Monday's game against the San Francisco Giants was bad enough for Starlin Castro, based solely the box score. The Chicago Cubs shortstop went 0-for-4 at the plate, leaving four runners on base in a 3-2 loss to the Giants that capped off a four-game sweep at AT&T Park. What people were talking about after the game, however, was something that didn't show up in the box score and had Cubs manager Dale Sveum fuming after the game. With one out in the fifth inning, the Giants' Brandon Crawford hit a ground ball to second base. Darwin Barney flipped the ball to Castro ...
The season is quickly spiraling downward for the Chicago Cubs. With Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Houston Astros, the Cubs' losing streak extended to eight games. That slide has pushed them down to the worst record in baseball at 15-28. Yes, that's correct: the worst record in baseball. Worse than the Padres or Rockies, even worse than the Minnesota Twins. No wonder Kerry Wood decided to retire. Shortstop Starlin Castro has been one of the few bright spots for the Cubs this season, batting .316/.326/.411 going into Tuesday night's play. But he was most certainly part of the problem in his team's ...
Highlighting a bad performance from the previous night in baseball might seem like a harsh way to start the morning, but look at it this way: If you had a rough night or bad day, here's someone who may have had it worse.In what's been a rough year for closers, Chicago Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol has still managed to stand out for how he's blown games.In just 8.2 innings, Marmol has walked 12 batters. That gives him an average of 12.5 walks per nine innings. Those would be great strikeout numbers for a closer. However, we're talking about walks, and ...
Thursday was a pretty good day at the ballpark for the Chicago Cubs' Ryan Dempster.Facing the Washington Nationals, he racked up 10 strikeouts while allowing one run and two hits over 7.2 innings. (Unfortunately, Dempster didn't get the win, as Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol couldn't protect a one-run lead in the eighth inning.)But Dempster's day was going well before he even took the mound—whether he realized it or not.As reported by MLB.com's Carrie Muskat, renowned Cubs fan Bill Murray gave the ball he threw for the ceremonial first pitch to Dempster after autographing it. Dempster apparently didn't realize Murray ...
Starting pitchers are worth much more to a baseball team than relievers. That's not to say relievers aren't important, of course. But a pitcher who can give a club 120-150 innings helps a staff more than one who contributes 70 or so innings.Jeff Samardzija was successful as a reliever for the Chicago Cubs last season, posting a 2.97 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 88 innings. But Samardzija wanted to be a starting pitcher, as he had been for most of his minor league career. And with holes in their rotation, the Cubs were wise to give him a shot this ...
With a few teams looking for outfield help before opening day, Chicago Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer is reportedly calling around to see if any of his peers might be interested in Marlon Byrd.One major league source told the Chicago Sun-Times' Gordon Wittenmyer that the Cubs offered Byrd to the Washington Nationals in exchange for some pitching. Yet, a different source said that the team is more interested in listening to offers than shopping him around.Dealing Byrd would open up a spot for top prospect Brett Jackson, whom Cubs manager Dale Sveum thinks is ready for the majors but wouldn't ...
The Chicago Cubs certainly have high expectations for first base prospect Anthony Rizzo.The team's decision to send him to minor league camp on Friday is no indication otherwise. Rizzo is expected to begin the season with Class AAA Iowa. General manager Jed Hoyer traded for Rizzo while he was in charge of the San Diego Padres' roster, getting him as part of the package for Adrian Gonzalez. And team president Theo Epstein was the Boston Red Sox GM when the team drafted the first baseman out of high school in 2007.It was virtually no surprise, then, when the Cubs acquired Rizzo ...
Lefty reliever Will Ohman spent five seasons with the Chicago Cubs, the longest stay of his nine-year major-league career. Though he's gone on to pitch for five other teams since leaving the Cubs, he still has fond memories of his teammates there.In an interview with ESPN Chicago's Bruce Levine, Ohman was asked who the funniest man in baseball was. That prompted him to share some stories of epic pranks with former teammate Ryan Dempster. First, here's what Ohman once did to Dempster:I tried to out-think him once and paid the price. I super glued his zipper open on his baseball pants the ...
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