Bleed Cubbie Blue - Cubs vs. Rangers Thursday game threadsA Chicago Cubs Fan Community Since February 9, 2005https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47557/cubbieblue.png2019-03-14T19:20:00-05:00http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/rss/stream/180248152019-03-14T19:20:00-05:002019-03-14T19:20:00-05:00Cubs 2, Rangers 1: Court is now in session
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<figcaption>Ryan Court | Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Ryan Court’s sacrifice fly won this game for the Cubs.</p> <p id="Z60Kal"><strong>MESA, Arizona</strong> — After allowing 12 runs on back-to-back days when the weather was pretty iffy in the Phoenix area, <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> pitchers settled down and allowed just one, and <span>Ryan Court</span> hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to give the Cubs <a href="http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2019_03_14_texmlb_chnmlb_1">a 2-1 win over the Rangers</a>.</p>
<p id="n7UVON">If that sounds kind of dull, it’s because this game was... kind of dull.</p>
<p id="Oq8GGV"><span>Yu Darvish</span> started this game and it came to a screeching halt. He walked the second batter he faced, allowed an infield single, then ran a three-ball count on <span>Matt Davidson</span> before striking him out. A single down the right-field line by <span>Hunter Pence</span> made it 1-0 Rangers.</p>
<p id="KovDKX">But the Cubs got the run back in the bottom of the first. After <span>Delino DeShields</span> made a nice diving catch on a <span>Ben Zobrist</span> line drive (and I still can’t get used to that being the son of the guy who played for the Cubs, it seems like just yesterday), <span>Kris Bryant</span> was hit by a pitch and <span>Anthony Rizzo</span> walked.</p>
<p id="RAiLlr">One out later, <span>Kyle Schwarber</span> drove in Bryant:</p>
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<p id="cjNMWd">And then Darvish settled down. He allowed just three more baserunners, a double just out of the reach of Bryant, a hit batter and a walk before being removed one batter into the fifth inning. Darvish struck out five and the only real complaint I had about his outing was that he was working very slowly. We aren’t (apparently) going to have a pitch clock, but it had expired numerous times on him before he delivered the ball. Darvish was better in his last outing, I thought, when he worked faster. His velocity was good again in this game, sitting mainly at 94-95.</p>
<p id="pv25lh">And Cubs relievers <span>Brian Duensing</span>, <span>Brandon Kintzler</span>, <span>Duane Underwood Jr.</span>, <span>Rowan Wick</span> and <span>James Norwood</span> combined for five shutout innings, with one hit and three walks allowed, and five strikeouts. Granted, much of this was against Rangers minor leaguers.</p>
<p id="LgUjoB">In the bottom of the eighth, Zack Short walked with one out. He stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error, bringing up Court:</p>
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<p id="RHsCpH">The sac fly put the Cubs ahead, and Norwood entered to throw the ninth. As he did last year, Norwood threw at an easy 97 miles per hour. He struck out the first batter he faced, then issued a walk to Rangers minor leaguer Yonny Hernandez. Hernandez took off for second. <span>Francisco Arcia</span>, who had replaced <span>Willson Contreras</span> in the eighth, made a high throw — but Nico Hoerner, again subbing in a major-league spring game, put a very impressive tag down for the out. Seems every time Hoerner’s in a game he makes something happen. Even before the game, Theo Epstein seemed impressed with Hoerner:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Theo impressed with maturity of Nico Hoerner, wouldn’t rule out or rule in possibility of him starting at Double-A Tennessee</p>— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) <a href="https://twitter.com/MDGonzales/status/1106261920061902848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2019</a>
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<p id="dYjH5G">That’s definitely impressive considering Hoerner’s professional experience consisted, prior to this spring, of 14 games at Low-A South Bend before he was injured, and 21 games in the Arizona Fall League. You can see that maturity and presence every time he takes the field with the big leaguers. It’s not impossible we could see him in the big leagues later this year.</p>
<p id="pI3WgC">One other thing to note: Wick threw a solid inning, striking out a pair and throwing at 95 most of the time. Like Norwood, he’s an Iowa Shuttle kind of guy this year and could help the big-league team.</p>
<p id="KFI8ZT"><strong>Attendance watch:</strong> On a day when it was chilly in the shade but pleasant in the sun, 14,599 paid to see this game. That makes the Cubs’ total for 11 dates 144,295, or 13,118 per date. The coolish weather led to the unusual occurrence of a warmer temperature in Chicago than in Mesa:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">This seems backwards. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cubs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cubs</a> <a href="https://t.co/9i1ZjACG4m">pic.twitter.com/9i1ZjACG4m</a></p>— Al Yellon (@bleedcubbieblue) <a href="https://twitter.com/bleedcubbieblue/status/1106290782619598848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2019</a>
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<p id="PN9ZLQ">Friday, the Cubs travel to Glendale to face the <a href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a>. Cole Hamels gets the start for the Cubs and <span>Lucas Giolito</span> will go for the Sox. At last, there’s a TV game. It will be on WGN, with the Sox announcers. There will be a Cubs radio broadcast on 670 The Score.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2019/3/14/18266466/cubs-rangers-recap-yu-darvish-ryan-court-mlb-scoresAl Yellon2019-03-14T16:30:00-05:002019-03-14T16:30:00-05:00Overflow thread: Cubs vs. Rangers, Thursday 3/14, 3:05 CT
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<figcaption>Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p id="4QnNyw">——</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2019/3/14/18260773/overflow-thread-cubs-vs-rangers-thursday-3-14-3-05-ctAl Yellon2019-03-14T15:00:00-05:002019-03-14T15:00:00-05:00First pitch thread: Cubs vs. Rangers, Thursday 3/14, 3:05 CT
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<figcaption>Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p id="4QnNyw">Go get ‘em, Yu.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2019/3/14/18260771/first-pitch-thread-cubs-vs-rangers-thursday-3-14-3-05-ctAl Yellon2019-03-14T13:00:00-05:002019-03-14T13:00:00-05:00Cubs vs. Rangers at Mesa preview, Thursday 3/14, 3:05 CT
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<figcaption>Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Cubs return home, and Yu Darvish faces his old team.</p> <p id="4w5FRh"><strong>MESA, Arizona</strong> — This will be Yu Darvish’s first appearance against his former team, the Rangers, this spring. He faced them once last spring as well. Depending on how the Cubs announce their rotation, he might wind up facing them in the opening series at Texas.</p>
<p id="JXAAvI">In the grand scheme of things, that probably doesn’t mean much at all. Just a random note on a random March day during spring training.</p>
<p id="CmTuSQ">The weather has finally turned nice in the Valley. <a href="https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-111.88467241823673&lat=33.43140216311339">It will be sunny and in the mid 60s today</a>, then rapidly warm through the 70s into the 80s by the weekend, weather much more conducive to baseball.</p>
<p id="BCHXIV">Here are today’s particulars.</p>
<p id="NIhSkF"><a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> lineup:</p>
<blockquote><p id="R8qVgV">Zobrist 2B, Bryant 3B, Rizzo DH, Baez SS, Schwarber LF, Contreras C, Heyward RF, Caratini 1B, Almora CF</p></blockquote>
<p id="PYBNFM"><span>Albert Almora Jr.</span> left Tuesday night’s game earlier than any of the other regulars, after only three innings, but he’s back in the lineup this afternoon, so there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with him.</p>
<p id="CAD7Hu"><a href="https://www.lonestarball.com/">Rangers</a> lineup:</p>
<blockquote><p id="mnTOuM">Choo LF, DeShields CF, Guzman 1B, Davidson 3B, Pence RF, Kiner-Falefa C, Forsythe SS, Tocci DH, White 2B</p></blockquote>
<p id="jJ0aQw">The Rangers are a split squad today.</p>
<p id="87ksDc">As noted above, <span>Yu Darvish</span> gets the start for the Cubs. Cubs relievers today (in alphabetical order): <span>Brian Duensing</span>, <span>Brandon Kintzler</span>, <span>James Norwood</span>, <span>Duane Underwood Jr.</span> and <span>Rowan Wick</span>.</p>
<p id="m2WOu7"><span>Adrian Sampson</span> will go for the Rangers. Other Rangers pitchers scheduled today: <span>Connor Sadzeck</span>, <span>Jordan Romano</span>, Phillips Valdez, and <span>C.D. Pelham</span>.</p>
<p id="OC139U">Today’s game is an audio webcast on <a href="http://cubs.com/">cubs.com</a>. No TV today.</p>
<p id="MNoeEF"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2019_03_14_texmlb_chnmlb_1">MLB.com Gameday</a></p>
<p id="0b0ENG"><em>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.</em></p>
<p id="duh5N2"><a href="https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/2019/03/14">Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.</a></p>
<p id="77FG6H">Please visit our SB Nation <a href="https://www.lonestarball.com/">Rangers</a> site <a href="http://www.lonestarball.com/">Lone Star Ball</a>. If you do go there to interact with Rangers 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="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 3 p.m. CT and 4:30 p.m. CT.</p>
<p id="eDrZXV">These threads will <em>not</em> 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 <em>bottom</em> 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 Day.</p>
<p id="mI6dIM">Discuss amongst yourselves.</p>
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https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2019/3/14/18259874/cubs-rangers-mesa-preview-thursdayAl Yellon