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Hitting Back

Friday, June 11, 2004

Yesterday: Cardinals 12, Cubs 4.
Today: Cubs 12, Cardinals 3.

Hitsapalooza: The Cubs came back after being demoralized (at least this fan was) yesterday by the Cardinals offensive output. Today was the Cubs turn to put a hurtin on the Cards, and they did. A 10 run inning in the fourth was highlighted by 9 consecutive hits and 9 runs with 2 outs. Moises Alou and D. Lee both went deep, while the rest of the Cubs poked holes in the Redbirds' infield defense.

Observations: With Aramis Ramirez on third and Todd Hollandsworth on second, Derek Lee saw 8 pitches before driving in Aramis with a high chopper. He did an excellent job of fouling off some tough pitches, and really contributed to the Cubs big inning by forcing Danny Heren to show all of his pitches.

Carlos Zambrano got a two out hit to keep the inning alive. If Zambrano gets out, the Cubs score two and its a 3-2 game after the 4th inning. Instead, the Cubs offense rumbled to an 11-2 score after the fourth.

In Aramis' second at bat of the fourth, he doubled off the Ivy in centerfield. Edmonds tried for a webgem and instead ended up ripping up the ivy pretty badly. I hope they dock the Cardinal's share of the gate for the added expense of repairing the Ivy... which has to be in tip-top shape since the White Sox (and a few of their Ivy poisoning fans) are coming in 3 weeks. Man, I really don't like Jim Edmonds...

Those aqua velva commercials playing between innings are really bad.

Chip Caray said: that the Cubs have won only 5 games this year when they didn't hit a ball out of the ballpark. Which startled me at first, but then got me thinking. How many times have the Cubs not hit dinger's this year? So, I'll go count: The Cubs have gone dinger-less in 17 games this year (28.81% of the 59 games played so far.)

• In those games, the Cubs are 5-12 (Win % = .294).
• Nine of these 17 games have been played at Wrigley while 8 were played on the road, including all three games played in Chavez Ravine (Dodgers).
• In those 17 games, the Cubs have scored 61 runs, and permitted 64. This is a suprising number considering the Cubs win % when not hitting a homer.
• The Pythagorean standings would suggest that the Cubs should have an 8-9 record in homer-less games.Check out Rob Neyer's page with current pythagorean standings.
• In the Cubs 5 homer-less wins, they have scored 49 runs and allowed 8.
• In the 12 homer-less losses, the Cubs have been outscored 56 to 12. This includes six shutouts.
• The Cubs have gone 26-16 when at least one homer is hit during the game.
• The Cubs have gone yard in 71.2% of their games (42 of 59).
• The Cubs are tied for fourth (with the Cardinals) in home runs in the Major Leagues, and second in the NL. The Yankees have 87 and the White Sox have 83 (with DH's). The Rockies are tops in the NL with 81, followed closely by the Cubs and Cards at 80.
• The Cubs are hitting 1.36 home runs per game, which is well above the MLB average of 1.079.
• The Cubs are on pace to hit 220 home runs this year. The franchise record is 212 set in 1998.

Injury Update: Sammy is heading to West Tennessee for three rehab games. Maybe he does mean it when he says he wants to win more than anything else.

Kerry is still suffering pain at "the point of full extension," but the Cubs can't find structural damage. Sounds similar to what happened in 1998.

Joe Borowski has structural damage in his shoulder and is going to see Dr. Lewis Yocum, the Angel's doc. A google of Lewis Yocum turned up articles about Mike Fetters suffering a muscle tear in the elbow and needing surgery, as well as Pedro Astacio's torn labrum. Yocum is described as an upper extremeties specialist by professional team physicians.com. Not Good. Good Luck JoBlow, Cubdom loves you.

The Race for the Playoffs: The Reds have lost three consecutive games, and the Cubs are now in fourth place. The Astros are .5 a game back of the Reds , with the Cards trailing the Reds by 1.5 games. The Cubs are 3 back.

Posted by Byron at June 11, 2004 5:06 AM | |

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