» Lilly

Outfielders celebrate series win. Soriano (left) Gathwright (center) Bradley (Right)

One Day after Ryan Dempster did enough to win his game, Ted Lilly did enough to lose it. However Dempster walked away with a no decision and Lilly walked away with the win. It’s funny how things work out in baseball, it will work itself out over the course of the season i am sure.

Koyie Hill was catching Lilly who served up 4 home runs and 5 runs total. Soto left game 2 with shoulder soreness in the 6th inning, and although it is not expected to be too serious, he may have to miss the first game of the weekend. Aaron Miles would be the back-up catcher for the game if anything was to happen to Koyie Hill, Theriot would also be a candidate in extreme circumstances.

Mike Fontenot hit a 3 run homer and added another RBI on Wednesday to propel the Cubs to a 2-1 series victory. A-Ram continued his strong start to the season with 4 RBI’s on the night, and Fukudome was back in the lineup and answered with a 4 hit night. D-Lee and Theriot both got on the RBI list as well. Soriano hit his 2nd home run on Tuesday with a shot that landed on top of the left field train track.

David Patton pitched 2 innings in his MLB debut Thursday, and after a shaky start he calmed down to retire the next 6 hitters after the lead-off HR. After Patton surrendered the home run, Lee came to the mound to tell him to calm down and show the Astros his stuff, wise words from a veteran head. Guzman and Marmol have each started the season well.

This is hopefully the start of many series wins this season.

Sean Marshall Secures 5th spot

I have been quite busy over the past 24-48 hours with work and some cricket, a great game that should be more popular in the US if you ask me. However i did hear that Sean Marshall will be the Cubs 5th starter this season. I am absolutely delighted about this, Sean has done a great job over the past couple years doing whatever he was asked, leftie relief, some spot starts and he did a commendable job every time.

This means that Aaron Helman will move into the bullpen and Jeff Samardzija will either move with Heilman to the bullpen or move down to AAA as a starter to stay stretched out.

The Cubs will carry 12 pitchers this season, this includes the five starters, Zambrano/Dempster/Harden/Lilly and Marshall. Lou commented that 5 spots in the bullpen have already been secured, likely Marmol/Gregg/Cotts/Heilman and Vizcaino, which means there are two spots still up for grabs, Samardzija/Gaudin and David Patton who has done well this spring with a 1.17 ERA as well as Randy Wells.

David Patton has never pitched above A ball, so to think that he will start the season with the Cubs is a long shot, however the way that he is pitching has led Lou Piniella to say that he is in the mix, and if he continues to impress then why not give him a go.

Ok so like i mentioned in a earlier post, I’m getting bored with Spring Training, and if you have been reading this blog regulary you will likely be getting bored as well, generic posts about games that don’t really matter with little significance. So now i will rounding up the Spring Training games every few days, or even once a week, that doesn’t mean that there wont be more posts on other things.

Projected Rotation:

1) Carlos Zambrano……perhaps not the ace that many believe he is, but if he can avoid his bad month then he is as dominant as any pitcher in the game.

2) Ryan Dempster is coming off a great season, but now he has the contract, will his performances stay at a consistent level, i think they will but it is a question mark

3) Ted Lilly is a great number three guy, a good pitcher who is coming off a good season, will be as solid as usual this season.

4) Rich Harden, is this the best fourth starter in the league? absolutely, he’s an ace on many staffs, there are still injury concerns but if he stays healthy all season then he will add a lot to this rotation.

5) Sean Marshall, the one rotation spot that is not sewn up yet, Marshall has pitched well this Spring, and deserves a chance, he has every oppurtunity to be a 10-15 game winner this season.

Projected Line-up

C- Geovany Soto, a young guy with a ton of potential, he had a great rookie season, and anything is possible. Pitcher love him and he is a dangerous hitter.

1B- Derek Lee, a great glove man and a consistent hitter, needs to cut down on the DP’s this coming season..

2B- Mike Fontenot, glad the little guy will be given a chance, mini babe ruth has a rapport with Theriot and he has pop in his bat, could be his break out season.

SS- Ryan Theriot wont hit for power, but he will get on base, and swipe some bases as well, locked down.

3B- Aramis Ramirez is one hell of a player, the best hitter on the Cubs? probably, could go 30+ homers and 120+ RBI’s, hitting with Bradley in front or behind will benefit his numbers.

LF- Alfonso Soriano needs to keep his legs fresh, he can still run and he hits for power, can change a game from the innitial swing of the game.

CF- Kosuke Fukudome, stella defense and lets hope that he is the hitter of the first half rather than the second half.

RF- Milton Bradley, the new guy to the lineup, has a ton of potential but like Harden he needs to stay healthy, there have been questions of his temprement but under Lou he will be just fine.

Bench and bullpen will be done next week.

Zambrano will start Opening Day

If you remember last off-season, Carlos Zambrano was quoted as saying that he didn’t want to start opening day, was he joking? probably, but the stats don’t lie. Zambrano is set to make his 5th concecutive opening day start this year, after manager Lou Piniella chose him instead of Ryan Dempster to take the mound to kick the Cubs season off.

Zambrano is yet to win a opening day start, last season he took the 3-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field, although signs of maturity are coming through in Zambrano, some people have suggested that it is because of his pumped up nature that he has been unable to control him emotions and been wild on opening day, however there have been no World Series predictions, no CY Young predictions from the Ace, even if he does not see himself as the ace of the Cubs pitching staff. It is probably worth mentioning that just because he did not get the win last year, doesn’t mean that he was not effective. Zambrano did pitch 6.2 innings of 0 run ball, all three Cubs runs came on the Fukudome homer in the 9th.

When told of his start on opening day, Zambrano commented that the Cubs don’t have a ace, they have four in himself, Harden, Dempster and Ted Lilly. Zambrano seems happy to share the linelight and pressure amongst his team mates, which can surely only be a positive in the long run.

The Chicago Cubs continued there perfect start to Cactus League play by beating the Texas Rangers 10-4 Friday afternoon. Micah Hoffpauier, Mike Fontenot and Sam Fuld all homered for the Cubs as they moved past the Rangers in there first away game of the Spring.

Hoffpauier continued his strong spring by sending a 3 run shot in the stands, he now has 7 RBI’s this spring. Mike Fontenot who will be hoping to get more than 400 at bats this season for the first time in his major league career helped his cause by hitting a 2 run homer and also driving in two more runs.

Ted Lilly in his only cactus league start before leaving to join the USA camp, pitched two innings of scoreless ball. Rivas and Johnson knocked in the other runs as the Cubs continued there preperation for the new major league season.

Lilly to pitch before heading out to WBC

With the opening game in the cactus league just 2 days away, pitchers are starting to be designated games to pitch over the coming week. As i stated in my last post, Jeff Samardzija will pitch the opening Cactus League game on Wednesday at HoHoKam park against the team that swept the Cubs out of the play-offs last season. Mitch Atkins, who impressed at AAA last season will also pitch two innings in the game against the Dodgers.

Sean Marshall who like Jeff Samardzija is battling for the 5th starters role will pitch Thursday against the NL Central division rival Milwaukee Brewers. Marshall who many believe to be the early favorite for the rotation will have stiff competition, and will have to watch one of the competition perform first in Jeff Samardzija before he takes the mound.

Ted Lilly is slated for his only cactus league action Friday against the Texas Rangers. Ted Lilly will join team USA ahead of the WBC. The 17 game winner is one of the few Cubs players sill participating in the event.

Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster are not slated to start in the first round of rotation starts, pitching coach Larry Rothschild said that there were no problems with the pitchers. Rich Harden continued to throw off a mound with no problems, however he is a week behind other pitchers. Andrew Cashner impressed cubs management with his smooth arm action, and asked Cus hitter David Lee about his change-up that he has been working on, positive feedback was given.

Two day’s to go ladies and gentlemen.