Cubs revert to old ways, get shut out by Braves

Last night the Cubs were shut out by the Atlanta Braves, 2-0. The Cubs and Braves played this game as a make up for a rained out game from their series in early June. Ryan Dempster pitched last night and he did OK: 6.2IP, 2ER, 8H, 6K, 4BB. Dempster just can not seem to do anything good, he really hurt himself last night. In the third inning he walked the lead-off man, Diory Hernandez (who was hitting .129) on 4 pitches, Hernandez would later come around to score. I could not believe Dempster walked this guy, it would be like an opposing pitcher walking Aaron Miles. Lead-off walks are killers, they always seem to lead to runs. Dempster had 4 walks overall which is not good, until he cuts down on the walks this season, he will not win games consistently. Sean Marshall got Dempster out of a jam in the 7th and the recently called up Kevin Hart pitched a scoreless 9th. By the way, Dempster should have been taken out of the game after 6 innings. For some reason he was allowed to bat for himself in the top of the 7th despite already throwing over 100 pitches and getting in and out of multiple jams. Lou Piniella inexplicably allowed Dempster to bat for himself to lead-off an inning, trailing by one run. I am sorry Lou, but Dempster is hitting .094 and was not really all that sharp through 6 innings, why would you allow him to talk you into another inning? Dempster always manages to weasel into another inning that he does not deserve to pitch, sure enough he allowed another run in the 7th. Great managing Lou!

Furthermore, I can not believe the Cubs were shut out last night. I mean come on, they had 10 hits, but unfortunately they were all singles. They could have scored in the first inning after Ryan Theriot reached on a single, but Fukudome (who really sucks again by the way) grounded into a double-play. Sure enough, Jake Fox and Derrek Lee followed with two more singles, only to be stranded by Micah Hoffpauir. The Cubs hitters just could not get anything going against Javier Vazquez. The Cubs did load the bases in the 6th, but Lou allowed Andres Blanco to bat for himself in that spot with two outs. Bob Brenly said the likely reason why Lou let Blanco bat here was that neither Alfonso Soriano nor Milton Bradley had hit Vazquez well in the past. Blanco managed to hit the ball hard, but right at the center fielder. Lou decided to rest Soriano and Bradley before the upcoming road-trip.

On a positive note each of the Cubs' position players had a base-hit last night, with the exception of Fukudome who was 0-3. While Theriot, Fox, and Blanco each had two base-hits apiece. The bottom line though: The Cubs left 12 men on base and were 0-6 with RISP. Last night's game looked like the Cubs were still in early June, they did not look like the team fresh off of a 4-game winning streak. Derrek Lee did extend his career-long hitting streak to 19 games. For as much as I have ripped him this season, he is finally playing like I have expected him to play the last year and a half, hopefully he can stay hot. At least the Cubs did not lose any ground in the division last night, as the Mets defeated the Cardinals, keeping the Cubs at 2.5 GB at 34-32.

Also, last Friday I attended the Cubs vs Indians game. I sat on a rooftop owned by Wrigleyville Rooftops, located at 1032 Waveland. It was quite key. We were unsure if the weather would allow the game to be played, but we lucked out. They allowed us into the rooftop 30 mins before game time which was scheduled to be 1:20pm, so we went in at 1pm. The game did not get started until 2:45pm which means we were able to capitalize on the all you can drink beer deal which ran until the end of the 7th inning. This was the second best game I have ever been to (#1 was last year against the Rockies on a Friday too, when we won 10-9) coming back from 7-0 is very cool. I just had a feeling as the game went on that we were going to win. When Derrek Lee hit the game-tying HR off of Kerry Wood the place went nuts. What made it even better was that I was sitting with a group of Indians fans, poor bastards. I really do feel as if I am Lee's good-luck charm, he always comes up big when I am at the game, ironic.

My personal 2009 Cubs record: 6 and 2.
Next game I am going to as of right now: TBD.

Up Next: Cubs at Tigers at 6:05pm on WGN TV and Radio. Carlos Zambrano (4-2, 3.44 ERA) vs Edwin Jackson (6-4, 2.39 ERA). This is the first time this season the Cubs will play with a DH. Given that Jackson is a righty, I expect to see Hoffpauir start as our DH. Zambrano has been very good recently, I look for him to continue pitching well, I assume most of the Tigers' hitters have not seen much of Big Z. Jackson has been a huge surprise for the Tigers this season, if his 2.39 ERA is any indicator, the Cubs will struggle to score off of him in this game. I would expect to see a pitcher's duel tonight. I do not know much about the Tigers other than the fact that Magglio Ordonez is struggling worse than Geovany Soto or Bradley combined, and has been benched. Zambrano also needs to be wary of fellow countryman Miguel Cabrera, who is hitting .333 with 14HR, 44RBI. If the Cubs can keep Cabrera in check, they can win this series. Also, not having to face Justin Verlander in this series is a huge plus. The Cubs are 4-1 in inter-league games this season, I hope they keep it up! Go Cubs!