Cubby-Blue

Is Steve Clevenger an Avenger?

Sometimes, I do a deep dive into the statistical data available to me, using only the most sophisticated technology.
In this case, box scores.
First you can't help but notice that so far, of the 7 games the Cubs have played, the number of wins is 2.
And if you dive juuuuuust a little deeper there and look at the lineups, well you can't help but notice that Steve Clevenger has been the starting catcher for both of those wins.
2 wins vs zero losses means that Steve Clevenger has a winning percentage of 100, and 100 is a Super Hero number, my friend.
Yesterday, I thought Zack Grienke was supposed to be the God.
But young Clevenger and his Avenger Bat went 3 for 4 and smacked a pair of doubles off him.
And I say heads up there, Geovany Soto.
Clevenger's got twice as many hits in about half the at bats as you.

Well yeah... pretty sure Clevenger's not going to keep up his .667 OBP.
But he sure has been impressive, and I think this'll be an interesting battle to watch as the season unfolds.

The Cubs avoid getting swept by Milwaukee with a sweet 8-0 victory and Matt Garza came within one out of the complete game shutout except he threw a ball in the direction of first that I guess went out to Addison. Dale Sveum pulled him with an out to go. I don't really mind that - the Big Three starters (Demp, Garza, Samardzija) have already been close to 120 pitches in their last starts. 

Which brings us to today.
My no doubt absolute favorite all time rivalry of any sport, it's time for the Cubs to play the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cards started off the season with the big injury to Chris Carpenter, which probably means they'll win the World Series again.
As a team I believe the only stat they're not the best IN ALL OF BASEBALL with is runs, where they're second with 37.
Before yesterdays splurge, the Cubs had 19.
Yeah well whatever, I guess they ought to play the games anyway right?
Lets see what Jeff Samardzija can do against 0-1 and 4.76 Adam Wainwright today at 2:15 shall we?

And..."The Avengers".
I'm so gonna see it, just in case Clevenger's in there somewhere.
Maybe he's a new kind of Batman.
Hope you guys don't mind me playing with your poster.

 

If Paul Maholm can have control issues, then so can I.

I turned on the tv to watch our Chicago Cubs vs. the Milwaukee Brewers last night.
But something was wrong.
Like, the game had only just started, but the Cubs were down by 5.
I was looking at a replay of a 3-run homer by Alex Gonzalez.
What the?
Oh.
Paul Maholm was having control issues.
I decided to my own control issues.
WHOOPS!
I changed the channel.
I changed it again.
And I kept flipping around til I got bored and went and read a book.
Came back and caught the Geovany Soto homer, but this game looked like drek.
I would have hated to be there, since it looked like it was freezing, and I couldn't grab the control and change the channel. 

It seemed like Maholm got about half his wins at Wrigley over the last couple years, only he was a Pirate.
I thought our favorite park would be his friend.
Maybe I'm wrong.

Oh well. 

 

Cubs make it interesting against the Brewers but lose 5-7.

 

So, a loss.
But didn't that 9th get your heart racing?
The double by Stewart on a full count, LaHair grounds him to third, Soto WALKS, a little luck for a change with the Aramis Ramirez error on Byrd's double play grounder, young Stevie Clevenger with the clutch 2-strike single off Brewer Stud Closer John Axford, DeJesus strikes out, Barney with the HUGE WALK to load the bases with Starlin Castro coming up.
Come ON, man, that was freaking amazing.
A single woulda tied it.
But Castro struck out lookin' at what he must have thought was a breaking ball, 'cause it was a fastball right down the middle.
So, dammit.
But seriously, a whole lot better than the bullpen blowing a lead, right?

I wish I had a photo of Larry O'Brien that would have worked in the gif.
Larry is Ted Lilly's agent, and he's almost a dead ringer for the most interesting man in the world, only he's real and every bit as interesting.
Larry, if you're reading this, hi and Sutter says you still owe us a steak dinner.

 

The Jeff Samardzija Starter Kit

Man, how nice is it to have something good to talk about?
I just figured the way the season started off that Jeff Samardzija would certainly be a bust.
But just the opposite happened, because he was sort of brilliant.
We shouldn't just slap the "horse" tag on him (I swear I heard Dale Sveum use that term) and assume that's going to happen every time out.
Did you see he didn't walk ANYBODY?
That was amazing.
Ian Desmond (by the way, what's up with all the Ians? It's like the opposite of a baseball name for some reason) said of the Starter Jeff: "He was anywhere from 98 to 90 with his fastball and had his split, the occasional cut...he was out there, he was pumping strikes."
It's kinda cool hearing an opposing player say that about a Cub pitcher.
We don't have to bring up Carlos Marmol or the fact that the Cubs should be undefeated at 3-0, okay?
Lets just bask in a W for a whole day.
And then welcome Lyin' Ryan and the Milwaukee Brewers.

PS: Starlin Castro has 4 steals already. If you figure he gets four steals every three games for one hundred and sixty two games, well, you're better at math than me.

PSPS: Journalist Mike Wallace died over the weekend. Yeah, I didn't think he was tough enough on Roger Clemens when they did that interview in '08, but if you have a couple minutes go to the Daily Beast, where they gathered Wallace's 10 best interviews starting in '57 with Frank. Lloyd. Wright.
Incredible. 

 

What it's been like watching the 1st two Cub games of 2012.

 

Oh man, what a disaster.
I mean, not really - it's only two games.
But for Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol to start off the season completely gagging up leads just isn't good at all.
And having a hack like Adam LaRoche get 4 hits and a homer is just galling.
I was saying how happy I was that Jason Werth was sucking so bad with his gigantic, silly contract and then Marmol walks him.
I knew what I was going to draw for today right after that play.

Okay, so today it's Jeff Samardjiza on the mound, and I just hope he does well not because I'm afraid of the bullpen, but rather the enormous amount of negativity (raise your hand, Tim) happening already. 

So there was some good stuff yesterday with the aggressive running.
Castro had a couple stolen bases, and Darwin Barney and Reed Johnson took 3rd and 2nd on that barely wild pitch by Craig Stammen. Nice.
And of course Matt Garza looked fabulous.
Just another shame loss, this time for Garza.