 2
by Josh77 on Sep 3, 2010 12:03 AM CDT
in Minor Leagues
0 comments
Bad night for the Cubs farm system tonight. Still, there's always Tennessee.
Iowa Cubs
The Iowa Cubs were knocked out of balance by the Albuquerque Isotopes, 13-3.
Austin Bibens-Dirkx started, pitched five innings and took the loss. He allowed five runs on six hits, including two home runs. He walked three and struck out one.
The whole bullpen stunk but special approbation is saved for Jeff Gray, who allowed five runs over 1.1 innings.
Right fielder Brad Snyder gave the I-Cubs a short-lived early lead with a solo home run in the top of the first. He now has 24 home runs this year. Snyder went 1 for 4.
The situation for Iowa is now very simple. They must win 3 of 4 against Memphis in Des Moines starting tomorrow to win the division and make the post-season.
Tennessee Smokies
Tennessee clinched a while ago, but tonight they couldn't hold a candle to the Jacksonville Suns, 6-2.
Starter Rafael Dolis pitched 5.2 innings and allowed four runs on eight hits. Dolis walked two and struck out four.
Center fielder Tony Campana went 1 for 3 with a walk and two more stolen bases. He scored once. Campana now has 46 steals this season.
Book Review: "Wrigley Regulars"
by Al Yellon on Sep 2, 2010 1:00 PM CDT
in Book Reviews
28 comments
Many times, I have been asked, "Why do you go to every single game?" or "What is it about the bleachers that you like so much?" or "Why do you sit out there when you could get a better seat closer up?"
The answers to these questions are difficult to give, but now I can simply tell people who ask, "Go buy 'Wrigley Regulars', because it answers all these questions better than I possibly can."
Before I tell you about this book, you should know a couple of things. First, Holly Swyers, who is an assistant professor of anthropology at Lake Forest College, is one of the "Wrigley Regulars" and has been a personal friend of mine for more than ten years. She asked me (and other regulars) to read through her drafts to make sure all the facts were correct, and that means you'll find things about me (and about this site) in the book. It's also written not just about baseball and the Wrigley bleachers, but it's designed to be a college-level sociology/anthropology textbook about communities and how they come together.
Who Should Be The Cubs' Next Manager?
by Al Yellon on Sep 2, 2010 8:00 AM CDT
in News
450 comments
On today's off day, I thought I'd start out with a quick post which is mostly a poll. I asked you this question in July, after Lou Piniella announced his retirement, but it deserves asking again. Some circumstances have changed since then, with Mike Quade in the mix since he's serving as manager now.
This poll assumes that Joe Girardi will NOT be available. My guess is that if I put Girardi in this poll, he would win it by an overwhelming margin. He'd be my first choice; assuming he's unavailable, my choice, as most of you know, is Ryne Sandberg.
So, vote in the poll, which is in alphabetical order and now includes Quade -- and doesn't include Alan Trammell, who was in the original poll but has been ruled out as a possible Cubs manager next year.
Cubs Minor League Wrap: September 1
by Josh77 on Sep 2, 2010 1:38 AM CDT
in Minor Leagues
28 comments
The most amazing game of the year tonight in Albuquerque, aided by a ball hit by pinch-hitter James Adduci that literally ripped right through the webbing of the glove of the Isotopes third baseman.
If you haven't heard, Darwin Barney and Brad Snyder were named to the All-PCL team. Robinson Chirinos, Tony Campana and Brandon Guyer were named to the Southern League Post-Season All-Star team and Alvaro Ramirez and Pierre LePage were named Northwest League All-Stars.
Iowa Cubs
The Iowa Cubs scored nine runs in the ninth inning to stun the Albuquerque Isotopes, 15-13.
It was a rough start for Jay Jackson. Jackson lasted only four innings and allowed nine runs on ten hits. Two of the nine runs were unearned. Jackson did walk only one and he struck out six.
Jake Muyco relieved Jackson and while he didn't pitch that well, allowing four runs over 3.1 innings, he did eat up some innings and go 2 for 2 at the plate. (I can't believe I'm mentioning a relief pitcher because of what he did at the plate.)
Justin Berg got the win in relief by getting the final two outs of the eighth inning. One of his outs was a strikeout.
Jeff Stevens pitched the ninth inning and got his ninth save. He allowed only one single. He struck out one Isotope.
The ninth inning comeback was keyed by a pair of three-run home runs. The first was by left fielder Jason Dubois. It was actually Dubois' second three-run home run of the game, as he had earlier hit one in the seventh inning. Dubois was 3 for 6 with six RBI. He has 18 homers this season and 86 in his Iowa career. The Iowa record is 90.
The killing blow was launched by third baseman Marquez Smith, whose line-drive home run in the ninth gave the I-Cubs the lead. It was Smith's 17th home run this year for Iowa. Smith went 2 for 5 with a walk. He had four total RBI and he crossed the plate three times.
Right fielder Brad Snyder had two doubles in a 2 for 6 effort. Snyder scored once and batted one in. First baseman Bryan LaHair was 2 for 6 with a run scored.
Catcher Chris Robinson was 2 for 5 with a double. He also stole his first base of the season. Robinson scored once and had one RBI.
Center fielder Sam Fuld was 1 for 3 with three walks. Fuld scored three times, including the go-ahead run on Smith's home run, and had one RBI. Fuld stole one base. He was so good, I'm not even going to mention that he made his first error of the season. But if I did, I'd say that making your first error of the season on September 1st is pretty impressive.
It was a huge win as Memphis also won, meaning the I-Cubs keep their one game lead in the American North division of the Pacific Coast League. The two teams play five more games, including four against each other in Des Moines. As far as I can tell, Memphis holds the tiebreaker between the two teams, so keeping the one game lead is huge going into the final four game series.
Spring Training In September? Makeshift Cubs Lineup Beats Pirates
by Al Yellon on Sep 1, 2010 5:50 PM CDT
in Recaps
220 comments
Sun and clouds battled to a draw at Wrigley Field as September dawned, but the play on the field resembled nothing more than a split-squad spring training game Wednesday afternoon.
Of the Cubs' starting eight, only two -- Kosuke Fukudome and Alfonso Soriano -- were in the team's Opening Day lineup this year. Back on that day in April, three others (Starlin Castro was at Tennessee and Darwin Barney and Micah Hoffpauir) were playing at Iowa (and congrats to Barney for making the All-PCL team); two were on the Cubs' bench (Koyie Hill and Tyler Colvin) and one (Blake DeWitt) was the starting second baseman for the Dodgers.
The result was ultimately meaningless, except that it won a series for the first time this year over the Pirates and gave the Cubs a 6-3 record under Mike Quade; still, today's 5-3 win over the Pirates provided a starring role for at least one Cub, Fukudome, whose future with the team has been in question.
Fukudome was 3-for-3 with a walk, RBI and two runs scored; since August 1, in 79 plate appearances, he is hitting .394/.494/.727 with eight doubles, four HR and 13 RBI. For the season his triple-slash line reads .281/.409/.465 -- clearly his best season to date, with an OPS now at .874.
First Pitch Thread: Cubs vs. Pirates, Wednesday 9/1, 1:20 CT
by Al Yellon on Sep 1, 2010 1:15 PM CDT
in Game Threads
160 comments
Let's win this series, Gorz.
Cubs vs. Pirates Preview, Wednesday 9/1, 1:20 CT: What Will September Bring?
by Al Yellon on Sep 1, 2010 11:30 AM CDT
in Game Threads
35 comments
Here is the Cubs' record after September 1 (includes a handful of regular season October games) for the last ten seasons:
2009: 18-14 2008: 12-12 2007: 17-12 2006: 12-17 2005: 16-13 2004: 17-13 2003: 19-8 2002: 11-16 2001: 13-15 2000: 7-22
Predictive value for this year: zero. The Cubs have had good Septembers in bad years (2005), mediocre and bad Septembers in good years (2001, 2008) and just about everything in between. In 2005 they entered September seven games under .500 (and like today, 21.5 games out of first place) and had a decent run; in 2001 they entered September only four games out of first and played losing baseball.
In short, who knows? There are 29 games remaining. The Cubs would have to go 17-12 to avoid losing 90; given some of the results above, that's possible, but unlikely. In even more unlikely events, they would have to go 26-3 to finish over .500 (forget it), and 6-23 to lose 100 games (they've been bad, but not that bad).
One more thing: Welington Castillo was with the club yesterday in case Geovany Soto had to go on the DL. Castillo is not eligible to be activated until tomorrow due to the 10-day rule; it seems pointless to put Geo on the DL for one game, so the Cubs will likely just go with Koyie Hill today and activate Castillo in time for the weekend series against the Mets. Bruce Miles notes other possible callups:
I don’t expect much in the way of call-ups initially because Iowa is fighting for a playoff spot and Tennessee is in the playoffs. In addition to Castillo, I’d guess it would be Samardzija, Fuld, Atkins and maybe Berg and possibly Brad Snyder.
That sounds about right, although Snyder is not on the 40-man roster, and the 40-man is currently full after the recall of Scott Maine. James Adduci could be brought up instead of Snyder, but Adduci has the same skillset as Sam Fuld (except he's taller). I wouldn't expect more than those recalls, plus the activation of Carlos Silva, who is scheduled to start for Peoria at Kane County tonight. That would make six or seven additions; most teams don't do more than that and there really isn't enough playing time for more than that.
Today's lineup via tweet from Carrie:
#Cubs lineup vs #Pirates for Wed: 2B DeWitt, SS Castro, RF Fuke, 1B Hoffpauir, CF Colvin, LF Soriano, 3B Baker, C Hill, P Gorzelanny
Ryan Dempster Has Shortest Start In More Than Two Years, Cubs Blasted By Pirates
by Al Yellon on Sep 1, 2010 7:30 AM CDT
in Recaps
140 comments
Here's how one play can set the tone for an entire game.
In the first inning last night, the first three batters facing Ryan Dempster had grounded to third, walked and singled. This isn't terrible; Dempster thus had a runners on first and third situation with one out.
He got Garrett Jones to hit a comebacker. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, he turns that into a 1-6-3 double play and gets out of the inning. But last night, Dempster bobbled the ball and could only get one out, at first base. A run scored. So now he's got two out, a run in and a runner on second; still not a terrible inning if you can get out of it.
Dempster himself admits he didn't do his job then:
"You've got to put that behind you right away and go out there and make pitches," Dempster said. "I didn't do a very good job making quality pitches tonight. I was prepared and I was ready but I didn't execute. When you don't execute, you get bad results."
The bad results were a double, a hit batter and another double, and the Cubs were in a 4-0 hole before they even batted. Seems likely that Dempster was upset with himself for not making the double play happen and may not have been focused on the hitters and, as he said, didn't execute his pitches. It was Dempster's second-shortest outing as a Cubs starter; the only shorter one was June 27, 2008 at the Cell, when he was knocked out after 2.1 innings.
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cincinnati
|
78 | 55 | .586 | 0 | Won 4 |
|
St. Louis
|
69 | 62 | .526 | 8 | Lost 5 |
|
Houston
|
62 | 71 | .466 | 16 | Won 3 |
|
Milwaukee
|
62 | 71 | .466 | 16 | Lost 3 |
|
Chicago
|
57 | 77 | .425 | 21.5 | Won 1 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
44 | 89 | .330 | 34 | Lost 1 |
(updated 9.2.2010 at 10:35 PM CDT)
Current Series
3 game series vs Mets @ Wrigley Field
|
Friday, Sep 3, 2010, 1:20 PM CDT Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to right field at 15-25 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 70. |
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| Sat 09/04 | 12:05 PM CDT | |
| Sun 09/05 | 1:20 PM CDT | |
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