Minor Matters – May 6, 2013 (Cubs Minor League Recaps)
At The Plate – The Iowa Cubs are playing much better baseball of late and they are being rewarded with wins. Brian Bogusevic just hits, that’s all, he was 1-for-2 with two walks, a triple, an RBI, and two runs scored. Josh Vitters was 1-for-4 with his second home run in as many days, two RBI’s and a run scored. Brad Nelson was 2-for-4 with two singles in the win. Edwin Maysonet was 2-for-4 with his first home run of the season, a double, three RBI’s, and a run scored.
On The Mound – Matt Garza made his first appearance with Iowa in his rehab tour of the minor leagues tonight. Garza was solid tonight, working 3.1 innings giving up four runs while striking out three, and emerging healthy. Cory Wade worked two-thirds of an inning giving up a hit while striking out two. Chris Rusin was tremendous out of the pen to get the win, he worked five scoreless innings giving up three hits while striking out two.
At The Plate – Daytona seems to be in a funk at the plate as of late, they were only able to score twice on six hits tonight. John Andreoli hasn’t missed a beat however as he was 2-for-4 with a double, and his tenth stolen base of the seaoson. Jorge Soler had a big night going 2-for-4 with his fourth home run of the season, a triple, an RBI, and two runs scored.
On The Mound – Zach Cates was knocked around quite a bit this one as he worked four innings giving up six runs on eleven hits while walking one and striking out two. Frank Del Valle was great out of the pen going two scoreless innings giving up one hit while striking out three. Austin Reed was just as good going two scoreless innings giving up one hit while striking out one.
At The Plate – Kane County’s six game winning streak came to an end tonight, but not without some fight from the Cougars. After falling behind 11-1 the Cougars scored seven times over the final five innings to make it a game but fell just short. Pin-Chieh Chen was 2-for-3 with two walks, two RBI’s, and two runs scored. Dan Vogelbach was 1-for-4 with a walk, a double, two RBI’s and a run scored. Jeimer Candelario was 1-for-3 with a double, two walks, an RBI, and a run scored. Bijan Rademacher has been out of his mind lately, he was 3-for-5 with an RBI, a stolen base, and a run scored in the loss.
On The Mound – Some good and some bad for the Cougars in this one. Lendy Castillo got the start and the loss as he went four innings giving up eight runs, six earned, on eight hits while walking one and striking out two. Jeffry Antigua wasn’t much better as he worked an inning giving up three runs on four hits while walking one and striking out one. Now the good, Eddie Orozco went two scoreless, hit-less innings while striking out two. Brian Smith worked a scoreless inning as well giving up two hits while walking one and striking out one. Bijan Rademacher not only had three hits in this one, he also pitched a scoreless inning, ah, minor league baseball with loads of double-headers.
Thanks for reading,
- George
Cubs Fall Short of Sweep in Miami
The Cubs held early leads of 1-0 and 3-2 but couldn’t hang on as the Marlins scored four times in the final three innings en route to a 6-4 victory. Giancarlo Stanton finally broke out, a day too soon for the Cubs as he blasted two home runs and drove in four of the six runs the Marlins scored. The one guy that can’t beat you in this lineup is Stanton, and he beat the Cubs today. Winning three out of four is good, especially on the road, but a sweep would have been nice. 
The Cubs couldn’t take advantage of a couple of opportunities they had in this one as they were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Today marked the first game all year that Carlos Villanueva gave up more than two runs, not a bad run at all.
At The Plate – A number of guys had solid days, unfortunately the guys that struggled did so with guys on base. David DeJesus was 1-for-3 with a walk, and two runs scored. Starlin Castro was 2-for-4 with a double, and two RBI’s. Anthony Rizzo stayed hot going 2-for-3 with a walk, and an RBI. Dioner Navarro was 1-for-4 with his third home run of the season leading off the ninth inning, but the Cubs couldn’t mount a rally after that.
On The Mound - Carlos Villanueva has been great all year, and until the sixth inning he was outstanding again. Villanueva was hung with the loss, going six innings giving up four runs on four hits while walking three and striking out eight. Kameron Loe was also roughed up out of the pen going two innings giving up two runs on three hits
Up Next - The Cubs return home to face the Padres, another four game series, and a chance for the Cubs to continue playing solid baseball and get some wins. Jeff Samardzija will get the ball in game one, he will be opposed by Clayton Richard at 7:05 PM CST.
Game Highlights:
Rizzo’s RBI double
Castro’s great diving stop
Castro’s two-run double
Navarro goes deep in the ninth
Thanks for reading,
- George
April 8, 2013 – Home Opener vs Brewers! Lineups!
The wind is howling out at Wrigley today, could be a home opener to remember if Edwin Jackson and Marco Estrada can’t keep the ball down. Here is how both teams will line up today, days like this turn even the light hitting teams into juggernauts.
Thanks for reading,
- George
Marmol Out as Cubs Closer, Fujikawa In
The writing has been on the wall for sometime, today Sveum made it official, Marmol is out as Cubs closer. Kyuji Fujikawa who has previous closing experience (11 years in Japan) will take over. Kyuji had a rough go of it last night as well but overall has been better than Marmol with his command. I really thought Sveum would go to Russell or Camp right now and let Fuji settle into the set up role before moving him to closer. I think removing Marmol from the equation is the right move, the Cubs need him to be successful and the ninth inning is not the place for a hope and a prayer, hopefully he turns it around.
Thanks for reading,
- George
Javier Baez Hits Walk-Off Homer Against Japan (VIDEO)
This is why the internet is awesome, I’m not in Arizona to see the Cubs top prospects play. So I didn’t get to see Javier Baez destroy a walk-off homer against Team Japan today, but thanks to the interwebs here it is! Enjoy!
Thanks for reading,
- George
Cubs Struggle to Find Runs In Castro’s Return
The Cubs lost to the Rockies 2-0 yesterday, that’s alright, because the bigger news was that Starlin Castro returned to the lineup and looked no worse for wear.
At the plate:
Darwin Barney had a solid day going 2-for-3, Brett Jackson, Steve Clevenger, and Starlin Castro were all 1-for-1, and Scott Hariston tallied the only other hit for the Cubs. They only managed six all day, and all of them were singles.
On the mound:
Edwin Jackson was stellar, going five innings giving up one run on three hits while walking one and striking out two. Kyuji Fujikawa had a rare sub par outing as he struggled with command giving up one run in one inning of work on one hit, while walking two and striking out two. Cory Wade, Carlos Marmol, and Jensen Lewis all tossed scoreless, uneventful innings in the loss.
Spring Record: (7-11)
Up Next:
Cubs face the Dodgers, and Chris Rusin gets the ball, Rusin has been pretty darn good so far this Spring, and is slated to join the Iowa rotation this year.
Thanks for reading,
- George
10 Days Removed From Surgery, Getting Back at it
Hey everyone!
Just wanted to give you an update and apologize for the lack of updates since my surgery. I had a spinal fusion on 11/9/12, things are progressing and I’m doing my best to get back at the blog to make sure you guys have all the most up to date Cubs info, working hard to get there, trust me. Just wanted to let you know that I haven’t forgotten about you, thanks for following us all year, and expect some great coverage coming up!
- George
October 25, 2012 AFL Recap; Baez Continues Power Surge, Solar Sox Continue Losing
Seeing the final score you might not think that this one was a pitching duel, but it was. Heading to the 8th inning the game was all tied up at one, that’s when Peoria blew it open. Peoria scored three times in the 8th and four times in the ninth to win this one 8-2. Matt Szczur had a quiet day at the plate going 0-for-4, he is now hitting .250 on the season. Rubi Silva also had an 0-for-4 performance at the plate, the 0′fer dropped Silva’s average to .188 on the season. Javier Baez continued his power urge as he was 1-for-3 with a walk, a home run, an RBI, two stolen bases, and two runs scored. Baez now has four home runs and 14 RBI’s on the season, however he is only hitting .220, but those power numbers are impressive.
Thanks for reading,
- George
August 12, 2012 – Cubs Lineup vs. Reds
The Cubs look to finish the series with a split today after letting a late lead slip away yesterday. Brooks Raley will make his second Major League start and he has quite the opponent, 14 game winner Johnny Cueto. Here is how the Cubs will line up behind Raley.
DeJesus – RF
Barney -2B
Rizzo – 1B
Soriano – LF
Castro – SS
Valbuena – 3B
Jackson – CF
Clevenger – C
Raley – P
Thanks for reading, go Cubs!!
- George
