By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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–Following are notes from Friday’s live blogging of a 3-2 Cubs win over the Phillies.
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I haven’t fired up the live blog in a while, so let’s get it rolling with a Rich Harden start against Joe Blanton.
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I turned on the Comcast pregame show to find Dan Plesac (and that other guy) drinking “blue Kool-Aid” out of a thermos labeled “blue Kool-Aid.” Strange.
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Top 1: Bob and Len are talking about Ryan Howard taking batting practice with the donut weight on the bat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. Bob said they make overweight bats for guys that want to loosen up with a heavier stick.
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By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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That was not supposed to happen.
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It’s games like Thursday that raise my eyebrows. Cole Hamels was dealing, and the Cubs looked like they just weren’t going to get the bats going.
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Thank you Aramis Ramirez. I don’t know if you all saw the shot, but I can tell you, he did. Ramirez might be due for a pitch inside Friday after watching his homer a little (and he obliterated that ball). But as my brother said, “You just hit a grand slam in that situation to win a game, you can watch it.”
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What gets me about this team is the different feel I get while watching. Even in 2003, I can remember dreading a deficit. This season, I feel like they can come from behind — and will come from behind — to win almost any game.
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“Little Babe” Mike Fontenot also got into the mix with a pinch-hit homer, which is nice to see. Everyone is contributing.
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By Steve Tappa, stappa@qconline.com
Moline Dispatch/Rock Island Argus football writer
Aug 28, 2008 06:00PM
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Bettendorf was the top-ranked team the final nine weeks of last season’s Quad Cities Prep Football Power Poll.
So it’s no surprise Iowa’s defending Class 4A champs open the season in the same position in the local rankings, presented by WQAD-TV 8, The Dispatch, The Rock Island Argus and The Leader newspapers.
The Bulldogs drew 116 of a possible 120 points, earning first-place nods from eight of the 12 local sportswriters and broadcasters participating in the preseason balloting.
The Mississippi Athletic Conference champs, who finished 13-0 last season, outpointed Western Big 6 Conference favorite Rock Island for the top spot.
By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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That didn’t feel like a sweep of the Pirates, but I’ll take it.
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Tuesday’s back-and-forth affair was ugly, and could have easily gone the other way, but Jason Marquis came back with his best performance of the year, throwing an absolute gem on Wednesday for a 2-0 win.
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Of course, the first thing my brother said was, “Consider who they were playing.”
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True, but just to get a win from his wing is clutch. The way the Cubs have been pitching over the last month encourages me more than anything else. As a team, they are third in the NL with a 3.54 ERA over the month of August, and are currently leading the league in team batting average.
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Then there’s the snag.
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By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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Ho hum. Another Cubs win. Another Aramis Ramirez homer. Just another day in paradise.
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I thought I might switch it up a little bit and take you back to the old days when baseball wasn’t all about the money.
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I had a chance to hang out with five former Major League ballplayers during the Legends Home Run Derby at Modern Woodmen Park on Saturday. It was an interesting few hours, talking with guys that have won and lost games for me in RBI Baseball for the NES. It’s too bad the Astros happen to be the worst team in that game, because Kevin Bass was one of the friendliest of the bunch.
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By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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Rich Harden struck out 11 batters…again.
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But how does he fit into the Cubs playoff equation? Seems like an obvious question until you boil it down.
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I had an interesting conversation with some sports writers Sunday pertaining to how the Cubs would use its pitching staff should they make the playoffs. This season, they have the luxury of bringing four effective starters, but they should use their first two starters wisely.
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From the beginning of the season, the Cubs have never really had a set rotation. Sure, the same five guys pitch pretty much in order, but they haven’t been broken down 1-5.
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By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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In the post-game interview room after Carlos Zambrano helped the Cubs to a 5-3 win over the Reds, Z was asked about how rare it is for a pitcher to display such power, alluding to his 16 career home runs. Z proceeded to rattle off his dimensions to the reporter, “6-5, 200-some pounds.”
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Yeah, he’s big. And he hits the ball as hard as he throws it.
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Z hit his fourth home run of the season Thursday, putting him in a tie for 270th in the league. He has as many home runs as Mark Loretta, Wes Helms and Ray Durham — and about 60-some fewer at bats.
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He’s a weapon at the plate — legitimately. There are few pitchers I can think of that I could say that about truthfully. There are some pitchers that get lucky sometimes — perhaps stringing together a couple big hits — but otherwise hit like pitchers.
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By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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A reporter tease to the sports segment on one of our news stations here in the Quad Cities mentioned some team as being hot “and the Cubs, not so much.”
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For crying out loud, they lost one game and Ted Lilly had a no hitter into the sixth.
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Of course, whenever Ted has such a solid game, it’s worth checking in with the Ted Heads at the Ted Lilly Fan Club blog. Their running poll offering “Ted Lilly versus Michael Phelps, who wins?” currently has “America” leading by a 51-percent margin, while Lilly holds a 12 percent to 1 percent advantage over the 2008 gold medalist eight times over.
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There was much to celebrate for several innings, but as the Ted Heads suggest, the blame is on the offense (crazy cats, always passing the buck). It is tough to win when your team manages only 3 hits behind you, though.
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Still, I’m not going to call the Cubs “cold.” Perhaps returning to Earth for a game. But Carlos Zambrano faces the sub-par Josh Fogg Thursday, so let’s fire it up again.
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Yeah, it’s really 2:30 a.m., so that’s all you get. I’m going to bed — not too soon after sampling a bowl of Chocolate Honey Combs. (They’re not worth running home to tell mom about. They’re just misshapen Coco Puffs.)
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By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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Rich Harden has six career double-digit strikeout games.
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He has four in seven starts with the Cubs.
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The Cubs starting rotation is making them difficult to beat right now. Jason Marquis is really the only question mark, but he’s OK. It’s funny how Bob Howry is still a topic on sports radio, and in the light that I have placed him for the last three weeks. He is the only weakness on the team.
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I’m not going to call for his head like the crazy callers tend to do, but I will continue to say he does not make the post-season roster.
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By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
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On the Cubs’ baseball-reference.com page, 2008 is sponsored by a T.J. Brown, who left a permanent message stating, “As of right now (June 6) I’ve never seen a better Cubs team in my life. Can they keep it up? They better!”
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On June 6, the Cubs were a season-high 27 games over .500. I’m happy to tell “Past T.J.” that on Aug. 18, the Cubs are 28 games above .500, and I have not seen a better Cubs team in my life either.
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On Aug. 18, just 39 games away from the end of the regular season, I reiterate T.J.’s question: “Can the Cubs keep it up?”
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While 2003 had bigger names in the starting rotation — Zambrano, Wood, Prior, Clement — 2008 has more effective starters — Zambrano, Dempster, Lilly, Harden.
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While 2003 had big-named sluggers — Sosa, Alou, Ramirez — 2008 has more versatile little men — Johnson, Theriot and Fontenot.
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While 2003 had a toothpick eating coach that led the Cubs to the playoffs in his first season, 2008 has Lou Piniella, who is poised to become the first Cubs manager to lead Chicago to two consecutive playoff appearances since — get this — Frank Chance. He managed that in 1906, ‘07 and ‘08.
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That’s disgusting. And it’s a note I haven’t heard talked about yet. Perhaps I’ll be the trend setter. (So, if you hear Stu Scott say this followed by “boo-yow,” you’ll know he got it from me. That would make me feel cooler than the other side of the pillow.)
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Only Charlie Grimm, Chance and Cap Anson coached the Cubs to multiple playoff bids.
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Talk about history.
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Ryan Dempster has 14 wins after Sunday’s 9-2 “blowout” of the Marlins. Blowout, of course, in quotations as it took a gigantic eight-run Cubs seventh to get the win.
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I got to hear the highs and lows of the game thanks to my buddy Jeff, who brings his five-dollar mini radio with him to all of our weekend baseball games so he doesn’t miss an inning. The commercials get pretty annoying, though, so I’ve offered up a root beer to anyone who manages to smash it with a line drive.
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No luck yet.
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But I suppose I would have kicked myself had I missed this game. It was a good one.
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