Bleed Cubbie Blue - Cubs vs. Diamondbacks Saturday game threadsA Chicago Cubs Fan Community Since February 9, 2005https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47557/cubbieblue.png2019-03-16T19:00:02-05:00http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/rss/stream/180310832019-03-16T19:00:02-05:002019-03-16T19:00:02-05:00Cubs 7, Diamondbacks 1: The Tyler Chatwood evidence
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<figcaption>Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>cubs-diamondbacks-recap-tyler-chatwood-david-bote-mlb-scores</p> <p id="lWfPqi"><strong>SCOTTSDALE, Arizona</strong> — Once again, <span>Tyler Chatwood</span> threw in relief. Once again, he threw very, very well. Five batters faced, five batters retired, no walks.</p>
<p id="0xN6PO">Hey, I am not a sports psychologist, nor even a sports mental skills person. But there seems to be some issue with Chatwood, the starter, where... I don’t know, maybe he just overthinks what he has to do on the mound, as opposed to when he enters the game in the middle, when he just uses his good stuff — again, hitting the mid 90s with his fastball — and can get outs.</p>
<p id="pfGi5G">Numbers, just so you have them:</p>
<blockquote><p id="0ttdDx"><strong>Chatwood the starter:</strong> two games, 3⅓ innings, four hits, four walks, one hit batter, two strikeouts, six runs (four earned), one HR, 10.80 ERA<br><strong>Chatwood the reliever:</strong> three games, 7⅔ innings, six hits, no walks, five strikeouts, no runs, 0.00 ERA</p></blockquote>
<p id="Ugyx9B">Granted, the spring training outings are very, very small sample sizes. But the difference between Chatwood the starter and Chatwood the reliever this spring have been like two different pitchers. I like the reliever much, much better. As of right now, with some potential injuries limiting some relievers who could be on the Opening Day roster, Chatwood’s probably going to be in the Opening Day bullpen. And you know what? I think he might just do pretty well.</p>
<p id="LuLLVs">In other news from Saturday’s game, <a href="http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2019_03_16_chnmlb_arimlb_1">the Cubs beat the Diamondbacks 7-1</a> in front of the largest crowd ever at the D-backs spring home of Salt River Fields, 14,035. About two-thirds of those were Cubs fans on what was probably the nicest day so far this spring, 77 degrees and unlimited sunshine.</p>
<p id="bF2iCx"><span>Kyle Hendricks</span> wasn’t too sharp; he issued a pair of walks and allowed five hits, several on hard contact. The D-backs scored a run in the first and might have had more, but Hendricks induced a double-play ball to end the inning. </p>
<p id="DSZJa4">The Cubs broke through with three runs in the fourth, two of them on this <span>Anthony Rizzo</span> double ripped down the right-field line:</p>
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<p id="eQ1qjR">In the fifth, <span>David Bote</span> <a href="https://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/mp4/2019/03/16/2523693983/1552778205243/asset_1800K.mp4">stepped to the plate with one out [VIDEO]</a>.</p>
<div id="ft0NTS"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><video controls="" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;">Your browser does not support HTML5 video.<source src="https://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/mp4/2019/03/16/2523693983/1552778205243/asset_1800K.mp4" type="video/mp4"></source></video></div></div>
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<p id="SerSjL">Bote’s opposite-field smash, his second of thee spring, made it 4-1 and then the Cubs teed off on Rubby De La Rosa and a couple of D-backs minor leaguers for three more in the sixth. <span>Ian Happ</span> and Bote had RBI singles.</p>
<p id="K564Xb"><span>Mike Montgomery</span> made his second appearance of the spring, and allowed a single and a walk to the first two batters he faced, but then retired five straight before a two-out double in the seventh. One of the outs was on a nice catch of a sharp line drive hit by former Cub Matt Szczur by <span>Javier Baez</span>, and I wish I could show you another play Baez made, but there’s no video available. In the fifth, <span>Ketel Marte</span> hit a line drive that glanced off <span>Kris Bryant</span>’s glove, but Baez caught it before it hit the ground for a rare 5-6 putout.</p>
<p id="DuR5Ow">After that it was all minor leaguers, except for <span>Allen Webster</span>, who threw a scoreless eighth. Webster hit 96-97 on the SRF video board, and he also has a chance to make the Opening Day bullpen.</p>
<p id="Yz1f4g">Sunday, the Cubs return to Sloan Park to face the <a href="https://www.purplerow.com/">Rockies</a>. <span>Jose Quintana</span> will start for the Cubs and <span>Chad Bettis</span> goes for the Rockies. Game time is 3:05 p.m. CT and there will be TV coverage via NBC Sports Chicago as well as an audio webcast on <a href="http://cubs.com">cubs.com</a>.</p>
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https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2019/3/16/18269066/cubs-diamondbacks-recap-tyler-chatwood-david-bote-mlb-scoresAl Yellon2019-03-16T16:35:00-05:002019-03-16T16:35:00-05:00Overflow thread: Cubs vs. Diamondbacks, Saturday 3/16, 3:10 CT
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<figcaption>Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p id="40n9yb">——</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2019/3/16/18267040/overflow-thread-cubs-vs-diamondbacks-saturday-3-16-3-10-ctAl Yellon2019-03-16T15:05:00-05:002019-03-16T15:05:00-05:00First pitch thread: Cubs vs. Diamondbacks, Saturday 3/16, 3:10 CT
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<figcaption>Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p id="40n9yb">Go get ‘em, Kyle.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2019/3/16/18267037/first-pitch-thread-cubs-vs-diamondbacks-saturday-3-16-3-10-ctAl Yellon2019-03-16T13:00:00-05:002019-03-16T13:00:00-05:00Cubs vs. Diamondbacks at Scottsdale preview, Saturday 3/16, 3:10 CT
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<figcaption>Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>This game should be another sellout.</p> <p id="BCHXIV"><strong>SCOTTSDALE, Arizona</strong> — The Cubs made some spring roster cuts earlier Saturday morning. If you haven’t seen those, <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2019/3/16/18268479/cubs-roster-moves-cut-james-norwood-rowan-wick">details are here</a>.</p>
<p id="8TWV9e">Not among those cuts was <span>Dillon Maples</span> . As Jordan Bastian writes, <a href="https://www.mlb.com/cubs/news/dillon-maples-could-crack-cubs-bullpen">he has a shot at the Opening Day bullpen</a> due to injuries, but:</p>
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<p id="QxhpzC">It is not hard to identify what Maples must change to finally emerge as the kind of bullpen weapon Chicago needs.</p>
<p id="rqxQMC">”Just throw a few more strikes,” <span>[Brandon] Morrow</span> said. “I mean, his stuff’s better than everybody. I think his breaking ball probably rates as possibly the best pitch in all of baseball based on spin rate, movement and velocity.”</p>
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<p id="78tGa0">Here are today’s particulars.</p>
<p id="NIhSkF"><a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> lineup:</p>
<blockquote><p id="R8qVgV">Zobrist LF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Baez SS, Heyward RF, Davis C, Happ CF, Bote 2B, Hendricks P</p></blockquote>
<p id="PYBNFM">We are starting to see lineups close to an Opening Day look. <span>Willson Contreras</span> was originally in today’s lineup, but:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Willson <a href="https://twitter.com/WContreras40?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WContreras40</a> (right ring finger) scratched from lineup, Taylor Davis starts in his place. Contreras expected to return Tuesday.</p>— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) <a href="https://twitter.com/MDGonzales/status/1106948537869164546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2019</a>
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<p id="fWfvx8"><a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> lineup:</p>
<blockquote><p id="mnTOuM">Souza RF, Vargas 3B, Marte CF, Walker 1B, Kelly DH, Szczur LF, Murphy C, Tomlinson 2B, Querecuto SS</p></blockquote>
<p id="jJ0aQw"><span>Kyle Hendricks</span> will start for the Cubs. Cubs relievers today: <span>Tyler Chatwood</span>, <span>Mike Montgomery</span> and <span>Allen Webster</span>. We’ll see if Chatwood in relief is better than Chatwood the starter.</p>
<p id="eLKZSv"><span>Matt Koch</span> goes for the D-backs.</p>
<p id="OC139U">Today’s game is on 670 The Score. No TV today.</p>
<p id="MNoeEF"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2019_03_16_chnmlb_arimlb_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/2019/03/16">Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.</a></p>
<p id="77FG6H">Please visit our SB Nation <a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> site <a href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/">AZ Snakepit</a>. If you do go there to interact with D-backs 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 3:05 p.m. CT and 4:35 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/2019/3/16/18264375/cubs-diamondbacks-scottsdale-preview-saturdayAl Yellon