On a night when Greg Maddux made history, the Cubs made something else. Maddux’s third inning strikeout of Omar Vizquel made him the second player in Major League history to get his 3,000th strikeout with less than 1,000 walks. The only other guy who did it also wore 31 for the Cubs and also was sent away for a big hunk of the prime of his career. Greg went to Atlanta and to the playoffs every year, Fergie went to Texas and to customs jail for a while.
Maddux’s accomplishment is impressive. His whole career he’s been trying to get guys out with the fewest possible pitches, and yet he still has struck out 3,001 of them to date. The way he handled his strikeout says a lot about him. He got Vizquel with a backup slider and tried to sneak off the field without anybody noticing. This is opposed to say Roger Clemens who tried to dig the pitching rubber out of the mound and got an estimate on how much it would cost to have himself bronzed.
Unfortunately, Maddux’s milestone came after nearly a three hour rain delay, during which most of us contemplated suicide after listening to Phil Rogers give us great insight for about 20 minutes. You know, stuff like, “I think the Cardinals are pretty good.” Also, while Maddux pitched one of his best games all year, the Cubs’ offense decided that on a night when it was cold, rainy and the wind was howling in from all fields, that it was a good chance to try to hit every pitch for a homer. Ahh, you love how these guys never learn.
The Cubs even managed to misplace two players. Jerry Hairston the Lesser disappeared sometime during the seventh inning. Maybe he had to get to a leg waxing appointment, or perhaps his Volvo was double parked, but he left the game and the great Jose Macias came in.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Cubs had things set up perfectly. Michael Barrett hit a line shot to left field off of our old pal LaTroy Hawkins and the ball just crept over the basket for a game tying homer.
Jeromy Burnitz walked. Neifi bunted him to second. Matt Murton walked. A wild pitch sent Burnitz to third. Well here you go. See, now is when Dusty can prove that he is what he claims to be, a man who finds the best role for a player and lets him excel in it.
So Todd Hollandsworth came up and lined a sac fly to right to score the go-ahead run.
Bob Novoa gave Ryan Dempster a night off and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the win and the Cubs moved to within three games of Washington in the Wild Card race.
Only Hollandsworth didn’t pinch hit, Jody Gerut did, and his streak of not hitting the ball out of the infield reached six as he popped up. Macias was in the game for Hairston and even he hit one far enough to be a sac fly, only there were two outs.
So why did Gerut hit and not Hollandsworth?
Dusty is driving to work right now and trying to figure out which bullshit answer he’s going to give. He’s got it narrowed down to.
1) I thought we traded Hollandsworth during the rain delay.
2) Gerut faced Hawkins a bunch when he was with the Indians and Hawkins was a Twin.
3) I was saving Hollandsworth for a more important at bat.
4) Hollandsworth’s been struggling and Gerut’s had some nice at bats in batting practice lately.
5) Holly thought the game had been rained out and he left.
6) I’m a dumbass.
You watch. Two is going to be his answer, and it’s ludicrous.
The other thing that’s ludicrous is that Gerut swung at the pitch he made an out on.
Here’s what had happened before that.
Barrett hit a grooved fastball on the first pitch for a homer.
Burnitz saw one strike in his at bat and walked.
Neifi had to take two bad pitches before he bunted (personally, I’d have had Neifi take a strike and then bunt, in case LaTroy wanted to walk him).
Murton saw maybe one strike in his at bat and one of the pitches went 52 feet and bounced between Mike Matheny’s legs to get Burnitz to third.
The first two pitches to Gerut were high and Matheny went out to talk to Hawkins.
I’m sure Gerut figured he was getting a fastball and that he could hit it through the drawn in infield, but the ball was up and he hit it about 20 feet. Don’t you HAVE to make LaTroy throw you a strike there? Gerut’s supposed to be smart, right? And he’s supposed to have an idea of the strike zone? Have the Cubs sucked that out of him already? It’s barely been a week.
In another bit of nice strategy, the Cubs tried to foil another squeeze attempt earlier in the game. This time they pitched out and were wrong, meaning that Felipe Alou had to figure Dusty wouldn’t pitch out again. But you have Greg Maddux on the mound. I think he can handle being behind 2-1 to the other team’s pitcher.
And don’t get me started on the 1-2 pitch that Michael Wuertz threw to Jason Ellison that was lined to center to drive in the winning run. I’m going to pretend I had fallen asleep by then and didn’t see that freakin’ meatball hanging over the plate. Hey, I’m working on barely five hours sleep thanks to these clowns, cut me some slack.
There were some good things. It was impressive to see how much of the crowd stuck around through three hours of rain delay to see Maddux go for his 3,000th strikeout. To most of the world he’s an Atlanta Brave, but I’ll admit it’s been nice to see him come back and get his 300th win and 3,000th strikeout as a Cub. It reminds you of how much he accomplished while he was gone, which is also a big kick to the nuts, come to think of it.
Matt Murton needs to play. Sure, four of his 12 big league hits haven’t left the infield, but it’s so nice to see a Cubs’ hitter who actually knows where the strike zone is, and can do something about it. He’s walked five times in 32 plate appearances and has seen 116 pitches already in his young career. Corey Patterson could swing and miss at 116 pitches in 32 at bats (I know, the math doesn’t work, you get the point.) He’s already had a four hit game and a three hit game and he’s only been around since…well just this month. You know teams are going to start busting him inside because he’s so comfortable going to right field with outside pitches, but not that many big league pitchers are all that good at pitching inside consistently. When pitchers miss outside they tend to miss way outside and when they miss inside they tend to miss over the plate. It’s yet another reason why it’s frustrating to watch players try and pull outside pitches. You just encourage pitchers to pitch you outside where their margin of error is a lot bigger than it is if they have to try and come inside.
You don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Cubs three best hitters (Lee, Walker, E-ramis) all are happy to drill outside pitches to the opposite field, and that because of that they get pitched inside a lot?
The Cubs play today less than 12 hours after pissing away last night’s game and you just know Dusty’s going to use the short turnaround as an excuse to field some gawdawfully ridiculous lineup. I half expect to see Macias playing first.
“Bronzing Roger Clemens? Do you know the amount of money and manpower that would go into that job? I’m sorry son, but tell your daddy that we can’t even give him an estimate. Why do you keep cheering for the Yankees?”
I would watch Monday Night Football, but I don’t have ESPN.
Remember when I lost a couple games while I was wearing my specially made 300 win cleats and 300 win glove? That was funny, shameless self promotion, even for me. My wife and kids took a lot of crap in the stands that day….ahh, good times.
I would watch Monday Night Football, but I don’t watch espn.
I have ESPN, but I imagine I’ll watch “Barely Legal Vol. XVII” like I do every monday night.
I’m on ESPN and I have it. But, sometimes it’s hard to see….on account of the eye!
Oh, I almost forgot, “Boo-yah!” They make me say that. I’d actually like to include 18th century literary references in my highlights.
My future’s so bright I gotta where blue blockers, son.
I had to leave the Cubs to get my 300th win, if I’d stayed, with this offense, I would be going for my 200th this year.
I remember those days, Roger. Heh heh heh! Good times.
Sloth:
Okay, that covers the first 97 seconds after 8 PM Central. Then what?
Everybody thinks we’re building for the future? That’s a new one on me.
Last night, I leave game after Maddux get his 3,000 strikeout so I can get ready for today. I drive my Escalade to El Jardin, where I pick up a burrito and rice & beans to go.
I sit at home and watch game on TV while I eat.
That Dusty Baker. He’s a big fucking retard, mang.
But don’t worry Cub fans. I come back today and we take series. We still haven’t lost a series in three weeks, Cub Fans. Today? I keel the Giants. Buenos dias.
Chasing us is not a bad thing. In 2002 we let the Cardinals catch us. In 2003 we let the Cubs catch us. Last year, you fucked up, you had the lead. We play great with no pressure. Put a little on us and we fold up like a tent.
Kind of like the Cubs in the playoffs.
Hey, what time does the doubleheader start today? I got the best night’s sleep ever last night!
Uh, Carlos….you drive a Hummer. We gave you one for that ourageous comercial you did with Brenly, remember?
dudes, tough loss yesterday dudes, but the cold and wind and rain made it impossible to play good ball dudes. I did the right moves dudes but didn’t work out. Gerut has seen a lot of La troy from their days in the american league dudes.
the state of the team dudes is: we’re playing .510 ball after 100 games. There’s 62 left and I think if we go 36-26 dudes, we’re in with a 87-75 record.
Dudes, how do I see us accomplishing this? simple, dudes:
HOME 23-10
SF 1-0 (today), Ari 3-1, cin 3-0, stl 2-2, atl 1-2, fla 2-1, lad 2-1, cin 3-0, stl 2-2, hou 2-1, pitt 2-0
AWAY 15-14
phi 1-2, nym 1-2, hou 1-2, col 2-1, pit 3-0, stl 1-2, sf 2-2, mil 2-1, hou 2-2
As you can see dudes, this is realistic, and gives us a record of 89-73 dudes, good enough for the wild card dudes.
See? I’m in control dudes.
As far as posts with me all over them go, #16 wasn’t half bad.
You have to go to the bathroom.
You secretly hate your father and want to have sex with your mother.
You eat too much.
You think about sex too much.
I am the Pope.
Hey Cub fans,
I think you wrote my obituary too soon. Serves you right. You’ve got memories smaller than Dusty’s brain. You thought I would just hang it up? Pshaw.
7 Games
6 2/3 IP
1 Hit
1 Walk
Think you could use me now? Michael Wuertz looked like the 2002 version of me for about a month. Since then, he sucks. Novoa? Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. Meanwhile, I’m doing what I used to always do. Keeping hitters off balance, not issuing walks, and basically not shitting my pants. But you guys knew everything. Knew I was done. In spite of my demonstrated perserverance.
Even if you include my lousy Cub numbers, when i was trying to get back in shape and gave up 5 home runs, my numbers aren’t so bad.
18 Games
17 2/3 IP
13 H
2 BB
12 K
ERA- 4.075
WHIP- .0849
Plus, I think you guys are still paying, minus my prorated league minimum. Enjoy the football season, assholes!
We haven’t seen a lot of you yet, Sweaty Joe. But we’ll catch up with you in a year two.
Geez #18, relax the sphincter. We all love Joe, but we couldn’t sit around and watch him serve up gopher ball after gopher ball. He did for 4 consecutive appearances fer chrissakes. And unlike Tampa, we don’t have the patience to wait things out if we’re to make the playoffs.
I hope Joe never gives up another run and wins the AL Cy Young award. Honestly. Now shut up.
We haven’t done a great deal of reading or writing either apparently but we are Hooked on Phonics and in a year or two, we’ll be ready to join the Desipio Book Club.
Dusty, under your scenario, we’d be going 11-0 vs the Pirates and Reds. You really think that’s going to happen? The Reds own you Dusty.
Ouch………
I don’t think Tampa fans need to be me, seeing as how they’ve gotten results from JoBo from the get go.
Yes, but I own the Pirates. 19-4 against them in the last two years.
A game like last night is why this Cubs’ team isn’t a playoff team. You simply can’t go for homeruns when the wind is howling in your face. But they have an ass for a manager that won’t tell them any different.
It was funny though watching Latroy Hawkins get his ass booed that bad. It only took Barrett one pitch to give Latroy some good old fashion flashbacks of his pooping in his pants.
I’m sure the Cubs will be lackluster today and lose the series with a piss poor performance.
Baker Basher
A pissed off Big Z driving around in a Hummer after losing a game 1-0.
#22 dude: we can go 9-2 and still make it.
plus, there won’t be anything left of the reds and pirates after the trade deadline, dude.
Baker basher, nice job, buddy. Keep the pressure on, I don’t want to loose again to that guy like last weekend.
Does anyone know if Rob Mackowiak’s wife is knocked up again? I think she has something to say about the Cubs going 5-0 against the Pirates the rest of the year.
There wasn’t much left of us after the deadline last year either, or before it for that matter. But we beat the Cubs like a runnin’ mule in the last week in low-scoring, extra-inning games. That’s the most humiliating aspect of that meltdown. All your big hitters like Sosa, Alou, Lee, Barrett, they all sucked fat donkey dick in that series and our horse shit pitching OWNED them! HA!!!!! Blame Hawkins and Dusty if you want and they suck too, but your entire team is a filthy, wretched kitty litter box that hasn’t been cleaned out for too long. At least we have the decency to dump ours out before filling back up with shit. You fucking losers.
Who do we kill for this?
Was I an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie?
Len Kasper sucks! It rained for three hours and the Giants pitcher was Noah Lowry and not once did he make a hilarious joke like:
– Lowry spent the rain delay building a big wooden boat.
or
– Lowry was busy during the rain delay walking around Wrigleyville trying to pair up the animals.
Gold!
Trade for me and I’ll do the taunting. I can even play center instead of the second baseman you’ve got out there.
“You fucking losers”
Coming from the Reds? That’s gotta be a joke.
Hey! I’m the second baseman around here, thank you. Forget all the knocks you heard about me from that big, phony jerk Tom Kelly. He said I couldn’t turn a double play but I’ve downright perfected it. it’s a fine art. You just hit the ball hard on the ground directly at somebody and run like hell. I didn’t even hit it particularly well last night but it’s all about placement. I mean, the pitcher barely had to bend over to scoop that up and start the double dip. I rule. Ask me about Sammy Sosa again.
Korey Patterson striking out in front of the league’s top hitter vs. ToDP Walker leaving him in the on deck circle with yet another twin killing. Discuss.
Re: Onion article….so wait a sec, there are people in WI who aren’t alcoholics?
Hey Todd, you and me as a dp combination, spells awesome bro. You can hit into them in key situations, and I can tear parts of my body off the bone hitting into mine. Remember when people said, Walker might not have great range, but he can rake. They also said you were clutch. For a while, you were, what happend?
We are the only people in Wisconsin who aren’t alcoholics.
It’s obviously Dusty’s fault. He waited too long to put me into the 2-hole. The Moran. I mean, it would be pretty hard to ground into two with the leadoff hitter striking out all the time.
I haven’t had a big hit since Monday, and before that it was Sunday. Bite me.
I wish that were true #41, but they are also alcoholics till they die.
not everybody can hit me you know..
Even the most successful players fail 65 times out of 100….
I know, the point was all wisconsinites are alcoholics in one way or another.
I get big hits sometimes too, but I don’t go on blabbing about it though.
I would be much more likable if I would shut up now and then. And if I learned how to play my position.
KA BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
I’m trying to find Sanjay H. As anyone seen him? I wann run a few trade possiblities by him.
Did somebody say something from the bottom of the pile, I couldn’t hear you…
Phil Rogers is an idiot and all, but I would look good in a Cubs uni, no. I just don’t see it happening.
all those reds fans who googled “hank white fan club”
We have computers?
No we can’t field a major league roster or fill a ballpark or beat most decent high school teams. But we can… beat the Cubs. Can’t we?
#55 I wouldn’t bet on that, and you know how I like to bet…
I did crap my pants in the series in 99′, but we all did. As far as postseason stats, mine are pretty good. 6bb and 38k’s in 41 ip, while going 3 and 3 with a 3.92 era, not the best but it’s still pretty good, looks like I’m completely healthy again too. Ah, I’m dreaming…I’m staying here in Cleveland.
I did crap my pants in the series in 99′, but we all did. As far as postseason stats, mine are pretty good. 6bb and 38k’s in 41 ip, while going 3 and 3 with a 3.92 era, not the best but it’s still pretty good, looks like I’m completely healthy again too. Ah, I’m dreaming…I’m staying here in Cleveland.
If I stay healthy, I can be a very nice addition to this staff, as an every other day guy setting uip Dempster. One more pitcher and another bat “leadoff man?” and this team could do some damage…I’m dreaming again, aren’t I?
I apparently like to double post, how the hell did that happen? That was very moranic of me.
Scott, we’ll need to test your arm and make sure you can pitch 3 or 4 days in a row. Have to test that the first week.
Hey Jim,
Sanjay’s busy changing expiration dates on the meat and dairy products. You’ll have to wait for his 5 minute break.
Dudes, how you like my lineup for today? dudes
with macias leading off playing center, we want some speed to confuse the old man dudes.
and dolan, the experiment you propposed in yesterday’s morning dose dude, didn’t work out dude, that’s why we lost yesterday, dude.
So I won’t be taking your advice again dude.
It’s burnitz again between lee and aramis, no aramis after lee dude. See, I need to confuse the old man with righties-lefties-righties-lefties. dude.
Enjoy the game dudes, must win today dudes.
Baker’s son is so cute though, how could he do anything wrong?
Don’t you mean Sanjay’s 5 minute vacation?
Dub Dub, sir. I will pray to Vishnu for strength in predicting bullshit trades.
One again, I will get a Cy Young without throwing a complete game all season.
One again, I will get a Cy Young without throwing a complete game.
Does anyone think Dustys check to the IRS bounced?
Since when does my face speak for me!
I can (and will) pitch FIVE days in a row. I will throw a double header simulated game every day off also.