Results tagged ‘ Josh Vitters ’
8/21 Cubs lineup
Chris Rusin makes his Major League debut Tuesday night for the Cubs against the Brewers. The lefty will be the 16th rookie to play for the Cubs this year, and 10th player to make his ML debut this season on the team. Of the 16 rookies, he is the ninth rookie pitcher. The Cubs last had more than 10 players make their ML debut in the same season in 2010 when 11 did so, including 10 prior to Sept. 1. The nine rookie pitchers is the most in the NL and tied for fourth most in the Majors with the White Sox, trailing the Athletics (11), Tigers (10) and Blue Jays (10). Here’s the lineup:
DeJesus RF
Vitters 3B
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Castro SS
Castillo C
Jackson CF
Barney 2B
Rusin P
– Carrie Muskat
8/20 Cubs lineup
Justin Germano opens the Cubs’ three-game series in Milwaukee Monday night against the Brewers. Here’s the lineup:
DeJesus RF
Vitters 3B
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Castro SS
Castillo C
Jackson CF
Barney 2B
Germano P
* On Saturday, Starlin Castro recorded his 20th stolen base after swiping 22 bases in 2011. He’s the sixth Cubs shortstop to record multiple 20-stolen base campaigns, joining: Joe Tinker (11 times), Ivan DeJesus (5 times), Shawon Dunston (4 times), Ryan Theriot (3 times) and Charlie Hollocher (2 times). Castro is batting .348 (16-for-46) with a .943 OPS in his last 12 games, hitting safely in 10 of those contests, after going 0-for-19 in five games, Aug. 3-7.
* Carlos Marmol has successfully converted his last 14 save opportunities dating to May 2, pitching to a 0.68 ERA (1 ER/13 1/3 IP) in those games. He was successful in a career-best 18-straight save situations, Aug. 21, 2010-April 2, 2011, which included 17-straight converted save opportunities to close out the 2010 campaign. Marmol has a 1.42 ERA in 13 relief appearances in the second half of the season.
* Left-handed pitcher Alex Hinshaw, whom the Cubs claimed off waivers from the Padres, was not expected to join the team Monday. Hinshaw was 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in 31 relief appearances with the Padres.
* Expect Chris Rusin to start Tuesday night for the Cubs, which would be his Major League debut. Rusin posted a 2.63 ERA in his first five starts of the season, giving up eight earned runs over 27 1/3 innings. He struggled in June, but in his last three starts, has given up four earned runs over 18 2/3 innings. Overall, he’s 8-8 with a 4.59 ERA in 24 starts, striking out 87 over 133 1/3 innings and walking 52. In his last start Aug. 15 against Tucson, he threw six shutout innings, giving up four hits in the win.
– Carrie Muskat
8/14 Cubs lineup
Chris Volstad will try for his first win since July 2011 on Tuesday when he takes the mound against the Astros in the second game of this three-game series. Dale Sveum said Tuesday during an appearance at the WGN Radio “Cubs Corner” that Josh Vitters should get more playing time. Sveum wanted to see Vitters at third to gauge for himself how the third baseman is doing. Vitters is in there Tuesday. Here’s the lineup:
DeJesus RF
Vitters 3B
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Castro SS
Castillo C
Jackson CF
Barney 2B
Volstad P
– Carrie Muskat
8/13 Cubs lineup
Josh Vitters is starting at third and batting second Monday night for the Cubs as they open a three-game series against the Astros at Wrigley Field. Here’s the lineup:
DeJesus RF
Vitters 3B
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Castro SS
Castillo C
Jackson CF
Barney 2B
Samardzija P
– Carrie Muskat
8/13 Monday morning quarterback
When a Cubs player has a tough time, Dale Sveum often calls it a “hiccup.” This month has been one big hiccup. Getting caught up after a tough weekend vs. the Reds …
* What happened? After a winning July, the Cubs are 1-10 in August, and batting .199 this month with a .300 slugging percentage. They’re averaging 2.8 runs per game, and have been out-scored 55-31, out-hit 104-71, and out-homered 11-5.
The pitchers have posted a 5.01 ERA, and opponents were batting .277 against in the last 11 games. The starters are 0-8 with a 4.48 ERA with six quality starts (Dates: 8/4, 8/6, 8/8, 8/9, 8/11, 8/12), while the bullpen has a 6.21 ERA, giving up 20 earned runs over 29 innings. Teams are batting .346 against the Cubs bullpen this month.
* 3B Josh Vitters was expected to start two of the three games against this week the Astros. Dale Sveum says Vitters, who has made three starts, is a good fastball hitter, which should serve him well in the big leagues.
* What’s surprising about the offensive slump is that the players dealt at the Trade Deadline (Reed Johnson, Jeff Baker, Geovany Soto) weren’t exactly forces in the Cubs lineup. Here are August numbers so far:
Anthony Rizzo .209 (9-for-43)
Darwin Barney .250 (10-for-40)
Starlin Castro .163 (7-for-43)
Steve Clevenger .143 (2-for-14)
David DeJesus .216 (8-for-37)
Brett Jackson .150 (3-for-20)
Alfonso Soriano .189 (7-for-37)
Bryan LaHair .176 (3-for-17)
Luis Valbuena .261 (6-for-23)
* August numbers for the bullpen …
Shawn Camp: 6 Gs, 8 ER, 4 2/3 IP, 15.43 ERA
Carlos Marmol: 4 Gs, 1 ER, 4 IP, 2.25 ERA
James Russell: 6 Gs, 3 ER, 5 IP, 5.40 ERA (.440 batting average against)
* On the plus side, congrats to Tim Wilken, who was director of amateur scouting and named a special assistant to GM Jed Hoyer.
* Keep an eye on: Double-A Tennessee first baseman Justin Bour now has 100 RBIs, and was batting .300. He’s batting .341 in August with four home runs and 15 RBIs. Bour is the first player in the Southern League to drive in 100 runs in a single season since 1999. Bour is the first player in the Cubs Minor League organization this year to reach 100 RBIs.
– Carrie Muskat
8/10 Cubs lineup
Here’s a lineup that should make everyone who wants to see the kids play happy. Josh Vitters and Brett Jackson and Anthony Rizzo are all starting.
DeJesus RF
Barney 2B
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Castro SS
Vitters 3B
Jackson CF
Castillo C
Germano P
* The Cubs are 14-5 in their last 19 games at Wrigley Field, dating to June 25, good for a .737 home winning percentage. That’s third in the majors in that span, behind only the Tigers (16-5/.762) and Reds (15-5/.750).
The Cubs’ .538 winning percentage (28-24) at Wrigley Field is .262 points higher than its .276 winning percentage (16-42) on the road. That’s the largest difference in home and road winning percentage in baseball.
* Alfonso Soriano hit his 20th home runs on Thursday, a game-winning two-run shot in the eighth. It’s his 11th-straight 20-home run campaign, and he joins David Ortiz and Albert Pujols as the only players to record 11 consecutive 20-home run seasons, including this year. Soriano joins Hall of Famer Andre Dawson as the only players to hit 20 or more long balls in each of their first six seasons with the Cubs.
– Carrie Muskat
8/8 Welcome to Wrigley
Thursday night will mark the Wrigley Field debuts for Cubs’ top prospects Brett Jackson and Josh Vitters.
“The fans are probably curious to look at the guys who all the hype is about,” Dale Sveum said. “I would think they’re very excited to see all these guys. There’s no mystery now as to what’s going on with the team. As a fan myself, you’re always like, ‘I want to see that guy play.’ I would think they’re probably chomping at the bit to see some of these guys, too.”
Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer have stressed the need to find impact players. Could Jackson and Vitters be those guys?
“They could be impact players,” Sveum said. “All you want in an organization is the thought of guys who could be impact players. What they do at the big league level is sometimes up to them, and how they do the adjustments.”
What Sveum likes is that Jackson and Vitters have the tools needed.
“They’ve gone through the development,” he said. “Now it’s just being able to develop at the big league level and do things. These guys can be impact players. They’re two-way players. That’s the one thing you want is a two-way player who can hit balls out of the ballpark, who can run balls down, who can throw, who can steal bases. These guys are hard to come by. You hope with the organization and where we’re at now, these are the guys who have to come through now.”
– Carrie Muskat
8/8 Cubs lineup
Josh Vitters gets the start Wednesday and Brett Jackson will get a break in the Cubs’ series finale against the Padres and lefty Clayton Richard. Here’s the lineup:
DeJesus CF
Barney 2B
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Castro SS
Castillo C
Vitters 3B
Mather RF
Samardzija P
– Carrie Muskat
8/7 Extra bases
* Josh Vitters got some extra infield work on Tuesday at third base with infield coach Pat Listach. Vitters made an impressive stop in the sixth inning Monday, snaring Cameron Maybin’s liner and getting to his feet in time to throw the speedster out.
“Watching him defensively taking ground balls, he’s gotten better than he was in Spring Training,” Dale Sveum said of Vitters. “Hopefully that continues. The one thing about third base that you have to get these guys to understand is that you have to use your athleticism at third base. It’s not that everything is cut and dried. You don’t do it mechanically like you do at shortstop and second base. You can go a whole week at third base and not get a routine ground ball.”
* Arodys Vizcaino, acquired from the Braves for Reed Johnson and Paul Maholm, worked out with the Cubs on Monday and Tuesday at PETCO Park. The right-hander is coming back from Tommy John surgery in March, and will continue his rehab in Mesa, Ariz., at the Cubs complex.
“I’m going to be ready next year in Spring Training,” Vizcaino said.
* The Cubs and Cubs wives will host the 10th annual Food Drive at Wrigley Field on Saturday prior to the game against the Reds. Proceeds from the event benefit the Lakeview Pantry in Chicago. Since its inception in 2003, the event has gathered more than 121,000 pounds of food. Fans making a donation of $20 will receive a 5-by-7 autographed photo of a Cubs player, limited to two photos per person while they last. Donations will be accepted outside Gate D at the corner of Sheffield Avenue and Addison Street. A $20 donation allows Lakeview Pantry to purchase 200 pounds of food.
* Who’s got the best name in Minor League baseball? It’s Class A Boise first baseman Rock Shoulders, who won the 2012 MiLB.com Moniker Madness contest. Shoulders, 20, easily triumped over Rougned Odor in the final, getting 60 percent of the vote.
– Carrie Muskat
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