Results tagged ‘ Lendy Castillo ’
Minor Matters – May 17, 2013 (Cubs Minor League Reports)
At The Plate – After battling back from an early 4-0 hole the Iowa Cubs found themselves leading heading into the late innings, that’s when things fell apart in 9-8 loss to Tucson. Hits were all over the place in this one as the Cubs pounded out eighteen hits, and scored eight runs, they left 11 men on base as well. Logan Watkins was 1-for-4 with a walk, his third home run of the season, an RBI, and a run scored. Brett Jackson had a breakout game going 4-for-5 with a double, and a run, he’s now hitting .265 on the season. Josh Vitters had a solid game as well going 3-for-3 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored. Darnell McDonald, Brent Lillibridge, and J.C. Boscan each had two hits in the loss.
On The Mound – Guillermo Moscoso got the start for the Cubs, and pitched in and out of trouble having one costly inning. Moscoso went five innings giving up four runs, two earned, on nine hits while striking out eight. Esmailin Caridad was sub par to say the least, he worked two-thirds of an inning giving up three runs on four hits to take the loss. Casey Coleman was roughed up a bit as well, he worked 2.1 innings giving up two runs on four hits while walking one. Hisanori Takahashi worked a scoreless ninth inning to give the Cubs a shot to no avail.
At The Plate – The Smokies jumped on top of the Lookouts with four runs in the second and couldn’t add on the rest of the way, even still they were able to hang on for a 4-3 win. Matt Szczur continues to find ways get on base for the Smokies as their lead-off man, he was 2-for-5 in this one, and he is now hitting .294 on the season. Ronald Torreyes provided the production for the Smokies, he was 1-for-5 with two RBI’s in the win. Christian Villanueva had a huge game, he was 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI, and a run scored.
On The Mound – Kyle Hendricks has been so very good this year, and he was again in this one, he worked seven innings giving up three runs on six hits while walking one and striking out three to earn his third win of the season. Tony Zych did a solid job out of the pen going one scoreless inning while striking out one. Zach Rosscup was good as usual working a scoreless ninth inning for his first save of the season, he walked one and struck out the side.
At The Plate – Daytona owned game one, and it was nice to see them put together a team game and get a win given their recent struggles. As you will read, this day was owned by Jorge Soler and Dustin Geiger, maybe May 17 shall be known as Soler Geiger day moving forward. Soler was a monster in game one, he was 4-for-4 with his sixth home run of the season, and three runs scored. He scored three times because Dustin Geiger was hitting behind him, and he didn’t want Soler to have all the glory. Geiger was outstanding, he was also 4-for-4 with three doubles, a triple (slugging madness!), and four RBI’s. That was it, those two guys won the game for the D-Cubs.
On The Mound - Yeiper Castillo was all Daytona needed on the mound. He spun a gem, going the distance (7 innings for DH’s), he worked seven innings giving up one run on four hits while walking one and striking out two. He improved his record to 1-0 on the season, and lowered his ERA to 2.33, very impressive.
At The Plate – Daytona owned game one, and battled for a character win in game two to sweep the double-header. Javier Baez was 2-for-5 with a walk, a triple, and three runs scored, he also had three errors, bring his 2013 total to seventeen. Jorge Soler was a beast in game two as well, he went 3-for-6 with a double, and a run scored, he was 7-for-10 in the double-header and is now hitting .297 on the season. Back to the other hero of the day Dustin Geiger, he was 3-for-4 in game two with a double, two walks, an RBI, and two runs scored. He was 7-for-8 in the double-header with four doubles, and a triple, he is hitting .331 on the season. Taiwan Easterling was 2-for-6 with a triple, a double, and two RBI’s in the win.
On The Mound – Tough to have a second game of a double header go twelve innings, if not for the bullpen in game two the D-Cubs would have been in trouble, they came through big time. Eduardo Figueroa got the start and was roughed up, he worked three innings giving up four runs on four hits while walking two and striking out one. The bullpen took over and worked a combined nine scoreless innings giving up four hits while walking two and striking out six. Austin Reed worked two of those innings, walking one and striking out two. Sheldon McDonlad was outstanding working four innings giving up two hits while walking one and striking out one. Frank Del Valle worked the final three innings to earn his first win of the season, he gave up two hits while striking out three.
At The Plate - The Cougars fought hard in this one against the best team in the league only to fall short in twelve innings. Bijan Rademacher continues to hit, he was 3-for-5 with a double, and two runs scored, he is now hitting .350 on the season. Jeimer Candelario was 2-for-5 with a double, and a run scored, he also made his twelfth error of the season. Gioskar Amaya was 2-for-5 with two singles in the loss.
On The Mound – Dillon Maples had a solid outing, and again, finished the day healthy, which is the most important thing right now. Maples worked five innings giving up two runs on two hits while walking one and striking out five. Lendy Castillo took over and was solid as well, he worked five innings giving up on run on five hits while walking three and striking out four. Nathan Dorris struggled with his command, which is rare, he suffered the loss as a result. Dorris worked 1.1 innings giving up one run on two hits while walking two and striking out two.
Minor Matters – May 12, 2013 (Cubs Minor League Recaps)
At The Plate – Tough one to swallow for the Cubs in this one as they blew a 6-1 lead that they had in the third, and an 8-6 lead in the ninth by giving up three runs in the bottom half to lose 9-8. Brett Jackson seems to be finding a groove ever since coming off the DL, he was 3-for-4 with a walk, a double, and two runs scored. Josh Vitters was 1-for-3 with two walks, and a run scored. Dave Sappelt was 1-for-5 with a triple, three RBI’s, and a run scored in the loss. Brad Nelson was 2-for-4 with his sixth home run of the season, two RBI’s, and two runs scored. Ian Stewart made a rare appearance in this one and it was a productive one, he was 1-for-1 with a triple, and two RBI’s in a pinch-hitting role.
On The Mound – Chris Rusin didn’t have his best stuff in this one, going five innings giving up five runs on nine hits while striking out one. Casey Coleman was outstanding out of the pen going two scoreless innings while striking out one. Hisanori Takahashi worked just one-third of an inning giving up one run on one hit while walking one and striking out one. Rafael Dolis worked one inning and it wasn’t good, he gave up two runs on one hit while walking one and striking out one. Blake Parker also struggled in a third of an inning, giving up one run on one hit, he was hung with his first loss of the season.
At The Plate – The Smokies had plenty of opportunities in this one, but were only 4-17 with runners in scoring position. Even so, the Smokies scored five times, and that was plenty in this one, winning 5-0. Matt Szczur has been on a roll of late, and today as well, he was 3-for-5 with a double, and two RBI’s, he’s now hitting .287 on the season. Arismendy Alcantara was 2-for-4 with a double, he also made his eleventh error on the season in the victory. Christian Villanueva was 1-for-2 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored. Tim Torres was 1-for-4 with a double, and two runs scored.
On The Mound - Kyle Hendricks was outstanding once again in this one, going 6.2 scoreless innings giving up four hits while walking one and striking out four to earn his second win of the season. A.J. Morris pitched out of trouble in his inning of work, he worked a scoreless inning giving up two hits while walking one and striking out two. Zach Rosscup worked 1.1 scoreless innings while walking one and striking out three to close this one out.
At The Plate – Kane County seems to find ways to lose games in the worst ways, tonight was one of them as the Cougars led 6-3 in the sixth inning only to fall 7-6. Bijan Rademacher was 0-for-2 with three walks, a run scored, and a caught stealing. Jeimer Candelario was 2-for-4 with his first home run of the season, a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored. Rock Shoulders was 1-for-5 with a grand slam, his eighth home run of the season, four RBI’s, and a run scored. Carlos Escobar, and Oliver Zapata each had two hits in the loss.
On The Mound – Dillon Maples was promoted from extended spring training to Kane County today as got the start. First things first that is very important as Maples is one of the better pitching prospects in the system, and it’s good to see him back healthy. Maples went five innings giving up three runs on six hits while striking out two. Lendy Castillo took over and ended up taking the loss going 4.1 innings giving up four runs on two hits while walking four and striking out four.
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
Minor Matters – April 30, 2013 (Cubs Minor League Reports)
At The Plate – Iowa jumped on Round Rock early in this one taking a 6-0 lead by the fourth inning en route to cruising to a 7-2 victory. Brent Lillibridge was 2-for-4 with a home run, an RBI, and two runs scored. Brian Bogusevic continues to have a great 2013 as he went 3-for-4 with two double, a triple, an RBI, and two runs scored, he’s now hitting .420 on the season. Brad Nelson had another big day going 2-for-2 with two walks, a home run, two RBI’s, and two runs scored. Edwin Maysonet was 1-for-4 with a double, and three RBI’s.
On The Mound – Guillermo Moscoso made his first start for Iowa this season and it was successful. Moscoso went five innings giving up one run on three hits while walking one and striking out six. Yoanner Negrin was solid out of the pen going two innings giving up one run on three hits while striking out three. Casey Coleman, and Rafael Dolis each had a scoreless appearance out of the pen to shut the door on this one.
At The Plate – Monster effort from the Cougars at the plate tonight and they needed every bit of it. The Cougars pounded out nineteen hits, and thirteen runs, including nine over the final three innings en route to a 13-9 win. Pin-Chieh Chen got things started out of the lead-off spot going 4-for-6 with a double, three RBI’s and one run scored. Daniel Vogelbach continues to mash the ball of late as he homered for the third straight game and finished the night 4-for-6 with two RBI’s and a run scored. Rock Shoulders continues to hit as well going 2-for-5 with two doubles, a walk, am RBI, and three runs scored, he’s hitting .370 on the season. Willson Contreras was 2-for-4 with a walk, a home run, an RBI, and three runs scored. Yaniel Cabezas was 3-for-6 with two RBI’s in the win, the Cougars were an amazing 8-for-22 with RISP, they could have scored even more runs in this one.
On The Mound – Lendy Castillo got the start and was beat up right out of the gate as he was only able to go four innings giving up seven runs on ten hits while walking one and striking out one. The bullpen did a tremendous job in this one given how it started. Justin Amlung went three innings giving up one run on one hit while walking one and striking out two. Nathan Dorris was fantastic going two innings giving up one run, unearned, on two hits while striking out four to earn his first save of the season.
At The Plate – Busy night for the Cubs on offense as they pounded out nine hits and scored eleven runs to rout Palm Beach. Timothy Saunders was 1-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base, and three runs scored out of the lead-off spot. Zeke DeVoss was 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI, and three runs scored. Javier Baez was 1-for-5 with a double, two RBI’s, and a run scored, he also made his twelfth error of the season. Jorge Soler was 1-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored. Ben Carhart was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI’s, and a run scored, he’s now hitting .300 on the season.
On The Mound – Zach Cates was about as good as you can get, he went six scoreless and hit-less innings while walking three and striking out seven to earn his third win of the season. David Cales worked a scoreless inning in relief giving up two hits while walking one and striking out one. Starling Peralta struggles going 1.2 innings giving up four runs on two hits while walking two and striking out two. Frank Del Valle closed the door getting the final out of the game but did give up a hit and a walk before doing so.
Thanks for reading,
- George
Minor Matters – April 25, 2013 (Cubs Minor League Reports)
At The Plate – A huge first inning from Iowa was all they needed as they scored six times en route to a 9-3 victory over Omaha. Brent Lillibridge had an outstanding game going 4-for-5 with a walk, and two RBI’s. Ryan Sweeney was also 4-for-5, he was a lot more productive though. Sweeney had a walk, a home run, a triple, four RBI’s, and two runs scored in the win. Darnell McDonald was 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored. Edwin Maysonet was 2-for-4 with a walk, a triple, and an RBI.
On The Mound – Barret Loux got the start and struggled with command, and was wild in the strike zone but managed to pitch around trouble. He was able to go 4.2 innings giving up three runs on eight hits while walking four and striking out three. Esmailin Caridad did a fine job out of the bullpen and earned the win going 2.1 scoreless innings while walking two and striking out three. Cory Wade and Rafael Dolis struggled but managed to each have a scoreless appearance. Dolis worked 1.1 innings to earn his first save of the season while walking two and striking out two.
***
At The Plate – The Smokies are playing good baseball, and if not for a few blown saves recently could be on a real impressive winning streak. It was the Ronald Torreyes show for the Smokies, he was 3-for-3 with a walk, a double, a triple, and a run scored from the lead-off spot. Only three other Smokies registered hits in this one, but it was enough. Rafael Lopez and Jae-Hoon Ha recorded the RBI’s with Ha going 1-for-4, and Lopez going 1-for-3 with a double.
On The Mound – Dallas Beeler is dealing right now, and last night was no exception. Beeler went seven scoreless innings giving up seven hits while walking one and striking out two. Zach Rosscup found some trouble out of the pen but was able to hold the lead, he gave up one run on one hit while walking one in one inning of work. Brian Schlitter worked a stress free ninth inning for his first save of the season, he has yet to give up an earned run this year.
***
At The Plate – Daytona jumped out early in this one and never looked back as they pounded out twelve hits and scored five runs to beat the Flying Tigers…Flying Tigers! 5-3. Every player in the Daytona starting lineup had at least one hit. Javier Baez is slowly but surely turning around his slow start, he was 2-for-4 with his fourth home run of the season with an RBI, and a run scored. Timothy Saunders was 1-for-4 with a big triple, and two RBI’s in the win. Chad Noble was 2-for-3 with his first home run of the season, a walk, an RBI, and a run scored. Anthony Giansanti stayed hot since his return going 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
On The Mound – Zach Cates got the start and the win as he pitched a solid game. Cates worked five scoreless innings giving up four hits while walking one and striking out four. Yeiper Castillo did a solid job out of the pen tossing a scoreless inning. Austin Reed continues to get beat up, he gave up three runs on three hits while walking three in one inning of work. David Cales was outstanding to earn his first save of the year, he went two scoreless innings while walking two and striking out four.
***
At The Plate - A late rally wasn’t enough for the Cougars as they fell to the Tin Caps 6-4 after trailing 6-1 in the third inning. The Cougars approach was fantastic in this one, they just couldn’t get the big hit when they needed it. They had eight hits, walked five times, and only struck out four times, unfortunately they came up just short. Rock Shoulders continues to hit, he was 1-for-3 with a walk, and a run scored, he’s now hitting .406 on the season. Marco Hernandez was also 1-for-3 with a walk in the loss. Bijan Rademacher was 2-for-4 with an RBI, and a run scored, he’s now hitting .314 on the season.
On The Mound – Lendy Castillo ran into trouble in one inning and that was enough for him to suffer his first loss of the season. Castillo worked six innings giving up six runs, five earned, on eight hits while walking none and striking out three. Both Justin Amlung and Steve Perakslis worked scoreless innings out of the pen to keep the Cougars in this one.
Thanks for reading,
- George
Minor Matters – April 18, 2013 (Cubs Minor League Recaps)
At The Plate – The Smokies trailed 3-0 early but fought their way all the way back to win this one 5-3. Arismendy Alcantara continues to be a threat in the Smokies lineup, he was 3-for-4 with a walk, a stolen base (his 5th in the last two games), and a run scored. Jae-Hoon Ha was 1-for-4 with a two walks, and two runs scored. Justin Bour had the biggest hit of the day, and he was the most productive, he was 1-for-3 with three walks, and three RBI’s.
On The Mound – The Smokies nearly exhausted all their options on the mound as they used six pitchers in the victory. Kyle Hendricks got the start, he only made it through two innings giving up three runs on five hits while walking one. The next five Smokies pitchers went nine scoreless innings combined, giving up just two hits, they did walk six guys, and struck out four. Trey McNutt got the win out of the pen going two scoreless innings giving up one hit and walking one.
At The Plate – Another high scoring wild game for the Daytona Cubs, unfortunately the D-Cubs came out on the short end last night. Zeke DeVoss had another solid game from the lead-off spot going 2-for-4 with a walk, and an RBI. Javier Baez is starting to get locked in at the plate going 2-for-4 with an RBI, and a run scored, he’s now hitting .226 on the season (six hits in the last three games). Jorge Soler made his return to the D-Cubs lineup after serving his five game suspension, he went 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. Stephen Bruno continues his hot start going 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored, he’s hitting .407 on the season.
On The Mound – P.J. Francescon got beat up again but didn’t get the loss, he worked three innings giving up seven runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out two. Eduardo Figueroa took the loss in this one, as he worked three innings giving up two runs on three hits while walking four and striking out two. Austin Reed was beat up as well, he worked 1.2 innings giving up four runs on four hits while walking four as well, and striking out two. Sheldon McDonald worked 1.1 scoreless innings, he walked two and struck out one.
At The Plate – Kane County trailed 5-0 early but came right back to take a 8-5 lead by the 4th inning but stumbled late in losing 9-8 to the River Bandits. Five different players had at least two hits for the Cougars. Gioskar Amaya was 2-for-5 with two doubles, and two runs scored from the lead-off spot. Marco Hernandez was 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, with a caught stealing. Willson Contreras was 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBI’s, a walk, and a run scored. Daniel Vogelbach was 2-for-5 with an RBI, and a run scored in the loss.
On The Mound – Lendy Castillo was roughed up in this one, as he worked four innings with five runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out six. Justin Amlung didn’t fare much better out of the bullpen going 3.2 innings giving up three runs on three hits while walking two and striking out one. Steve Perakslis took the loss going 2.1 innings giving up one run on two hits while walking one and striking out one.
Thanks for reading,
- George
Minor Matters – April 8, 2013
At The Plate – Things have not gone well for the Iowa Cubs, that is reflected in their now 0-5 record. Logan Watkins led off today as was great going 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, an RBI, and two runs scored, he’s now hitting .368 on the season. Brett Jackson had a solid game going 2-for-4 with a double, and two RBI’s. Newcomer Donnie Murphy went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored in the loss.
On The Mound – Really rough go of it for the I-Cubs pitchers. Barret Loux got the start and was beat up giving up six runs on three hits while walking three walks and striking out two in only one inning of work. Jaye Chapman worked 2.2 innings giving up two runs on two hits while walking three without a strike out. Cory Wade got roughed up giving up five runs on eight hits while striking out one in three innings of work. Blake Parker worked 1.1 scoreless innings while walking one and striking out two.
At The Plate – Matt Szczur continued his solid work out of the lead-off spot going 2-for-3 with a run scored, and a stolen base. Arismendy Alcantara who was hitting in the two hole was 2-for-4, but also made two errors. The rest of the Smokies lineup could only manage one hit in the 2-1 loss.
On The Mound – Really solid effort from the Smokies pitchers in this one. Dae-Eun Rhee got the start and was decent, he struggled a bit with his command in 4.1 innings of work giving up one run on two hits while walking three and striking out one. Brian Schlitter was the tough luck loser in this one, he worked 1.2 innings giving up one run, unearned, on two hits while walking one. Zach Rosscup and Trey McNutt each worked a scoreless inning to keep things close.
At The Plate – Finally a win for the Cougars, they did plenty offensively but had to work overtime after a blown save, more on that in a bit. Gioskar Amaya broke out today after a slow start to the season, he was 3-for-5 with a triple, a stolen base, and a run scored. Chadd Krist was 3-for-5 with two doubles, ans two runs scored. Bijan Rademacher did most of the damage today going 3-for-5 with three RBI’s. Rock Shoulders stayed red hot at the plate going 2-for-5 with a run scored, he’s now hitting .455 on the season.
On The Mound – Lendy Castillo who is transitioning to a starting role was fantastic in his 2013 debut. Castillo went five strong innings giving up one run on three hits while walking two and striking out four, unfortunately he had a win snatched from him. Brian Smith was solid out of the pen going two scoreless innings giving up one hit while walking one and striking out one. Justin Amlung blew the save but also got the win, he worked three innings giving up four runs on four hits while walking one and striking out three.
Thanks for reading,
- George
61-101; The 2012 Cubs Season is Over; a Recap, Kinda
Seems like just yesterday we here at Born on Third were getting ready to cover Opening Day, and just like that it’s over. Crazy how time flies, and I didn’t expect it to go so fast given how bad the Cubs were this year. I was expecting just the opposite, for it to drag on and on, and I guess it did towards the end there but the reality of no Cubs baseball for four months is starting to sink in. Let’s take a look back at some of the surprises and disappointments that we all barely lived through, this season.
Let’s start with the disappointments, there were plenty of them, I mean the team lost 101 games, you know how hard it was to write about 101 losses!? 
Sure the record was disappointing, but one could argue that it was expected, maybe 101 losses wasn’t expected, but the Cubs were going to be one of the worst teams in the league, we knew that. Let’s dig a little deeper into that futility, we should probably put on a Haz-Mat suit before doing so. The one thing we heard all offseason was this new “Cubs Way” – well that was thrown out there to mean a lot of things, one being patience, no not by the fans (we do need that though), but by the Cubs as a whole at the plate. So how did that go, you ask? Not very good, the Cubs drew 447 walks this season, that comes out to less than three a game, and was good for the fourth fewest in all of baseball. You could probably guess that the Cubs OBP was terrible as well, it was, the Cubs as a team had a .302 OBP this year, 2nd worst in baseball. This is something that has to change, and it will on Theo’s watch, I believe that it will. It’s hard to see that vision come to fruition however when the team on the field in “year one” was so terribly bad at it, or just refused to do it.
Let’s take a look at some poor individual performances…
Chris Volstad
Volstad, acquired in the Carlos Zambrano trade was a disaster, I can’t even say 
that he showed flashes of brilliance, maybe a flash, but not flashes. Volstad finished the season 3-12 with a 6.31 ERA, I can’t even spin that into anything positive. Volstad had a huge opportunity this year and took a step back, but all is not lost on the gigantic right hander. He will have every opportunity to pitch for this team next year, that is squarely on his shoulders, his huge shoulders, seriously, look at a picture of the guy pitching, it’s cartoonish.
Rafael Dolis
For the first month or so of the season it looked as if Dolis’ name was going to end up on the surprise portion of the year-end recap, then things went bad. Dolis lost the strike zone, in doing so his confidence disappeared and his ERA sky rocketed. Dolis went from being the closer of the Cubs after taking over for Carlos Marmol to pitching and struggling at Triple-A. Dolis was called back up to finish off the season but the numbers were not good. He finished the year 2-4 with a 6.39 ERA and four saves. He does have one thing the Cubs need in the pen, a power arm, so he will have a shot to pitch for this team next year at 25 years old. If he wants to do so he has to clean up the walks, as he issued 23 in just 38 innings at the big league level this year.
Ian Stewart
I debated singling him out here, only because he was clearly hurt since last year in Colorado so I’m not sure how much we can really take from his season. 
But a lot more was expected from Ian Stewart, on the plus side he did play above average defense at third base. His season was shortened by much-needed wrist surgery, he finished the year hitting 5 home runs and 17 RBI’s. He did show the ability to work the count and take a walk, but at third base he was and will be expected to be a source of production. It remains to be seen if the Cubs will keep Stewart in their plans moving forward, I would like to see what a healthy Ian Stewart could do.
Other guys that I would say had disappointing years would be Darwin Barney’s bat, a sub .300 OBP from him is not acceptable. Lendy Castillo had a 7+ ERA, but Castillo is so young and could be a huge part of this teams bullpen when they are contending. Steve Clevenger took a nose dive after a very strong start, Starlin Castro’s mental lapses and subsequent errors. I think Castro improved greatly defensively, I think the errors were a result of focus or lack thereof. Should I mention the 12 game losing streak? I just did.
Now onto the positives, sure there were some.
Anthony Rizzo
He lived up to the hype, and there was plenty of it heading into the season and that hype only grew as he tore the cover off the ball in Iowa. He finally was called up to the Cubs on 6/26/2012, he had two hits in that game and never really looked back. Rizzo finished the campaign hitting .285 with 15 home runs, and 48 RBI’s in 87 games, so just over half a Major League season. The biggest thing here is that Rizzo showed the ability to adjust to major league pitchers. I’m not just talking about rebounding from last years dud with the Padres, this year he had a few skids but came out of those before they became too overwhelming. He is the Cubs 2013 starting first baseman, and will be for many years to come.
Alfonso Soriano
Wow. There really is no other word to describe his 2012 season, I guess shocked would apply to me. I was just that, shocked at what Soriano was able to accomplish not only with the bat, but with the glove. Soriano made one
error all season, think about that for a second. This is the same guy that made 11 in 2009, 7 in 2010, and 7 in 2011, he worked his butt off and showed real improvement. Offensively he set a career high in RBI’s with 108, folks the Cubs only scored 613 runs as a team this season. Soriano also found the long ball again hitting 32 home runs, the most in one season since he hit 33 in 2007. There’s no telling he has earned the right to be back here next year, and that is somewhat up to him, but we will see how the Cubs deal with him in the coming months.
Starlin Castro
I really don’t care what other people think of him, but Starlin Castro had a fantastic year, and a couple of mental lapses got in the way of making it something really special. Castro became the first Cubs shortstop to play in all 162 games, ever. That shows me that he wants to be out there, mental errors can come with that kind of workload, he probably needed a day off here or there to avoid some of that but he just kept going out there. Castro hit .283 with 14 home runs (a career high), and 78 RBI’s (a career high), he also had 29 doubles and 12 triples for good measure. Castro inked a 7 year extension during the season, he will be a Cub for a long time, and that is a good thing.
There are a number of other guys that deserve to be mentioned as bright spots this year. Darwin Barney’s glove, Barney tied a major league record for consecutive error-less games at 141, and got to everything on the infield it seemed. Carlos Marmol’s second half, after a terrible first half Marmol finished the season strong and looked to be back to his un-hittable self late in the year. Travis Wood stepped into the rotation and did an adequate job for this team, if he can replicate those numbers or even improve upon them he can be a serviceable back of the rotation guy for the Cubs. Bryan LaHair’s first half was fun while it lasted, and earned him a trip to the all-star game, no reason to ignore that. Welington Castillo played his way into the 2013 starting lineup behind the plate as
It was a trying year for many, Dale Sveum included, and as I said around the all-star break I think Dale Sveum gets an incomplete for this season. There was 
not enough talent on this team to win baseball games, not matter how he managed them. What I did like seeing was the compete level of this team on most nights, sure over the course of a 162 game season there are going to be lackluster efforts. For the most part this team really never gave up, I will be interested to see how Sveum does when he starts getting pieces he can use to compete in games on a consistent basis, that’s when he can accurately be judged as a manager. I could have written about so much more but I think that sums up enough of what happened this season without going on forever, I’m really excited about the direction of this team, most of that excitement stems from the minor league system which we will continue to profile all offseason. Patience is still something fans will have to have as the Cubs are not going to have a team ready to be a contender next year. Sure, they should improve, and that’s what we need to look for, and it’s important we see that, one step at a time, thankfully for all of us I think the worst part just ended.
Thanks for reading all season long, we don’t take breaks so we will have great Cubs coverage all offseason for you. Go Cubs!
- 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
8/9: Around the Cubs Minor League System
Here’s a look around the Cubs system on Thursday, August 9th. The AZL Cubs and Iowa were both off on Thursday.
Welcome to the Daniel Vogelbach Show as Boise beat Everett in a close one winning 3-2. The aforementioned Vogelbach ended the night 2-for-4 with two home runs, he now has five in his last four games. The Hawks had only two more hits on the evening one belonging to Marco Hernandez and the other a triple off the bat of Izaac Garsez. Garsez would score what would be the winning run when Gioskar Amaya drove him in with a sacrifice fly. Matt Iannazzo got the win in relief pitching two scoreless inning and striking out two. Tayler Scott started giving up two runs on eight hits in five innings pitched. He also struck out six and walked zero. Tyler Bremer recorded his first save pitching two scoreless innings, while striking out three. The Hawks stayed hot on Thursday and are 11-5 in the second half 3.5 games up.
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Peoria scored one in the top of the ninth to beat Burlington 5-4. Although Jorge Soler was promoted to Peoria today, he was not in the lineup, but that didn’t stop the Chiefs. Zeke DeVoss was 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBIs, and a stolen base. Pin-Chieh Chen only had one hit, but drove in two, including the game winner. Dustin Geiger had two doubles and Bijan Rademacher drove in a run. Joseph Zeller got the start for the Chiefs pitching five innings and allowing four runs, three earned on four hits. Jeffry Antigua pitched well out of relief striking out three in 2.1 scoreless innings. Larry Suarez got his third win of the season striking out one over the final 1.2 innings. It was a good win for Peoria and let the excitement begin as Jorge Soler should be in the lineup tomorrow.
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Daytona got down early in game one, but came storming back winning 5-4 in walk-off fashion. The walk-off wasn’t quite as exciting as some as it ended on a wild pitch. Ronald Torreyes was 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Javier Baez did not have a hit, but drove in his third run in two days and he stole his first base since being promoted. John Andreoli was 1-for-3 with a run scored and two stolen bases. Christian Villanueva had a nice night as well going 1-for-1 with two walks, a hit by pitch, a run scored, and a stolen base. Rubi Silva and Rafael Lopez each had a hit and scored a run. Robert Whitenack started and struggled early, but really settled down. He gave up four runs all in the first in four innings. Ryan Searle and Jeffrey Lorick combined to pitch an excellent four innings striking out five and allowing only one hit. Lorick picked up the win his second of the season.
Not much good came out of game two as Daytona lost 7-1. Kyle Hendricks started for the Cubs pitching three innings allowing one run on two hits, while striking out three. Kyler Burke and Hunter Cervenka pitched the final four innings in relief and really struggled combining to give up six runs. Not much happening for the offense in this one. Taylor Davis had a double and drove in the lone Cubs run. Elieser Bonne was 2-for-3 with a double and scored the only Cubs run of the evening. John Andreoli and Rubi Silva recorded the only other Cubs hits of the contest. As bad as game two was it was nice to get game one and at least get a split in the double-header on Thursday.
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Behind Nicholas Struck Tennessee beat Huntsville 5-3. Lendy Castillo continued his rehab pitching the first inning of this one allowing no runs on two hits. Struck came in relief to get his 13th win. He pitched seven strong innings allowing one run on only two hit and striking out seven. Frank Batista who has been so good recorded two outs, but need help from Brian Schlitter to close out the game. Schlitter recorded the last out and notched his third save of the season. A congratulations goes out to Matt Szczur who hit his first home run since moving to Tennessee. He ended the night 1-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored, and stole his third base. Logan Watkins was 1-for-2 with an RBI and his 23rd stolen base. Justin Bour is now two RBIs away from 100 as he drove in two more bringing his total to 98. Junior lake and Jae-Hoon both had a double, with Ha also walking four times on the evening. It was a nice win for the Smokies on Thursday.
Thanks for Reading,
-Mark
