Cubs vs. Braves

I figure that since the Cubs are playing so poorly right now, I may as well let all of you read about it and feel the pain of every Cubs fan in the country. That is why I am writting this running diary of the second game of the day-night double header against the Braves tonight. Since the Cubs are in quite a funk, I may just ignore the game at times and go into rants about other things going on. Oh yeah, one more thing before we get going, I will have an update on The Keg tomorrow, since I've been there twice since my last post about it and haven't written anything.

First Inning

Since this is my first post from my new place, welcome to Menomonee Falls everybody, we're coming to you live from the living room of the Filzen Compound here at N81 W13220 #18 Fond du Lac Ave. Hope you enjoy the stay.

What do you know, the Cubs lead-off hitter fails to reach base again. Memo to Jim Hendry: We aren't going to win a wild-card, much less a division without a lead-off hitter. Thank you. A tough at bat for Todd Walker (filling in for the injured Derrek Lee) but unfortunately it ends with a popout.



Jerome Williams has been a nice addition to the Cubs' staff, so let's see how he does against this potent Brave lineup. I hope the first batter won't be a sign of things to come as Furcal raps a single to right. Furcal gets a huge jump and swipes second easily. It's amazing to me that the Cubs have speed on the team (read Corey Patterson and Jerry Hariston) and still don't steal very many bases. Okay, good sign here, Williams strikes out the second batter he faces with Furcal on second, let's see more of this.

Since I hate Len Kasper and Bob Brenly so much, I will definitely be giving you some of thier highlights from the game.

Awesome move by Williams to pick Furcal off of second base, now 2 outs and nobody on. There we go, 1-2-3 and the Cubs are coming up to bat. End of 1: Cubs 0 Braves 0, more after the second.

Second Inning

We begin this inning with a moment of silence for those killed and injured in the London terroist attacks today.

Immediately after this, Bob Brenly proceeds to tell us that the fans who had tickets to last night's game which was rained out received vouchers for today's day game and if they couldn't make it, there was a hotline number to call in the paper. WHAT?!? You coached a team to the World Series and ended the Yankees dynasty, don't you have anything more insightful to say, like telling us what the players and coaches do during a rainout? Do they have meetings, stay in the clubhouse and receive treatment on things, or just go to the hotel and sit there? You can't tell us anything about that?

Well, after two outs, the perfect game is no more as Jeromy Burnitz (who has been showing great patience lately) draws a walk to give the Cubs their first baserunner of the game. Michael Barrett ends the inning with a flyout to right field. He has been one of the most disappointing Cubs to me personaly this season. He was supposed to be an offensive talent who was just coming into his own. All he's coming into this season is a .256 average and under .300 OBP. He is just on a long list of under-achieving Cubs this season.


Williams gets the very dangerous Andruw Jones to fly to Patterson to begin the bottom of the second, it's always nice to face him with no runners on and even nicer to get him to fly out on 1 pitch. Jerome ends the Braves' second inning by turning a double play. It has to be very difficult for a pitcher to field a ball and make a good throw to second base when they are used to always putting movement on the ball. I know it's only about 30 feet for them to throw it, but still, it has to be tough. Anyway, end of 2 Cubs 0 Braves 0, see you after the third.


Third Inning

"This Old Cub" will be aired on WGN Saturday, July 16th at 7:00. I highly recommend this watch to ANYONE, not just Cubs fans. Even if you aren't a Cub fan, you may be after you watch this, at least you'll know why we all LOVE Ron Santo.

Corey Patterson leads off the Cubs third by grounding out. Will this guy ever reach his potential, or was the bar set too high early in his career? When someone gets compared to Lou Brock, will they ever be that good? Wasn't he just doomed from the beginning? Perez hits it hard, but it is caught in left field, so the no-hitter is intact. Well, I need to go make my Hungry Man dinner, so I may miss a little action.


I decided to have left-over fish instead from Rich's Steaks and Cocktails which is .25 miles from my house. It is delicious. Thursday night is all-you-can-eat Spaghetti, so I will be there most Thursday nights. Jerome Williams meanwhile just missed facing the minimum amount of batters through the first inning, but Neifi Perez couldn't control the ball long enough to throw out John Smoltz. Instead of being killed, Jerome Williams catches the line drive at his head off the bat of Rafael Furcal to end the third inning. End of three Cubs 0 Braves 0, more after the fourth.



Fourth Inning

If I could pick a job to have in sports, which involved actually participating in the sport I think I would have to pick bullpen catcher. All this guy does is throw batting practice and warm-up pitchers. He's never going to get in a game because he is actually a staff member, like a coach, so you don't have to worry about actually getting in a game and having to do something. Even though you'll never play in a game, you get all the perks from actually being a member of the team. I used to want to be the third string quarterback on an NFL team, but you may actually play if weird things happen, and I'd much rather go to spring training than have to go to training camp for the NFL. That's just me, though.

Well, as I've been rambling, the Cubs broke Smoltz's no-hitter with back-to back-to back hits plating Jose Macias and Todd Hallandsworth had a productive out, driving in Todd Walker on a sacrifice fly. Up 2-0, the Cubs have their first lead since last week Wednesday when they beat the Brewers, hooray! Yeah, that's not a type-o. They haven't had a lead in over a week, that's how bad this 7 game losing streak has been. Burnitz ends the inning with a grounder to second for a double play, but the Cubs have a lead, so let's enjoy it while we can.


I'll be honest, "Ask This Old House" is on at 7:30 (about 5 minutes), so it's going to be tough to catch all of this action during that time, but I'll do my best. This is trouble, Johnson and Giles start the bottom of the fourth with singles, runners on 2nd and 1st with Andruw Jones at the dish. Let's all start praying. Interesting play, a grounder to first, which Walker bobbles, he tagged first for the force and then threw to second, but Jones slid under the tag, so a run is in and there is a runner on 2nd with two out. (Looks like Roger is digging up an entire front lawn and re-seeding it so the grass in this woman's lawn will grow more consistently. He always gets stuck doing these extrememly dificult projects.) Oh yeah, Williams walked a runner, but then strikes out Francouer to end the inning, not bad after allowing the first two runners on base. End of four Cubs 2 Braves 1, see you after the fifth.


Fifth Inning

(Roger is doing a number on this yard. Apparently, putting lime down on the top soil before the fertilizer and seed is good for keeping the acidity levels down, good to know.)

Patterson bunts safely, which is something he needs to do more of. In fact, let's just have him do that every time he goes to the plate from now on, he wouldn't do worse than he's doing right now. Jerome Williams moves Patterson to second with a sacrifice bunt, so let's see if the lead off hitter can do something for once this season. Nope, Perez fouls out to left field to end the inning, no real shocker there.

(Richard is going to be replacing a sink for some homeowners in Michigan right now. By the way, Roger is the landscaper, Richard is the plumber, and Tommy is the carpenter on the show, we'll see Tommy next. FYI, if buying a stainless steel sink, go for about 18 gauge steel.)

Williams walks the lead off batter, so we will see a sacrifice bunt by Smoltz, which he executes perfectly. My brother contends that a lead off walk scores more often than a lead off triple. I don't know if there is documentation on this, but statsinc may be able to get the answer for us. Well, the lead off walk is going to score as Rafael Furcal goes yard against Jerome. The Cubs are now in a familiar place, losing. (Richard is still working on this sink. Add this to my list of things I never want to do. He was installing this sink for so long that we aren't even going to be able to see Tommy tonight, oh well.) Still only one out and a runner on first. Williams needs to settle down and get out of this inning. Brenly just told us that short guys like Marcus Giles aren't usually noticed in tryout camps, that's interesting, is height that big of a factor in MLB?He just added that a fastball which almost hit Andruw Jones was a good pitch because Mark Prior struck out Jones twice in game 1 by throwing fastballs outside. Why would this be a good pitch then? Especially when the count was 1-1, he wasn't trying to strike him out and he almost hit him. I dislike these guys so much, I'm about to turn on the TBS broadcast. Alright, a double play, now we need three hits in a row again to score some runs. End of five Cubs 2 Braves 3, more after the sixth.


Sixth Inning

Hmm, there's one hit by Macias. Alright! Aramis Ramirez puts the Cubs back on top with a home run to left center, 4-3 Cubs. Len Kasper had a great call on that, (in normal voice) There's a hit to left center, hey it might go, and it does", with very little inflection or excitement in his voice. Okay, enough on the announcers, I don't like them and I'll leave it at that. Patterson had a pretty good at bat, but still ended the inning with a pop out. Oh well, Aramis put the Cubs on top, now Williams needs to have a better inning than the last two and hold it.


When the Cubs advertise things like, "the first 15,000 fans will receive a Cubs home game day hat" and then say, no purchase necessary, isn't that untrue? I'll bet if someone just walked to the park and was one of the first 15,000 people there and asked for a hat, the people at Wrigley would ask for a ticket, wouldn't they? Doesn't this mean that a purchase is in fact necessary? Is anyone still reading this? Wow, Williams goes 1-2-3 in the sixth and with only 102 pitches, you'd think he'll be back for more, which is great news for the bullpen. After six Cubs 4 Braves 3, see you after the seventh.


Seventh Inning

Once again we have proof that I know absolutely nothing as Ronny Cedeno pinch hits for Jerome Williams, ending his night. Three quick outs on only 7 pitches in that inning, nice job Cubs. Well, nothing to report from that inning really, so eveyone sing along:

Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the Cubbies,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game.
Let's Get Some Runs! (in the eighth of course)

Will Ohman pitches a very good 7th inning. If he keeps pitching like that, people are going to stop saying, "Oh-Man!" when he comes into games. End of 7 Cubs 4 Braves 3. More after the 8th.


Eighth Inning

The Cubs go very quietly and it appears that Roberto Novoa is going to be coming in for the bottom of the 8th. I don't have a good feeling about this.


Yup, a lead off triple, and then an 0-2 home run to put the Braves up 5-4. Awesome, can we now officially end the Roberto Novoa experiment? How about he goes back to Iowa and Rich Hill comes up, how quickly can this happen? They just showed a replay of the home run, Barrett was calling for it up and Novoa threw a fastball down at the knees, and right over the plate, absolutely terrible. I want to throw my computer. Nothing like three hits to start the eighth inning of a game the Cubs desperately need. Although at this point in the season, the Cubs desperately need to win every game. At what point does the catcher say to the pitcher, "What the hell are you doing out here?" Novoa leaves after allowing two runs on three hits and not recording an out. I'm not sure how ERA is calculated, but I believe Novoa's is now at 317.24. Is there an unwritten rule in baseball which states that if your team allows a late inning lead change, every player has to make stupid plays and self-destruct? A bunt which was supposed to be a sacrifice down the third base line and Ramirez goes to second? I know it was a close play, but it was still stupid. Great a three run home run by the Braves (which should have been only 2 runs) and I'm about to turn the game off. By the way, one of those runs was charged to Novoa, so his ERA just jumped to 374.62.

Another memo to Jim Hendry: Buy a bullpen. Get at least one guy who can give us one inning who isn't named Ryan Dempster. Speaking of Dempster, he used to be a starter, why don't we see him for more two inning save opportunities? Oh yeah, the Cubs don't get many two inning save opportunities.

Glendon Rusch is now going to leave and the Cubs are going to run out their third pitcher in the inning (Dempster) who inherits a runner at second and still no outs.

Hey, did you guys know that "The Wedding Crashers" is in theaters on July 15th? I've only seen the commercial for it every other break on WGN.

I may not write anything else until the final score is posted. Okay, I lied, the Cubs finally got an out on a grounder to second, but the runner moved up to third, so not much help. Hey, Dempster struck out Furcal, maybe we'll get out of this inning only down 4! Nope, Giles knocks in a run and the Braves are up 9-4, this is great. Alright, the eigth is over, Cubs 4 Braves 9, maybe more after the game.


Ninth Inning

You know, I'm actually going to be surprised if the Cubs don't go 1-2-3 in this inning, because that would mean showing some heart and fight, which they haven't really shown since before the eighth inning of game 6 of the 2003 NLCS. Yup, 1-2-3 as Patterson strikes out to end the game.

Let's recap, 8 straight losses, two straight series being swept, 40-44 on the season, 8 games out of the wild card race. Hmm, exactly the kind of roll you want to be on when you are going into Florida to face Dontrelle Willis tomorrow night. Great baseball for the past week for the Cubs, I may not even watch tomorrow night's game, except I'm a Cubs fan, so hey, anyone want to come over and watch the game tomorrow night?!

-Until next time...