Triple City in Seven Run Cubs 6th Trips A's at Fitch Park

Marco Hernandez, Jesus Morelli, and Yaniel Cabezas ripped run-scoring triples to highlight a seven-run 6th, as the EXST Cubs rallied from an early 4-1 deficit to defeat the EXST Athletics 9-6 in Cactus League Extended Spring Training action at Fitch Park Field #3 in Mesa this morning.

EXST games usually are played as nine inning games where the home team takes an AB in the bottom of the 9th even if it is ahead, but this morning’s game was stopped after eight innings when both the A’s and Cubs ran out of available pitchers.

Angel Guzman (2010 shoulder surgery rehab) got the start for the Cubs and went more than one inning for the first time since his surgery. The right-hander breezed through his first inning of work, throwing an 11-pitch 1-2-3 1st inning (F-7, K, 4-3), but then he began to falter in his second inning (F-8, BB, 2B, 4-3, BB), throwing 20 pitches (but only ten strikes) before being relieved with two outs, one run in, and runners at the corners.

Gooz was quite obviously frustrated with his inability to throw strikes in the 2nd inning, cursing himself when he bounced his final pitch (a curve) into the dirt on a 3-2 pitch for ball four. While he has his fastball velocity up to 92 MPH, he also has control lapses from time-to-time, especially if he has to throw more than a dozen pitches in an inning. So don’t expect to see Angel Guzman in Chicago anytime soon.

Here is today’s abridged box score (Cubs players only):

1. Vismeldy Bieneme, 2B: 3-4 (3B, K, 1B, BB, 1B, R)
2. Yaniel Cabezas, C: 2-2 (BB, BB, 1B, 3B, BB, R, 3 RBI)
3. Wilson Contreras, 3B: 1-4 (5-4 FC, P-4, 2B, HBP, K, R)
4. Marco Hernandez, SS: 1-4 (P-5, 4-3, 3B, K, R, RBI)
5. Dong-Yub Kim, DH: 1-4 (K, 1B, K, K, RBI)
6a. Reggie Golden, RF: 0-1 (BB, F-8)
6b. Eduardo Gonzalez, RF: 1-2 (1B, K, R, RBI)
7. Chad Noble, 1B: 1-4 (6-4-3 DP, K, E-5, 1B, R)
8. Jesus Morelli, LF: 1-3 (BB, 4-3, 3B, F-9, R, 2 RBI)
9. Kyung-Min Na, CF: 1-4 (6-3, 1B, E-4, K, 2 R, RBI)

1. Angel Guzman: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 1 K, 31 pitches (17 strikes), 2/2 GO/FO
2. Alvido Jimenez: 2.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R (3 ER), 1 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 50 pitches (31 strikes), 3/2 GO/FO
3. Alvaro Sosa: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 33 pitches (19 strikes), 2/0 GO/FO
4. Dustin Fitzgerald: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 19 pitches (16 strikes), 1/1 GO/FO
5. Amaury Paulino: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R (2 ER), 4 BB, 0 K, 2 WP, 30 pitches (12 strikes), 1/0 GO/FO


Yaniel Cabezas: 0-1 CS


WEATHER: Sunny with temperatures in the 90’s


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Any Wells or Cashner sighting's yet??

b.guyer (TB) HR in his 1st mlb AB.

gotta luv it!

go Cubs go

then 2 k's

went to University of Virginia, nice place for it. Wonder if he got the ball back?

Nice. He's probably going to steal AB's from Fuld.

I'm very curious to see what he does in a few hundred MLB AB's.

16 K through 7 for Cliff Lee, but down 3-0 and up to 117 pitches, doubt he'll get a chance to break record.

Derek Lowe with a no-hitter through 6 in same game.

and Victorino singles to lead-off inning

but Phillies trailing Braves 3-0 going into the bottom of the 7th. Anniversary of Kid K 20K game today as well.

yikes, i was too slow on the draw with the post.

Derek Fucking Rose



And its Derrick

Castro and Soriano sit...

Kosuke Fukudome, RF
Barney, SS
Marlon Byrd, CF
Aramis Ramirez, 3B
Carlos Pena, 1B
Geovany Soto, C
DeWitt, 2B
Tyler Colvin, LF
Casey Coleman, P


the rest of the nation must be glued to the sub .500 matchup between Red Sox and Twins.

it's even worse on the east coast...they assume all you want to watch is NYY/BOS/ATL every week.

The one thing I really hated about Charlotte.

Being in an NL Central town, does have its advantages. Cubs hitting lots of fly balls to left that aren't going anywhere.

...and Fox is busy letting the announce crew talk about how interesting rain delays are rather than cutting to another game.

nothing like an interesting saturday afternoon watching eric karros talk about tarps.


in a "moment" they're going to the TB/BAL game...oh least grace is on the announce crew

sweet, rain delay in Boston, here comes the Cubs/Reds game...


why are they wearing O's/Rays uniforms?


speaking of, the Sam Fuld freefall continues

down to a OPS just over .700, OBP around .320

0-5 today...2 for last 40...ow.

Otherwise known as a Koyie Hill hot streak.


strikes out Votto twice...

baseball can be funny.

Tim McCarver: "Left Fielders are normally the worst fielding outfielders, so very few Left Fielders have a chance to win a gold glove."

I'm surprised Brennamen hasn't smothered McCarver to death with a pillow or pushed him out the booth.

"On May 22nd, Fox will debut a special about all the things that have happened in the world since the Cubs last won a World Series. It's in HD, so you can see the fans hearts breaking. If you miss it on the 22nd, don't worry, we'll bring it up every five minutes and show it constantly."

i know he's not the cubs problem...i mean, golden boy...anymore, but wtf is going on with chris archer?

6th AA start of 2011 a couple days ago...didn't make it through 5, again (only made it 5+ip once so far, 6ip)...

his control is as bad as one might expect, but he's also getting hit pretty well.

He had one start that had pretty good peripherials but he's allowing a lot more flyballs than he had the last two years with the Cubs. I think the Rays may have been tinkering to get his control improved, and wound up just fucking him up.

they may have to live with his control issues if he's going to be this hittable and still work deep counts on everyone trying to figure it out.

even with his control issues he could historically miss bats.

Instead of Fox's SAP being in Spanish, Fox should provide a secondary audio track of just the feed from the ballpark, minus the worst announcers in history destroying the broadcast.

Coleman leaves game with runners on first and third.

Wood comes in and gets a force out and letting runner on third score and Coleman's other runner is out at second base. So is the guy on first Wood or Coleman's responsibility?

Box score seems to say it's Coleman which I guess makes some sense.

Gonna be a tough loss for Coleman if Cubs don't come back.

Coleman gets the ER, Wood would get the loss, right?

if it's Coleman's ER, then he definitely would get the loss.

Wood gets a blown save though regardless if Cubs come back.

From the rule book: 10.17 (d) A losing pitcher is a pitcher who is responsible for the run that gives the winning team a lead that the winning team does not relinquish.

So I think Coleman is the losing pitcher if we don't score again, because he was charged with the ER that put the Reds ahead.

BTW, the MLB rule book is online:

Ok, thanks.

The 2nd runner is coleman's as well.

Yes, looking at the rulebook, it would be charged to Coleman.

UPDATE: MLB's box score already shows Coleman with 2 ER.

Woohoo! Pena.


...Pena's still got it.

so Stubbs drops the ball but it bounced over fence for ground rule double costing Cubs the winning run.



Koseke hit his single on a 95 mph fastball. Nice reflexes for an old man (34 yrs. old). I remember some discussion a little while back (couple of years ago) that he couldn't catch up to a good fastball. Glad that wasn't the case today.

Those infamous Wrigley Field ground rule doubles...

Cubs Win!

Nice comeback.

O's with 5 ex-Cubs in at the moment

Pie, Izturis, Lee, Fox and Gregg

jake fox the catcher is a horrible looking mess...well, that's harsh, but he doesn't look comfortable.

Awesome comeback. Good game. Congrats to Mateo for the first MLB 'W'.

Definitely deserved that comeback win after having Brennaman relieve Game 6 in painful detail in the 8th inning and the disappointment that is inherent in Cubdom.

At least he didn't get in a Bartman reference, suprisingly.

j.verlander is perfect through 6 and y.gallardo is pitching a no-hitter through 7. gall's pitch count is kinda high, though.

gall no hitter gone bottom 8th, 0 out.

verlander perfect game gone...walk, 1 out, 8th. no hitter in progress.

and verlander gets his 2nd no-hitter.

Per Musket tweet and Rotoworld followup...

Todd Wellemeyer has retired from baseball.
Wellemeyer made the announcement Saturday after allowing eight hits and four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings Thursday at Triple-A Iowa. The 32-year-old will call it quits with a 4.83 career ERA and 1.51 career WHIP. He played eight major league seasons.

(and they still owe him a ws ring)

Howard Berk and the Boys rejoyce!

Bleacher Bugler/Bum and radio personality Mike Murphy resurfaces tomorrow on ESPN-1000 at 9 am with his ol' sidekick Fred Huebner.

Murph was embroiled in a legal despute with CBS and wscr over a restrictive covenant issue. He has been off the air since June 2009 but was under contract thru May 2010 (so he kept getting paid till then). After the contract expired he filed a class action suit vs CBS radio which owns wsux/wscr because the contract claimed to block local employment vs competitors for 6 months after contract expiration. The suit has yet to be resolved.

Even though Murph is often repetitive and usually off the deep end, I admit I missed his Cub loving presence on Chicago radio. Since Ron Santo is gone, nobody on radio leaves his Cub emotions on his sleeve like Murph.

His show will be weekly, every Sunday am, 9-1.

His yellow note pad will really be full tomorrow.

Good news, I always liked Murph.


He has been on for two weeks now, IIRC.

I listened to him last week.

Its just like "old days" though.

Good Sunday baseball talk show.

He has been on for two weeks now, IIRC.
Miss a little, miss a lot.

Put an 8 spot up in the 2nd inning - Ha with a grand slam the big blow. More impressive: lead-off man Junior Lake draws his 1st walk on the season (against 29 K).

I look at Daytona's lineup, and I don't see how they get to 22-8. I know they've had good pitching, but they score a lot of runs, too: first in the FSL in runs, home runs, BA, OPS. It's not all Jae-Hoon Ha. If this continues, we'll have to start taking some of their other players--like Lake, Bour, Cerda, Nelson Perez and Evan Crawford--more seriously as prospects.

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