D-Train derails D-Lee and co.
ESPN Boxscore
Dontrelle "Imagination" Willis pitched 7 stellar innings of down-the-pipes fastballs and sliders last night, becoming the first 11-game winner in the Majors and besting his 2004 win mark of 10 in the process. Giving up just 1 ER on 7 hits while striking out 5, Willis kept the Cubs in check and allowed the Marlins to sashay back to the hotel as 9-1 victors.
Aided by a big 7-run 4th Inning, the likes of which Koronka could not escape, the Marlins slapped 11 hits (8 of them singles) on the board, including a solid batting outing for Dontrelle himself: 2-3, RBI for the pitcher, a line that bested any Cub in the lineup on this particular evening.
The Cubs shouldn't look too heavily into this one, and neither should we; Willis is a better pitcher than he was last season (10-11, 4.02 ERA) and the Cubs were still a little light in the loafers after an emotional Boston @ Wrigley weekend.
Tonight may well see more of the same, with Josh Beckett stepping to the mound in Marlins white (7-4, 3.13 ERA), although Mitre is more than a match for the league's top hurlers, having faced Clemens, Eaton and Halladay in his 3 of his 4 season starts (with the Cubs winning 3 of his starts, and we all remember how well he pitched against Halladay on an ESPN Wednesday afternoon).
posted by Jim Hendry @ 10:29 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
It was the 5th when Florida put up 7...not that it matters, they still made us look dumb. I'm hoping we don't see Willis when we play the Marlins again in a couple weeks.
As for tonight, Mighty Mitre is through the first, FL went 1-2-3. I don't know much about Beckett other than his last outing was less than spectacular. Let's hope he sucks tonight too...
Beckett was the MVP of the 2003 World Series.
Mitre just got tired of the drive to Iowa. He's found his stuff. 99-pitch, complete game shutout. And two hits. Wow! What a performance. That's as good as it gets during the regular season. Pitchers just don't hold their concentration with that kind of a lead. This kid is just not going down again.
I think we're soon going to see Van Buren, or maybe Jerome "King Rib" Williams soon to replace Koronka...
.. although you never know.
Nope, you're going to see Kerry Wood back in the rotation within ten days or less.
Dammit!
Well maybe Roberto "Senor Elastico" Novoa will take another vacation into the balmy Iowa summer so we can get a preview of the other guys...
I do like Novoa but we can't drop Bartosh otherwise we lose his Home-Run-relinquishing force, so Novoa is the one.
Alright, I've been saying for a while that I think Mitre is doing well, but not ready for the big leagues. I've been saying that he needs another pitch. I stand by that statement, he would benefit from the addition of another pitch. However, don't let this kid get away. He stays up when Wood comes back and Koronka should go back down. When Prior comes back, then it's time to figure out whether it's better to have Rusch in the starting rotation and send Mitre back down to the minors, or if we want Mitre to stay up and Rusch to be a reliever. If Mitre looks anything like he has for the past 16 innings, then he needs to be our 5th starter. I'm not so worried anymore about Dempster being our closer. It looks like our starting rotation has not, and will not suffer from his absence, and the bullpen has been much more dependable.
So here's the big question. Who are you, and what have you done with Sergio Mitre? Wait. Don't answer that. The less we know the better. We don't want to find the old Sergio. We dub you Sergio the second, lord of the 5th day starting role.
Also, HOLY OFFENSE BATMAN!!! Where did that come from?! I love it. Keep it up guys. Lee, keep those numbers soaring. And Aramis is just crazy. He's got his swing and his eyes back it seems. Everyone took advantage of less than amazing pitching tonight, and did what needed to be done. You've gotta feel bad for Bentz though. One outing brings his ERA to a staggering 45.00. It's gonna take several outings to get that back down to single digits.
I didn't get to see Beckett's outing, I picked this one up when we were up 7-0, but I'm glad do see him doing badly. I still have grudges that started in that 2003 NLCS. So, Beckett, here's to blisters. What kind of ball player is sidelined by blisters? Who goes on the DL for blisters?! Panzy.
CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!
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