Surely Chicago Cubs' management put some kind of limit on Ryan Dempster yesterday as he looked like he had lotsa juice left when they sat him down after going 5 innings against the Mets in New York on Sunday. He gave up 4 hits but no walks, struck out 4 and most impressively extended his scoreless streak to 27 innings which ties him with Kenny Holtsman.
Holtzman was a member of the '69 Cubs, threw 2 no-hitters (in his career), and was in a rotation with guys like Fergie Jenkins, Billy Hands, and crazy sidearm/submarine guy Ted Abernathy. I found this SPORTS ILLUSTRATED photo of him where the caption reads that his 174 wins is the most by a Jewish pitcher ever.
Dempster was out for a bit with a sore latissimus dorsi and I think we were all a little bit like, why you coming back so soon, Demp?
But if you were worried about the lat, worry no more.
Worry more about the trade.
I count eight 2nd or 3rd place teams that are 4 games or less out of first, and all of them have to be thinking man, there's an extra playoff spot this year...
That doesn't even include 1st place teams like the Yankees who are injured (Sabathia and Pettitte), the White Sox who've got Detroit lingering back there, the Dodgers with injured ex-Cub and Demp-buddy Ted Lilly, or the surprise 1st place Pittsburgh Pirates who'll need a little oomph to stay in front of the Cards and Reds.
Where will Dempster go?
To whoever offers Theo Epstein the most talent.
(While there are no guesses on where Dempster might go, here's a Bleacher Nation article called "The Complete 2012 Chicago Cubs Trade Candidates and Rumors Cheat Sheet" which gives insightful reasons for why and how likely a Cub is to be traded. Good stuff.)
Back to the game.
A shellacking.
The Dog Ass Mets couldn't muster a single run against Dempster, Paul Maholm, Manny Corpas, James Russell or Shawn Camp.
While the Cubs knocked in 4 in inning numero uno, and then added 3 more with All-Starlin Castro's 7th homer of the year.
Cubs 7 Mets nothin'.
Very nice game and with the heat in Chicago finally knocked down, it was a fabulous Sunday.
I wonder how many times Dempster's been asked, "So Ryan, does all this trade talk bother you?"
How the guy doesn't snap is beyond me - but that's part of what makes him such a cool guy.
I'm sure not happy he's going to be traded and SO wish he'd have helped lead the Cubs to that place they haven't been in 104 years, but it didn't happen.
So now the best thing to hope for is that he goes somewhere where it will.
Next up: Starlin Castro and Bryan LaHair and the All-Star Game.
