Chicago Cubs (10-11, 4th in the NL Central)
Last Series v Colorado: April 13-14, L 1-2 @ Colorado
Game 1 was Jhoulys Chacin's first career complete game shutout. Chacin struck out 7 batters, induced 13 grounders, walked a mere 2, and gave up 6 hits, 3 of which came off of the bat of Aramis Ramirez. The Rockies tagged Matt Garza for 5 runs, mostly off of the 3-run triple which also scored on a throwing error from SS Starlin Castro.
Game 2 was uglier for the Rockies. Jason Hammel turned in a quality start, going 6IP and allowing 3ER on 7 hits, 1BB, and 5 punchouts. Felipe Paulino came in to try and keep the 3-1 game close, but then proceeded to give up: Infield hit to Koyie Hill, weak groundball single through the 1B-2B hole to Blake Dewitt, a shoetop homer to Starlin Castro, a double down the LF line that landed fair by about 3 inches to Darwin Barney, an Marlon Byrd groundout (3u), and then a seeing eye single to Aramis Ramirez to finish his evening. Franklin Morales allowed Ramirez to score on an eventual Kosuke Fukudome single, but the game was kind of out of hand at that point.
Game 3 went down to the bullpens. Ryan Dempster went 5 and allowed 5, Alan Johnson went 4 and allowed 4 (earned, 5R total). Luckily, Marcos Mateo brought his "give up lots of runs" shorts and the Rockies tagged him for 4 more runs in a big clutch rally. You know, I think that was the last time Carlos Gonzalez got a hit.
Last 2 Series Results: Win 2-1 v SDP, L 1-2 v LAD
Well, I guess we can't expect other divisions to do ALL of our dirty work.
Over the past week, Kosuke Fukudome and Reed Johson turned on the heat a little, posting respective OPS of 1.236 and 1.736. The two batters played in 10 games between the two of them (5 apiece) yet started only 5 of them (Johnson 2, Fukudome 3). The Cubbies have a few guys who batted over .300 in that timeframe, including Darwin Barney, Aramis Ramirez, and Marlon Byrd. Downside is that none of them posted over .800 OPS.
Over that same 7 day period, Ryan Dempster, James Russell, Casey Coleman, and Carlos Zambrano made a combined 4 starts, went a combined 17.1 IP, and allowed 23 runs. All earned. That's an 11.94 ERA. Upside: Matt Garza threw like 6 shutout innings.
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Raw Numbers 'n' stuff past the jump
Monday through Wednesday: 3-game series at Wrigley Field
Expected Pitching Matchups:
Monday, April 25, 6:05PM MT
Tuesday, April 26, 6:05 PM MT
vs
Cubs undecided about Tuesday starter | cubs.com: News
The Cubs have yet to name a starter for Tuesday's game against the Rockies, and manager Mike Quade said he wasn't sure if left-hander James Russell would get another start.
Wednesday, April 27, 12:20PM MT
Expected Lineup
|
Name |
Position |
AVG |
OBP |
SLG |
wOBA |
wRC+ |
HR |
RBI |
SB |
|
Kosuke Fukudome |
OF |
.415 |
.529 |
.439 |
.443 |
170 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
Darwin Barney |
2B |
.329 |
.360 |
.414 |
.339 |
102 |
0 |
11 |
1 |
|
Starlin Castro |
SS |
.376 |
.402 |
.505 |
.407 |
147 |
1 |
11 |
3 |
|
Aramis Ramirez |
3B |
.329 |
.393 |
.443 |
.368 |
121 |
1 |
9 |
0 |
|
Marlon Byrd |
OF |
.284 |
.300 |
.375 |
.295 |
74 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
|
Carlos Pena |
1B |
.182 |
.313 |
.200 |
.254 |
48 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
|
Alfonso Soriano |
OF |
.244 |
.272 |
.513 |
.334 |
100 |
6 |
14 |
0 |
|
Geovany Soto |
C |
.250 |
.338 |
.353 |
.315 |
87 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
The Bench
|
Name |
Position |
AVG |
OBP |
SLG |
wOBA |
wRC+ |
HR |
RBI |
SB |
|
Jeff Baker |
IF |
.361 |
.361 |
.528 |
.389 |
135 |
1 |
8 |
0 |
|
Reed Johnson |
OF |
.381 |
.409 |
.667 |
.441 |
169 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
|
Blake DeWitt |
IF |
.250 |
.294 |
.313 |
.274 |
61 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
Koyie Hill |
C |
.111 |
.273 |
.111 |
.208 |
18 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Tyler Colvin |
UTIL |
.128 |
.196 |
.319 |
.220 |
26 |
2 |
7 |
0 |
Closer