SB Nation - Login for mobile commenting

Bleed Cubbie Blue

Scheduling Wackiness, Part 12,759: Cubs vs. Rockies, Wednesday 4/15, 1:20 CT

The Rockies are in the middle of a bizarre sequence of games which has had them travel, beginning with the last week of spring training, from Tucson to Phoenix to Tucson to Las Vegas to Phoenix to Denver to Chicago. Today's game is the eighth of the year for both teams; after today, the Rockies don't return to Chicago and the Cubs don't visit Colorado until August. And when they leave Chicago, they head to Los Angeles... and then back to Phoenix again. That's right, two series vs. the Diamondbacks in Phoenix in April. After that they go home for a six-game homestand... and then back to the West Coast for games with the Giants and Padres.

Just in case you're ever complaining about the Cub schedule again, remember that sequence.

Baseball note of interest: former Rockies outfielder Scott Podsednik signed a minor league deal with the White Sox.

Gordon Wittenmyer writes today about Milton Bradley and how he might react to possible racial taunting from the bleachers. I know Jacque Jones experienced this, and I hope it won't happen to Bradley, who is expected to be out until Saturday with the minor groin injury he suffered in Milwaukee on Sunday. Meanwhile, Milton wants to change his image and reputation.

And if you think people around here have been proposing panic moves with only seven games played, Barry Rozner has decided to join you on the Jeff Samardzija watch, because:

Lou Piniella has little confidence in Neal Cotts at this point, so he might like to keep Sean Marshall in the bullpen.

Or at the very least, if Marshall stays in the rotation, Samardzija can serve out of the pen, where Piniella also has almost no belief in Angel Guzman or Luis Vizcaino.

Barry. Seven games. The Cubs have won five of them. Relax a little, willya? He does have some interesting comments about Joe Morgan in that column, though.

Today's Starting Pitchers
Rich Harden
Rich Harden
Cubs
vs. Jason Marquis
Jason Marquis
Rockies
0-0 W-L 1-0
1.50 ERA 2.57
10 SO 2
2 BB 2
1 HR 0
vs. Col -- vs. Cubs

Since Jason Marquis was a Cub the last two seasons, his last start against them was on August 18, 2006. I post that link mainly for amusement purposes; there are only three Cubs who played in that game (Aramis Ramirez, Ryan Theriot and Carlos Marmol) who are still on the team. Marquis got the win. His former teammate Derrek Lee hits him pretty hard (14-for-30, .467, 4 HR), and so does A-Ram (.429, 9-for-21, 2 HR).

Rich Harden had an outstanding first start of the year vs. the Brewers, but got no decision. This will be his first career start against Colorado.

Today's game is cable-only on CSN Chicago and FSN Rocky Mountain. Here are the rest of today's games at the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Discuss amongst yourselves.

0 recs  |  263 comments

Comments

Go Cubs!

Looking forward to watching this at work. Is the weather still horrible?

Is this supposed to be...

out on front?

Yeah

Why isn’t this thread posted on the front page?

I emailed

Al. Hopefully, he’ll see it before he goes to the game.

Does anyone know...

…if Soto is in the starting lineup today?

yes, Wittenmeyer just twittered

that he is.

Excellent!!
Drew does kudos for just making my day
Where is the wind blowing today?
You don't need a weatherman for that.
Blowing in from CF I think
twss

And I’m headed to CF.

Gameday says its from the north at 15 mph

so yes, it’s from center.

huh?

doesn’t center face east?

Faces Northeast

Google Maps Picture of Favorite Place

So then

the wind is blowing out to left and left-center, right?

then it would be in from left, I think
Uhhh

If the wind is from the north, it’s coming from left/center.

The weather geek channel baseball forecast for the game has wind from NNE (therefore center field)

See cool link.

Thank you both
I like how the two starting pitchers today...

wear more bling than the average pitcher.

Yes

But can we get a better picture of Harden Al?

My only problem with Aramis sitting out

Is that I have to watch Aaron Miles play baseball.

That's your ONLY problem

with Aramis sitting out?

Yep

Aramis is Aramis. He is going to sit out games with minor things, he didn’t do it last season too much but before that he always has. He will be around when we need him.

Miles...

… hits Marquis particularly well

define "particularly well"?

I found the secret decoder ring! It brought me here!

Glad you found it

I was wondering why it was so late…

I was wondering

why it was so lonely in here. Figured people would be pretty eager after the off day.

It's not posted to the front page yet...

I came here via twitter.

Oh I know I am.

Don’t get to watch it, stuck at work, but I always look forward to following here.

Marquis looks pretty sexy in that photo, not gonna lie.

I hope he gets a few claps today; I’ve always liked Jason.

Even so, I don’t think this is gonna be a close game. Soto back in the lineup, and Harden just looked downright filthy last game. Someone else do roll call for me, I’ll be teaching. See you around the 5th or so.

Dan

Hopefully our hitters can abuse Marquis

As long as Harden is healthy (that is always a concern see the Cardinals game last night if you forgot) he should beat up this lineup.

Totally Myspace-worthy
but Harden looks a lil strange
Hate that pic of Harden.
That is a nice

photo of Jason. I’m not too much into the picture of Rich though. Really different.

Soriano welcome Marquis back to Wrigley with a dinger.

Book it.

That would be real nice
I blame Marquis

For being traded for Vizcaino.

On Gameday

Soriano, Theriot, Dome, Lee, Fonetnot, Reed Mantle (CF), Soto, Miles (yuck), Harden

Soto is going to have 4 hits today.

Mark it down. I said it.

ever been proven/dis-proven?

…do we know that catchers have a distinct advantage when facing guys they caught (at least, compared to other former teammates)?

Henry Blanco in the WBC

Hit a home run off of Ted Lilly.

Then again, who didn’t hit a home run off of Ted Lilly this spring?

Ted Lilly didn't hit one off Ted Lilly

Tho it wasn’t from lack of trying. Ted Lilly is just that good at pitching, even to a great hitter like Ted Lilly.

I stand corrected

Maybe he can pitch to himself, like a coach in little league fielding practice.

Ted Lilly gave them a false sense of superiority

that will pay major dividends throughout the season.

Ted Lilly is always thinking a step ahead…like a carpenter…who makes stairs.

Part of me is surprised (and happy)

that Lou isn’t trotting The Hoff out to right today

Lou understands the value of OF defense
I say put Reed in charge of both center and right

cos he can do it, and use the ninth man as Second Shortstop to help out Theriot.

never gets a point for making me giggle
Points from me as well.
I suppose it's a small ball thing...

though I hope he finds a way into the lineup today, perhaps with a double switch in the 6th or something.

Defense will be valuable today

with the wind <10 MPH. Maybe as a pinch-hitter in the 8th, when Harden leaves with a 19884-0 lead.

That's what I was thinking...

a PH, then PR by Gathright.

I think

the fact that the Hoff hasn’t started a single regular season game speaks to a LOT.

Then what is his value to the team?
Pinch-hitter?

Some power off the bench? What more do you expect? Aramis isn’t in the lineup, not D-Lee. Gathright hasn’t started either, for what it’s worth . . .

which is

another mitzphah.

I ask myself that same question regularly

but theoretically, it’s as a pinch-hitter.

Same as DWard was last year...
So long as he isn't playing, scouts can't watch him -

keeps his trade value higher…

Small-ball lineup

With the wind blowing in again, I approve of it.

Got my W flag

It’s flying high right now. Sure hope I don’t have to take it down this afternoon.

Y'know, technically, you're supposed to take it down before the game.

Having said that, I’m trying really hard to be less superstitious this year.

Me too

No more sitting in one place or wearing a certain shirt. At least I’m trying

Same here.

But the flag needs to come down each morning.

I agree

Mine came down last night from the win on Monday. It’s ready to go up again in few hours though.

I wear a cubs shirt

during every game. If they win, I put it back in the closet and wear it again the next game. If they lose, it goes in the hamper to be washed.

I EMBRACE baseball superstition. :D

Believe me I say I will stop every year

I promise I wear the same jersey shirt for a week straight in May because we aren’t losing. Baseball superstition wins every time.

Alaska is so far away, tho

if could technically be considered yesterday, there. :P

lol!
Hi, Emelie!

any installs today?

boy, that's a personal question....lol
aw

Emelie has a growing relationship with Alaska’s Handyman’s Union. :D

so far this morning... washing machine repairman :D
ah-hah!
"Hello, it's the washing machine repairman."

“I’m here to fix your agitator. You know. The thing that rotates back and forth under the lid.”

actually that's not far from the truth

turns out the problem was the …uh… shipping screws.

Fool installer left them in.

how many loads of laundry before you discovered that?
two

machine scared the pants off me… that spin cycle was terrifying!

there has to be a twss in there somewhere
You're far kinkier than I imagined, Madison...

LOL

"do these screw out or screw in?"

“You tell me, big boy…”

There's a pipefitter's joke in there somewhere...
Emelie didn't you have to pay extra for WGN?

Spending until 4am with the cable, he should have waived that fee for the baseball season.

lol! actually its extra only for WGNHD

but washer repairman didn’t charge the $170 he normally does to remove the screws.

Hmmmm....

how much time did you spend with him?????

That's correct

The flag goes up immediately after the completion of the game.

Won't your neighbors think the Cubs won today

since you’re flying it today?

Ohh, me too!

It’s always hanging up in my office on gamedays when my boss is out of town. My boss is a Sox fan, so I try to keep it on the down-low.

oh pooh

well… I’ll adhere to the rules after today

As long as you dont fly it during the top of the 9th

When the game isn’t even won yet. Like a lot of schmucks do.

I'd never do that
Lineup per Muskat Love.

Soriano LF
Theriot SS
Dome RF
DLee 1B
LBR 3B
RJ CF
Soto C
Miles 2B
Harden P

Don't understand Soto not being moved up....
Maybe Lou's hoping he doesn't overswing?
RJ

has mad OBP skillz.

I'm down with OBP

Yeah, you know me

Who's down with OBP?

All the Cubbies!

Soto's first day back.....

might have something to do with it. Give him a day or two to get comfy at the plate again

D Lee @ Cleanup?

Is that only because of his history vs Marquis?

He batted there Monday
I guess he did

and raised his average a little too.

People who are better at finding stats

Where would I find the average OPS by position?

Do you mean league average?
yeah
I found it nevermind

Data is a couple years old but it will work

Can you post the link?

I wouldn’t mind knowing that either.

Yeah

Its from 2007, but here it is

Thanks!

Now I’m tempted to start perusing baseball-reference.com, but I really gotta try to stay focused on work here.

I understand .....

Although I’m at home, I have a to-do a mile long. I made a deal with myself that I’ll spend pregame hour on here….. then listen to the game and accomplish my home to do list today.

We’ll see if I have the will power to do that or not. :)

That sounds like a sensible, balanced approach.

Good luck!

Well, now that we've established that...

…I’m not completely sure off-hand. If you look at a player’s profile on Yahoo!, however, you can see league averages for average, RBI, home runs and stolen bases. But I’m not sure if those factor in position.

Marquis ST numbers

ERA 10.08, 25 IP, 39 Hits, 6 HR. What will those numbers look like at Coors?

So far, so good....

….only 2 runs to the Phillies his first start and Zero homers.

One would think Rothschild and Soto would know his repetoire backward and forward.

But I guess we’ll see what we see.

you still have to be able to

judge the pitch as it’s coming at you at 80-90 mph.

How many walks?
2 walks, 2 K's in 7 innings
Lets play ball

I will finally get to watch my first full Cubs game for the year since my baseball broadcast was canceled for later this afternoon. Hopefully are scrappy line up can continue to produce today and Harden will dominate.

the really annoying thing

is that I start three and a half hours of meetings at… 1:30. Hopefully, I can call in to them..

“uh-huh…. yes…. really? that’s interesting…”

with marshall being penned

and the call-up of samardzija to further strengthen the bullpen, i think it makes sense at this point to move heilman to the starting rotation. heilman has been pitching pretty well, but seems to have a problem with “inherited runners”

heilman seems best suited for a startingj job

What are you talking about?

Has the Shark been called up? And since when has Marshall been penned? Did I miss something?

Maybe he's BM's

mini-me or something.

You've heard of Captian Obvious?

Please welcome: Sgt. Misinformation!

Best Post of the Day

Congrats Sue that will be almost impossible to beat

When did Shark get called up?
the blue block quote

in the article above

That's idle speculation from Barry Rozner.
it's speculation granted

but i don’t think it is too idle

It's plenty idle.

And Heilman isn’t stretched out to start so that idea doesn’t work too well.

heilman

is sSTretched out

LOL, please stop while you're ahead.

Not that you’re ahead.

That quote means nothing.

Speculations only.

Marshall is set to start Thursday

so he won’t be in the pen for long

woops

meant to reply to the above comment

Ok, I'm here...

Ready to take my beating for the fanpost yesterday. My apologies everyone.

Hiya Jimmy.

Don’t let it bother you.

Jimmy says he's sorry.

Jimmy got upset. Jimmy won’t let it happen again.

Please forgive Jimmy!

No hatred from me

While I don’t agree 100 percent with you, you did a good job of explaining your thoughts.

thanks chilango...
Hiyo Sue.

Thanks kiddo.

you're welcome
Interesting Pre-game Poll

Which starter will win the most games this year?
I have to say Big Z cause I think this is the year he avoids a month long swoon and puts together a great year.

I'd guess Teddy.

They seem to score a lot of runs for him.

It's a tough call

Lilly is consistent and will get to 15, but you can really make a case for all four of them. Especially if Harden can get to the 25 starts we are all hoping for.

Hello, I'll see you later...

Gotta jump into a meeting real quick, but I’ll join y’all in the game threads in a bit.

By the way...

…I could’ve sworn Matt Murton made the Rockies’ 25-man roster but apparently not. Poor lil red-haired dude.

He was optioned to the AAA Sky Sox

at the last cut.

It's a shame.

He probably would’ve gotten a positive reacton from the crowd.

Speaking of which, did anyone just hear those boos for Marquis? Harsh.

Got picked as a juror......

so that means I won’t be able to follow the game at all!!! Cheer a little louder for me. Hopefully this trial ends soon so I don’t miss any of the cardinals series :) Go Cubs Go

you should have pulled a Tina Fey

and arrived dressed as Princess Leia

haha

30 Rock is such a great show. Alec Baldwin is the man

LOL, I thought of that, too.
Hey guys!

Always love when the Cubs play the Rockies cause I get to watch them no matter what being here in Colorado.

Let’s beat up on Jason!

Ugggh still no ARam??? Is it because of the cold or is he worse off than thought?
Pregame said that still a little stiff but could pinch hit and likely in line up tomorrow
He will be back tomorrow

Its just aramis missing games for little things. His back is sore and its cold.

Everyone wearing #42 today or just a certain few?
Bud said everyone has to do it
pretty sure it was mandatory this year.

Everyone has to. I think it’s starting to loose its luster.

I agree....

….it’s already retired by every team…

i think it's kinda cool that everyone is wearing 42
I'm a huge Jackie Robinson fan

He was subject of a paper I did in college. He made a huge impact on history. But even I think Bud is going overboard. Doing this is turning people off. Which is a shame

Bud is making everyone

Which IMHO partly defeats the purpose of people having the right to chose to honor him.

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode...

…in which Kramer doesn’t want to wear the ribbon.

Sounds like my

high school alma mater did a good job performing the national anthem. Way to go kids.

We can haz baisbal nao?
Have we jumped yet?

n/t

No, we're still spooling up the FTL drives.

Anyone? Anyone?

Chewie

enter the coordinates into the nav-computer.

Dradis is clear, Admiral.

No toasters in the sector.

No worries.

If we mess up God will just bring us back apparently.

I hated hated hated HATED

that ending.

Should've stopped at the final jump and the reveal of Earth.

I would’ve been happy with that.

The whole "back to nature" thing was patently ridiculous.

I thought they really copped out on the Starbuck thing, too.

What'd you guys think of the final episode?

I was on board for the first two-thirds but was pretty disappointed by the last half-hour or so.

Agreed.

Also, on reflection, I found it hard to believe that a peace treaty could seriously be forged by Baltar giving a sermon, although strangely, I was mostly buying it in the moment.

Yeah, his speech was pretty hokey...

…but I was willing to let that go. And I liked the plot twist that stopped them from regenerating the resurrection ship. But….from then on out…it was like some hippy dream from the 60s. Not realistic at all. And would it really be safe to let all those ships fly into the sun? Couldn’t that create, um, sun problems?

Of course, MLB.TV has not kicked in yet...

::grumble::

alright...

here we go!

0-2 to start right on!
Get that K machine going
Beautiful K

great start for Harden

That didn't Take Long!
Should I say it?
Oh, man...one K already.

If Harden brings the same stuff he brought to Milwaukee, this game is going to be fun as hell.

I think Al forgot the first pitch thread....
and maybe all the rest?

He didn’t mention any of them…

His brain must still be frozen from Monday. :)
you betcha
You sound like a native Alaskan already.
oh noooooooooo
Just back from lunch.

Ready for Harden Ks and to see Marquis done by the second.

Two

Looking sweet, drew....

Did the Harden groupie make it to last game thread?

KK, good start..
Rich looks so ghetto with that crown!
The tall Aaron Miles is up to bat!
KKK!!!!!

FATALITY!

are we jumping?
Wondering the same

but there’s no thread yet….

looks like

Al forgot a first pitch thread

Way to go Rich!!!!!
Just like that.....K, K, and K
YEAHHHH!!!!

Filthy Rich K’s the side!!!!

i love this guy
Haha don't miss Eric Patterson right?
Rich has it going today.

Let’s get some runs!!!

:D Nice start!
Good morning, good afternoon, and good night.

Nice to see Rich starting off with style!

hey get ready for some K's!
Striking out the side

on 13 pitches. Wonderful efficiency

Hey all

did the Cubs win yet?

Mr. Harden means business today
Rich Harden is an above average pitcher.
CSN graphic

Anyone else thing the CSN graphic showing the fielders makes it look like there are 7 guys in the outfield?

it's time to

get Harden out of there

WTF

WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF

terrible

the cubs look absolutly terrible…id rather go to the sears center and watch some chicago shamrocks lacrosse then be subjected to this bullshit baseball

Screw this - I'm gonna go watch the Sox get pounded instead.

Jake Peavy – line 2.

Hey guys

everybody’s jumped to this thread.

You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Bleed Cubbie Blue to post a comment.