Linescores of the Day | The Baseball Zealot

Cubs take on Sampson

No, not that Sampson Today it’s the matchup of rookies: Marshall against Astros’ Chris Sampson. Sampson has a rather interesting story. Drafted by the ‘Stros as a shortstop, quit the game, now given a second shot as a pitcher. He made his MLB debut last Friday when the Astros had pretty much lost the game. … Continue reading “Cubs take on Sampson”

No, not that Sampson

Today it’s the matchup of rookies: Marshall against Astros’ Chris Sampson.

Sampson has a rather interesting story. Drafted by the ‘Stros as a shortstop, quit the game, now given a second shot as a pitcher. He made his MLB debut last Friday when the Astros had pretty much lost the game. Now he gets his chance to start.

There’s more info on Sampson over at Bleed Cubbie Blue.

Oh and I’m not going to talk about last night’s game and Wood’s performance other than to say that if and when Prior and Miller get back, KW should go to the pen… if I had MY way.

Update: No complaints about Sampson so far from the Astros’ perspective. He’s retired the first nine batters.

Update: Sampson just got pulled. What an outing for him! Six shutout innings allowing only 3 hits. He had a one-hitter though five. Interestingly, he didn’t strike out a batter.

His velocity reached the high 80’s. Definitely a groundball pitcher. For what it’s worth, he’s not bad defensively. He had more than few chances in the field.

Much is going to be made about Sampson’s performance in the media but with the exception of one bad pitch to Brad Ausmus, Sean Marshall is also having a great day. He’s only allowed the one solo shot to Aumus and still in the game.

6/6/06 Linescore of the Day: Jason Schmidt

9 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 16 K (Win) Jason Schmidt had a very impressive performace last night against the Fish. His 16 strikeouts ties a franchise record (with Christy Mathewson). I watched the highlight reel on this game. I don’t know who the play-by-play guy is for FSN Bay Area … Continue reading “6/6/06 Linescore of the Day: Jason Schmidt”

9 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 16 K (Win)

Jason Schmidt had a very impressive performace last night against the Fish. His 16 strikeouts ties a franchise record (with Christy Mathewson).

I watched the highlight reel on this game. I don’t know who the play-by-play guy is for FSN Bay Area but each time Schmidt whiffed a batter, he’d say “Got ’em!”. Every time.

“Got ’em!”,”Got ’em!”,”Got ’em!”,”Got ’em!”, This one’s going to go! (That was Willingham’s homer). “Got ’em!”,”Got ’em!”. And so on.

6/5/06: Linescore of the Day – Carlos Zambrano

Carlos Zambrano had a STRONG night deep in the heart of Texas!!! The Chicago Cubs enthusiastic righthander not only pitched his way to victory, but he also supported his mound effort at the plate. Preston Wilson broke up his quest for a no hitter with an eighth inning single to rightfield. Carlos is normally a good hitter, despite his .080 batting average this year. He remembered what to do with the bat in this game with a 2nd inning three run homer, he also picked up a sacrifice fly, for a total of four runs driven in on the day. Houston starter Taylor Buchholz was tagged for 11 hits and eight runs in five innings of this laugher, 8-0 Cubbies

Carlos Zambrano W 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO
1 for 3, 1 HR, 1 SF, 4 RBIs, 1 run

6/4/06: Linescore of the Day – Gerald Laird

Sunday Bloody Sunday. Another beautiful day on the Southside of Chicago, sun out, not a cloud in the sky, & Mark Buehrle on the bump for the White Sox. When the dust had settled it was still a beautiful day, but only for the Texas Rangers and backup catcher Gerald Laird. Texas spotted the White Sox a 2-0, Joe Crede’s 2 run blast in the 2nd, lead before cranking out ten runs of their own, taking 2 of 3 over the weekend. It turned out not to matter one bit that Pablo Ozuna’s poor defense in LF resulted in a 3rd inning game tying double off the bat of Mark Teixeira. Laird doubled in the 3rd, grounded out in the 5th, ripped a 2 run double in the 6th, a blast to left in the 8th, and again in the 9th. Laird also handled rookie lefthander John Rheinecker masterfully behind the plate. Rheinecker allowed four hits & two runs over 8 innings of work, his 2nd strong outing in a row. Look for John in a possible upcoming Rookie Watch piece. It was a sad El ride back to the Northside for Teddy Ballgame.

Gerald Laird 4 for 5, 2 HRs, 2 2Bs, 4 RBI, 4 runs

6/3/06 Linescore of the Day: Travis Hafner

3 for 4, 2B, HR (GS), 2 runs, 6 rbis Travis Hafner celebrated his birthday in a big way… yes, some in the media have even gone as far to say in a “Grand” way. Anyway, Hafner did put on a show for the Angels and Kelvim Escobar who saw his ERA rise above 4.00 for … Continue reading “6/3/06 Linescore of the Day: Travis Hafner”

3 for 4, 2B, HR (GS), 2 runs, 6 rbis

Travis Hafner celebrated his birthday in a big way… yes, some in the media have even gone as far to say in a “Grand” way.

Anyway, Hafner did put on a show for the Angels and Kelvim Escobar who saw his ERA rise above 4.00 for the first time since the first game of the season.

Meanwhile, Hafner (.311/.450/.626) is putting together a dynamite season. He’s already reached 15 homeruns and 50 rbis in 53 games.

6/1/06 Linescore of Day: Jermaine Dye

2 for 5, 2 HR, 2 runs, 5 rbis Jermaine Dye did everything right but the Sox lost anyway as starter Jose Contreras had his worst start of the season. The loss was the Sox’ third in a row.

2 for 5, 2 HR, 2 runs, 5 rbis

Jermaine Dye did everything right but the Sox lost anyway as starter Jose Contreras had his worst start of the season. The loss was the Sox’ third in a row.

5/30/06 Linescore of the Day: Jose Castillo

Jose “Chico” Castillo is the best fielding secondbaseman in baseball today. I may be a little prejudice as he plays for my APBA team in addition to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Soon the rest of the baseball world will catch up with Teddy Ballgame and my opinion will become an accepted fact. Castillo is a Venezuelan who played SS his whole life before the Bucs switched him to the keystone spot because they had a slick fielding shortstop in Jack Wilson. Jose is a little thicker than his fellow countrymen who’ve come to define the shortstop position: Chico Carrasquel, Luis Aparicio, Dave Concepcion, Ozzie Guillen, & Omar Vizquel. As a result of his build Jose has alot more pop in his bat. I dubbed Castillo, Chico, when Carrasquel passed away, and the nickname stuck. Chico has been watching teammate Jason Bay and has picked up right where Bay left off. Jason had a six game homer streak snapped on Monday. Castillo has homered in his last four games, but last night was the topper. Jose hit a solo shot in the 2nd, a three run 441 foot blast in the 3rd, and a double high off the centerfield wall in the 7th.

Jose Castillo 4 for 4, 2 HR, 1 2B, 6 RBI, 3 runs, 1 BB

5/29/06 Linescore of the Day: Kerry Wood

6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (Win) 2 for 2, 2B, rbi Wood’s first win since July last year can only mean good things for the Cubs. Things can’t really get much worse anyway after this weekend’s series with Atlanta. Long term, I still think Wood belongs in the … Continue reading “5/29/06 Linescore of the Day: Kerry Wood”

6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (Win)

2 for 2, 2B, rbi

Wood’s first win since July last year can only mean good things for the Cubs. Things can’t really get much worse anyway after this weekend’s series with Atlanta.

Long term, I still think Wood belongs in the pen but that won’t work until the Cubs have a solid staff.

Followup: Just after I was done with this post, I ran across Dusty Baker and Pitch Counts on The Hardball Times which claims that Dusty for the part, does not overuse his pitchers. Cub fans will be skeptical, I’m sure.

Update: Cubs up 4-1 in the fifth in tonight’s game thanks in part to a 3-run double by Jacque Jones. Nobody giving Jacque’s mom any crap tonight. He did make an error helping the Reds score their only run, though.

5/28/06 Linescore of the Day Atlanta Brave lineup

HR: ATL: E. Renteria (4, 5), B. Pena (1), R. Langerhans (4), A. Jones (12), A. LaRoche (7, 8), M. Giles (2) It was batting practice yesterday against Cub pitching with 8 homeruns, a club record which was set in Milwaukee again, against the Cubs. Edgar Renteria and Adam LaRoche knocked out two each. The Cubs did finally put some offense together, scoring … Continue reading “5/28/06 Linescore of the Day Atlanta Brave lineup”

HR: ATL: E. Renteria (4, 5), B. Pena (1), R. Langerhans (4), A. Jones (12), A. LaRoche (7, 8), M. Giles (2)

It was batting practice yesterday against Cub pitching with 8 homeruns, a club record which was set in Milwaukee again, against the Cubs.

Edgar Renteria and Adam LaRoche knocked out two each.

The Cubs did finally put some offense together, scoring 12. Their timing was off as Atlanta’s homerun spree put 13 runs on the boards during the 11 inning contest.

Reliever Oscar Villarreal got the win. With only 22 innings, Vill already has seven wins, good for third for in the NL.

5/25/06 Linescore of the Day: Rodrigo Lopez

7 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (Win) Oriole starter Lopez won his first game of the season then lost his next 7 decisions. Going into yesterday’s start, he had a 8.07 ERA. Second-highest ERA in the AL. But something clicked in Rodrigo yesterday. He pitched 7 1/3 … Continue reading “5/25/06 Linescore of the Day: Rodrigo Lopez”

7 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (Win)

Oriole starter Lopez won his first game of the season then lost his next 7 decisions. Going into yesterday’s start, he had a 8.07 ERA. Second-highest ERA in the AL.

But something clicked in Rodrigo yesterday. He pitched 7 1/3 innings of 2-hit shutout ball against the Mariners AND got the win.

In what seems to be a trend, opposing pitcher Gil Meche struck out 10 in a losing cause.