Cubs at Reds 4/5/2007 (Rubber Match)

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AT

Starting Lineup
Season | Against Opposing Pitcher

Name POS
1. A Soriano, CF
2. M Murton, LF
3. D Lee, 1B
4. A Ramirez, 3B
5. J Jones, RF
6. M Barrett, C
7. M DeRosa, 2B
8. C Izturis, SS
9. J Marquis, P

Starting Lineup
Season | Against Opposing Pitcher

Name POS
1. R Freel, CF
2. A Dunn, LF
3. B Phillips, 2B
4. K Griffey Jr., RF
5. E Encarnacion, 3B
6. S Hatteberg, 1B
7. A Gonzalez, SS
8. J Valentin, C
9. K Lohse

We all know the report on Marquis. The dude gave up more long balls than anyone last season. He is yet another extremely emotional pitcher on the Cubs staff and the Reds need to get to him early. He has a nice sinker and some good breaking stuff that breaks off the plate. If the Reds lay off the breaking pitches and sit on mistakes up in the zone and in the middle of the plate (which he is known to do) then they will do fine.

Notable matchups, Reds EdE has had some success against Marquis.

Lineup talk; Narron goes back to the Opening Day lineup with Valentin taking Ross' spot. I think this is flat out exceptional. Lets see what Valentin can do and at the same time show Ross that we aren't messing around and he needs to figure something out. We were told Hamilton would be starting today, but when you look at how well Griffey and Dunn have performed against Marquis, you see Narron only had Freel available to swap out. But he may have felt more comfortable having Freel at the top of the order for now. No biggie, although I would have liked to see him get that PT.

Lets get this win fellas!

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WOW, I was late for this one. I missed targeted the time.

Ok, the game is in the bottom of the 5th 2-1 lead for the Cubs.

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Freel walks for to have two on with two outs for Dunn.

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Dunn Ks on a sinker in a clutch situation. He does have a hit already today and continues to look good this season. But we needed him there.

Still down by one run, lets hold them here and get it back.

So far today Lohse has given up 7 hits in 5 innings. Griffey has a fielding error.

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Ramirez, DeRosa, and Izturis have been crushing Lohse today.

Barrett pops out to Gonzo.
Derosa basehit to LF. (He has a HR today)
Izturis Ks looking on an outside corner fastball
Marquis grounds out to Gonzo

2-1 game still.

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Bottom of the 6th:

Phillips grounds out to Izturis
Griffey just missed on to right-center. Weather robbed yet another HR.
EdE flies out to CF

1-2-3

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Lohse stays in for the 7th?!? Why Narron?

Soriano basehit to LF
Lohse picksoff Soriano!
Murton basehit to RF (thanks Narron)

Lohse finally comes out and Santos relieves him. Hopefully he can shut the door like he did last night.

Lohse gave up 10 hits and 1 BB over 6.1 innings. Only gave up 2 earned runs so far. Very lucky.

Theriot pinch running and gets the stolen base on the first pitch.
Lee grounds it to EdE and EdE makes a smart play to tag Theriot. 2 outs Lee on 1st.
Ramirez grounds out to Gonzo

Nice work Santos!

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Howry in to pitch for the Cubs

Hatteberg gets his first basehit of the season
Gonzo with the sac bunt on a very tough pitch. Nice job. 3rd succesful sac bunt tonight for the Reds.
Valentin grounds out to 2B. Hatteberg moves over to 3B.
Conine pinch hitting, RBI basehit! Sweet!

2-2 tie game baby!

Freel walks! Here comes Dunn! 2 on for him.
Lou takes out Howry and Ohman comes in to pitch to Dunn.
Wild pitch, both runners move up.
Dunn gets a two base RBI walk!

3-2 Reds baby!

Lou is pissed again after the passed ball happens and the runners move up after Dunn wlked and he also took another base. Great hustle by Dunn too.

A new pitcher is coming out to face Phillips now...
Angel Guzman in to pitch now
Phillips lines hard to LF but right at Theriot. 3 outs

Nice inning Reds! Lets hold it together now bullpen!

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Cormier in to pitch! COME ON NARRON! Dammit!

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Jones flies out deep to the left field corner. Great range by Dunn! Yes I said it, I have never seen Dunn cover so much ground en route to banging into the wall. He played that beautifully.

Saarloos coming in now. So Cormier only faces one hitter. Why was he even out there?

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Barrett Ks swinging! 2 outs
DeRosa walks.

Saarloos is trying to pitch to the right handers outside corner as the defense is set up for them to go the other way. But he is struggling with it.

Just as I said Dunn looked good in LF, he plays the ball wrong off Izturis bat and has to dive for it and the ball comes off the glove. 2 base error. WOW! Still 3-2 Reds and Narron goes back to the bullpen. 2 outs

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Stanton is in to pitch now. Cedeno in to pinch hit. 2 outs top of the 8th.

Cedeno pops out to EdE on a 2-0 pitch. Phew. I was getting very nervous there.

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Eyre in to pitch for the Cubs now. Bottom of the 8th.

Absolutely horrible AB for Griffey. 2-0 pitch; he looks at a fastball right down the middle. 3-1 pitch; he looks at a fastball right down the middle. Fullcount; swings and misses at a fastball right down the middle. Why didn't he at least attempt at the hitters pitches which were friendly to him as fastball over the heart of the plate? Then he saw them twice already and decides to be behing it on the full count? Horrible.

EdE walks, nice AB

Hatteberg gets a 2 run bomb over the RF fence! 5-2 game now!

Gonzo Ks swinging. 2 outs
Valentin doubles to RF as a righ handed hitter! Nice.
Castro in to pinch hit and he flies out to Jones on the first pitch. 3 outs

Great blast by Hatteberg and good patience from EdE to get the score up. We lead by three and the Cubs are facing their last opportunity.

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Castro stays in to play 3B.
Moeller in to catch.
Weathers in to get the save.

Soriano Ks swinging. Weathers better get that ball down.
Theriot pops out to Hatteberg. Weathers looks awful though. 85 MPH fastball and can't get it down.
Lee grounds out to EdE

Reds win the series! Sweet!

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I didn't catch the entire game but Lohse's line shows he was very lucky. The Reds defense didn't help us out that much either today. Narron going with Cormier in the 8th? What was that all about? Although, I still have to say I like the way he used the rest of the guys tonight and I like how he got Cormier out of there after facing one batter.

The offense didn't look exceptional, but did pretty well when it mattered. Only Freel and Dunn failed once apiece with RISP. But EdE, Conine, Dunn (with the clutch walk haha), and Hatteberg all came through as well. So not bad at all.

Bring on the Pirates!

MVP: Hatteberg