Results tagged ‘ Dempster ’
7 Game Streak Ends
When the Cubs hit homers in bunches, they like to do it
against Milwaukee. Five times this season they have hit four or more home runs
in a game, three of those games came against the Brewers. Yesterday the Cubs
hit four homers, including three 3-run shots, and had their highest RBI day of
the season with 15.
Ryan Dempster got the win and the Cubs ended an ugly 7 game
losing streak.
Carlos Zambrano pitched one scoreless inning as he prepares
to return to the rotation next week and he even had one plate appearance. Of
course it was a dumb at-bat allowed by Piniella. Lou has two lefties on the
bench, Fukudome and Fontenot, that need some at-bats once in a while and Lou lets
Carlos bat and then pulls him from the game after he makes the last out of the
inning.
The team gets the day off today and then plays three
afternoon games over the weekend against Dusty Baker and the first place Cincinnati
Reds.
The ‘I didn’t know that’ stat- Since 1901 the Cubs are
1008-980 vs the Reds.
They are Hot
Well, well. The Cubs go into the desert and take three. It’s
the first time the Cubs have ever swept the Diamondbacks in Arizona.
Ryan Dempster won his seventh game of the season. It wasn’t
his best performance of the year, giving up 8 hits and a walk in just five
innings, but it was good enough to hold Arizona to three runs. Four Cub
relievers were able to piece together four innings of shutout baseball and the
Cubs won 8-3.
Aramis Ramirez added some cushion to the lead with a
three-run eighth inning homer. It was his ninth of the season. Ryan Theriot
also had a good game with a couple hits, a stolen base, and a key defensive
stop in the bottom of the fourth that prevented a big rally by the
Diamondbacks.
Tonight the Cubs go for four in a row for the third time
this year and the first time since May.
Tying the Babe
After getting crushed by Cincinnati on Sunday the Cubs have
taken two straight from Arizona. Tonight they go for the three game sweep.
Ryan Dempster (6-7) goes against Edwin Jackson (6-6).
Jackson is making his second start since his 149 pitch no-hitter against Tampa
on June 25. In his last start he picked up the win despite giving up 4 runs in
5 innings.
The “I didn’t know that” stat - Ryan
Dempster has 93 total wins during his 13 year MLB career. With his next
victory, hopefully tonight, he will tie Babe Ruth for 622nd on the
all-time wins list with 94. Think about that, and then tell me the Babe isn’t
the best player in history.
Taking Stock
36 – 47
Ok, time to take stock. The Cubs just moved past the half
way point of the season over the holiday weekend by losing 3 of 4 to
Cincinnati.
Not just losing though, they were humiliated by the Reds and
outscored by a four day total of 30-8. Sunday was the topper on the a**-whoop
cake as the Reds pounded out 16 hits including 7 home runs.
As a team the Cubs rank 26 out of 30 in runs scored for the
season. They are 24th in OBP and 22nd in SLG. These kind
of offensive numbers just aren’t going to get it done. The bad thing is it
really could be a lot worse but the pitching has at least been good enough to
keep the Cubs in most games. The pitching staff ranks 11th in the
majors with a 3.93 era and 4th overall in strike outs.
Individually, it’s been a season of ups and downs for the
Cubs.
On the down side we have Derrek Lee with just 10 HR’s and
only hitting .227. Aramis Ramirez has been on and off the DL and is only
hitting .177. Randy Wells has not been able to duplicate his 2009 breakout year
on the mound and Carlos Zambrano has been a disaster for the team beginning
with a 16-5 opening day loss to Atlanta.
On the plus side, several of the Cub hitters have had some
decent levels of production. 2010 All-Star Marlon Byrd had a great April and
May and is still hitting over .300 with 9 home runs. Rookies Starlin Castro and
Tyler Colvin have had a solid impact since being inserted into the lineup and
even Alfonso Soriano has been reasonably serviceable leading the team in homers
and RBI’s.
On the mound three Cub starters; Lilly, Dempster, and Silva
have ERA’s under 4 and Carlos Marmol has 15 saves and is striking out 16.6
batters per 9.
As far as Lou Piniella goes, I would have to say he has been
mediocre at best. I know he isn’t doing the hitting and pitching; but at times
this team has looked just plain old disinterested and lazy, and that does go on
Lou. Jim Hendry has already said that Lou will not be fired before the end of
the year so there is no sense in calling for him to be terminated, but if this
was any other team I think Lou would be gone at the All-Star break.
If the Cubs don’t have a prolonged winning streak soon, this
will be a long summer.
Dempster Rolls over Dodgers
Ryan Dempster rolled over the Dodgers last night. He went 8
innings on 104 pitches collecting 7 K’s and the win. The Dodgers never really had any scoring
opportunities and Carlos Marmol closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth.
The LA Dodgers rank 13th in the NL in team
defense and played like a sieve last night. They had 3 errors that directly led
to the Cubs three runs.
With Aramis Ramirez on the bench with a sore thumb, Derek
Lee needed to step up, and he did. Lee went 3 for 3 with 3 RBI including a huge
8th inning 2-run homer.
The Cubs are now 22-24, 4 games behind the Reds and
Cardinals.
Tonight Tom Gorzelanny (2-4 3.09) faces Chad Billingsley (5-2 3.66). Win or Lose, this could be
Gorzelanny’s last start now that Carlos Zambrano will be returning to the
rotation next week.
“I didn’t know that” stat -
Since Jason Marquis pitched a 3 hit shutout on 5/9/2007, only one other Cub
has thrown a shutout at Wrigley Field. Ryan Dempster beat Pittsburgh 6-0 on
9/29/2009.
Take That Jason!
Continuing my spring look at the Cubs…………………….
Ryan Dempster…. Cubs #3 Starting Pitcher
After winning 17 games in 2008, Ryan Dempster collected just 11 wins in 2009. On the surface it seemed to be a disappointing year, and it was. But the stats suggest that Dempster was just about as good in ’09 as he was in ’08.
CNN.com
His K/9 rate in ’09 (7.7) was similar to ’08 (8.1). He actually continued to lower his BB/9 rate for the fifth year in a row, going from 4.8 in 2005 to 2.9 in 2009. His ground ball-to-flyball ratio has remained constant and his innings per start went up slightly. The only thing that seemed to hurt him was that his HR allowed rate went up from 0.6 to 1.0 per 9. Run support was also an issue. Of the 53 NL starters that threw 140+ innings, Dempster ranking 37 in run support.
Prediction: 210 Inn, 187 K’s, 14 W’s, 3.70 ERA
Fantasy Impact: Current Mixed 5×5 ADP is 164. He is going in the same range as Ted Lilly, Scott Baker, and Roy Oswalt. For me, Dempster is the clear choice here when health is factored into the equation.
The “I didn’t know that” stat – Good thing Jason Kendall has gone to the KC Royals. He has faced Dempster more than any other batter except Lance Berkman. In 58 at-bats, Kendall is hitting .408 against Dempster. Of course maybe Ryan knows this as he has hit Kendall more (4 times) than any other batter.
WrigleyRegular
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