Bleed Cubbie Blue - Cubs vs. Giants Sunday Game ThreadsA Chicago Cubs Fan Community Since February 9, 2005https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47557/cubbieblue.png2013-04-14T18:38:11-05:00http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/rss/stream/39857492013-04-14T18:38:11-05:002013-04-14T18:38:11-05:00Giants 10, Cubs 7: Wild Things
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<figcaption>David Banks</figcaption>
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<p>That was really awful. (Usually there are more words here, but I really don't have any.)</p> <p>Um...</p>
<p>Well...</p>
<p>Hmmmm....</p>
<p>I'm nearly speechless. Almost word-less. Really. I was all ready to write a happy recap to a four-game split of this series with the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/">Giants</a>, when <span>Shawn Camp</span> ruined all of that by giving up a two-strike, two-out, ninth-inning, game-tying home run to <span>Hunter Pence</span>.</p>
<p>Heard enough? I think I have, but you are entitled to a recap of <a href="http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2013_04_14_sfnmlb_chnmlb_1" target="_blank">the Cubs' 10-7, 10-inning loss to the Giants</a>, and so you shall have one.</p>
<p>Let's start with the bad part. Camp had thrown three straight sliders to Pence and thus had one pitch to waste, if he had chosen to; instead, he threw another slider and Pence obviously knew it was coming. Camp could have chosen a changeup out of the zone; obviously, Camp's fastball isn't going to get by anyone. But up until then, he had thrown an efficient ninth inning, getting the first two outs with dispatch, including a nice ... out-of-the-zone pitch to get <span>Pablo Sandoval</span> for the second out.</p>
<p>Where to go from here in this rambling, four-hour mess of a game? How about asking Dale Sveum why he stuck with Camp in the 10th inning after it was clear that every hitter had figured him out? Sveum had <span>Rafael Dolis</span> warming up. If Dolis is going to be on this roster, Dale, <i>use him!</i> Instead, Camp gave up four hits in five batters, the last a double down the left-field line to <span>Marco Scutaro</span> that scored the final run of the game.</p>
<p>So now what, Dale? Who closes now? <span>James Russell</span> seems the obvious choice, but the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> have to get leads before that even happens.</p>
<p>They did have a couple of those Sunday afternoon, and props to <span>Alberto Gonzalez</span>, who is only on this roster because of the injury to <span>Darwin Barney</span>. Sunday, he had one of the better days of his career. Before Sunday, Gonzalez had three career home runs in 982 plate appearances. His fourth career homer, off former Cub <span>Chad Gaudin</span>, landed on the north side of Waveland just at the beginning of Kenmore Avenue, the longest home run hit by any Cub so far this season. Then Gonzalez followed with a sacrifice fly in a two-run Cubs eighth inning that gave them the 7-6 lead that they should have held, except for... well, you know. Gonzalez likely saved his spot on the roster with this performance; he's at least adequate as a backup infielder/defensive replacement, which is what he'll be after Barney returns Tuesday.</p>
<p>This all happened what seemed a long, long time after the Cubs had taken a 4-1 lead in the first inning thanks to a pair of two-run homers off <span>Tim Lincecum</span>, one by <span>Starlin Castro</span>, one by Nate Schierholtz. That could have held up, but <span>Edwin Jackson</span>, after breezing through innings two through five (following a two-out, nobody-on run allowed in the first), lost it in the sixth. In that inning, Cubs pitchers -- Jackson and <span>Michael Bowden</span> -- issued four walks and threw five wild pitches.</p>
<p><i>Five wild pitches in an inning.</i> To give you an idea of how awful that is, there have been only two other Cubs games (since 1916, in the bb-ref database) where Cubs pitchers have even thrown five wild pitches combined <i>in an entire game</i>. (If you can stand it, have a look: <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN199008210.shtml" target="_blank">August 21, 1990 at Cincinnati</a> and <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/HOU/HOU197404290.shtml" target="_blank">April 29, 1974 at Houston</a>.) Four Giants runs scored in the inning, and it might have been worse, except Bowden got Scutaro to hit into an inning-ending double play.</p>
<p>Been sitting here for about 10 minutes since I finished that last paragraph trying to think of something else to say about this mess of a game. Can't. Good teams find ways to win games, and the Giants are a good team. They showed it all weekend; their only real flaw was <span>Sergio Romo's</span> bad inning Friday, which led to the only Cubs win of the series. If not for that, the Giants and their thousands of orange-clad fans would have headed out of Wrigley Field with a sweep. Incidentally, speaking of those fans, they inflated the paid-attendance figures to what might be considered reasonable levels. If this weekend's opponent had been, say, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.gaslampball.com/">Padres</a> or <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.purplerow.com/">Rockies</a> or another team whose fans don't travel as well, these crowds would have been much, much smaller.</p>
<p><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130414&content_id=44756022&notebook_id=44757358&vkey=notebook_chc&c_id=chc" target="_blank">The Cubs claimed Kameron Loe via waivers</a> from the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/">Mariners</a> Sunday; the injured <span>Steve Clevenger</span> was placed on the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster. There's no indication (yet) that Loe will be placed on the 25-man roster, but he could hardly be worse than anyone else who's run through that bullpen so far this year. Loe was a decent middle reliever for the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a> the past three years; he was bad in four outings for Seattle so far this year. The Cubs also signed ex-closer <span>Kevin Gregg</span> to a minor-league deal. He won't be assigned to a team yet; he'll head to extended spring training in Mesa. Will those transactions solve this problem? Probably not. Again, the Cubs have yet to be blown out of a game this year, and have shown signs that they can come from behind. It's what they do after they get leads back that's been the issue. I don't think there are any immediate answers. Sooner or later, I suppose even <span>Carlos Marmol</span> gets another shot at closing; he did throw an efficient 1-2-3 inning Sunday.</p>
<p>In the meantime, there might not be much immediate baseball at Wrigley Field this week. After a Sunday when the sun finally came out -- though the temperature didn't begin to warm up out of the 40s until the late innings -- the chances of rain for the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.lonestarball.com/">Rangers</a> series are 60 percent Tuesday night, 80 percent Wednesday night and 70 percent Thursday afternoon. With Texas only here once in an interleague matchup, they really have to do their best to get at least two of those games in.</p>
<p>Enjoy the off day. This beleaguered pitching staff needs one.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2013/4/14/4224722/cubs-giants-recap-alberto-gonzalez-shawn-camp-hunter-pence-mlb-scoresAl Yellon2013-04-14T16:05:04-05:002013-04-14T16:05:04-05:00Overflow Thread 3: Cubs vs. Giants, Sunday 4/14
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<figcaption>USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>And, continue with Sunday game comments in this thread.</p> <p>Just win.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2013/4/14/4221742/overflow-thread-3-cubs-vs-giants-sunday-4-14-1-20-ctAl Yellon2013-04-14T15:20:06-05:002013-04-14T15:20:06-05:00Overflow Thread 2: Cubs vs. Giants, Sunday 4/14
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<figcaption>USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Keep it up! More comments go here.</p> <p>Go <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Cubs</a>!</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2013/4/14/4221736/overflow-thread-2-cubs-vs-giants-sunday-4-14-1-20-ctAl Yellon2013-04-14T14:20:03-05:002013-04-14T14:20:03-05:00Overflow Thread 1: Cubs vs. Giants, Sunday 4/14
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<figcaption>USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>More comments for Sunday's game go right here!</p> <p>Go <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Cubs</a>!</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2013/4/14/4221728/overflow-thread-1-cubs-vs-giants-sunday-4-14-1-20-ctAl Yellon2013-04-14T11:30:08-05:002013-04-14T11:30:08-05:00Cubs vs. Giants Preview, Sunday 4/14, 1:20 CT
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<figcaption>USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>The Cubs and Giants have played three straight one-run games. Will they make it four?</p> <p>We are two weeks into the 2013 baseball season. What do we know about the Cubs, and the rest of Major League Baseball?</p>
<ul>
<li> The Cubs, though not very good standings-wise at 4-7, have played (mostly) pretty tight games. They have yet to be blown out and have played three straight one-run games against the defending World Series champions. </li>
<li> There appear to be several teams in the National League alone worse off than the Cubs -- the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Brewers</a>, <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.gaslampball.com/">Padres</a> and <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.fishstripes.com/">Marlins</a> are all off to horrid starts; the Brewers at 2-8 are off to the worst start in franchise history. Did you see that coming? </li>
<li> There appear to be a couple of teams worse than the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.crawfishboxes.com/">Astros</a> (Marlins, possibly Padres). </li>
<li> The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.halosheaven.com/">Angels</a> are, as they did last year, digging themselves a pretty big hole. It took an eighth- <i>and</i> ninth-inning rally for them to avoid losing their second straight to the Astros Saturday night. </li>
<li> Are the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> <i>this</i> good? (Hint: they might be.) </li>
<li> Are the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.athleticsnation.com/">Athletics</a> <i>this</i> good? (I don't think so, but then, I didn't expect them to be in last year's playoffs, either. </li>
</ul>
<p>There are very few teams off to great or horrid starts, though; there's a huge "middle of the pack". The Cubs are still in that middle; I certainly don't expect them to get anywhere near contention this year. Nevertheless, this year's team is already playing better than last year's version; you can see signs of progress. That's always a good thing.</p>
<p>The team will play a man short today, as noted in this tweet:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>MRI confirmed Clevenger strained his left oblique. He's out at least 6 weeks & will go on DL Tuesday when Barney is activated.</p>
— The Northwest Herald (@InsideTheCubs) <a href="https://twitter.com/InsideTheCubs/status/323451941277548545">April 14, 2013</a>
</blockquote>
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<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>That's a real shame for <span>Steve Clevenger</span>, who had the same injury a year ago; here's hoping it doesn't ruin his 2013 season, as it wrecked his 2012. At least we know <span>Darwin Barney</span> will be back; he'll have missed 12 games.</p>
<p><a href="http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?map.x=237&map.y=90&site=lot&zmx=1&zmy=1" target="_blank">And for the first time since Opening Day, the weather should cooperate.</a></p>
<p>Cubs lineup:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre>DeJesus CF, Castro SS, Rizzo 1B, Soriano LF, Schierholtz RF, Navarro C, Valbuena 3B, Gonzalez 2B, Jackson P</pre>
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<p>The Giants lineup was not available at the time I wrote this post; check <a href="http://www.twitter.com/bleedcubbieblue" target="_blank">the BCB Twitter feed</a> for the Giants lineup.</p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="700"><tbody>
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<h2><i>Today's Starting Pitchers</i></h2>
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<td class="ysptblbdr2">
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<a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7241" target="newwindow"><img src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2194871/162017418.jpg" alt="Edwin Jackson" border="1" height="480" width="320"></a><br><a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7241" target="newwindow"> </a>
<h2><span>Edwin Jackson</span></h2>
<br><h2>Cubs</h2>
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<td align="center" width="10%">vs.</td>
<td class="yspscores" align="center" width="45%">
<a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7981" target="newwindow"><img src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2468775/timlincecum.jpg" alt="Tim Lincecum" border="1" height="480" width="320"></a><br><a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7981" target="newwindow"> </a>
<h2><span>Tim Lincecum</span></h2>
<br><h2>Giants</h2>
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<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp?playerId=5842" target="newwindow"> </a>
<h2>vs. SF</h2>
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<td class="yspscores" align="center">--</td>
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<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp?playerId=28705" target="newwindow"> </a>
<h2>vs. Cubs</h2>
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<th></th> <th>W-L</th> <th>G</th> <th>GS</th> <th>CG</th> <th>SHO</th> <th>SV</th> <th>BS</th> <th>IP</th> <th>H</th> <th>R</th> <th>ER</th> <th>HR</th> <th>BB</th> <th>K</th> <th>ERA</th> <th>WHIP</th>
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<tbody><tr>
<td class="td-name td-first">2013 - <span>Edwin Jackson</span>
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<td>0-2</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>11.0</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>5.73</td>
<td class="td-last">1.55</td>
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<th></th> <th>W-L</th> <th>G</th> <th>GS</th> <th>CG</th> <th>SHO</th> <th>SV</th> <th>BS</th> <th>IP</th> <th>H</th> <th>R</th> <th>ER</th> <th>HR</th> <th>BB</th> <th>K</th> <th>ERA</th> <th>WHIP</th>
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<td class="td-name td-first">2013 - <span>Tim Lincecum</span>
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<td>1-0</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>11.0</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>4.91</td>
<td class="td-last">1.64</td>
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<p> </p>
<p>Edwin Jackson looks great in the uniform. He has good form on the mound. He never gets hurt. He's the kind of pitcher you wonder, "Why isn't this guy a No. 1 starter?" He never seems to be able to answer that question. In his two starts this year he hasn't been horrible... but he hasn't been really that good, either. Maybe this one will be better. He made one start against the Giants in 2012, <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS201207040.shtml" target="_blank">July 4 in Washington</a>, and... well, it looks a lot like his two starts for the Cubs this year. Current Giants have hit him hard: .352 (21-for-75) with 10 extra-base hits.</p>
<p>I can't stop staring at that photo of Tim Lincecum. If not for the hint of a five o'clock shadow, I'd think I was looking at a photo of a seventh-grader. Anyway... Lincecum hasn't quite been the same since the start of 2012, though he threw quite well in the playoffs last year. His two starts this year have been more of the same... mediocre, with a lot of walks (11 in 11 innings, most in MLB so far this year). Even when he was good, Cubs hitters used to figure him out pretty well, though current members of the Cubs are hitting just .235 (23-for-98) against him. I really don't know what to expect... other than it will be strange to not see that long hair flapping around under his cap.</p>
<p>Today's game is on WGN.</p>
<p><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mediacenter/index.jsp?ymd=20130401#date=4/14/2013" target="_blank">Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2013_04_14_sfnmlb_chnmlb_1&mode=gameday" target="_blank">MLB.com Gameday</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/previews/CHC.shtml" target="_blank">Baseball-reference.com game preview</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/events/116843/pregame" target="_blank">SB Nation game preview</a></p>
<p>Please visit our SB Nation <a href="https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Giants</a> site <a href="http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/" target="_blank">McCovey Chronicles</a>.</p>
<p>Here's the scoop on game threads for 2013. You'll find the game preview -- like this one -- posting as the first link in the StoryStreamâ„¢, which will then contain all the overflow threads and the recap. The recap will also be on the front page as a separate post; once I post a game recap, the stream for each game will be retitled "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.</p>
<p>In general, game previews will post two hours before game time. Exception: for day games after night games, that will usually be 90 minutes.</p>
<p>As has been the case during spring training, you will also be able to find the First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads in the box marked "<a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Chicago Cubs</a> Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (<a href="http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/game-threads">you can also find them in this section link</a>). They will also appear in this StoryStreamâ„¢. As I've done for each regular-season game for several years now, we'll have the First Pitch thread at five minutes before game time (moved up from actual game time per your requests), then an overflow one hour, two hours and 2:45 after game time.</p>
<p>Discuss amongst yourselves.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2013/4/14/4221686/chicago-cubs-san-francisco-giants-preview-sundayAl Yellon