Jeff Samardzija hit his first major league homer last night but also allowed two as the Brewers prevented a Cubs sweep with a 3-2 win over Chicago. Samardzija threw five innings, allowing all three runs on that pair of homers. The Cubs couldn't muster much in the way of offense besides his homer and a Bobby Scales RBI. It's now off to the west coast for the Cubs, where they start a four game series with the San Francisco Giants tonight at 9:15 p.m. (CSN).
The White Sox fell once more to the rival Minnesota Twins, this time by a score of 8-6, and fell even further behind as any slim playoff hopes are now fading fast, eight games back of Detroit with only 11 to play. John Danks had a rough outing, responsible for seven of Minnesota's runs over six innings pitched. The Sox did their best to keep pace with the Twins, including homers from Alex Rios, Gordon Beckham, and Paul Konerko, but even six runs wasn't enough to stop Minnesota, who have won 8 of their last 10. Meanwhile, the Sox are 3-7 over their last 10, not the way they wanted to finish the '09 season. The Sox see the last of the Twins for '09 tonight at 7:11 p.m. (CSN+).
The slim playoff hopes for the White Sox just got much slimmer after last night's 7-0 trouncing at the hands of the Minnesota Twins. The Sox are now seven games back of Detroit with only 11 games remaining. After the game, Ozzie acknowledge the uphill climb the Sox face: You do the math, we're still in it. But I don't think physically and mentally we're in. You can put all the math and say, 'If we lose here, if we win here, we have a chance because we're not out.' But we look at the ballclub day-in and day-out. You start to put doubts in your mind [about] if this thing is for real." Daniel Hudson, making his first career big league start, pitched five innings, allowing three runs before the bullpen gave way to four more. Not that it mattered, though: the Sox couldn't muster a single run. It was the 13th time this season the Sox have been shut out, which leads the AL. The Sox give it another go against the Twins tonight at 7:11 p.m. (WCIU).
Rookie starter Randy Wells had a rough outing for the Cubs as the Brewers rode a Jody Gerut grand slam to a 7-4 win this afternoon at Wrigley Field. Both teams struck in the first and the Cubs held a 2-1 lead until the top of the fourth when Wells gave up the four-run dinger to Gerut. Mighty Micah Hoffpauir got the Cubs back within striking distance at 5-4 in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-run double. But the Cubs bullpen couldn't hold. In the seventh, Tom Gorzelanny put two Brewers on and was then relieved by Esmailin Caridad who gave up a two-run double to Mike Rivera. The Brewers bullpen kept the Cubs scoreless for the rest of the game and the Cubs wound up batting 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position. The Cubs are now off to St. Louis for a weekend series, starting tomorrow night at 7:15 p.m. (CSN).
For the Sox, on the outside of the playoffs and looking in, every game counts, which makes last night's 4-1 loss to Seattle tough to swallow, especially given a Detroit victory. Adding injury to insult was the exit of Gavin Floyd after only three innings of pitching due to a sore hip. Floyd gave up three runs to the Mariners before leaving. Meanwhile, the Sox offense was handcuffed by Mariners pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith, who surrendered only a home run to Gordon Beckham in the eighth. With the loss, the Sox find themselves still in third place and once more 6.5 games back of the division-leading Tigers. Said manager Ozzie Guillen after the game, "Every time we win, it's hope. Every time we lose, it's not a good day for us, no matter the score or how we lose, especially when teams we chase win." The Sox try to keep hope alive when they close out this road trip against Seattle today at 5:40 p.m. (CSN).
Making themselves the definition of "too little, too late," the Cubs won for the sixth time in seven games last night as they shut down Milwaukee by a 2-0 final. Ryan Dempster pitched brilliantly, allowing only four hits over eight innings and shutting down the Brewers offense. Derek Lee cracked his 33rd homer of the year - a solo shot - in the fourth, giving the Cubs all the offense they would need for the night. A Fukudome sac fly in the eighth gave them a bit of padding which, let's face it, they need given the bullpen's shakiness this season. However, there was no shakiness from Carlos Marmol who converted his 10th straight save opportunity to clinch the win. The Cubs, however, still remain 9.5 games out of first place in their division and 6.5 games out of the Wild Card race with only 20 games remaining. The two teams dance again tonight at 7:05 p.m. (CSN).
Derek Lee solidified himself as the one Cubs offensive performer worthy of an invitation to the All-Star Game by homering twice and knocking in seven runs as the Cubs raced past the Brewers 9-5. Lee got things started with a three-run homer in the first and was followed up by Jake Fox who hit a solo shot. Mike Cameron hit a two-run shot for the Brewers in the second to cut the Cubs lead in half, but D-Lee responded with a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth as the North Siders blew the game wide-open. Geovanny Soto completed the scoring-only-on-homers night for the Cubs as he belted a solo shot in the fourth as well. Of course, never ones to make things easy, the Cubs pitching staff allowed the Brewers to score runs late, but Lee's offense was enough to pace the team. Ryan Dempster had a good start, allowing four runs (three earned) over 6.2 innings while striking out nine. Aaron Heilman allowed a run in the eighth but the bullpen, which included appearances from Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol, held the Brewers. Don't look now, but the Cubs are only 2.5 out of first. The two teams tangle again this afternoon at 1:20 p.m. (CSN).
The Chicago Blackhawks concluded the regular season with 3-0 shutout victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. 'Hawks goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin was in top form, denying all 37 shot attempts by Detroit. Andrew Ladd and Jonathan Toews both scored in the first period to provide early offense for Chicago, and Dave Bolland added a power-play goal in the third to make the the Blackhawks' lead insurmountable. Chicago finishes the season with 104 points, good for sixth best in the league, and will be hosting the Calgary Flames in the first round of the playoffs. The Blackhawks won all four contests versus the Flames in the regular season and will look to continue their dominance when the puck drops at 7:30 on Thursday.
The Cubs dropped their last regular season game 3-1 on Sunday and helped the Milwaukee Brewers win the wild card In an effort to shake off any rust from their recent rests, most of the starters saw action today but only Ronny Cedeno produced a run. It was pitcher by committee as the Cubs trotted seven different pitchers to the mound, none throwing longer than two innings, and Bob Howry earning the loss. A two-run Ryan Braun homer in the eighth put the Brewers ahead for good.
Ted Lilly proved why he's in the Cubs' postseason rotation as he dominated the Brewers yesterday as the Cubs topped the Brewers 7-3. Lilly gave up one run on two hits while striking out four over six innings. Offensively, the Cubs came to life as Daryle Ward and Fukudome both went deep and Mike Fontenot had three RBIs as a lineup of Cubs back-ups scattered 11 hits.
It's not the way the Cubs want to head into the playoffs as they dropped their third of four games, losing the opener of their final series of the season, 5-1, to the Brewers. Even more disheartening was the way the bullpen blew another good outing from Ryan Dempster. Dempster struck out four and allowed only one run over five innings, but the Brewers bounced back for a run in the sixth and three off of Chad Gaudin in the seventh. The Cubs offense was as ineffective as the bullpen, scoring only one run (a Jim Edmonds solo homer in the second inning) off of Milwaukee starter Jeff Suppan. Also? Rookie stud catcher Geovany Soto left the game in the sixth after re-aggravating his sore wrist on an awkward swing. As for the Cubs' opponent in the first round, Lou isn't worried about the who so much as how the Cubs will play.
It doesn't matter to us. Whoever we play, we play. I saw where the Phillies won, I saw where the Mets lost, I saw where Milwaukee won...For us, right now it looks like the Dodgers. We'll know by this weekend, I guess. We've just got to play whoever we play but we have to play better than tonight. It won't matter who we play if we don't play better than we did tonight.The make-up game with Houston, stemming from the series interrupted and displaced by Hurricane Ike, has been tentatively rescheduled for Monday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. but since the Astros have been eliminated from the playoffs, the game has no effect on this year's playoffs and will likely not be played.
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Baseball's non-waiver trading deadline passes this afternoon, and while both our clubs have been attached to rumored moves, little has happened yet. While the Cubs look to add any missing pieces for a playoff push, the Sox were expected to be big sellers as they remain well below .500 for the season.
While our White Sox managed to tie the KC Royals in the AL Central basement earlier this week, the Cubs are quickly closing in on the other end of the standings. Ted Lilly had another strong outing for the Cubs, who beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 Wednesday night. With the win -- combined with the Milwaukee Brewers' loss -- moved the Cubs to within just two games of first in the NL Central. The...
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