Bleed Cubbie Blue - Cubs vs. Phillies Saturday Game ThreadsA Chicago Cubs Fan Community Since February 9, 2005https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47557/cubbieblue.png2013-08-31T19:21:55-05:00http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/rss/stream/44327892013-08-31T19:21:55-05:002013-08-31T19:21:55-05:00Cubs 4, Phillies 3: Welcome Back, Starlin
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<figcaption>David Banks</figcaption>
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<p>The Cubs were playing horrendous baseball (so were the Phillies) when Starlin Castro launched what turned out to be a game-winning home run in the sixth inning.</p> <p>Saturday's <a href="http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2013_08_31_phimlb_chnmlb_1" target="_blank">4-3 Cubs win over the Phillies</a> -- just the fourth <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> win at Wrigley Field since the All-Star break -- is a tale of two games.</p>
<p>The first one, which lasted through five horrific innings filled with errors, hit batsmen, wild pitches, and a colossal number of runners left on base by both teams, was exactly what you wouldn't have expected from two lefthanders -- <span>Chris Rusin</span> and <span>Cliff Lee</span> -- who normally throw a lot of strikes and pitch to contact. Instead, Rusin and Lee combined for 197 pitches thrown in five innings, which lasted nearly two hours.</p>
<p>Mike reminded me of this old 1962 <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.amazinavenue.com/">Mets</a> story while this exhibition of bad baseball was going on: Marv Throneberry had hit a long drive at the old Polo Grounds and wound up on third base. The other team, noting Throneberry had missed second base, made an appeal play and Throneberry was called out. When Casey Stengel went out to argue the call with the umpires, he was told, "Sorry, Casey, but he missed first base too."</p>
<p>That's what this one felt like, and it seemed headed to a four-hour extravaganza of awful play until <span>Starlin Castro</span> led off the sixth inning and hit Zach Miner's first pitch deep into the left-center field bleachers for his eighth home run of the year, and just his second since the All-Star break. Castro also doubled and had much better at-bats today than he has had in recent games. Let's hope this starts a trend.</p>
<p>Cubs relief pitchers took up the torch, too; just two <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.thegoodphight.com/">Phillies</a> reached base after the fifth inning and the first one, pinch-hitter <span>Pete Orr</span>, who singled off <span>Carlos Villanueva</span>, was erased on a double play when he was caught off first base as <span>Junior Lake</span> snagged a line drive off the bat of <span>Michael Young</span>.</p>
<p>I won't even complain about Dale Sveum using three different pitchers -- Villanueva, <span>James Russell</span> and <span>Blake Parker</span> -- to get the three outs in the seventh inning, because each man did his job, and quickly, too. <span>Pedro Strop</span> and <span>Kevin Gregg</span> finished up, mostly uneventfully, though Gregg gave up a two-out single to Young. He posted his 28th save, and is just one short of tying Mitch Williams for ninth place on the all-time Cubs save list.</p>
<p>About the first five innings, during which the Cubs left 10 men on base and played pathetically bad defense, perhaps not much is worth saying. <span>Anthony Rizzo</span> made an error by having a ball pop out of his glove on an otherwise completely routine play, and then threw wildly to second, but a stolen base was given to <span>Chase Utley</span> on the play, all of this on Rizzo Bobblehead Day. Oh, wait... I said I wasn't going to say any more, and I won't. Just glad the Cubs figured out a way to win this game, or perhaps more accurately, a way to not lose.</p>
<p>A few words about the crowd. This was one of the most unruly, drunk crowds I have seen in the bleachers in quite some time. There were no real incidents, people were just drunk and out of control. This is what the Cubs get by scheduling a 3:05 game on the Saturday of a holiday weekend -- it gave people tons of time to get plastered before they even came into the park. There were still people showing up more than an hour after game time looking for seats. (Of course, with the slow pace of the game up to then, they didn't miss much, but then, those people probably weren't there to watch the game, anyway.)</p>
<p>Now go on, get off my lawn.</p>
<p>A couple more words about the crowd, in relation to Ryne Sandberg. I was told that quite a number of tickets were sold for this game over the last couple of weeks; it's likely that many who couldn't get Friday off, bought tickets for this game to give their respect to Sandberg, who got a much larger ovation today when bringing out the lineup card (again, noted by PA announcer Andrew Belleson) than he did Friday. There were far fewer no-shows today, too.</p>
<p>Seriously, I hope Starlin Castro can build on his good Saturday performance, have a really good September, and give us hope that he can get back to his 2010-11 level for next year. He's going to be 24 in March, still young enough to have a long and successful career as a Cub.</p>
<p>The Cubs have a chance to win yet another series; Sunday's game will feature Jake Arrieta against Kyle Kendrick, and start at 1:20, a much more reasonable hour.</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2013/8/31/4681146/cubs-phillies-recap-starlin-castro-mlb-scoresAl Yellon2013-08-31T17:50:04-05:002013-08-31T17:50:04-05:00Overflow Thread 3: Cubs vs. Phillies, Sat 8/31
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<figcaption>Brian Kersey</figcaption>
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<p>----</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2013/8/31/4668840/overflow-thread-3-cubs-vs-phillies-saturday-8-31-3-05-ctAl Yellon2013-08-31T17:05:05-05:002013-08-31T17:05:05-05:00Overflow Thread 2: Cubs vs. Phillies, Sat 8/31
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<figcaption>Brian Kersey</figcaption>
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<p>----</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2013/8/31/4668848/overflow-thread-2-cubs-vs-phillies-saturday-8-31-3-05-ctAl Yellon2013-08-31T16:05:02-05:002013-08-31T16:05:02-05:00Overflow Thread 1: Cubs vs. Phillies, Sat 8/31
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<figcaption>Brian Kersey</figcaption>
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<p>----</p>
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2013/8/31/4668866/overflow-thread-1-cubs-vs-phillies-saturday-8-31-3-05-ctAl Yellon2013-08-31T13:00:05-05:002013-08-31T13:00:05-05:00Cubs vs. Phillies Preview, Saturday 8/31, 3:05 CT
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<figcaption>Brian Kersey</figcaption>
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<p>The Cubs have reached the end of another awful August.</p> <p>Not so much fun with numbers:</p>
<p>Cubs' record this month: 7-20. One more loss would equal the 21 losses they had in August 2012, only with one fewer win.</p>
<p>Record needed for 100 losses: 6-22</p>
<p>Record needed in remaining home games for worst-ever Wrigley record: 6-8 (or worse)</p>
<p>Record needed in remaining games for worst two-year span in franchise history: 13-15 (or worse)</p>
<p>Hope you're enjoying this spectacular(ly bad) era in Cubs history.</p>
<p><a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> lineup:</p>
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<pre>Castro SS, Barney 2B, Rizzo 1B, Murphy 3B, Lake CF, Castillo C, McDonald LF, Gillespie RF, Rusin P</pre>
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<p>Ladies and gentlemen, your Chicago Cubs cleanup hitter against Cliff Lee, <span>Donnie Murphy</span>.</p>
<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.thegoodphight.com/">Phillies</a> lineup was not available at the time I wrote this post. Please check <a href="http://www.twitter.com/bleedcubbieblue" target="_blank">the BCB Twitter feed</a> for the Phillies lineup.</p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="680"><tbody>
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<td class="ysptblhdr" align="center" height="18"><center>
<h2><i>Today's Starting Pitchers</i></h2>
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<spacer type="block" height="1" width="1"></spacer><spacer></spacer>
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<td class="yspscores" align="center" width="45%">
<a target="newwindow" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/9271"><img alt="Chris Rusin" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2870247/chrisrusin.jpg" border="1" height="480" width="320"></a><br><center> <a target="newwindow" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/9271">
<h2>Chris Rusin<br>
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</a> </center> <br><center>
<h2>Cubs</h2>
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<td align="center" width="10%">vs.</td>
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<a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7026" target="newwindow"><img src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/3119217/clifflee.jpg" alt="Cliff Lee" border="1" height="480" width="320"></a><br><a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7026" target="newwindow">
<h2>Cliff Lee</h2>
</a> <br><h2>Phillies</h2>
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<td class="ysptblbdr2" colspan="35">
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<td class="yspscores" align="center"><a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp?playerId=31987" target="newwindow"><center>
<h2>vs. Phi</h2>
</center> </a></td>
<td class="yspscores" align="center">--</td>
<td class="yspscores" align="center"><a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp?playerId=5353" target="newwindow">
<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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<td class="td-name td-first">2013 - <span>Chris Rusin</span>
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<td>2-3</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>44.1</td>
<td>41</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>26</td>
<td>2.64</td>
<td class="td-last">1.29</td>
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<table class="zebra">
<thead><tr>
<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>Cliff Lee</span>
</td>
<td>11-6</td>
<td>28</td>
<td>25</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>178.2</td>
<td>158</td>
<td>65</td>
<td>61</td>
<td>18</td>
<td>28</td>
<td>164</td>
<td>3.07</td>
<td class="td-last">1.04</td>
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<p>Chris Rusin has pitched his way into consideration for the 2014 rotation; almost all of his starts have been at least decent this year. He has never faced the Phillies nor anyone on their roster and has a 2.48 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in five August starts covering 29 innings. (Those numbers are supposed to encourage you about today's game, so be encouraged!)</p>
<p>Cliff Lee has not faced the Cubs since 2011, and current Cubs are 9-for-63 (.143) against him. Lee is having the worst month of his 2013 season, but "worst" is relative; that's still a 3.18 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 34 innings in five August starts. We're probably doomed.</p>
<p>Today's game is on CSN Chicago.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mediacenter/index.jsp?ymd=20130401#date=8/31/2013">Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.</a></p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2013_08_31_phimlb_chnmlb_1&mode=gameday">MLB.com Gameday</a></p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/previews/CHC.shtml">Baseball-reference.com game preview</a></p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/events/118673/pregame">SB Nation game preview</a></p>
<p>Please visit our SB Nation <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.thegoodphight.com/">Phillies</a> site <a target="_blank" href="http://www.thegoodphight.com/">The Good Phight</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>You will also be able to find the First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads in the box marked "<a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">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/2013/8/31/4668656/chicago-cubs-philadelphia-phillies-lineups-preview-saturdayAl Yellon