Results tagged ‘ Brewers ’
4/24 Dempster vs. Brewers
Ryan Dempster definitely gives the Brewers trouble. He’s now 13-3 in his career against Milwaukee after Friday’s win. He also beat them April 12 at Wrigley.
“Normally, he’s got a real good slider against our right-handed hitters,” Milwaukee manager Ken Macha said of Dempster after Friday’s game. “He’s got a real good split-finger [fastball] too, and tonight some of the left-handed hitters were saying they had a difficult time picking up the rotation on that.
“It’s just my feeling that we’re getting closer to breaking through on this thing, OK?” Macha said. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but we scored some runs off him down in Chicago, and tonight Prince [Fielder] comes up and hits a ball off the top of the wall and Rickie [Weeks] had tremendous at-bats against him. I think we’re getting close to breaking through, we just have to stay confident and have that feeling that we’re going to get him.”
The Cubs are 3-1 this year against the Brewers with two more games this weekend.
“For some reason, the Cubs are giving us a lot of trouble this year,” Milwaukee’s Gregg Zaun said. “It seems like every time we make a mistake out over the plate, they’re capitalizing on it.”
– Carrie Muskat
3/16 Want to go to the home opener?
Want to go to the Cubs’ home opener on April 12 against the Brewers? You can win four tickets to the game at Wrigley Field in the “I Want Tickets to the Home Opener” sweepstakes. Go to “Fans” section on cubs.com (or try to get there via the attached link). You must enter by 12:01 p.m. CT April 1.
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/mlb/sweepstakes/y2010/home_opener/form.jsp?c_id=chc
1/4 Cotts to Pirates; Sheets to Cubs?
The Pirates agreed to terms Monday on a Minor League contract with Neal Cotts, who is coming off Tommy John surgery in July. Cotts appeared in 19 games with the Cubs in 2009, his third season with the team. He never did match his 2005 numbers when he posted a 1.94 ERA in 69 games with the White Sox. The left-hander was the only arbitration eligible player who was non-tendered by the Cubs.
Cotts blew a save May 25 against the Pirates, and was sent down to Triple-A Iowa after that. He appeared in 12 games and had a 2.84 ERA before he was sidelined. Cotts moved his family to Arizona so he could focus on his rehab.
“I enjoy it over here and I’ve enjoyed the organization,” Cotts told me in an interview in October in Mesa, Ariz. “I know in terms of performance and in terms of staying up there, it hasn’t been as planned for by either side. I’d like to be up there to help the team.”
Now, he’ll be trying to make the roster of one of the Cubs’ division rivals.
* Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports predicts the Cubs will sign free agent Ben Sheets, who missed all of last season recovering from elbow surgery. Rosenthal says teams may need to see Sheets throw before deciding whether to make an investment in the right-hander. He was 13-9 in 31 starts in 2008 with the Brewers.
– Carrie Muskat
9/17 Lineup
Aramis Ramirez was not in the lineup Thursday in the series finale vs the Brewers, and Lou Piniella said it was just a day off. Jake Fox was in left field and batting fourth. Here’s Lou’s starting nine:
SS Theriot
CF Fukudome
1B Lee
LF Fox
RF Bradley
3B Baker
2B Fontenot
C Hill
P Wells
– Carrie Muskat
7/28 Score runs, you win
Lou Piniella has stressed that the Cubs need to score runs to win — simple concept but true. Looking at team batting averages and runs scored since the All-Star break, he’s right.
TEAM: Batting aver. since ASG, Runs, Record
CUBS: .280, 61, 9-2
Reds: .225, 42, 3-8
Astros: .267, 46, 6-5
Brewers: .288, 47, 4-7
Pirates: .236, 39, 5-6
Cardinals: .281, 47, 5-6
Brewers' Macha on Cubs
Brewers manager Ken Macha was asked about the Cubs:
“They’re good. I do a little statistical analysis on teams that helps in the preparation of how we pitch guys. As a team, [in terms of] first-pitch hitting, they’re [batting] average is way above average. The entire team hits way above average on the first pitch. Not only that, but the percentage of walks is very high.
“So they hit well on the first pitch and they have a large number of walks. That’s a deadly combination. So you have to make pitches. You can’t just lay it in and get ahead of guys … because they’ll tattoo you, but they’re also selective. As far as my statistical analysis goes, we’d better pitch pretty darn good when we’re going to play those guys.”
– Carrie Muskat
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