Bleed Cubbie Blue - Cubs vs. White Sox Monday Game ThreadsA Chicago Cubs Fan Community Since February 9, 2005https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47557/cubbieblue.png2017-02-27T18:25:13-06:00http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/rss/stream/144968972017-02-27T18:25:13-06:002017-02-27T18:25:13-06:00Cubs 4, White Sox 4: Tie After Tie
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<figcaption>Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Someday, the Cubs will win again. But at least they’re not losing.</p> <p id="RJZzf4"><strong>MESA, Arizona</strong> — The difference between <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/world-series">the World Series</a> champion <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a>, who are basically just getting players ready slowly for the 2017 season, and the <a href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a>, was crystal clear in Monday’s slow-moving <a href="http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2017_02_27_chamlb_chnmlb_1">4-4 tie between the teams</a> at Sloan Park, the Cubs’ second straight deadlock.</p>
<p id="QRwNHd">Rick Renteria, the new Sox manager, used 30 players, including three first basemen and three catchers. He trotted out two pinch-runners and made two mid-inning pitching changes. All of this, I suppose, is Ricky trying to figure out what he has and what bench players and relief pitchers are going to make his squad.</p>
<p id="CEAZgp">Meanwhile, the Cubs, as they have been doing since the start of games over the weekend, had regulars play for two or three at-bats. <span>Anthony Rizzo</span> left for a pinch runner — and not a guy who’d normally do that, <span>Chris Dominguez</span>. That was done, most likely, because a light rain had been falling at the ballpark for an inning or two, and after Rizzo walked in the third inning, Joe Maddon probably figured it was best to not have him running the bases in less-than-ideal conditions.</p>
<p id="o3rWTg">Most of the rest of the regulars left after the fourth, except for <span>Kyle Schwarber</span>, who stuck around until the fifth to get him three at-bats. He singled sharply to right field in the first, grounded out 3-1 in the third and was called out on strikes in the fifth. He had one routine putout and handled a couple of other balls (singles to left) without any difficulty. He seemed to be moving around quite well in left field, and though I know the Cubs will bring him along slowly and give him many innings off even during the season, I don’t think he’ll have any trouble out there.</p>
<p id="ZGdN1x"><span>Brett Anderson</span> made his first appearance of the spring, and threw just one inning. Tim Anderson won the battle of the Andersons by leading off the game with a single, but Brett A. then got a pair of groundouts and struck out <span>Matt Davidson</span> to end the inning. He looked just fine and those ground balls are encouraging. One inning isn’t much to judge on, so I won’t. But I’m sure we’ll see him again on the weekend.</p>
<p id="d3CJI3">Brad Markey, who was a starter at Double-A Tennessee last year, got hit hard by the Sox, including a two-run homer by <span>Jose Abreu</span> that gave the Sox a 3-2 lead at the time. The Cubs had taken that 2-0 lead on solo homers by <span>Addison Russell</span> and <span>Willson Contreras</span>. The Russell homer landed in the glove of my friend Ken Keefer near the back of the left-field berm, a pretty good blast on a chilly, windy afternoon:</p>
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<p id="wMqCjN">And here’s Willson’s blast:</p>
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<p id="rTugac">Of the minor leaguers who threw the rest of the game for the Cubs, the one who impressed me most was <span>Jhondaniel Medina</span>, who had a 1-2-3 inning with three groundouts. Two of the three hitters were guys with big-league experience (<span>Leury Garcia</span>, <span>Everth Cabrera</span>). Medina is 24 and split last year between Double-A and Triple-A in the <a href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pirates</a> organization. If he has a sinker that can induce ground balls like that, he might have a chance to make the big-league pen, not this year but somewhere down the road.</p>
<p id="ceeyNg">The Cubs took a 4-3 lead in the seventh. With runners on second and third, Chesny Young (who was only in the game because <span>Jemile Weeks</span> had to leave after being injured in a collision on an earlier steal attempt) singled up the middle, scoring both runners. But the Sox tied it up after Daury Torrez hit former Phillie with one out. A single advanced pinch-runner <span>Peter Bourjos</span> to third, where he scored on an infield out.</p>
<p id="CV7Yjq">The Cubs had chances to win the game in both the eighth and ninth. <span>Jeimer Candelario</span> singled leading off the eighth and went to second on a walk to Jacob Hannemann. But Ian Happ struck out and Taylor Davis hit into a double play.</p>
<p id="tum4Fv">Then in the ninth, with rain starting to fall again and the grounds crew uncovering the tarp, indicating to all that there would be no more innings, <span>Munenori Kawasaki</span> led off with a single. After a pair of strikeouts, Mune took off for second. A good throw would have had him, but the throw went into center field and Mune took third. Young, again, was the hitter, and perhaps 2,000 who had stuck around hoped for a win.</p>
<p id="aaOo33">But Young took strike three and the game ended, another spring tie.</p>
<p id="ONScdy"><strong>Attendance watch:</strong> 14,621, which officially is not a sellout <a href="https://twitter.com/CarrieMuskat/status/836337095723515904">but was termed one by Carrie Muskat</a>, brings the total for three games to 44,938, or 14,979 per date. There were a fair number of empty seats at game time, likely due to the forecast of rain.</p>
<p id="nyLKKS">Rain is supposed to exit the Valley by mid-morning Tuesday and <a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-111.87771240234375&lat=33.42588151913435#.WLTB-hIrKSM">the rest of the day is supposed to be sunny with temperatures in the low 60s</a>, so they should be able to play with no problems. The <a href="https://www.halosheaven.com/">Angels</a> will visit Sloan Park, and start lefthander <span>Manny Banuelos</span> against new Cubs righthander <span>Alec Mills</span>.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2017/2/27/14757354/cubs-white-sox-recap-addison-russell-willson-contreras-mlb-scoresAl Yellon2017-02-27T15:30:01-06:002017-02-27T15:30:01-06:00Overflow Thread: Cubs vs. White Sox, Monday 2/27, 2:05 CT
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<figcaption>Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p id="bF0p2X">——</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2017/2/27/14732948/overflow-thread-cubs-vs-white-sox-monday-2-27-2-05-ctAl Yellon2017-02-27T14:00:02-06:002017-02-27T14:00:02-06:00First Pitch Thread: Cubs vs. White Sox, Monday 2/27, 2:05 CT
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<figcaption>Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p id="bF0p2X">Go get ‘em, Brett.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2017/2/27/14732896/first-pitch-thread-cubs-vs-white-sox-monday-2-27-2-05-ctAl Yellon2017-02-27T12:00:01-06:002017-02-27T12:00:01-06:00Cubs vs. White Sox at Mesa Preview, Monday 2/27, 2:05 CT
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<figcaption>Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>The Cubs and Sox meet for the first time in 2017.</p> <p id="QEnGhT"><b>SCOTTSDALE, Arizona</b> — Here's something that will tell you just how popular the Cubs are.</p>
<p>Attendance at Sloan Park Sunday was a sellout of 15,388. Attendance at the other seven games in the Cactus League Sunday combined was 33,152. Only one of the other games (<a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Diamondbacks</a>/<a href="https://www.purplerow.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Rockies</a>, involving the local team) drew more than 5,000 (8,052).</p>
<p>So the Cubs alone drew nearly half as many fans as seven other games put together.</p>
<p>Cubs lineup:</p>
<blockquote>Schwarber LF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Zobrist 2B, Russell SS, Montero DH, Contreras C, Jay CF, Zagunis RF</blockquote>
<p>With the exception of <span>Mark Zagunis</span> in place of <span>Jason Heyward</span> and having a DH, this lineup could be very close to the one we'll see April 2 in St. Louis.</p>
<p>White Sox lineup:</p>
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<span>Anderson</span> SS, Cabrera LF, Abreu 1B, Davidson DH, Garcia RF, Saladino 3B, Moncada 2B, Smith C, Engel CF</blockquote>
<p>There's <a target="_blank" href="http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-111.88370989748638&lat=33.43093963815589#.WLQvjxIrLKI">rain in the forecast</a> Monday; hopefully it holds off until late afternoon so they can get this one in.</p>
<p><span>Brett Anderson</span> starts for the <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Cubs</a> this afternoon. Others scheduled for the Cubs: <span>Dylan Floro</span>, <span>Jhondaniel Medina</span>, <span>Seth Frankoff</span> and <span>Pierce Johnson</span>.</p>
<p><span>Lucas Giolito</span> will go for the White Sox. Other White Sox pitchers scheduled: <span>Anthony Swarzak</span>, <span>Dan Jennings</span>, <span>Juan Minaya</span>, <span>Tommy Kahnle</span>, <span>Jace Fry</span> and <span>Brian Clark</span>.</p>
<p id="JcN4TV">Today’s game is on <a href="http://cubs.com">cubs.com</a> with Len Kasper and Mick Gillispie.</p>
<p id="twws67"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2017_02_27_chamlb_chnmlb_1&mode=gameday">MLB.com Gameday</a></p>
<p id="CaUdsX"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mediacenter/index.jsp?date=4/1/2015#date=2/27/2017">Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.</a></p>
<p id="77FG6H">Please visit our SB Nation <a href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a> site <a href="http://www.southsidesox.com">South Side Sox</a>. If you do go there to interact with Sox fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.</p>
<p id="MNoeEF"><i>Please note that during spring training, Gameday doesn't usually go pitch-by-pitch as it does during the regular season -- usually, it will update after each at-bat.</i></p>
<p id="fnbMtI">For spring-training games, we'll have a first-pitch thread at five minutes to game time and one overflow thread, 90 minutes after game time (because I know how you all like overflow threads!). For today, that will be 2 p.m. CT and 3:30 p.m. CT.</p>
<p id="eDrZXV">These threads will <i>not</i> post individually onto the front page; instead, you can find links to them in the box marked <a href="http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/chicago-cubs-game-threads">"Chicago Cubs Game Threads"</a> at the <i>bottom</i> of the front page. There will also be a StoryStream on the front page with all the game thread links, as well as the recap after the game is over. The pitcher boxes and regular-season stats will return on Opening Night.</p>
<p id="gtr43a">Discuss amongst yourselves.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2017/2/27/14732768/cubs-white-sox-mesa-preview-mondayAl Yellon