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Improving Weather, Improving Bradley: Cubs vs. Cardinals, Friday 4/17, 1:20 CT

We'll find out later if Milton Bradley will be suspended for cap-tipping (no relation to cow-tipping) with plate umpire Larry Vanover yesterday. Frankly, I think a suspension for an incidental cap-tip is ridiculous, and once Bob Watson reviews the tape, I suspect Milton will simply be fined. More importantly, will Milton be able to play in the field today?

The longer-term big issue involving Bradley is how quickly he'll be ready to return to the lineup. Asked if it could be today, [Lou] Piniella said: "I don't know. When we come to the ballpark, we'll find out how he feels."

Even if Bradley says he's ready, the rule of thumb with an injured player is to give him one more day off.

Bradley passed his most strenuous test since suffering the injury Sunday night when he ran at about 75 percent strength before Thursday's game, under the trainer's supervision.

The original return date for Milton was supposed to be tomorrow, but the Cubs could use his bat. The weather is supposed to be pleasant (near 70, little or no lake breeze), so maybe it'd be worth putting him out there, even if he has to be pulled after three at-bats.

Interesting Rich Harden note from Bruce Miles:

Checking with the Elias Sports Bureau, the Cubs found this tidbit about Rich Harden's 3-inning performance Wednesday:

Harden faced 17 batters, allowing 5 hits and 4 walks and striking out eight. In other words, every batter he faced got either a hit, a walk or a strikeout. No other pitcher over the past 80 years had faced as many batters in a big-league game with each batter getting a hit, a walk or a strikeout, according to the research.

Thirty-five years ago today, on a gusty, windy afternoon, one of the wackiest games in Wrigley Field history was played. Catcher George Mitterwald had a career day, hitting three homers and driving in eight runs. The Cubs hit six homers in all and the Pirates had three, and the Cubs won 18-9 (they led 18-4 going into the ninth). It was Steve Blass' final game -- he had almost no control, and walked seven. And can you imagine a pitcher in 2009 being allowed to throw a 16-hit, nine-run complete game, as Burt Hooton was?

The story, perhaps apocryphal, is told that Mitterwald's big day happened on a day he wasn't supposed to play -- he had been told the day before he was to have the day off, so he went out for a late night of partying ... and may have had the best day of his career nursing a hangover. He hit only four more homers the rest of 1974.

Today's Starting Pitchers
Carlos Zambrano
Carlos Zambrano
Cubs
vs. P. J. Walters
P. J. Walters
Cardinals
1-0 W-L ---
3.00 ERA ---
13 SO --
6 BB --
1 HR --
vs. StL -- --

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2009 - Carlos Zambrano 1-0 2 2 0 0 0 0 12.0 12 4 4 1 6 13 3.00 1.50

Z is 9-6, 3.25 in 22 appearances (21 starts) in his career vs. the Cardinals. Though Albert Pujols has hit five homers off him, Z has generally handled him pretty well (14-for-54, .259). The Cardinal who gives him fits is Skip Schumaker (7-for-19, .368, two doubles, a triple, a HR). Z has thrown well in his two starts so far this year. Lou says he knows how to deal with Albert:

"You put him on base with men in scoring position, and you try to have a guy like Albert not beat you," Piniella said. "I think that's the best approach. He's a force. You're very careful."

It must be working. The Cubs are one of only four NL teams (Philadelphia, Florida, San Francisco the others) to hold Pujols to under a 1.000 OPS against them.

P. J. Walters is making his major league debut today. He turned 24 last month and last year, split between AA and AAA, he was 10-6, 4.50 in 29 starts with a lot of walks (70 in 158 innings). Here's hoping the Cubs have a good scouting report on him and actually use it, because these seem to be the kind of pitchers that give Cub teams nightmares.

Today's game is on WGN, again on FSN Midwest and at the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Discuss amongst yourselves.

0 recs  |  168 comments

Comments

Whoo Hoo!

A glimpse of summer! Maybe Spring has finally arrived in Chicago?

Go Cubs Go!

We'll take the nice weather when we can get it.

We know there are still many drizzly, cold May days to come.

FYI

This post is up an hour earlier than usual because there had been some issues with scheduled posts not appearing at the proper time (as happened on Wednesday). I just wanted to make sure this posted before I left for the game. Tomorrow, back to the usual two-hours-before-game-time preview posting time.

I had noticed

and was appropriately confused…btw, love the blog

excellent

maybe we’ll get up to a thousand comments before the first-pitch thread. :D

Yay for broken scheduling!

I get one extra hour of this!

no boo for the extra hour.....(at least for me)

as I slept in already, and the thought of Friday morning vegging out on here is just to appealing.

let's go let's go let's go!
Z on TV! I'm in Cubs Heaven

Those Harden stats certainly raises eyebrows.

Bradley… well, you know:

Why doesn’t anyone stay here?
Why do they leave me?
Don’t they realize I’m a porcelain doll?
Lost, alone, unsure
Kind, demure, small
Fragile, helpless
Breakable
Breakable

I'd like to see you quote those lyrics

to his face. :D

maybe if she smiled sweetly he'd be ok with it
Like delivering bad news

in a cheery and upbeat manner?

What's that from?

n/t

judging by the lyrics

an emotive young thing named Megan McCauley. Never heard of her.

Never heard of her...

I got stuck in my music rut way back in the day…

carpenter out 4-8 weeks

Torn Oblique.

betcha it's longer than that
History's on your side.

Never wanna see that, even for a Cardinal.

neither would I
Just a thought

Is it possible to put a link to the opposition’s SB Nation site in these Game Threads? I like getting the opponents view point and a link would make that nice and easy.

A link would work

 as would just going over to the site yourself and clicking on the link.

Here's the

red bird’s site. Their game thread isn’t up yet for today’s game.

I perused it yesterday.

Some good talk, but also a bit of “Chicago is full of drunks” and “jokes” on Kosuke’s name.

Yeah

they still aren’t as bad as the brewer’s site

No kidding.

I’m glad work blocks their site otherwise I’m sure I’d’ve been kicked out already.

Your work blocks their site but not this one?

Maybe your work posted over there and they banned your work.

Ha!

Yeah, it’s weird. If I click on an SBN site it’s a crapshoot whether it will work or not. Case in point, I tried to access the Angels site to add my condolences but it wouldn’t work.

As long as BCB continues to load it’s all good.

I'll try to put the SBN sites in the posts...

… at least for the first game of each series.

That situation with Bradley and these idiot umpires....

really sticks in my craw. You watch a player who has a “reputation” among the umpires in the league, and you don’t really realize how they get jobbed until they are playing for your team. It’s the same thing with Dennis Rodman when he came to the Bulls and you saw first hand how the officials were trying, probably subconsciously, to make him mad so they could toss him out of the game.

That being said, knowing full well that the umps have it out for him, Milton has to be able to walk away from these potential dust-ups with them. We can’t afford to have him spend twenty or so games over the course of the season serving suspensions. And this report was supposedly going to be filed by the SECOND BASE umpire who was not even the one arguing with Bradley? Please. This is simply a case of the umps trying to establish their superiority over a player they don’t like, but Bradley, unfortunately, has brought a lot of this on himself. Composure, Milton! We need you, buddy.

the 2b Ump

only said a report would be filed.

I like the fact that a player who got jobbed is going to say something about it. The umps have gotten out of control.

I agree

The umps still need to be told when they royally screw up like the home plate umpire did yesterday.

I would imagine (and hope) that Milton’s reaction would have been different if he had not simply been pinch hitting.

The umps think the game is about them

I didn’t pay $50 for a ticket just to see some slob blow calls a little league umpire could make. But of course, MLB is clueless from the top, and since the money is rolling in, all is well.

Perfect example of umpire as "Showboat"

Vanover wanted to control the game, plain and simple. As much as I hate bitching about balls and strikes, that was a HORRIBLE call that, conceivably, changed the whole complexion of the game.

No way should Bradley have been expected to just walk away after he and the Cubs had been royally screwed like that.

And now this nonsense about a possible suspension is making me genuinely think that the umps do have it in for him.

With a suspension i think you can safely say...

…"conceivably, changed the whole complexion of the game series.

I say this only because I am an optimist

but maybe the suspension would be a blessing in disguise as it would force the Cubs to rest Bradley and his groin a little longer, making him even stronger when he returns

but he was already hurting.......

so it might not change it quite as much.

If he is suspended...

…he’ll appeal. I don’t think a suspension would affect this series.

Then he will serve the suspension during one of his injury downtimes
If he is suspended I'll call moose poop
And...

You won’t have to call long distance. :)

UMPS.....

I think MLB needs to make strike calls, out calls, and safe calls all uniform. I think the umps try and make the game about themselves. My issue with yesterday is after he tossed Bradley, he walked away, but yet the umpire took a few more steps towards Bradley. Why?? You displayed your power not go back to calling the game.

The bill of the hat bumping, come one, the ump doesnt need to take his mask off in my opinion. To me him taking his mask off is provoking enough. And that is just it i think the umps like to provoke many of these players, just so they can show everyone their power.

I agree

there was a lot of complaining last season about how the umpires are too big a part of the game these days, this being solely due to their own efforts. My opinion has always been that if I know the umpire’s name, there is something wrong (cough – Angel Hernandez-cough). It seems like the umps are baiting and challenging both players and managers too much.

Don’t get me wrong, Bradley deserved to get tossed yesterday, but there was no need for the ump to rip off his mask and follow Bradley toward the dugout.

I should have said that....

Bradley totally should have been tossed. No doubt.

Who manages the umpires?

Do they govern themselves?

They manage themselves through committee

Overview here.

Cheers.

So they’re only accountable to themselves. Sounds like Congress.

Darn straight

It’s the only way to roll. No-one wants to be held accountable for their actions nowadays.

we don't get to vote

for umps.

Interesting quote from the Rules

talking to the umpires

You are the only official representative of baseball on the ball field. It is often a trying position which requires the exercise of much patience and good judgment, but do not forget that the first essential in working out of a bad situation is to keep your own temper and self-control.

comment to Rule 9.05

I do not think that ripping off your mask and following the player or manager to the dugout is keeping your temper and self-control.

Damn right.

It’s been said before (and above) but the game is not about the umps. The best umpire (or ref) is the one so good you don’t even notice him.

Are umps on bubblegum cards? Do I put on OfficiatingCenter in the morning?

RE: OfficiatingCenter

HAHA!

Every soccer-obsessed country (read: every country in the world bar the U.S.) has a TV show which analyzes the ref’s calls during the week. I haven’t decided if it fosters better understanding of the game and craft, or hatred towards the individuals.

Really?

God, if I ever needed to fall asleep at 3 in the morning, a replay of officiating analyzation would sure do the trick.

Now I wouldn’t be opposed to MLBN breaking down good and bad performances on a nightly basis, but a whole show?

As if soccer alone doesn't already cure my insomnnia ;-)
Boo to you

nt/

Wha...wha'd I miss.

Sorry, I drifted off there for a bit ;-)

It's still 0-0, 40 minutes into the second half
tin plate dictators

& egomaniacs; the whole lot of them. they ruin 10X more games than they help

It looks like

the Umpires are under the supervision of the Vice President of Baseball Operations.

linky

He is an executive of MLB, so the umpires are ultimately governed by MLB, or am I missing something?

Harden's game

Every ball hit fair against him went for a hit, then? That’s pretty crummy luck. Albiet with a very low sample size (4 balls hit in play, not counting the home run).

So he walked a lot of batters, gave up a homer, and had some slightly flukey luck on balls hit in play. Pretty wild that only four balls were even hit in play by 17 batters — does that make Harden a “Three True Outcomes” pitcher? I guess it’s really the walks that are the most concerning thing there.

TOmorrow's game on Fox or WGN?

 On the tribune’s website it shows tomorrow’s game on WGN, but on Cubs.com it says FOX.

FOX

And we’ll probably get Joe Buck.

second only to Morgan/ Miller
Don't forget Steve Phillips!

The new member of the “Triumvirate of Doom.”

Could you imagine a booth of:

Morgan, Miller, Phillips, and Buck?

Wow is all that could be said.

With Brennaman as the man in the stands!
LOL

Forgot that duecher.

I'm pretty sure tomorrow's team is Brennaman and Grace.

Awful.

That'd be great.

We could lock the door and remove all of them at once.

wow, imagine the horror if they

share a booth calling a Cubs/Cards game.

We get them Sunday night

and my SportSynch radio hasn’t come in yet…

I was thinking Buck/Morgan,

as for Miller, he’s full of wind, but it’s Morgan that makes the team unbearable.

(Shudders)

It would be a good marketing move by the Cubs to offer local secondary audio for the nationally-televised games and the postseason. I know there must be millions of ($) laws prohibiting doing so, but if GolTV and other lowly cable channels can do it, so can WGN/CSN/FOX/TBS.

Joe Buck + Cubs/Cardinals =

A full day of Chicago bashing!!!

(oh wait he finds a way to make fun of Chicago even when he is doing football games)

Yes it's on FOX, Thanks.

 Just checked and I actually will be able to see it in AZ.

Where do you check?

I wonder what game I egt in Seattle?

Your local Fox website should list which game you're getting.
I checked on AOL.com

Under Television and put in your zip code.

NFL on Fox has a regional map which shows what part of the country gets what game by color coded, but haven’t been able to find one for Baseball as of yet.

Viewers in Seattle with be subjected to....

…..Indians Vs. Yankees game.

Great

At least there is EPSN on Sunday. . .

for the dyslexic?
Or factually incorrect.

We are talking Joe Morgan here.

I've got a serious case of spring fever.

I really wish I could ditch work, hop on the red line, and enjoy the game. I’m feeling a big win today.

yeah me too man, Then we can steal the soriano banner together.
Haha. If only they still had it up!

I’m pretty sure the last time I looked, that wall was blank.

The Cubs are now the gold standard for failure, apparently

Link to a larger size

You slay me internet dorks.
Anybody have a clue of what this Walters guy throws?

Just standard two seam Dave Duncan crap and a junk breaking ball or does he have some special pitch?

According to the St Louis Dispatch:
Walters was impressive in his first start for Memphis. He pitched seven shutout innings and struck out six against two walks. The righthander has a plus changeup that, early in his professional career, was actually described by scouts as a "screwball." Walters rejects that description, and he has more velocity on his fastball that expected from a starter who steadily climbed the system with his changeup.
thanks

I have this awful feeling that our hitters will get fooled by this clown.

these are the kind of guys the Cubs have historically had trouble with (the unfamiliar)

please Cubs, prove me wrong!!!

I agree

it would be nice to see them light one of these guys up for a change.

Bradley out again

 Fontenot moved down to 7th in lineup.

Lineups:

 
 
CARDINALS
2B Skip Schumaker
CF Colby Rasmus
1B Albert Pujols
RF Ryan Ludwick
LF Chris Duncan
C Yadier Molina
3B Joe Thurston
SS Brian Barden
P P.J. Walters

CUBS
LF Alfonso Soriano
CF Kosuke Fukudome
1B Derrek Lee
RF Micah Hoffpauir
3B Aramis Ramirez
C Geovany Soto
2B Mike Fontenot
SS Ryan Theriot
P Carlos Zambrano
 

So is this Duncan guy

this years Ankiel for them? They’re just a recycling factory down there.

well

maybe Z can get some hits.

Colby Rasmus?!

Is he gonna play after robbing a stagecoach?

Interesting

Barden has a good day at the plate, so they move him to shortstop in place a Greene. Interesting to see if that affects the Cardinal defense at all

How much longer

do we have to endure the tyranny of Micah in the #4 slot?

pray

Bradley comes back tomorrow.

This must mean that Gathright is in Lou’s dog-house; I just can’t imagine what he did to get there. As in, he’s barely played.

Maybe not so much of the doghouse

but Lou’s mancrush on the Hoff.

get that manager

some glasses.

Yeah, defensively speaking, Gathright in center and Dome in right would be excellent.

But I have to guess Lou wants run production. Hoffpauir didn’t do much yesterday, but Walter is essentially a Triple A pitcher – and we all know how well a certain 29-year-old rookie hits Triple A pitching.

Right.

 I wonder how many times Hoff has faced him.

Hits em like he hits on EA.
Fair enough

For all we know, Hoff is the only one who has seen this kid.

I also wonder if Lou wants to give Milton and the umps another day away from each other.

Starting with Soto

That is 5 players that phoenetically end in “O” in a row, including Soriano

my mom was preggo with me.
ok that should be one down LOL
Thirty-five years ago today

I was a sophomore in engineering at SIU. Pretty frightening.

I was -9.
-7 for me
OK, all you minus sign guys are pissing me off!!

Not really. How great to be so young!!

I've always been 13,

 i.e., intellectually stuck in jr. high.

My action figures agree with you.
do you still make GI Joe

sit in the passenger seat of Barbie’s pink minivan? Barbie ALWAYS drives…

my barbies

had a pink convertible. much cooler that the minivan.

See, when I think GI Joe

I think the 3.75" multi-posable guys.

I was 13.

Now get off my lawn!

Morning Everyone

Heres hoping for a Cubs victory and a consistent strikezone today!!

YAY!!! I'm finally done with Jury Duty..

so i get to enjoy the game with you guys today!!! Go Cubs Go!!!!

Did you convict or aquit?
the problem

with having the first game thread up early is that it seems like SO MUCH LONGER before there’s baseball!

I hate the fact

that I know if I faked an illness I could go home and watch.

My boss went golfing

so I could go home and watch the game to . . . damn guilt!!

Some info on Cards starter PJ Walters

Our own toonsterwu recently wrote in this edition of Josh’s minor league wrap:

PJ Walters – I love the fact that he majored in LEISURE SERVICES at South Alabama. That just sounds interesting to me. Anyhow, he has an excellent changeup and is currently starting in AAA for Memphis. Solid first outing, going 7 scoreless, getting 6 K’s, giving up 2 hits and a walk. A guy who could be of much use to the Cardinals directly this year.

Here are his stats from the Memphis Redbirds site (thanks, memphiscub).

Here’s a pretty comprehensive scouting report I dug up.

So he is a Rightie

 Surprised Lou didn’t hit Zambrano 8th and Fontenot 6th….That’d give him a lineup of

R
L
R
L
R
L
R
L
R

lets kick some redbird ass!
How about pluck some feathers?
Grab them by the back of the neck, twist and jerk and watch them run around headless

I really hate the Cardinals.

God, Hoffpauir hitting 4th really pisses me off...

Arguably our worst hitter (easily our most inexperienced) batting cleanup. Ugh!!!

certainly

with Rami back in and Miles on the pine.

Ugh, Miles
Must be Lou's

woody for RLRL, etc.

Except that he moved LBR down in place of Soto? Why not then put Rami 4th, Soto 5th, Hoff 6th? I know his answer would be that he doesn’t want to flip the whole lineup…but is that any worse than having your worst hitter batting cleanup????

Wow, we're quiet today

I thought we would’ve passed the 500 comment mark about now…

George Mitterwald?

I haven’t heard that name since I was a Twins fan back in Iowa

Anyone else getting silence on gameday audio?
WGN America

I only watch WGN during the baseball season. When did they drop the creepy eyes logo?

Information on the rebrand here.

I’m one of those clowns in marketing (not at WGN, though).

Woot

I am still getting the WGN Feed behind enemy lines….Hopefully it lasts.

Where are you?

n/t

Near Edwardsville IL

about 11 miles from the STL Border

??

Why wouldn’t it last?

Don't know

If FSN MW will block it once the game starts. I have not quite figured out why sometimes they block the WGN Feed and sometimes they don’t.

I'm in Northern MO...

…and I’ve never had WGN blacked out.

Blackout rules

He’ll probably get blacked out on WGN.

I always do.

With a fancy 70s-ish screen to boot.

Looks like I am good

Thank god…I hate listening to the Cardinal’s Broadcast

Wind is blowing out slightly today

hopefully that means good things for us

Kim Bauer would like the Cubs to start winning games again.

Wayne is the best

with the anthem.

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