I must confess, I was out running errands this afternoon and missed most of the Cubs' 9-1 loss to the Diamondbacks.
Apart from Atkins, Cubs pitchers shut the D'backs down on five hits and one run, with seven strikeouts (and an unsightly six walks), until Angel Guzman got cuffed around for three runs in the ninth inning.
The bad news story of the day was Atkins -- he got bounced around for four hits and five runs, including a three-run homer off the bat of Arizona catcher Chris Snyder. He also hit two batters. Atkins does have talent and we probably shouldn't judge him from one horrendous outing, and maybe the two HBP mean he had a case of nerves -- but in this spring training, in which a lot of spots are already decided, and, as Lou has said, pitchers are competing to be the sixth or seventh starter (meaning, likely, the first recall from Iowa in case of injury), Atkins didn't do himself any favors today.
The good news for him is, that with the lengthened spring, he'll probably get another chance or two.
Meanwhile, the two pitchers we were really watching today, the two Carlos'es (Z and Marmol), both had fine outings; neither allowed a hit and both registered two K's, Z in two innings and Marmol in one. Marmol's off to the WBC and we can assume Z will be given one more inning his next time out.
The offense did nothing today against Dan Haren and a bunch of miscellaneous Diamondback pitchers -- Juan Gutierrez, who last pitched in the majors with the 2007 Astros, Hector Ambriz (who had a 4.89 ERA in Double-A last year), and Jon Coutlangus, a LOOGY-type who gave up one earned run in 1.1 IP vs. the Cubs as a Red in 2007. All told the Cub hitting amounted to five singles and a walk (drawn by Derrek Lee), until the 9th inning, when a pair of doubles by Micah Hoffpauir and Andres Blanco gave the Cubs a consolation run off Dan Schlereth, the D'backs' #1 pick in last year's draft. (So Taguchi drew a consolation walk off Schlereth, just to prolong the agony, until Doug Deeds K'd to end it.)
Better luck tomorrow, we hope, against former Cub Sean Gallagher, who will start for the A's at Mesa, in a battle of the Sean's (Sean Marshall will go for the Cubs), when again there will be audio (MLB.com announcers) for the game.
Attendance today was 9,605, not bad for a random Monday before spring breakers arrive; the 85-degree sunny day probably had a lot to do with drawing a larger-than-you'd-figure crowd on a weekday. The four-home-game average increased to 9,310.
Meanwhile, Milton Bradley took BP today, but:
"The bottom line is for him being ready for Opening Day," Cubs hitting coach Gerald Perry said Monday. "I wouldn't take any chances right now with anything. You'd rather be safe than sorry."
Cubs manager Lou Piniella said Bradley's condition had improved but couldn't say when he would get back in the lineup.
OK by me. Bradley played in only a handful of spring games last year and hit fine during the season. He does need to be healthy enough to play 135-140 games, though.
0 recs | 20 comments
This game was almost worse than having no baseball at all...
santoswoodenlegs - March 2, 2009
This turned out to be a game
that I’m almost glad to not have any audio or TV.
cowsarecool220 - March 2, 2009
+1
Cubbie-Tim - March 2, 2009
This game made me wish it was January again.
Hey, it’s 21 degrees outside – it is January again.
My God, what have I done?!
daver - March 2, 2009
I believe the correct term for more than one Carlos is "Carli"...
ballhawk - March 2, 2009
or is it
i-Carli?
100yearitch - March 2, 2009
LMAO
Al Yellon - March 2, 2009
I was too busy
at work to keep track of it on gameday. And thank goodness.
100yearitch - March 2, 2009
no audio no me
spring training is SUCH a tease. Great to have baseball sorta back. Not great to have it as a Quaalude substitute.
Emelie - March 2, 2009
Someone once said.....
….. wins and losses during Spring Training don’t really matter, although it would be nice to win a few. Why is that? Because this is when the teams get to see what the younger guys can do against difficult competition.
That said, I don’t know what it is, but I sense more than a little bit of negativity, snarkiness, judgmental attitudes, whatever, around here. Yay, it’s Spring and all that. But let’s rip Hoffpauir, let’s tell Jake Fox we’ll see him in Des Moines, and now we’ve got a ticket for Mitch Atkins to Iowa as well. What the hell? As if these guys were Hall of Famers incarnate? Really, is this necessary? The headline alone to this thread made me not want to read any further. But then, after dismissing hi to Des Moines at the outset, there’s an acknowledgment he’s lkely got talent and maybe we shouldn’t be too judgmental. Too late.
I think my cranky attitude comes from spending too much time around Randy Hundley recently. Seriously. People were razzing certain former pros who weren’t at camp for low batting avergaes, being slow, having high ERAs, whatever. Hundley would stop every single razzing with a “HEY. I didn’t YOU wearing a pro uniform at Crosley Field” or “How much money did YOU make as a pro player?” At first, we thought he’d be smiling when he said it, but it was always one of the few times he wasn’t.
Rant over.
BeerCub - March 2, 2009
You have a point.
Maybe it’s because there are so few contests for open jobs this spring, and these games have much more of a “practice” feel to them than the regular season, and though we’d like to get excited about baseball, it’s hard when the games themselves have less meaning then usual.
I really try not to snark, and the headline was meant more as humor than snarkiness.
I’m excited to get to Arizona to see baseball, and once everyone’s back from the WBC, we’ll be seeing more of the regulars and more of these games will seem meaningful.
Opening Day can’t come soon enough.
Al Yellon - March 2, 2009
One other poor outing today: Angel Guzman
I’m not putting too much into his 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB performance, but I hope he rebounds well.
His first outing was solid, so I’m willing to continue to give him the benefit of doubt.
Bill Potter - March 2, 2009
When will this experiment with Guzman be no more?
Employee22 - March 2, 2009
"Experiment"?
You’re willing to give up on him after one bad outing? I want to see if he can bounce back and pitch well next time out.
Al Yellon - March 3, 2009
He may have been working on something.
Or perhaps his breaking pitches weren’t breaking so well in the dry AZ air. I’m still rooting for Gooz big time.
daver - March 3, 2009
Exactly.
That’s why I’m not going to give up on him. I’d prefer to see him facing some Major League hitters, however, sometime soon, instead of 9th-inning work.
Bill Potter - March 3, 2009
With Marmol gone to the WBC, he might.
Al Yellon - March 3, 2009
Keep having to remind myself that
ST games don’t matter… but really poorly played baseball is worse than no baseball at all.
Opening day seems so far away still.
halfblindcubbiegirl - March 2, 2009
Ok this game sucked
But I am psyched to be heading to Mesa in 2 weeks. True enuff ST games do not have the impact or importance as regular season games, but it is the one week of my year I look forward to the most. Don’t let a crappy game like this make you wish for no baseball. We’ve been led out of the land of Egypt, lets not ask to return.
StevenABQ - March 2, 2009
Anyone know how fast Z was throwing today? ANyone hear anythign
fischisgod - March 2, 2009
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