The Cubs just need to beat Zack Greinke to avoid the sweep. Easy peasy.
Lineups
Brewers
2B Rickie Weeks
CF Nyjer Morgan
LF Ryan Braun
RF Corey Hart
1B Mat Gamel
SS Alex Gonzalez
C Jonathan Lucroy
3B Cesar Izturis (can't believe he's still on a MLB roster)
P Zack Greinke
Cubs
RF David DeJesus
2B Darwin Barney
SS Starlin Castro
LF Alfonso Soriano
3B Ian Stewart
1B Bryan LaHair
C Steve Clevenger
CF Marlon Byrd (Johnson was originally penciled in here)
P Matt Garza
How the hell is Cesar still playing, let alone 3rd base? (dying laughing)
Since the Brewers have Izturis, all we need to avoid the sweep is bring back the dynamic MIF duo, Neifi Perez and Jose Macias.
Is this the third game of this series, or the 4th? Seems like we’ve been getting beat by the Brewers for at least a week.
@ josh:
It’s the fourth.
This guy in the WGN radio booth is a walking sleeping pill
@ Berselius:
Jessie White. They’re required by law (I guess) to have him on the show once or twice a season. At the last game I went to at Wrigley, the Jessie White All Stars did some tumbling. I guess its a program he started for high-risk kids. But, yeah, it’s always a snoozefest when he talks.
Cubs might avoid a sweep! That would be two avoided sweeps in a row!
He was running hard out of the box, but how is he not at 3rd base on that?
Clevenger with a double. Dude seems like he can hit.
Hey, Bob, stop calling that 6-3 double play “unassisted.” You’re embarrassing everyone.
I don’t know what this team is I’m watching. They’re wearing Cubs uniforms, but they’re not acting like the Cubs. Good defense. Lots of offense. Good baserunning. What the hell?
@ mb21:
Last year was like that. Every 3-4 games they looked like a bunch of baseball geniuses.
http://bit.ly/IzpfyH
Is Gameday PitchFx way off or something? It makes it look like strikes are being called two feet off the plate.
Clevenger with two doubles in the game.
@ Akabari:
That’s weird. I’ve never seen that before.
Who the hell are these guys?
Wait, I take that back. It’s so Cub to get shut down by bunch of soft-tossing guys and then beat the hell out of Greinke. (dying laughing)
@ Mish:
Could it be that the Springfield of the Simpsons is a FICTIONAL TOWN, created ad hoc per episode to satisfy whatever plot element was needed at that time, and not a commentary on a specific place, and that the show suffers nothing from this fact?
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
That’s been their modus operandi the last couple years. Although, their games where they trounce have gotten less and less frequent over that time.
Assuming we win, how long until we hear rants about Clevenger being our starting catcher because when he starts we win (dying laughing)
@ WaLi:
Not that long.
WaLi wrote:
I wouldn’t be opposed to him getting a few more starts than one would normally get, since Soto looks like complete shit so far, but anything more than that is an over-reaction.
@ WaLi:
I fully expect one of the beat writers to note it in the game recap today.
@ WaLi:
You know, I’m actually fine with trading Soto, if they can get something for him.
Carlos Pena has a 280 wRC+ so far this season. If he had done this last April, we could have contended!
@ josh:
Sure, but that’s different than the shit we’re doubtlessly going to start hearing about Clevenger.
I checked the score in a meeting and saw the Cubs were up 8-0. Then I saw in the box score that all the runs were scored on singles (dying laughing)
@ WaLi:
At least Clevenger is 100x better at baseball than Koyie Hill
@ Berselius:
Seeing as he has all his digits intact, I think it’s safe assume the same goes for basic carpentry.
Mish wrote:
Hmm I am getting an “undefined” error when trying to login (dying laughing)
Hmm I am getting an “undefined” error when trying to log in
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
No, I know. I don’t even listen to postgame interviews anymore. It’s a barren wasteland out there in medialand, especially in an off-year like this.
@ josh:
That would be okay, but I’m guessing we hear “Grindy Clevenger is batting .600+!!! Start him everyday!!! Get rid of the lazy pothead latino for a bag of balls!!!”
@ Suburban kid:
To be honest, I didn’t think the link would come out like that. And I didn’t care to get it right. (dying laughing)
Garza ———> Sombrero de oro
Sveumy must really not trust his bullpen (dying laughing)
@ WaLi:
Is Clevenger white?
Considering how damn well the starters have pitched for the Cubs it’s kind of funny they’re only 2-5.
Colvin just ended Bumgarner’s no-no.
@ GBTS:
Indeed.
(dying laughing), it’s never that easy
That should be 2 errors. Garza is one of the worst fielding/hitting pitchers of all-time.
@ josh:
Has he lost any fingers conducting a scrappy, blue-collar hobby?
@ mb21:
Shitty bullpen and shitty offense, it’s not that surprising.
@ GBTS:
He’s just your run-of-the-mill white guy. He’s not some kind of superhero.
Len Kasper on The Score just made the Clevenger argument. The game has been over for less than an hour.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I can’t see the downside in making him the starter
@ Berselius:
I honestly don’t care one way or the other. However, I don’t think he’s better than Soto, and to hear Kasper trotting out this “he’s called two wins” bullshit is pretty galling. Just admit what is: letting a guy play because you need to see what you have in a lost year.
So, that’s 2 pitchers who went 8 2/3 but failed to get a complete game because of an error. At least this time it was the pitcher’s fault.
It’s like somebody put a curse on Cubs pitchers to prevent them from pitching a complete game.
Wow, just watched the highlights, Greinke got BABIP’d like a mofo.
anyone else having problems with the site not loading?
@ GW:
Yes: http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2012/04/12/network-issue-at-irvine-datacenter/ (not resolved after all)
http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2012/04/12/network-issue-at-irvine-datacenter-2/
Bleacher Nation is on the same data center we are and they were down for 3 hours earlier and about an hour a little while ago. 3rd time in 3 days. Starting to get really fucking pissed.
One thing you guys can do is try dmick89.com if this site isn’t loading. It’s on the same server so if there’s something uniquely wrong with this site dmick89.com will load. Or you can just check out Brett’s site.
@ GW:
Often.
That game was FUN! Let’s do it again.
i want soto to play so we can trade him.
having said that clevenger might be able to hit at a .667 clip which means he should be out there..
LETS GO CAPS/BULLS
Bubbs hd a great time at nats opening day today
he loves day baseball
@ Rice Cube:
But with a complete game that isn’t ruined by an error. That was fucking annoying.
erry (NYC)
Jeff Samardzija huh?
Klaw (3:32 PM)
Yeah. I think a lot of it is sustainable.
What is crazy to me about this is he hattttttteddddd shark.. So maybe there is something there? Kevin goldstein said the same thing
@ GBTS:
The Cubs hadn’t committed their error of the day. The game was complete at that point.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/peter-bourjos-inside-park-homer-takes-14-26-132507402.html
The fastness!
@ GBTS
Must have just slipped. That’s bizzarro.
Bulls scare me… I am afraid their best 5 is just not as good as miamis best 5.
@ bubblesdachimp:
The Bulls best 5 are not at their best.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I forgot to put my comment in the meme font
@ Berselius:
Oh dude, there’s a meme font? That seems incredibly useful!!
Several hours later, this is even more amusing than before.
LeBron James is evil.
Wow.
@ GBTS:
Garza didn’t finish that look with a facepalm. Does he not know?
This has been one of the best Chicago sports days in quite a while.
@ Rice Cube:
Except for the part where the Hawks game was just tied.
Eh, I didn’t need to go to bed anyway (dying laughing)
http://muskat.mlblogs.com/2012/04/12/412-cubs-8-brewers-0/
Garza was pretty ticked off about that darn throw.
new shit: http://www.obstructedview.net/commentary-and-analysis/site-should-be-fine-now.html