B-Squad Bomb

I don't know why I was nervous about this game. I was sort of not feeling it, back in the corner of my brain. Then my friend told me he knew we were going to blow it, like at 4:30. I tried to convince him otherwise but my arguments were weak. "Kipnis is great in Chicago!" "Shelley Duncan!" "Rookie pitcher!" I didn't even remember to mention Jeanmar. But no Hafner, no Hannahan, no Brantley.

Really, I think it's those black uniforms.

Jeanmar wasn't too bad. Until he was. He gave up 3 runs pretty quick and held tight until the 6th where he gave up 3 more. That was the bad part. Asencio followed suit with 3 runs of his own and while Accardo didn't give up any runs, he sort of didn't look too good walking 2 and giving up a hit.

Kind of seems like we were hosed after 3 fantastic days of bullpen. That same goodness wasn't going to happen today for a 4th day so we had to settle for the B-Squad of the bullpen. I don't think Jeanmar is a B-Squad pitcher. He's been pretty solid. It just always seems to be his turn on crap days.

Our lineup was light, as I said, missing Hafner (crunched-up leg after hitting a ball off it), Hannahan (ready to play but not really?) and Brantley (I don't know why). In were Damon, Duncan AND Cunningham.

Eventually that list would include Lou Marson (Santana tweaked something while catching) and oddly enough, Juan Diaz who replaced Asdrubal during the 8th when he hurt something. Odd because Diaz was just called up today and McAllister sent down.

So our final lineup was Choo, Kipnis, Diaz, Marson, Lopez, Duncan, Damon, Kotchman and Cunningham. Ha!

Choo was ON again today! He went 2 for 3 with a walk and those 2 hits being doubles. He came around to score twice! That's 15 hits in his last 10 games. Can we say "Genius move, putting Choo at leadoff!" enough?

As I predicted, Kipnis was hot again in Chicago. He went 2 for 3 with a walk, also, after going hitless yesterday.

Asdrubal went 1 for 3 and his average stays over .300 - for now. It's "down" to .301. But he did get one of the RBIs tonight. Santana got another of the RBIs on a fielder's choice.

Shelley Duncan! I also predicted good things from him! Of course, too little too late but he got his 4th homer in the 9th. It was a little highlight I'll take home with me, thanks.

Damon did a thing. He also struck out twice.

Kotchman, surprisingly, did nothing.

That's pretty much it! Also of note is that Tom Hamilton's son is in the NCAA baseball championships with Kent State, so Hammy's been out for 2 games now. The first game was Jim Rosenhaus and Mike Hegan, which was cool. But you could tell Hegan wasn't up for a second game so today was Rosie with ex-pitcher and Fantasy Camp good guy Scott Bailes. He wasn't as awful as I thought he would be but he (and anyone) is miles away from Hammy so it was just surreal. I think this is what most people have to sit through when they listen to baseball on the radio, excepting maybe Dodger fans. Just two dudes who are not Tom Hamilton or Vin Scully. Weird.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day. A 4:05 game and I don't know why. That's 3:05 Chicago time. A bunch of games are at 4:05 actually. It's going to eat up most of your day, just you watch.

I'll be listening, tho. Our hero Derek Lowe versus Jake Peavy. Those guys are set but who knows who will show up to bat for us? We've got to win at least one to keep a solid hold on first place and tomorrow is our best chance.

See you there!

Radio (And TV) Chatter:
"He got to Charlotte and they said 'Keep going, you're pitching in the big leagues, pal.'"
- Jim Rosenhaus on Jose Quintana

"Catchers don't like that. They like goign station to station, not this back and forth."
- Scott Bailes on Pierzynski taking off on every pitch of a full count

"Thank you to Shelley Duncan for providing us with our McDonald's I'm Lovin' It play of the game. We were running out of time."
- Matt Underwood