You know, I thought that putrid odor in the air here in Boise was from all the fireworks going off. Nope, it's just the Hawks!
Good news is that the help for the Hawks arrived today with Brett Jackson's arrival from Arizona.
Iowa Cubs
The Iowa Cubs blew past the New Orleans Zephyrs, 7-4.
Esmailin Caridad improved his record to 4-9 with 6.1 innings pitched, allowing four runs, all of which scored on a pair of home runs. Caridad allowed six hits and three walks total while striking out six.
Blake Parker pitched a scoreless ninth for his ninth save. Parker didn't allow a hit. He walked one and struck out two.
Nate Spears hit his first home run of the season tonight in a 2 for 4 game. It was a two-run home run in the fourth inning. Spears also walked once.
Right fielder So Taguchi went 2 for 4 with a walk and a stolen base. He scored twice. Catcher Chris Robinson was also 2 for 4. Robinson scored once and had one RBI.
Shortstop Darwin Barney and left fielder John-Ford Griffin were both 2 for 5 with a double and a run scored.
Tennessee Smokies
The Smokies cooked the Carolina Mudcats, 7-4.
Andrew Cashner's AA debut was quite a successful one tonight. He went five innings and allowed only one run on three hits. Cashner struck out six and didn't walk anyone. He went 1 for 2 with the bat as well. I'm assuming that's his first professional hit since the other leagues he's played in are DH-only leagues.
Jayson Ruhlman was called in to get the final out for his second save. He did hit a batter before ending the game.
Third baseman Marquez Smith had two doubles in a 3 for 5 evening. Smith scored three times.
Left fielder Ty Wright was 2 for 4 with two doubles and three RBI. Center fielder James Adduci was 2 for 5 with a double and one RBI. Shortstop Jonathan Mota was 2 for 4 with a double and a walk. He scored once and had one RBI.
Daytona Cubs
The D-Cubs harpooned the Brevard County Manatees, 4-1.
Dan McDaniel evened his record at 5-5 with five innings, allowing only one run on four hits. McDaniel walked two and struck out seven.
David Cales got his tenth save with 1.1 innings of relief. He allowed one hit and struck out one.
Center fielder Tony Campana went 3 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored.
Shortstop Starlin Castro went 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored. Center fielder Brandon Guyer went 2 for 5 with a stolen base and an RBI.
In 1994, the Monty Python troupe released "Complete Waste of Time", described on Wikipedia as:
a collection of minigames, screen savers, desktop wallpaper and icons for Mac OS, DOS and Windows.
You could have spent two hours and 36 minutes with it this afternoon and had much more fun than the Cubs and 40,088 dampened fans spent watching the Cubs go down meekly to the Brewers 11-2 on a holiday afternoon when, perhaps predictably, the most fun was figuring out which inning they would play Chicago's "Saturday In The Park" on the only day that its lyrics come true:
Saturday in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
Saturday in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
Well, it was. But the rest of the lyrics, which include "People dancing, people laughing" and "People talking, really smiling" weren't true, that is, unless you were a Brewers fan.
"For the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for 17 years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans." -- Lou Gehrig
Since today is a special day, this preview will be a bit different than the usual links and briefs about the Cubs. In addition to being Independence day, today is the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's famous speech at Yankee Stadium; during games this afternoon all MLB teams will honor Gehrig's memory by replaying parts of that speech:
Saturday, Major League Baseball will commemorate the 70th anniversary of Gehrig's famous retirement speech, which he gave on July 4, 1939. Across the nation, in the middle of the seventh inning, the home teams will read the humble words of a dying man in an effort to raise awareness about the disease that took his life.
Gehrig had a marvelous baseball career that, as you likely know, was cut short, as was his life, by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the disease which now bears his name. The tribute today is part of a MLB campaign to raise awareness and funds to fight this disease, which as of now has no cure (and which also recently took the life of longtime ABC7 Chicago anchorman John Drury).
If you have not read Jonathan Eig's recent biography of Gehrig, the title of which adorns this post, "Luckiest Man", I give it my highest recommendation. Here is my BCB review of the book from November 2005.
Lou Gehrig played in a World Series at Wrigley Field, but before that he made his mark at Wrigley as a high schooler. In 1920 he played in a special "national championship" high school game between his NY school, Commerce High, and Lane Tech in Chicago. He was 17 years old. He hit a titanic grand slam onto Sheffield that landed across the street.
This post won't be very long, because the article it quotes isn't very long. It quotes last night's report by David Kaplan on WGN that an agreement between the Ricketts group and Tribune Co. should be in place in the next couple of weeks. The article also says:
Quoting "a good baseball source," Kaplan said approval from MLB would likely take place before the end of August.
Discuss.
After ten hours on the road, here I am in Boise bringing you the recap of tonight's exciting minor league action.
But you'll have to forgive me if it's somewhat incoherent, After driving for ten hours, I'm seeing two computer screens and two keyboards.
Some guy named Ramirez played for Peoria.
Oh, Ryne Sandberg had an interesting night too.
Iowa Cubs
The I-Cubs blasted the Oklahoma City RedHawks, 7-1.
Angel Guzman started and faced six batters and threw 25 pitches, 15 for strikes. He allowed a hit and a walk in 1.1 innings and struck out one.
Casey Fossum made his Cub organizational debut after that and picked up the win, going 4.2 innings and allowing one run on four hits and two walks. The run scored on a solo home run. Fossum struck out five for a pretty impressive I-Cub debut.
See, that's how you get a starting pitcher the win despite not going five innings. Have a rehabbing reliever pitch the first inning.
Third baseman Nate Spears had 3 hits in 4 ABs tonight. Spears scored once and had one RBI.
Second baseman Luis Rivas had a double in a 2 for 4 game. Rivas had two RBI and scored once. Shortstop Darwin Barney was 2 for 4 with a run scored. Catcher Steve Clevenger was 2 for 5 with a stolen base.
I didn't even notice that first baseman Matt Craig rejoined the Cub organization a couple of days ago. Craig was 2 for 5 with a double, two RBI and a run scored. Craig had been playing for the Marlins this season after spending seven seasons in the Cub organization.
Tennessee Smokies
The Smokies eclipsed the Huntsville Stars, 5-3.
After a horrible start to the season, Marcos Mateo is starting to right the ship in Tennessee with his third straight start allowing only one run. Tonight he pitched six innings and surrendered only the one run on three hits and a walk. Mateo fanned five.
The ninth inning was when things got interesting. Brian Schlitter came in for the save and walked four while grabbing only two outs. But Ryno didn't think the calls were very good and asked the umpire where the pitches were. After his questions were ignored, Sandberg went ballistic and bumped the home plate umpire in a heated argument. This was Sandberg's third ejection in the past seven games and his sixth of the season. Sandberg is certain to be suspended for this one as contact was made with the umpire "multiple times" according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.
Jayson Ruhlman walked in another run in the ninth but got the final out and the save after that.
Third baseman Marquez Smith was 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Center fielder James Adduci was 2 for 4 with a run scored and a stolen base. Shortstop Nate Samson, recently promoted from Daytona to replace Darwin Barney, was 2 for 5 with a stolen base.
Whatever works, keep it coming!
After smashing four homers last night, the Cubs used outstanding pitching and small-ball tactics to beat the Brewers 2-1, their third straight win and fourth in the last five.
At this writing that puts the Cubs two games out of first place -- which is now inhabited by the Cardinals, who moved 0.5 games ahead of Milwaukee. That's as close as they have been to the top spot in six weeks, since May 17, and moved them over .500 for the first time since June 23. If the Cardinals beat the Reds tonight, the Cubs move into third place. If the Reds beat the Cardinals, the Cubs will be 1.5 games out.
Carlos Zambrano, despite hitting Prince Fielder (he said in his postgame remarks that he was trying to pitch inside and it got away. I believe him, and the pitch that hit Derrek Lee in the bottom of that inning was definitely a purpose pitch. Enough!), had good command today, getting ten outs on ground balls and walking only three. He helped himself with an RBI single in the fifth, tying the game, hitting righthanded against RHP Jeff Suppan. Why? In the postgame press conference, Z revealed that his left wrist has been bothering him, so he decided to hit all righthanded today. Clearly, that didn't bother his pitching.
The Cubs also got a solid inning out of Aaron Heilman and two excellent innings from Kevin Gregg, who undoubtedly will not be available tomorrow after having thrown 40 pitches. Gregg had to get an extra out after Milton Bradley dropped a fly ball. I'm going to say about that play only this: it didn't hurt the team, since no runs scored. And right field in Wrigley is a tough field to play. But I believe an outfielder with the "good defense" reputation Bradley has, must make that play.
Lou hinted that "adjustments" will be made to the lineup tomorrow, not saying what they'd be. I suspect it may include dropping Alfonso Soriano down in the lineup, because at this point he's hurting the team hitting leadoff. Sam Fuld, who came in for defense in the ninth and nearly won the game with a sharp line drive that would have been a game-winning single had it been a couple of feet higher (and what was Mike Fontenot doing straying off 2B in that situation?), might wind up starting in CF or RF tomorrow and leading off.
Copyright 2009 Sportsblogs, Inc.
