October Baseball Comes To Chicago: Cubs vs. Pirates Preview, Thursday 10/1, 7:05 CT

by Al Yellon on Oct 1, 2009 5:00 PM CDT in Chicago Cubs Game Threads

Not the kind of October baseball we wanted, of course, but here it is October and the Cubs are still playing baseball. As I said yesterday, enjoy it while it's here... because you know you'll miss it over the winter.

Bruce Miles has the story behind the "With Reed We Will Succeed" T-shirt that Ted Lilly wore during the post-game 1 press conference yesterday:

"The story behind the shirt is I was given that shirt from one of the flight attendants," Reed said. "I guess one of their family members...they live in the suburbs and have a Reed Johnson fan club or whatever. They gave me that shirt. I didn’t have enough guts to put it on myself or even give it to one of my family members. Ted wears anything, so I just gave it to Ted."

Johnson said he’d love to come back next year.

"Oh, yeah, for sure," he said. "It’s a great organization. It’s the best two years of my career (that) have been spent here. Hopefully, I continue to be successful here."

I'd like Reed back too -- his only trouble has been staying healthy, and the foot injury this year was unfortunate, since his back was giving him fewer problems this year than last. He sounds like he'd take a little less money to stay than to go to free agency. To coin a phrase, "GETITDONEJIM!!!!1!!!1"

Speaking of upcoming Cub free agents, Kevin Gregg says he wants to stay and close in 2010. Response from me: no thanks.

Today's Starting Pitchers


Jeff Samardzija Cubs	vs.	Paul Maholm Pirates

1-3	W-L	8-9
7.53	ERA	4.44
21	SO	119
15	BB	60
7	HR	14
vs. Pit	--	vs. Cubs

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jeff Samardzija	1-3	20	2	0	0	0	0	34.2	46	29	29	7	15	21	7.53	1.76

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Paul Maholm	8-9	31	31	0	0	0	0	194.2	221	102	96	14	60	119	4.44	1.44

The Cubs beat Paul Maholm pretty good at Wrigley Field on May 25. (Goofy-looking lineup that day, too.) Both So Taguchi (7-for-17) and Reed Johnson (5-for-9) have hit Maholm well in the past. Lifetime against the Cubs he has a 7.06 ERA and 1.55 WHIP in nine career starts spanning 51 innings, but somehow has managed to post a 4-1 won-lost record.

Jeff Samardzija has four career relief appearances vs. the Pirates without allowing a run; this will be his first start against them. Current Pirates have ten AB vs. Jeff (three hits). This is an important appearance for the Shark to set a good tone for his possible inclusion in the mix for the 2010 rotation (or bullpen).

Today's game is again cable-only; CSN Chicago. There is no Pittsburgh TV, so you'll see Len & Bob on EI. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Pirates site Bucs Dugout.

Overflow comment threads will post again today at 8:15 and 9:15 pm CDT, although last night's were pretty sparsely attended.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

0 recs | 71 comments

Comments

Caption:

Capless Sam Fuld and Micah “Moolight” Hoffpauir disappear back into the magical ivy.

santoswoodenlegs - October 1, 2009 reply

Re: Gregg wanting to come back, those are some big cojones. But I guess that’s part of his agent’s PR machine.

Lineup, per Wittenmyer:
bq. cst_cubs Mudder lineup: riot, gooch (lf), lee, rami, bake, rejo (rf), soto, fuld (cf), samardzija.

chilango2 - October 1, 2009 reply

Rain looks like it's going to end in about 30-45 minutes.

There are more showers behind that. I expect a VERY small crowd tonight.

Al Yellon - October 1, 2009 reply

maybe I'm having a brain fart

Who’s Gooch?

elgato - October 1, 2009 reply

Taguchi

santoswoodenlegs - October 1, 2009 reply

thank you

elgato - October 1, 2009 reply

Taguchi i think.

eswan9 - October 1, 2009 reply

Good Lord

Lou won’t play Blanco over Riot in the mud bowl ?

Doggie Stalker - October 1, 2009 reply

Wow

That is the least powerful outfield I have ever seen Lou start in a regular season game.

tripdenten - October 1, 2009 reply

Our outfield of Soriano, Fukudome and Bradley wasn't very powerful.

santoswoodenlegs - October 1, 2009 reply

Granted

But, the three starting tonight have a combined 4HR and 20RBI. Fuld (who has 0 career RBIs) and Taguchi have hit no homers and have no RBIs this season.

tripdenten - October 1, 2009 reply

But can they get on base? We love OBP.

santoswoodenlegs - October 1, 2009 reply

base clogging only leads to a lousy BA with RISP.

why put pressure on our guys by having men on base?

LAcarl519 - October 1, 2009 reply

taguchi has played in about 3 games

jesus christos - October 1, 2009 reply

I didn't know this but best record in MLB NL/AL picks dates

Eric Cooper, Des Moines area resident adn MLB umpire, was on local sports talk radio today. He has one of the AL playoffs. He was waiting on his assignment because he said the Yankees (best record in AL) get to pick which playoff schedule they want and the day they want to start. MLB has two schedules for the Al and two for the NL already set, I just didn’t know that he best record got to choose. Did I miss this last year when we had the best record in the NL (sigh)?

Gregg can go somewhere else, Reed Johnson I like, if he fits in our plans, do it.

mrcubsfan - October 1, 2009 reply

I'd love to have Reed

back next year and Jim please don’t let Gregg even look back when he leaves after this season is over.

sue369 - October 1, 2009 reply

+ (insert any number here)

eswan9 - October 1, 2009 reply

agreed

katie casey - October 1, 2009 reply

no disrespect to Reed

But I bet the Cubs will use the money elsewhere.

elgato - October 1, 2009 reply

I think Johnson

is a redundancy on this team right now. If he wants to return at a bargain-basement price, fine. Otherwise, thanks for the memories.

Not Bruce Froemming - October 1, 2009 reply

Agreed

He can essentially be replace with Fuld.

tripdenten - October 1, 2009 reply

to give Miles an extension?

LAcarl519 - October 1, 2009 reply

Hey watch jim Hendry in action!

(toilet flushes)

eswan9 - October 1, 2009 reply

no its to give gregg a 5 year deal with NTCs

jesus christos - October 1, 2009 reply

Can Neifi play outfield?

Zy Toro Young - October 1, 2009 via mobile reply

maybe Mr Goggles can take Larry Rothschild with him.

I have been praying for a new pitching coach for 3 years. I think we have lots of pitching talent, I just don’t think Larry gets the most out of them.

LAcarl519 - October 1, 2009 reply

The Cubs starting pitching

has been pretty darned good this year. Did Rothschild have anything to do with that?

Not Bruce Froemming - October 1, 2009 reply

there are plenty of examples of talented guys who left here

and did much better (Marquis, Wuertz, Wellemeyer, etc…) elsewhere. Some of our guys who are trained in the minors (Marmol, Z, etc…) seem to grow in our system and don’t seem to improve much when they get to the big league team. I know what my eyes see.

I just think for the investment we have in pitching, we can have a pitching coach that GETS MORE OUT of the talent. That is my problem with this team, with its pitching talent we need a great pitching coach, not just a good one.

LAcarl519 - October 1, 2009 reply

What's Wellemeyer doing now?

Not all that hot. Marquis is having a pseudo-career season, but he might have been the best fifth starter in baseball last year. Wuertz? Well, he’s having a career year, too, for a team that needs a telescope to see the top teams in the division.

I’d say Marmol and Z both are better now than they were in the minors.

Is Rothschild the second coming of Dave Duncan? No. Is he one of the better pitching coaches in the game? Probably, at least in the opinion of a lot of people who should know.

Not Bruce Froemming - October 1, 2009 reply

I don't get this one, either, NBF

Everyone wants to bash LR because the Cubs don’t have 11 lights-out pitchers.

When someone does well, it’s because they are talented. When someone does poorly, it’s the coach’s fault.

Shanghai Badger - October 1, 2009 reply

Agreed, SB

If someone is going to take all the blame when someone screws up, they should receive all the credit when someone works well.

Not Bruce Froemming - October 1, 2009 reply

Here's the other thing

If Duncan stays put, and the Cubs do dump LR – who are they going to get that would be better?

Shanghai Badger - October 1, 2009 reply

What's Ray Miller doing these days?

I love his pitching philosophy – the epitome of “simple yet effective”. He just had 3 rules:
1) Work fast
2) Change speeds
3) Throw strikes

According to Wikipedia:

Miller returned as pitching coach of the Orioles in 2004–05 and the Baltimore mound staff showed improvement under his tutelage. But Miller was forced to the sidelines by successful surgery to repair an aneurysm and was succeeded in that role by Leo Mazzone in 2006.

Not sure if successful surgery equates to wanting to get back into the grind of coaching in the majors again, but if not, I’d be very interested in anyone that subscribes to his philosophy.

ballhawk - October 1, 2009 reply

Caption

Cubs outfield candidates audition by attempting the end-of-game bump.

vonde6 - October 1, 2009 reply

Caption

In unison: “Watch it, rookie!”

Clutch16 - October 1, 2009 reply

Super-awesome news, you guys!

cst_cubs Lou: If game rained out, he’ll reschedule Samardzija for AZ series. Wants to see him once more.

chilango2 - October 1, 2009 reply

Good, I was worried about that

Like my sarcasm font?

BleedsbluinMI - October 1, 2009 reply

It's groundbreaking!

chilango2 - October 1, 2009 reply

Pretty sure I stole the idea

But I take full credit until proven otherwise

BleedsbluinMI - October 1, 2009 reply

Caption

Fuld and Hoffpauir get trapped while trying to navigate the enchanted maze during the Triwizard Tournament.

katie casey - October 1, 2009 reply

sigh, well I can at least put it into a good perspective

The next time I go to Wrigley, I will most likely see the Cubs and Pirates duel….in late June 2010…sheesh that’s a long time from now..

Chanman25 - October 1, 2009 reply

It will be almost one calendar year until I get to see them here in San Diego again.

santoswoodenlegs - October 1, 2009 reply

meh...yeah this sucks

The only other option I’d have to see them is in DC but I won’t because of this thing called “college” starting up next year. Anywho, at least I can see Wrigley again…three years is too long!

Chanman25 - October 1, 2009 reply