Get your Phil here
All in all, I’d rather be in Philadelphia, to paraphrase W.C. Fields. From a distance, we’ll provide a few facts and figures on the Cubs and the defending world-champion Phils.
The ghost of Ben Franklin sends the lineup over that kite wire:
Fukudome, CF
Theriot, SS
Lee, 1B
Ramirez, 3B
Hoffpauir, RF
Soriano, LF
Fontenot, 2B
Hill, C
Lilly, P
Word from my colleagues in Philly is that Milton Bradley worked with Lou on his hitting today. I’m assuming it’s his “left-hand” hitting, to use Lou’s term. Bradley is batting .201 (32-for-159) as a “left-hand” hitter. He’s at .333 (21-for-63) righty. Two hitting coaches and a manager have now worked with the Cubs’ $30 million right fielder.
Here are some Cubs’ batting lines, going average, OBP, slugging and OPS:
Bradley: .239/.372/.369/.741
Lee: .284/.354/.518/.873
Soriano: .238/.305/.433/.737
Theriot: .295/.347/.422/.769
Fukudome: .262/.377/.439/.816
Ramirez: .317/.361/.495/.856
Fox: .326/.365/.595/.958
I threw Fox’ numbers in there for the heck of it. Notice that Bradley’s on-base is higher than his slugging. And Theriot has a better OPS than Bradley and Soriano.
How about some Phillies:
Ibanez: .316/.375/.669/1.045
Utley: .312/.427/.573/1.000
Victorino: .306/.374/.456/.830
Howard: .262/.347/.535/.882
Werth: .262/.370/.502/.871
Rollins: .236/.290/.367/.658
Those are some numbers. You wouldn’t be comparing Ibanez with Bradley, would you?
Here is how the two teams rank in several key categories:
Phillies
Runs: 1 (.475)
Hits: 7 (804)
HR: 1 (126)
OBP: 3 (.342)
SLG: 1 (.452)
OPS: 1 (.794)
BB: 5 (343)
ERA: 13 (4.39)
Cubs
Runs: 12 (381)
Hits: 14 (767)
HR: 4 (99)
OBP: 11 (.324)
SLG: 6 (.405)
OPS: 9 (.729)
BB: 11 (310)
ERA: 4 (.3.76)
We’ve got a few other things from the Cubs’ game notes, and thanks to the media-relations staff for e-mailing those notes to me while I’m away.
--Cubs catchers are 23-for-72 in throwing out baserunners. That 31.9 percent success rate is best in the NL and fourth in MLB. Koyie Hill is 7-for-18, or 39.9 percent.
--Closer Kevin Gregg has a 1.61 ERA in his last 27 games, dating to May 19.
--Sean Marshall leads the majors in stranding inherited runners, at 96 percent. Marshall has stranded 24 of 25 inherited runners.
--The Cubs have 56 quality starts, tied for Arizona for the tops in the majors. The Cubs are 35-21 in quality-start games, and their starters have a 2.34 ERA in those games. When the Cubs don’t get a quality start, the team record is 12-22. The Cubs were able to hit they way past three straight non-quality start games in Washington over the weekend.
More of previous post All Star game BS; walking people, giving up game winning bombs, horrible at bats, perpetual inning ending double play balls, catcher striking out with runner on base, blah blah blah. I didn't think they'd win a game there, but this kind of pisspoor performance was what I was hoping against. 12 innings = 0 walks taken. Phillies BP 6 mow down innings. This team looks tired and disinterested. Just mowed and run over by a superior team. I have a strange feeling this is wake up call that this team isn't even a sniff to post season caliber.
LOL...nice job Hendry!
Hi Bruce,
Anything developing with the Cubs about acquiring someone before the trade deadline? Even if they somehow win the division they don't matchup well with LA or Philly.
There's nothing "hot" right now, as far as I can tell from this distance, away from the team. Sometimes these deals can develop overnight, even on deadline day. I expect Hendry to try to add to the bullpen. But I don't know of anything imminent.
Bruce,
Check your email when you get the chance!
Thanks!
Stand there and take three called strikes.
Phillies are working the count, Cubs not so much...for the most part.
Are you talking about Hill taking strikes two and three with two out and two on and Lilly due up behind him? Swing the bat Koyie, swing the bat. And don't even talk about Sorry-ano.
He took two nice fat ones and didn't even take the bat off his shoulder.
Based on the lay man's view from TV, looks like the knee is bothering Lilly.
Bruce-
I understand it is hard to get readers and even harder to find advertising right now, but with all honesty, I think your blogs before and during the games are the best place for info on the Cubs. Why not put up more banners or links to supliment the revenue and advertise your column as a liveblog question and answer? This is probably the next step in reporting anyway--answer questions as reader post them. Especially on the road you can add more input on what is happening in real time. Then compile game notes and tidbits after reading over the blog to submit your story for the night.
You present great ideas. We're working on all of that, too. Yes, real-time is one good way to go, and I enjoy interacting with the readers before, during and after games. If I'm not there, it's because I'm racing deadline for the morning paper. Thanks again..
--Bruce
...UGH. Of course, that previous pitch was extremely borderline.
That did look close. Sometimes the umpire will ring a guy up on that pitch.
..beating the snot out of the Nationals is one thing, but this three game set is quite another. This will kind of prove where they stand...
Hey Bruce, so are you still on target to start schlepping around the U.S. after these guys in August?
That was my answer the other day when one of my other great readers asked. Been tough times for all the media. Hopefully, we can get back out there for you guys.
Bruce, I'm probably not the first one to ask this, but have you given any thought to getting on Twitter? I ask out of sheer laziness - seeing your tweets would remind me to come and check your blog more often.
For anyone interested, I'm: @dat_cubfan_dave
But it's a thought. Let me look into it.