Tag: pittsburgh pirates

Matt Garza Debut game thread and mini series preview

seriespreview

Here's a preview of today's game. I'll add info on the rest of the series later tonight.

Pitching Matchup

Matt Garza, RHP (-,-,-,3.63) vs Wandy Rodriguez, LHP (3.25, 125, 3.99, 3.73), 6:05 PM CT

Garza is finally back! He looked sharp in his rehab outings, capping it off with a six strikeout, zero walk six-inning shutout in Iowa his last time out. He'll be restricted to 85-90 pitches, but it vibes like everything is already working for him. A good indicator that he's back in the groove is if he gets lots of grounders tonight.

Wandy's having yet another solid season. I couldn't believe it when I picked him up for peanuts in my FLB league, especially considering that this league counts QS instead of wins. He's had good luck with BABIP this year (hence the low ERA) and bad luck with fly balls (hence the not so great FIP). His TTL is probably somewhere in the middle. Wandy's pretty much a fastball-sinker-curveball guy, and his curve is a bit of a yakker which is always fun to watch. 

Team Overviews

  Cubs Buccos
wRC+ 94 (10th) 97 (8th)
BSR -0.7 (8th) 3.9 (3rd)
UZR -0.6 (6th) -1.3 (9th)
DRS 0 (11th) 3 (7th)
SP FIP- 97 (6th) 108 (11th)
RP FIP- 111 (12th) 94 (7th)

Overall, that's about what I expected for the Pirates. They're an average team, which is a huge improvement on what they've been for the last two decades.

Injuries

Andrew McCutchen has a sore knee and is day to day. SP James McDonald hit the DL with shoulder soreness at the beginning of the month. He's started throwing again but his return is still weeks away. Fellow SP Jeff Karstens was shut down in spring training with shoulder soreness. He's throwing again and needs a few more rehab starts before joining the team. Charlie Morton had TJS last June, and is almost back to the big league team. He's made a few rehab starts, one was shut down for shoulder soreness. At least it's not the elbow I guess.

Garza's back, so there's not much to report on the injury front for the Cubs. 

Other pitching matchups

Wednesday: Jeff Samardzija, RHP (3.49, 85, 3.21, 3.47) vs Francisco Liriano, LHP (1.64, 38, 2.53, 3.39), 6:05 PM CT

The Pirates were all set to sign Liriano to a 2/12.5 deal last December, but Liriano broke his non-throwing arm. The contract negotiations dragged on until February until the final contract was a one year, one million dollar contract with an option for 2014. That's an expensive arm injury. Liriano has rewarded their perserverence with two great starts since coming off the DL, and if he  pitches to his projection that deal will be the steal of the offseason. I'm kind of surprised that a non-throwing arm injury would kill his value that much. 

Samardzija did it all in his last start, striking out seven in eight innings and making up for his two runs allowed by hitting a two-run homer. It seemed to me that he was walking a lot more batters this year, but his BB% is up by less than a percentage point from last year's numbers. 

Thursday: Edwin Jackson, RHP (5.76, 98, 3.84, 3.70) vs Jeanmar Gomez, RHP (2.78, 141, 4.41, 4.60), 11:35 AM CT

Even if Jackson pitches to his FIP the rest of the way, it's going to take a long time to drag that awful ERA down. A big part of that nasty ERA is a 57.8% strand rate, which I'm going to go out on a limb and say is not sustainable. He's coming off two okay-to-good starts, but he hasn't had a truly dominant start all year.

Gomez is filling in while most of the Pirates rotation is on the mend. He's had problems with the HR ball, but his four starts look decent until you look at the IP totals (4, 5, 5, 4.2). Looks like it's a bullpen day on getaway day. He's a sinker-slider-changeup guy, emphasis on sinker.

Opening Day postgame thread – Cubs 3, Pirates 1

Cubs win! The Cubs took an early lead on a first inning home run by Anthony Rizzo that still hasn't landed. Combine that with eight strong innings by Jeff Samardzija (two hits, one walk, 9 strikeouts) and it's a recipe for a Cubs win. Carlos Marmol made the end of the game interesting by doing Carlos Marmol things at the beginning of the ninth, but Sveum rightly pulled him and had James Russell and Kyuji Fujikawa shut the door on the Pirates. Per Sveum, Marmol is still the closer, but didn't have it today. Better go pick up Fyukikawa in your fantasy leagues if you haven't already.

New Cub Nate Schierholtz reached base four times on a walk, hbp, error, and a single. Brent Lillibridge was not so lucky, going 0-3 with three strikeouts and a fielding error before being replaced by Alberto Gonzalez. Welington Castillo had a nice day with two doubles, mitigated by a dumb TOOTBLAN, even by the Cubs recent baserunning standards.

Players of the Game

Cubs:

  • Jeff Samardzija (.378 WPA)
  • Anthony Rizzo (.162 WPA)

Pirates: 

Goats of the Game

Cubs:

  • Carlos Marmol (-0.142 WPA)

Pirates:

Around the league

  • Clayton Kershaw homered and pitched a complete game shutout in the Dodgers opener. I guess he's ready for the season.
  • Bryce Harper led the Nationals over the Marlins with two solo HRs. Strasburg went seven scoreless innings, striking out 3 and walking none.
  • The Mets pounded Rookie of the Year candidate Edinson Volquez. They're still a team starting Marlon Byrd in RF, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them end up with a worse record than the Cubs, fire sale be damned.
  • Chris Sale shut down the Royals in a game the White Sox went on to win 1-0
  • The Red Sox beat the Yankees, 4-0. Will the Yankees crack .500 this year?

Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (0-0) at Pittsburgh Pirates (0-0)

seriespreview

Well, here we go with another season of Cubs baseball. The Cubs open the season in what is probably the most beautiful ballpark in baseball (it's certainly one of the top 30). At least, beautiful when the weather forecast isn't 40s and raining. The Pirates aren't the punching bag they used to be – they've finally gotten over the hump and gone from terrible to credible. I'm not expecting them to contend much more than I'm expecting the Cubs to contend, but it sure would be nice for Pirates fans to see this team with a winning record for the first time in decades. 

Team Overviews

Here's how the teams' 2012 numbers stack up (NL Ranks in parentheses). For new readers, the stats I'm using are:

  • wRC+ : Weighted Runs Created Plus – attempts to combine all aspects of offense into a single stat. Park adjusted. 100 is an average score, and 120 means the player contributed 20% more than the average player, 80 means the players contributed 20% fewer.
  • BSR : Fangraphs baserunning measurement statistic. Handles things like players going from first to third or TOOTBLANing relative to other teams. This is measured in the number of runs contributed (or taken away) by baserunning over the course of the season.
  • UZR: MGL's Ultimate Zone Rating
  • DRS: Defensive Runs Saved from John Dewan's Fielding Bible
  • FIP-: Fielding Independent Pitching Minus – uses the popular DIPS stat FIP, park adjusts it and puts it on a scale to show how a player performed compared to league average. Unlike wRC+, a lower FIP is good. 100 is average, a score of 80 means a pitcher was 20% better than league average, a score of 120 means a pitcher was 20% worse. 
  Cubs Pirates
wRC+ 80 (16th) 90 (13th)
BSR -8.1 (14th) -4 (10th)
UZR 30.5 (2nd) 0.4 (8th)
DRS -7 (7th) -25 (12th)
SP FIP- 108 (13th) 107 (12th)
RP FIP- 116 (16th) 98 (9th)

I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Fangraphs this year for adding a ordered ranking column to their tables this year.

Injuries

The Cubs are short several players that would have been on the opening day roster, if healthy. Matt Garza is out until with May a lat strain suffered in spring training, torpedoing his trade value. Scott Baker is out with an elbow strain suffered while coming back from TJS. His return date is June, but I'm pretty much resigned to news of another surgery at some point this season. 3B Ian Stewart is out with a quad injury suffered in spring training, and 2B Darwin Barney is on the DL due to a laceration to his left knee (apparently cut to the bone) caused in the Cubs last exhibition game of the offseason. Thus we have Brent Lillibridge, opening day second baseman. Whee.

The Pirates are short three starting pitchers right now. Offseason signing Francisco Liriano broke his non-throwing arm on Christmas Day, and could be back in a month or so. Jeff Karstens, who was non-tendered and eventually re-signed by the Pirates after posting a breakout 3.32 FIP season (WTF), is out indefinitely with shoulder tendinitis. Worm-killer Charlie Morton is working his way back from TJS and could be back in May or June.

Storylines and players to watch

Certainly the main storyline is Hooray Baseball! It's going to be nice to watch games that count again. And, as hard as it is to believe, I'm looking forward to watching Jeff Samardzija pitch. I'm also looking forward to a full season of Jim Deshaies. What we saw in Spring Training seems to point to him being a vast improvement on Brenly.

The Pirates are Andrew McCutchen's team, and there's no question about it. He stat-gathered more WAR last year than the two next highest performers on the team combined. If the Pirates do manage to contend this year, he would be strongly considered as an MVP candidate (whether or not the Pirates contend he should be a candidate anyway, but that's an entirely different story). He's also managed to do the unthinkable – have a high enough profile to actually have a guy in a Pirates uniform in multiple national TV commercials. 

Pitching Matchups

I list each pitcher's ERA, FIP-, xFIP, and ZiPS projected FIP. I'll use 2012's numbers for the first month or so of the season.

Monday: Jeff Samardzija, RHP (3.81, 89, 3.38, 3.49) vs A.J. Burnett, RHP (3.51, 93, 3.40, 3.94), 12:35 PM CT

Samardzija shoved our criticism of the team moving him to the rotation back in our faces in his first start last year. Shark was one out shy of a complete game, striking out 8 while allowing one run. The Cubs shut him down late in the season due to reaching his innings limit, but from everything we've seen both last fall and in spring training, he doesn't seem to be showing any signs of fatigue from the jump in workload *knocks on all the wood he can find*. Props to Ryno for telling the Cubs office to stick with Samardzija, he deserves all the credit. He's still waiting for that consulting fee, BTW, so if you want to get on that soon that would be great, Theo.

Burnet missed the beginning of last year with a fractured face caused in the Pirates own bunting competition. After coming back, he quietly posted a very non-A.J. Burnett season. The National League suited him well, as he posted a 2.76 BB/9 after years of control problems in the American League. The Pirates fleeced the Yankees on the Burnett deal, basically getting two seasons of him for free as the Yankees tried to get rid of him. Apparently the 36-year old Burnett is considering retirement after this season, but if he can put up another season like last year's someone is going to want to pay him a chunk of change to stick around. 

Wednesday: Edwin Jackson, RHP (4.03, 99, 3.79, 3.66) vs Wandy Rodriguez, LHP (3.76, 103, 4.09, 3.55), 6:05 PM CT

For those unfamiliar with my past previews, Wandy Rodriguez is the source of my epynomous Wandy Rodriguez Hall of Fame. This exclusive club is filled with players who left me with an incredibly poor first impression. I remember watching the Cubs (and everyone else) light up Wandy in his first two years with the Astros. He improved into a solid pitcher, but during those years I would always grumble "I can't believe they're losing to Wandy Fucking Rodriguez" when he would inevitably shut down the Cubs lineup. The Pirates picked him up in a trade with Houston last year, and the Astros are eating a nontrivial chunk of his salary for the next two years (assuming the Pirates pick up his option).

The Cubs locked up Edwin Jackson to a four year deal this offseason, putting a halt to his quest to pitch for seemingly every team in MLB. He's another member of the WRHOF – he was pretty terrible early in his career with the Rays, and was traded half a hundred times over the three seasons after he left the team. Once he hit his prime he turned into a quality pitcher, and the Cubs targeted him and Sanchez specifially for their ages (Jackson is 29). Jackson has also been durable, logging 30+ starts for the past 6 seasons. 

Thursday: Travis Wood, LHP (4.27, 120 ,4.62, 4.39) vs James McDonald, RHP (4.21, 111, 4.21, 4.10), 11:35 AM CT

McDonald managed the rare feat of having an ERA, FIP, and XFIP of 4.21 in 2012. He's a flyball pitcher and struggles a bit with his control, walking nearly four batters per nine in his career. His 4.21 ERA last season was backstopped by a .269 BABIP, so I'd expect some regression on that front. The Pirates basically stole him from the Dodgers in 2010 for Octavio Dotel.

Travis Wood had a decent chance of ending up in the bullpen before Matt Garza was re-injured. He had an up-and-down season last year. After being penciled in to the rotation, he was absolutely awful in spring training and started the year in AAA. After being called up in May, he had several stretches of good pitching, and eas even referred to as the Cubs "ace" at one point (laughing). He is what he is – a young, cost controlled, averageish pitcher. He's not too bad with the bat either, for a pitcher. 

Prediction

Pirates take two of three

Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (15-29) at Pittsburgh Pirates (20-24)

The surging Cubs could extend their streak to 12 in a row in a series against the Pirates. At least they'll get to lose in a beautiful ballpark. The Pirates are coming off a series loss at home to the Mets, and just DFA'd former future face of the franchise Nate McLouth.

Team Overviews

NL Rank in parentheses

  Cubs Pirates
wOBA .297 (14th) .267 (16th)
UBR 3.4 (2nd) 2.7 (4th)
UZR 7.9 (4th) -0.3 (9th)
DRS 6 (4th) -11 (10th)
SP FIP 3.86 (9th) 3.59 (7th)
RP FIP 4.69 (16th) 3.72 (11th)

As MB pointed out in the last thread, it's rare that the Cubs are playing a team with an even shittier offense. To be fair, the Pirates offense hasn't had a chance to tee off on Cubs relievers yet this year. It should also be noted that the next "best" bullpen FIP in the NL is the DBacks with 3.94.

Since the first game is already going on, I'll just jump to the

Pitching Matchups

As always, ERA, FIP, xFIP, ZiPS FIP are listed for each pitcher

Friday: Ryan Dempster, RHP (2.28, 2.83, 3.18, 3.84) vs A. J. Burnett, RHP (4.78, 3.48, 3.02, 3.94), 6:05 PM CT

Burnett is doing Burnett things early on. I think he's thrown 40 pitches in this first inning. He had a scary start to the season, breaking his orbital bone during a bunting drill in spring training almost as soon as the pirates acquired him. He came back much more quickly than expected from the surgery and has pitched well for the Pirates. Certainly better than his tenure with the Yankees. Batters are squaring him up a bit more than usual, but he's also seen a big jump in his ground ball rate.

Dempster has had two relatively bad starts in his last two times out, giving up four runs in six innings in each and two HR to the White Sox. Hopefully he grabs a win tonight so we don't have to keep hearing about his lack of Ws on the season, though if he gets another no-decision or loss it just further shows how pointless W-L record is as a statistic.

Saturday:  Paul Maholm, LHP (4.73, 5.47, 4.34, 4.14) vs Kevin Correia, RHP (4.50, 5.09, 4.84, 4.74), 6:15 PM CT

I remember a time when Correia was considered to be the Pirates ace after they picked him up from San Diego in the 2011 offseason. He got off to a good start and made the All-Star team based on his 11 wins, but his numbers inevitably cratered in the second half until he was shut down in late August with an oblique strain. He picked up right where he left off in his return this year, putting up Rafael Dolis-esque strikeout numbers.

Like Dempster, Maholm's run of good starts was interrupted by the Cards and White Sox. He gave up 9 runs in those two games, though he still managed to get lots of grounders. Both pitchers were damaged by the wind blowing out at Wrigley, and Maholm outdid Dempster by giving up three to the Sox. Maholm has had a lot of bad luck with the HR ball (19.1% HR/FB) but has had good luck with his grounders (.239 BABIP).

Sunday: Matt Garza, RHP (3.72, 3.78, 3.71, 3.56) vs Erik Bedard or TBA, LHP (3.52, 3.20, 3.39, 3.39), 12:35 PM CT

Garza has come back down to earth in his last few starts, and apparently his velocity has been down. The Astros (!) "offense" touched him up for seven runs in his last start. His BABIP is also low for a guy that's been getting a lot of grounders. I wonder how much of the BABIP stuff here and with the above pitchers is due to the Cubs improved defense. Surely it's not all of it, but replacing Ramirez and whatever Cylon leg treatments they've given to Soriano is converting a lot more balls into outs this year.

Bedard has been nails with the Pirates this year, but who knows how long he'll be healthy. The last time he pitched a full season as a starter was 2006, since then he's made 28, 15, 15, 0, and 24 starts, and his shoulder is being held together with the same tape that held together Chad Fox's elbow. He's had problems with his back too. The Pirates got him for cheap though at only one year and $4.5m, and even if he blows out his shoulder this weekend the Pirates have already gotten their money's worth on the deal.

Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (43-65) at Pittsburgh Pirates (54-52)

The Untouchables (h/t @thecubreporter) head to Pittsburgh to lose in beautiful PNC Park. Pittsburgh improved itself at the deadline by adding former foes Derrek Lee and Ryan Ludwick to the squad. The Pirates picked up Lee for an unranked by BA A-ball first baseman, and Ludwick was acquired for a PBTNL.

The Cubs largely failed to improve their farm system, moving Fukudome for a relief pitcher and yet another toolsy impatient raw position player. I’m annoyed with the Cubs for declaring certain players untouchable (mainly Marshall and Marmol), but for all the complaining about the Cubs lack of movement at the deadline, most of the guys that the interwebs were begging the Cubs to move have next to no value. Yes, if Hendry shopped guys like Byrd, Pena, Baker, Johnson, or even Ramirez he probably would have found someone. But what would be the point? None up those guys have much more value than Lee or Ludwick, and the Pirates basically gave up nothing for them. Even if the Cubs sent money along with those guys they couldn’t expect much more than a C prospect or two at best. Dempster’s traditional numbers this year would make him impossible to trade for good value even if he was willing to waive his NTC, which seemed the most unlikely of any of the Cubs vets. No one seemed particularly interested in salary relief either.

I would feel a lot better if Hendry was more visibly trying to move these guys to see if someone would overpay, but in the end I think we got the same result.

Team Overviews

As usual, team stats and NL ranks are listed.

Cubs Pirates
wOBA .312 (9th) .297 (14th)
UBR -11.6 (16th) -4.6 (14th)
UZR -17.7 (13th) 8.7 (3rd)
SP FIP 4.10 (11th) 4.18 (13th)
RP FIP 4.06 (15th) 3.70 (6th)

The Pirates have had a great year and I’m glad to see excited fans at their awesome park. But those numbers do not look like the numbers of a winning ballclub. Looking at their record and stats, it makes me relieved that the Cubs record reflects how terrible the team actually is. As much as we’re gnashing our teeth now, I could imagine that we’d be gnashing them even more if this team was somehow hanging on to a .500 record and convincing themselves that they have a good squad.

Taking a closer look at the Pirates numbers, Andrew McCutchen (.388) is the only regular with a significant wOBA. Their second best regular is catcher Chris Snyder, who is on the DL following back surgery. In the rotation, they’ve received solid pitching from most of their starters, and Jeff Karstens has a monster ERA-FIP split of nearly two runs.

Pitching Probables

Monday: Carlos Zambrano, RHP (4.59, 4.09, 4.24, 3.87) vs Paul Maholm, LHP (3.16, 3.78, 3.95, 3.89), 6:05 PM CT

Checking back in with Z: his strikeout rate still sucks, his walk rate looks surprisingly decent, and his ground ball rate is slowly climbing up to what it was in the past two seasons (though still not nearly as good as his prime).

Maholm is having another quietly decent year. He’s never been a guy to blow batters away (career 5.59 K/9) but he gets teh ground balls. Like Z, his rates have been slipping alarmingly in the past 2-3 seasons.

Tuesday: Randy Wells, RHP (6.16, 5.27, 4.37, 4.22) vs Kevin Correia, RHP (4.24, 4.28, 4.19, 4.25), 6:05 PM CT

The Pirates signed Correia to a 2/8 deal in the offseason to be their nominal ace. He was a decent reliever/swing man early in his career with the Giants, then put up unsurprisingly better numbers as a starter in Petco Caverns in 09-10. He’s seen a big drop in his strikeout rate since joining the Pirates.

Wednesday: Matt Garza, RHP (3.99, 3.09, 3.12, 3.83) vs Charlie Morton, RHP (4.04, 3.86, 3.97, 4.16), 6:05 PM CT

Morton is a groundball machine that saw some tough luck in his first few stints in the majors. He struggled to find the plate in his first season in the bigs with Atlanta, but since being moved to the Pirates his control has greatly improved. He put up a 7+ ERA in 2010, largely a product of a .353 BABIP and a 18.1% HR/FB rate (his xFIP was 4.11). His numbers this season are much more in line with what was expected of him, and to top it off he’s posted a GB rate of nearly 60%.

Garza was knocked around in his last start, but 4+ months into the season I still can’t believe his GB rate (laughing). He managed to induce 12 groundballs against the Cardinals offense.

Thursday: Rodrigo Lopez, RHP (4.40, 4.83, 4.52, 5.00) vs James McDonald, RHP (4.17, 4.49, 4.25, 4.08), 6:05 PM CT

The less said about Lopez, the better.

McDonald came to the Pirates from the Dodgers in the Octavio Dotel trade. He was largely used as a reliever with the big league club, but the Pirates moved him into their rotation as soon as they acquired him. He’s a flyball pitcher that often has time finding the plate.

Prediction

Cubs lose three out of four

Continue reading “Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (43-65) at Pittsburgh Pirates (54-52)”

Series Preview: Iowa Cubs of Chicago (36-53) at Pittsburgh Pirates (45-42)

I was going to write a longer preview for this series, but I saw the Cubs probable pitchers and gave up.

Friday: Rodrigo Lopez

Saturday: TBA

Sunday: Ramon Ortiz

Saturday will probably end up being Dempster as he threw a bullpen session yesterday and was reportedly feeling good. Though I guess it's possible he could produce a human infant in the next few days and get scratched, given how wierdly his injury was described.

The Cubs did an admirable job losing to the Nationals though they managed to screw up yesterday's game. At this point I'm confident that they'll be swept by the Pirates this weekend.

Random Thoughts

Three games doesn’t tell us anything, but they were three predictable games. The offense struggled, which they’re going to do all season long. That’s especially true against right-handed pitchers. The defense let the team down late in Sunday’s game. Rather than a tie, a defensive mistake allowed the Pirates to take the lead. The pitching staff was solid, which they mostly will be this season. The Cubs made at least one mistake on the bases and nearly one or two others. That’s going to happen a lot this season too.

I didn’t single any player out because I don’t think it’s important. People say it’s a team game and it is even though we can measure the individual contributions of each player. Three games in there’s no reason to single anyone out for mistakes. The point I’m making is that the Cubs played about as well as we can expect them to play this season. At least in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. Strength: pitching. Weakness: everything else. That’s how it was this weekend and that’s how it will be much of the season.

Starlin Castro is fun to watch. I’d forgotten just how much fun. It’s obviously more fun when he collects 8 hits in 3 games as well as a walk. He showed more power in spring training and he’s shown the ability to drive the ball a bit more so far this season. Don’t go expecting 25 home runs like And Counting is or you’re likely to find yourself booing him at some point. If he does hit 25 I’ll pretend I agreed with AC about the 25 home run prediction. It will make me seem smarter that way.

He’s not a finished player, but he’s still the youngest player in the game. 

The top three starters for the Cubs lost two of three games vs the top three of the Pirates. That’s probably not a good sign, but it’s also not exactly their fault. When you score 7 runs in the two losses combined, you can’t expect to win too many ballgames. You’re certainly going to lose more than you win. 

How many more times do we have to hear about Carlos Pena saving errors? Is he the only 1st baseman who scoops balls out of the dirt? Isn’t that kind of important for 1st basemen? I’m betting that the ones who struggle at picking it out of the dirt are the ones who find themselves in AAA for a long time. It’s part of the job. Maybe Pena is better than the average player. I can buy that, but this talk about him saving X number of errors is irrelevant unless you’re going to tell me how many errors the average 1st baseman saves. 

I’m all for Darwin Barney playing 2nd base. May as well see what he has. Play him every day. I’m not expecting much. In fact, I expect he’ll be sent to AAA by the end of May. Play Colvin every day too. That’s what I’d do. However, if the Cubs want to win games, you platoon Tyler Colvin and Alfonso Soriano, not Fukudome and Colvin. You platoon Blake DeWitt and Jeff Baker, not Baker and Barney. 

Marlon Byrd batting 3rd doesn’t bother me. That’s the least important spot in the top 5 spots in the lineup according to the extensive research in The Book. That seems a good spot for him. Speaking of Marlon Byrd, he’s been awful since the middle of last season. 

It’s nice to see Alfonso Soriano come through. I always like that because I fear he’s going to get booed out of the stadium if he doesn’t. And when he doesn’t, he usually is booed out of the ballpark. 

Carlos Zambrano left with cramps on Saturday. It’s a problem he’s had throughout his career. It seems to me that Z has something that’s causing that. Even if it isn’t, big deal. He was ready to come out of the game anyway so it doesn’t really matter.

Matt Garza allowed 12 hits, struckout 12 and walked nobody in 7 innings. If that’s happened before, it hasn’t happened often. Most of the hits were seeing eye grounders. Overall, he had a really good first start and it was easily the best of the three so far. 

I’m glad Kerry Wood is wearing a Cubs uniform again. I just wish he’d be wearing the Cubs uniform while playing for the Yankees or Red Sox. I’d like to see Wood win a championship and I’m afraid that’s not happening for him with the Cubs. 

Carlos Marmol remains the up and down pitcher we’re used to seeing. One day he looks like he’s literally the best relief pitcher not named Mariano Rivera. The next day is a different story.

The Cubs play 3 at home vs the Diamondbacks before hitting the road. They have Randy Wells pitching tomorrow afternoon followed by Andrew Cashner and Ryan Dempster. I’m excited to watch Cashner pitch in the rotation. A quick look at the probables shows the Cubs probably have the pitching advantage in at least 2 of those games (Wells and Dempster). No idea as far as Tuesday’s game goes. 

Continue reading “Random Thoughts”

Series (and NL Central Team) Preview: Pittsburgh Pirates (0-0) at Chicago Cubs (0-0)

Site Update: The login on the menu has been replaced by a login at the top of the screen as it was annoying having to scroll over the login to actually login.

It’s baseball time! Since the Pirates are the last team we have left to do and the first team the Cubs play, we’re going to combine my usual series preview with my Pirates season preview. My Cubs win projections based on the system I used to make all of these previews is included below the Pirates content. Thanks to MB for his additions to this preview.
Continue reading “Series (and NL Central Team) Preview: Pittsburgh Pirates (0-0) at Chicago Cubs (0-0)”

Obstructed View Opening Day Roundtable – part 2

Your fearless Obstructed View Executive Chairmen got together to discuss various topics related to the 2011 Cubs season. We looked at the offseason and the new additions to the club in part one. Here’s part two, which focuses on our predictions for the 2011 season.

Ryan Theriot

[mb21] : How many times will Theriot get a standing ovation when the Cardinals come to town?
[aisle 424] : Zero.
[aisle 424] : He will be roundly booed.
[berselius] : zero
[aisle 424] : That “right side of the rivalry” bit got a lot of traction.
[berselius] : The Hobbitton Gazette will make sure to bang the drum on his “right side of the rivalry” comments
[mb21] : I actually hope he doesn’t get booed. He was a player on back to back division championships. He’s an idiot, but I hope he doesn’t booed.
[aisle 424] : Prepare to be disappointed.
[berselius] : That’s the 2011 motto  (dying laughing)
[aisle 424] : (dying laughing)

Who will surprise, who will disappoint?

Continue reading “Obstructed View Opening Day Roundtable – part 2”