Results tagged ‘ Darwin Barney ’
Cubs Bats Stay Cold on Tuesday
Justin Germano and Homer Bailey went back and forth early each throwing up zeros for the first five innings. Germano ran into some problems in the sixth when he walked the first three batters in the sixth inning and just like that Germano’s night was done. Manuel Corpas was brought 
into a tough spot and got Scott Rolen to fly out, but Ryan Hanigan delivered the big blow hitting a three run double into the right center gap. Corpas got out of the inning and pitched the seventh as well not allowing another hit. Alberto Cabrera and Jaye Chapman did their job keeping the Reds right where they were as they combined to pitch two scoreless innings. The Cubs threatened in the eighth when with one out Darwin Barney delivered his second hit of the game and would later score the Cubs lone run when Bryan LaHair lined a double down the right field line. Homer Bailey was really good for the Reds, but that would be the end of his night and in came our old friend Sean Marshall. After hitting Dave Sappelt he struck out Josh Vitters and got Anthony Rizzo to ground out to end the Cubs threat in the eighth inning. With no Aroldis Chapman the Cubs saw Jonathan Broxton in the ninth and did absolutely nothing going three up and three down to end the game losing 3-1. The Cubs offense was not good again on Tuesday only able to muster up four hits against the Reds, two of which were by Barney who extended his hitting streak to 13.
Game Highlights:
LaHair’s RBI Double
Jackson’s Running Catch
Sveum Postgame
Thanks for Reading,
-Mark
Sappelt, Volstad Lead Cubs to Fourth Straight Victory
It’s up to you, the reader, to decide whether or not you want to believe my headline, but I assure you that it is valid, and not a joke. This one was a struggle to get through, not only were two of the worst teams in baseball playing, but they did so for just under four hours. It’s hard to play a four hour 
game and only have five total runs scored, but the Cubs and Astros “accomplished” that feat last night. All’s well that ends well I guess as the Cubs wraped up what felt like the longest game of the year with a 4-1 victory. Chris Volstad was solid yet again for the Cubs as he tossed five strong innings giving up one run on four hits while walking five and striking out four. Volstad struggled with his command, see the five walks he surrendered, but he battled and made it through the fifth to not only qualify for, but register his third win of the season. The Cubs had an unlikely hero at the plate, I only say unlikely because Dave Sappelt doesn’t get a lot of playing time and hasn’t been up with the big club for very long this season. Cubs fans might want to get used to him because he most likely will have a role on the 2013 team, performances like last nights will go a long way in securing a spot on the roster next year for Sappelt. Sappy was 2-for-5 with two doubles, three RBI’s and a run scored in the victory, the three RBI’s are a career high.
Game Highlights:
Full Video Recap
Marmol Gets the Save
Sappelt’s Big Day
Volstad’s Outing
Thanks for reading,
- George
Cubs Go Down Fighting, Literally, Kinda
The Cubs could easily be accused as a team just going through the motions this year as they have a had a number of lifeless losses and currently sit 35 games under .500. Tonight was more of the same against the Nationals until Bo Porter, former Cub, and the Nationals third base coach, lit a fire under the club. After the Nationals stole a couple of bases, and Jayson Werth swung at a 3-0 pitch with a five run lead, catcher Steve Clevenger went to the dugout to get a new glove. Apparently Bo Porter didn’t like it, and started barking at the Cubs bench, Jaime Quirk took exception to Porter and the two got in a shouting match which resulted in benches clearing. 
Miraculously, Bo Porter, who started everything stayed at his post at third base, and Quirk was ejected. Fast forward to the 6th, the Cubs were determined to get the last word as Lendy Castillo threw at Bryce Harper, and missed. Harper walked towards the mound with Clevenger intercepting him before he could get too far, but the benches and bullpens were empty once again, this time with vigor. Nats reliever Michael Gonzalez kept running his mouth, which resulted in some more pushing and a possible sad attempt at a punch from Clevenger. Clevenger, and Corpas were ejected along with Gonzalez, that was the end of the extracurriculars, the butt kicking resumed after that. I will say this, it was nice to see a Cubs team answer the bell and finally say enough is enough, however when you are getting blasted night after night it makes you look rather sad. I was still happy to see it.
Now onto the third straight embarrassment on the field. Justin Germano got the start for the Cubs tonight, and didn’t fare much better then the Cubs starters that preceded him in this series. Germano was done after four innings, he gave up seven runs, six earned, on seven hits while walking two and striking out two. Germano left trailing 7-2, this was after the Cubs actually held a lead of 2-1 in the second inning. The Cubs had some success early against Nats starter Jordan Zimmermann as they scored in the first and second to take an early lead. Anthony Rizzo had a great day at the plate going 3-for-4 with his 12th home run of the season. Starlin Castro also did his best to keep the Cubs in this one as he was 2-for-4 with a double, a triple, and a run scored. On to Pittsburgh.
Incident #1 – Bo Porter NOT Ejected
Incident #2
Brett Jackson’s Great Catch
Game Highlights:
Barney Triples Home a Run
Thanks for reading,
- George
Cubs Can’t Overcome Early Giant Surge
Much like the Cubs did yesterday, the Giants jumped out in front early and rode that momentum to victory. Justin Germano got the start and struggled with his command early, and he can’t succeed if he doesn’t have his command. The Giants struck for four runs in the first, all coming after the first two hitters were retired. 
Germano finished his day after five innings giving up five runs on six hits while walking two and striking out two. His counterpart Tim Lincecum was good today, however he made plenty of mistakes over the middle of the plate but the Cubs couldn’t take advantage as they could only bang out five hits in the loss. David DeJesus got every bit of a Lincecum mistake in the third inning launching a massive two-run homer that bounced onto Sheffield Avenue to bring the Cubs to within three at 5-2. Unfortunately that was as close as the Cubs would get as they were shut down over the last six innings in this one. Anthony Rizzo also had a good day at the plate as he is starting to get hot again, he finished the day 2-for-4 with a double. The rubber game of the series takes place tomorrow afternoon where the Cubs will put their hopes of a series win in the hands of Travis Wood.
Game Highlights:
Barney With a Slick Play
DeJesus’ Great Play
Massive Two-Run Homer From DeJesus
Thanks for reading,
- George
Cubs No Match For Harrell
I don’t think I should predict anymore victories, especially when Chris Volstad is pitching. So much for trying to be positive, Chris Volstad is just lost out there, and I was foolish to think he had a chance tonight. Furthermore, if I knew Lendy Castillo would make an 
appearance I would have definitely kept my mouth shut. Volstad was roughed up again tonight, as he recorded his ninth loss of the season, he’s only made twelve starts. Sure, four runs doesn’t seem like a lot, but Volstad was hit hard in every inning. Speaking of innings, Volstad only lasted five, giving up four runs on eight hits while striking out three. Lendy Castillo, or as I like to call him, kerosene, made things much worse in his 0.2 innings of work, he gave up five runs, three earned on five hits while striking out two. This was another one of those “going through the motions” games as the Cubs seemed to want to do anything but play baseball tonight. They only managed six hits, and one run on their way to a 10-1 defeat thanks in large part to Lucas Harrell, who, to be fair, was outstanding tonight. Anthony Rizzo, Starlin Castro, and Brett Jackson each had one hit in the loss, so that’s exciting, I guess. The Cubs will look to win the series tomorrow as they send Justin Germano to the bump.
Game Highlights:
Great Throw from Welington Castillo
Barney Snags a Liner
Thanks for reading,
- George
Cubs go quietly as Reds take the series
We’ve seen this way too many times over the last 12 games, a decent pitching performance from the Cubs wasted as the offensive attack was anything but. It happened again today as Brooks Raley did everything he could to get the Cubs a win but they fell short for the 11th time in their last 12 games. Raley was much better in his second major league start as he went six strong innings giving up three runs on five hits while walking one and striking out two. It was a pitchers duel all day as Raley was perfect through four innings but ran into trouble in the fifth where he surrendered three straight hits, and two runs to basically put this one out of reach. Things were never really in doubt this afternoon as the Cubs could only manage four hits against Johnny Cueto who tossed eight scoreless innings for his 15th win of the season. After winning the first game of this series the Cubs put on a crap show the rest of the weekend. This weekend will be best remembered for the lackadaisical effort put forth by the Cubs, that includes a five error “effort” on Friday and multiple mental mistakes, not just from players named Castro.
Game Highlights:
DeJesus Makes a Nice Catch
Barney with the Bare Hand
Thanks for reading,
- George
Volstad Outstanding, But Kershaw Better
If I would have told you that Chris Volstad would only give up two runs tonight you would probably think that the Cubs would win, who am I kidding, I mean lose by less than you originally thought. That’s exactly what happened as Volstad was outstanding, unfortunately the Cubs could not get anything going against Kershaw and fell to the Dodgers 3-1. Volstad who is trying to make a great third impression on the Cubs organization tossed seven strong innings giving up two runs on six hits while walking one and striking out three. The loss is Volstad’s eighth of the season and extends his winless streak to 21 straight starts. For the fourth straight game the Cubs offense was listless at best, resembling the May and June Cubs offense. Kershaw held the Cubs to three hits over his seven stellar innings of work, and the Dodgers bullpen was spotless. Darwin Barney, Alfsonso Soriano, and Welington Castillo were the only Cubs to get hits in the loss. The Cubs look to avoid the sweep tomorrow afternoon against newly acquired Joe Blanton, something tells me he will resemble Cy Young more than Joe Blanton. Full box score and highlights after the jump.
Dempster Solid, But Cubs Fall Short of Sweep
Another low scoring game between the Cubs and Pirates ended with the Pirates hanging on for a 3-2 victory to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Cubs. Ryan Dempster started for the Cubs, and I can’t disagree with that anymore given everything swirling around Dempster right now. The good news I guess 
is that Dempster was really good despite being tagged with his 5th loss of the season. Dempster allowed three runs over six innings of work on five hits, he didn’t walk anyone and struck out six. Leading 2-1 in the fifth thanks to a Anthony Rizzo solo home run, and an RBI single, Dempster couldn’t hold the lead. He allowed a solo home run in the fifth inning to Michael Mckenry to tie the game, and gave up the lead in the 6th inning on a two out RBI double by Garrett Jones. Dempster was visibly upset in the dugout after the inning, and took his frustration out on a Gatorade cooler. It was nothing really, he just pushed it and threw a cup against the wall, he was later seen apologizing to the Gatorade cooler and asking it if Atlanta was a nice place, wait that’s not right, moving on. The Cubs couldn’t get anything going the rest of the way as the Pirates pen shut the offense down. Still a solid series for the Cubs as they take two out of three from the Bucco’s, full box score and highlights after the jump.
Rough First Dooms Dempster
To almost everyone’s surprise, Ryan Dempster started tonight in St. Louis against the Cardinals. Surprising in that Dempster was rumored to be pulled from his start by a number of baseball insiders because of a trade that was imminent. Well, the trade hasn’t happened yet, and Dempster wasn’t pulled from his start, so just a normal day I guess. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dempster’s head was elsewhere at the start of the game with everything that is going on, I’m sure he won’t admit it, but it’s hard not to notice. Dempster’s scoreless innings streak ended almost immediately as the Cardinals scored three times in the first inning after Dempster recorded an out, ending his streak at 33.1 scoreless innings. Dempster settled down however only allowing one more run over the next five innings. He finished the night after six innings giving up four runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out two, his ERA shoots all the way up to 2.11 on the season. The Cubs offense couldn’t get anything going against Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse, only recording seven hits and one run in the loss. David DeJesus had a good night at the plate going 2-for-4, and the only Cubs run came via a Darwin Barney sacrifice fly. Full box score and highlights after the jump.
