Results tagged ‘ Matt Garza ’
Another Lefty Handcuffs Cubs; D-Backs Sweep
Another lefty on the mound and another loss for the Cubs in what is shaping up to be a historically bad season. The Cubs record against left-handed pitchers dropped to 3-16 on the season after Wade Miley shut the door in a 5-1 victory for the Diamondbacks. The Cubs did nothing all day, which is a shame because Matt Garza had one of, if not his best road outing of the season. Garza went seven strong innings giving up three runs on five hits while walking one and striking out seven. The loss drops Garza to 3-6 on the season with a 4.06 ERA. As I said, the Cubs did nothing at the plate, Alfonso Soriano hit his 14th home run of the season in the seventh inning to bring the Cubs to within one run. That was as close as they would get as the Diamondbacks tacked on one in seventh and two more in the eighth to make it 5-1. The Cubs did threaten however in the 8th inning, and just missed tying the game on a Darwin Barney double that hit the yellow line at the top of the left field wall. With 2nd and 3rd and nobody out, and down 3-1, Joe Mather stuck out, Luis Valbuena lined out to short, and David DeJesus grounded back to Miley to end the threat with no runs scoring. Soriano and Darwin Barney were the only Cubs with hits, each getting two in the defeat. Full box score and highlights after the jump.
June 24, 2012 – Cubs Lineup vs. D-Backs
I do not have a good feeling about this, the Cubs are floundering, more than usual, and Matt Garza has been awful on the road this season, so I forsee a sweep by the D-Backs. Maybe he will surprise me, here’s how the Cubs will line up behind Garza.
DeJesus CF
Johnson RF
Castro SS
Soriano LF
Baker 1B
Soto C
Barney 2B
Mather 3B
Garza P
My MVP of the day pick is Starlin Castro, he’s been hot and I think he will have another big game today.
Thanks for reading, go Cubs!
- George
June 22 – 24; @ Diamondbacks – Series Preview
Finally a new team! The Cubs head to Arizona to take on the D-Backs over the weekend, and the Cubs are riding high coming off of a series win at US Cellular Field over the White Sox. Sure it’s just a series win, but considering it happened on the road it’s a big deal as the Cubs have a lot of trouble away from Wrigley. The Cubs will battle a D-Backs team that is trying to find their way after being a pleasant surprise last season. The D-Backs currently sit one game below .500 and in third place in the West, 7.5 games behind the Dodgers. The normally potent Arizona lineup is good but it usually is so much better, a down season so far from Justin Upton, an injury plagued year from Chris Young, and a missing (injured) Stephen Drew all contributed to the less than stellar numbers, up until the last series. The Cubs need to hit to stay in these games, the last two games against the Sox won’t be good enough in Arizona because I have a feeling they are about to explode, check that, continue their recent pace, as they scored 30 runs in a three game series against the Mariners. Maybe the addition of one Anthony Rizzo might help, rumor has it that June 23rd is the day Rizzo could be called up and not lose a year of eligibility, nothing confirmed obviously, but stay tuned. Full preview/breakdown after the jump.
Cubs Play Long Ball, Destroy White Sox
Regardless of where the teams are in the standings it is always fun to beat the White Sox, especially the way the Cubs did tonight. For the first time in what seems like forever the Cubs were on the right side of a blow out as the Cubs pounded out five home runs en route to a 12-3 victory. The Cubs jumped on Zach Stewart early as they got two runs in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead. It didn’t stop there, for once, as the Cubs scored three more in the fifth to make it 5-o. As it always is with this team you never when you can relax, as illustrated by the Sox mini rally. The Sox got one back in the bottom of the 5th to make it 5-1 and plated two more in the bottom of the sixth to make it 6-3. That’s as close as the Sox would get as the Cubs would have a huge seventh inning as they scored six times on five hits including a three run shot from Luis Valbuena to make it 12-3 and that’s how it would end.
Matt Garza didn’t need too much help as he pitched very well on a tough night to do so. It was a very hot and windy night which made the Cell play smaller than it actually is, but Garza limited the damage. Garza went six strong innings giving up three runs on five hits while walking one and striking out six. Every Cubs player had at least one hit in the blow out win. Starlin Castro and Luis Valbuena each had three hits on the night, with Castro belting a two run homer and Valbuena hitting a three run shot for good measure. Bryan LaHair, Alfonso Soriano, and Geovany Soto all had two hits, and all three guys hit home runs as well. Full box score and highlights after the jump.
June 18 – 20; @ White Sox – Series Preview
It’s still odd to me that the Cubs and White Sox face off on a Monday, usually it’s a series reserved for a weekend in June, but not this year. The Cubs are looking avenge a sweep by the White Sox earlier this year at Wrigley which marked the beginning of the end of the 2012 season for the Cubs. The Cubs have been playing decent baseball of that but it’s not resulting in wins, and ultimately that’s what matters the most. Just ask the White Sox, who are getting their fair share of wins lately as they sit atop the AL Central. No one expected the White Sox to be where they are right now, but thanks to the Tigers struggling out of the gate that’s where they sit. The Sox sit near the middle of the pack in runs scored and ERA in the American League, they are 6th in runs scored, and 8th in ERA. The Cubs have not had any success at US Cellular Field, losing nine of their last twelve games there. Full preview and breakdown after the jump.
Garza, Cubs Unravel Late Against Tigers
For awhile there it looked like the Cubs were well on their way to their third victory in a row, and second straight over the Tigers. Then the wheels fell off. After falling behind 1-0 early, the Cubs bounced right back getting two runs in the bottom of the second to take a 2-1 lead. They added on two more in the fifth inning to make it 4-1, with the way Garza was pitching it looked like the Cubs might run away with this one, then the top of the sixth happened. The Tigers rallied with four hits, and the Cubs made one costly error in a four run inning for the Tigers that put them up 5-4 and they never looked back. The error by Joe Mather really hurt because at worst the Cubs would have been out of the inning leading 4-3. All the Tigers needed was some confidence apparently as they scored three more times over the next two innings to take an 8-4 lead and that’s how it would end.
As I mentioned Matt Garza was cruising, then he gave up a lead off single, then an error was committed behind him and things unraveled, quickly. Garza was finished after six innings, he gave up five runs, three of them earned, on seven hits, while not walking anyone and striking out seven. With the loss Garza falls to 2-5 on the season with a 4.04 ERA, it was Garza’s first loss at Wrigley this year, and he hasn’t won since April. For the second straight night the Cubs were very good at the plate as they pounded out 11 hits, but could only manage four runs. Alfonso Soriano had another good night as he was 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI double, and a run scored, his 1,000th of his career. Steve Clevenger and Darwin Barney were each 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored in the loss. Full box score and highlights after the jump.
June 12 – 14; vs. Tigers – Series Preview
Coming into the season the Detroit Tigers were one of the favorites to not only come out of the Central but maybe represent the AL in the World Series, that was on paper of course. Things haven’t gone as planned so far for the Tigers as they currently sit in 3rd place in the Central five full games behind the White Sox. Given the expectations, this year has been a disaster for the Tigers, and a big reason has been the pitching staff as they sit near the bottom of the American League in ERA. Enough about the Tigers problems as the Cubs have plenty of their own. The Cubs are coming off a road trip that was ugly, and they currently sit 20 games under .500 as their “record-breaking” season continues. There should at least be a buzz at Wrigley, not only because the Tigers are in town for the first time since 2006, but the this will be the first game after the Cubs signed Jorge Soler. Obviously Soler is nowhere near ready for the Major League level, but it is something Cubs fans should be excited about. Full preview and breakdown after the jump.
LaHair’s Heroics Not Enough to Rescue Cubs
The madness continued this afternoon for the Cubs as they lost their 11th straight one-run game. Think about that for a second, the last 11 games decided by one run have been losses. That is hard to do, but I guess when a team can’t get clutch hits, and when they finally do the bullpen can’t hold the lead then that’s what happens. Today was a perfect illustration of how the Cubs somehow find a way to lose a one run game. Trailing 2-1 in the top of the 8th with two-out Dale Sveum turned to Bryan LaHair off the bench and he delivered. LaHair launched a long two-run home run to right centerfield to give the Cubs a 3-2 lead and probably showed the most emotion he has all year rounding the bases. That’s not a knock on LaHair but he’s pretty reserved, he we definitely jacked up when that one left the yard. Unfortunately, like so many times this year when the Cubs take a lead late in the game they usually give it right back, and that’s exactly what happened. The Cubs allowed the Brewers to tie it in the bottom of the 8th inning and Casey Coleman gave up a walk off home run to Aoki, his second of the game, in the bottom of the 10th to lose the game and series.
Matt Garza had one of his best road outings on the season as he went six strong innings allowing two runs on four hits. His command was much better than it has been on the road as he only walked one guy and struck out six in the no decision. Not much going for the Cubs at the plate as Randy Wolf completely shut them down. Joe Mather was 2-for-4 at the plate and Bryan LaHair did more than anyone in just one at bat going 1-for-1 with a home run and two RBI’s… off to Minnesota. Full box score and highlights after the jump.
Cubs Bats MIA Again as They Drop Second Straight
Unfortunately it’s an all too familiar game and result for the Cubs as they couldn’t solve Matt Cain for 8+ innings en route to a 2-1 loss in San Francisco. Matt Garza had one of his best road outings of the year but a series of unfortunate events led to the Giants plating two runs in the 6th to erase a 1-0 Cubs lead. With Ryan Theriot on first after a lead-off single Melky Cabrera hit a soft fly ball to Alfonso Soriano, unfortunately it was Soriano circa 2011 as he played the fly out into a single. Soriano has played plus defense all year, but he should have had that one. Pagan followed with a one-out infield single, then Aubrey Huff coaxed a walk on a very close 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded that Matt Garza was visibly upset with to tie the game at one. The bad luck continued as Joaquin Arias hit a ground ball to the hole between third and short in which Castro could only get the force out at 2nd which allowed the eventual winning run to score, which coincidently was the guy who shouldn’t have been on base to begin with. The Cubs couldn’t get anything going at the plate against Cain, their only run came off the bat of David DeJesus as he launched a 400ft plus home run to deep right center. The Cubs only managed five hits the whole game as they didn’t get any from the 6 spot through the 9 spot in the order. Tony Campana had his second straight solid game at the top of the order going 2-for-4 with two stolen bases. Full box score and highlights after the jump.
June 1 – 4; @ Giants – Series Preview
Finally the Cubs have a reason to feel good about themselves as they are coming off a three game sweep over the Padres. Hopefully they use that sweep to carry some momentum across the Country and into San Francisco as the Cubs take on the Giants in a four game set. In order for the Cubs to be successful they need more of the patience they exhibited in the series finale against the Padres. The deeper hitters get into counts against this very good pitching staff the better off they will be. The Giants come into this series with the 4th best ERA in the National League at 3.38. On the plus side the Giants have some trouble scoring runs as they are tied for 10th in NL with 204 runs.
The Cubs will miss Tim Lincecum, but that might be a bad thing as he has been probably the worst Giants starter this year. Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain head up the 2012 rotation and the quicker the Cubs get those two out of the game the better. As I mentioned, the Giants are struggling to score runs, a big reason is the absence of Pablo Sandoval at third, they are a much different offense without him. The Cubs pitchers need to pound the zone and use the ballpark to their advantage, the quicker the outs the better, if they can do that I don’t think a split is out of the question. Full preview/breakdown after the jump.
