If they’re able to play, the Cubs will take on the Cardinals today in the first game of a three-game set. It’s been raining hard there all morning, but there’s a chance it’ll clear up by the late afternoon. I hope it does, as I’d planned to go watch the game at a local bar, since I’m still in Chicago. A local … Cardinals bar.
The game has been pushed back until 3:45 CT or so to accommodate the rain.
Jeff Samardzija will get another opportunity to show he’s legit, and he’ll be facing a potent lineup, even without Lance Berkman.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (2-5) at St. Louis Cardinals (5-2), 3:45pm CT on WGN and MLBN.
Game Thread and Series Preview
The Game Thread lives here. You should participate in the madness. And, of course, for those who aren’t into message board-style game threads, please feel free to use the comments on this post for your in-game commentary/outbursts.
The Series Preview for this series lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Jeff Samardzija (1-0, 1.04 ERA, 9.0 K/9)
versus
Adam Wainwright (0-1, 4.76 ERA, 1.000 WHIP)
St. Louis Cardinals Lineup
1. Rafael Furcal, SS
2. Jon Jay, CF
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Carlos Beltran, RF
5. David Freese, 3B
6. Yadier Molina, C
7. Matt Carpenter, 1B
8. Daniel Descalso, 2B
9. Adam Wainwright, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. David DeJesus, RF
2. Darwin Barney, 2B
3. Starlin Castro, SS
4. Alfonso Soriano, LF
5. Ian Stewart, 3B
6. Bryan LaHair, 1B
7. Geovany Soto,C
8. Marlon Byrd, CF
9. Jeff Samardzija, P
Is that time right?
Never mind!
Yup, it’s raining.
Weather report from St. Louis: Rain.
Lots of it, and the sort that doesn’t look like it’s going to let up.
But Sharks, as you know, don’t mind water. So bring on the Shark!
Looks like the rain is pushing out
Cardinals bar in Chicago? That would be the equivalent of a PETA booth at the NRA convention.
Nice thump on Greinke. Enjoyed that and glad to see you guys get it out of your system before you head south!
PETA, doesn’t that stand for “People who Eat Tasty Animals” …
Sedgewicks?
That’s the one.
And why are there card bars in Chicago, but no cub bars in st Louis? And trust me– I’ve looked. I’ve found some neutral bars that will play a cubs game, but most time even bringing it up earns you a big “f*ck off”
Well, Chicago is nearly 10 times more populace than St. Louis: I think that the latest census put Chicago at about 2.7M people and St. Louis at about 300K people. Also, Chicago is much more of a “magnet”: I’ll bet that a much greater proportion of its populace is from out-of-state than is true for St. Louis.
I bet it was people like you who threw out the old “see if they float” test for witches …
heh, no, I’m the sort who would have been burned as a witch, I think. But surely the connection between population size as well as “immigrant” population size and whether you’ll get out-of-town sports bars should be pretty obvious…..
Hell, there’s even a Bears bar somewhere near green bay (within a 45 minute or so drive)!
Hey guys…come on, no gloating? It actually rained on the Cardinals parade. I mean its clearly schadenfreude, but….te-he. I don’t know why rain on opening day in Saint Louis makes me happy….but it does. Maybe that is why they don’t have a Cubs bar in Saint Louis?
LMAO, nice!
I believe its spelled Cardenfraude…
Side note: Ellsbury apparently had a nasty shoulder injury in a collision at 2nd base. Brett Jackson might look good in those white uniforms…
Wikipedia says
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude
and wikipedia is never wrong, right?
Ich liebe Deutsche……
Hold on one second and it will be spelled Cardenfraude
SCardenfreude.
Am I the only one who knows this term only because a Lisa line in an old Simpsons episode?
scha·den·freu·de
[shahd-n-froi-duh] Show IPA
noun
satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune
And that’s why, when it’s about the Cardinals, it’s SCardenfreude.
Ian Stewart has homered in a major-league game! I repeat: Ian Stewart has homered in a major league game!!
I KNEW you’d come around!
Like I said: Once the season starts, I’m all on-board.
A good defensive, high-power, high BB, left-handed hitting 3b? That’s a dream player for me. I just don’t think he can be that guy (but he took a big step toward proving me wrong right there).
I think the main thing with him is health. Granted health is a skill, if he can keep his wrist and the rest of his body good it would be huge.
Stewart with a 3 run BOMB!
-Steal of the off season. Mark it.
Yeah, I have been real happy with Ian at 3rd too. It’s nice to have a 3rd baseman play some D.
Cubs’ run differential is now +3 on the season. I’m sneaking back toward optimism again.
Samardzija reminds me of Chuck Norris, with a porno stache. Walker Texas Shark.
Grand Slam Lahair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Would you rather rebuild Wrigley Field, similar to the Bears, and find another place to play for one year, or do a little each year but it take a lot longer and cost more money?
GRAND SLAM
…please don’t screw this up
LaHair is so cool. Not like he has not ever done this before!
Geez, seems like the Cubs are raining down on the Cardinals more than the Weather did.
Dang, I was happy about having Cain, until I saw BD159…Stewart AND Lahair? How did you know?
Cubs have now scored 17 consecutive runs without allowing one, and have a run differential of +7.
So what you are saying is that we are a cheaper, crappier version of the phillies…
Any word on Brandon Allen?
And some thought he was too old for breaking in with the cubs. He seems to be proving those people wrong!!!
I hope everyone who doesn’t see a problem with Sveum letting pitchers go too deep into games is enjoying this fifth inning.
Samardzija was pushed an inning too far last time, and he’s ran out of gas at 80 pitches today.
You think it was an arm strength issue? Looked to me like he kept leaving balls up, maybe a bit of a mental lapse with a huge lead, and one out left to qualify for the win. You did call it, so I’ll give you credit for that, just wondering if what you saw is what you would expect from a fatigued pitcher?
Also, the Cards went deep into a lot of counts, even though it resulted in only 1 walk and 5 K’s. They are good at doing that: (I think) 26 PAs coaxed 103 pitches out of Samardzija.
When pitchers get tired, their mechanics break down and it can manifest itself in a lot of different ways, including leaving the ball up in the zone. His fastball was also coming in just a tick below where it was last start.
Still, he got BABIPed a bit in that inning too. Pretty happy with the start despite the ugly line score.
Who do we talk to about taking the home plate ump out of the game? Man is he calling a bad game.
Dejesus lookin good in right!
Understood totally, just having fun.
Cubs Win! Is it just me, or did the Cubs look good today? I’d like to take the opportunity to sincerely apologize to both Marmol and Wood for my rush to judgement earlier in the season…starting to look like those first few games were just a bump in the road for that pair.
I would like to add my apology to Dejesus to this. He has turned it on. Also, I was always happy with the Stewart trade. Now if only Volstad can turn it on and prove me wrong, we might be in business.
With the Volstad trade, all I’m really keeping track of is if he pitches better than Zambrano, and so far he has. Same number of Ks, lower ERA (barely), 1 less inning. I hope it continues.
They looked good, but Adam Wainwright also looked pretty bad. He was hanging them. This was a much different “blowout” than yesterday’s game: the Cubs were drilling the ball pretty frequently and although there always are a few “just made contact” hits when you get 10 of them, there was more to it today!
Bad news? I started Wainwright on one fantasy team and Samardzija on another….
I agree Wainwright was bad, but the Cubs made the right moves to take advantage of it. The defense was outstanding (with the exception of Lahair, who really looked bad on one of those singles), and the relief corps didn’t give up anything to a really tough Cards lineup. Marmol went 1-2-3 and struck out Beltran to end the game…they played the game of baseball well today.
True, Wainwright looked bad, but you still have to swing the bat.
Oh, sure, but even bad MLB hitters will look good with hung curves and “get me over” fastballs. (This is not to say that the Cubs hitters in question are bad: it is to say that the AA team might well face better pitching tonight.) Where this really stands out is in the total lack of “momentum” in baseball: the Cubs were blasting Wainwright, and then shutdown by decent pitching the rest of the way; meanwhile, the Cards jumped all over Samardzija when he lost it for an inning, but were largely ineffectual the rest of the way. This is why pitching is so important: bad pitches get hit hard at a very high rate.
Hope they enjoyed their ceremony because we kinda ruined the rest of their day.