OOTP6 - Chicago Cubs day to day

[Radii]

The most immersed I've ever become in a game was with CM. I was attached to all of my players. I had to heavily examine all of my players and make a ton of personnel decisions, and I watched every game in full on the pitch.

Whenever I've played OOTP I've done like many here do, make some tweaks here and there and play it month by month.

I wonder if more of a focus on the goings on of the league on a day to day basis could increase the immersion factor for me. I love records, I love pennant chases, yet I've always rushed through them in these games. So I'm going to try it differently this time and see if I become any more immersed in OOTP this time around.


I plan on Managing every game for my team.

I plan on making one or two posts every "day" in the league. A post detailing my team's game, and a post detailing the goings on in the rest of the league. Impressive performances, league leaders, pennant races, with no hurry whatsoever. With my free time lately I might only play 1 game a day most days. Depends on what's going on.

If I don't feel the immersion factor kicking in, this will likely flame out and die very quickly. But its worth a shot.


Technical Details

I start a custom league in 1980, setting it up just like the majors today. I erase the record books and start from there(tracking record holders adds to immersion for me so early on I want the new "best of all time" coming along pretty often).

I name everything like it is in the real world, except I leave the outstanding pitcher and batter awards. They'll be renamed when I take over.

I have set my league settings like Skydog does in his dynasty, based on FranklinNoble's newbie questions post from awhile back.

I will sim the league until 2000 or so, and then I will take over the Chicago Cubs, no matter what state they're in. I am most likely going to do that in manager mode but I'm going to make sure I udnerstand manager mode a bit more before I do that.

That's all for a little while. Simming for a bit and heading out for the night soon, so I will hopefully haev some time to get this started in detail tomorrow.

[Radii]

A quick look at the first 10 years of our new baseball history:

World Series Results
1980: Chicago Cubs defeats Kansas City
1981: Tampa Bay defeats St Louis
1982: Chicago Cubs defeat Oakland
1983: Oakland defeats Atlanta
1984: Oakland defeats Philadelphia
1985: Anaheim defeats San Diego
1986: New York Yankees defeat Chicago Cubs
1987: Baltimore defeats San Diego
1988: Arizona defeats Boston
1989: Minnesota defeats Montreal


Multiple Award Winners

AL: Vern Kreuger - 1B, Texas. Outstanding Batter award in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987. He put up 77 HRs in 1986, while batting .341. He hit 50 HRs in each of those 4 seasons. He is the only multiple batter award winner in the AL.

NL: Brian Fly, 1B. Fly hit .320 with 48 HRs in the inaugrial season of 1980 with San Francisco, and then 7 years later in 1987 with Milwaukee hit .343 with 54 HRs

NL: Juan Lopez, CF, cincinnati - Hit .357 with 53 HRs in 1984, and then hit .336 with 52 HRs in 1988.

On the pitching front, there have been a few dominant pitchers in each league.

AL: John Dix, Tampa Bay - 1982 and 1984 winners, 24-6/20-6 with ERAs of 2.53 and 2.49.
AL: Gerald Patnode, DET - 16-7 and 17-7 in 1983 and 1985 respectively, with ERAs of 2.6 and 2.52. He struck out 286 batters in 1985.
AL: Ricardo Romero - Seattle - 15-13 in 1986 with a 3.17 ERA, must have been a weak class. In 1987 18-9 with a 3.49 ERA. He gets a ton of innings, 272 adn 263, striking out near 200 each year and walking only 32 and 45.


NL: Bill Deleo, San Diego - 18-10 in 1981 and 20-7 in 1985. less than 40 walks in each season. San Diego picked up another award from JEsse Miller in 1986 with a 21-3 record, they had quite a pitching staff in the '80s.

NL: Bill Morrison, NY Mets - 17-8 and 17-4 in 1983/1984, his 1984 1.72 ERA is a league best I believe.

NL: 1988-1989 winner is Cincinnati's Terry Hattaway. He put up great 17-7/24-8 records and low 2 ERAs.


In the first 10 years we've seen 17 no-hitters, two perfect games. Juan Brazil of Houston has two no hitters.

There's been a 50 HR man in every season, and 4 50 homer men 4 times. Vern Krueger is the only man to top 60 HRs in a season, and he's done it 3 times.

There have been 12 20 game winners, 4 of them coming in the most recent season, 1989. John Dix and Terry Hattaway each have a 24 win year, the best we've seen yet.


The career leaderboard of coruse shows that most everyone is still active. Vern Krueger is quickly setting the bar, he has 561 HRs. He's 36 years old and only hit 28 HRs in 1989, so he'll likely top 600, but I don't see 700 happening.

Kreuger is our all time hits leader with 2185 so far.

The Mets SP Bill Deleo has 164 wins, while Detroit's Gerald Patnode has 160. Deleo is only 33 years old and could easily get to 200 and possibly 250 wins if he can stay strong a few more years.

Patnode has 2791 and is the career K leader so far.



That's a very quick look at the first 10 years, building up some history. Running the next 10 now, when I actually start playing I'll do an overview of each team to set the stage.

[Radii]

Time to look at the 1990s.

World Champions
1990: Philadelphia defeats Boston
1991: Toronto defeats San Diego
1992: New York Mets defeat Chicago White Sox
1993: Anaheim defeats San Francisco
1994: San Francisco defeats Cleveland
1995: Kansas City defeats San Francisco
1996: Minnesota defeats Colorado
1997: Anaheim defeats San Francisco
1998: Milwaukee defeats Kansas City
1999: Chicago Cubs defeat New York Yankees

The Cubs now have 3 world series titles and 4 appearances in 20 years. San Diego has made 3 world series and lost them all. San Francisco made it 4 out of 5 years in the mid-90s, winning only one. Anaheim and the Cubs have the most titles, with 3 each.

Multiple Award Winners

Justin Higley won 3 straight batter of the year awards with Montreal from 1989-1991, hitting 50+ HRs in two of the 3 years. He came back to win a 4th in 1998, this time in the AL with Kansas City.

1B Brian Fly, who won the first ever outstanding batter award in 1980, then again in 1987 for a different team, wins a 3rd award in 1991, for a 3rd team, this time in Cleveland in the AL.

RF Larry Anderson stayed in Kansas City the entire time, winning awards in 1989, 1993 and 1995, hitting 63 and 68 HRs in those final two years.

Milwaukee 3B alan shouse won two NL awards in 1997 and 1999.

On the pitching side of things, Toronto starter Walter Crumly won the outstanding pitcher award 3 times in the 1990s, 1990, 1991 and again in 1995, winning 18, 21, and 21 in those 3 years. He cam back in 1999 as a San Francisco Giant, winning his 4th award, this one in the NL.

Cubs pitcher Leo Trembly won two awards in the 1990s, going 17-4 in 1994, and 20-4 in 1997, with a 1.95 ERA.

Matching Walter Crumley with an amazing 4 Outstanding Pitcher awards is Ronald Pursley. The first two came in Cleveland, in 1992 and 1996, when he posted records of 21-3 and 24-7. He has now moved on to Baltimore and has won the last two awards in '98 and '99, going 22-4 and 20-6 for the O's.

Other records

We have a lot of guys that have struck out 15 in a game, 23 in fact, but only once have we gone as high as 18, Ciro Delgado struck out 18 in 8 innings for Philly in 1997.

The no-hitter list continues to grow, and there were 3 perfect games in the 90s, amazingly, two of them within 2 days. On June 22nd, 1999 Antonio Ozuna struck out 7 in a perfect game for the Twins. Two days later, on the 24th, Amando Marquez of Oakland did it in a 13K performance.

The 50 HR seasons keep coming as well, and now two more guys have hit 60... Larry Anderson of KC did it twice, and Jason Pendergraft of the Cubs did it in 1999.

Career Leaders

3000 hits? No problem! 6 guys have already done it. Robert Lora retired in 1999 with 3199 hits, the current leader. But that probably won't last long. 41 year old Danny Price doesn't want to hang up his spikes just yet, and he only needs 13 hits to pass Lora. He's aged and his skills have eroded, but he'll likely find a place to get those 13 hits.

3 actove players have 2900+ hits and should all get to 3000.


Vern Krueger looked like a god in the 1980s. Now he's just 5th on the all time HR list. Brandon Fly played until he was 42, retiring in 1997, lasing long enough to blast an amazing 627 home runs. He also got 3139 hits, easily placing him in the hall of fame.

But even Fly is no match for Larry Anderson. Anderson began his career in Kansas City in 1982, staying with the Royals until 1997, now he's a Brewer. He's hit 40+ HRs 9 times and 30+ 4 more. He's 37 years old but still has some pop in his bat, hitting 36 in 1999. He has 640 HRs and could easily surpass 700 if he keeps playing 2-3 more years.

It's clearly a new era, as we have 11 500 homer men in 20 years.

In the '80s Bill Deleo was the man on the mound, he led the majors in all time wins. He still does, he finished up a 244 win career in 1995. Hanging on is 44 year old Jesse Miler, check out that longevity, brougt up with san Diego in 1980, he stayed with the Padres for 19 years, before finally being traded to Texas last season. He is tied with Deleo at 244 wins, but his ratings have taken a big hit, and it's unclear whether he can squeeze out just the 1 more victory he needs for the all time lead. A 38 year old William Hubbard went 16-10 for the Red Sox last year and has 224 wins all time.


There are 14 guys in the Hall of Fame, no pitchers, and I haven't messed with the settings for this, a couple of not worthy guys in and the standards for ptichers are probably unreachable in the era.



Looking over the league history I am thinking I might take over the Pirates instead of the Cubs. I love the Cubs, but I dont' want to go in and take over a great team and just go win with them, where's the fun in that?

4 more years to sim.

[hoopsguy]

Would be disappointed to hear you are covering a team besides Cubs, but it makes sense in light of their dominance (hard to type that as a Cubs fan). Looking forward to reading the dynasty.

[Radii]

Would be disappointed to hear you are covering a team besides Cubs, but it makes sense in light of their dominance (hard to type that as a Cubs fan). Looking forward to reading the dynasty.

My thoughts exactly. I could also try to use manager mode and start with the Cubs but have the risk of getting fired and having to move elsewhere to try to get a job.

Still debating :)

[Radii]

It's now April 2004. Time for me to do a little more in depth review of the league and pick my team. I think I am leaning towards trying out manager mode and taking over the Cubs.

First I take a look at the career leaderboard. For the first time many leaders are no longer active.


John Haas has a .339 career average to top that board.

The hits leaders are both still active. Monte Silver is 43, and is getting closer to pete rose than anyone has in a long time. He has 3741 hits, he's played from 1982 to 2003. Silver also is 2nd on the HR list with 672, and 1st in RBIs by a lot, 2220 RBIs, 240 more than Anderson. Also still active is 41 year old CF John Carrol with 3683 hits.

Larry Anderson finally retired in 2002 with 715 home runs, he's the leader for now. Silver is technically active with 672 HRs but I think his career is about over.

Walter Crumly retired in 2002 with 251 career wins, topping the 244 we'd seen earlier. Crumley went 20-6 in 2001 and age caught up with him in 2002, he went 6-18 and hung it up. This list will have a new top name soon though. Ronald Pursley, a SP for baltimore is "only" 36 years old and still has great stuff and control. In the league only since 1992, he's won 20 6 times, and won 15 5 additional seasons. He has a career record of 243-93.

I haven't mentioned saves at all but two career closers have put up over 500 saves, led by Tony Geddes who saved 558 over 20 years.



I decide to try out manager mode. If that falls apart I can ignore the manager stuff and just run the team, but lets see where it goes.


Chicago Cubs Manager

Richard Dixon
Age: 20
Basic Skill: Great Pitching Knowledge
Special Skill: Handling Youngsters
Difficulty: AllStar - HARD

Team: Chicago (N)

My owner expects my Cubs to make the playoffs in 2004. The Pressure's on at the start! The Cubs owner isn't patient or impatient. Owner Mood: 75, Team Chemistry: 80

I make $525,000 and have a 1 year contract.


Cubs History

Chicago has won 90+ games in each of the last 5 years, winning 4 division titles. Last year we lost 3-0 to San Diego in the wild card round. Two years ago 91-72 was good for the wild card, while Arizona beat the Cubs 3-0 in the divisional series. The year before that a division title and a 3-1 win over San Diego got the cubs to the LCS, where Arizona beat them 4-1. Back to 2000, another loss in the divisional round. All of this was following the 1999 world series title. That's 5 straight years in the playoffs, and its up to me to keep us there.


Financial Info

Chicago carries a payroll of $92 Million, 6th in the majors. A fan interest of 100/100 gurantees that the fans will be out to wrigley.

The Cubs have turned large profits in each of the last 3 years, with smaller payrolls. Their revenue has been running in the $90 million range, and with $24 million cash on hand the Cubs can easily sustain the current payroll, and could add to it if necessary to make the playoff run this year.


The last overview item is the minor league rankings, where the Cubs are only 23rd in the majors in terms of minor league systems. Division opponent Pittsburgh has the top system right now.


coming up, the roster overview.

[Radii]

Catchers

We carry two catchers on the ML roster.

Wallace Secrest - 33 y/o - 29/41/66 (contact/power/eye) - 90 career ABs, .207 average in those 90 ABs, not someone we hope plays much. Acquired via waivers last season.

John Trivette - 38 y/o - 42/55/71 - Definitely a servicable catcher. With his age though we're going to have to start looking to the future very soon, i need to do something to acquire a replacement that won't need years in the minors. Trivette has been a .275/20/75 guy throughout his career. He's been the Cubs starter since 1997, he makes $8 million a year.


First Base

Armando Benavides - 28 y/o - 58/51/52 - Benavides only played 35 games last year, but he is somewhat of an up and comer, He can definitely play, but his talent ratings aren't really any higher than his overall ratings. Definitely not a star.

benavides is the only 1B on the ML Roster.


Second Base

Ramon Barrientos - 33 y/o - 31/61/33 - A reserve/pinch hitter for 3 years now, he hit .194 last year.

Kenneth Garst - 41 y/o - 44/16/25 - Garst hit .275 last season. This will be Garst's last season I am sure, and I hope he isn't on the field for most of it. Garst is a 10 year starter who has 246 career HRs.

The Cubs 2B and 3Bs can all play 2nd as well, and we'll see how we can fill these positions out because I'm not real happy with the right side of the infield at all.


ShortStop

Manny Pitre - 26 y/o - 42/22/16 - Not a very talented guy, and unless he breaks out it doesn't look like he has much potential either. He is a very good baserunner and a good defensive SS (and 3B), so I can see hanging on to him as a reserve and defensive Sub.

Joseph Baker - 33 y/o - 62/35/73 - he won't hit a lot of HRs but he's a very good hitter for average. A career .299 hitter, he's hit well over .300 in each of the last 3 seasons(.346 last year). A potential leadoff or #2 man for the OBP alone. He isn't the best defensive SS, and he doesn't have much speed though.


Third Base


Andrew Recker - 36 y/o - 86/53/53 - This is a great hitter. he hit .354 for us last year, and has enough power to be dangerous, he'll go deep 15-20 times. Wherever he ends up in the lineup, he'll be a great asset.

Joe Guerrero - 38 y/o - 39/58/28 - Guerrero might have some value for us since he can play a lot of positions, 2B/3B/SS/RF, but he doesn't play any of them particularly well. A career .254 hitter, he exploded for 37 HRs back in 2001 but quickly faded, only hitting 12 last year while hitting .235 in 285 ABs. Someone who might be a decent utility player, and to give our starters some rest.


Left Field

Bill James - 31 y/o - 57/77/21 - A monster home run hitter, only making $3.75 million through next year. He doesn't have the best eye, and won't be drawing many walks. He hit 40 HRs in each of the last two seasons and has put up a respectable .281 avg last year. This is likely our Cleanup hitter. He has no speed and is an average defensive player.


Center Field

Len Hagerty - 37 y/o - 56/13/43 - A fading starter, he can still contribute though, he is a very very good defensive player with decent speed. A Cub since 1995, and a starter in the majors since 1988, if he can keep it up for 3 more yearas he just might get to 3000 hits. He has 2633 right now, but it looks like he's starting to show his age a bit. He hit .291 last yaer and if we can get that from him this year we'll be very pleased.


Right Field

Salvador Soto - 35 y/o - 30/34/35 - Not a regular starter since 1999, and he hit .185 that year. He has a ton of speed, and is a brilliant defensive outfielder, he can play RF and CF. A good end of game replacement for defense.

Jerry Schenck - 36 y/o - 54/27/57 - Decent ratings and he put up a solid .309 average starting last year. The higest paide player I've seen so far, he must have started seeing some talent drops, this guy makes $17 Million a year. The cubs signed him last offseason to this $17 Million/4 year deal, he hit well but he got hurt and missed 5 weeks last August, did he suffer a big hit then? He's a career .293 hitter but has only started for 6 years. With that salary this is a guy we're looking to move.

Randy Gettys - 26 y/o - 53/41/29 - Gettys hit .292 in 216 ABs for us last year. Above average speed and a decent RF, I'd love to see Gettys get a chance to start for the Cubs.



This certainly isn't a bad lineup, but did I just take over an aging team at the end of its run? Will I get some leeway if I have to break this team down and rebuild?

[Radii]

Starting Pitching

Juan Velez - 41 y/o - 71/20/20/95-99(stuff/control/movement/velocity) - An aging fireballer. 198 career wins, but 12-11 with a 4.17 ERA last year. If he can get us that again this year I'll be happy.


Waldo Thibodaux - 30 y/o - 57/27/100/87-90 - Good stuff and great movement on his pitches. His control scares me but he could be effective for us. 13-13 last year, this is his 5th major league season, he's 40-33 so far in his career. Chicago picked him up in a big trade with Cleveland last year.

Jeffrey Rosol - 29 y/o - 53/67/43/88-91 - Rosol looks like an average starter but he hasn't reached his peak talent wise, I'd love to see a Stuff boost. He started 30 games last year, going 10-4 with a 4.42 ERA. Only 175 innings despite an 83 endurance, I want more than 5 1/2 innings out of my starters.

Zane Moore - 30 y/o - 36/68/87/91-94 - A new kind of pitcher to me, the great control and movement but lacking in pure stuff. He looks like he really started to put it together last year, going 16-5 with a 3.11 ERA, I hope to get quality from him again this year. This will be his 4th year as a Cubs starter, he was a 4th round pick in 1996.

Freddie Meyers 23 y/o - 34/61/45/88-91 - He has a lot of potential and could be a picther much like Moore, ok stuff but great control/movement in the end. He's servicable now and may be good enough to start for me. 23 years old only, he has 25 appearances, and only 3 starts. Last year he made 10 relief apperances, going 13 innings and only giving up 1 run. He'll almost certainly be given a starting shot this year.

Jose Solorio 32 y/o - 21/49/89/87-90 - 9-12 last year with a 5.04 ERA. I am not impressed.


It looks like this team has 4 guys that can be pretty good starters, but no absolute stars, all of them have some weaknesses. Zane Moore looksl ike my opening day starter. A little development during the year could go a long way.


Middle Relief

Richard Forsythe - 31 y/o - 66/54/63/93-96 - a solid reliever, 2.57 ERA in 79 apperances last year, this guy looks like a key to the bullpen, a likely setup man.

Lawrence Riley - 26 y/o - 70/19/73/86-89 - If he can ever learn to get the ball over the plate, this guy could be a monster. Even without the control he's a reliable, albeit "exciting" reliever to have. 2.04 ERA in 2002, and 3.31 last year, with over 60 apperances each season.

James Levine - 32 y/o - 66/31/43/95-99 - A fireballer but when he gets hit it hurts. A career ERA of 4.67 in 271 appearances, he looks like a long reliever.

David Kitchesn - 39 y/o - 48/58/30/87-90 - Old. 3.79 ERA last year, if he can do that for us again over 60 apperances, I will be very pleased.



Closer

Allen Roe - 37 y/o - 86/81/82/87-90 - The Cubs closer for the last two years... before that he closed games for the White Sox since 1991. 486 career saves and I see no reason he can't get 30+ again this year. A great guy to have anchoring the bullpen.



I don't feel good about this team's ability to make the playoffs.


I will review the minors tomorrow and see how things look, but a brief overview shows that things don't look good. Only one guy in AAA that has serious talent and only a couple of guys in the system anywhere that we think can help us win. This is a lot better test than I thought when I took over my beloved Cubbies.

[Radii]

Minor Leagues

This is clearly a team that is built to win now, and it looks like its been done by unloading prospects. There's also been a shortage of good draft picks with all of the 1st place finishes.

Triple-A

29 y/o 1B Benjamim Amey - 25/44/47, lets hope I don't have to play this guy.

28 y/o 1B Gregory Ramirez - 39/53/38, same!

30 y/o 2B Cory Mier - 25/35/26 - another reserve

20 y/o 2B Calrence Nunes - 13/10/1 - talent 20/25/34

33 y/o SS Pedro Perez - 11/25/23 - ick

36 y/o 3B William Hofmeister - 24/51/44 - 387 career ABs, a .183 hitter.

33 y/o SP Alfonso Fernandez - 38/56/24/89-92

30 y/o SP Dana McGill - 30/28/53/91-94

26 y/o SP Keith Penaflor - 39/41/44/89-92 - a sure september callup

31 y/o MR Mark Apple - 20/11/32/91-94

27 y/o MR Anthony Tomlin - 36/21/24/88-91

Claude Jaquez - closer - 21 y/o - 26/71/36/84-87 - talent 50/81/67, this is a guy who might see some action in september, he was the Cubs first round pick this year (had to set it for pre-season draft to run all the seasons, I'll set it to june for 2005)


I mention the guys in AAA because they are likely september call-ups and injury callups, so it's worth seeing them, the rest of the way down I'll only mention guys that I look forward to having a shot at the majors.

Double-A Notables

Higinio Martinez - 23 y/o MR - 28/43/42/88-91 / talent 36/73/46 - Picked in the 1999 draft, he dominated A-ball in 2002, struggled in his first year in AA last year with a 4.61 ERA.

Santiago Freitas - 25 y/o MR - 33/25/59/86-89 / talent 46/55/67 - Played well in AA in 2003, if he can progress a bit and get up to AAA maybe he'll see some time in the majors.


Single-A notables

Troy Petitt - 24 y/o 1B - 23/16/22 / talent 67/69/56 - a late bloomer probably but another guy with some talent if he can make the jump. He has a long way to go. Hit .248 in A ball last year in his first season as a pro.


There's some other long shots that I'll mention if they start to bloom.

[Radii]

I'm going to go ahead and open up the season just to get us going, but after a few games I plan on looking a bit closer at some of the weaknesses here and might see if I can somehow make a move or two.

Starting Rotation

Zane Moore
Waldo Thiodaux
Jeffrey Rosol
Freddie Meyers
Juan Velez


I am not thrilled about having a 23 year old and a 41 year old as my #4 and #5 starters,but this is the hand I am dealt.



Opening Day

Chicago at Milwaukee


Scouting:

Milwaukee starts Alexander Chiaramonte, a very good looking 30 year old. Great stuff, good movement, he lacks some control though. 9-11 last year with a 3.63 ERA. 20 wins the year before, this is a quality starter.

The Brewers feature 6 hitters who hit 20+ home runs last year, topped by 3B Alan Shouse. Shouse still has it at age 37, he's a likely hall of famer, 16 HRs away from joining the 500 club.


The Game

I'd love to use the warmup rule, but I see it says it doesn't apply to computer teams, if i can't see who they are warming up to bring in, I'm not going to give myself that extra challenge.

My lineup:

1) Schenk - RF
2) Hagerty - CF
3) Recker - 3B
4) James - LF
5) Baker - SS
6) Trivette - C
7) Benavides - 1B
8) Garst - 2B
9) Moore - P

The matchup report gives Milwaukee the advantage in 5 spots, and we're even in the other 4. Chiramonte has the advantage over Moore. This bodes ill.

1st inning

The first pitch of the season is a strike, and on the second Schenk grounds out to third.
Hagerty K's
Recker draws a walk and we have our first baserunner.
James takes a 2-1 pitch into shallow right for a single! Runners on 1st and second with 2 out.
Baker is out after a long fly out to left.

In the bottom of the first, Moore gets behind to SS Campos 3-1, Campos blasts a ball into the gap but Hagerty runs it down in Center field to make the catch. Not bad for our 41 y/o CF.
3 up/3 down

Chicago 0, Milwaukee 0

2nd inning

Trivette opens the 2nd with a leadoff walk, and we're taking advantage of Chiramonte's control problems early.

I love to play small ball, but not with my #7 hitter.

Chiramonte throws a wild pitch and Trivette moves to second, with the count 2-1! Benavides works it to a full count and draws a walk, 2 on, no out.

Garst strikes out for out #1 in the 2nd.
Moore is a terrible bunting pitcher, I let him swing away. He hits a hard ground ball back to the pitcher, Chiramonte starts the easy 1-4-3 double play and the inning is over.

Bottom 2nd:

two easy outs before Milwaukee gets its first hit, a single into the hole in short for Hernandez
Moore gets his 2nd K to end the 2nd inning, 26 pitches through 2, looking good!


3rd inning

Schenk looks at strike three to start out 0-2
Hagerty draws a walk and we get another baserunner.
A great at bat by Recker, he works the count to 3-2, fouls off three straight pitches and then watches ball four go wide, two on, 1 out for the cleanup man, Bill James.
James flies out to deep left field, I send Hagerty to 3rd and he's in there. 1st and 3rd with two out. Chiramonte has thrown 59 pitches already and we look to get into that bullpen early at this rate.
Joseph Baker comes up with a chance to do some damage, he hit .346 last year, he works the count full and the hit and run is on, but he grounds out to end it.


The 8 hitter Eaton leads off with a double down the left field line.
I bring them in at the corners, but Chiramonte gets a good enough bunt down for the sac anyway. Man on 3rd, no out.
Brewer leadoff man campos hits a line shot, but its right at Recker at 3rd. He makes the catch, steps on the bag and teh inning is over! Double play, and we got out of a problem situation there!

4th inning

Chiramonte's at 65 pitches, only 34 strikes.

Trivette hits a bomb to the gap in right center, he easily has a double but tries to go to third, RF Fortier has a great arm and makes a perfect throw, and Trivette wastes a leadoff double :/
Benavides and Garth go down easily to end the 4th.


Bottom 4:

With 1 out, Shouse hits a double down the 3rd base line. Man on 2nd with 1 out.
Moore gets the cleanup man to line out to first, but Fortier hits a grounder back up the middle for a single, and that's good enough to score Shouse. 1-0 Brewers.
Problems here, as Manuel Hernandez tags one good off of Moore, deep to the wall in left, Fortier scores from first and Hernandez has a double, we're down 2-0.
Another line drive out ends the 4th.

Milwaukee 2, Chicago 0


5th inning

Moore watches the ball go by for a stirkeout to lead off the 5th.
Schenk gets on for the first time, he draws a walk, that's 6 walks for Chiramonte.
Hagerty flies out to shallow left
Andrew Recker gets us on the board, he takes a 2-0 pitch down the left field line for a double, scoring Schenk easily from first!
Just like the last inning for Milwaukee, Bill James takes a 3-2 pitch back up the middle for a single, scoring Recker, and we've tied it right back up.
Baker takes the first pitch and flies out to right but the Cubs have tied the game up!

Chiramonte has thrown 97 pitches and isn't likely to be around much longer.


A scare as Campos hits one to the wall in left field, but James has enough room to make the catch. Chiramonte hit for himself, so we'll see him agian in the 6th.


Milwaukee 2, Chicago 2

6th inning

Trivette makes his first out of the year, striking out.
Benavides singles through the hole in short.
Garst works the count full but strikes out. At least this inning we get the pitcher up so he doesn't have to lead off.
a passed ball allows benavides to go to 2nd, but Moore cant take advantage, he pops out.


Bottom 6:

Moore lets the leadoff man, CF Barren, get on base, bringing up a lot of good power hitters for the Brewers.
Shouse hits a hard grounder to 3rd, we get the out at 2nd but Shouse beats it out at 1st.
We have a chance to get out of this unscathed, but Jeffrey White's easy grounder is bobbled by Garst.
Fortier has hurt us all day, but this time we get him to ground into a double play, Chicago lets the leadoff man on but gets out of it unharmed.


7th inning

Schenk hits a grounder in the hole to SS, Campos makes the play but can't get the throw over in time, infield hit!
Hagerty isn't the best bunter, but I have him try to sacrafice anyway. HE fouls off the first two. But Hagerty recovers nicely, working the count to 3-2 before singling up the middle! I hold Schenk at 2nd, 1st and 2nd with no out.

Andrew Recker is my best overall hitter, he hit .354 with 23 HRs last year. 1-1 with 2 walks today, here's a chance to be a hero. Recker singles to right field!! I send Schenk home and that's a mistake, Fortier's arm is just too good, Schenk is out at home. The runners both advance and I have men on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.

Bill JAmes hit 45 HRs last year, and it's understandable that Milwaukee doesn't want him swinging, that's an IBB.

New Pitcher - Richard Lark

Lark pitched 76 games last year, his ERA was 4.91. He's 47/42/68 and Joseph Baker comes up against him trying to be the hero of the day.

Baker hits a smash past Campos into left field! Hagerty scores, all the other runners advance 1 base.

Trivette is 1-2 with a double, he takes the 2-1 pitch from Lark and BLASTS it, that's a 359 foot shot into the right field seats, GRAND SLAM CUBBIES!!!!

Benavides comes up and hits it to the wall in center, that's an easy double!

Garst and Moore both strike out and that's the inning, 5 runs on 6 hits and Trivette is my new best friend.

Bottom 7:

Moore gives up a single and a walk. I'm about ready to pull him, but he strikes out the #8 hitter and will face the pinch hitter, Reyes. A .313 hitter last year. Moore strikes him out though, and that's two down!

Campos comes up and gets his first hit of the season, driving in a run.

With two on and the big bats coming up, it's time to go to the pen.

Zane Moore - 6.2 IP, 8 H, 1 BB, 4 K, 3 ER(so far)


I bring in Lawrence Riley, a 3.31 ERA last year in 74 appearances. He has control issues but has great stuff and great movement.


Riley walks the first man to load the bases for Shouse. Shouse fouls one off on an 0-2 count, then watches 4 straight balls go by, that's a run on a walk...

Jeff White fouls one off on a 2-2 count, fouls another off on a 3-2 count before grounding out to 3rd to end the inning. WHEW


Chicago 7, milwaukee 4


8th inning

James Smith comes in to pitch for Milwaukee. Smith is a 46/51/64 guy who pitched 49 times last year, working a 4.32 ERA.

Schenk grounds out.
Hagerty hits a long fly to left-center for an easy double, he's started the season 2-4!
Recker is intentionally walked, his 3rd free pass of the day, on top of a 2-2 day he's looking great.
James slams a single through the hole into right field, I don't challenge Fortier's arm though, bases loaded with 1 down.
Baker hits a double down the line, clearing the bases!! I was a bit worried after giving up two runs but that helps a ton.
Trivette and Benavides fly out to end the inning, but not before the Cubs score 3 runs to go up 10-4!


A rare 3-up 3-down inning and Riley is out of the 8th clean.


Chicago 10, Milwaukee 4


9th inning


Garst strikes out for the FOURTH time.. way to go.

I pinch hit RF Randy Gettys for Riley. Gettys strikes out.

Goofing around looking at the game options I click the simulate button.. I don't see a way to get out of it, so I sim the half inning... Chicago scores 2 more.


Bottom 9:

I bring in David Kitchens, 48/30/58 - he's in for mopup here.

PH Randy Haydel flies out to RF
PH Justin Warwick gets his first career hit with a double to right center.
Campos grounds out and it's just bout over.
Barren hits a line drive but SS Baker makes a leaping catch to end the game!

Final Score:
Chicago 12
Milwaukee 4

The Cubs line: 12 runs, 18 hits, 1 error
Milwaukee: 4 runs, 9 hits, 0 errors



Milwaukee Notes

Chiaramonte goes 6.1 innings, giving up 5 runs in the loss. The bullpen gave up 7 more runs in 2.2 innings.

1B Hernandez goes 3-4, scoring one and driving in one, the only guy to get more than 1 hit.


Cubs Notes

Zane Moore gets the win, going 6.2 innings and giving up 4 runs. He walked 1 and struck out 4. He's 1-0.

Riley gets a hold, going 1.1 scoreless innings

Kitchens goes 1 scoreless to finish it off.

Trivette hit the only HR of the game, the big grand slam, he went 2-4 with 4 RBIs.

Recker had a perfect day, 3-3 with 3 walks. He scored 3 runs.

Also scoring 3 runs is aging CF Hagerty, 3-5 with a walk and 3 runs scored.

A great start for chicago!

[Radii]

It took me a full hour to play that game out. I don't think I can do a full writeup of every game. I'll work on how I want to do it, b/c I definitely want to play out the games and report in some detail. Perhaps only innings where we score.


Around the League

Oakland 8
Seattle 9

New York(A) 3
Tampa Bay 6

Anaheim 3
Texas 4

Boston 2
Baltimore 5

Baltimore won the world series last year, we'll keep an eye on them.

Kansas City 2
Chicago 4

Minnesota 6
Toronto 3

Cleveland 5
Detroit 0

San Francisco 4
Arizona 6

San Diego 5
Los Angeles 4

Philaelphia 4
Florida 1

New York 1
Montreal 4

St Louis 4
Atlanta 0

Cincinnati 4
Houston 11

Pittsburgh 14
Colordao 1


More on the other teams as I progress.

[Radii]

April 2nd

I have 4 e-mails.

Kenneth Garst announces that he will retire. After his 4 strikeout day, I'm not upset by this at all.

Juan Velez will retire, he's an aging spot starter. No sweat.

John Trivette will retire. He is aging, but I have a serious issue at catcher after this season.

David kitchens also announces his retirement. He's a mopup guy/long reliever for me this year, so again I'm not worried.


I make one change. I put RF Schenk on the trading block. He had a good day today, but he's 36 and makes $17 million a year, and is signed through 2006. He isn't anywhere near good enough to make $17 million. I'm ideally looking for a catcher or starter for him.


I make a quick pass through the waiver wire as well, nothing doing there.

[Radii]

April 2nd

Waldo Thibodaux (57/27/100) gets his first start against
Carlos Rivas (85/41/31) - a 41 year old vet, a career 4.01 ERA, 158-144 record.

Thibodaux is a lefty, 40-33 in 4 years in the majors, with a 4.53 career ERA. He posted a 4.04 ERA last year.

Thibodaux has the edge on the mound today, woo!

1st inning

1 hit(Hagerty), but a double play ends it quickly.

Milwaukee gets 1 hit and there's a 2 out walk to put men on 1st and second, but Thibodaux gets out of it.

2nd inning

3 up-3 down for the Cubs, Baker strikes out.

3 up-3 down in the bottom of the 2nd as well, again 1 K

3rd inning

Benavides leads off with a home run to give the Cubs the lead!
Garst K's, then the pitcher walks.
Schenk K's, and Hagerty picks him up with a double to left, Thibodaux comes around to score!
Recker is the 3rd K, but 2 runs in between!


bottom 3:

we get the first out, then there's an infield hit, I argue the call after it looked like it was missed. After that there's a walk, 1st and 2nd with 1 out.
Thibadaux recovers to get out of the inning unharmed.

Chicago 2, Milwaukee 0

4th

3-up 3-down in the top of the inning

bottom 4:

Jeff White hits a leadoff triple, but comes out of the game injured.
A single scores the runner, then Barren steals second to put a man on 2nd with no out and 1 already in.

Thibodaux again gets out of it, 3 straight outs to end the innning.

Chicago 2, Milwaukee 1

5th inning

3-up 3-down, 8 Ks for the Brewers pitcher, Garst has 2 Ks, 6 on the season.

1 hit for milwaukee but the runner never gets past first base.


6th inning

Schenk leads off with a hit
Hagerty K's
Recker singles to right, I've learned my lesson with Fortier, I hold the runner.
James grounds out into a FC
Baker K's for the 3rd time, 10 K's for Rivas and the inning is over.


Bottom 6:

Thibodaux walks two straight, then a K, but then Arvidson drives in the tying run with a long double.
1 out, 2nd and 3rd. There's a pinch hitter for Rivas. I walk him to load the bases.

Campos comes up with 1 out and the bases loaded.

Campos singles in 2 runs and we're in some trouble.
Hernandez hits a fly to right, he's out but it's enough to score Reyes from 3rd.
We get shouse to end the inning.

Milwaukee 5, Chicago 2


7th inning

Richard Lark is in for Milwaukee, his 18.00 ERA from the beating we gave him last game.

Trivette singles, Benavides is out, then Garst singles to put 2 on with 1 out.

Gettys pinch hits for Ribodaux. He grounds into a double play to end the threat.


Richard Forsythe (66/54/63) makes his fist appearance. I have him as my setup man. I need to hold them here though so I move him up to the 7th.

Forsythe walks Fortier to lead off the inning, then Warwick gets a pinch-hit to put 2 on with no out.
Barren K's, Eaton hits a hard grounder to 2nd, we get one out, the batter, 2 out, 2nd and 3rd.
Karl Ogden Pinch Hits in the 8th spot and K's to end the inning.

both teams threaten but its still 5-2.

8th inning

The top 3 in the order go 3 up/3 down. Yuck.

Forsythe gets 1 out then gives up a hit in teh bottom of the 8th.
He's tiring after 40 pitches and I bring in James Levine to finish this up.


Levine falls apart, giving up 3 runs on a single and a 3-run homer by Shouse.

Milwaukee 8, Chicago 2


Ariel Castillo comes in to close it out. He went .1 innings last game, giving up a run.

Bill James leads off with a solo shot, only 5 more to go.

We get one more baserunner but that's it, game over.

Milwaukee - 8 runs, 11 hits, 0 errors
Chicago - 3 runs, 9 hits, 0 errors


No good today. thibodaux was responsible for 5 runs in 6 innings, he walked 5.

Milwaukee got a great start from Rivas, 6 Innings, 10 K's, just 5 hits/2 runs/1 walk.

Our bullpen didn't look good either.

Benavides had a solid game at 1B, 2-4 with 1 RBI/1 run.
Hagerty got two hits as well.

Hagerty/Recker/James/Benavides are all hitting .500+ through 2 games.

Campos killed us today, 4-5 with 1 run and 2 RBIs.
1B Hernandez for Milwaukee went 2-3 today, and is 5-7 through the first two games.

PH Warwick got his first career hit yesterday, he got his 2nd today, and is 2-2. Will he ever make an out?!


Chicago: 1-1
Milwaukee: 1-1

That's it for tonight.

[Radii]

Other Games on April 2nd

Oakland 2
Seattle 6

New York 10
Tampa Bay 3

Anaheim 7
Texas 0 - winning pitcher Ayo went 7 2/3 and a reliever finished off the shutout.


Boston 2
Baltimore 8

Kansas City 2
Chicago 5

Minnesota 7
Tortonto 1

Cleveland 2
Detroit 3

San Francisco 4
Arizona 2

San Diego 19
Los Angeles 3 - San Diego gets 25 hits, two guys get 4 hits. LA Starter Albo gave up 6 in 2/3 inning

Philadelphia 5
Florida 0

New York 3
Montreal 5

St Louis 4
Atlanta 3 St Louis is the only 2-0 NL Central team

Cincinnati 8
Houston 4

Pittsburgh 1
Colorado 5


In the news, 4 star Montreal 1B Thomas Vera is out for 6 weeks with an injury. He's hit .300 twice in the last 4 years and is a career .302 hitter, only 30 years old.

[Radii]

ARGH.

I complete game 3, write it up, and this stupid laptop crashes before I post it.

We go up 4-0 in the 3rd, Milwaukee scores 2 in the 4th, 2 in the 6th, and we head ot the 9th. top 9, Cubs have men on 1st and 3rd with 1 out, and a K and a ground out end the inning. Top 10, Cubs have men on 1st and 3rd with 1 out. Two strikeouts end the top of the 10th. Bottom 10, 2 up, 2 down, 0-2 count, and our closer Allen Roe gives up a solo home run to end the game.


Chicago 4 runs, 8 hits, 1 error
Milwaukee 5 runs, 9 hits, 1 error
10 innings

All of our runs come on a Bill James grand slam.

Starter Joe Rosol goes 6 1/3 innings, gives up 6 hits and 4 runs, 1 walk/6 Ks

Riley comes in and goes 1.2 scoreless, then Roe goes 1.2, giving up 2 hits, including the game losing HR, he is 0-1.



For now, early in the season, I'm only going to comment on the other teams once a week, I'll update the standings in each division and comment on league leaders.

As we move on if I see good pitching matchups, or see career milestones coming up, I'll follow other individual games more closely.


Oh, one other comment. I argued a call and got kicked out of the last game.


No one plays on April 4th.


This laptop SUCKS. 2 minutes to sim the off day.

[Radii]

April 5th

Colorado(1-2) at Chicago(1-2)

Colorado lost 2 of 3 to Pittsburgh at home. They're batting .194 and allowing 7 runs a game.

Colorado has a $49 million payroll and a 19/100 fan interest. they are not a team doing terribly well.

Chicago Starter: Freddie Meyers - the 23 year old prospect, he looks like he's going to be good but he isn't quite there yet. 34/61/45, with just average endurance. He had 10 great relief appearances last year but this will be his first start since a september callup in 2002.

Colorado Starter: 32 y/o Herme Soto is worse off I think. 27/27/81, he started only 9 games last season and has a 57-70 career record with a 5.27 ERA.

We have the edge almost everywhere in the matchup listing.


1st inning

CF Julian Diaz (37/57/79/0-9 so far) - grounduot
LF Joseph Biggens (57/38/28/.444 with 1 HR/3 RBI) - popup
3B Robert Bejarano (67/56/81/.333 so far) - single to LF
C William Ray (55/53/30/.091 so far) - popout

bottom 1:

RF Schenck (.308) - popout
CF Hagerty (.385) - fly out
3B Recker (.455) - groundout


2nd inning

1B Steven Vegas (73/40/19/.400 so far) - popout
RF Rene Cobo (46/60/70 .083 so far) - groundout
2B Ernesto Bernal (.111 so far/54/41/43) - strikeout

bottom 2:

LF James (.462/2 HR/7 RBI) - single, and a 9 game hitting streak gonig back to last year
SS Baker (.286) - single to right, 1st/2nd no out
C Trivette (.308/1 HR/4 RBI) - double play groundout to SS, runner to 3rd
1B Benavides (.308/1 HR/1 RBI) - groundout

3rd inning

SS Clyde Bonner (36/63/47/.111 hitter) - HBP
Pitcher sac bunts
Diaz lines out to left field and bonner had gone too far off the bag, he's doubled up!!


bottom 3:

Garst (.167/6 K's) - groundout
Meyers - K
Schenck - K


4th inning

two singles to lead off the inning, bringing up the cleanup man, Willie Ray, he's just 1-12 so far this year though.
Ray hits a 0-2 pitch for a double down the right field line, clearing the bases...
the next 3 men get out, and Meyers gets out of it only allowing the 2 runs.

bottom 4:

hagerty grounds out
Recker draws a walk
James gets a bloop single, recker to 2nd
Baker lines one over the ehad of the shortstop, LF Biggins has a week arm, I send Recker home and he scores without a throw! 1 run in, 1 out, 1st and 2nd for Trivette.
Trivette draws a walk and they're loaded

Benavides grounds to short, Trivette is out going to 2nd but they can't finish the double play, that's good for the tying run!

Garst grounds out.

Colorado 2, Chicago 2

5th inning

2 easy outs, then a solo home run by Julian Diaz, he hit 22 last year, but that's his first hit of the season this year.
3rd out is an easy one and that's the 5th

bottom 5:

Meyers doesnt have the best endurance... but I let him hit, I'm going to try to get him to go 6, but i'll pull him if he struggles, he's at about 70 pitches.

Meyers K's
Schenck beats out an infield hit
I send Schenck(Rockies have a terrible throwing catcher) but Sojo was holding him on, and Schenck is thrown out after he doesn't get a great jump
Hagerty lines out to end the inning

Colorado 3, Chicago 2

An easy first out, then Willie Ray hits his 1st homer of the year... we're down 4-2.
We get out the next two men, but on the last out Hagerty pulls up lame in CF, and he's going to have to come out, he's hurt.

Randy Gettys is my best hitter on the bench, he's not a great CF but he can play it, so he's there.

bottom 6:

Recker leads off with a single down the first base line, the RF cut it off well to hold Recker to 1.
James looks at strike 3
Baker gets his 3rd single of the day, and we have men on 1st and 2nd.
Trivette hits a hard grounder to short, setting up an easy double play... inning over

Colorado 4, Chicago 2

7th inning

Meyers only used up 15 pitches in the last two innings, so I let him pitch despite the HRs he gave up in the 5th and 6th.

he's out of the 7th easily, he's at 83 pitches total now.

bottom 7:

Benavides singles through the hole to right

I bring in Barrientos to hit for Garst... Garst has sucked it up so far, Barrientos has a better eye but that's about it, i don't like him either but he'll finish up the game at 2nd.
Barrientos grounds to short, 1 out at 2nd but he beats the throw to first.

Salvador Soto comes in to pinch hit for the pitcher, Meyers.
Soto grounds one to first, but the 1B bobbles it and everyone is safe!

Schenck hits ANOTHER ground ball... again, out and 2nd, safe at first, and Gettys is up with 2 down, men on 1st and third, and we trail by 2, a big chance for the backup here.

Gettys works the count full, so Schenck is off and running with the pitch, Gettys blasts one, it's off the wall in left, a double scoring both runners and tying the game!!!!

Becker is out but not until we tie it up on 2 unearned runs.

Colorado 4, Chicago 4

8th inning

I pull a double switch, Soto stays in to play CF(he's a much better defensive CF), and Lawrence Riley is in to pitch, he'll hit in the 2 spot and Gettys comes out.

Barrientos stays in to play 2nd, and hit 8th.

This is Rileys 3rd appearance, he's gone 3 innings, allowed 1 hit, walked 2, struck out 2, and hasn't given up a run yet.

Riley gets an easy 3-up/3-down of the first 3 men in the order for the Rockies, very nice.

bottom 8:

Benjamin Hernandez comes in to pitch for Coloardo. his 3rd appearance, he has a 6.75 ERA in 1.1 innings so far. His numbers look ok, 84/76/25... if he doesn't walk you, you're in trouble it looks like.

James grounds out
Baker draws a walk on a full count
Trivette hits into a FC to the 3rd baseman, out at 2nd but Trivette is safe at first.
Benavides flies out.

9th inning

Another easy 3 up/3 down for Riley, he struck out 1.

bottom 9:

Barrientos leads off with a fly out to right.
Soto draws a walk.

Soto is our best baserunner and I do the predictable and run. Soto steals on a bad throw.

Schenck pops out.

Tyrone Trivette is pitching for the Rockies. in 1 appearance he went 1.1 IP and didn't allow a hit. 73/100/71, a great reliever.

Oops. I hit the wrong button, letting Riley hit, and he K's. WAY TO GO MANAGER!


10th inning

to top it off, Riley is tired after throwing to his first batter, allowing a single. I can't believe I did that.

I bring in Richard forsythe, he's making his 2nd appearance, he gave up a run in 1.1 IP in his first try.

The runner steals 2nd.
Bonner grounds out to SS, the runner holds

A PH for the pitcher, Andres Pena, he lines a single to right and gives Colorado the lead in the 10th :(

The next two men are out, this is our last chance.

bottom 10:

Efren Soto comes in to pitch for Colorado. He's making his 3rd appearance this year, he has a 10.80 ERA in 3.2 innings... 8 hits/2 walks. 15 stuff/76 movement/80 control.

Recker, James and Baker, our best 3 hitters are up.

Recker singles on a 1-0 pitch.
James isn't a bunter... doesn't matter, he looks at a 3-1 pitch and draws a walk.

Manager decision: 1st and 2nd, no out, down by 1, bottom of the tenth. Baker is up, hitting .412 so far. Do I bring someone in to bunt to try to tie it up, or do I let him hit away?

Baker is a great bunter... I'm a small ball manager, and I'm at home. Play for the tie at home, right? I'm bunting. Baker lays down a near-perfect bunt. It is good for the sac, and almost good for a hit, great job by the SS.

Trivette is given an intentional pass. 1 out for Benavides, 1-4 today with an RBI, hitting .294 on the young season. AND that's a strikeout.

Barrientos comes up and flies out, and the game is over.


One horrid mistake, and one tough decision, and the Cubs are 1-3. Who says the manager doesn't matter in baseball?


Coloardo 5 runs, 8 hits, 1 error
chicago 4 runs, 10 hits, 0 errors
10 innings


Meyers goes 7 innings, gives up 6 hits and 4 runs, 0 walks/1 K.
Riley gets the loss with 2 IP, he was responsible for the last run.
Forsythe finished it up, giving up 1 hit in 1 inning.

Riley is 0-1.



After the game I go talk to the trainer, who tells me that Hagerty jammed a finger and is going to miss a week. Gettys will start until he's 100%

[Radii]

April 6th

I have my rotation set to start the highest rested starter. Zane Moore is ready to go again and I'm all for it, I hate my 5th starter and wouldn't mind him missing every other start. Colorado is doing the same.


Chicago Starter: Zane Moore makes his 2nd start, he's 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA after 1 start. 36/68/87, the stuff worries me but he's the best I got.

Colorado Starter: Felix Arevalo is similar, but a little better i think. 38/94/75... his endurance is weak though. He's 0-1, he got blasted on opening day, giving up 6 hits and 7 runs without getting a single man out!


1st inning

Diaz (.071) - fly out to center
Biggins (.357/1 HR/3 RBI) - ground out
Bejarano (.385) - K

bottom 1:

Schenck (.278) - flyout

And having now recorded an out, Arevalo's ERA is 135.14.

Gettys (.500 2-4 w/ 2 RBI) - single to left

Gettys can run, Arevalo doesn't hold runners well and Ray doesn't throw well... I send him but he doesn't get a good jump and doesn't go. It's a strike and I'm not letting Recker take another one.

Recker (.467) - groundout to SS, man out at 2nd.
James (.500/2 HR/7 RBI) - flyout

2nd inning

Ray (.200) - flyout
Vegas (.286) - popup
Cobo (.063) - single
Bernal (.154) - single
Bonner (.083) - RBI single... 3 guys whose combined averages add up to just over .300 all hit safely to give the rockies the lead. Blech.
The pitcher K's, inning over.

bottom 2:

Baker (.389) - flyout
Trivette (.250/1 HR/4 RBI) - line out
Benavides (.278) - line out

Colorado 1, Chicago 0

3 up/3 down for Moore, no problem.

Garst (.143) - fly out
Moore (.000) - ground out
Schenck - ground out


4th inning

3 up/3 down for moore again, up to 54 pitches after 4 innings.

bottom 4:

Gettys K's
Recker doubles to the gap in right center!
James flies out to center
Baker grounds out to 1B

5th inning

A leadoff walk and a steal scare us a bit, but Moore gets out of it nicely. He burns through some more pitches though and is up to 71.

bottom 5:

Trivette - safe on a fielding error by the pitcher!
Benavides - line single to LF
Garst - a clutch hit! Single to CF, I can't send the catcher home, my slowest runner and their best arm in center, I play it safe.
Moore - fly out to short right, no chance for Trivette

Schenck - singles through the hole in right, Trivette scoers, I send benavides home, it's a very very close call, but he's safe! Both runners advance, 2nd/3rd with 1 out, 2 in.

Gettys singles up the middle and both runners score!

Recker and James cant pile it on, and the inning is over.

Chicago 4, Colorado 1

6th inning

A leadoff single, a steal, an out, a flyout, then another single allow a run in...
Cobo is out to end the inning, but Steve Vegas cuts into the lead with his single.

bottom 6:

Baker singles to lead it off
Trivette popt out to right
Benavides hits a single that drops in front of Diaz in center

Archie Denn comes in to pitch for Colorado. his 2nd appearance, he went 2 IP, gave up 3 hits but no runs in his last one.

Garst K's

I pinch hit Guerrero for Moore... upper 80s pitch count and a slim lead, the bullpen will have to bring us home.

Guerrero hits a double to the wall past Diaz in left-center, he clears the bases and it's 6-2!

Schenck flies out to end it.

Chicago 6, Colorado 2

7th inning

I bring in Richard Forsythe. I have 3 relievers I like, and he's one of them. The other, Riley, is tired.

Forsythe makes his 3rd appearance, he has a 3.86 ERA in 2.1 IP so far.

an out, a single, and a double play by a PH for the pitcher make this a 6 pitch inning. That's small enough that Forsythe might go 2, I expected an adventure in the 8th trying to set up Roe.

bottom 7:

Ben Hernandez makes his 4th apperance for the Rockies, a 3.38 ERA in 2.2 IP so far. Great stuff, terrible control.

2 K's, a walk then a groundout and we're into the 8th.

8th inning

Forsythe walks the leadoff man, Diaz.

I have Forsythe hold Diaz, Biggins grounds one to second, and Diaz is out, but no double play here.

He holds Biggins too.. Bejarano grounds to SS, another fielders choice.

Ray singles, men on 1st and 3rd with 2 out. Forsythe tires as the count is 3-2, I let him finish off the batter though, and he strikes out Vegas!

bottom 8:

A K, followed by two walks set us up. Soto pinch hits for Forsythe. He hits into a FC, man out at 2nd, men on 1st and 3rd with 2 out.

Schenck comes up and singles, Benavides scores and it's 7-2!

Gettyes comes up and hits a big 3 run HR!!!

Recker is out to end the rally.

Chicago 10, Colorado 2

9th inning

Forsythe and riley are tired now, I'm not bringing in roe to wear him out with an 8 run lead. I bring in mopup reliever Jose Solorio. 21/89/49

the first man is out, then a single, and another single, this on in the infield.

A PH for the pitcher comes up, and he gets another single. STUPID AI MANAGING WARNING: they send the runner home on a close play. In an 8 run game. James throws him out from left and that's out 1. No manager would ever do that down 8.

A walk loads the bases back up. A HBP scores a run.

A walk scores a 2nd run.

A hard hit ball to Baker, he fields it and thrwos the runner out at first, and the game is over!


Colorado 4 runs, 10 hits, 1 error
Chicago 10 runs, 11 hits, 0 errors

They get 3 hits from Bonner.

Chicago gets two hits from Schenck, he drives in 3 and scores 2, pushing his average to .304.

Gettys had the game of a lifetime for a reserve outfielder though, 3-5 with a HR and 5 RBIs. He now has the team lead in RBIs along with James.

Zane Moore gets the win, 6 IP/5 hits/2 runs/1 walk/4 K's - his ERA is 4.26 and he's 2-0.

forsythe gives 2 great innings, and Solorio mops it up, literally. Allowing 3 hits, walking 2 and hitting 1 in the process.

Game Notes:
Randy Gettys set a career high for RBI in a game!


League Notes

Yankees LF Gregory Tinney gets 6 hits against the Red Sox including a home run. His 6th and final hit came in the 10th inning and was the game winner.

Wow. Tinney is a STAR. 90/100/87, a 30 year old LF. He hit 70 HRs last season, 79 the year before, and has 2 so far in 5 games. He's got 406 already at age 30. A .335 hitter over his career, he's hit .300 every year except his rookie season, where he hit .200 in 60 ABs. Amazing.


The Cubs are 2-3 and have some holes in the rotation and the lineup, at least for a team that is supposed to contend for the playoffs.

[Radii]

A technical question. I used the default custom league, which apparently has everyone play in the same park. In manager mode i can't change that.

Is this "old league park" going to have a big effect on the league/ Is it a big hitters park or are these career numbers we're seeing normal?

I downloaded a stadium pack but when I saw I couldn't change every team's park I backed it out. I don't want everyone playing in the Astrodome, that'll mess thigns up quite a bit.

[Radii]

And a dynasty question. Is this readable, will people follow along in this style? I'm having fun playing the games but it's going to go slow.

[Radii]

April 7th

We close out our series against Colorado today.

Chicago Starter: Waldo Thibodaux, 0-1. 57/27/100, he gave up 5 runs in 6 innings in his first start.

Colorado Starter: James Stroble, 1-0, 1.23 ERA - 74/51/31, a pretty solid pitcher, hopefully we can get to him today.

1st inning

Diaz (.059) - K
Biggins (.333) - ground out
Bejarano (.294) - walk
Cobo (.100) - griound out

bottom 1:

Schenck (.304/6 runs) - ground out
Gettys (5/9, 1 HR) - groundout
Recker (.400) - K

2nd inning

Vegas (.278) - groundout
Ray (.200/1 HR/4 RBI) - groundout
Bernal (.250) - groundout

bottom 2:

James (.400/2 HR/7 RBI) - single

... an 18 minute rain delay occurs at this point in the bottom of the 2nd ...

Baker (.381) - FC groundout
Trivette (.200) - K
Benavides (.333) - K

3rd inning

Bonner (.250) - groundout
Stroble - walk (ugh, walked the pitcher)
a flyout, a single and another flyout end the inning. Thibodaux might have suffered from the rian delay?

bottom 3:

Garst (.176) - K
Thibodaux (.000) - K
Schenck - 0-2 count, it looks like he might strike out the side, but nope! He blasts one to left, its over the wall, 396 feet, HR!!!
Gettys - groundout

Chicago 1, Colorado 0

4th inning

Cobo hits a leadoff double, then there's a logn flyout, but Thibodaux gets out of it, retiring the next two batters.

bottom 4:

Recker, groundout
James, single
Baker, K
Trivette, K

5th inning

The #8 man and the pitcher strike out, then Thibodaux walks Diaz. He walks Biggins after that. Bejarano strikes out and the inning is over, exciting, but no score!

bottom 5:

Benavides, K
Garst, K
Thibodaux, K


sheesh. 5 straight strikeouts for Stroble, and 10 on teh day.

6th inning

Thibodaux gets one out and then loads the bases. He just doesn't have it today, 91 pitches, only 46 strikes.

I bring in my best, Lawrence Riley, to pitch his 4th appearance. Lets see if he can get out of this.

Bonner hits a sac fly and the game is tied up.
Stroble grounds out to end the inning. 1 run after 1 out/bases loaded... I'm not too unhappy with that.

bottom 6:

Schenck - groundout
Gettys - K
Recker - flyout

7th inning

Riley walks the leadoff man, Diaz. Diaz steals second. A single by Bejarano scores Diaz and we trail 2-1.
riley walks another man and I pull him.

David Kitchens is in for his 2nd appearance. he has thrown 1 scoreless inning.

Kitchens gets out of it after that, and we trail by 1 run now.

bottom 7:

James, flyout
Baker, K
Trivette, line out

Colorado 2, Chicago 1

8th inning

Colorado pinch hits for their pitcher, thank god.

We get out of the 8th unharmed.

bottom 8:

Ben Hernandez comes in for his 5th appearance, we can hit this guy, he has a 10.39 ERA so far.

Benavides flies out
Guerrero pinch hits for Garst and strikes out
Soto pinch hits for the pitcher and also grounds out

9th inning

Barrientos comes in to play second and *gulp* James Levine comes in to pitch. Levine has a 27 ERA after .2 innings.

aaaaannnnndn the bullpen kills us. Levine gives up 3 runs on 5 hits.

bottom 9:

We trail 5-1, this looks bad. Colorado brings in Efren Soto, who has a 7.72 ERA and has no stuff, but great movement and control.

Schenck singles, Gettys K's, Recker singles, and James singles! Down 4 I play it conservative and hold the runner.

We have the bases loaded, 1 out, and Baker up.

Baker isn't much of a power hitter but he hit .346 last year and is hitting .333 this year.

Baker takes the first pitch into left for another single, and one run scores, it's a 3 run game!

Trivette is very cold, but here's his chance to be a hero.

And to pitch to Trivette, is Tyrone Trivette, 1.2 IP/0 runs allowed, a quality reliever. 73 stuff/100 movement/71 endurance.

And, trivette grounds into a double play, booooo.


Colorado 5 runs, 10 hits, 0 errors
Chicago 2 runs, 7 hits, 0 errors


We're now 2-4, and Colorado isn't a good team, this is worrisome.

James went 3-4 and Schenck 2-4, scoring both of the Cubs runs, but we were shut down outside of those two.


For Chicago, Thibodaux goes 5.1 IP, gives up 4 hits, walks 5, but only allows 1 run.
Riley goes an inning, giving up a run, and gets the loss. He's 0-2.
Kitchens does well, going 1.2 scoreless innings.

At that point we were down to our last reliever and were in trouble, and Levine gave up 3 runs, sinking us.

For colorado, Stroble was brilliant, 7 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 12 K's/0 walks. He goes to 2-0, and Trivette got his first save finishing off the rally in the 9th.


I fear my time in Chicago will be short at this rate.

What do I need to improve? Another starter? Another reliever? Another bat somewhere?


The Cubs are 2-4 and in last in the NL Central.

[Radii]

April 8th is an off day.

April 9th

Pittsburgh at Chicago

Pittsburgh is a solid 4-2.

Chicago Starter: Jeffrey Rosol - 0-0 with a 5.68 ERA in his first start, he gave up 4 runs in 6.1 IP.

Pittsburgh Starter: Silvano Raposa, 0-1, 3.00 ERA in 6 IP his first start.

Raposa brings 23/64/57 ratings, and he is a hard thrower, 93-96 MPH.


Pittsburgh looks to have a very good hitting team

We are listed as being favored in almost all spots up and down the lineup... lets see what happens!

1st inning

Carl Sorensen - 52/88/17 (.308) - single
John Smith - 56/31/62 (.333) - Sorensen steals 2nd on us... Smith grounds out
Leroy Roland - 64/85/44 (.130) - Roland doubles down the right field line, scoring the runner.
Anselmo Mendes - 37/72/17 (.347) - K
Markus Morgan - 60/19/39 (.364) - ground out

bottom 1:

Schenck (.333) - walk
Gettys (.385) - flyout
Recker (.375) - single
James (.458) - singles to left, Schenck rounds third and comes home, tie game!
Baker (.360) - double play groundout :(


Pittsburgh 1, Chicago 1

2nd inning

Joseph Golliday (.200) - ground out
Rigo Cruz (34/38/100, .263) - double
Luciano Deluna (36/6/39 .389) - fly out
Raposa - groundout

bottom 2:

Trivette (.167) - single (ending a 4 game hitless streak I believe)
Benavidea (.292) - pop out
Garst (.158) - ground out to first, runner advances
Rosol - K

3rd inning

Rosol gets the first two out, then gives up two singles, but gets out of it without giving up a run. 50 pitches through 3 though.

bottom 3:

the top 3 in the order go down.

4th inning

Rosol gets the leadoff man, then walks Cruz. Deluna singles to bring up the pitcher. Raposa bunts the men over and there are men on 2nd and 3rd.

Sorenson flies out to right to end the inning. That's 67 pitches through 4, and Pittsburgh is threatening a lot.

bottom 4:

James, single to center
Baker, Single to left!
Trivette, easy double play on the grounder to 3rd.
Benavides - pops out to short.

5th inning

Rosol gets one out, then allows a single before striking out the #4 and #5 hitters to end the 5th.

bottom 5:

Garst flies out
Rosol draws a walk
Schenck grounds into a double play... ugh

6th inning

Still tied at 1.

3 up/3 down for Rosol, including his 6th strikeout!

bottom 6:

Gettys grounds out
Recker singles over the 3rd baseman into left.
James pops out to center
Recker goes to 2nd on a 2-2 wild pitch
Baker singles to center and scores Recker from 2nd base! A key wild pitch there, it lets us get that run home.

Trivette singles to right, advancing Baker to 3rd, trying to start a 2-out rally.
Benavides singles up the middle! Trivette goes to 3rd and Baker scores!
Garst grounds out to end the innign, but the cubs get 4 hits and score 2!

Chicago 3, Pittsburgh 1

7th inning

Rosol has some good endurance, and I need it with the bullpen a bit tired still.

Edward Dimas pinch hits for their pitcher, and he singles into right.
Sorensen singles, and smith bunts over the runners...
1 out, men on 2nd and 3rd, the #3 hitter is up.

I pitch to him. He flies out to short left, the runner on 3rd can't score.
Medes, their hot hitting cleanup hitter grounds out and Pittsburgh strands two men!

bottom 7:

Actually, my bullpen is rested, after the day off. I pull Rosol after 7 IP, he's thrown 105 pitches.

Edwin Dallas is the new pitcher for PIT. 69/40/75, he's 1-0 with a 9.00 ERA in 3 appearacnes. 6 hits/5 walks in 4 innings.

Guerrero pinch hits and grounds out.
Schenck flies out to center
Gettys grounds out to short

8th inning

Richard Forsythe coems into his 4th game of the year. He's given up 1 run in 4.1 IP so far.

Forsythe gives up a leadoff single.
He strikes out a PH, then gets a FC for the 2nd out, and gets Deluna to ground out to end the inning

bottom 8:

We get nothing in the 8th


9th inning

Closer time. Allen Roe had a bad first outing, 5.4 ERA, giving up a run in 1.2 IP, he's 0-1. He looks for a save here.

Dimas grounds out to short
PH Villalba grounds out to 3rd
Smith singles to left
Roland fouls off a pitch on a 1-2 count, then strikes out!!

Cubs win, Cubs win!


Pittsburgh 1 run, 10 hits, 0 errors
Chicago 3 runs, 10 hits, 0 errors

We put together a great game today.

Baker went 3-4, and Recker, James and Trivette all went 2-4, we put together a couple of good strings there.

For the Pirates, Raposa gave up 3 runs on 9 hits in 6 innings, and drops to 0-2.

Rosol got the win, getting through 7 IP, giving up 8 hits, walking 2, striking out 6 and only allowing 1 run. He's 1-0 now.

Forsythe and Roe both pitched scoreless innings to finish off the game, Roe got the save.

[Radii]

April 10th

We have a chance to go back to 4-4 if we can win today.

Chicago Pitcher: Freddie Meyers gets his 2nd start today, he picked up a no decision in his first start, going 7 IP giving up 4 runs.

Pittsburgh Pitcher: Camilo Fuensanta is 1-0, he was great in his first start. 59/33/71 ratings, and he was no good lastyear, 8-20 with a 5.22 ERA.

1st inning

Sorensen (.333) - double to the wall
Smith (.323) - Flyout
Roland (.185) - Sorensen steals 3rd and Roland walks
Mendes (.333/1 HR/7 RBI) - walks
Harte (.391) - groundout, runners advance and 1 scores
Cruz (.273) - ground out

bottom 1:

Schenck (.300) - K
Benavides (.296) - single
Recker (.393) - single
James (.464) - FC to 2nd
Baker (.414) - Walks, bases loaded/2 out
Trivette (.214) - K :(

Pittsburgh 1, Chicago 0

2nd inning

Campbell(first at bt) - K
Deluna (.364) - flyout
Fuensanta - ground out

bottom 2:

Gettys (.294) - groundout
Garst (.136) - single
Meyers - fouls out trying to bunt
Schenck - flyout

3rd inning

Meyers gives up 1 hit but gets out of the inning easily

bottom 3:

Benavides - line out
Recker - ground out
James - walks
Baker - walks
Trivette - flies out

4th inning

2 fly balls to the warning track and a strikeout...

bottom 4:

Gettys walks
Gettys is picked off of first...
Garst flies out
Meyers K's

5th inning

another easy 3-up 3 down for meyers

bootom 5:

Schenck - groundout
Benavides - K's
Recker - single
James - groundout

6th inning

a leadoff single is erased by a double play, then a K ends the inning.

bottom 6:

Baker/Trivette/Gettys are all out

7th inning

Meyers strikes out 2 and gets a popout... he's flying along at the moment

bottom 7:

Garst - single
Meyers sac bunts successfully, garst to 2nd
Speedster soto pinch runs for garst
Schenck grounds to first, runner to 3rd, 2 out
Benavides singles on an 0-2 count, he ties the game up with 2 out in the 7th!!

Relief Pitcher for pittsburght: Chris Anderson 52/79/39 - 2.7 ERA in 3 games.

Recker walks
James grounds out

8th inning

Barrientos comes in to play 2nd base

Deluna doubles, and Morgan pinch hits and drives him home... left Meyers in 1 batter too long I guess.

I bring lawrence riley in for his 5th game.

Riley strikes out 3 men... but, he gives up 4 hits between those K's and pittsburgh pushes home 3 more runs.

bottom 8:

Steve Wirtz comes in to pitch for pitt, 1.1 IP, 4 runs, 27 ERA. 69/55/61

Baker singles
Trivette singles
Gettys grounds to SS but the SS bobbles it! Bases loaded, 0 out
Barrientos flies to right, the RF is a terrible RF, in b/c of a PH appearance, he has 0 range in right... he drops the ball and it rolls to the wall!!! All 3 men score on the error, and it's 5-4!

Guerrero pinch hits for Riley with a man on 2nd and 0 out, down by 1

Guerrero lines out.

nwe pitcher for Pitt. Valentin Sanchez, 100/22/58, good stuff!

Schenck singles through the hole to left! 1 out, barrientos has good speed, the LF has a good arm, I send him, and he's safe on the throw!!!

Benavides singles also! Schenck was on 2nd after the throw to home, and he comes in to score!!!!

Recker singles. James singles, Benavides scores!

Baker singles!! Recker comes home, look at this rally!

New pitcher, Richard Pannell - 58/48/69

Trivette K's
Gettys K's

Chicago scores 7 runs on 7 hits!!!


Chicago 8, Pittsburgh 5

9th inning

Roe comes in looking for a save.

Deluna leads off with a single
Morgan singles to right... 1st and 3rd, no out
PH Golliday grounds to first, FC at 2B, runner scores. 1 out, man on first, 8-6 cubs.
Smith grounds to first, another FC at 2nd, Smith is safe at first.

It's up to Roland, he's a great power hitter, but here he bloops one into right, 1st and 3rd with 2 down now.

PH Villaba watches strike 3, and argues and rgues and argues, he gets ejected, but it doesn't matter, that's the game!!!


Pittsburgh 6 runs, 12 hits, 2 errors
Chicago 8 runs, 13 hits, 0 errors


Roland killed us for Pitt, 3-4. Deluna scored twice from the 8 spot on 2 hits, and Morgan came in late and went 2-2 with a run and RBI.

Benavides was graet for us in the 2 spot, 3-5 with 2 RBIs and a run. Recker got 3 hits, Baker 2, and Garst got 2 hits.

We got 3 unearned runs in the 8th, that gave us the game.

Starter Fuensanta gave up 1 run in 6.2 IP, he has a 1.35 ERA now.

Meyers for Chicago goes 7 IP, gives up 3 runs, striking out 7 and giving up 5 hits. He has a 4.5 ERA

Riley gets a win finally, he gave up 2 runs on 4 hits in an inning, but our bats saved him. He's 1-2 with a 5.14 ERA now.

Allen Roe gives up a run and has a 4.91 ERA, but he did enough to get the save, his 2nd.


We're 4-4 and 2 out of first now, we're not in as bad a shape as I feared!

[tategter]

Enjoying the Cubbie dynasty so far. To answer your question about changing stadiums in manager mode, there is a utility that will temporarily take you out of manager mode so that you can make these types of changes. Check the OOTP forums under mods. I have to use it in my solo league every so often so I know it works.

[Radii]

Enjoying the Cubbie dynasty so far. To answer your question about changing stadiums in manager mode, there is a utility that will temporarily take you out of manager mode so that you can make these types of changes. Check the OOTP forums under mods. I have to use it in my solo league every so often so I know it works.

Thanks, I'll check that out for sure. That's one of those things that would just nag at me. Not enough to re-start and re-sim the history, but enough to want to fix it now that I've discovered it.

[Radii]

April 12th

We go on the road to Los Angeles. LA has lost 90+ games every year sine 1998. They are 3-5 so far this year.

Thanks to the day off on the 11th we have Zane Moore pitching for us today.

I make a lineup change. Gettys, my CF, drops to the #7 spot in the order, while hot hitting Benavides moves up to 2nd. That gives us some solid averages in our top 5 of our batting order.

Chicago Starter: Zane Moore is 2-0 with a 4.26 ERA in 12.2 IP over 2 appearances.

LA Starter: MArio Oliveros (73/66/49) has a 1-1 ERA with a 3.75 ERA over 12 IP. A career 50-61 pitcher in 5 years in LA now, depsite a decent 4.16 ERA.

LA's lineup doesn't look like much to me.

LA is tired of their losing team, and only 8522 people are here to see us.

1st inning

We have the edge batting in every single lineup spot. LA has the edge on the mound.

Schenck (.286/10 runs) - groundout
Benavides (.344/*HOT*) - single up the middle
Recker (.438/*HOT*/3rd in NL in batting) - flyout
James (.438/*HOT*/3rd in NL in batting/10th in RBI) - groundout

bottom 1:

Werner Redick (41/52/28/.261) - K
Mark Hamil (46/16/22/*HOT*/.344 avg) - walks
Larry Bolden (67/46/41/.303/1 HR) - flyout
Hernando Cruz (41/20/55/.161 avg) - steal by Hamil, scores on a single
Andrew Williams (40/25/32/.167 avg/*COLD*) - flyout

LA 1, Chicago 0

2nd inning

Baker (.438/*HOT*/3rd in avg) - groundout
Trivette (.212/*COLD*) - groundout
Gettys (.238/7 RBIs) - Ks

bottom 2:

Doug Suhr (.333 - only 6 ABs) - K's
Irwin Reese (.333 - only 6 ABs) - groundout
Bruce Wiens (.167) - groundout

3rd inning

Garst (.200) - flyout
Moore - flyout
Schenck - walk
Benavides - groundout

bottom 3:

Moore K's two dodgers and gets the first 3 out.

4th inning

Recker - popup
James - flyout
Baker - K

bottom 4:

3 up/3 down

5th inning

1 hit for each team, but we trail by 1 run.

Trivette - groundout
Gettys - K
Garst - signle to right
Moore - K's

66 pitches for Oliveros through 5

bottom 5:

1 single but no threat by the Dodgers. Moore has thrown 72 pitches through 5.

6th inning

Schenck - flyout
Benavides - flyout
Recker - K

We're getting owned

bottom 6:

leadoff double for Redick. Hamil tries to bunt but can't, he grounds out to the right side, moving Redick to 3rd.

Bolden K's, a big out for Moore!
Cruz K's as well, and we're out of the jam!

88 pitches for moore, he's on a short leash after this (his endurance is only 64)

7th inning

James - standup double, our first truly good cut against oliveros I think.
Baker is intentionaly walked.
Trivette lays down a sac bunt, it's a bad bunt right at the pitcher, and James is out at 3rd.
Gettys - short grounder, the only play is to first, 2 out, 2nd and 3rd.

Garst K's. His 10th K on the season.

bottom 7:

Moore gives up a home run to Williams, we trail 2-0 and that's it for Zane Moore today.

I make a double switch, Barrientos comes in to play 2nd and bat 9th. Richard Forsythe is in to pitch.

Forsythe has a 1.69 ERA in 5.1 IP in his first 4 appearances.

After getting 2 out, but loading up the bases on a single and two walks, Forsythe hits PH Pedro Montano to allow a run to score...

That's the only run, but it hurts.

LA 3, Chicago 0

Matsu Iemitsu is the new Dodger pitcher. 30/38/68, a 13.5 ERA in 3.1 IP over 4 games.

Barrientos - single to right

New pitcher for LA, Luis Bueche, 84/29/13, 1 game, 3 IP/3 hits/2 walks/no runs.

Schenck - walk

New Pitcher - Ramon Mendoza - 45/21/68 - 2.08 ERA in 5 games, 4.1 IP

Benavides - line out
Recker - K
James - single to left, Barrientos scores, and we're on the board.
Baker - Baker singles into left field as well, Schenck comes in to scoer and we have life!
Trivette - he may be cold, but he sure got a big clutch hit there, another single, another runner home from 2nd! Baker to 3rd, 1st/3rd with 2 out, tie game.

Gettys - Gettys hits a long fly ball, it's to the wall, and it's gone! Home Run!!! That's Getty's 2nd Homer, and we have a 3 run lead!!!

New Pitcher - John Santiago - 32/34/50, 6.35 ERA

I let Forsythe hit now. I want another inning out of him. A solid line drive by the pitcher, but its caught.


bottom 8:

Forsythe gives up a 2-out single but that's it, 8th is over.

Chicago 6, LA 3

9th inning

New Pitcher: Phillip Winnett - 7.11 ERA in 3 games/6.1 IP. 31/38/57

Barrientos - K's
Schenck - flyoutBenavides - K's

bottom 9:

Allen Roe comes in to close it. A 4.91 ERA in 3 games, 3.2 IP/6 hits/2 ER. He does have 2 saves.

Wiens pops out to lead it off.
James Roll, 0-10 so far this year, grounds out
Redick, leadoff man, grounds out. GAME OVER.


Chicago 6 runs, 8 hits, 0 errors
Los Angeles 3 runs, 6 hits, 0 errors


That's 3 straight wins and a 5-4 record!

bill James is the only 2-hit man for the cubs today, he goes 2-4 to raise his average to .444. He also gets his 10th RBI.

Gettys hit his 2nd HR and drove in his 10th run as well, his opportune hitting has been great for us.


Zane Moore goes 6 IP, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs, striking out 7. His ERA drops to 3.86.

Forsythe gives up 1 run in 2 innings, his ERA rests at 2.45, and he earns his first win after we hit so well behind him.

Allen Roe earns his 3rd save with a perfect 9th.


For LA, Oliveras goes 7 scoreless, but it falls apart after that, with Mendoza going to 0-1 earning the loss.

[Radii]

Player of the Week

The Yankee's LF George Tinney is player of the week. He hit .560, 6 HRs and driving in 15 runs, amazing! On the year he's hitting .447 with 7 HRs in 9 games...

In the national league Philadelphia star Carlos Tores hits .471 with 3 HR and 8 RBI. His 7th player of the week award we are informed. Tores is hitting .438 on the year. He's a 34 yra old 3B for the Phillies. A career .259 hitter, but he turned it around in 2001, he's hit .300+ the last 3 seasons. He's a solid HR man as well, he has 390 career homers and might have a shot at 500.

[Vince]

Way to beat the Dodgers :)

[Radii]

April 13th

We try to extend our winning streak on the road again at the Dodgers:

We have our CF, Hagerty, back in the lineup today for the first time in about 4 games.

Chicago Starter: Waldo Thibodaux is 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA in two starts. He has not been impressive so far, and his control is killing us, 10 walks in 11.1 IP.

Los Angeles Starter: Jorge Albo(47/72/52) is off to an awful start, 13.5 ERA over 2 starts, also 0-1, he's only made it through 6.2 innings, giving up 15 hits and 10 runs. He made it through 2/3 inning in his openind day start, 6 IP in his last start.

Chicago has the edge in every lineup spot, and we have 4 hot hitters, looking good. Joseph Baker is hitting .524 in his last 6 games, he's on fire.


1st inning

Schenck (.263/1 HR/5 RBI) - popout
Benavides (.324/1 HR/5 RBI/*HOT*) - K
Recker (.389/0 HR/1 RBI/7 runs) - 10th in the NL in batting at the moment, he smacks a single into right.
James (.444/2 HR/10 RBI/*HOT) - 2nd in batting/8th in RBIs.. he grounds out this time though

bottom 1:

Mark Hamil(heehee) (.324/*HOT*) - K
Werner Redick (.259) - K - Redick is ejected as he argues the called strike 3!
Pedro Montano (.290/2 HR/7 RBI/*HOT*) - walk
Larry Bolden (.270/1 HR/4 RBI/*COLD*) - popout

2nd inning

Baker (.429/0 HR/9 RBI/*HOT*) - 6th in NL in hitting - K
Trivette (.216/1 HR/5 RBI) - K
Hagerty (.313 - 16 ABs so far) - walk
Garst (.214/*HOT*) - flyout

bottom 2:

James Roll (0/11 this year) - K
Hernando Cruz (.171) - K
Bill Kelly (.250) - popup

3rd inning

Thibodaux - K
Schenck - ground out
Benavides - single through the hole to left
Recker - flyout to shallow left

bottom 3:

Bruce Wiens (.200) - flyout to the track in left
Albo - ... first hit of the game for LA goes to the pitcher
Hamil - K
Guzman (back up catcher after the 1st inning ejection) - flyout


4th inning

James - error on the 1st baseman on a grounder
Baker - flyout to left
Trivette - liner to 3rd
Hagerty - single to left
Garst - easy groudout - 2 men left on base


bottom 4:

Thibodaux has gotten into a lot of 3-2 counts, so far mostly K's, but he is up to 45 pitches through 3.

Montano - lineout (3/2 count)
Bolden - ground out
Roll - single to left, his first hit of the year, he's now 1-13 on the season.
Cruz - ground out on a 3-0 pitch.

60 pitches for thibodaux, who does have great endurance(90)

5th inning

Thibodaux - flyout
Schenck - flyout
Benavides - Walk
Recker - I try to send Benavides twice, he doesn't get the jump he needs. Recker faces an 0-2 count and pops out.

bottom 5:

Kelly - line out
Wiens - single to left
Albo - sac bunt attempt, but the bunt isn't good eough and the lead runner is out at 2nd!
Hamil - ground out

6th inning

scoreless through 6, 3 hits for each team.

James - ground out
Baker - K
Trivette - K (6 today for Albo)

bottom 6:

Guzman - walk
Montano - FC groundout to 2B, man on first only
Bolden - FC groundout to 1st (man still on first, tried to turn two)
Roll - flyout to CF

7th inning

86 pitches for Thibodaux, and he'll bat this inning... do I leave him in w/ 90 endurance or pull him?

Hagerty - groundout
Garst - flyout
Thibodaux - I want 7 IP from him, if runners had gotten on I might have yanked him. He K's.

bottom 7:

Cruz - flyout
Kelly - walk
Wiens - flyout
Irwin Reese - PH for Albo - 3/10 on the year with a dobule(35/47/25) - stolen base, man on 2nd - wild pitch, man on 3rd - grounout - WHEW

8th inning

New Pitcher - Luis Bueche (84/29/13 - great stuff, interesting guy) - 3.0 ERA through 3 IP in two appearances so far this year.

Schenck - HBP

pitching change - Matsu Iemitsu comes in - 16.20 ERA in 5 apperances, 3.1 IP so far. (30/38/68)

Benavides - hard grounder to first, only play is at the bag, runner moves to 2nd
Recker - IBB
James - line drive over the 2nd baseman's head, but he makes a great leaping catch
Baker - it's a single into shalow center, Schenck comes in to score easily, Cubs have the lead!!!
Trivette - ground out to 1B

bottom 8:

I make a double switch, I bring Larry Riley in to pitch, he'll bat in the 6 slot, and backup catcher Secrest is batting in the 9 slot (#7 htiter leads off next inning)

Riley has struggled some, 5 games, 7 IP, 5.14 ERA, he has picked up a decision 3 times.

Hamil - K
Guzman - single down the left field line
Montano - RBI Double for Montano, and Riley kills me again. He was great last year and has very good numbers.

I pull him for Richard Forsythe - 2.45 ERA in 5 appearances, 7.1 IP

Bolden - Big K
Roll - K

Chicago 1, Los Angeles 1

9th inning

Hagerty - K looking
Garst - K
Secrest - (29/50/41) - 1st at bat this year, he went 7/28 last year - groundout

bottom 9:

the bottom of the LA order

Cruz - flyout to left
Williams - groundout
Suhr (3/10 this year) - K

Extra Innings

10th inning

Top of the order for us

Schenck - leadoff walk

New pitcher: Ramon Mendoza - 9.00 ERA in 6 appearances, 5 IP - 45/21/68

Benavides is up - the hit and run is on - it works to perfection, a single to right that just got by the 2nd baseman. Schenck moves to 3rd, 1st and 3rd, no out!

Recker - short fly out, no chance for a tagup
James - it's a long fly, this'll at least get the runner home... no way, it clears the fence easily! 420 feet later, it's 4-1 cubs on a 3 run homer, James 3rd of the year!

Baker - Single
Forsythe - oops, it's midnight, i'm tired, oops :P popout
Hagerty - flyout


Time to bring in the closer

bottom 10:

Allen Roe makes his 5th appearance. In his first four he's gotten 1 loss and 3 saves. 4.2 IP/6 hits/1 BB/3 Ks

Alonso - PH making first at bat of the year - flyout
Hamil - K, Hamil's 4th K today
Guzman - easy grounder to 3rd, CUBS WIN, CUBS WIN, CUBS WIN!


Two great pitching performances today:

LA: Albo - 7 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 BB/7 K's

Chicago: Thibodaux - 7 IP/3 hits/3 BB/5 K's.

Riley goes 1/3 IP giving up 2 hits and a run

Forsythe gets 5 outs, 3 on K's, and he gets the win, he's 2-0 now out of the pen.

Roe gets his 4th save on a 10 pitch 10th inning.

Baker goes 2-5 today, keeping his average up at .425.
James drops his average to .415, going only 1-5, but that 1 was a 3 run HR in the 10th.

Benavides was on today again too, 2-4 with a walk and a run, he's batting .341, and on this very old team it's worth remembering that he's my best young guy, 28 years old and maybe my 1B for the next 8 or 9 years

Chicago 4
Los Angeles 1
10 innings


Another great win for the Cubs, we move up to 6-4, 2nd in the NL Central, 1 game back of the astros, tied with Cinci/Montreal.

Philadelphia is 9-1, best in the majors, and Oakland is our only winless team, 0-10.

[MrIllini]

it's easy to quickly identify this thread as a fantasy dynasty...what's with the Cubs winning? ;)

[Eaglesfan27]

Go Philly! :)

[Radii]

April 14th

After sweeping two 2-game sets(vs Pit and at LA) we head to San Diego for a 3 game series. San Diego started 7-0 and is now 8-2. They've won 100 games in 2 of the last 4 years, going 103-59 last year, beating the Cubs 3-0 in the LDS and advancing to the world series before losing to Baltimore. They have made 4 world series' in their history, losing them all.

San Diego is led by 1st overall pick in 1993 Geraldo Sainz. Sainz is a 1B, 73/100/79 ratings. Last year he hit a Bonds'esque 73 home runs. In just 10 full seasons he's hit 525 HRs, and is a career .298 hitter. He is to be feared, greatly. They throw two brilliant starters at us as well, lets see if we have to face either of them.

Chicago Starter: 53/67/43 Jeffrey Rosol is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA through 13.1 IP in two starts. His control helps him, 3 walks/12 Ks so far.

San Diego Starter: Joaquin Arispe is a godsend to us, the timing couldn't be better. 50/33/38, making his 2nd start, he's 1-0 with a 4.05 ERA (6.2 IP). If we can get to him we're golden.

Matchups:

Schenck is cold, 3 of our guys are hot though. San Diego has 3 guys slumping, including their leadoff man, and only one who is hot.

I make a lineup change, moving the hot hitting Benavides up to 6th in the order against righty's, and Trivette down to 7th.

1st inning

Schenck (.244/1 HR/5 RBIs/*COLD*) - groundout
Hagerty(.300) - walk

Arispe can't hold runners for crap, and their catcher is only average with the arm.

I call for a hit and run

Recker (.375) - singles to left on the hit n run, and Hagerty easily moves to 3rd.
James (.415/3 HR/13 RBI/*HOT*) - 8th in batting, leading the NL in RBIs. James hits one deep to right that curves foul, then he hits a flyball to rigth that is caught. Hagerty tags up and scores w/o a throw.
Baker (.425/10 RBIs/*HOT*) - 4th in NL in batting - wild pitch moves recker to 2nd, baker singles through the hole into left, Recker scores easily!
Benavides (.341/1 HR/5 RBI/*HOT*) - groundout

We make Arispe throw 28 pitches and score twice on him, good start.

bottom 1:

Abel Reynosa (48/57/33 - *COLD* .179 on the year) - flyout to the track
Will Beasley (55/22/30/.267) - great catch by Schenk in foul territory
Geraldo Sainz (73/100/79 - .277/3 HRs/13 RBIs) - I pitch around him. Doesn't matter. 1st pitch is gone, HR Sainz. His 4th of the year.
Justin Keener(65/59/43/.333/1 HR) - groundout

Chicago 2, San Diego 1

2nd inning

Trivette (.195/1 HR/5 RBI) - flyout
Garst (.188) - K (his 12th)
Rosol (.000) - K

bottom 2:

Randy Polly (54/62/87/.350/2 HR/11 RBI) - groundout
Robert Stump (48/55/78/.226/*COLD*) - flyout
John Carroll (35/9/88/.400/*HOT*) - 9th in batting/4th in RBIs with 12. He K's here though.

3rd inning

Schenck flyout
Hagerty hits it deep to center, to the wall for a standup double!
Recker fouls off 4 pitches on a 3/2 count, now 5, and now a groundout to 3rd, can't move over the runner.
James - K's on a 3/2 pitch. Doh.

bottom 3:

Edwin Matias (45/45/28/.179/*COLD*) - flyout
Aripse (.000) - K's
Reynosa - lineout to CF

4th inning

Baker K's
Benavies K's
Trivette - walks
Garst - HBP
Rosol - K's

bottom 4:

Beasley - walk after going 0-2 in the count
Sainz - FC groundout to 3rd, Sainz at 1st.
Keener - single into right
Polly - single to right, Sainz comes home, Schenck throws home, the run is in and runners move to 2nd and 3rd.
Stump - popup to 3rd (whew)
Carrol - hot, hitting .389, with a cold .180 hitter behind him. We'll load the bases for this.
Matias - groundout, good move here.

Chicago 2, San Diego 2

5th inning

Schenck - groundout
Hagerty - single to right(that's a walk/single/double today)
Recker - wild pitch on a 2-2 count moves Hagerty to 2nd. grounder to SS, runner can't advance, 2 out.
James - groundout

bottom 5:

Arispe - K
Reynosa - walks
Beasley - doubles to the wall, the runner scores.
Sainz - drops a single to left, the runner scores
Keener - double play, 6-4-3 and the inning is over! (whew)

San Diego 4, Chicago 2

That's 85 pitches for Rosol.

6th inning

Baker - popout
Benavides - groundout
Trivette - double to the wall!

Arispe has thrown 123 pitches, he's gassed. New pitcher: Daniel Bryant - 55/54/22 - 1 run in 3.2 IP over 6 games so far.

Garst singles off of him, and Trivette scores!

Joe Gurrero (39/58/28/1-5 this year) pinch hits for Rosol - groundout

bottom 6:

James Levine comes into the game to try to hold us to just 1 run back. He's given up 5 runs in 1.2 IP for a great 27 run ERA. 66/41/31 numbers make him look a little better than that.

Polly - HR on the 2nd pitch... his 2nd this year(he hit 27 last year) and we trail by 2 again
Stump - single
Carroll - FC to pitcher, runner out at 2nd
Matias - double play, 4-5-3, inning over.

San Diego 5, Chicago 3

7th inning

Schenck - single to right, ending a very cold streak for him.

Schenck steals 2nd easily on the 1st pitch(a ball)

Hagerty - Ks
Recker - intentional pass (with james/baker behind him, wow)
James - flyout to right
Baker - walk

Benavides comes up, 0-3 today, .318 on the year, 5 RBIs, here's his chance to be a hero. 2-2 count, he looks at what he's sure is a ball, but the ump rings him up. Strike 3, inning over.

bottom 7:

PH Buck Shinault - 56/53/39 (.294 this year) - 0-2 count, he hits a 444 foot home run.
Reynosa - groundout
Beasley - single
Sainz - HBP

Bye bye Levine. David Kitches comes in for the 3rd time, 2.2 IP/0 runs so far, he doesn't look good on paper though.

Keener - double play to end the inning!!

San Diego 6, Chicago 3

Just think how bad it might be without the 3 double play's

8th inning

New Pitcher: Ronald Hartzog - 31/43/59 - 5.87 ERA in 5 games, 7.2 IP.

Trivette - flyout
Garst - groundout
Gettys pinch hits for Kitchesn - ground out to end the inning

bottom 8:

The dreaded larry riley - 6.14 ERA in 6 games.

Polly - Ks
Stump - single
Carroll - K's
Cedric Washington - PH - K's!! nice job by Riley

9th inning

Robert Lemke comes in for San diego. 66/87/45, very good reliever, his 8th appearance, 7.1 IP/3 runs allowed so far. We need to double his total, we need 3.

Schenck - liner to 1B, out
Hagerty - groundout
Recker - groundoug


That was easy for the Padres.

Chicago 3 runs, 7 hits, 0 errors
San Diego 6 runs, 10 hits, 0 errors

Not a good sign, given the starter we faced today.


Chicago hitting: Hagerty went 2-4 with a walk, a solid day. James drove in his 14th run. That's all worth talking about.

San Diego hitting: very timely, the 2/3/5/6 batters all got 2 hits. Sainz has 15 RBIs now and he hit a hoemr, scored twice... Catcher Polly also got 2 hits and drove in 2, he's hitting .364.


Chicago Pitching: Jeffrey Rosol did ok, 4 runs in 5 innings, he fell apart a little at the end. He falls to 1-1 and his ERA is 4.42 now.

Arispe went 5.2 iP giving up 3 runs. He goes to 2-0, Lemke gets his 1st save of the year.

6-5 for the Cubs now. 8-2 for San Diego, already 4 games up in the weak NL West.

[Radii]

Lets get another game in.

Chicago Starter: Young'in Freddie Meyers hasn't gotten a decision in 2 starts, a 4.5 ERA in 14 IP. 35/61/48 but only 23 years old.

San Diego Starter - Harry Voight(54/80/71) is 2-0 with a 2.13 ERA this year. He's 33 and has had a solid career, coming up in 1992, starting full time since 1993. He's 148-90 with a 3.66 ERA over his career. 16-10 last year.

Our only hope comes from the fact that Voight has a 60 endurance. He's going 6 IP per start so far.

1st inning

Schenck - single to the gap in right center.
Hagerty - K's
Recker - flyout
James - single up the middle! Schenck to 3rd
Baker - groundout

bottom 1:

Washington (.273 in 11 AB) - single up the middle
Velez (.250 in 8 AB) - flyout
Sainz (.300/4 HR) - foul ball just left of the pole in LF - fouls off about 4 pitches before drawing a walk
Keener - single to left, 1 run scoers
Polly - single to left, runner scores, there's a throw so the other runners move up, 2nd and 3rd.
Stump (.257) - groundout
Carroll - K's

San diego 2, Chicago 0

2nd inning

Benavides (.311) - flyout
Trivette (.205) - K's
Garst (.200) - flyout

bottom 2:

Matias (.161) - K's
Voight (2/6 so far) - K's
Washington - fouls off 6 pitches before grounding out.

Meyers has a 56 endurance. He's thrown 50 pitches.

3rd inning

Meyers (0/4) - K's
Schenck - He hits a screamer to right, it stays fair, the wind is blowing hard right->left and pushed this one fair, HR!! Schenck's 2nd of the year (27 power, he hit 11 last year).
Hagerty - single over SS to left
Recker - flyout
James - flyout

bottom 3:

Velez - groundout
Sainz - popout
Keener - fouls off 5 pitches before grounding out

72 pitches for meyers through 3.

San Diego 2, Chicago 1

4th inning

Baker- doubles down the line to left, he has a 10 game hitting streak now.
Benavides - K's
Trivette - K's
Garst - Garst hits it to the wall in left, but the LF makes a good catch to end the inning

bottom 4:

Polly - groundout
Stump - flyout to deep left
Carroll - flyout to deep left

80 pitches, his first short inning, and with 56 endurance he's got to go soon.

5th inning

Gettys pinch hits for Meyers (.231) - RF Keener makes an amazing sliding catch in RF but hurts himself.
Schenck - single to left - schenck is 3-3 now.
Hagerty - walk
Recker - K's
James - K's

tough that, 1st and 2nd, 1 out and our two best hitters up, 2 K's.

bottom 5:

It's mopup time, Jose Solorio - 21/85/49 - 1 IP/2 runs allowed so far. If he can get me to the 7th I'll be happy.

Matias - groundout
Voight - groundout
Washington - groundout

6th inning

Baker - a double off the wall in left!
Benavides - flyout to right
Trivette - groundout, Baker to 3rd
Garst - another hard line drive, to the wall, but RF Stults is there to make the catch :( Garst has almost broken us through twice now.

bottom 6:

Velez - groundout
Sainz - groundout
Stults (0/3 this year) - groundout

Solorio is on... do I let him hit and leave him in or PH and go to the pen?

7th inning

Gurerro pinch hits - line out to 3rd
Schenck - signle to right, he's 4-4!
Hagerty - single to center, schenck can only move up to 2nd.

Voight tires at 96 pitches and he's pulled.

Hartzog comes in(31/43/59) - 7th game, 5.19 ERA, we saw him yesterday.

2 on/1 out for the big hitters.

Recker - walks on 4 pitches

James - up w/ the bases loaded, he's 1-3 today - line drive to center, single, scores 2 runs!! Chicago leads!
Baker - FC ground out to 2nd, Baker beats out the throw at 1st.
Benavides - singles through the hole to right, that scores Recker from 3rd!!
Trivette - groundout

That's a big big inning for us!

bottom 7:

I bring in Richard Forsythe - I don't bother with the double switch even w/ the 8 hitter up first, b/c Forsythe has no endurance.

2.00 ERA in 6 appearances - 9 IP/2 runs/2-0 record.

Polly - groundout
Stump - groundout
Carroll - double to the wall
Reynosa pinch hits - single up the middle, runner scores
Shinault pinch hits for the pithcer - he homered yesterday, but today he grounds out to end the inning

Chicago 4, San Diego 3

8th inning

New Pitcher: Jaime Minjares - 5th appearance, 5 IP/1 run so far. 55/39/83

Garst - groundout
Barrientos hits for Forsythe, he's 1/7 this year. groundouts
Schenck - groundout - 4-5 on the day


bottom 8:

It's up to Larry Riley to set up Roe in the 8th here.

8th appearance, 5.4 ERA in 8.1 IP. 10 hits/4 walks/10 K's.

Washington - K's
PH Batista (46/52/25 - 0/1 this year) - K's
Sainz - popout!

9th inning

Daniel Bryant is in for San Diego - 55/54/22 - 5 IP/1 run through 7 games

Hagerty - groundout
Recker - hard grounder over the 3rd base bag, Recker coasts into 2nd with a double
James - IBB, no chance to hit
Baker - gotta hate seeing JAmes walked to bring up the .427 hitter... but he pops out on the firstp itch.
Benavides - K's

bottom 9:

1 run lead to hold, I pull out all the stops here. Soto in for Schenck in right, and Pitre in for Baker at SS, two defensive subs.

New Pitcher: Allen Roe is 0-1 with 4 saves in 5 games. 5.2 IP/2 runs allowed. 84/82/80, a great closer here to shut down San Diego and win this for us.

Stults - K's
Polly - single to center
Stump - walks
Beasley - flyout
Reynosa - groundout, and we have a little trouble but Roe works out of it cleanly for his 5th save!!!

Chicago 4 runs, 12 hits, 0 errors
San Diego 3 runs, 6 hits, 0 errors

Chicago Hitting:

Schenck goes 4-5 with 2 runs, ending his slump, very impressive.
Hagerty gets 2 hits to raise his avg to .357, and James and Baker both get two hits today. James drives in 2, he now has 16 RBIs.

Solid production from the top of the order.

Chicago Pitching:

Meyers only goes 4 innings, giving up 3 hits and 2 runs, he got into a lot of full count situations and just ran his pitch count up too high for me not to pinch hit for him in the top of the 5th.

Solorio goes 2 perfect innings, earning the win.
Forsythe gives up a run but gets a hold anyway, Riley has his 2nd great stellar inning, and Roe nails it down for his 5th save of the year.

San Diego pitching:

Voight drops to 2-1, giving up 3 rusn in 6.1 IP on 9 hits. He did fan 7.

[Radii]

Lets finish out the San Diego series:

No rest days here so #5 starter Juan Velez is forced to pitch.

Chicago Starter: Velez has good stuff, and that's it. 71/20/20. 12-11 with a 4.17 ERA last year at age 40.

San Diego Starter: Devin Wechsler is a 30 year old pitcher, 55/47/63, he went 9-6 last year and is 1-0 this year, with a 5.25 ERA in 12 IP. 2 walks/14 Ks is impressive.

Lets see if we can get to Wechsler and give Velez some run support early:

1st inning

Schenck (.294/2 HR/6 RBI) - walk
Hagerty (.357) - signle to right, I send Schenck to 3rd and there's no throw.
Recker (.354) - flyout
James (.396/3 HR/16 RBI) - 7th in batting/2nd in RBIs, A brilliant catch on the warning track by LF Washington saves a big inning probably... Schenck tags up and scores though.
Baker (.417/0 HR/11 RBI/*HOT*) - 4th in batting, riding a 10 game hitting streak - walks
Benavides (.300) - walks
Trivette (.188/*COLD*) - 2 out bases loaded - and trivette fans to kill our chances :(

bottom 1:

Washington (.267) - K
Beasley (.286) - K
Sainz (.283/4 HR/15 RBI) - K

go velez!!

Chicago 1, San Diego 0

2nd inning

Garst (.179) - groundout
Velez - flyout
Schenck - HOME RUN! 348 feet downt he left field line!!
Hagerty - ground out

bottom 2:

Polly (.375/3 HR/14 RBI/*HOT*) - K'
Stump (.237/*COLD*) - foul out (on a 1-2 pitch)
Carroll (.366/*HOT* - grounder to 2nd, ERROR on garst
Velez (.182) - groundout

Chicago 2, San Diego 0

3rd inning

Recker - walk
James - flyout
Baker - K's
Benavides - single to right
Trivette - K's to kill another inning

bottom 3:

Matias (.152/*COLD*) - flyout
Wescheler (.000) - groundout
Washington - single to center
Beasley - flyout

4th inning

Garst - K's
Velez - hard grounder down the 3rd base line, a double into the corner for the pitcher!!!
Schenck - K's
Hagerty - popout

bottom 4:

Sainz - K's
Polly - flyout
Stump - flyout

5th inning

Recker - groundout
James - out
Baker - HOME RUN, 443 feet to straightaway CF, 11 game hitting streak, his first HR!
Benavides - a double to the wall in LF!
Trivette - walk
Garst - groundout

Another run though! Wechsler had 2 walks/14 K's coming into the game. 5 walks today is killing him.

bottom 5:

Carroll - single
Vlez - flyout
Matias - liner to CF, single, runner to 2nd

Shinault pinch hits for Weschler - walks :(

bases loaded, 1 out

Washington - groundout to 1st, runners all advance, 1 run in.
Beasley - groundout, good job getig out of it w/ just 1 run in.

Chicago 3, San Diego 1

6th inning

Lemke is in, he got the save in game 1, 8.1 IP/3.24 ERA

Velez - K's
Schenck - K's
Hagerty - K's

bottom 6:

Sainz - walk
Polly - K's
Stump - walk
Carroll - popout
Velez - 2 run double to tie the game
Matias - K's

Chicago 3, San Diego 3

7th inning

Recker - K's
James - groundout
Baker - flyout

bottom 7:

PH Batista grounds out, and that's the last man Velez will face. 6 1/3 IP, 3 runs, 3 walks/7 K's, a great job from a #5 starter.

David Kitchens comes in to pitch. We have 3 pitchers who aren't tired to finish us off. Kitchesn/Levine/Roe

Washington - groundout
Beasley - flyout

8th inning

Minjares in to pitch for SD. 1.5 ERA in 5 games/6 IP. 55/39/83, would love to get to him here.

Benavides - flyout
Trivette - K's
Garst - flyout

bottom 8:

Sainz - single to left
Polly - Walks after fouling off 1 pitch

I want to win this series.

New Pitcher: Allen Roe comes in to pitch, he'll hit in the 8 slot.

Barrientos comes in for Garst and will play 2nd base, leading off the 9th.

PH Keener (.333) - K's
PH Reynosa (.182) - K's
Velez - groundout

WOO!

9th inning

tied at 3, need to score here b/c the bullpen can't take us very far.

Barrientos (1/8) - groundout
Schenck - K's
Hagerty - K's

bottom 9:

Matias - groundout
Stults PH - groundout
Washington - Walks
Beasley - UGH. Washington runs, Trivette throws the ball into CF, and the runner is on 3rd.
Beasley flies out, saving Trivette from a world of hurt.

3-3 after 9

10th inning

New Pitcher: Samuel Melia - 6 ERA in 6 IP in his 6th game. 45/98/66, great movement. Their closer, 45 saves last year

Recker - flyout
James - flyout
Baker - flyout

bottom 10:

Sainz - K's

Roe is tired... gotta pull him

James Levine, the 21 ERA man is in. 66/41/31, his 4th appearance for us.

Polly - walks
Keener - K's
Reynosa - groundout

11th inning

Benavides - flyout
Trivette - groundout
Levine - flyout

bottom 11:

Velez - K's
Matias - groundout
Melia (the pitcher) - K's

12th inning

Daniel Bryant in to pitch (bad AI there, no pinchhitting)

Bryant has allowed 1 run in 6 IP over 8 games.

Barrientos - single up the middle!

Hartzog in to pitch - 5.79 ERA over 9.1 IP

Schenck - the sac is on, great bunt, almost beat it out for a hit, Barrientos to 2nd.

I bring in speedy Salvador Soto to run at 2nd. I have another guy that can play 2B.

Hagerty- flyout to short right
Recker - flyout to right

bottom 12:

Vivas - groundout (0/2 on the year now)
Beasley - groundout
Sainz - groundout!

13th inning

James - popout

New pitcher: Alex Cicero - his 3rd game, 0 runs in 3.1 IP so far. 25/44/76, a starter's endurance

Baker - groundout
Benavides - popout

bottom 13:

polly - K's
Keener - groundout
Reynosa - single
Velez - single, runner to 3rd

Levine is gassed. I bring in yesterday's hero, Jose solorio. He threw only 17 pitches yesterday, and has a starter's endurance. Sure he could use the rest but he's got a better shot than Levine.

Matias - a .158 hitter... he ends the game with a single down the right field line.


Chicago 3 runs 7 hits 2 errors
San Diego 4 runs 8 hits 0 errors
13 innings

A great game, too bad we didn't get the win there.

7 hits in 13 innings, Benavides went 2-5, Baker 1-5, Schenck 1-4... not much to see there. Trivette choked repeatedly.


Chiago Pitching: Velez was a hero in his first start. 6.1 IP/3 runs, not bad at all. Kitches and Roe combined for 3 innings, while Levine gets the loss, he was great, 3.1 IP/2 hits.

San Diego Pitching: The bullpen! After pulling the starter after 5 innings, the San Diego bullpen pitched 8 innings of 1 hit ball. Amazing!

Levine is 0-1 in the loss.

[Radii]

I am currently uploading the entire website, to http://www.angband.org/~radii

It isn't there yet but is on the way.

In the meantime, on with the season!

Arizona has been a winner every year since 1997, winning 90+ multiple times. A solid, consistant team.

1B Andrew Wilkey, 30 y/o, 81/100/78, he hit .308 with 49 HRs last year. He's hit 40+ 5 year in a row, and has 4 HR so far this year.

Arizona is 7-6, 3 games behind San Diego in the NL West. We're 7-6 also, 2 games behind Cinci, but we're in 4th place.

April 18th

Chicago Starter: Our ace is back up, Zane Moore, 36/69/87, still looks weird to me. He's 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA so far this year. 3 walks/15 K's in 18 2/3 IP.

Arizona Starter: Pablo Montoya, 94/48/74, 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in 16.2 IP. He's walked 12, we need to be patient with him. Montoya is 31, he's 75-61 over his career, 12-12 last year.


We're about even in the lineups, but Recker(3-21), Garst(2-18) and Trivette(2-19) are all very cold over their last 5 games.

1st inning

We are at home, so the D'Backs hit first. Whoa, the wind is going nuts today, blowing out to right at 21 MPH. Expect a high scoring affair.

Jason Gittens (46/51/38/.245/2 HR/6 RBI) - groundout
Roger Whitmire (73/16/33/.375) - popout
Andre Wilkey (81/100/78/.291/4 HR/12 RBI) - 9th in HRs so far this year - singles to center
Arthur Emert (67/60/35/.288/3 HR/5 RBI/*COLD*) - grounder, but Baker bobbles the ball and everyone is safe
John Stokes (48/63/100/.114/*COLD*) - flyout to the track

bottom 1:

Schenck (.291/3 HR/7 RBI/17 Runs) - flyout
Hagerty (.324) - K
Recker (.321/*COLD*) - flyout to deep left

2nd inning

Rey Smith (63/65/23/.432/5 HR/11 RBI/*HOT*) - Smith is 2nd in batting and 3rd in HRs, he's on fire... singles to lead off the inning
Jarred Jones (44/58/28/.283/3 HR) - single, smith goes to third
Ron Dittman (52/13/48/.448 in 29 AB) - Jones tries to steal second and Trivette throws him out! Smith scores on a groundout
Montoya (.200) - flyout

bottom 2:

James (.358/3 HR/17 RBI) - James i leading the league in RBIs - K's
Baker (.396) - 5th in hitting... Baker now has a 12 game hitting streak, blasting a dobule off the center field wall!
Benavides (.309) - walk
Garst (.163/*COLD*) - a flyout to the wall in left, a great catch by the LF saves a few runs... Baker tags up and goes to 3rd.
Trivette (.173/*COLD*) - K's

Arizona 1, Chicago 0

3rd inning

Gittens - groundout
Whitmire - lineout
Wilkey - flyout

bottom 3:

Moore (0/8) - K
Schenck - single up the middle
Hagerty - line drive single to right, Schenck goes to 3rd
Recker - popout
James - groundout, wasting 1st/3rd with no out

4th inning

Emert - single to left
Stokes - single, moving emert to 3rd
Smith - walk
Jones - K (whew)
Dittman - dittman fouls off 4 pitches before grounding into the 4-6-3 double play, great job by Garst and Baker to turn it!!!

Moore gets out of a no out, bases loaded situation.

bottom 4:

Baker - K
Benavides - groundout
Garst - K's

5th inning

Montoya - flyout
Gittens - walks
Whitmire - flyout
Wilkey - groundout

bottom 5:

Trivette - K
Moore - popout
Schenck - K

8 strikeouts today for Montoya.

6th inning

Emert - single to right
Stokes - flyout
Smith - single, he's 2-2 with a walk today.
Jones - K
Dittman - flyout

Moore goes 6 innings, giving up 7 hits and 1 run, its not likely he'll see the 7th.

bottom 6:

Hagerty - popout
Recker - K - Recker argues that the pitch was high, and he's tossed out of the game!! Damn.

Manny Pitre comes in to play 3rd.

James - groundout

7th inning

Montoya - flyout

I bring i Richard Forsythe to finish the inning, Moore is over 100 pitches and doesn't have the best endurance.

Forsythe has done well, 3 runs allowed in 10 IP over 7 appearances.

Gittens - K
Whitmire - single
Wilkey - flyout

bottom 7:

Baker - K, that's 10 for Montoya
Benavides - flyout
Garst - this is the 4th time in 2 games that Garst has had a shot to the wall pulled in by an amazing catch... out :(

8th inning

Emert - flyout
Stokes - walk
Smith - out for the first time today, a great double play turned to end the inning!

bottom 8:

Trivette - popout
Gettys pinch hits for Forsythe, he grounds out to 1st.
Schenck - Schenck hits one to the fence in right, and that's a double!
Hagerty - no luck w/ the 2 out rally, K's to end the inning.

9th inning

I bring David Kitchens in to pitch the 9th. no runs allowed in 4 iP so far this year.

Jones - K's
Dittman - K's
Montoya - singles to right
Gittens - groundout

bottom 9:

Montoya is still in, having thrown 107 pitches.

Manny Pitre takes his first cuts of the year, he K's on a 3-2 count

New Pitcher: Eric Ghent - 41/58/84, 2.45 ERA over 9 games, 4 saves. He saved 47 last year.

James - James blasts one down the left field line, and that's just over the wall, on the first pitch from Ghent!! James has tied it up on his 4th HR of the year!
Baker - Baker takes one to the wall, where the CF makes a good catch... so close!
Benavides - groundout to 2nd.

Chicago 1, Arizona 1, end of regulation

10th inning

Whitmire - single
Wilkey - Whitmire steals 2nd, and I put Wilkey on 1st, IBB
Emert - hard grounder to Garst at 2nd, and the Cubs turn another double play! Great job. Maloney, a PR, advances to 3rd base.

Stokes - walk
Smith - 3-4 today, their hottest hitter, I put him on to load the bases
Jones - groundout

whew.

bottom 10:

Garst - K's
Trivette - single to left

Guerrero comes in to pinch hit, and Soto pinch runs for Trivette

I put on the hit and run - Guerrero misses, but Soto steals 2nd easily. Guerrero K's

It's up to Schenck - 3-2 count, he hits a bomb to RF, but it's more up than deep... he's out.

11th inning

Secrest is in to catch, Larry Riley is in to pitch. Riley has a 4.82 ERA with a 1-2 record in 9.1 IP, he's K's 12 and has pitched well his last two games.

Dittman - popout
Stephen Higa pinch hits for the pitcher, he's 5-25 this year (.200) - Higa flys out to left
Gittens - flyout

bottom 11:

New Pitcher: George Bustillos (68/100/94).. guy looks solid, but has struggled this year, a 5.19 ERA in 8 2/3 IP. Last year he put up a 1.65 ERA in 98 appearances...

Hagerty - groundout
Pitre - line out
James - flyout

12th inning

Estevez (.143 PH) - flyout
Wilkey - single up the middle
Emert - PR for wilkey, glad he's gone. Emert pops out
Ryan Anderson (a hitter this time around - 2/8) - pops out

bottom 12:

Baker - popout
Benavides - flyout
Garst - Finally garst gets one of his blasts to land! A double to the wall in rght.
Secrest - a chance to be a hero in his 2nd AB of the year... nope, flyout

13th inning

Smith - single
Jones - single
Dittman - single, runner scoers
Bustillos (pitcher hits?) - walks

bases loaded, none out, 1 in... I bring James Levine in to try to get out of this mess.

Gittens - double play groundout to 2nd!! Another run comes home though
Estevez - groundout

Two runs come in, we gotta get going in the bottom half.

bottom 13:

new Pitcher: David Jones - 17/81/75 - 3.86 ERA in 3 games.

Barrientos - popout
Schenck - groundout
Hagerty - single to left
Pitre - groundout, game over.

Arizona 3 runs, 14 hits, 0 errors
Chicago 1 run, 8 hits, 1 error

We fought hard but we're struggling to score lately.

Arizona Hitting: Smith went 3-4, 2 walks, 2 runs scored. He's a monster here. Wilkey, their dangerous power hitter, got 2 hits as well.

Chicago Hitting: Schenck went 2-6, so did Hagerty. The only run we managed was a solo shot from James in the 9th...

Arizona PItching: Montoya was brilliant, 8 1/3 IP, 4 hits, 1 walk, 12 K's. A solid game score of 86.
Bustillos gets the win, he's 1-1.

Chicago Pitching: Moore goes 6 1/3 IP, gives up 7 hits and walks 2, but only lets 1 run in. His ERA falls to 3.24.
Forsythe and Kitchens pitch well in relief, Riley blows the game in his 3rd inning, giving up 2 runs, he falls to 1-3 on the year.

[Radii]

April 19th

3 losses in our last 4 drops us back to 7-7 on the year. Arizona is now 8-6.

Chicago Pitcher: Waldo Thibodaux has pitched well but come up empty. 0-1, 2.95 ERA. 18 1/3 IP, 13 walks/14 K's, the control is a serious issue.

Arizona Pitcher: Deon Castro, 0-1, 2.87 ERA. 74/40/20, his stuff is good but he doesn't look unhittable. He's 33 years old and has been a losing pitcher most of his career, last year he was 11-5 with a 3.24 ERa, by far his best year ever.

We have the matchup edge on the mound this year, and at 4 of the 8 batting order spots. This should be a tough fight. Half of our order is cold too.

Wind is blowing out to straightaway center at 11 mph.

1st inning

Gittens (.220/2 HR/6 RBI) - groundout
Whitmire (.377/0 HR/6 RBI) - 10th in NL in batting - singles, 13 game hit streak
Wilkey (.300/4 HR/12 RBI) - flyout
Stokes (.128/1 HR/6 RBI/*COLD*) - 6/47 this year, definitely cold. groundout.

bottom 1:

Schenck (.295/3 HR/7 RBI/17 R/*HOT*) - K's
Hagerty (.325/*HOT*) - flyout
Recker (.304/*COLD*) - lineout

2nd inning

Emert (.293/3 HR/5 RBI/*COLD*) - popout
Smith (.458/5 HR/11 RBI) - leads the league in hitting, 4th in HR. singles to center
Jones (.288/3 HR/6 RBI) - FC groundout, lead runner out
Higa (.192/1 HR/3 RBI/*COLD) - groundout

bottom 2:

James (.345/4 HR/18 RBI/*COLD*) - not often you see a cold .345 hitter... he started soooo on fire though. single to right
Baker (.379/1 HR/12 RBI) - 8th in batting - flyout
Benavides (.288/1 HR/6 RBI) - walks on a 3/2 count.
Garst (.167/*COLD*/1 walk/15 K's) - hard single through the hole to right, runner has no chance to score.
Trivette (.179/1 HR/5 RBI) - hit a grand slam earlier for his only HR and 4 of his 5 RBI... this time he grounds into a double play... My offense has been hurting so bad the last few games

3rd inning

Castro (0/5) - flyout
Gittens - flyout
Whitmire - groundout

23 pitches through 3 innings, great start

bottom 3:

Thibodaux (0-6) - K's
Schenck - groundout
Hagerty - single to right on an 0-2 count
Recker - after trying to send Hagerty to 2nd on the steal, Recker gets a piece of this one, it's deep to left, the LF leaps but it's over the wall!!! 367 feet for the HR. Recker hit 23 last year, this is his first this year, giving the Cubs the early lead.
James - K's

Chicago 2, Arizona 0

4th inning

Wilkey - groundout
Stokes - groundout
Emert - flyout

32 pitches through 4

bottom 4:

Baker - single to right, and that's a 13 game hit streak.
Benavides - Baker to 2nd on WP. Benavides singles to center and Baker scores without a throw!
Garst - FC groundout to first, lead runner out
Trivette - walk
Thibodaux - I almost bunted, decided not to, and hey check it out, that's a single up the middle! bases loaded w/ 1 out
Schenck - infield fly :(
Hagerty - K's

we could have broken it open big time, damn. But Chicago does make it 3-0.

Chicago 3, Arizona 0

5th inning

Smith - single to left
Jones - K's
Higa - a doubleto the wall, Smith is going to come around to try to score, but James is up with the ball quickly in LF(arm: 86)... James throws home, the relay from Baker is great, and Smith is OUT at the plate!!
Castro - leaving the pitcher, who hits a hard grounder that Baker has to dive for, but he is up and has Castro out at first. Whew.

bottom 5:

Recker - fouls off 3 2 strike pitches before singling to left!
James - FC groundout to SS
Baker - walk
Benavides - K's

Castro now has 100 pitches, and with a 55 endurance he's gassed, time to get him out.

New Pitcher: Tony Curtis (84/33/16) - 5.06 ERA in 6 games, 5 1/3 IP. He has walked 8 and has control problems.

Garst - K's

6th inning

Gittens - K's
Whitmire - flyout
Wilkey - groundout

52 pitches through 6, awesome.

bottom 6:

Trivette - groundout
Thibodaux - groundout
Schenck - K's

7th inning

STokes - K's
Emert - flyout
Smith - flyout

bottom 7:

Hagerty - single through the hole to right field
Recker - K's
James - James hits a line drive to right, Jones can't cut it off out in right and its to the wall, Hagerty scores from first and James has a double!!
Baker - flyout

New Pitcher: Bsuitllos comes in to pitch, he shut us down yesterday. 4.22 ERA in 10.2 IP.

Benavides - an RBI single into right!
Garst - K's

That's a 2 run 7th!

Chicago 5, Arizona 0

8th inning

Jones walks
Higa - single to left
Dittman(PH) - K's
Gittens - double play 4-6-3 groundout!!!

bottom 8:

new pitcher: DavidJones (2.7 ERA in 4 games. 3.1 IP/1 run allowed)

Trivette - single
Thibodaux - sac bunt, successful.
Schenck - groundout, runner to 3rd.
Hagerty - single to right, scoring Trivette!
Recker - groundout

Chicago 6, Arizona 0

9th inning

Thibodaux has thrown 79 pitches through 8, and has a 90 endurance, he gets a lot of leeway to finish this one himself.

Whitmire - single
Wilkey - popout
Stokes - hard grounder right at REcker, he fields it cleanly, fires to GArst, who turns and completes the double play, GAME OVER!


Arizona 0 runs, 6 hits, 0 errors
chicago 6 runs, 13 hits, 0 erros


That's a 6 hit shutout for Waldo Thibodaux!

Arizona hitting - 6 hits, 2 from Whitmire, 2 from Smith, 2 from Higa.

Chicago hitting - Hagerty goes 3-5 with 1 RBI/2 runs. Recker drives in 2 and scoers one, going 2-5 with a home run. James is 2-5, Benavides is 2-3. Schenck is the only man not to get a hit today.


Arizona Pitching - Castro gave up 3 in 4 2/3, he went through 100 pitches early, and his record falls to 0-2. Relief pitching wasn't any better, the Cubs were just hitting.


Chicago Pitching:

Waldo Thibodaux - 9 IP 6 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 4 K

86 pitches thrown, a gem of a game by Thibodaux. His ERA drops to 1.98 and his record is now 1-1.

[Radii]

April 20th

If you remember, we got a great shutout from Thibodaux to even the series against Arizona to move back up to 8-7. Today we try to push back into 2nd in the NL Central, we're 1 behind Cinci and 2 behind Milwaukee.

Chicago Starter: Jeffrey Rosol, 1-1, 4.42 ERA. 6 BB/15 Ks in 18.1 IP. Rosol makes his 4th start today.

Arizona Starter: Sam Fernandez (32 y/o/49/63/20) - 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in 3 starts. 4 walks/12 K's in 15 IP. low endurance(45). 3rd year as a starter, he's 37-29 with a 4.53 ERA. Was a long reliever for years before finally earning a starting job in Arizona in 2002.


We have the edge in most matchups, including the pitching one.

1st inning

Jason Gittens - .206/2 HR/6 RBI - groundout
David Estevez - 1/9 this year - *COLD* - single to left field
Andre Wilkey - .281/4 HR/12 RBI - 2-2 pitch, Wilkey gets ahold of one and takes it 364 feet to right field, that's a 2 run HR
Arthur Emert - .279/3 HR/5 RBI/*COLD* - flyout to right
John Stokes - .118 (6-51, ouch) *COLD* - Stokes hits his 2nd HR of the season.. gone to left field
Stephen Higa - .241 - flyout

3 hits, 3 runs, 24 pitches thrown by Rosol. Terrible Start

bottom 1:

Schenck (.273/3 HR/7 RBI/17 R) - single up the middle to CF
Hagerty (.356/*HOT*) - flyout to deep right
Recker (.311/1 HR/3 RBI/*COLD*) - Recker takes it deep to left, just over the wall and the HR derby is on! His 2nd HR of the year(after hitting 23 last year) makes it a 1 run game.
James (.355/4 HR/19 RBI) - 19 RBI leads the national league - James is hit by the pitch, and he goes ballistic! He charges the mound, a few punches are thrown, and when all is said and done, James and Arizona pitcher Fernandez are ejected!!

I move Schenck from RF to LF, and Randy Gettys comes in to pinch run for Baker, he'll play in right field the rest of the way

Arizona New Pitcher - Tony Curtis - 8th appearance, he has a 6.14 ERA in 7 1/3 innings. 82/33/16, 6 endurance. He won't be around long.

Baker (.377/1 HR/12 RB) - 8th in avg - draws a walk

a bug in the game shows Curtis at 2B(the Arizona pitcher), but Gettys is listed in my lineup. Curtis is a much slower runner, wonder how that will work if I send someone home...

Benavides (.306/1 HR/8 RBI) - Benavides singles to shallow right field, I hold "Curtis" at 3rd, afraid it'll use his slow ass speed to test the RF's above average arm from shallow right.

Bases are loaded with 1 out now.

Garst (.173/*COLD*) - hoping just to get a run in with the ass end of the order up here... garst works the count to 3-1, and he walks! Runner scores, this from a guy w/ 1 walk and 17 K's so far this year, way to go Ken!
Trivette (.186/1 HR/5 RBI/*COLD*) - K's on 3 straight pitches

NEW ARIZONA PITCHER - Baltasar Ruano - his 11th appearance, he's 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA. 8 IP, 10 hits, 2 HRs allowed. 24/55/71 with 26 endurance.

Rosol - grounds out to end the inning

A very exciting 1st inning there.

Chicago 3, Arizona 3


2nd inning

Jarred Jones (.279/3 HR/6 RBI) - K
Ronald Dittman (.389/7 RBI/*COLD*) - and the man with 13 power and 2 homers last year takes Rosol deep... gonna be a long day.
PH Owen Maloney (2/6) - double down the RF line
Gittens - groundout to SS, runner holds
Estevez - 2-2 now after singling to right field, scoring the runner from 2nd...
Wilkey - Wilkey hits one of the longest balls you'll ever see, 467 feet later it's 7-3 Arizona.
Emert - walk
Stokes - popout

That's 2 homers and 4 runs in the inning...

bottom 2:

NEW PITCHER - Manuel Valdovinos - 10th appearance, he sports a 6.52 ERA, 5 walks/1 K in 9.2 IP. 13 hits too... 21/79/36

Schenck - flyout
Hagerty - flyout
Recker - single to RF, 2-2 on the day
Gettys - single to RF, Recker to 3rd
Baker - Baker now has a hit in 14 straight games, a sharp single through the hole to RF drives home Recker and Gettys mvoes up to 2nd.
Benavides - A hard grounder past the 3rd baseman, into the corner, that's going to clear the bases and Benavides slides into 2nd with a 2 run double!

NEW PITCHER - George Bustillos - 4.09 ERA, but a great pitcher, 68/100/94, 42 endurance too, he could in theory shut us down for awhile. His 12th appearance, and his 3rd against us. He's gone 2.1 IP, given up 2 hits but no runs

Garst - ground out to pitcher

A 2nd inning crazier than the first...

Arizona 7, Chicago 6

3rd inning

Higa - flies out to the track
Jones - flyout to deep right
Dittman - single to right
PH Gaby Barajas (0/6) - groundout

bottom 3rd:

I am thrilled that Bustillos only pitched to 1 batter. Terrible management by the D'backs/CPU IMO.

NEW PITCHER - David Jones - 6th appearance, he's 1-1, with a 4.15 ERA. 17/81/75, but he has shit for endurance, an 8.

Trivette - popout
PH Manny Pitre - Rosol is just done, I was glad to get a solid 3rd inning out of him but I fear the 4th against the top of the order. Pitre grounds out to 2nd, I get a chance to argue but I decide against it since we've already seen two ejections today.
Schenck - K

4th inning

I bring in my spot starter/long reliever Jose Solorio. He's 1-0 in 3 games with 3 IP/2 walks/0 K's/2 runs allowed(6.00 ERA). 21/89/49, if he's on I can get into the 8th inning with him, if now I can try to string together a series of relievers.

Gittens - double off the LF wall
Estevez - K
Wilkey - 2-2 with 2 HR today... he singles up the middle and scores the man from 2nd. That's 3-3, 2 HR, 5 RBIs on the day for Wilkey...
Emert - flyout
Stokes - groundout to SS

bottom 4:

Hagerty - single through the hole to RF
Recker - bloop single to RF, Hagerty to 3rd. 3-3 for Recker on the day, including a HR
Gettys - grounder to 1st, they get Recker at 2nd, can't turn 2, and Hagerty scores, that's perfectly fine with me.
Baker - K

NEWPITCHER - Eric Ghent, 2.84 ERA in 10 games, 12.2 IP/4 ER/4 BB/10 K's. 41/58/84, not bad. 30 endurance can get him through a few innings if they don't PH for him.

Benavides - I put on the hit and run, wanting to make something happen before Garst/Trivette step up, and Benavides hits a deep fly ball but it's caught on the warning track.

Each team gets 1...

Arizona 8, Chicago 7

5th inning

Higa - walks
Jones - struck out looking on a 3-2 pitch
Dittman - FC grounder to 2nd, Dittman on 1st.
Ghent (this time they let the pitcher hit) - groundout

bottom 5:

Garst - flyout
Trivette - flyout
Solorio (easy decision to let him stay in w/ 2 out/bases empty ) - K's

6th inning

Gittens - groundout
Estevez - walk
Wilkey - hard line drive, a double against some but Benavides makes a diving catch at 1st, he scrambles over to the bag befoer Estevez can get back, double play!!!

bottom 6:

Schenck - K
Hagerty - groundout
Recker - groundout

Ghent has gone through 7 batters in 20 pitches now, allowing no one to reach base.

7th inning

Emert - flyout
Stokes - walk
Higa - single to left
PH Rey Smith - (.471/5 HR/11 RBI) - a chance for a DP is wasted, turns into a FC groundout... men on 1st and 3rd
Dittman - 2-3 today, but he wastes a big chance here, K's on a 2-2 pitch.

Whew, and good job solorio.

bottom 7:


Gettys - single to right

Ghent is tired - 27 pitches is nothing but he's thrown 3 times in the last 5 days before this so he has to be on a short leash.

Baker - K
Benavides - flyout
Garst - single to right, runner to 3rd
Trivette - groundout - waste of a chance there w/ Ghent throwing tired

We trail by 1 after 7 innings

Ghent - (stil in the game now???) - groundout
Gittens - walk


NEW PITCHER - Richard Forsythe comes in to shut down the DBacks. Forsythe appears for the 9th time, he's 2-0 on the year, 11 2/3 IP, 11 hits/5 walks/9 K's.

I do a double switch, putting in Secrest in the 9 spot to catch, he'll lead off the bottom of the 8th.

Estevez - Gittens steals 2nd, and takes 3rd on a bad throw by Secrest... good start! Estevez grounds out to 3rd and the runner can't score
Wilkey - no way pal. IBB 1st and 3rd, 2 out
Emert - grounder to the pitcher

bottom 8:

Ghent still in the game, we gotta get to him and win this if he's the only pitcher they have left.

Secrest - flyout
Schenck - flyout
Hagerty - single to RF
Recker - Recker singles to CF for his 4th hit of the game, 1st/2nd with 2 down.
Gettys - Gettys hits a fly ball to right field, it's deep, and it's over the wall!!! 406 feet!!! Gettys hits his 3rd HR of the season, this one is sooo clutch. He's 3-4 today, 1 HR/4 RBI/2 runs scored, and he gives the Cubs the lead!

Baker - single
Benavides - groundout to pitcher

A huge 3 run HR by Gettys gives us a shot to win it here.

Chicago 10, Arizona 8

NEW PITCHER - Allen Roe makes his 8th appearance. In his first 7, he is 0-1, 5 saves. He sports a 2.00 ERA in 9 IP, 7 hits/3 walks/8 K's.

Stokes - K
Nicanor Corchado - his first AB of the year, a defensive replacement earlier... he singles to left.
Smith - FC groundout, Corchado out at 2nd, Smith at 1st.

PH Rogert Whitmire(.385 in 65 ABs) - 7th in the NL in batting... flys out to left field and the game is over!!!


Arizona 8 runs, 12 hits, 0 errors
Chicago 10 runs, 15 hits, 1 error


That was insane. 13 runs in the first two innings, then some terrible management by Arizona leaves one of their best relievers in 2 full innings after he exhausts himself, and we put together a 2 out rally in the 8th to take the lead and win it.


Arizona Batting

Wilkey went 3-4 with 5 RBIs and 2 Runs.
Dittman had a HR and went 2-4.
Estevez went 2-4, not bad after a 1-9 start to the season

Chicago Batting

Recker is the star today, 4-5 with 1 HR, 3 runs/2 RBIs. Gettys is great in his backup role after James was kicked out as well. 3-4 with the game winning HR. Bakers/Hagerty/Benavides got 2 hits also.

Arizona Pitching

7 pitchers all suck. Ghent gets the loss, his first(0-1), going 4.1 IP, giving up 6 hits and 3 runs. He K's 3.

Chicago Pitching

Rosol was terrible, giving up 7 runs on 8 hits in 3 innings. He allowed 4 HRs and his ERA shoots up to 6.75.

Solorio is great in relief, 4.1 IP, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits, he walked 4 though and was never really a safe bet.

Forsythe gets the win in 2/3 IP, walking 1 but getting out of it easily. He is now 3-0 with a 2.19 ERA.

Allen Roe gets his 6th save, pitching 1 scoreless inning, allowing 1 hit and striking out 1. He's now got a 1.80 ERA and 6 saves.



Chicago goes up to 9-7 with the win, still 2 back and in 3rd as Milwaukee and Cinci both win. Of course it's real early so far.


After a day off Chicago will head to San Francisco for a series against the 6-10 Giants.

[Radii]

April 22nd

San Francisco is one of the most successful franchises in the last decade. They've has a winning record in each of the last 10 seasons, winning at least 90 games in 9 of those. They've struggled a lot early though, and are coming off a losing series at Milwaukee. The only series they've won this year was their opening one at Arizona, all downhil from there.


Our biggest fear is 3B Jason Pendergraft, a power hitting 34 year old. He hit 55 HRs last year and has 6 already this season. The first pick in the 1989 draft by St Louis, he actually spent 5 years as a Cub from 1997-2001 before the Cubs let him go and he signed a 6 year, 19 million dollars a year contract with the Giants.

Pendergraft is a star in the league, a career .274 hitter with 547 career HRs. He hit 63 HRs for the Cubs in 1999 and has hit 50+ in 7 of the last 8 years(49 in the other).


Chicago Pitcher: Freddie Meyers looks for his 1st decision. He's 0-0 in 3 starts so far, compiling a 4.50 ERA in 6 IP per start. He's allowed 14 hits in 18 innings, walking 3 and fanning 11.


San Francisco Pitcher: 35 year old Christian Hott can move the ball around, but that's about it. 22/30/80. He's been blasted in 2 starts, 5 IP, allowing 10 earned runs on 13 hits. Drafted back in 1986, he didn't actually make the majors until 1998. He's played for 5 different teams since 1998. A 41-29 record with a 4.67 career ERA, he's not much. Hott has more walks than K's over his career.

The hitters look about even, we have the edge in some, and SF in some. We have the pitching edge.



1st inning

Schenck (.268/3 HR/7 RBI) - check-swing groundout
Hagerty (.360/*HOT*) - Hagerty is our only hot hitter. He hits in his 8th straight game, singling to right.
Recker (.348/2 HR/5 RBI) - line out to RF
James (.355/4 HR/19 RBI) - leads the league in RBIs. grounds out

bottom 1:

Mark Shaner (54/53/31 | .281/2 HR/9 RBI) - triple into the RF corner
Bruno Fuertes (.250) - Singles to left on a 1-0 pitch
Jason Pendergraft (53/100/100 | .281/6 HR/17 RBI/*HOT*) - 4th in RBIs/3rd in HRs - 421 foot HR... bad start here
Robert Bergmann (62/60/65 | .237/9 RBI) - K
Kyle Mijares (58/43/48 | .273) - groundout
Steve Moloney (56/29/89 | .277) - groundout

bad start, hopefully Meyers can settle down.

San Fran 3, Chicago 0

2nd inning

Baker (.385/1 HR/13 RBI) - 14 game hit streak, and 5th in the NL in average, leads off with a walk this time.
Trivette (.175/*COLD*) - walk
Benavides (.313/1 HR/10 RBI) - single up the middle! Benavides drives Baker home, Trivette to 2nd.
Garst (.182/*COLD*) - hard grounder to 2nd, the 2nd baseman makes the play but can only get Garst at 1st. runners on 2nd and 3rd.
Meyers (0-5) - Meyers picks a very good time to get his 1st hit of the year! A single to center scores both runners, and Meyers takes 2nd on a play at the plate!
Schenck - flyout
Hagerty - single up the middle, scores the pitcher from 2nd!
Recker - HBP
James - on a 3-2 count the runners go, James strokes a single up the middle and Hagerty scoers from 2nd, 1st and 3rd, 2 out.

NEW PITCHER - And Hott only lasts 1.2 this start. That's 3 starts, 6.2 IP total. Richard Thompson is in for the 4th time this year, he has a 2.25 ERA, giving up 1 run in 4 innings so far. 43/87/13 numbers, we need to draw some walks on him and we can get to him.

Baker - groundout

5 runs on 4 hits and thats a monster 2nd.

bottom 2:

Doug Day (42/50/64 | .196) - flyout to deep center
Placido Silva (33/60/34 | .231/*HOT*) - flyout

PH Claude Giunta (68/9/22 | .264) - groundout

another shitty CPU decision, this is starting out like the last game.

Chicago 5, San Fran 3

3rd inning

NEW PITCHER: James Barnett is in for the 13th time. 2 runs allowed in 15 IP gives him a 1.20 ERA. 24/51/85, he looks very solid.

Trivette - flyout
Benavides - popout
Garst - garst hits it deep to right, and it bounces off the wall, Garst coasts in with a double!
Meyers - can't do it again, K's this time.

bottom 3:

Shaner - he tries to bunt it for a hit, and it's close but Benavides throws to Garst covering from 2B for the out
Fuertes - groundout
Pendergraft - walk
Bergmann - groundout

Much better through the top of the order this time

4th inning

Schenck - flyout to deep right
Hagerty - a great catch by Fuertes in CF robs Hagerty of a hit
Recker - flyout

bottom 4:

Mijares - single into right
Moloney - single to right, but Mijares tries to take 3rd against Schenck's 89 rated arm, Schenck comes up throwing and he's out at 3rd!!
Day - K
Silva - I briefly consider pitching around him to get to the pitcher but figure they'll PH anyway... silva pounds his 2nd HR, 360 feet over the wall in right, and we're tied.

PH Tracy Lamarr - (53/46/36 | .278 in 18 AB) - popout

that's 70 pitches for Meyers, he might go 5 but that's likely it.

Chicago 5, San Fran 5

5th inning

NEW PITCHER: Chris Mullen comes in for the 11th time. 0-2 in 11 IP, 8 hits/3 ER for a 2.45 ERA. 7 walks/8 Ks, lets show some patience here... 43/70/28 ratings.

James - K's
Baker - groundout
Trivette - He hits one deep to left, near the foul pole, but it stays to the right and its gone!!! Trivette hits his 2nd homer and is 1-2 with a walk on the day.
Benavides - back to back jacks! Again to left field, and that's Benavides' 2nd hit and 2nd RBI on the day.
Garst - groundout

bottom 5:

Shaner - groundout
Fuertes - single over SS
Pendergraft - he has the green light on a 3-0 pitch and he's got 8 homers now on the year, his 2nd today, tying this up
Bergmann - back to back for San Fran... a 407 foot job by Bergmann(his 1st this year, but he hit 27 last year) and Meyers trails by 1.
Mijares - single
Moloney - Mijares thrown out stealing, and Moloney grounds out.... mayve I left meyers in too long there by a little bit.

San Fran 8, Chicago 7

6th inning

NEW PITCHER: Alex Gonzalez comes in for the 14th time, 1-0 with 1 save in 13.1 IP, 3 walks/11 Ks and a 2.03 ERA, this is a tough releiver here, 73/48/89.

Gettys PHs for meyers (.281/3 HR/14 RBI) - Gettys singles past Silva into LF for a leadoff single.
Schenck - singles into the hole into right, Gettys easily takes 3rd (SF Arms are all terrible in the outfield, LF is 44, by far the best).
Hagerty - a hard grounder to 2nd is about the worst outcome we could get here... gettys scoers to tie the game but that was an easy double play groundout.

Recker - it's blasted to left, Shaner tries to climb the wall for it but it's way over his head, 412 foot HR for Recker to give the cubs the lead back!


NEW PITCHER - Vern Johnson - Finally a weak reliever, 13/81/36, 7.04 ERA in 5 games, 7.2 IP... 6 walks to only 2 K's is killing him.

James - flyout

Meyers is in line for a win after the Cubs come up big in the top of the 6th.

bottom 6:

NEW PITCHER: David Kitchens is in for the 6th time. He's gotten in danger, 5 hits/5 walks in 6 innings, but has yet to give up a run.

Day - groundout
Silva - flyout

PH Lee Straley (58/32/30 | 1/9 this year) - And the hits keep coming, that's a solo HR just over the fence in Right to tie the game.

Shaner - single to left
Fuertes - single to center
Pendergraft - walk

NEW PITCHER - Larry Riley comes in for the 10th time, he's 1-3 with a 5.56 ERA, if he's on he's great, if he's off we're in trouble.

Bergmann - walks in a run
Mijares - popout

2 runs for the giants on a HR and a few walks...

San Fran 10, Chicago 9

7th inning

NEW PITCHER: Leslie Vandusen is very good, 62/63/90, a 2.16 ERA in 8.1 IP through 7 games so far.

Baker - fouls off 2 2-strike pitches before singling to right past the 2B. That's 15 games in a row with a hit for Baker!
Trivette - line drive to 1st, the 1B catches it and steps on the bag for an easy double play.
Benavides - K's

bottom 7:

Moloney - groundout to Garst
Day - single
PH Cristobal Velasco (2/14 this year/ 45/47/34) - single

Pitcher Vandusen - bunts foul for strike 3, K
Shaner - K's

good save for Riley, we stay only down 1.

8th inning

Garst - groundout
Joe Guerrero pinch hits for Riley, he's 1-8 this year. grounds out
Schenck - groundout

bottom 8:


NEW PITCHER: I bring in the shaky James Levine to try to get through the 8th... it's either him or Roe. 9.82 ERA over 7.1 IP in 5 games...

Fuertes - single, and Fuertes is 4-5 today.
Pendergraft - 436 feet later and Pendergraft is 3-3 with 3 HRs, 6 RBIs...
Bergmann - single
Mijares - flyout
Moloney - popout
PH Cape (1-3 this year) - singles to LF
Velasco - groundout

2 runs later and it's a tough 9th coming up

San Fran 12, Chicago 9

Vandusen has 3 saves this year, he had 44 last year, this will not be easy.

9th inning

Hagerty - leadoff double over Shaner's head in left to start off the 9th in good fashion!
Recker - bloop single to right, Hagerty holds at 3rd, and the tying run comes to the plate with no out!

James - flyout
Baker - RBI single up the middle, Hagerty scores, Recker to 2nd, 1st/2nd 1 out.
Trivette - he's been horrible this year but can be the hero today, he has some power. - Trivette saves his ass on a double play grounder, he runs hard and beats it out at first, and we have 1 more out still... 1st and 3rd, two out.

Benavides - 2/4 today, and batting a great .324 on the year. 2-0 count, but Benavides pops out weakly to the catcher to end the game.


Chicago 10 runs, 15 hits, 0 errors
San Francisco 12 runs, 19 hits, 0 errors


Another crazy game...

Chicago Hitting

Hagerty goes 3-5 to raise the average to .382, Recker and Baker both go 2-4, and Benavides 2-5. Trivette hits a solo HR, hopefully helping him out of his slump just a little, he's still hitting .179.

Recker and Benavides both hit HRs today in addition to Trivette.

San Francisco hitting

Shaner - 2-5, 2 runs.
Fuertes - 4-5, 3 runs, 1 RBI
Pendergraft - 3-3, 3 HR, 3 runs/6 RBI, 2 walks.
Bergmann - 2-4, 2 RBI/1 run

When your top 4 hitters do that, you usually win.

Chicago Pitching

Meyers was terrible, 8 runs in 5 innings, he gave up 4 HRs and sees his ERA rise to 6.65.

Kitchens and Levine gave up 2 runs each, Kitchens going 2/3 IP as he gives up his 2, getting the loss and falling to 0-1.

San Fran pitching

Starter hott gave up 5 runs in 1.2 IP to see his ERA rise to 20.25. We touched the relievers for 5 runs but they were beating us up just a littlbe bit worse.

Johnson got his 2nd win, getting 1 out at the right time. Vandusen gets his 4th save.

Chicago falls to 9-8 in the loss.

[Radii]

April 23rd

Chicago Starter: Zane Moore comes out today, our ace. 2-0 with a 3.24 ERA in 4 starts so far. He's pitched reasonably well, allowing a .250 opponents batting average, but only walking 5 in 25 innings while striking out 17.

San Francisco Starter: Herb Zeller makes his 3rd start, 58/49/26. He's given up 9 runs in 9 IP, 8 walks/5 Ks... we can take him hopefully here! Zellar is 38, drafted in 1984 and started with the Royals in 1987. He's won 17 games twice but is clearly in the downturn of his career. A 178-196 career record with a 4.72 ERA...

The scouts give us the edge in 4 batting spots, SF in two, and we're even in 3 others. Moore, of course, has the edge on the mound and we expect to win today.

1st inning

Schenck (.263/3 HR/7 RBI/18 Runs) - single to right after fouling off a 1-2 pitch.
Hagerty (.382/12 Runs/*HOT*) - 6th in the NL in average, with an 8 game hitting streak - make it a 9 game hitting streak with a single to center, Schenck takes 3rd on the hit, there was a throw but remember San Fran has no arms in the outfield.
Recker (.357/3 HR/6 RBI/14 R) - walk

bases loaded, no out

James (.343/4 HR/20 RBI) - 2nd in the NL with 20 RBIs... he hits a dribbler to the 2B, who starts a 4-6-3 double play, but Schenck comes in to score from 3rd.
Baker (.391/1 HR/14 RBI) - 15 game hit streak and the 2nd best average in the NL here... he flies out to end the top of the 1st, a big wasted chance here even with 1 run.

bottom 1:

Shaner (.290/*COLD*) - groundout
Fuertes (.295/*HOT*) - groundout
Pendergraft (.317/9 HR/23 RBI/*HOT*) - 1st in the NL in HRs and RBIs, he flies out to right here to end the first.

Chicago 1, San Fran 0


2nd inning

Trivette (.179/*COLD*) - K's
Benavides (.319/2 HR/12 RBIs/*HOT*) - groundout
Garst (.186) - groundout

bottom 2:

Bergmann (.254/1 HR/11 RBI) - flyout
Mijares (.296) - flyout
Moloney (.269) - HBP
Day (.200) - groundout

3rd inning

Moore (0-10) - K's
Schenck - groundout
Hagerty - groundout

bottom 3:

Silva (.238/2 HR/5 RBI/*HOT*) - flyout
Geller (0-3) - lineout
Shaner - K's

4th inning

Recker - single up the middle
James - walk
Baker - a long fly ball to RF, it's over the RF's head to the wall, that's a double that scores Recker from first. James has to hold at 3rd. That's 16 games in a row for Baker with a hit.

Trivette - 2-0 count, he gets a good pitch and hits a towering home run to right field!!! That's his 2nd in two days, his 3rd on the season and a big 3 run bomb to help out the Cubs here!

NEW PITCHER: Chris Mullen - he pitched yesterday, 43/70/28, 3.75 ERA in 11 games/12 IP now.

Benavides - K's
Garst - line drive single over the SS
Moore - sac bunt, moving Garst to 2nd.
Schenck - flyout

a big 4 run 4th for Chicago!

bottom 4:

Fuertes - Fuertes hit 14 last year, and he has his first home run of the year, a 371 foot shot to RF. That's the first hit Moore has allowed today.
Pendergraft - K's
Bergmann - flyout
Mijares - single to RF
Moloney - a passed ball moves Miljares to 2nd, but Moloney K's and that's it for the 4th.

Chicago 5, San Fran 1


5th inning

Hagerty - line drive into the gap, that's a leadoff double! Hagerty is 2-3 now.
Recker - Walks
James - James singles up the middle, scoring Hagerty from 2nd! That's 21 RBIs now for James, and we have 1st and 2nd with no out.
Baker - single over the 3rd baseman... the LF has the only decent arm in the outfield and I hold recker up at 3rd, bases loaded, no out!

Trivette - flyout, runners hold
Benavides - walk, Recker scores...
Garst - a grounder to SS, it looks like a double play ball until the SS bobbles it! Everyone is safe and another runner comes home.
Moore - Moore grounds into an easy double play, ending the inning, but we still come up with 3 runs!

bottom 5:

Day - groundout
Silva - groundout
PH Tracy Lamarr (53/46/36 | .263) - flyout


Chicago 8, San Fran 1

6th inning

NEW PITCHER - James Barret has been great, 2 runs in 17 IP in 13 games, a 1.06 ERA. 24/51/85 numbers.

Schenck - groundout
Hagerty - K's
Recker - flyout

bottom 6:

Shaner - groundout
Fuentes - K's
Pendergraft - groundout

58 pitches through 6 innings for Moore

7th inning

James - line drive single into CF
Baker - K's
Trivette - flyout
Benavides - single into LF past the 3rd baseman
Garst - K's

bottom 7:

Bergmann - popout
Mijares - flyout
Moloney - walks
Day - flyout

67 pitches through 7 for moore.

8th inning

Moore - flyout to CF
Schenck - Schenck singles to RF, and the fielder misplays it out there, alowing Schenck to take 2nd, that's a single and an error on Mijares out in right.
Hagerty - walks
Recker - fouls off a pitch on a 1-2 count, then watches 3 straight go by for a walk, bases loaded/1 out.

NEW PITCHER: Alex Gonzalez is back in, a 3.21 ERA in 14 games. 73/48/89.

James - K's
Baker - groundout

Good job by Gonzalez getting out of a tough jame w/ James/Baker up.

bottom 8:

Silva - groundout
PH Lee Straley - .200 so far this year. Groundout.
Shaner - line drive single into right past Benavides
Fuertes - K's

That's 76 pitches through 8 innings, with the big lead he'll definitely get a chance to finish this one off.


9th inning

NEW PITCHER: Vern Johnson, looks very hittable, 6.75 ERA in 8 IP in 6 games.

Trivette - walks
Benavides - double play groundout to short, 6-4-3.
Garst - K's


bottom 9:

Last chance for San Fran, down big, 8-1.

Pendergraft - single to left
Befgmann - grounder to 2B, garst gets the lead runner but they can't turn 2.
Mijares - hard groundoer to SS, Baker fires to Garst at 2nd, he turns it nicely and Benavides catches it at first to finish off the double play!!!

complete game, 1 run on 4 hits, a great performance by Moore.

Chicago 8 runs, 12 hits, 0 errors
San Francisco 1 run, 4 hits, 2 errors


Chicago Hitting

Well spread out, 4 guys with 2 hits, everyone else but the pitcher with 1. James/Hagerty go 2/4, and Schenck/Baker go 2-4.


Chicago Pitching

Moore goes 9 innings, giving up 4 hits and 1 run, on a solo HR. He walks 1 and K's 5, finishing the game in 81 pitches. Moore goes to 3-0 on the year.

San Fran pitching

Geller gets the loss, their starter, giving up 5 runs in 3 innings, he falls to 0-1. Mullen gave up 3 runs in relief, then the Giants finally shut down the Cubs in the last 4 innings, but it was way too late then.




One more in San Fran to decide the series coming up.

[Radii]

April 24th

The series with San Fran tied at 1, we want to win the series here today.

Chicago Starter: Waldo Thibodaux - 1-1, 1.98 ERA. 20 hits in 27.1 IP, 14 walks/18 Ks. Thibodaux hasn't given up a run in his last two starts... a 7 inning no decision against LA and a shutout against Arizona. 3 solid starts in a row really.

San Francisco Starter: Rodney Melendez, 74/46/90, a solid 31 y/o starter. He was drafted by the Cubs back in 1996 but never started any there. He's only been a full time starter for 1 year now, was a reliever in Cinci for a efw years... a 37-33 career record with a 3.85 ERA. Last year he went 11-9 in 36 starts with a solid 2.61 ERA. This year he's 0-3 with a 5.49 ERA, strugglign a lot. He has struck out 27 in 19 innings, but he's givin up 25 hits as well.


San Fran gets the edge on the mound but we're hoping for another solid Thibodaux start here. We have the edge with the bats by a little.

1st inning

Schenck (.272/3 HR/7 RBI) - single through the hole into left
Hagerty (.390/13 Runs/*HOT*) - 4th in the NL in batting - Schenck has the steal sign but doesn't get a good jump. I only try to send him once. Hagerty bloops a single into center, and Schenck takes 3rd on a close play. Hagerty has hit safely in 10 games straight now.
Recker (.361/3 HR/6 RBI/*HOT*) - flies out to deep CF. Schenck scores easily
James (.352/4 HR/21 RBI) - 2nd in RBIs on the season. James singles to RF, a different RF today for San Fran has a better arm, but Hagerty takes 3rd anyway.
Baker (.392/1 HR/15 RBI/*HOT*) - 3rd in NL in batting. He walks to load the bases
Trivette (.183/3 HR/9 RBI) - hitting a bit better lately, he swings on a 1-0 pitch and grounds to 3rd, the 3B steps on third, fires to first and Trivette beats the throw, that scores a run.
Benavides (.316/2 HR/13 RBI) - K's

Chciago gets 2 runs to open up the game, lately that's been more than enough for Thibodaux.

bottom 1:

Shaner (.288/2 HR/9 RBI/12 Runs/*COLD*) - K's
Giunta (.259) - K's
Pendergraft (.313/9 HR/23 RBI/*HOT*) - leads the league in HRs and RBIs. popout to pitcher.

Chicago 2, San Fran 0

2nd inning

Garst (.188) - groundout
Thibodaux (1-9) - K's
Schenck - K's

bottom 2:

Bergmann (.239/1 HR/11 RBI/*COLD*) - easy grounder to recker, but he bobbles it and commits an error.
Moloney (.264) - flyout
Fuertes (.292/*HOT*) - hard ground ball to garst, and he bails out recker by making a good pickup and starting a double play.

3rd inning

Hagerty - K's
Recker - groundout, a close call at first and I come out to argue a bit
James - single past 2B
Baker - K's

bottom 3:

Day (.189) - K's
Silva (.222) - single over short
Melendez (0-5) - sac bunt, runner to 2nd.
Shaner - groundout

4th inning

Trivette - K's
Benavides - walks
Garst - K's
Thibodaux - groundout

bottom 4:

Giunta - fouls off 2 3-2 pitches before drawing a walk
Pendergraft - walks
Bergmann - bloop single... bases loaded, 0 out.

Moloney - line drive single to left, ties the game, 1st/2nd no out.
Fuertes - single up the middle, runner scores on a throw allowing the other two guys to advance... 2nd/3rd, no out
Day - a tough grounder to first... benavides gets the batter but another run scores
Silva - K's
Melendez - deep fly out

Ouch... 3 runs before a single out is made, and 4 in the inning.

San Fran 4, Chicago 2

5th inning

Schenck - groundout
Hagerty - single to right
Recker - walks
James - 2-2 today, he blasts one deep but just foul, before singling to right, scoring Hagerty without a throw.
Baker - singles down the left field line! LF Shaner cuts if off before it gets to the wall, but Recker still scores, that ties it, and we ahve 2 on and 1 out. That extends Baker's hitting streak to 17 games.
Trivette - singles up the middle! James scores from 2nd and we have the lead back!

NEW PITCHER: Jared Given - 0-1 in 6 games with a 2.35 ERA, 2 runs allowed in 7 2/3 innings. 24/49/67 ratings.

Benavides - hard grounder, the SS makes a good play but can only get Trivette at 2nd. 1st and 3rd with 2 down.
Garst - Garst blasts one to the wall in right! That's a double, scoring both runners!!
Thibodaux - groundout

A big inning, 5 runs on 5 hits for the Cubs!

bottom 5:

Shaner - single to right
Giunta - K's
Pendergrat - walks
Bergmann - line drive to 1B
Moloney - popout

Chicago 7, San Fran 4

Thibodaux has great endurance, so if he can hold the lead I'll let him pitch for awhile.

6th inning

Schenck - K's
Hagerty - single, 3-4 now for Hagerty
Recker - double play groundout to the pitcher, inning over.

bottom 6:

Fuertes - groundout
Day - walk
Silva - walk
PH Straley (.182) - FC groundout, runner out at 2nd, can't turn 2.
Shaner - groundout

That's 102 pitches for Thibodaux

7th inning

NEW PITCHER - Alex Gonzalez - 3.07 ERA in 15 games/14.2 IP so far. 3 walks/12 K's is solid. He's given up 2 runs in 1.1 IP against the cubs this year.

James - K's
Baker - flyout
Trivette - K's

bottom 7:

Giunta - single to right
Pendergraft - single up the middle
Bergmann - popout
Moloney - K's
Fuertes - K's

That'll do it for Thibodaux, 125 pitches today. Just call me Dusty.

8th inning

Benavides - flyout
Garst - single past 2B
PH Gettys (.303/3 HR/14 RBI) - K's
Schenck - single down the line in right, Garst moves to 3rd easily.
Hagerty - line drive single to right, Garst scores, Schenck to 3rd. 4-5 for Hagerty today!
Recker - groundout

bottom 8:

NEW PITHCER: Richard Forsythe. 3-0, 2.19 ERA in 9 games. 12.1 IP, 6 walks/9 Ks

Day - K's
Silva - K's
PH Lamarr (.250) - 400 foot blast on a 2-2 pitch... HR
Shaner - flyout

Each team scores 1.

Chicago 8, San Fran 5

9th inning

NEW PITCHER: Closer Vandusen, 2.38 ERA, 1-0/4 saves in 8 games.

James - single to left - 4-5 on the day just like Hagerty
Baker - single to left
Trivette - line drive into the gap in left. James takes off thinking it'll fall, the LF makes a great catch and doubls James off of 2nd.
Benavides - groundout

bottom 9:

NEW PITCHER: Allen Roe comes in to close this one out. 1.80 ERA in 8 games, 10 IP/ 2 runs/3 walks/9 Ks. Roe is 0-1 with 6 saves so far.

Giunta - groundout to 2nd.
Pendergraft - flyout
Bergmann - groundout

The 1-2-3 9th seals the win for the cubs!


Chicago 8 runs, 15 hits, 1 error
San Francisco 5 runs, 8 hits, 0 errors


Chicago Batting

Hagerty and James were on fire today. Each went 4-5. Hagerty scored 2 and drove in 1. James scored 1/drove in 1.

Baker went 2-4, Garst 2-4 to raise his average over .200 for the first time in a long time, and Schenck 2-5.


San Francisco Batting

8 guys had 1 hit. Pendergraft walked twice and scored a run, the first time we've been able to hold him down at all.

Chicago Pitching

Thibodaux was good enough today, 7 innings, 4 runs on 7 hits, 5 walks, and 7 K's. He has a 2.62 ERA now and is 2-1.

Forsythe gave up a run, and Roe got his 7th save with a perfect 9th.



Baker now has a 17 game hit streak.

Milwaukee has won 9 of 10 to lead the NL Central at 14-5. Chicago, Cinci, Houston and St Louis are all 3 games back at 11-8.



Managerial News

On 4/25 I started dating 18 year old Janet.


League News

Rockies 3B Robert Bejarano is going to miss the rest of the season. A solid 35 year old, he hit .327 with 22 HRs last season, and had started out hitting .273 this year. A late bloomer, he only started playing consistantly in the majors 5 years ago in 1999. He's got a 291 career avearge with 102 HRs.