Kevin Hart we barely knew you... Hart earned his 3rd victory of the season improving to 3-1 with a quality start: 6IP, 6H, 3ER, 2BB, 4K, he was also 1-3 at the plate. This was also Hart's final start in a Cubs uniform as he was traded after the game along with P Jose Ascanio and INF Josh Harrison (A) to the Pittsburgh Pirates (our favorite trading partner) for LHP John Grabow and LHP Tom Gorzelanny. Grabow, 30, was a highly sought after left-handed reliever who is 3-0, 3.42 ERA in 45 games this season for the Pirates. He is a lefty specialist who should be Lou Piniella's best left-handed option out of the bullpen for the rest of this season. Gorzelanny, 26, is a Chicago native (south-side, though) who has been a starter for most of his short career. This season he has been relegated to the bullpen with little success in only 9 games, he was on the DL/in the minors for the rest of the season, he has not pitched in the big leagues since June 10th. I do like this trade for the Cubs. Although Hart did give us 3 straight solid starts, I do not feel he was in the Cubs' long term plans, I also feel that Ascanio could develop into a solid set-up guy. The Cubs desperately needed a lefty set-up man, and Grabow fills that void. My guess is, B.J. Ryan was not too impressive at Iowa, or they plan to bring Ryan up as well, and move Sean Marshall (who did pitch today) back into the starting rotation to replace Ted Lilly/Hart. I am not quite sure where Gorzelanny fits into the Cubs future plans. He was a decent starter at times in his young career, hopefully he can get back on track, and provide some depth at starter for the Cubs. In my opinion the Cubs paid a high price for Grabow, but there was a demand for him throughout the league, hopefully this deal pays off for both clubs.
As for the game itself today, it was another blowout Cubs win. Things were tight early, but right on cue, Astros starter Russ Ortiz (who was walking a tightrope) finally caved and gave up 5 runs in the 3rd inning, after allowing 4 in the 2nd inning. This was the second day in a row that an Astros starter allowed 9ER. In the 2nd, Fukudome had an RBI single and Ryan Theriot would later add a 2-RBI double in the same inning. Hart let the Astros back in the game in the top half of the third giving up a 2-Run HR to Kaz Matsui, making the score 4-3, that was the last time the Astros would score.
In the bottom of the third Jake Fox and Milton Bradley hit back-to-back HR's to left-field. The Cubs were not done here, Alfonso Soriano followed with a single up the middle, and Mike Fontenot followed that with an RBI triple (after he looked like a douche popping out on a first pitch in his first at-bat). Next, Koyie Hill hit a Sac-Fly scoring Fontenot, this is all I really expect from Hill, any run production from him is a bonus, the man calls one hell of a game. After Hill, Hart got a base hit and later scored on a Fukudome RBI double. In all, the Cubs got 5 runs in the 3rd inning, which lasted about 40 minutes, no thanks to Ortiz, who is one of the slowest pitchers in MLB, much like Steve Trachsel.
The Cubs would go on to tack on another run in the 5th and two more in the 7th. In the end Fukudome probably had the best day among Cubs hitters going 3-3, 3B, 2B, 2 BB, 4RBI. Ryan Theriot also had a big day going 1-4 with 4RBI. That is very good production from the top of the order, I feel as if Lou should leave Fukudome in the lead-off spot against right-handed pitching for the remainder of the season. Soriano and Fontenot each had 2 hits apiece, Soriano even walked 2 times, and they both scored 2 runs apiece. Andres Blanco had a nice pinch-hit as well, he is due for some more playing time. The only Cub who had a bad day was Derrek Lee, but this was somewhat expected since he has struggled against Ortiz his whole career, he was 3 for 33 (.091) lifetime vs Ortiz, and did nothing to change that today. I am not at all concerned. Lee did make a phenomenal catch & tag on an errant throw from Theriot on a double-play, a crucial one actually, it came with the bases loaded and one out in the second inning, and saved Hart's day.
Furthermore, the bullpen was sharp today as well: Marshall, Mitch Atkins, and Kevin Gregg each pitched a scoreless inning. Atkins looked good once again, although most pitchers do when they are up by 9 runs. Gregg struck out the side and needed the work, he had not been used since Sunday afternoon, it was good to see Gregg pitch well/efficiently with a big lead (something he has struggled with this season).
This home-stand was a huge success for the Cubs who went 6 and 1 and are now 14 games over .500 at home this season. Now the Cubs embark on a 10-game road trip stopping in Florida, Cincinnati, and Colorado. The Cubs would like to take care of business on this trip and continue their good play from the last road trip. The Cubs will need to win not only to stay in the division race, but Florida and Colorado are also competing with the Cubs for the Wild-Card race, so these games are BIG.
Up Next: Cubs vs Marlins Friday night at 6:10pm on Comcast Sports Net and WGN Radio. Rich Harden (7-6, 4.55 ERA) goes against Kris Volstad (8-9, 4.44). Harden is coming off of 3 straight good starts, his most recent one, was proabably his best of the season. Tomorrow's game is a night game and we all know how well Harden pitches in those, hopefully he can keep up the good work tomorrow night. As for Volstad, I do not know too much about him: I know he is young and very talented, probably better than his numbers show, he is also a big/imposing figure on the mound. I expect tomorrow night's game to be a close one for sure. Hopefully the Cubs can keep their winning streak alive and start off their road-trip on a positive note with a win!
*Also, the demoralized Astros are headed to St.Louis for a weekend series with the suddenly hot Cardinals, who are fresh off a few victories (as I am writing this, we'll see about tonight's game) of the Dodgers (who suddenly look beat-able). Hopefully the Dodgers can help out the Cubs tonight with a win over the Cards and maybe the Astros can come back to life and at least compete with the Cards over the weekend, but that may be asking too much, they looked terrible in this series against the Cubs, their starting pitching other than Roy Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez is pathetic.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment