A lot happened involving the Cubs yesterday, so I’ll present all the happenings in bulletted form for your reading pleasure:
- The Cubs beat the Pirates 5-2. Zambrano pitched 6.1 innings before being ejected for (barely) bumping the home plate umpire during an argument over a play at the plate. Carlos Marmol got the victory and Kevin Gregg looked very shaky, giving up two walks in his 1.0 inning of work.
- Zambrano made the most of his ejection. After (barely) bumping home plate umpire Mark Carlson and getting thrown out of the game, Z motioned to throw the umpire out of the game and then threw the baseball into left field. With a little help from the wind, the ball may have made it into the left field bleachers. An impressive throw nonetheless. He then threw his glove into the dugout, picked up a bat, and beat the Gatorade dispenser senseless. It was an impressive show of anger, frustration, lack of self-control, and hatred for the Gatorade dispenser. Z will likely be suspended 6-10 games and the Gatorade dispenser will likely never be the same. The video of Z’s tirade can be found here.
- Ryan Theriot went 3-3, Reed Johnson hit his eighth home run, and Milton Bradley added a triple to lead the Cubs offensive attack.
- The Cubs made lots of roster moves. My new favorite Cub, Bobby Scales, was sent down to Iowa along with Neil Cotts. Aaron Miles was placed on the DL with a sore shoulder. To replace them, the Cubs brought up switch hitting infielder Andreas Blanco and hot hitting C/3B Jake Fox, and LHP Jason Waddell. Blanco started at second base and went 1-4, thus (barely) avoiding the dreaded sub-.250 list. Jake Fox was used as a pitch hitter and promptly hit a double and picked up an RBI. Waddell did not pitch.
- Ryan Freel left the game with a tight (?) hamstring and may be heading to the DL. If so, Bobby Scales can earn some additional frequent flyer miles by returning to the Cubs.
- Last night was Jake Fox jersey giveaway night at AAA Iowa, but Jake Fox wasn’t there. How awkward.
- The Dodgers are coming to town for a four game series at Wrigley starting today (Thursday). Randy Wells (0-1) takes on Randy Wolf (2-1) in the battle to determine the supreme Randy.
- Today’s sub-.250 hitters include:
- Ryan Freel .167/.211/.167
- Milton Bradley .200/.328/.390
- Aaron Miles .204/.250/.265
- Geovany Soto .216/.328/.276
- Mike Fontenot .223/.309/.385
- Reed Johnson .239/.316/.373
- Derrick Lee .242/.313/.406
