The ASA Action Sports World Tour came to Chicago and brought an action-packed night to the Sears Centre. ASA features the best pro skaters and BMX jumping in the world. Illinois natives Koji Kraft and Zack Warden battled in the BMX triple jump semi-finals.| Triple Play: May Flowers | ||||
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The Chicago Cubs went into Houston on a one-game losing streak and leave with a two-game winning streak. Some solid starting pitching from Rich Harden and Ted Lilly, an unlikely triple from Reed Johnson, and more power from Alfonso Soriano led to a sweep of the mini series with the Astros. Having won six of the first seven games of May, the Cubs now stand at 16-12 on the season. Triple Play covers the latest victories and looks ahead to Milwaukee: 1. Lilly In Bloom Cubs southpaw Ted Lilly (4-2) has quickly emerged as the ace of this pitching staff in the early goings of the season. Thursday night’s performance was yet another example of Lilly at his finest. Going six strong innings, he allowed only two runs on four hits, turning in his fourth quality start of the season out of five opportunities. What seems to be Lilly’s most effective pitch is his breaking ball, although Thursday night’s game against the Astros it was not on point. After the game he was quoted as saying, “I didn’t throw the ball well at all.” Lilly used the spacious centerfield to his advantage and came away, for the most part, unscathed. Lucky for him those fly balls were not hit to left field, where the Crawford Boxes sit at a mere 315 feet from home plate. Ted Lilly is Ted Lilly’s harshest critic. When it comes down to it, he only gave up four hits and walked three batters; a fine game by conventional standards. He was rewarded with his fourth win of the season for his efforts. Lilly has now received a decision in all five of his starts this season. 2. Feeling Bearish about the Bullpen Aaron Heilman (4.15 ERA) and Carlos Marmol are the only positives in a bullpen that is sure to harass the Cubs win column if this type of pitching keeps up. Take out Heilman’s five run outing on May 30th against the Marlins and he has only given up one run in his 13 other games. Remove Marmol’s four runs allowed on April 29th against the Diamondbacks and he has only given up three earned runs his 15 other outings. Beyond them the bullpen is nothing short of terrible. Kevin Gregg (4.40 ERA) looks to have settled down, throwing scoreless outings in his last four appearances, but the jury is still out on him. Chad Fox (81.00 ERA), brought up to replace the struggling Jeff Samardzija (8.10 ERA), did nothing to show he was worthy of the call up, allowing three runs in 1/3 inning Thursday Night. Neal Cotts (4.05 ERA) is a lefty specialist who can’t get out lefty’s (five walks and four hits in three combined innings pitched against them)! Angel Guzman (4.05 ERA), the Cubs’ go-to guy for middle inning work is allowing a run in nearly every other inning he pitches (six earned runs in 13.1 IP). Rule 5 draft pick David Patton (6.94 ERA), who must clear waivers if he is sent down to AAA, has given up almost as many hits (10) as innings pitched (11.2) The ‘pen has put up some very gaudy numbers in a bad way. Unfortunately, Cubs manager Lou Piniella has no other options at this point. He can’t throw Heilman and Marmol out there everyday or they will have a season’s worth of work by July. It is on the remaining pitchers to step up and help shoulder (pun intended) this workload. At the same time, it is the starting pitchers’ responsibility to give the team quality starts to keep the team in the game, and reduce Piniella’s relief corps usage. 3. All’s Well That Starts Wells? Randy Wells will get his first major league start on Friday in place of the recently injured Carlos Zambrano. Wells has thrown 5.1 major league innings in his career, not allowing a run in those appearances. This year at Triple-A Iowa he has made five starts and compiled a 2.77 ERA, including a seven inning shutout on April 22nd. He has fared much better against right-handed batters than leftys, with a .172 and .257 batting average against, respectively. Making your first major league start against the division rival Milwaukee Brewers is no walk in the park, especially with guys like Ryan Braun, hitting .327, in the lineup. Don’t expect a seven inning shutout for Wells, but something like five innings and three runs is more than acceptable. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Closing Quote: "I don't (remember) what he said, but it worked." - Cubs starter Ted Lilly on a mound visit by pitching coach Larry Rothschild that prompted an inning ending double play with two runners on Thursday night.
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