Outshined_One

Without Guzman around, the Cubs need a reliever who can come into high leverage situations and get them out of jams. If Marshall can do that effectively and consistently, he'll be incredibly valuable.

Sean Marshall is good.

Ugh.

Well hit ball, Soriano tried to make the catch on the run, but it clanked off his glove.

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH.

We're up 1-0. The Cubs got a bunch of walks and men on base, but they haven't been able to get them in. Gorzelanny has looked really good, but the Reds have runners at 1st and 2nd with 1 out. How are the Smokies looking?

Is Lou sleepwalking?

I dunno about that. He looked pretty sharp today and could be a huge asset for the Reds for years to come.

Nice job waiting until the 7th for that!

Nicely done, Gorz. =D>

Huge K!

Drew Stubbs is fast.

Scenic Ohio!

A beach ball? Seriously?

Oof. Even with a cup, that kind of a foul ball is painful.

Woohoo!

Box Scores Iowa lost 4-2 Box Score CF/LF J. Adduci 0/4, 2 K SS D. Barney 1/4, K RF M. Hoffpauir 1/4, RBI, 2B (1) LF J. Dubois 2/4, R, RBI, HR (2), K 1B B. LaHair 1/3, SB (1), E (1, fielding), HBP C W. Castillo 0/4, K 3B M. Smith 1/4, 2 K 2B M. Camp 0/4 PH B. Snyder 0/1 SP C. Coleman 6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4/0 K/BB, HR, 8-6 GO-FO RP B. Parker 2 scoreless, 2 H, 2/2 K/BB, WP, 1-3 GO-FO Tennessee won 4-1 Box Score CF T. Campana 0/3, BB, RBI, K SS S. Castro 0/5, K LF T. Wright 1/5, 2 RBI RF B. Guyer 1/3, BB, 2B (1) 2B R. Flaherty 1/4, K 3B J. Opitz 1/3, BB, 2 R, K, E (1, fielding) PH T. Thomas 0/0, BB SP HW Chen 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2/1 K/BB, 6-5 GO-FO RP A. Maestri 2 scoreless, 0 H, 3/1 K/BB, 3-0 GO-FO RP R. Buchter 1 scoreless, 2 H, 1/0 K/BB, 0-2 GO-FO RP J. Muyco 1 perfect, 1/0 K/BB, 1-1 GO-FO Daytona won 10-5 Box Score CF B. Jackson 2/4, 2 BB, 2 R, RBI, 2 K 2B DJ LeMahieu 3/6, R, RBI, 2B (1), E (1, throw) RF K. Burke 1/5, BB, R, RBI, K DH J. Vitters 3/5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 2B (2) 3B M. Gonzalez 1/3, 2 BB, R SP C. Archer 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 5/1 K/BB, HBP, 1-5 GO-FO RP R. Searle 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4/1 K/BB, 5-2 GO-FO RP C. Huseby 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0/1 K/BB, WP, 1-2 GO-FO Peoria won 2-0 Box Score SS HJ Lee 2/4, R, 2B (1) CF J. Valdez 1/4, R, K 3B M. Cerda 1/3, BB, E (1, fielding) DH G. Rohan 3/4, 2 RBI, CS (1) 1B J. Bour 0/3, BB, K C J. Rosa 0/4, K LF J. Morelli 0/3 SP T. McNutt 3 scoreless, 2 H, 7/2 K/BB, 1-0 GO-FO RP SM Jung 4 scoreless, 1 H, 1/2 K/BB, Balk, HBP, 3-5 GO-FO RP S. Grife 1 scoreless, 1 H, 2/0 K/BB, 0-1 GO-FO RP J. Latham 1 scoreless, 1 H, 1/0 K/BB, 1-0 GO-FO OVERALL: 3-1

Box Scores Iowa lost 2-1 in the 10th Box Score CF J. Adduci 2/5, 2B (1) 2B B. Scales 1/5, RBI RF M. Hoffpauir 0/4, BB LF J. Dubois 0/4, 3 K 1B B. LaHair 1/4, 2B (1), K 3B M. Smith 0/2, BB, K PH B. Smith 0/1 C C. Robinson 1/4, 2B (1) SS D. Barney 1/4, 2 K 3B M. Camp 1/2, R SP T. Diamond 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 5/1 K/BB, HBP, 5-5 GO-FO RP B. Schlitter 2 scoreless, 1 H, 0/1 K/BB, 1-5 GO-FO RP J. Stevens 0 IP, 1 H, 0/2 K/BB RP J. Gray 2 perfect, 1/0 K/BB, 3-2 GO-FO RP M. Atkins 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1/1 K/BB, 1-1 GO-FO Tennessee won 7-3 Box Score CF/RF B. Guyer 2/5, R, 3B (1), 2 K SS S. Castro 3/4, BB, 2 R, RBI, 3B (2), SB (2) LF T. Wright 4/5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2B (1), HR (1), K RF R. Canzler 1/4, CS (2), PO (1B) CF T. Campana 0/1, R, K C S. Clevenger 2/5, RBI, 2B (1), K 2B T. Thomas 0/2, 3 BB, E (1, fielding) 3B N. Samson 1/4, BB, K PH J. Opitz 0/1 PH R. Flaherty 0/1 SP A. Bibens-Dirkx 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 6/1 K/BB, 5-2 GO-FO RP D. Cales 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3/0 K/BB, 2-1 GO-FO RP D. Sasser .1 scoreless, 0 H, 2/1 K/BB, WP RP M. Mateo 1.2 perfect, 2/0 K/BB, 2-1 GO-FO Daytona won 7-4 with a Michael Brenly Walkoff HR in the 12th Box Score CF B. Jackson 0/4, 2 BB 2B DJ LeMahieu 1/6, 2 K RF K. Burke 2/6, R, K 3B J. Vitters 1/6, R C M. Brenly 1/5, BB, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR (1), K PR/DH J. Lake 0/1, K 1B M. Gonzalez 2/4, R, RBI, SB (1) SP A. Cabrera 6 scoreless, 2 H, 2/0 K/BB, 8-8 GO-FO RP L. Sommer .2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 0-2 GO-FO RP M. Perconte 3 scoreless, 1 H, 5/1 K/BB, 4-0 GO-FO RP A. Shafer 1 perfect, 1/0 K/BB, 1-1 GO-FO Peoria lost 8-2 Box Score HJ Lee 1/4, RBI, K 2B L. Watkins 1/5 3B M. Cerda 0/1, 3 BB DH R. Jones 0/4, K C J. Rosa 0/2, 2 BB, 2 K, PB (2) 1B J. Bour 2/4, K LF G. Rohan 0/2, 2 BB, R CF J. Valdez 0/3, HBP SP J. Nagel 3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 6/0 K/BB, 1-1 GO-FO RP T. Clubb 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3/1 K/BB, 2 HR, 2-1 GO-FO RP J. Beliveau 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 4/0 K/BB, HR, HBP OVERALL: 2-2

at least for caridad, that umpire did a reasonably good job: http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfx/index.php?month=4&day=9&year=2010&game=gid_2010_04_09_chnmlb_cinmlb_1%2F&pitchSel=534428&prevGame=gid_2010_04_09_chnmlb_cinmlb_1%2F&prevDate=49 That's actually pretty nifty. However, I think it helps prove my point. I'm going to focus on this chart, which charts Caridad's pitches to RH hitters. MLB Play by Play in the bottom of the 8th, specifically the Johnny Gomes AB is what I'll be looking at. If you look at the chart, there are two strikes called on the outside corner on 1st and 2nd pitches, including the first pitch that was a decent bit outside the zone. Those were the first two pitches of the Johnny Gomes AB, which had Gomes down 0-2. I think the problem for that particular sequence was that there was an expectation that Caridad could get away with working the outside corner and getting certain outside pitches called strikes. Unfortunately, I think Caridad and whoever was calling that pitch had an expectation that Caridad would continue getting that call, which turned out to be an incorrect assumption. For whatever reason, I don't think anyone on the Cubs' side got the picture until Stubbs went yard. The ump corrected himself and ended up calling that corner correctly following strike one to Gomes, don't get me wrong. Caridad shouldn't be complaining about it. However, I can see how Caridad thought some of those pitches should have been called strikes.

as if it wasn't bad enough that he blew the game and constantly whined about pitches that WEREN'T strikes.... he has to run his mouth some more after the game. those weren't strikes, you goon. It'd be one thing if the umpire simply didn't call any of those pitches strikes, but the ump actually was pretty inconsistent with his outside corner with right handed hitters. A handful of those were actually called strikes and a few of the closer ones were called balls. Caridad was clearly pissed off about it on the mound. Now, granted, whoever kept calling for the fastball on the outside corner should have taken the hint. Any time he threw a fastball against a RHP, it went to that spot. Stubbs picked up on that and waited for the FB on the outer half, which he inevitably got. It would have been nice to see Caridad move that pitch around the plate, but for whatever reason, that didn't happen. It was like watching Kyle Farnsworth versus Julio Franco all over again. Unfortunately, we don't know if that sequence was on Caridad, Hill, Rothschild, or someone else. It'd be nice to know who to blame for that.

So, what should the Cubs do with the young guys in the bullpen who've had early struggles?

http://www.sportsocracy.org/imgs/panic_button.png

Can VDN be fired immediately following this game?

Kind of sucks that the NJ Nets are securely in the #1 spot in the Draft Lottery. Otherwise they'd have a good reason to lose.

This is awesome.