Results tagged ‘ Scott Feldman ’
4/11 Giants 7, Cubs 6
The Cubs left Arizona just two weeks ago, and it seems as if they’ve forgotten some of the defensive drills they did in the desert. The Giants took advantage of a sloppy fourth inning Thursday to rally from a five-run deficit and post a 7-6 victory. Pablo Sandoval hit a two-run double and Angel Pagan drove in two runs, including a tie-breaking sac fly in the fifth, for San Francisco.
“You spend hours and hours on [defense] for 45 days of Spring Training and to have the lapses in the games when it counts, it costs you games, it costs you pitches, it costs you not being able to go five innings,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said.
The Cubs opened a 5-0 lead, and it vanished quickly. The Giants had two on and two outs when Ryan Vogelsong reached on an error by Starlin Castro, who misjudged the grounder, and tried to hurry his throw. One run scored. Pagan was safe on an infield single that Brent Lillibridge fielded cleanly, but held because starter Scott Feldman was slow to cover first base. Another run scored. After Feldman hit Brandon Crawford with a pitch, Sandoval smacked his double to pull within, 5-4.
“I feel really bad,” Castro said of his error. “It’s one of the plays I have to make. It’s a routine play. The pitcher is running. I feel really bad those things happen. You have to know the pitcher is running. You have to be ready to wait for the ball and throw.”
Castro led all Major League shortstops with 27 errors last season. He now has three in nine games this season.
“That one is basically not understanding that the pitcher hit the ball and you had plenty of time,” Sveum said of Castro’s miscue. “You didn’t have to over-charge the ball and over-cook that whole play.”
What happened with Feldman on the Pagan grounder?
“When I saw the ball was hit, I broke for the base,” said Feldman, who also was charged with an error in the first when he botched another Pagan grounder. “I was expecting the throw [in the fourth]. I haven’t looked at the replay but maybe from the angle we were positioned at, it wouldn’t have worked.”
Feldman may be taking grounders at Wrigley on Friday.
“We’ll have to get [Feldman] out early to start working on it because that ain’t acceptable,” Sveum said.
– Carrie Muskat
4/11 Cubs lineup
It’s wet and cold at Wrigley Field for today’s game between the Cubs and Giants. This is the Giants’ only trip to Chicago this season. We’ll keep you posted. Here’s the lineup:
DeJesus CF
Castro SS
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Schierholtz RF
Castillo C
Valbuena 3B
Lillibridge 2B
Feldman P
4/6 Braves 4, Cubs 1
Scott Feldman was one pitch away from getting out of a jam Friday but he had thrown too many pitches already. Justin Upton drove in two runs, including one on a solo homer in the first, and Juan Francisco hit a key two-run single in the fifth to lift the Braves to a 4-1 victory over the Cubs on Friday at Turner Field. The Cubs wanted Feldman to be more efficient with his pitches, but he wasn’t.
“He threw a lot of pitches that were uncompetitive pitches,” Dale Sveum said of Friday’s outing. “He was managing to get through a night where he didn’t have much command of anything. He was basically one pitch away from getting out of that [in the fifth]. We didn’t want him to be at 100 pitches, but at that time, it was his game to win or lose. He could keep it at 2-1 or give it up. Unfortunately, Francisco had a good at-bat and ended up blooping one into left field and that was that.”
The Braves had loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth when Feldman walked two batters and hit another. That set up Francisco’s hit, which made it 4-1, and Feldman exited, having thrown 102 pitches over 4 2/3 innings.
“That was the at-bat of the game for me,” Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “[Francisco] gets bases loaded there with a 3-2 count and battles and battles. He flared one in there to give us a two-run lead and a little wiggle room.”
Feldman was making his first trip to Atlanta, but he had faced Upton before. Upton apparently remembered something. The right-hander fell behind 0-2 with two outs in the first, and then lined the next pitch over the left-field fence for his third home run.
“I had a little trouble with my command tonight and they got into some deep counts and made me throw a lot of pitches,” Feldman said. “That’s a tough lineup there. When you’re behind in the count, you can’t give in and they battled well and made me throw way too many pitches.”
Scott Hairston, starting in right field as part of the Cubs’ lineup against left-handed pitchers, led off the fifth against Mike Minor (1-0) with his first home run to close the gap to 2-1.
The Cubs were happy to no longer be shivering after opening the season in chilly Pittsburgh. But the warmer temps weren’t enough to get the offense going. They began the day with the fewest hits in the National League and lowest team batting average and slugging percentage.
“Nobody’s swinging the bat at all right now,” Sveum said. “Somebody’s going to have to step up and get hot and hopefully it’s the whole team at one team. We don’t have a whole lot going on offensively right now.”
Leadoff man David DeJesus, who didn’t start but got a pinch-hit at-bat, doesn’t have a hit yet. Neither does Luis Valbuena or Brent Lillibridge. Anthony Rizzo has one, and that was his home run on the first pitch he saw on Opening Day. The Cubs have had two hits in a row twice this season — Opening Day and again on Friday.
“It’s too soon to call it struggling,” Hairston said. “We as hitters need to go out and put together good at-bats and I think we’re all capable of doing that.”
– Carrie Muskat
4/5 Cubs lineup
The Cubs open a three-game series against the Braves on Friday night. Scott Feldman will make his Cubs debut. Atlanta is starting lefty Mike Minor, so manager Dale Sveum is countering with his righty lineup.
Sappelt CF
Castro SS
Rizzo 1B
Soriano LF
Hairston RF
Castillo C
Lillibridge 3B
Gonzalez 2B
Feldman P
– Carrie Muskat
3/27 Cubs lineup – UPDATED
The Cubs travel to Surprise Wednesday night to face the Royals in their next to last game in Arizona. Scott Feldman will get the start. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. Arizona time. Starlin Castro was scratched because he’s headed to New York to be with his girlfriend, who is expecting the couple’s first child. Here’s the lineup:
DeJesus CF
Clevenger 3B
Rizzo 1B
Soriano DH
Hairston RF
Navarro C
Lillibridge SS
Barney 2B
Sappelt LF
– Carrie Muskat
3/26 Extra bases
Just in case you missed some of this from Monday:
* This will be the first season in which Nate Schierholtz is projected as an everyday player, and Cubs manager Dale Sveum hopes the right fielder doesn’t try to do too much. Schierholtz, a free agent who signed a one-year contract with the Cubs last December, has not gotten more than 335 at-bats with a team in a single season and that was in 2011 with the Giants. He boasts a .270 career batting average.
“He’s kind of working on a few different things than he has in the past,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said of Schierholtz, who was batting .294 this spring. “He’s having an OK camp. That’s probably what he’d tell you, too.
“His defense, his arm, the ability to hit left-handed, that’s a guy who hopefully is very consistent but he’ll probably be a little more on the streaky side,” Sveum said. “He’ll have to get used to seeing his name in the lineup every single day and not try to do too much to think maybe he’s got to do a lot to stay in that because he’s worked so hard.”
Schierholtz had spent his entire career with the Giants until last season when he was dealt to the Phillies.
* The Cubs are realistic. They know they don’t have much speed on the roster.
“Let’s get one thing straight, we don’t have a lot of base stealers, we don’t have a lot of what I call larceny guys,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. “You won’t see a whole lot of that going on. We’re not going to try to trick people, we’re going to have to do it by being smart on the bases and being aggressive.”
Tony Campana led the Cubs last season with 30 steals, but he’s now with the Diamondbacks. Next in line was Starlin Castro, who had 25 steals.
* Every morning, David DeJesus, Anthony Rizzo and Darwin Barney put their “Breakfast” shirts on, and go to work. The three have been following a rigorous training program this spring that they hope keeps them strong during the 162-game season. The players had shirts made up that say “breakfast” to wear and help motivate them.
“My trainer sent me something, [Rizzo's] trainer sent me something and we mix and match,” DeJesus said of the workout. “We make sure everything is incorporated. It’s core, and we want to build some strength but not go crazy. We’re not going to be body builders but want to stay strong.
“People have this myth they want to maintain, maintain, but as the season goes on, it gets hot and maintaining levels go down,” DeJesus said. “You want to increase, but very minimal increase weight. You want to stay strong.”
So far, no plans for t-shirts that say “lunch” or “dinner.”
* On Wednesday, the Cubs play another night game, this time in Surprise against the Royals. Scott Feldman gets the start against James Shields. First pitch is 6:05 p.m. Arizona time and the game will be broadcast on WGN Radio.
– Carrie Muskat
3/21 Dodgers 5, Cubs 4
Alex Castellanos hit a three-run home run to lift the Dodgers to a 5-4 victory Thursday over the Cubs. The game was played in front of a sellout crowd of 11,118 at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium to benefit the Christina-Taylor Green Foundation. Green was 9 years old when she was killed in the 2011 Tucson shooting that critically wounded Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Her father, John Green, is a supervisor of amateur scouts for the Dodgers, and her grandfather, Dallas Green, is the former general manager of the Cubs.
Scott Hairston singled to lead off the Chicago second and was safe at second on a throwing error by pitcher Stephen Fife, who was trying for a double play on Dave Sappelt’s grounder but threw into center field. Hairston moved up, and scored on Brent Lillibridge’s single. Castro made it 2-0 in the third with a solo home run. Lillibridge doubled to lead off the fifth and scored on Scott Feldman’s single to close to 4-3.
Feldman, who will start the fourth game of the regular season for the Cubs, gave up four runs on seven hits over five innings. He’s been hitting well this spring. But that’s not a high priority. The right-hander admits he still has work to do, and will have some time. Feldman is slotted into the No. 4 spot in the rotation and will open the Cubs’ series in Atlanta on April 5.
“I feel pretty good with three out of four of my pitches but the changeup is one I haven’t thrown enough in spring, and the ones I have thrown, they’re not game ready,” Feldman said. “It’s something I need to hammer out the last 10 days or however long I have to pitch. It’s something I have to work on a lot and get it straightened out.”
It’s tough to gauge pitchers in Arizona because the dry air makes it difficult to get a good grip on their breaking pitches. But with Matt Garza and Scott Baker sidelined because of injuries for the start of the season, Feldman becomes a key piece in the Cubs’ rotation.
He is making the transition from the American League to the National League at the plate. With two on and none out in the fifth, Feldman lined a single to left center, perfectly timed as the shortstop was shifting to cover second base. The first person Feldman looked for in the dugout? Assistant hitting coach Rob Deer, who talked to the pitcher during batting practice.
“He tried to take credit for that hit,” Feldman said of Deer. “He told me, ‘If you get a hit today, I better be the first one you look at when you’re standing at first.’”
Feldman is now 2-for-4 at the plate with one RBIs. Did Deer say anything helpful?
“He’s Rob Deer,” Feldman said. “He’s a better hitter than I am. I’ll listen to it.”
* Up next: On Friday, the Cubs travel to Maryvale to face the Brewers. Carlos Villanueva will get the start against his former team. The right-hander, who will open the season in the rotation, will be making his fifth spring start, and is hoping to bounce back from a rough outing in Las Vegas against the Rangers. Friday’s game will be broadcast on WGN TV and Cubs.com.
– Carrie Muskat
3/21 Cubs vs Dodgers
The Cubs face the Dodgers in Tucson on Thursday (and a split squad will face the Mariners in Peoria Thursday night). The game in Tucson vs. the Dodgers is a fundraiser for the Christina-Taylor Green Foundation. She was the young girl killed in the tragic shooting involving Gabby Giffords. The game in Tucson will not be broadcast; WGN Radio will handle the night game vs. the Mariners. Here’s the lineup vs. the Dodgers:
Barney 2B
Castro SS
Rizzo 1B
Hairston LF
Sappelt CF
Castillo C
Lillibridge 3B
Bogusevic RF
Feldman P
– Carrie Muskat
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