Results tagged “pirates”

The Pirates had a lead on the Cubs last night but it was all for naught. All that rain washed the game out and it won't be made up. The game was in the top of the fourth with the Pirates leading 3-0 when the game was delayed by rain for over two-and-a-half hours before being canceled. The Cubs have a weekend series against the Arizona Diamonbacks that starts tomorrow at 1:20 p.m. (WGN).

  

Both the Cubs and Sox played doubleheaders yesterday. One team fared much better than the other.

Ryan Dempster hurled the third shutout of his career, striking out six and allowing only five Pittsburgh hits to help propel the Cubs past the Pirates by a 6-0 final. On the downside, the Cubs were officially eliminated from playoff contention when the Rockies defeated the Brewers, not that the Cubs' chances were all that good during the last month. The Cubs jumped out to an early lead with three first inning runs and Derek Lee helped put the game well out of reach with a two run single in the fourth inning. The Cubs also got offensive help from Might Micah Hoffpauir and Jeff Baker, who had two RBIs each. The Cubs and Bucs play two today in a twi-night doubleheader to make up a mid-August rain-out. Game one starts at 1:05 p.m. this afternoon (WGN) and game two starts at 7:05 p.m. (CSN+).

              

Saturday was "Talk Like A Pirate Day" and the Field Museum celebrated with festivities for the youngsters in an effort to show them the Pirate Way and to help promote their Real Pirates exhibit, closing soon (so get ye to the Field Museum).

The White Sox brought a brutal 20-games-in-20-days stretch to a victorious close with an extra-innings, walk-off 4-3 win over Oakland. The Sox jumped out to an early lead, up on the A's 3-2 after three innings thanks to RBIs from Alexei Ramirez and Scott Podsednik. The lead held until the eight when Ozzie pulled Matt Thornton in favor of Tony Pena who promptly gave up a double and a single, allowing the A's to tie the game and force extra innings. Jermaine Dye had a chance to end the game in the 11th when he came to bat with two outs and the bases loaded but was unable to deliver. Finally, in the 13th, AJ Pierzynski's RBI double gave the Sox the walk-off win. Freddy Garcia had a solid start - five K's, two runs, six innings - and Octavio Dotel pitched three scoreless innings to get the win. Next up for the Sox is a well-deserved day off today followed by a six-game, seven-day west coast road trip to Anaheim and Seattle.

The Cubs offense, impotent for so much of the 2009 season, took out its frustration on the lowly Pirates last night, smacking eight straight hits to start the game and give starter Ryan Dempster a 7-0 lead before he threw a single pitch; the Cubs won by a 9-4 final. Skipper Lou Piniella echoed the thoughts of most Cubs after the game when he asked, "Where's that first inning been all year?" Elias says the feat of opening a game with eight straight hits has been done five times before last night, once before by the Cubs (against, who else, the Pirates in 1973). Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto, and Kosuke Fukudome each had two RBIs and Mighty Micah Hoffpauir had a homer in the fourth. Dempster surrendered all four Pirate runs over the course of his 6.1 innings in the winning effort while four pitchers from the bullpen - none of them Kevin Gregg - held the lead. The Cubs and Pirates finish their series with an 11:35 matinee today (CSN).

Nothing like a new child to spur on a power surge: Derek Lee continued his hot streak by belting a pair of homers yesterday as the Cubs got a wet 4-2 win over the Pirates. D-Lee hit a solo shot in the first and added a two-run shot in the third. That was all the runs the Cubs needed as Ted Lilly had a sterling outing, allowing two runs on two hits over six innings with Carlos Marmol notching another save and Kevin Gregg going nowhere near the mound. Lee's homers put him over 30 for the season (now at 31 to be exact), making him the eighth Cubs player to have three seasons of at least 30 homers. The Cubs and Buccos battle again at 6:05 p.m. tonight (CSN).

  

The White Sox were off yesterday as the traveled the Left Coast from Seattle to Oakland where they begin a weekend series tonight at 9:05 p.m. (WGN). You can check our recap of yesterday's Cubs-Phillies game here and, luckily for the Cubs, the Pirates come to town for a weekend set starting today at 1:20 p.m. (WGN).

A day after getting walloped by the Phillies bats, the Cubs were shut down by the Phillie's recently acquired pitching ace Cliff Lee, as Philadelphia took a 6-1 win today from the Cubs. The win gave the Phillies a series sweep, a season series victory (5-1), and the Cubs have now lost 6 of their last 7. It was a pitcher's duel until the fourth inning when the Phillies finally got to Cubs starter Ryan Dempster. Slugger Ryan Howard smacked his 27th homer of the year, a 3-run shot, and Pedro Feliz followed him with a solo homer of his own to put the Phillies up 4-0. The Cubs tried to claw back into the game when Ryan Theriot singled in Jeff Baker in the bottom of the fifth, but it's all the damage the Cubs offense would inflict on Philadelphia. With two more runs scored off of Dempster in the later innings, the Phillies put the game out of reach. Dempster struck out eight over seven innings but also gave up six earned runs on eight hits in the loss. For the series, the Cubs were outscored by Philadelphia by a total of 22-9. With the loss, the Cubs find themselves 4.5 games back of idle St. Louis. Thankfully for the Cubs, the Pirates - who have struggled mightily on the road - come to town next for a three-game stand starting tomorrow afternoon.

  

Cubs Boot Bucs

The White Sox hit Cleveland ace Cliff Lee early and often on their way to a rain-shortened 11-4 drubbing of the Indians. The Sox got off to a quick start, knocking in four runs in the first including a two-run homer from Paul Konerko. Rookie Gordon Beckham went yard in the third and Josh Fields added a solo shot in the fifth as the Sox scored in each of the first six innings except the second and chased Lee after knocking him around for seven runs in just over three innings pitched. As for the Sox, Clayton Richard gave up four runs, struck out six, and got the win. The rain - which forced the game to be called in the top of the seventh - also helped preserve the Sox bullpen as Richard threw all six innings for the Sox. The final game of the series gets underway in Cleveland tonight at 6:05 p.m. (WCIU).

  

Cubs Ease Past Pirates

    

After ending an eight-game skid, the Cubs now officially have a winning streak going (though they ended the winning streak in our hearts by demoting Bobby Scales, but we digress...) after upending Pittsburgh 5-2 this afternoon at Wrigley. The Cubs had an early 2-0 lead in the first when Milton Bradley tripled in Ryan Theriot and then scored on a Reed Johnson ground out. Johnson would also get the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer; the Cubs tacked on two more for insurance. Carlos Zambrano gave up two runs (one earned) and struck out six over 6.1 innings. A controversial play at the plate in the seventh led to the amusing pictures above as Zambrano argued with homeplate ump Mark Carlson after a wild pitch ended withZambrano attempting to tag Nyjer Morgan at home but Morgan was called safe by Carlson. Z lost it, was tossed, and after his tantrum, he took his anger out on an innocent Gatorade machine in the Cubs dugout. Once the dust settled, the Cubs bullpen took over and held the Bucs scoreless and Kevin Gregg got his first save in weeks while Carlos Marmol got the win in relief. Next up for the Cubs is a four-game set at Wrigley against the Los Angeles Dodgers, starting tomorrow night.

Not content to simply protest figs, the University of Chicago is taking the awesome one step further by offering a class in the upcoming quarter on pirates. The class, Anthro 21254. Intensive Study of a Culture: Pirates is taught by assistant anthropology professor Shannon Lee Dawdy and is - obviously - the most popular class in terms of enrollment. In order to accommodate the number of requests, Dawdy increased the class's size from 90 to 150 students.

Cubs Sweep Pirates

Cubs Rally Past Pirates

Cubs Pound Pirates

The Museum of Science and Industry is raising its prices. Adult Chicago residents will now pay $12 (up from $10), adult non-Chicagoans $13 (from $11), Chicago children $8.50 ($6.25), non-Chicago children $9 ($7), Chicago seniors $11 ($8.75), and non-Chicago seniors $12 ($9.50).

Note: Beware ye who read this post, and know that we encourage ye to view it in Buccaneer speak for a more authentic experience.

• Producers of NYC's are suing the Chicago show for using too many elements of show.
• Some black alderman called Daley out on corruption in a City Council meeting. Oh, and that $300 parking permit for real estate agents got approved because it's an important part of Daley's budget.
• The Sun-Times circulation settlement means charities are getting a bunch of moola.

Sure, the Cubs played in front of their smallest crowd in 4 years yesterday and lost to the Pirates ... again. None of that mattered because they had perhaps the hottest female athlete in attendance. Yes, Danica Patrick visited Wrigley and took part in the pre-game festivities by throwing out the first pitch. Chicagoist hasn't seen the actual pitch, but from this photo of her in action, she looks like she'd be half- decent. Good...

We haven't thought much of the Cubs in recent weeks, as they fell out of contention in the NL Central race. The storylines just keep repeating themselves -- Will Wood/Prior pitch again this year? Will Dusty last until the end of the season? -- that we've just sort of ignored the North Siders.

God, we're so sick of Snakes on a Plane that we want to kill anyone and everyone that makes a "something on a something" joke. But then we realized that there was no way we could ever win this fight, and, hell, if you can't beat them, we might as well join them. And with that, you have the theme of this weeks' Gothamist network post. Austinist makes it easy for us, with Candidate on...

Chicagoist is a baseball fan, first and foremost, but the "national passtime" now officially takes a back seat to football in the hearts and minds of most American sport fans. Especially the NFL. And for that, the NFL can thank the incredible leadership of Pete Rozelle and Paul Tagliabue. Rozelle lead the league from 1960 until 1989, when the outgoing Taliabue took over. During their combined tenure, the league became the most successful pro sports...

The folks over at Rivalfish should think about making a t-shirt showing the entire National League eating the Cubs alive as they continue to struggle on the road. Last night the Cubs lost their seventh game in a row.

Today would be a good time to go make friends with your IT guys and see if they've got any unused computers they'll let you set up for a day, because Cubs single game tickets go on sale tomorrow.

Remember when the Cubs were pitching their Wrigley field expansion plans, trying to get city and neighbor sign-off? Remember all the new features they promised? Now that the park construction is well underway, it turns out that the Cubs have changed the plans for a number of features.

So you’re downtown with the family doing the holiday thang, and you feel a bit famished. The line for the Walnut Room stretches to the Lake, and workaday sandwich options (Cosi/Baci/Panera/Subway) threaten to underwhelm you at every turn. What to do, you wonder. And then, you dredge up a faint memory of the Italian Village on Monroe and Clark.

Remember 1987? Think Debbie Gibson, Poison, and Spuds McKenzie. That was also the last time Greg Maddux didn't win at least 15 games in a season! Maddux hit the 15 win milestone for the 17th straight year on Thursday, adding to the record he claimed from none other than Cy Young himself.

In the most anticipated event for Cubs fans since the destruction of the Bartman ball, Chicago Cubs phenom Mark Prior makes his first start of the season today. After having been sidelined since Spring Training with achilles tendon and elbow injuries, Prior will be limited to a specific pitch count in his first start -- team sources refuse to reveal the number. Prior faces the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field this afternoon, the same...