Pittsburgh Pirates 1 @ Chicago Cubs 4
CastroWatch: 0-4 today. Booo. Soriano hit two homers in a 2-4 day. Yaaaaay. Anthony Rizzo was 1-4 with a double. Welington Castillo was 2-2 with a double. Julio Borbon was 0-2 with 2 walks and 2 SBs out of the leadoff spot.
Edwin Jackson had one of his better outings of the year, allowing a solo home run and nothing else on 4 hits and 2 walks in 5.2 innings. The bullpen was great yesterday, allowing a single hit in 3.1 innings of work and striking out 3.
Iowa Cubs 3 @ Albuquerque Isotopes 10 (Game 1, continuation of Friday's suspended game)
Esmailin Caridad picked up where Jake Arrieta left off yesterday, working 3 innings of 3 hit, 2 run (1 earned) ball. He walked one and struck out 2. It was generally an awful game for the I-Cubs pitching, as the Isotopes scored against every hurler Iowa threw at them. Jeffry Antigua gave up 2 runs on three hits, 2 walks, and a strikeout in his 2 IP. Marcus Hatley and Eduardo Sanchez had nearly identical lines, giving up 2 earned runs in 2 hits and 2 walks. The difference was Hatley struck out 2 and Sanchez gave up an unearned run as well.
At least the offense made up for it by being completely tepid and flaccid. Ty Wright was 1-4 with a double. Junior Lake was 1-3 with 2 walks. Logan Watkins was 2-4 with a walk. Other than that, snooze.
Iowa Cubs 0 @ Albuquerque Isotopes 1 (Game 2, 7 innings)
Offensively, everybody sucked.
Barret Loux tried his damndest to put the team on his back, working 6 innings of 4 hit, 1 run ball with 4 walks and 6 Ks. 'Twas not to be, however.
Huntsville Stars 8 @ Tennessee Smokies 2
The first time Javier Baez took the bat off his shoulder as a Smokie, he hit a home run. It was on a 2-1 count in his first at-bat. So, welcome to AA, Javy. He went 1-4 on the day and had a strikeout.
Christian Villanueva decided he liked the cut of this Baez kid's jib and put up an identical line, 1-4 with a homer and a K. He's got a nice little 5 game hitting streak going, with 3 homers over that span. Looking at his splits on the season, there are some interesting trends, albeit with the SSS caveats. For example, in the Smokies' 16 day games, Villanueva has a .490 OPS, compared to an .833 OPS in 65 night games. He's got a .712 OPS at home vs an .815 on the road. Perhaps somewhat strangely, his platoon splits look fairly similar, as only 12 points of OPS separate his numbers against lefties and righties (.777 vs .765, respectively).
The rest of the offense mostly sucked. Rubi Silva was 2-4, so there was that.
Austin Kirk got shelled, lasting only 2 innings and allowing 6 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks, striking out 2. Yeiper Castillo came on in long-relief, working 5 innings and allowing a run on 4 hits and 3 walks, K'ing 4. Kevin Rhoderick was generous enough to allow one last run in a hit and 3 walks in his 2 innings. Once again, every pitcher allowed at least one run. On the bright side, the pitching in the Cubs organization has at least found some consistency.
Daytona Cubs 6 @ Dunedin Blue Jays 5
Bijan Rademacher was 2-4 with 2 doubles. Pin-Chieh Chen was 1-2 with a triple and 2 walks. Zeke DeVoss was 3-5 and drove in 3 of the cubs 6 runs.
Help us Pierce Johnson, you're our only hope. Prince Albert worked 5 innings of 5 hit, 1 walk scoreless ball, striking out 5, and was awesome. Austin Reed kept up the good work, going 2 scoreless, and giving up only a hit and a walk. Jeffrey Lorick decided the game wasn't all that interesting, and thus decided to give up 5 runs, including a 2-out, 3-run homer. He allowed 4 hits and walked 1 in his inning, striking out 2. Dayan Diaz closed it out with a scoreless 9th, though he did give up 3 hits.
Quad Cities River Bandits 5 @ Kane County Cougars 0
Albert Almora was 1-2 and was pulled for Oliver Zapata in the fifth after Almora apparently hurt himself sliding into 2nd trying to break up a double play. Apparently it was just hemherroids, though. Make your own "pain in the ass" jokes.
The Cougars got 3-hit yesterday. Other than Almora, Marco Hernandez was 1-3, and Carlos Escobar was 1-3. Reggie Golden and Giuseppe Papaccio each walked once. That was that.
Jose Rosario was terrible. 5 runs in 5 innings, walking 4 and striking out only 1. He's now 0-5 with a robust 6.00 ERA at Kane County. Yikes. Sheldon McDonald worked 3 scoreless, allowing only a hit and striking out 3. Michael Hamann closed it out with a scoreless 9th, allowing a hit on a walk and a strikeout.
Tri-City Dust Devils 5 @ Boise Hawks 3
Jacob Rogers was 2-4 with a homer for the Hawks' only XBH. Daniel Lockhart was 2-4. Nobody else really did much of anything.
James Pugliese wasn't very good (8 hits, 2 walks and 5 runs in 5 innings) but did strike out 6, so it wasn't an outing without bright spots. Scott Frazier threw 2 scoreless, allowing a hit and a walk with a K. Zack Godley made his Boise debut, striking out 2 in a spotless frame. Matt Iannazzo closed it out with a scoreless ninth, allowing a hit and punching out 2.
We'll give Jhonny Pena the game of the day, going 1-3 with a 2-run homer.
Arnaldo Calero had a 3-4 day with a home run and a stolen base.
Another Cubs team, another bland, tepid offense. The AZL Cubs were 3-hit and held without an XBH. They did walk 5 times though, which is good to see. Rashad Crawford was 2-2. Charcer Burks was 1-4. Xavier Batista walked twice. That was about it.
Juan Francisco was the only AZL Cub not to give up a run. He worked 2 scoreless, walked 2, and struck out 1. This dropped his ERA to 10.80 on the young season.
Comments
SVB wrote:
Soriano would never display that level of grit and TWTW.
GBTSQuote Reply
At least they’re being honest.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
I actually find the column on the left funnier than the one on the right.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Old guy in captain’s hat >>> chad in visor catching foul ball
uncle daveQuote Reply
Pretty good spot start for Senor Villanueva.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
SVB wrote:
I added a new link.
dmick89Quote Reply
Cubs lose
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Barney is human after all!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
“The win expectancy just went way up.”
–Cubs announcer
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
Quiet, you.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
False
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Dioner Navarro ————-> Cubs MVP
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
It’s not Shawn Camp?
dmick89Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
When was the last time a player who was MVP was DFA?
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Rice CubeQuote Reply
can’t remember if i already posted this but it’s fucking nuts:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jul/07/brazilian-referee-decapitated-stabs-player
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Shawn Camp. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
Should’ve seen that coming (dying laughing) but I was wondering about a “real” MVP. Maybe Juan Gonzalez?
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Kyle Farnsworth is his personal trainer.
@ dmick89:
Thanks!
SVBQuote Reply
I am having a blast watching sitrick and DJ troll Jon Greenberg on Twitter tho.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Rice Cube wrote:
I don’t respond well to being told I can’t read. (dying laughing)
sitrickQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I thought Shawn Camp was the real MVP. No?
dmick89Quote Reply
Still really wish we had won that game in New York, you guys.
GBTSQuote Reply
new shit
GWQuote Reply