September, 2008 | The Baseball Zealot

Zambrano’s no-hitter: the medicine for what ails the Cubs

Mark my words, when they put out the video entitled "The Chicago Cubs’ 2008 Championship Season", Sunday’s night game will be portrayed as the "the game that turned things around" for the Cubs.

Carlos Zambrano hadn’t pitched in over 12 days due to a sore rotator cuff. In his first day back, he no-hits division rivals Houston and allows only 2 base runners. For good measure, he went 1 for 3 with a run scored. It was pretty much a Carlos Zambrano show. He even called for a pop-up that D Lee would have normally gotten. Z is like that.

It was first Cub no-no since Milt Pappas’ gem 36 years ago. It was also the first no-hitter ever in a neutral park. The only downside was that the game was not televised outside of Chicago. But 23,000+ of the faithful showed up on short notice to cheer the good guys on.

At recent Cubs Conventions, Pappas had been telling Zambrano that he would be the next.

Every year at the Cubs Convention, Milt Pappas greets Carlos Zambrano with the same statement.

"He keeps telling me, ‘You will be the next one. You will be the next one,’" Zambrano said.

For the record for anyone who might be interested/worried, Zambrano threw 110 pitches. That’s a high count for anyone let alone someone coming off a rotator cuff injury. I bet Zambrano was flying through the last few innings though.

Yes, Sunday’s game is the stuff legends are made and just what the Cubs needed. Ted Lilly got the memo that the losing ways of the past is over. He even attempted to emulate Carlos and nearly succeeded. Lilly got through six without a hit today. It didn’t matter that Mark Loretta got one through. We won 6-1 and that magic number is rapidly dissipating.

Carlos Zambrano’s No-hitter Box Score

K-Rod for the Save!

K-Rod: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K (SV)

Seattle was Francisco Rodriguez’ victim as he broke the all-time single season record for saves.

F Rodriguez (S, 58) was the entry in the boxscores this morning as K-Rod eclipsed Bobby Thigpen’s old record of 57. Rodriguez will most likely be the first 60 save reliever. Who was it that had the all-time record BEFORE Thigpen? I’ll give you a second to think about it.

While I do, check out Baseball-Reference’s Progressive Leaders for saves (the answer’s there). B-R’s Progressive Leaders board is fun to look at for any stat. It lists 4 columns for EACH year going back to 1876; career leader, single-season leader, active player career leader, and yearly leader. It sounds rather mundane as I describe it but when you look at all four columns together, you get a sense of how the stat (in this case, saves) "progressed". Try other stats, too!

Oh, the answer is Dave Righetti with 46 saves in 1986.

Illini baseball to compete in BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge

Next February, the Illini will compete in a tournament between the Big Ten and BIG EAST conferences. The inaugural BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge will take place February 20-22, 2009 and will be hosted by the St Petersburg/Clearwater Sports Commission. All teams of the Big Ten and BIG EAST will take part.

The tournament will take place on the same date that Major League pitchers and catchers report for spring training.

Here is the proposed schedule:

BIG EAST/BIG TEN CHALLENGE MATCHUPS

Day 1 – Friday, February 20
Ohio State vs. Notre Dame
Penn State vs. St. John’s
Illinois vs. Iowa
Michigan State vs. Connecticut
Michigan vs. South Florida
Northwestern vs. Georgetown
Minnesota vs. Seton Hall
Indiana vs. West Virginia
Purdue vs. Cincinnati

Day 2 – Saturday, February 21
Michigan vs. Cincinnati
Purdue vs. South Florida
Penn State vs. Northwestern
Ohio State vs. Connecticut
Indiana vs. Georgetown
Illinois vs. Notre Dame
Minnesota vs. West Virginia
Michigan State vs. Seton Hall
Iowa vs. St. John’s

Day 3 – Sunday, February 22
Michigan vs. St. John’s
Ohio State vs. Cincinnati
Minnesota vs. Michigan State
Northwestern vs. Connecticut
Indiana vs. South Florida
Iowa vs. Georgetown
Purdue vs. Notre Dame
Penn State vs. Seton Hall
Illinois vs. West Virginia

Update: I asked Brian from The College Baseball Blog why the BIG EAST was in ALL CAPS while the Big Ten wasn’t in all the press releases I read. He simply said, "He simply said, It’s because they’re the BIG EAST."

‘Nuff said.

Crede gone from the Sox?

The downside of having Boras as an agent? Or just a side effect?

His locker has been cleared out… nameplate been taken down. Joe who?

"He’s not going be here for a little while," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I don’t expect him to be back soon, at least playing. He’s not going to miss [time] playing and all of a sudden come here and play. That’s not fair for him, that’s not fair for the ballclub."

Dang, I bet Mariotti would have had something poignant to write about it.

It’s one of situations where even though it IS his free agent season, you still don’t want things to end this way.

Outman does his job

Man, for a pitcher, I just love this guy’s name.

Josh Outman pitched his first start today for Oakland (he had appeared in two games earlier). And at least for today, his name fit. In his first career start (against the Rangers) he allowed only one run, four hits, struck out three and walked two.

Oh, and he recorded 15 outs, man

Pitchers (past and present) whose names did NOT inspire confidence:

Bob Walk

Homer Bailey

Grant Balfour

Bruce Hitt

and I know it’s part of his nickname but I can’t ignore

Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy

…any others?

ESPN’s "No Love Lost" profiles Cub fans from last ten decades

For those Cub fans who enjoy fluff pieces about their team, ESPN has assembled a pretty cool multimedia ensemble called "No Love Lost" which profiles ten Cub fans who were born in each decade since the Cubs last won the World Series.

It’s rather cool in a bittersweet way for a Cub fan. Some of those profiled are well-known in their own right such as David Diaz (light welterweight boxer) and Billy Corgan (former Smashing Pumpkins singer) and others are known purely for their love of the Cubs such as Ronnie "Woo Woo" Wickers and 100-year old Richard Savage representing the 1908 season.

Savage has some pretty humorous quotes, in my opinion:

On Fukudome: "He’s always spinning around with this whirling nonsense. They have a batting coach. Why the hell can’t they teach him to stop that?"

On Soriano: "He’s had some big hits, he’s a pretty good hitter, but he plays the field like a grammar school student."

Funny, I’ve thought the same thing about Fukudome.

Link (thanks, B & T!)

TAILGATING IN THE RAIN

After missing Thursday night’s White Sox loss to the Blue Jays due to Ray’s 50th birthday party, lotsa fun, it was time to head down to the Cell. Only this time I’d be going down there in Rob’s car, with Vicky, for a pregame tailgate party. We arrived about 5:00 PM, the grill was already grilling, under a tent, Tade was busy cooking. Upon our arrival the beverages came pouring out of the trunk of Rob’s car. On the grill were hot dogs, brats, hamburgers, & cheeseburgers. There were cutup onions and tomatoes from Tade’s garden, along with mustard, ketchup, pickles, & piccalilli. Sweet treats were also present in the form of fresh fruit, chocolate chip cookies, and Snickers candy bars.

Those in attendance were me, Rob, Vicky, Tade, Dick, Bea, Steve, Bubba, Debbie & her kids, CLuke & his kids, Tom & Tim (Rob’s twin brothers), Kimberly (Rob’s daughter) & her girlfriends, Roland, Al, and Anthony. It was alot of fun, bringing the tent made it all possible. Some people snuck away from the parking lot to get their green hats for the Halfway to St. Patty’s Day festivities.

I called the White Sox to see if the game was still on at 7:00 PM, just about the same time Richard Roeper was throwing out the first pitch and the tarp was being removed. I decided to go inside along with CLuke & his kids and Roland. They had upper deck seats and the only way they could get to the lower deck was if I went in with them. Once inside, the tarp was back on the field, and Caramel Corn Mike was looking for something to eat. We met Dick at the gate to pickup some freshly cooked food hot off Tade’s grill. We delivered the food to a grateful Mike, just as the game was called.

Out to the tent we went, drinking some Captain Morgan Tattoo, good stuff Maynard, and it was time to head for home. I gave my ticket to Roland. I probably won’t be back at US Cellular Field this baseball season until the postseason.

Roland had a pretty neat rain delay penny entertainment thingy which he performed. He laid two pennies face up in the palm of his hand, “See any fruit?” To which the crowd responded, “No.” “Here’s a pair,” he chimed. Adding another penny, “See any snakes?” The people said, “Nope.” “Three copperheads,” smiled Roland. One more penny was added, “Any cars?” Roland responding to the “Nos” from the crowd says, “Four Lincolns.” Now there are five pennies face up in his hand, “See any sex?” The response from a laughing Roland is, “Well not for five cents you won’t.” Corny, but cute.

Berman’s got nothing on one of our APBA managers

It’s All-Star Game time in my APBA league. Like the bigs, we all vote for deserving players who have well in our league and those players are used in the All-Star Game which will take place next weekend.

While all managers vote to pick the starters, the All-Star managers (determined by best record last year) are responsible for picking the subs, pitchers, and determine the lineup. The rest of us wait to see if any of our players get chosen.

Usually, when the roster and lineup is emailed to us, it’s pretty standard. Kudos to Nick, the East Division Manager, though for his clever writeup of his East Division All-Star team. It made me laugh.

Here it is:

"Cadillacs:	Chevrolets:
The Jack Robinson Cano	Lance Fat Elvis Berkman
Jimmy Jelly Roll Rollins	Chase not Citi Dirtball Utley
OWEEO MAG lee o Ordonez	DW David the Wright Stuff
Prince I’m not my daddy Fielder	Derek Jesus Jeter
Miguel Don’t call me Micky Cabrera	Shane Maui Wowie Victorino
Biscuits and Grady Sizemore	Nick The Stick Swisher Sweet
One Adam Dunn	Who Can? McCann can
What’s Your Vector Victor Martinez	I am GayRod, G.A.Y. Rod

The Unhittables:

Steak and Jake Peavy

Subway Washburn

Peter The Great Moylan

The Big O Oswalt

SOOORIA S.O.R.I.A. SOOOORIA

Cole as the other side of the pillow Hamels

Matt the mad Capper Capps

Jose Moe Green Valverde

Matt not Abel Cain

Some guy named Gardner

****This is just a projected team. Further consumption of Budweiser allows for change**** "

Cubs games are blowing in the wind

Aside from playing havoc with people’s lives down south, Hurricane Ike is playing havoc with the MLB schedule. There were six rainouts on Friday.

That includes the Cubs-Astros series in Houston. Some Cubs players are wanting to play at a neutral site but Astros manager Cecil Cooper is pretty adamant about playing at home.

"Minute Maid is where we should play them," he said.

I had heard rumors about playing them Cubs-Astros series at Turner Field in Atlanta but that’s exactly what they were. Rumors.

9/13 Update: Looks like the games will indeed be played. Not at Turner Field but at Wrigley North aka Miller Park in Milwaukee. Boy, if I were Cecil Cooper, I wouldn’t be happy.

Neither if I were the Milwaukee Brewers. A division rival using the home park where the fans can pack in to root their team to victory only to hurt the Brewers’ cause.

But I’m a Cubs fan so yeah, good idea.

First game is Sunday at 7:05pm.

It’s a Dunn deal; Owings to the Reds

The Reds sent outfielder Adam Dunn to the Dbacks in exchange for starting pitcher Micah Owings.

I can’t remember that time the media has focused more on a pitcher’s hitting stats rather than his pitching. Perhaps it’s because Owings comes with a 6-9 record and a 5.93 ERA.

Owings has a .288 average for the year and a career .313 average with 5 homers with 18 rbis.

As it looks, Owings won’t be doing much pitching (or hitting) for the Reds down the homestretch anyway.

Update: Maybe the Reds shoulda waited a couple days. Dbacks skip used Micah Owings as a pinch hitter against the Reds in the 10th inning Saturday and Owings responded with a rbi double.