Cubs Team Report 4-25-2006
(Courtesy of The Sports Xchange) With
Derrek Lee
out, the Cubs will be missing their top offensive and defensive player for about
two months.
Lee, who spoke publicly for the first since he fractured his wrist in a
collision with Los Angeles'
Rafael
Furcal last Wednesday, said the Cubs should still do fine because they have
a lethal combination of power and speed.
"The makeup of the team -- we're playing hard and getting contributions from
everyone," Lee said. "I like the way we play. We're versatile. We're scoring
runs a lot of different ways. We're playing defense. Taking extra bases.
"I think we'll be just fine without me in the lineup."
REPLAY: The Cubs had just one hit in seven innings off of Florida pitchers
Jason Vargas
and Matt
Herges, but in the eighth, they broke the game open with a six-run explosion
and won 6-3 over the Marlins on Monday night at Wrigley Field.
Matt
Murton's opposite field single to right brought in two runs and
Jacque
Jones' opposite-field homer into the left-field seats brought in three more
runs in the rally. The Cubs, who are one of the worst teams in the National
League in drawing walks, walked six times in the game, including twice in the
eighth.
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NOTES
--RHP
David Aardsma picked up his first victory in a Cubs uniform when he pitched
a scoreless eighth in the Cubs' 6-3 come-from-behind victory over Florida. He
struck out
Reggie Abercrombie and
Matt Treanor
with two runners on base to get out of a jam.
--RHP Carlos
Zambrano tied a career high with 12 strikeouts, but could still not pick up
his first victory of the season. He gave up six hits, walked three and hit
another batter and left Monday night's game trailing 3-0. The Cubs rallied after
he left the game for a 6-3 win.
--2B Neifi
Perez picked up a start on Monday night against Florida because he was
previously 3-for-3 against Marlins' pitcher Jason Vargas. But look for
Jerry
Hairston Jr. to get two starts there in the final two games of the series on
Tuesday and Wednesday.
--1B Todd
Walker is getting used to his new position after Derrek Lee's injury. Walker
said he is having fun at the spot, but has a few things to learn. He collided
with St. Louis'
David
Eckstein on Sunday and admitted he was in the wrong place at the time. But
unlike Lee, who will miss two months after his collision with Los Angeles'
Rafael Furcal, Walker was not hurt. "Good thing it wasn't
Albert
Pujols who ran into me," Walker joked. But Walker wasn't laughing as much on
Monday when he committed his first error at the position when he dropped a pop
fly in the infield in the eighth inning.
--SS Ronny
Cedeno started his third straight game as the No. 2 hitter in the lineup.
Previously, Cedeno had batted eighth, but has shown he is able to effectively
hit and bunt and may keep this spot for a while.
--CF Juan
Pierre is an avid Heat basketball fan who said that being traded from
Florida to Chicago doesn't mean he roots for the Bulls.
"I can't really talk too much out here because this is Chicago and they love
their sports here," Pierre said, "so I've got to root for the Heat silently."
With the Cubs off Thursday, Pierre said he hopes to attend the Heat-Bulls
playoff game that night at the United Center.
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A lethal combination?
I think the statement that the Cubs have a lethal combination of power and speed is overstating things a bit. There's some combination, but I wouldn't exactly call it lethal.
Aardsma may have earned the win last night, but he really needs to stop walking people. That's 6 now in 3.2 innings.
Did the WBC Affect MLB's Starting Pitchers?
Carlos Zambrano, even after last night's 12K performance, hasn't exactly been the Zambrano this season that we've all come to expect. Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan thinks that the World Baseball Classic has adversely affected the starting pitchers, like Zambrano, who participated:
It's certainly possible that the lack of time these pitchers had to work on the things they normally work on in the spring has affected them early in the season.
Zambrano
Two things about Zambrano:
1) Carlos was pretty inconsistent over his first few starts last year, too.
2) To me, this is where the Cubs need Rothschild to earn his keep. Carlos's pitch selection is simply atrocious - he's trying to be way to fancy and strike every guy out. Even when he gets ahead in the count, he wastes too many pitches trying to get the hitter to swing and miss. He's gotten away from that power sinker of his early in the count in favor of breaking balls, of which he's never had very good command. Consequently, he's making more mistakes (5 HR allowed in 29.2 IP, more than double his career 0.65 HR/9), and walking more batters 6.07 BB/9, compared to 3.92 before this year).
I guess I don't think the WBC has anything to do with it, at least when it comes to Zambrano. Maybe as the year goes on we'll see effects, but not now. He's just not pitching very smart.
Zambrano's Home Run Rate
It's still early, of course, but this is the 3rd year in a row that Zambrano's home run rate has increased: Zambrano's trends. His GB/FB ratio keeps going down, too, from 2.3 in 2003 to 1.6 in 2004 and 2005 to 1.3 so far this year. I do think that's a product of trying to strike batters out (his K/9 rate has increased every year since 2003) instead of throwing the low 90s sinker.