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First Pitch Thread: Cubs vs. Brewers, Friday 7/3, 1:20 CT

Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs, Jul 3, 2009 1:20 PM CDT


Pitch and win today, Z! No sideshows.

0 recs  |  488 comments

Comments

Let's go cubs!!!
Let's rough up Soup in the 1st
GO CUBS GO

Len and Bob on EI…thank goodness

I shall gladly celebrate a victory over the Brewers

by drinking a cold, fresh beer, made in Milwaukee

Is fresh beer

Any better than fresh wine?

Floppy hat day!
Those red caps looks like crap

…especially with the softball uni’s today.

Almost cincinatti reds-ish
Jason Kendall lead off man?
Exact same thing I was thinking....that's worse than Alfonzo leading off!
Massive .237 BA

.330 OBP

Bouncer to short

one out.

kendall grounds out to theriot

Interesting tidbits from pregrame interviews of Fox and Piniella

Piniella – impressed with Fuld but still thinks Soriano can carry to offense if he hits. Looking forward to getting Reed and Aram back, but no word of how gets sent.

Fox – As usual said all the right things about “still working on his swing”, the bad season so far is good for th team because it builds character, we’re having fun now because winning’s fun.. but the most interesting:

He said that Dempster is the team leader and his speech really fired up the team yesterday – and kept them all really loose througout the game. I think Dempster’s daughter returning from the hospital may end up being very important to this team.

I heard part of Fox's interview

he uses a 33" bat that weighs 34 ounces! They call it the BAM BAM club. I think we have a nickname! BAM BAM indeed!

I'm in.. Thenceforth, Fox is now "Bam Bam"
I like it!
sounds good
Speaking of dempster's daughter

My friend is the Wednesday night nurse for her – she stays with them overnight to keep an eye on things.

Glad they've got some good help..

Having a sick baby ranks way up there on the stressometer – i know from personal experience.

Good help indeed

Her regular job is as a full-time nurse at children’s. She works for the Dempsters on her night off.

+1 for your friend.
Bouncer to Fonty

two outs.

Nice range by Fonty
Good play by Fontenot

good start.

Counsell no longer looks like a moron at the plate

No wonder I didn’t recognize him.

Hopefully

We’ll keep seeing good glovework

and more ground balls
Somewhat narrow strike zone

Cubs need to recognize that

How about the outside corner?

Typically, when an ump lines up over the inside corner, there’s a bit of leeway on outside calls.

Braun's a great hitter, but good god, what a dork
Bug-eyed dork
o.O
the eyes...

they stares at us, my precious, my love…

Grounded to Lee

shovels to Z. 3-1, out.

1-2-3 inning!

Couldnt ask for a better start from Z

love to see that.

3 up 3 down lets go offense
Good inning Z....keep it up...no meltdowns
LET`S GET SOME RUNS!!!!!
Good pitch there to Braun. Really jammed him.
Nice quick inning...

Good to see Z throwing strikes.

Swing and a miss. Strikeout number one for Suppan.

First AB by Fonzie.....guesses?
Inside of my eyelids...
This a glass half full or half empty question!
Come on Offense
Is Soriano back in the lineup or is Fuld starting again?
Soriano hitting leadoff again.

Fuld is on the bench.

Can't wait

Going to see Aram and Reed in Peoria Sunday. GO CHIEFS!!

sounds like great fun
And cheap.

$10 tickets

I'm going to see the Goldpanners tonight... can't wait
a HR for Lee again today?

I think so.

Time to play kick the soup-can
Here we go

Sori to the plate. Inside for a ball.

Sori just took three straight pitches...

WTF?!

Riding the pine for a few days

i’m sure he’ll be patient for the first at bat, hope it lasts

Glad he didn't come out pressing
2-2

Bounced one to third, foul.

Grounded to short

Hardy makes the plate to first. One out.

How did we get zippo for McGhehe (sp)?
Weak ground ball to short..1 out
Weak grounder for an out.

Seems to be the norm for Sori these days… if he makes contact.

yes, and of course

Sam Fuld would have hit that one to the lake. o.0

It would have been

A three-run HR

Na prolly would of got a basehit
Probably not the best time for a Fuld comparison...
oh, of course not.
As much as I don't like Sori leading off, I really like Riot in the two hole
I'd TWSS this

But I like Theriot batting 8th

Just curious, why?
I can look up the splits from last year

But IIRC, he got on base more down there with less pressure.

Interesting. Is there a way to see from which spot he scored more?

I’m just wondering if the OBP or the run generation is more telling.

Theriot 2008 Splits

Batting—-AB—-AVG—-OBP—-SLG
#1—-68—.368—-.419—-.412
#2—-427—-.290—-.373—-.351
#8—-55—-.345—-.446—-.364

Let me see if I can find RS by position…

Nothing on baseball-reference.com :(

Here’s their splits for 2008 by batting order position.

Had one less PA that game - the guy with one of the highest BA's on the team

in the 8th spot

Me 2

Why Lou batted him 8th in Pitt the other day baffles the bejesus out of me

Sam Fuld would have beat that out...

:)

Maybe a slightly better approach

from Soriano. Not making good contact on hittable pitches.

Len said the red caps

Were ‘special’. No disagreement.

That

was not a strike.

Looked way inside on Gamecast
Riot

grounds out to short. Two outs.

Lou clearly is gambling that a few struggling hitters

can gain confidence back by tearing up the struggling Suppan.

Here we go
are you responding to me?

pfd.

No

I said that when Lee came up. Unfortunately no home runs.

DUCK DERREK!!!
Strike Zone wildly inconsistent already....
Well that's not how you start a game
Suppan gets him with the junk...

cy young suppan goes 123

Lee looked like Sori there

swinging at a pitch 6" outside at the ankles for strike 3.

Derrek is not immune from that pitch if is located decently

Most hitters arent. Soriano takes it to a new level because he goes way beyond six inches and will swing at the ball in the dirt.

Tone really get's set by the leadoff spot..

We need long at bats there – working the pitcher.. Not routine GO’s. If Soriano insists on hitting leadoff, he has to take that approach to the plate. And Lou should held him to that.

I agree

but wasnt a terrible ab by soriano. Cant get a hit every time from the leadoff spot despite Fuld’s efforts.

That's good if so. I'd like to see him wait for his pitch and foul off the ones he doesn't want.
Fielder

bounces to Fontenot. One out.

DON`T DUCK PRINCE!!
4 groundouts thus far for Z...

Gotta love that!

Z looking good, so far.
Sweet - 4 groundballs for outs
McGeehee

flies out to Bradley near the track. Two outs. Wind is blowing in.

I feel a couple of big hits for Bradley today

and if I’m wrong, what’s new?

Hey.. how do you post pix here?

click the tree button in the comment box

Use the tree symbol in the comment box (next to link)

and put the URL of the pic

Can it just be a google image shot..

Or does it have to go straight through photobucket or something/

I use google pics all the time

just make sure you click on the pic so that it opens it up by itself and copy that URL

GIS works

You can also put exclamation marks around the URL in the big box.

Koyie Hill

is not a great receiving catcher. Great work by Z!!!

Nice, 8 pitch inning!
22 pitches thru 2....been awhile since we've seen that!
no plate discipline for the brewskis
L&B were saying last night

That Counsell is the only guy in the lineup that has any plate discipline at all.

Fly bal into left

Dome makes the catch. Three outs.

Let's get some runs!!!
The red hat makes these uni's a little Phillies-esque
Whoever's seeing Aram and Reed in the minors

should take and post pics! please!

Is it just me...

or does Milton swing at a LOT of first pitches?

He doesn`t know the count.
Milton

lines it towards right, but right at counsell. One out. Dome to the plate.

buster bradley lines out

Dude's a dope, but he really can't catch a break right now
God some Cubs fans are braindead.

I’m not arguing for or against booing here… but you boo the guy after hitting a hard liner, but right at someone? So freaking stupid.

Lou eating boogers in the dugout
Thats funny!
Trying some pix function. Happy early fourth of july!

Nice work :)
don't wanna go any bigger than this
Let go Bam Bam

pics during game threads tend to slow things down in here...

just so ya know….

anything under 100kb is ok

this is just slightly over.

I know... This is actually the first I've ever posted. I won't do it that much and try to do smaller pix
Collapsing comments function is working again, BTW.
I noticed that yesterday.
your first one was the right size, pushing your luck here
BAM BAM

to the plate!

Len and Bob adopted the nickname!

BAM BAM!

Welke

I think he wants to be here all day with his strike zone!

Fox is a righty

but yet has great splits against RHP. Someone should tell Him and Lou immediately…

Dome

steals. Fox doesn’t swing, and Dome is out at second.

Jake will learn with experience that he's gotta swing at that pitch
Where did Bam Bam come from?
His huuuge bat

The guys named it “Bam-Bam”

His teammates did?

That’s awesome

they call it

his Bam Bam club. I’m sure they call him Bam Bam. :D

Of course

That just reminded me of this: Shaky Youtube Vid

his bat

is 33" and 34 oz. The other players call it his Bam Bam club.

Bam Bam

grounds out to third.

If you get CS by Kendall...

You should have to pay a fine or something.

Why's he running in a obvious fastball count?
When was the last time

we used a hit and run

during the white sox series

wasn't there one or two

during the third game in Pittsburgh?

Corey Hart growing an Amish beard
Geo looks baked out of his mind...
Jeff Baker sighting....
Good to see Aaron Miles making Baker welcome! LOL

comparing baker to howry is just rude

len said that howry pitches better than baker...

that’s debatable

Hart

walks. First baserunner for the Suds.

Wow, that was hard hit.

Nice catch by Sori!

Deep drive to left

Soriano makes the running catch! Hardy out, Hart back to first. Suppan up.

NH
?

???

No Hop
heh.

I was wrong, it’s only one out. Now it’s two, Suppan bunts Hart over.

Fonzie can play D!
think Fuld would have made that?
Fuld can do no wrong.

But Soriano can do right!

Are you serious?

Of course he would’ve

ballhawk not expecting much street action today
Home runs or something more adult?
Good

Soup can’t bunt, either. Glad we aren’t the only ones.

Soriano defies the defensive liability logic..

Let’s not move him to 2b and say we did.

I'm apparently in the minority, but I still say do it so we can get guys like Fuld and Fox in the lineup
I second that
All I know is I've listened to all these naysayers about Fox's defense, and he's done just fine

so apparently it’s possible to make a mountain out of a mole hill

When the pitcher bunts the first two foul, why on earth would the 3rd pitch be in the zone?
Do not

use your witchcraft logic here lol

My bad, it slips out from time to time.
Good question

0-2 on a known bunt should always be high and tight.

Roller to short. Three outs!

Way to work around the leadoff walk, Z.
ballhawk: brewers fans arriving with lotsa beer ... could be an interesting day
Are they just hanging out on Waveland?
lol... doubt it
*sigh* what's his Twitter username?
ballhawk_ken
Thanks

How the hell do i have 5 followers when I’ve never tweeted a thing, ever?

weird isn't it? it's a scammy thing methinks

I’ve got lots of followers I never heard of… it it gets too bad Twitter peeps ban them

What is it, BYOB day at Wrigley?
God I'd love that promotion...
Hill 1-21 lately
just defied your stat
Alright Koyie!
That a way Koyie Hill....
Hey!

Nice two-bagger, Koyie!

About a foot and a half off the line
Bring him in Z!
C'mon, Z. Base hit here.
Time for Z Power
Soup thought Z was bunting?

Stupid Soup

He should know Z has the legs of an 80 year-old man
Z

bounces it past the mound. Hardy makes the throw to first, Hill to third.

It's up to you, Sori.
I'm calling single to LF
C'mon Sori-time to show back up!
Didn't seem like Z...

was busting it down the line like he normally does

please do something sori

Okay, Fonzie, this is why you're in the lineup...
Come on Z.. Hustle!!

Oh yeah.. I forgot.. he can’t anymore..

Fly ball to shallow left

Cameron races in and makes the catch. Three outs.

Sori first pitch swinging

Umm… crap

Way to make him work Sori
first pitch flyout ugh
And more failure from our sub 300 OBP leadoff man...
Soriano patiently waits a whole one pitch to make an out.

Nice.

I want Sam Fuld back lol.
Pitch counts

Z: 40
Soup: 35

Sori

works the deep count and gets a hard earned 1 pitch AB

Fonzie needs the shrink from The Natural
Sori

Horrible AB!!

Heeeeeeeeeeeeee's Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!
I had a feeling the patience might only last the first at bat
This is the interview question I want to hear asked (and then translated)

Alfonso, could you describe your approach at the plate?

I just love the idea

of us getting on a winning streak…. and then having the lineup changed :(

Well done Lou

Way to put that fly swatter of a hitter back at the top of the order. Best LF in the NL folks…best LF in the NL. What an absolute butcher.

I'm surprised

we’re not losing, yet here you are.

Clown

Worry about other things than me. Your other posts show your lack of baseball knowledge to everyone.

I don't worry about you.

you’re funny. But still, this isn’t your MO.

you are such a hypocrite

telling him to worry about other things than you… the “best LF in the NL” crack, is NOTHING but a personal dig at Drew..

nobody’s impressed by your baseball knowledge.. your crap attitude is the only thing that leaves an impression

Gotta go with Sosa
Z

Get the ball DOWN!!!

Obviously

the rest helped Soriano. Maybe it’s time to get him some more.

Dang it. 2 on, nobody out.
Counsell

bounces a hit. Braun does the same with a long single. Counsell to third, Braun at first. No outs.

Look at the wheels

On the senior citizen out there

Shit, at the corners with none out
I SAID DOWN!!!!
Prince gets worn out quick I hope thats a healthy drink

http://media1.suntimes.com/multimedia/g092908cub04_cst_feed_20080929_07_10_38_26-400-275.imageContent

Oh my God... is that even a drink?!
I hope so

I tried posting the picture but I messed up somewhere still learning how to post pics

That would make sense as champagne or something...

except that the Brew Crew hasn’t had much reason to douse themselves during Prince’s tenure.

So

this is the inning Z loses his focus?

Apparently so
Z

hits Fielder. Bases loaded, no outs.

Dunce on the mound!
Frickin head case....it's really getting old
OK

Z in a little trouble out there

Oh holy hell

what is going on

Z

losing focus probably because Sori had a 1 pitch AB with a runner on third

you have no idea why Z is losing focus
Neither do you

but I could be right or wrong doesn’t matter

I wasn't the one

making a stupid comment

lol

hmmmm thought u were not suppose to make personal attacks

Let the games begin!!
Ron: boyoboyoboy
Ron Santo..

is pissed

Lou.. "look.. what am I supposed to do?"

well.. I’m not a manager, but………………

McGeehee

to the plate.

A triple play can get Z out of the inning!

We can only hope.

Brewers lead the league in HBP

Wonder why

Setting up the triple play, right?
Popped up foul

to Zambrano. Fox covers home, everyone holds.

and zambrano once again

pitches like a back-end rotation starter. Soriano is probably thankful it takes the spotlight off of his disgraceful at bats.

He'll never mature enough to be a #1
Oh, shut up.

Two singles and then one bad pitch and he’s a back-end rotation starter? Give me a break.

Really?

That’s a pretty quick jump to “Z sucks.”

Strong overreaction
Z makes up for it with a great catch!
Yes! Nice pitch there!
YES

That’s as good as a K right there.

Hope they

dont run a squeeze play

we all know what happens when they do…

It's not Lilly out there, at least
I find it funny

he has only thrown 4 pitches this inning

Oh crap.. Cameron..

Wind blowing in?

*phew*

2 outs!

Popped up foul to the right side

Lee makes the catch. TWO outs. Hart to the plate.

fouls out to dlee

Wow....2 foul outs.....awesome
simply huge at bat

right now

Agree...real confidence builder or confidence taker
Nice work!

1 more please

Boy.. the brewers are playing like the Cubs have been..
Still only 6 pitches
Phew...

That almost got by Hill.

Z

Gut-check time!!

Throw strikes, Z....JESUS
He's overthrowing right now
3-1
There we go

Sinker in the zone?

3-0 count

not good

BOYOBOYOBOY!!!
It was

a “gosh darnit” after the walk. Gotta love it

ball four

walked. in. the. run.

Ugh...

walks one in.

Half-wit
Yes, you are.
Don't go there
let's nip this

in the bud right now. Zambrano is not stupid, nor is he bad at his job. Every pitcher gets stuck in bad situations.

His are always of his own making
not at all

He did this one to himself, but it is not like that all the time.

He did sort of create that situation for himself

He was frustrated and overthrowing. He got lucky on the pop-ups – that could’ve been a lot worse.

What???

Where the hell was that pitch?

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU-
Somebody get a defibrillator for Pat to use on Ron

He just got quiet

Hardy to the plate.

outside. Ball one.

Cmon, Z. Getting out of this with one run is fine.

I'm sorry but Z just got robbed right there.

It was a strike when Theriot was batting.

That first pitch to Kendall was a strike
Bucket hats

are not cool…

Pop fly

Lee makes the catch. THREE OUTS! Alright!

Only one run, that’s a good exit, considering.

All in all, ok inning.
Only Z can make a 12 or so pitch inning look like that
Geez

 I go to lunch and we start walking in runs, at least we’re out of the inning

Crap.

No excuse for that inning

12 pitch inning for Z

That’s good, right?

Could have been worse....

Let’s get those bats moving…

Good riddance to THAT inning..
1 run should not win this game

mitigated the damage, but could have been better.

Yes, but it could have been MUCH worse.
Cubs have to score one to win, anyway.

One run after runners on the corner with no outs is respectable. Just wish those runners hadn’t been on to start with.

Some runs now

would be greatly appreciated.

The best thing

that happened that inning was Rothschild’s trip to the mound. In the past he and Lou wait until the damage is done,

Time for a crooked one....wait for it.....
Was anybody listening to the game

last night when Ron called DLee’s first home run “Majestic”. It just sounded funny

yeah that was good times
I'll take another one
Riot to the plate

1-2

Taken

called strike three on the outside corner.

Lee to the plate, none on, one out.

Lee

HBP. Ump issues a warning.

Not a good AB Riot
RETALIATION!
Up yours, Soup

classy suppan, classy

really. hope the ump nails him
I hate this
Soup with the payback.

Both benches warned.

Cmon Bradley

make them pay.

This game could get interesting from here....
Not putting together many good at bats against Suppan
Well Big Z

is good as gone

from the game
can I quote you on that

when he comes back out for the top of the 4th?

that would be odd, since the next time he could come out would be the top of the fifth
whups

the point still stands.

it is the bottom of the 4th

so sure

you know

quite clearly what I meant.

I am not sure

maybe you and the Dr. Brown are taking a trip in the Delorean. But besides that I think Z will retaliate eventually in the game, just so you know “quite clearly what I meant”

F that...

I’m all for retaliation when the original was intentional. F you Suppan

Let the fireworks begin....
wow, nice to see Jeff Suppan mowing us down.

Good thing the leadoff hitter who was actually sparking our offense isn’t playing today, someone might make the mistake of thinking Lou is actually a competent manager

Yeah, Z was *really* throwing at Prince...

wow really crappy strike zone

Not a strike...
Zone's all over the place today
Now Z must be careful
Yeah, I'd imagine Z is a little pissed right now.

Hopefully he doesn’t do anything stupid.

Should be a 3-0 count
Good eye, MB
Base hit

up the left side! Lee to third, Bradley with the single! An EXCELLENT piece of hitting on a low and away pitch!

I like hit and run!

when it works

Hit-and-run!

And it worked!

Beautiful hit and run there
My god

was that a hit and run?

And it worked!
Oh, look at that.

Lee on 3rd.

FU Suppan.

don't understand "retaliating" by putting a runner on with just one out

in a 1-0 game. Hopefully Suppan’s punk move will bite him in the arse

hit and run o riii

WTG Milton! You accidentally got a hit!
Theres your hitandrun!
Wow! MB executes the perfect hit and run!
Dome

takes ball one.

Pinch hit Sam now!
Please I'll take a sac fly

but if you do that you only get 1 out

why not 1 extra for free!

Grounder to hardy

GIDP. Inning over.

Broken record
Ahh, another worthless outfielder...

continues to kill the team

OT: woot! Palin announces she won't run for re-election as governor.

carry on.

good for Alaska, but you know what she IS running for now....
my thoughts exactly
actually I'm not sure it's confirmed. it's breaking news...
Crap!

Pathetic.

just as pathetic as batting someone who didn't hit .200 last month in the #5 hole

I swear to god Lou continues to try and prove he doesn’t know how to manage his way out of a paper bag

Grr..fu..

Sh..Ba..Gah!

Thats just sad
To hell with it

I’m gonna Jump!

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