On a day they played the Marlins at a stadium named Land Shark, Friday was all about the ones that got away for the Cubs.
It started with the expiration of the trading deadline without the new hitter the Cubs hoped to add, continued with the news that the White Sox acquired the Cubs' long-sought pitcher, Jake Peavy, and ended with a quiet 5-2 loss to the Florida Marlins.
After back-to-back 12-run efforts, it's hard to pin this defeat on previous hitting woes, but the final game of a month that showed so much promise for the Cubs went so softly into the sultry night that it might as well have served as a reminder of things undone.
''It was a good month; we played good baseball,'' manager Lou Piniella said of an 18-9 July. ''Now we've got two big months ahead of us, starting with the nine games we have left on this road trip.''
As for those undone things, another was confounding setup man Carlos Marmol. He walked the first two men he faced in a 2-2 game in the eighth, hit the last guy and eventually was charged with all three runs in the inning.
That's 46 walks in 50 innings for Marmol. Add his nine hit batters, and it's 55 free passes. If opponents weren't hitting .160 against him, his ERA would be in orbit.
''Because he's so talented, he's been able to get away with it most of the time,'' Piniella said. ''But sooner or later, it comes back to haunt you.''
Marmol might not have been an issue if the Cubs hadn't been stymied by Chris Volstad and the Marlins bullpen a few hours after the trading deadline passed without the left-handed-hitting help the Cubs sought.
In fact, one of the players the Cubs looked into, Marlins right fielder Jeremy Hermida, singled twice, walked and scored the first run of the game Friday night.
''Jim tried,'' Piniella said of general manager Hendry's efforts that included at least one player, the Kansas City Royals' Mark Teahen, ahead of Hermida on the wish list.
''We were trying to add versatility to our situation, a player that basically could play four or five different positions -- three or four different positions -- to add some depth to our ballclub. I know [Hendry] talked to two or three different ballclubs about that type of player, and for whatever reason, things just didn't work out.''
''And our ownership group would have OK'd a deal. I'm not talking about a big-salaried player. I'm talking about a nice, productive, usable, versatile player. That's what we were looking for more than anything else.''
But the day after the Cubs made their big trade for Pittsburgh left-handers John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny, the manager and veteran players in the clubhouse said they weren't disappointed nothing else happened.
''I like our team,'' Ryan Dempster said. ''We've got the pieces here to do some things. Everybody always wants to see somebody add a big impact player -- 'go get Roy Halladay' or 'go get Victor Martinez.' But where are you going to put them?
''We've got All-Star-caliber players everywhere. Luckily for us, we didn't have very good first halves, as far as some guys, and we're in first place. That says a lot about the strength of our team and a lot of other guys doing their jobs and filling in.''
Said Derrek Lee: ''Sometimes the best move is not making one. We have the talent to get it done.''
Comment at suntimes.com.
BOXSCORE
CUBS AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Fukudome cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .270
Theriot ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 .289
D.Lee 1b 4 0 1 0 0 2 .287
Ar.Ramirez 3b 4 1 2 0 0 1 .348
Bradley rf 3 0 1 0 1 1 .251
J.Fox lf 4 1 1 2 0 0 .311
Fontenot 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .228
K.Hill c 4 0 2 0 0 1 .217
Harden p 1 0 0 0 0 1 .241
a-Fuld ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .350
Grabow p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-M.Hoffpauir ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 .239
c-Je.Baker ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .193
Heilman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --
Marmol p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --
Marshall p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .231
Totals 34 2 7 2 1 9
Florida AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Coghlan lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .252
e-Helms ph-3b 1 0 1 2 0 0 .273
Bonifacio 3b-lf 4 0 0 0 1 1 .246
Ha.Ramirez ss 4 0 1 0 0 3 .344
Cantu 1b 1 1 1 1 3 0 .289
Uggla 2b 3 1 0 0 1 1 .228
Hermida rf 3 2 2 0 1 0 .253
B.Carroll rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250
C.Ross cf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .259
Jo.Baker c 4 1 1 1 0 2 .270
Volstad p 3 0 1 1 0 2 .105
Meyer p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Donnelly p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --
d-Gload ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 .281
Nunez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --
Totals 31 5 7 5 6 13
CUBS 000 000 200--2 7 0
Florida 011 000 03x--5 7 1
a-grounded into a fielder's choice for Harden in the 6th. b-was announced for Grabow in the 7th. c-struck out for M.Hoffpauir in the 7th. d-was hit by a pitch for Donnelly in the 8th. e-doubled for Coghlan in the 8th.
E--Uggla (8). LOB--CUBS 6, Florida 9. 2B--Helms (6), Volstad (1). HR--J.Fox (7), off Volstad; Cantu (11), off Harden. RBIs--J.Fox 2 (26), Helms 2 (20), Cantu (59), Jo.Baker (30), Volstad (1). SB--Ha.Ramirez (16).
Runners left in scoring position--CUBS 4 (Fontenot, Theriot, Je.Baker, K.Hill); Florida 5 (Uggla 2, Coghlan, Bonifacio 2).
Runners moved up--Fukudome. GIDP--J.Fox. DP--Florida 1 (Bonifacio, Cantu).
CUBS IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Harden 5 5 2 2 3 11 99 4.50
Grabow 1 0 0 0 1 1 15 3.35
Heilman 1 0 0 0 0 1 16 4.47
Marmol L, 2-2 0.2 1 3 3 2 0 22 3.60
Marshall 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 7 3.66
Florida IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Volstad 6.2 6 2 2 0 5 99 4.35
Meyer 0.2 0 0 0 0 2 12 2.01
Donnelly W, 1-0 0.2 1 0 0 0 1 11 0.00
Nunez S, 9-12 1 0 0 0 1 1 17 3.83
Inherited runners-scored--Marshall 3-2, Meyer 2-0. HBP--by Marmol (Gload). WP--Volstad.
Umpires--Home, John Hirschbeck; First, Marty Foster; Second, Wally Bell; Third, Chad Fairchild. T--2:53. A--25,024.
HOW THEY SCORED
Marlins second Hermida singled. C.Ross struck out. Jo.Baker struck out. Volstad doubled, Hermida scored. One run. Marlins 1, Cubs 0.
Marlins third Bonifacio struck out. Ha.Ramirez struck out. Cantu homered to left on a 3-1 count. One run. Marlins 2, Cubs 0.
Cubs seventh D.Lee struck out. Ar.Ramirez singled. Bradley struck out. J.Fox homered to left on a 0-0 count, Ar.Ramirez scored. Two runs. Cubs 2, Marlins 2.
Marlins eighth Marmol pitching. Cantu walked on a full count. Uggla walked, Cantu to second. Hermida grounded into fielder's choice, Cantu out, Uggla to second. C.Ross flied out. Jo.Baker singled, Uggla scored, Hermida to second. Hermida to third, Jo.Baker to second. Gload pinch-hitting for Donnelly. Gload was hit by a pitch. Marshall pitching. Helms pinch-hitting for Coghlan. Helms doubled, Hermida scored, Jo.Baker scored, Gload to third. Three runs. Marlins 5, Cubs 2.
THE NUMBER
8� innings Carlos Marmol's scoreless streak entering Friday before yielding three runs in � of an inning.
THE RECAP
AT THE PLATE
The Cubs finally broke through against Marlins starter Chris Volstad when Jake Fox delivered a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh inning to tie the score -- and match $30 million run producer Milton Bradley's season RBI total at 26.
ON THE MOUND
Rich Harden struck out 11 in five innings but walked three and gave up a home run to Jorge Cantu and an RBI double to Volstad. Left-hander John Grabow pitched a scoreless sixth in his Cubs debut. Inconsistent setup man Carlos Marmol couldn't handle the eighth, giving up the go-ahead run and loading the bases before Sean Marshall allowed a two-run double to Wes Helms.
PIVOTAL POINT
Marmol walked the first two batters
of the eighth inning in a 2-2 game, and John Baker made him pay with a two-out, run-scoring single.
TONIGHT: AT MARLINS
- 6:10, Ch. 9, 720-AM
Cubs Starter: Carlos Zambrano 7-4, 3.36
'09 vs. Marlins: 1-0, 3.60 ERA in 5 IP on May 3
Career vs. Marlins: 5-1, 3.09 ERA in 10 starts
How Marlins have fared: Ronny Paulino 1-for-19; Hanley Ramirez 3-for-11, 1 HR; Wes Helms 4-for-10; Cody Ross 2-for-8; John Baker 1-for-8
Marlins Starter: Burke Badenhop 5-4, 3.46
'09 vs. Cubs: 0-1, 54.00 ERA in � IP of relief
Career vs. Cubs: 0-1, 54.00 in � IP of relief
How Cubs have fared: Ryan Theriot 1-for-1;
1 HR; Derrek Lee 1-for-1; Milton Bradley 0-for-1; Micah Hoffpauir 0-for-1
Color Photo: Pat Carter, Associated Press / Cubs catcher Koyie Hill can't quite come up with the catch on this first-inning foul ball by the Marlins' Dan Uggla on Friday night in Miami. ; Color Photo: Carlos Zambrano ; Color Photo: Burke Badenhop ;
No comments:
Post a Comment