Daily Archives: July 3, 2008

July 3, 2008

Cubs 6, Giants 5: Playing Keep-away with Dempster

Team123456789RHE
Cubs (51-34)010002210690
Giants (37-48)000002300581
W: Marmol (2-3) L: Walker (3-4) S: Wood (21)

Boxscore

Ryan Dempster hasn’t won a game on the road for all of 2008. With a start where he pitched 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs, you might think he would have broken that string. Especially if you knew that the Cubs scored 6.

Alas, Carlos Marmol swooped in for the vulture win. Marmol has struggled lately, so putting him in the game in the 7th with the Cubs sporting a spiffy new 3 run lead might have seemed like a good time for him to work some things out. But it wasn’t.

Mike Fontenot gave Marmol the vulture win with his go-ahead homer, leaving Dempster to stew in the dugout, happy that the team won but wishing, just wishing, that he could finally win on the road.

July 3, 2008

Pirates 9, Reds 5: Watching Jay Bruce’s Soul Be Crushed

Team123456789RHE
Pirates (40-44)4010201019130
Reds (39-47)140000000570
W: Bautista (1-1) L: Thompson (0-2)

Boxscore

Remember when Jay Bruce was called up for the Reds and he was awesome and optimistic and full of life and excited about how he was going to help the club win? Sigh. If only he were on any other team besides the Reds. Heck, at this point, he might have a better shot with the Pirates, who defeated the Reds last night and won the series.

Yes, the Pirates defeated the Reds in Cincinnati, where the Reds had been good. Pittsburgh had been anything but on the road, but they’re obviously better than the Reds. Pittsburgh now sits in 5th place, with Cincinnati 1.5 games behind them in last.

Anyway, back to Bruce. He hit two home runs in the process of going 2-3 with a walk and drove in 4. Honestly, he’s lucky to have gotten as many RBI as he did, considering he was leading off for some insane reason. Who’s the idiot manager of the Reds anyway? Oh. Right.

So despite giving his all, the Reds lost, and just a little bit of Bruce’s soul died. Unfortunately, it won’t be the last time, not as long as he plays for Cincinnati.

July 3, 2008

Mets 7, Cardinals 8: Surviving Mulder

Team123456789RHE
Mets (41-43)0031003007151
Cardinals (49-37)4000100218111
W: Franklin (3-2) L: Muniz (0-1)

Boxscore

The Cardinals narrowly escaped from Mark Mulder’s second outing since being reinstated from the disabled list.

Mulder came on in relief in the seventh inning. Thanks to earlier ineffective pitching from starter Joel Pineiro, the game St. Louis had taken a 4-run 1st inning lead in was tied. Mulder promptly gave up 2 runs.

But not to worry! Chris Duncan and Troy Glaus flew to the rescue, launching home runs to tie and then win the game for St. Louis.

It was a good thing, too. With the Cubs winning and the ribald rivalry with Chicago looming, it’s in St. Louis’ best interests to be as close as possible. Got to make that series a battle for first place, after all.