BIL Tour: 8/23/09 New Orleans Zephyrs 6, Iowa Cubs 0

We strolled into Principal Park in Des Moines for game 1 of a doubleheader; a fantastic park and a beautiful day for baseball. Our seats were virtually 20 feet away from first base, only 10 ft. away from the visitors dugout.


It's BOBBY SCALES!! ...he didn't play in the game, caught him near left field talkin' 'business'...


Micah Hoffpauir and Zephyrs first base coach Dave Matranga


We ended up sitting next to a very nice family from Southern Minnesota; attendance was a bit lighter than we expected, but everything seemed right as the game began. Jeff Samardzija was bounced back to the I-Cubs a short time ago; the Zephyrs are a Florida Marlins fam team. Today, Jeff and the I-Cubs were facing Hayden Penn, also bounced back after some strong innings recently for the Marlins.

ZEPHYRS 6 9 0
I-CUBS 0 4 2

Penn and the Zephyrs more or less ruthlessly pounded the I-Cubs; Penn pitched 7 strong innings while Samardzija can't be completely blamed for the loss...3 of the 6 runs during Jeff's 4 innings of work were unearned due to 2 significant defensive errors, all in the 3rd inning. My totals differ somewhat from the official scorer as I not only ruled De Aza's successful bunt as a base hit instead of a sacrifice (he reached safely!); but I also ruled Maybin's reach to first base as an error and not as a base hit.

Offensively, the Zephyrs were hot...especially Gookie Dawkins going 3 for 3 with one of 2 home runs allowed by Samardzija in the 4th inning.

Right after the 5th inning, a fellow tapped me on the shoulder..."I noticed your Fukudome jersey back there, I thought you might like this..." and he gave me a BEAUTIFUL full color 8 x 10 of Fukudome running down the field.


Only 7 innings were played due to the double-header; we would have like to stay for the second game, but...Kansas City is calling!! The I-Cubs ended up winning the second game 2-1...we kinda joked about maybe the possibility of seeing Samardzija pitch in Peoria on Wednesday. We hit the road and showed up in KC in time for a fantastic dinner with my friend Don and his family...he whipped up some truly awesome barbeque. Quite a bit going on tomorrow!

SCORESHEETS



Official Scorecard Insert (full color lineup pics and bios inside)


Gameday Lineup and info


Official Souvenir 'program'


Official Scorecard

The tour BEGINS

...and we're off to DES MOINES!!

8/14/09 Pittsburgh Pirates 2, Chicago Cubs 17

Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL

For posterity’s sake…the 17-run blowout game from August…it’s been said many times: too bad we couldn’t have saved some of these runs for the rest of the season!

PIRATES 2 7 0
CUBS 17 18 0

Nice: Kosuke Fukudome’s 3 RBI homer in the first.

Nicer: Derrek Lee’s historic 7 RBI game (without a HR!).

8/8/09 Chicago Cubs 6, Colorado Rockies 5

Coors Field, Denver, CO
Game 2 of 4

A very exciting game to watch; an armchair clutcher at the very end…I almost thought (given recent history) that the game might go into extras…or worse, that the game would be blown in the bottom of the 9th. My hat goes off 3 times to Kevin Gregg, one for each batter he faced during that frame – nice work, way to shake off last weekend’s bout with the Marlins.

CUBS 6 10 2
ROCKIES 5 10 0

Something strange happened to the Cubs defensively in the 4th inning. Where I’d usually brag on them, it was bizarrely familiar to last year’s postseason ‘alien kidnapping’…you remember: aliens landed, kidnapped the Cubs, replaced them with pod people. For the 4th inning only, the defense displayed a gap in reasoning that allowed the Rockies to score 4 runs on 3 hits. Errors by Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Theriot (more on that in just a moment) prevented 2 routine GIDP from occurring. Dempster took this frustration to the mound when a Wild Pitch allowed 2 runners to advance (and one to eventually score). Can’t blame Dempster for the 4th inning mess, the call really goes toward the defense…and for that inning only. There were several other Rox getting on base in FC during subsequent innings, but errors didn’t hamper those plays. One in particular comes to mind, Todd Helton’s FC with 1 out in the 7th. He is unusually fast, and it would have been more than difficult to turn two with him on the 1st base line.

Offensively, things are looking (consistently) better all the time: Theriot 3-5 plus a stolen base, Bradley 2-4 with a double, Lee 1-3 with a HR, and last but not least Fukudome 2-4 with an RBI double and a blistering line drive HR to deep right field.

Scoring Notes: Before you go checking up on my box score, I have a difference between my score and that of the official scorers’…since it’s my scorecard and I can do whatever I want, the box above represents my side of the story. The official scorer charged Aramis Ramirez with an error for his bobbled catch during Troy Tulowitzki’s at bat, but the scorer awarded Todd Helton with a base hit during the previous at bat when Ryan Theriot bobbled what should have been a routine DP. Theriot was unable to retrieve the ball, it rolled just past his glove but in the replay, I felt like it rolled THROUGH his glove – he should have been able to pick that up (in other words he exerted more than usual effort to do so), didn’t, and I charged him with an error…and Helton doesn’t get a base hit. Theriot, you know I think you are the BEST but that wasn’t your usual caliber of work, period.

All BLS for this game were owned by the Rockies. 3 total, 2 of them belonging to Carlos Gonzalez.

UDP: Unassisted Double Play (Quintanilla lept into the air to catch Soto’s liner; then landed on the bag before Soriano could return).

AWP: advanced on a Wild Pitch!

W: best of all…CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!!

8/7/09 Chicago Cubs 2, Colorado Rockies 6

Coors Field, Denver, CO
Game 1 of 4

The 4-game series opener was cursed before the first pitch was thrown, with Zambrano’s scratch as starter 5 minutes before gametime. The Cubs offense was mildly effective, yet tempered by the performance of Ubaldo Jimenez (COL P) and backed up by the Rockies en masse. In the NL most folks feel like the Phillies are the team to beat, and for the most part that’s a fair statement. However, if they continue at their current pace, everyone is going to have to start worrying about the Rockies. Even though the Cubs starting pitching was literally smudged by the exit of Zambrano, the true formidable side of the Rockies was very apparent during this game, as they took every advantage of the Cubs’ weakness and walked all over us.

CUBS 2 5 1
ROCKIES 6 13 1

Fukudome’s lead-off walk and subsequent ‘steal’ at home seemed to send an early message to the Rox, but that message was muffled when Sean Marshall (CHC P) took the mound and only lasted 2 innings. Jeff Samardzija (CHC P) seemed to be on his way to turning things around, but gave up a 2-run HR during his second inning of work.

Pound for pound, the Rox made mincemeat out of us, offensively and defensively. Interesting fact to note, that 2 of the 5 batters Jiminez walked ended up scoring – both of them were lead-off walks also.

The game was called on WGN Radio by Pat Hughes, Dave Otto, and Judd Sirott.

Scoring Notes: Using this ‘no pitch count’ format for games I score on the radio, now I’m not concerned with the players’ jersey numbers – instead using their batting order numbers as their numbers in offensive notation. The purpose is to not have to dive online to get jersey numbers when they don’t mention them on the air.

8/2/09 Chicago Cubs 2, Florida Marlins 3

Land Shark Stadium, Miami, FL
Game 3 of 3

This wasn’t a heartbreaker – it was a tearjerker.

CUBS 2 6 0
MARLINS 3 7 0

I really thought we were in the clear, with the Cubs up 1-0 at the top of the 7th. Ron Santo declares “we have a problem, we don’t win very many of these 1-0 games – especially on the road.”

Cody Ross (FLA CF) homers in the 7th against Aaron ‘Give em UP’ Heilman. The game is tied. Jake Fox homers in the top of the 9th – again, I thought we were in good shape.

Pinch hitter Hanley Ramirez pops out to Kevin Gregg, bottom of the 9th. One down.

Dan Uggla (hitless throughout the series) in the batter’s box. He takes the 3rd pitch high outside for ball 3.

Ron Santo: “Uh, Pat, I don’t like this at all.”

Uggla fouls away the next pitch.

Pat Hughes: “Here’s the 3-1 from Gregg…” CRACK

Ron Santo: “OHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

Pat Hughes: “It’s GONE, the game is tied again.”

Ron Santo: “NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!’

Then Cody Ross steps into the box…

Pat Hughes: “Here’s Cody Ross, who homered in his last at-bat…”

Ron Santo (still screaming): “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Pat Hughes: “Here’s the pitch…” CRACK “…that one is over the wall, and the game is over.”

Ron Santo: “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHH!!!”

That’s the great thing about Santo calling the games on the radio…he’s clutching his scorecard just like the rest of us, a true fan watching the worst case scenario unfold. I didn’t have to SEE what was going on to realize how horrible it really was. Santo KNEW, and he was right, and I felt the same way…pencil and scorecard on the floor, walking around with my head in my hands….a true tearjerker.

Ryan Dempster (6 IP, 0R, 3H, 4BB, 4K) and Ryan Theriot (3-4) were great.

8/1/09 Charlotte Knights 3, Louisville Bats 2

Louisville Slugger Field, Louisville, KY

This was a special BASEBALL day! Cousin Mike and his posse, coming through town on the final stop of their baseball tour this summer, were kind enough to invite me to join them. It was an honor to share this experience with them, getting a ‘preview’ of what my own experience with Mark on our own tour later this month will be like.

We started off with a quick trip to the newly-renovated Slugger Museum (Bummer! The ‘on field’ replica is GONE!), then off to Slugger Field to see the Bats (still 6 games ahead in first place of their IL division) take on the visiting Charlotte Knights, a White Sox farm team.



Of course, Mike is a White Sox fan – it was too bad to see the Bats drop this one, but joyful that the team Mike and his nephew came to see got the W today. Mike’s brother is a Cubs fan like me, so we were just enjoying baseball!

I giggled with glee as I realized that the Knights’ manager is none other than baseball legend Chris Chambliss…he was also their 3rd base coach for the night! As we sat on the 3rd base side, it was kool to see him signing away…he tossed a few foul balls into the lower deck stands, some of those kids should have had HIM sign their souvenirs!

THE Chris Chambliss!!



Some other familiar faces playing for the Knights: Daryle Ward (a former Cub), Josh Fields, Wilson Betemit and Michael Restovich (naturally). Fields saw some MLB work this season, all 3 figured prominently in several spring training games I watched (and scored) this year. Restovich, BTW, played for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in NPB last year…I didn’t know that until I saw the note on their roster.

This was Josh Fields' 1st MiLB appearance, having only recently been bumped back down to AAA. Here he is at the plate...


Former White Sox Corky Miller caught for the Bats.

KNIGHTS 3 10 0
BATS 2 8 0


With Justin Lehr called up to the Reds, the Bats turned to their current ace Matt Maloney. Maloney dropped his last outing against the Knights, against the same pitcher (Carlos Torres). Both have miniscule ERAs, the big difference being that the Knights are a few games behind in their division. I’m kind of wondering how the Bats will fare from this point on, with Lehr called up and having lost some great prospects to trade deadline moves.

Maloney pitched well, with some expected offensive support from Kevin Barker (2-4, HR in the 4th) and Chris Valaika (2-4, RBI single in the 5th)…however, the Knights proved more formidable, with Torres’ 4 hits and 6 K in 6 innings pitched, and Restovich and Fields both hitting solo jacks. A most impressive defensive play on the Bats’ behalf erupted in the 5th, when Chris Heisey (Bats LF) stole a homer from Tyler Flowers (Knights C) – it should have been a PO, but Heisey sno-coned the ball at the top of the wall, allowing Flowers to get away with a double instead.

The Knights’ 8th inning was mayhemic, lotsa scratching and erasing on my scorecard but here’s how it worked out:

1. Hopper singles on liner to CF Stubbs – 0 out
2. Ginter out on a ‘SAC bunt’ 3B Eymann to 1B Barker, Hopper to 3rd – 1 out
3. Kroeger reaches on FC, 2B Boliver to C Miller, Hopper out at home – 2 out
4. Pitching Change: Ondrusek replaces Maloney
5. Restovich walks, Kroeger to 2nd – 2 out
6. Fields singles on grounder to 2B Boliver, Kroeger out at home, 2B Boliver to C Miller – 3 out

Fun game, great company. Scoring Note: Yes, Ryan you were right (of course) – Hopper’s GIDP was not an RBI. Also, SAC bunt didn’t count as an AB for Ginter, different than SAC fly (I’m still working this out).





...and just in case you were hoping for some detail overkill, here's the published rosters for both teams (as of 7/31/09) and if you ever wanted to know what a Bats Official Scorecard looks like...here ya go...