No Fireworks For Cubs against A's

The Cubs combined for only two hits, both singles, yesterday, and made Dan Straily, the A's pitcher who had just returned from AAA, with a 5. something ERA, look like Nolan freakin Ryan.  With a final score of 1-0, there's really nothing much to talk about in this game, because barely anything happened.  Of course the A's scored their run on a dropped third strike, as the team to make the first mistake in this game was going to lose.  Of course it was the Cubes, uh...I mean Cubs who botched it, as a swing and a miss strikeout rolled between Wellington Castillo's legs allowing a run to score.  The Cubs are third in passed balls, and 7th in Wild Pitches, so what happened yesterday was not an anomaly to anyone who has watched the Chicago Cubs this year.  We have great hitting missers...not catchers...Matt Guerrier, the man on the mound for the Cubs, when Castillo botched the strikeout, did his best Carlos Marmol impression as well, the man he was traded for, by allowing 2 hits and 2 walks in the 7th inning, so you can't put it all on Castillo.  If Derrier pitches well, I mean Guerrier, there is nobody on third.  But the new Cubs bullpen hand had better learn fast that these Chicago Cubs rarely give you a comfortable lead, and you better be perfect, or you will lose.

So far so bad with the new guy we got for Marmol, but Pedro Strop, who we got for Feldman was another story, 1 perfect scoreless inning.  Strop pitched 66.1 innings last year, and had an ERA of 2.44, so hopefully he can be part of the future bullpen improvement the Cubs so sorely need.  If we had had a decent bullpen this year, what with Shawn Camp totally overused last year, and garbage this year, the Marmol train, and Fujikawa's season ending injury, the Cubs could be a .500 team.  However, it seems like something Cubs brass is addressing with the addition of Strop.  The Cubs need another lefty in the pen for certain, as I fear James Russel is currently being misused.  Russel, our lone lefty in the bullpen has been good, really good at times, but he's being mismanaged currently.  He has pitched more innings than ANY of our other bullpen guys, except Villanueva who was a starter the first half.  Against leftys, Russel has a mid 2's ERA, and Righty's give him nearly a 4 ERA.  So basically, Russel should just pitch to leftys, but because of a lack of competent pitchers in the pen, Sveum leaves him in there, and half the time, he faces a Righty, and...boom...There goes the ball game.  Hopefully Guerrier and Strop will add a little depth, and Sveum can use Russel properly.  It's fine that Russels pitched in half the games, the question is, why is he pitching to righty's 40% of the time?

So, the Cubs are home for quite the long, pre All Star break homestand starting at 3:05 against the first place Pittsburgh Pirates.  Yes, you read that right....the Pirates!  This game should be hopping today, as I couldn't get a decent cheap seat on the Stub Hub, and actually had to buy myself a nosebleed seat at full price, which by the way, is still almost 30$ a ticket.  That's a garbage price.  Total garbage.  Upper deck reserved behind a pole for 30 bones?  I'm moving down people, get my moneys worth.  These 3:05 starts are gonna be the death of my pocket book.  Business man's special means, Son Ranto is poor now.  These 3:05 starts are perfect for the working man to knock off early on a Friday in summer, put back a few, and still be home in time to tuck the kids in.  But what about unemployed bloggers?  What are we to do?  The cheapest ticket should be 15$, the same as an IMAX movie.  The Cubs also charge all these convenience fees, per ticket, so for example, I bought two tix at the box office yesterday, and with taxes and everything it was 58$.  Now compare that to buying two tix for today from the Cubs Website, which is totally automated and involves no workers.  There's a "convenience fee" of nearly 5$ a ticket and an order fee of 4$.  What the hell is that?  Convenient?  You have to print your own tix!! What's convenient about that? A family of 4 will pay nearly 40$ in taxes and fees, to NOT be helped by an actual person.  Nearly 140$ total plus all the hot dogs, and soda and beer.  Easily 200$.  And this is for a fourth place team....

If my family had had to pay the equivalent when I was a kid, I might not be a Cubs fan.  We didn't have cable either, so I woulda missed  half the games this year.  My father used to bribe us to go to CCD, which is Catholic Education, that my Mom made us go to, by telling us he'd take us to the game if we went without a fuss.  This was in 83-89 ish, and I believe we paid 1/5 the price to sit behind a pole.  1/5!!!!  I'm only 39 years old, and I already sound like my Grandma who complained about prices being triple.  The prices have quintupled!!!!  Anyone have their salary quintuple?  And bleachers?  That was my summer babysitter from age 10 on....4$ is what it cost.  I'm not saying the Cubs have to go back to 1983 prices.  I'm just saying, that there should be some way to make certain that families have access to the games.  I was going to bring my sisters kids today, but I can't afford it.  Can the Cubs afford to have no future fans?  Well....I guess they only want the rich kids....The Rickett's understand them better anyway....

OK...off soapbox, lets play spoiler the rest of the year.  Cubs win today!  St. Louis and the Reds lose.

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Cubby Broom Time in NYC!

What kind of broom should we sweep the Mets with today?  

This Old Tymey one?  Or This Broom would be fun to sweep with!  Not!!

But I'm partial to sweeping the Mets with Orlando Broom.

Whichever broom we pick, it'll be nice to finally sweep a 3 game road series.  

Now about yesterdays game....Cubs Win!  5-2!!  But...and this is a huuuuge but, the Cubs, individually speaking, left 35 men on base.  35!!!!  Starlin Castro left 9 on himself!  Though he did drive in two with a bases loaded double in the 8th.  He also struck out 3 times, thus the 9 left on base.  Wouldn't it be great if it was exciting to see Castro come up with the bases loaded?  Like it was when Aramis Ramirez or Derek Lee?  Ahh... the many faces of Starlin Castro's Strikeouts....

"The Pout"

"The Bat Break Fake Out"

"The Mic Drop"

Oh, Starlin...will you ever hit again?

The Cubs were 3-18 with runners in scoring position, so basically the final score should have been 12-2.  So great, Cubs win!  But it just didn't quite feel right.  Good thing Scott Feldman was killing it yesterday, 7 innings, 2 hits, 1 run.  The thing that gets me, is as soon as a guy is doing really well, everyone on Twitter wants to trade him for some prospects.  Do you know how many prospects end up being busts?  At least 50% of them.  Probably more.  Also, don't factor out the intangible element of playing together as a team, and just simply knowing one another over a period of time.  If you have constant roster shakeups, and trade away all your players that are having decent years, you're ensuring a lot more losses after August, and a furthering of the Cubs losing culture.  So, don't trade Feldman, or Garza.  We have a great pitching staff, and you know that at least one of them is going to get injured  and be out for the rest of the year.  Y'all ready for Brooks Raley again?  

This game also saw a crazy play in the 9th, where the Cubs almost got triple played, except for the Mets ineptitude at turning it.  The centerfielder Lagares caught the ball, but it was ruled a trap.

The Cubs runners froze, Lagares then threw to second. The umpire ruled "Safe", but there was a force out from first, so the umpire was wrong.  Again. 

 The force is now off at third and home because of the out at second.  They threw home, thought there was an out there.  There wasn't.  Then threw to third where David Wright thought he had another force out.  He didn't.  Wellington Castillo was stupidly standing off the bag at third, so if Wright tags him, it's another out, but David Price whispered in his ear to get back on the base, which he did in the nick of time.  

Why in the hell would you be standing off a base?  Ever?  Just dumb.  

So, bases loaded, no outs, and the Cubs don't score.  I saw that happen in Pittsburgh in a 1-0 loss.  That also was terrible.  I hate it.  

However, Castillo did upend Jordany Valdespin, who has a great fashion designer name if the baseball thing doesn't work out. 

Good hard clean baseball!

Let the sweeping commence!  Matt Garza pitches today, and hopefully it goes better than last time when he got shelled by the Reds for 9, count em 9 runs!

And the Cubs hitters are up against Jeremy Hefner, who is 1-6 with a 4.11 ERA.  This idiot went to Oral Roberts University, so I think I probably hate him.  I hope the Cubbies send him to kingdom come!  Which this moron probably believes he's going to when he dies.  The fool!  At least he's a righty, so we don't have to watch Scott Hairston try and hit in Dale's crappy lefty lineup.  He's been better, but still pretty awful

Tomorrow, I head to St. Louis to watch the Cubbies in enemy territory!  I'm scared.  Won't you please use the amazon search bar at http://www.sonranto.com to help me with tickets, pepper spray, gas and beer?

Also, check out my article on Bleed Cubbie Blue!

Really appreciate it!  Go Cubbies!!

Cubs Split Two With Fallen Angels

I can't believe the Angels stink as bad as they do, losing the last 4 of 5 to the basement of the National League Central.  That would be the Cubs and the Brewers.  (Sad Trombone Noise).  But though stacked with talent and payroll, the Angels record (26-34) is about equal to the Cubs (24-33), within a game or two anyway.   It took 10 innings, but the Cubbies, and the ever strengthening Matt Garza, beat the Halo's 8-6 yesterday with an Anthony "Fo Shizzo" Rizzo, 3 run clutch, extra inning, triple, in front of what sounded like a hometown crowd.  I know the Cubs travel well, but the Cub fans roared louder at Angel Stadium than the average Wrigley crowd this year.  Probably because the Angel fans knew when to leave in order to not spend 5 hours driving 30 miles in LA's crappy traffic.  Check out these fans celebrating this Ryan Sweeney game saving catch.

I love the Angels fan's helmet hair with the glasses.  Get a hat buddy!  What a nerd.  He makes the nerdy Cubs jersey fan look cool!

Well, the game was saved many times yesterday.  Cody Ransom tied it in the 5th with a 3 run shot. The Sweeney catch (pictured above) saved 2 runs.  There was a reversed homerun call in the 4th that went the Cubs way, and finally, the save by Kevin Gregg, who made things interesting by giving up a 10th inning homer, and letting the tying run get on base.  But alls well that ends well right?  

Not so much.  The bullpen blew another lead, this time it was James Russel in the 8th, who gave up his first homerun of the year to tie the game.  Got nothing bad to say about Russel, he's been basically great with a 1.52 ERA to show for it.  He did blow the save though.  Then, the Cubs, who had runners at first and second with nobody out twice, including the 8th, in this game, failed to score.  Incredibly, both missed opportunities were virtually identical, with the Angels relievers inducing foul pop up outs, and keeping the runners where they were.  The Cubs were an abysmal 4-18 with runners in scoring position, and should have won this game handily in 9 innings.  

Fine, we won, I should be happy right?  I am, trust me.  It woulda sucked monkey bum to go all the way to Disneyland just to lose two games.  However, the whole game felt precariously played, and I still don't like what I see out of key players like Castro who struck out twice.  He's got to be a contact guy, and he swings at garbage.  He then looks at his bat, as if it's got a hole in it.  He looks ridiculous.  He also does some weird religion prayer thing when he gets a hit, and before he bats.  Just keep your head in the game Castro!  Do you really think the creator of the universe, (cough, sniff, punch), gives a rats behind if you get a hit or not?  God is way too busy helping starving children survive without mothers, and punishing Muslim women for dancing to care about your on base percentage.  Castro did take a rare walk though and hit a double, so I'll leave a full rant on him out of this article.  Welington Castillo still is as much of a "Misser" as a "Catcher".  Dropping 3rd strikes and allowing yet another passed ball.  Schierholtz dropped a ball in the outfield too and was given an error.  But I thought it was unfair, given how the sun was likely in his eyes at the time and it wasn't an easy catch.

This....

Became This.....

He probably shoulda had it....but look at those weird shadows....I'm biased.

Did I mention the Cubs won?!  Yeah!! 8-6!!!! Still feel like complaining though, must be the 58 degree June weather that's got me down.  

So now what?  Another off-day, that's what!  I'm going to celebrate by going to Target and buying toilet paper and garbage bags.  Gotta get my ducks in a row for this weekend when the Pirates come to town on Friday.  Francisco Liriano 3-2, 2.17 of the Bucs vs.  Travis "the new Kerry" Wood 5-3, 2.75.  

I really hope to go to this game in person, as I havent been to Wrigley since the Mets were in town.  Plus, if the Cubs don't win, I won't be heartbroken, as I want the Pirates to overtake the Cardinals at some point this season.  At least make it tough for them!

But, StubHub and the Cubs are price fixing.  I know it!  All the teams are. Just let me into the park for 10$ and I'll drink all the 8$ crappy beer I can until the end of the 8th.  A single ticket is 18$ now to sit in nosebleed.  You know what?  That's too much.  Wrigley is only half filled, even on the weekends.  They have got to lower prices, especially when I'm watching the Iowa Cubs after the trade deadline sell off.  

I'll end with a positive stat!  Ryan Sweeney is batting .357!  How you like dem Apples?  Actually, I'm allergic to apples....but I do like the batting average!

New podcast later today!  In the meantime...here's a soon expiring one...

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Cuuuuuuuuuuubs Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

I never thought I'd have an opportunity to say "Sweeeeeeeeeeeeep" this entire year!  Things for the Cubs were looking bleak as hell after the last road trip, but we've triumphantly come home to Chicago to win 3 in a row against the hated Black Sox!  Damn, I wish I was there!  But alas, Son Ranto is in NYC where last night I did witness another Crosstown Underdog, The NY Mets sweep the hated Yankees.  It was pretty sweet.

My sis got me bleacher tix for my birthday.

But yesterday's Cubs game!  I walked from the Courthouses of lower Manhattan, where I finished my divorce paperwork, up to 54th st, all the while listening to Pat and Keith describe the Cubbies spanking of the White Sox.  I can always say I was in Times Square when pitcher Travis Wood hit a Grand Slam.  Look at that sweet swing!!!

I was in Times Square when Kurt Cobain died too, so I'm happy to have the memory replaced.  Actually, a lot of crazy stuff has happened to me in Times Square, but we won't go into that today....  But with timely hitting, aforementioned pitcher's Grand Slams and homeruns by Nate Schierholtz, and Luis Valbuena, the Cubs completely dominated the White Sox in the Three Game set, winning 8-3 in the finale, 9-3 on Wednesday, and 7-0 on Monday.  I wish Tuesday's game had been played and not rained out.  Jackson was looking good, and we were already winning 2-0.  But alas, we will just have to complete the true sweep later in the season.  

So I ask?  Who in the hell are these Chicago Cubs?  Is it just that the White Sox actually stink.  No.  I saw them beat up on the Red Sox a few weeks ago.  Is it the warmer weather?  Is it streakiness?  Confidence?  Chicago itself?  I think I may be hitting on something.  Most teams have a disparity in their road and home splits.  But I'm not talking about Wins and Losses as much as the players general  ability to play better when they sleep in their own bed.  Not in a hotel, where they get shuttled around on buses.  Eating food from new restaurants.  Trying to figure out where to buy weed.  You know, the normal every day things that are made more difficult when you don't know the area very well.  Just a theory.  Probably wrong.  But I'm going with it.  Who knows?  Maybe they just feel better in Pin Stripes.  

Now, this is not a Son Ranto column unless I complain about something right?  What in the hell is up with Welington "Beef Castle"  Castillo and Catchers interference calls.  In the 10th inning of last weeks Cincy finale, and yesterday.  Castillo's glove has gotten in the way of the bat.  Catcher's interference is not a very common thing to see in a ball game, probably less common than a balk.  So why is it happening twice in a week?  Luckily, the Cubs have won both games it's happened in.  The catching defense is pretty lack luster.  Dropped third strikes and foul tips that could have been K's.  Wild pitches and passed balls, and now, freakin' Catcher's interference!  the other big question is, why in the hell did Sveum sit Navarro the day after he hit 3 homeruns?!  Not gonna make a huge deal out of it.  For most of the games, Navarro's been frustratingly slow and fat.  I guess he know's where to eat on the road.  

Another complaint I have is the Cubs runners watch the play instead of the coaches.  They lose valuable seconds watching how far the ball went.  Especially on homerun balls that end up hitting the wall.  It's a problem, and it shows either a lack of trust in David Price, the third base coach, or a lack of fundamental coaching.  If I were manager, I'd put a stop to it.  Here's a hilarious picture of Castillo tumbling over third base....he was here....

But unfortunately, ended up here....

and then pathetically....here....

Travis Wood also bit it in the second inning, tripping over second base....

But then he hit a Grand Salami in his next at bat so as not to run the bases.  He must have learned that trick from Navarro who hates running more than MLB pee tests.....

Let's keep the train moving!! What do we have going today?!  

The Diamondbacks come to town.  Matt Garza, who was a little shaky in Cincy last week goes against Wade Miley, who looks like a total freak...

Then again...so does Garza!

Battle of the freakazoids!!!  

Let's Go Cubbies!!!

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