In recent years, the Cubs have not had many postponements on the road. The reason for this should be fairly easy to figure out: they play anywhere from 15-18 games a year in domed stadiums (Houston, Milwaukee, Arizona) and nine or ten more in California, where rainouts are rare. That's 24-28 games, about 1/3 of the road schedule, played in cities where they are almost guaranteed to play.
The last road postponements before the June 4 game in Atlanta that is being made up tonight -- and I use the plural for a good reason -- were September 3, 4 and 5, 2004, in Miami against the Marlins, due to Hurricane Frances. One of those games was played September 10 in Chicago as part of a doubleheader, and the other two were played as another doubleheader in Miami on September 20. (The Marlins then had two more games against the Expos in Miami postponed the following week because of another hurricane, Ivan, and since they were already in Chicago, played two games vs. the Expos at the Cell.)
While there is a 20% chance of thunderstorms in the Atlanta area tonight, that's not atypical for this time of year and they'll do their best to get the game in, although the Cubs have to fly out to Detroit right after it is over.
And that's when the Cubs begin their six-game interleague road swing. Here are Lou's lineup plans:His plan is to use Jake Fox and Micah Hoffpauir in the DH role or at first base or in the outfield if Milton Bradley or Derrek Lee takes the DH spot.
Piniella plans to rest Ryan Theriot and possibly Bradley and Alfonso Soriano against the Braves.
Bradley is most familiar with the DH role, having done it with the Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers. Last season with the Rangers, Bradley was the DH in 106 of his 126 games.
Soriano has played in 63 of the Cubs' 66 games but continues to slump at the plate, going 5-for-35 (.143) on the homestand. He has been bothered almost all season by a sore left knee.
In fact, that's exactly what Lou has done tonight. Lineup via Twittermyer:
Theriot, ss; Fukudome, cf; Fox, lf; Lee, 1b; Hoffpauir, rf; Soto, c; Fontenot, 3b; Blanco, 2b; Dempster, p
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Derrek Lee is hot right now and so facing Javier Vazquez is excellent news. D-Lee pounds him -- 20-for-50 (.400) with seven doubles, three HR and 16 RBI. Other Cubs, not so much, except Alfonso Soriano has also homered off him. Career-wise, Vazquez has been hit pretty hard by Cubs teams -- 3-4 in 16 lifetime starts with a 5.17 ERA. He throws strikes -- is tied for the NL lead in K's with Tim Lincecum -- and doesn't walk people (only 18) so this game should, at least, move along.
Ryan Dempster had been pretty good about limiting his walks this year, until his last outing vs. the White Sox where he walked six. His career numbers vs. Atlanta are poor -- a 5.31 ERA in 25 appearances (14 starts). A lot of that was from his time in the NL East with the Marlins, when Atlanta hammered him several times. He does pretty well vs. current Braves; only Chipper Jones and Nate McLouth have homered off him. His last start vs. the Braves was an excellent one: a complete-game win on June 11, 2008, with no walks and 11 strikeouts.
Today is a cable-only event: SportSouth in the Atlanta area, CSN Chicago for us locals, and on Extra Innings. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SBN Braves site Talking Chop.
Overflow comment threads will post today at 7 pm, 8 pm and 8:45 pm CDT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.
0 recs | 82 comments
GO CUBS GO!
Time for a 5th in a row.
GateCity, VA Cubs Fan - June 22, 2009
20% chance of storms...
Rapidly approaching 100% in the downtown area.
dorf - June 22, 2009
Yea, not looking good....
at least to start on time. A storm is coming through right now and and will most likely delay the start to this game. Fortunately, nothing showing up after this storm.
Gurbal - June 22, 2009
From Wittenmyer's Twitter:
chilango2 - June 22, 2009
Looks like the radars have cleared up, at least for now.
Al Yellon - June 22, 2009
I looked at the forecast early this morning, and got quite a chuckle
SackMan - June 22, 2009
Er? Wasn’t the Houston series played in Milwaukee a road game postponement? I seem to recall some kind of big deal about those games…
drewishdrewid - June 22, 2009
Was that really a postponed series though?
Or just a rescheduled one?
Allie - June 22, 2009
what's the difference?
other than it was rescheduled for the next few days?
drewishdrewid - June 22, 2009
Dunno
Just you know how anal baseball is. If it doesn’t exactly line up with what a “postponement” is, does it count?
Allie - June 22, 2009
Yeah
I seem to remember a certain pitcher throwing a pretty good game too.
gwood - June 22, 2009
Sheesh.
I completely spaced on the Houston series from last year, maybe because the circumstances were so unusual.
But yes, those were the last road postponements. The 2004 Marlins series was the last one before that.
Al Yellon - June 22, 2009
Hey all...
… back from a long weekend of camping and concerts, but luckily didn’t have to miss much thanks to the wonder that is the iPhone MLB At Bat app and a set of speakers.
Really incredible to watch hundreds of people in a field in the middle of nowhere cheer as great things happened on WGN radio, or run up to give you a five when they see your Cubs shirt from 20 yards away.
Lee is on fire, the pitching is as solid as it has been all season, and it seems like Soto, Bradley, and even Fuk are starting to trend back up.
Have a good afternoon everyone!
AndrewJStone - June 22, 2009
You're right about Bradley and Soto
Bradley – last 7 days – .400/.478/.500/.978, even in his last 28 days he has posted an .854 OPS.
Soto – last 7 days – .250/.471/.833/1.304 (he is 3 for 12 with a double and 2 home runs, 5 walks).
last 14 days – .313/.421/.688/1.109
p.s. – I love baseball-reference.com
gwood - June 22, 2009
+ million on the love for baseball-reference.com
KaliCub - June 22, 2009
One thing I can't quite understand
is that why Lou tends to rests all the regulars on the same day. Versus spacing it out during a 2 week period. Wouldn’t be better to just have one regular off every couple of days versus emptying out the bench for the same game.
Knowledgeable baseball fans…enlighten me.
KaliCub - June 22, 2009
well, he's just benching
Soriano and Bradley. Not exactly ALL of the regulars.
But your question is a good one. Also, I’m a little shocked that J Fox is hitting third.
elgato - June 22, 2009
Yeah I exaggerated a little on this game,
but I remember the Lincecum game when he did empty the bench for one game.
KaliCub - June 22, 2009
fair point
elgato - June 22, 2009
Sadly, I paid my own money to go
to that game. I left for the park thinking I was lucky to see wee little Timmy. When the lineup was announced, I was a little peeved as the chances for a win were diminished even more.
N Oakley - June 22, 2009
IIRC, it was surpisingly close.
I think we only lost 3-2.
But I’m still curious as to that reasoning, sometimes I wish I was a sports reporter.
KaliCub - June 22, 2009
It was close and we left the park playing the what if game.
What if Bradley had two more at bats, what if…
Was cool seeing Bobby Scales get his first hit.
N Oakley - June 22, 2009
I like it...
…he is having the hot hitting Lee behind him to give him protection. Always best to give the less proven guy (who can hit when he gets his pitch) the highest level of protection.
MPH73 - June 22, 2009
I don't know.
Maybe he’d planned on resting Bradley all along, since today was supposed to be an off day, and Sori just so obviously needs it… He’s NOT resting Riot, note….
drewishdrewid - June 22, 2009
I love Lou
but he does a lot of things that don’t make sense to me.
Allie - June 22, 2009
I loved him the last couple of years...
this year are I am starting to reconsider.
KaliCub - June 22, 2009
When players perform...
…the manager looks like a genius. When the don’t, he looks like he has no clue.
For the most part, fans give managers too much credit and far too much blame for the team’s performance.
MPH73 - June 22, 2009
For the most part you are right
but one of the things that has bugged me was the last couple of years Lou had put the hot hand in the lineup. Of course not replacing the superstars, but the role players that were hot would find their way into the lineup.
While this year, he has seemed to stick with some guys just waiting for them to come out of it. Specifically thinking about when Hill was hot early and Soto wasn’t, why Lou keep him on the pine for like 22 days was just a really bad decision IMHO.
So the manger does control who plays, how often they rest, the lineup, double switches, how often a bench guy plays…so he does control something over a hitters performance.
KaliCub - June 22, 2009
Every year...
…tends to be unique and stands on it’s own merits. For that reason, you can’t always compare years on a “side by side” basis and wonder why this or why that. Piniella doesn’t need me to defend him, but I do tend to have a high degree of confidence in his ability to make lineup judgement calls, and happen to think that is one of his strengths as a manager. In regards to Soto, Piniella knows he is going to need him to win the division (as he knows he needs Soriano) and is probably willing to let them play out of their funks to regain their strokes. With another year and another player, he may act differently, but he has always had a good perspective on his players abilities.
Lou’s not perfect, and sometimes he makes the wrong call (as do all managers), but for folks to all of a sudden say “he doesn’t know what he’s doing”, sort of flies in the face of logic. He may not get tossed out of games as often, but he is basically the same guy he has been for the last 20 years or so he has managed.
As always (at least 90% of the time), Piniella is not going to win or lose this division by himself, that will be mostly determined by how the players on the roster perform.
MPH73 - June 22, 2009
Straw man..."he doesn’t know what he’s doing"... I didn't say that.
I am disagreeing with the moves he has made this year as opposed to how he has managed the last couple of years. I was not advocating putting Soto on the bench for any period of time, just give Koyie an occasional day in there when he was hot.
I don’t know if it is worth it to put the same guys out there day after day waiting for the stroke to come back and put yourself in difficult positions to win games. Sure we need both Soto and Sori to produce over the course of the year, but sometimes having them watch a game or two will give them the rest/motivation to get out of their slumps.
I am not sure about your percentage either, but I wouldn’t blame him for all our failures also.(on that we agree) But if Sori doesn’t have another multiple hit again this year, would you blame Sori? Or Lou for keeping him at leadoff? Extreme example, but the manger has to do things to win games too.
KaliCub - June 22, 2009
I didn't mean...
…it was you who said Lou doesn’t know what he is doing, it was a general statement from what I have read on this board.
I don’t completely disagree with what you said, but will say that I do think Lou has a good read on how to handle hitters and their slumps. Could it have helped to sit Sori or Soto? Sure, that is very possible, but we will never know.
One thing I have made very clear, is my dislike for Soriano in the leadoff spot. This goes back two years and I just got tired of talking about it. I disagree with Piniella on this one and always will. One thing to consider though, the club has had a tendancy to hit better as a team when Soriano is contributing, and no matter where he hits, they need him to score the way they are capable.
MPH73 - June 22, 2009
Prob overreacted a bit on the straw man. Apologies.
We are on the same page with Sori at leadoff, I hope I am wrong when I say this, I don’t believe we can go farther into the playoffs with him at leadoff. (And before I get flamed, I would rather be wrong with the Cubs winning it all than right on that topic) But you and me are outnumbered on this one.
The one thing we do know is that we have struggled for far too long as a team that wasn’t supposed to struggle this much. Players vs manager, interesting debate to how much blame goes to manager or player.
I do think there is a difference between Lou of last 2 years and Lou this year, just my perception.
KaliCub - June 22, 2009
Agree...
…Soriano is the type of streaky hitter that often gets completely shut down in the playoffs (good pitching, high end scouting reports). For this reason, it is even more crucial to not have someone with his tendancies to hit leadoff during the playoffs.
If you watched the Phils last year, their top two guys in the order caused havoc on the base paths and broke the opposing ptichers concentration quite often. They made the other hitters better, by allowing them to hit more mistakes.
MPH73 - June 22, 2009
"whaddya gonna do?"
N Oakley - June 22, 2009
OK...I can't help but laugh at Vazquez's photo.
santoswoodenlegs - June 22, 2009
He looks like
a lost puppy
gwood - June 22, 2009
It's like he's telling you
“So dips**t, what’re you gonna do about it?!?”
N Oakley - June 22, 2009
all these artistic pitcher photos
very odd.
drewishdrewid - June 22, 2009
He could also be saying
“You can’t tell, but I’m not wearing pants.”
N Oakley - June 22, 2009
waves hand in front of... face
you can’t see me.
drewishdrewid - June 22, 2009
I thought the same thing,
“you taking to me?”
slocs55 - June 22, 2009
You know when your dog poops on the carpet...
…and you yell at him 3 hours later when you get home and he has NO CLUE why you’re yelling, so he just tilts his head and wags his tail? I bet Vazquez is wagging his tail in that picture…
lswaidz - June 22, 2009
That's why you drag his butt over to the poop, and rub his nose in it...
Jimmyeatworld - June 22, 2009
Which is completely ineffective
The only way to correct behavior like that is to do it at the time.
Allie - June 22, 2009
I defer to your expertise...
Jimmyeatworld - June 22, 2009
Are you suggesting to poop on the carpet to train the dog?
N Oakley - June 22, 2009
No
I’m saying doing something later doesn’t help your dog at all.
And rubbing their noses in it doesn’t work either. All that does is scare and confuse them… which is about the last thing you’d ever want to do while teaching them.
Allie - June 22, 2009
It works with cats, I can tell ya that...
Jimmyeatworld - June 22, 2009
j/k :)
N Oakley - June 22, 2009
I figured
but I’ve been working for years to get people to NOT do those things.
Allie - June 22, 2009
That's why I defer to your expertise...
You gonna watch or listen to the game tonight?
Jimmyeatworld - June 22, 2009
For a bit
But I have to help a friend out with her doggy obedience class tonight, so I’ll miss a couple hours of it.
Allie - June 22, 2009
don't forget to rub teh dog's nose in the poop
I hear that works really well.
:P
drewishdrewid - June 22, 2009
That ignores the fact that, in general, dogs LIKE poop.
Unfortunately, as much as i love the animals, they just aren’t smart enough to feel guilty for something if they aren’t caught in the act. The connection cannot be made.
Also, pointing. They don’t get that either.
AndrewJStone - June 22, 2009
Middle of the lineup looking strong...
…haven’t been able to say that for a while
Jerry Mumphrey - June 22, 2009
Vasquez...
…has a 6/1 strikeout to walk ratio, and that is stellar to say the least. He must have made some adjustments since coming over from the Sox.
MPH73 - June 22, 2009
Fukudome will be covering a lot of ground tonight
Let’s hope that the Cubs don’t have to worry too much about defense in a blowout win :-)
And Vasquez’ WHIP…1.01. Wow.
mykalmorgan - June 22, 2009
yeah ...
reminds me of the power-pack outfields of the late-90s — G. Hill, Sosa and H-Rod.
elgato - June 22, 2009
Good thing there was usually a skinny and fast dude to run
things down in CF.
N Oakley - June 22, 2009
Lance Johnson?
mykalmorgan - June 22, 2009
Willie Wilson?
santoswoodenlegs - June 22, 2009
Brant Brown?
elgato - June 22, 2009
1.01?
Well, that has to get back toward career averages at some point. Tonights as good a time as any?
N Oakley - June 22, 2009
112:18 K's:BB's too. Damn!
kanderber - June 22, 2009
Javy Vasquez
ALSO leads the NL in sacrifice hits…who did that last year?
mykalmorgan - June 22, 2009
Dempster, I believe
Allie - June 22, 2009
Javier Vazquez photo caption
What you say about my momma?
tony412 - June 22, 2009
Fox and Hoff in
the outfield together? Yikes…hope Dome has his running shoes on tonight. Let’s keep this winning streak going guys!!!!
Hey Jessica, I see Sam Fuld got married at St. Ambrose Church in Des Moines today. Both of their families were there for the wedding.
sue369 - June 22, 2009
St. Ambrose is amazing... the second coolest church in Des Moines, IMHO. Awesome stained glass.
Congrats to Fuld. Hopefully he can put together a few good months, stop crashing in to everything and breaking himself, and we’ll see him later this season.
AndrewJStone - June 22, 2009
Yes it is
a beautiful church.
sue369 - June 22, 2009
I'm an architecture nerd.
Westminster Presbyterian in Beaverdale is amazing too, and has some of the coolest stained glass I’ve seen outside of Europe.
AndrewJStone - June 22, 2009
predictions:
7-5 men in blue…
demp- 6 inn. 3 r 7 h 4 b 3 k
lee- 2-5
fox 1-5 hr.
fontenot-3-4 hr.
cubs2410 - June 22, 2009
Interesting.
I hope Demp does a little better than that, though. Vazquez may be dealing.
Goodie1969 - June 22, 2009
big night
for Fontenot, huh?
elgato - June 22, 2009
Ok Ill predict...
4-1 Cubs win
Dempster goes 7.1 innings, let up 1 HR
Fox 2 run HR
Fukudome an RBI
Theriot 3 hits with a RBI
SouthsideCUBSfan - June 22, 2009
Gonna make a shameless call:
1st Major-League HR for Fox tonight.
Cubs2410 gets an amen.
The Jade Scorpion - June 22, 2009
Where is BLou to tell us if they'll play the game or not?
santoswoodenlegs - June 22, 2009
Still in Fargo for tonight's game
My club level ticket languishes on my coffee table. Oh, well
Clutch16 - June 22, 2009
Gave Ticket Away
I bought a ticket for the June 4 Atlanta game. I’m not going back to Atlanta this year, so I gave it to someone who will be there in August to see the Braves play.
memphiscub - June 22, 2009
What are the chances we start this game on time?
Dont have CSN, and about to take a bus to the bar to watch the game.
SouthsideCUBSfan - June 22, 2009
Looks better
on the radar. Hopefully on time/near on time start.
Allie - June 22, 2009
nice
Thank you.
SouthsideCUBSfan - June 22, 2009
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