Game: Cleveland Indians(29-40) @ Chicago Cubs(32-31)
Game Time: 1:05 PM ET
TV: WGN

Pitching Matchup:

Cubs- Ted Lilly(7-4, 2.94 ERA)
Indians- Tomo Ohka(0-1, 4.24 ERA)

Lineups:

Indians
1. Jamey Carroll, 2B (.273, 0 HR, 8 RBI, .708 OPS)
2. Jhonny Peralta, 3B (.256, 2 HR, 26 RBI, .680 OPS)
3. Victor Martinez, C (.342, 12 HR, 53 RBI, .976 OPS)
4. Shin-Soo Choo, RF (.299, 9 HR, 41 RBI, .872 OPS)
5. Ryan Garko, 1B (.258, 6 HR, 28 RBI, .780 OPS)
6. Ben Francisco, CF (.234, 5 HR, 23 RBI, .674 OPS)
7. Chris Gimenez, L (.200, 2 HR, 2 RBI, .894 OPS)
8. Luis Valbuena, SS (.204, 2 HR, 8 RBI, .649 OPS)
9. Tomo Ohka, P (N/A)

Cubs
1. Alfonso Soriano, LF (.229, 14 HR, 30 RBI, .740 OPS)
2. Ryan Theriot, SS (.279, 6 HR, 26 RBI, .754 OPS)
3. Milton Bradley, RF (.242, 5 HR, 16 RBI, .730 OPS)
4. Derrek Lee, 1B (.285, 10 HR, 33 RBI, .851 OPS)
5. Mike Fontenot, 3B (.235, 6 HR, 26 RBI, .714 OPS)
6. Kosuke Fukudome, CF (.260, 5 HR, 22 RBI, .807 OPS)
7. Koyie Hill, C (.241, 2 HR, 7 RBI, .732 OPS)
8. Andres Blanco, 2B (.220, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .565 OPS)
9. Ted Lilly, P (.100, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .329 OPS)

Indians vs. Lilly notables
Jamey Carroll- .300(3-10), 1 HR, 1.000 OPS
Victor Martinez- .375(3-8), 0 HR, .830 OPS

Cubs vs. Ohka notables
Derrek Lee- .350(7-20), 3 HR, 1.280 OPS
Alfonso Soriano- 1.000(2-2), 0 HR, 2.000 OPS


Mark DeRosa is out for the Indians today after banging his knee going for a foul ball down the left field line yesterday.

Pretty poor lineups for both teams, definitely not what these lineups would look like with healthy squads. Kosuke Fukudome is batting 6th for the Cubs and 0 for his last 23. Koyie Hill's also come back to earth it appears, as he's 4 for 27 in May and June.

The Cubs are coming off their 2 most exciting wins of the season, including a comeback yesterday against the Indians where they erased a 7-0 deficit.

Derrek Lee is red hot, has been since May started. He currently has a 16-game hitting streak and a 26-game on-base streak. As I posted, he's had success against Tomo Ohka in the past as well.

Top of the 1st

Lilly fires a strike to Carroll to start it, now Carroll grounds one foul down the 3rd base line. Wind blowing from the left field corner to the right field corner. Brenly: "If batting practice was any indication, buckle up. We're going to see some longballs today." We know Lilly is susceptible to giving up the longball as well. Right on cue, Carroll drills one off the wall in left-center for a double.

Fastball inside corner for a strike on Peralta. Peralta does the same thing, drills it off the left-center field wall for a double. 1-0 Indians. Not a good start for Lilly, leaving fastballs up.

Just like on Peralta, 86 mph fastball taken by the switch-hitting Martinez(batting right) for a strike on the inside corner. Curveball in for a strike, 0-2. Curveball fouled straight back. Martinez bounces out to Fontenot at 3rd, Peralta cannot advance.

Lilly with what may have been a low strike called a ball by the home plate umpire on the left-handed hitter Choo. Choo fouls off the next pitch, 1-1. Gets the low strike call this time on a fastball, 1-2. Choo doesn't like the call. Foul ball, then Lilly blows him away with a fastball. 2 down.

0-2 count on Garko. Hits a rocket on a bounce that Theriot backhands, and has plenty of time to throw to Lee for the 3rd out.

Lilly settled down after giving up 2 rockets. He's lucky each didn't leave the yard, and did a great job to leave Peralta at 2nd.

Bottom of the 1st

2-1 on Soriano who has reached base in all 3 plate appearances against Ohka coming into today. Swings and misses at a fastball, 2-2. Breaking ball high, full count. Soriano pops out to Carroll at 2nd base.

0-2 on Theriot. Theriot grounds out to Ohka on a 1-2 pitch.

Bradley grounds a 1-0 pitch into left field for a single. He has a 9-game hitting streak now, batting average up to .247.

Derrek Lee gets a nice hand from the crowd after his 2-homer game yesterday. Takes a couple pitches outside, 2-0 count. Lee broken bat blooper into right for a single, but awful baserunning from Bradley and he's thrown out at 3rd by quite a bit. Can't do that with 2 outs. Lee's hitting streak extends to 17 games though.

Top of the 2nd

On a 2-2 count, Ben Francisco crushes a double into center field. He was thinking triple but good relays from Fukudome and Blanco.

1-2 on Gimenez. Flies out to Fukudome in center, not deep enough for Francisco to advance.

Valbuena drives it deep to center, Fukudome makes a running catch near the track. 2 outs. Indians are hitting the ball a long way so far in this one, and that's not a good sign with the wind today.

The switch-hitting pitcher Ohka takes a strike. 139 career hitter. Takes another, both fastballs right down the middle. Swings and misses at another one.

Indians have had a runner at 2nd with no outs 3 times, but only scored once.

Bottom of the 2nd

Fontenot with an 0-2 count. Strikes out looking.

3-0 count on Fukudome. On 3-1, Fukudome takes a breaking ball for ball 4.

Koyie takes a ball. 1-2 count. Takes strike 3 looking. Teams are throwing him a lot more breaking balls, as they should be, and as a result, he's not hitting.

Blanco grounds out on the 1st pitch.

Top of the 3rd

Carroll pops out to left field.

Fontenot with a diving catch on a liner down the 3rd base line, terrific play.

Victor grounds out to Theriot to end the inning.

Lilly needed that inning.

Bottom of the 3rd

Lilly pops up into foul territory on the 1st pitch, Garko makes a great catch lunging over the tarp.

2-1 on Soriano. Flies out to fairly deep center.

Theriot singles up the middle with 2 outs.

2-0 on Bradley. Takes a fastball for a strike, 2-1. Theriot dives back on a pickoff throw and must've gotten hit by the throw, he's in pain. He's going to stay in and looks alright now though. 3-1 on Bradley. Grounds out to 2nd to end the inning.

Top of the 4th

Choo with a bunt in a perfect location as he gets it past Lilly for a single.

1-1 on Garko. Big hack by Garko and he fouls a fastball straight back, 1-2. Changeup way outside swung on and missed by Garko for the 1st out.

Fastball just low, 1-0 on Francisco. Now a breaking ball in for a strike. That was pitch #50 for Lilly. Fastball high, 2-1. Fastball inside taken for a strike, 2-2. Curveball high, barely. Full count. Rocket one hopper fielded by Fontenot... 5-4-3 double play.

Bottom of the 4th

Lee fouls back a 1-1 pitch, 1-2 now. Slider outside to even the count. Now a good take on one that just missed, full count. Ball 4 inside. 1st leadoff man on for the Cubs today.

Fontenot fouls off the 1st pitch. Swings and misses at a change, 0-2. Strikes out looking on a breaking ball for the 2nd time today. He didn't like the call.

Fukudome hits a groundball hard right at Garko, Garko throws to 2nd, and Valbuena flat out drops it. Lee was just going in for a take out slide, about crawled to 2nd to get in there safely. Should've been a double play, instead no outs on the play. 1st and 2nd, 1 out.

Koyie sees a breaking ball on the 1st pitch, fouls it off. Takes a changeup low, 1-1. Grounds out weakly to Garko, runners advance to 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs.

They're going to intentionally walk Blanco here with the base open and Lilly on deck.

Lilly strikes out looking.

Top of the 5th

Ball 1 to Gimenez. Breaking ball in for a strike to even the count. Foul ball, and now chases a changeup for strike 3.

1-1 on Valbuena, who has really hit the ball hard the last 2 days. 3-1 count now. And he just hit one about out of the stadium, 2-0 Indians.

Ohka grounds out up the middle to Theriot, 2 outs.

On a full count and the 9th pitch of the at bat, Carroll flies out to center.

Bottom of the 5th

I like the Cubs to get on the board here.

Soriano fouls back a fastball. Fastball just misses inside, 1-1. A meatball now, Soriano fouls it off. When he's hot, that's gone. 2-2 now. Pulls an outside breaking ball to Peralta at 3rd for the 1st out.

Theriot lays down a bunt and probably would've been out if Ohka could've fielded it cleanly, but didn't, and it's the 2nd single of the day for Theriot.

Cutter inside on Bradley, 1-0. Another one in for a strike this time. Great cut on a breaking ball and fouls it straight back. One more of those and this might be tied. Broken bat floater right to Carroll. I thought it was a single off the bat but it didn't go anywhere.

Lee fouls the 1st pitch off. And... yardwork. Deep into right-center field, just got it up high and the wind did the rest. Not sure if it leaves on a normal day, but way out today. 2-2.

Derrek Lee is just unreal right now. 4 homers in 3 games. 4 homers in his last 8 at bats, 6 hits in those 8 at bats. Average up to .292 and OPS up to .879, both incredible considering his awful April.

Fontenot pops out to Peralta in foul territory.

Top of the 6th

And just like that, Indians regain the lead, 3-2. Jhonny Peralta just hit one a mile.

Victor Martinez fouls out to Lee.

Choo strikes out swinging.

2-2 now on Garko. Garko with a violent swing, stumbles out of the box, and looks like he's hurting. Comes back in, and strikes out swinging on the next pitch.

Lilly can go one more at least, just 87 pitches.

Bottom of the 6th

Fukudome rips one to right, Choo runs it down and throwsa rocket to 2nd, but Fukudome beats it, barely. Throw dropped anyway. Fukudome had been 0 for his last 24.

1-0 on Hill. 2-1 now. Now the breaking ball, and he whiffs of course, 2-2. Gets another one but up in the zone, does the job, hitting a groundball to Garko that moves Fukudome to 3rd.

Blanco with bad pitch selection on 1-0, taps back to Ohka and Fukudome can't score.

Now the Cubs have to pinch-hit for Lilly to try to get this run in. Hoffpauir up. 2-0 count. 3-1 now. Hoffpauir with a huge swing on 3-1 on a hanger, misses it. Now he gets it again, and doesn't miss. 2-run bomb, Cubs lead 4-3!

Brenly called that one.

0-2 on Soriano. And now Lilly qualifies for the win thanks to the guy that pinch-hit for him. Ohka misses his spot terribly, and Alf flies out near the track in right.

Top of the 7th

Jose Ascanio in. 0-2 on Francisco, now a groundball just foul down the left field line. Angel Guzman is out with sore triceps, not considered serious though. 95 mph fastball misses from Ascanio, 1-2. 2-2 count, pops out to Blanco in shallow right.

2-1 on Gimenez. Full count, fastball just outside and Gimenez walks.

2-1 on Valbuena. Barely gets a piece of it and it's 2-2. Singles on a groundball to right, 1st and 2nd, 1 out.

Travis Hafner pinch-hitting for the Indians. Sean Marshall will come in to pitch to get the lefty-lefty matchup. Hafner in this wind scares the crap out of me. 1-0 count. Fouls the next 2 off, 1-2 count. Pops it up to shallow center, drops right in between Fukudome and Theriot. Bases loaded, 1 out.

Now Lou is bringing in Marmol? I hate this move. Marmol's all over the place these days, especially to the 1st hitter. With the bases loaded, you can't have that as obviously it means a run.

Slider in for a strike to Carroll, good start. Fastball way high and way inside, almost got Carroll in the head. 1-1 count. Fastball high again, 2-1. 3-1 now. Sigh. Fastball in the zone, fouled back. Full count now. Crowd on their feet. Carroll swung at ball 4 and fouled it off. Slider in for a strike! That's the old Marmol. 2 outs now, bases still loaded and Peralta up who hit a bomb last time.

0-1 on Peralta as he takes a slider for a strike. Another one just misses, and he checks his swing as well. 1-1. Groundball foul, 1-2. Crowd is REALLY into it now. Next pitch way outside, 2-2. Slider somehow didn't hit Peralta, 3-2. And a slider way outside, walks in the tying run, 4-4.

Victor Martinez chases a slider down and in, 0-1. 1-1 now. 2-1. Martinez right on it, foul it straight back, 2-2. Strikes out swinging at a slider to end the inning.

Bottom of the 7th

George Lopez sang the 7th inning stretch.

Jensen Lewis in for the Tribe. Theriot pops out right away into shallow right.

1-1 on Bradley. 3-1 now. Ball 4.

Lee up with a runner on base is something I'm quite happy to see right now. Fastball on the outside corner for a strike. Fastball high, 1-1. Huge swing on a breaking ball in his eyes, comes up empty, 1-2. Fastball just misses on the corner, 2-2. High fastball, swings and misses for strike 3.

Fontenot grounds it up the middle and Carroll gets to it standing up, flips to 2nd base for the force to end the inning.

Top of the 8th

The Cubs really needed to get a run or two across there. Now they'll have Fukudome, Hill, and Blanco up in the bottom of the 8th. Lou needs to pinch-hit Soto for Hill, with Jake Fox now available as a #3/emergency catcher. He was a catcher in college and has caught a lot in the minors so if Soto were to get hurt, I'm sure he could handle the position for a few innings.

Aaron Heilman in to pitch, Aaron Mile in to play 3rd, replacing Fontenot. Miles will bat in the #9 spot, so now it will be Fukudome, Hill, Blanco, Miles coming up. Fun!

2-2 on Choo. Change is outside, 3-2. Choo walks. He's an incredible base stealer so that's something Heilman certainly wanted to avoid. I think he's like 12 of 12 this year.

Garko showing bunt though. Ball 1. Garko with a pretty nice bunt for a middle of the order American League hitter, gets the job done. Choo on 2nd, 1 out.

Heilman with 2 fastballs just missing inside, 2-0. Low fastball strike, Francisco doesn't like it, has a word with the umpire and is laughing. 2-1. Groundball hit hard and pulled foul into the Cubs bullpen, even at 2-2. Fastball called a ball inside, looked pretty good to me. Now the walk.

1st and 2nd with 1 out, Mark DeRosa pinch-hitting. Slider outside, 1-0. 2-1 count, swings and misses at a fastball, 2-2. 2-2 pitch a hanger, DeRosa ripped it back foul. Don't throw it there again. Perfectly located fastball on the outside corner gets DeRosa looking. DeRosa doesn't like the call.

1-0 on Babe Valbuena. 1-1 now. 3-1 count, Heilman really struggling with his command. Another walk, 3rd of the inning.

Catcher Kelly Shoppach pinch-hitting here. Slider on the corner for a strike. Another swung on and missed, 0-2 count. Crowd on their feet again. Strikes him out, inning over.

A very Marmolish inning from Heilman.

Bottom of the 8th

Again, I want to see Soto pinch-hitting for Hill.

Shoppach stays in the game to catch, Victor Martinez moves to 1st, and Matt Herges is the new pitcher.

2-0 on Fukudome, takes a meatball for a strike. Singles into left.

Hill is batting, I hope to bunt then because he's not going to get a hit. Not the greatest bunt back to the pitcher, but Herges elects to get the safe out at 1st, so it's effective. Nice work Koyie. Runner on 2nd, 1 out.

Blanco swings at a changeup way outside on the 1st pitch. Blanco pops it up and Shoppach makes a nice play to catch it right in between the stands and dugout, had really no room to make that play. 2 outs.

Aaron Miles batting. Takes a ball low, now a strike. 1-1 pitch in the dirt, 2-1. Valbuena has Miles played perfectly on a groundball up the middle, inning over. I thought it was a hit off the bat.

Top of the 9th

Aaron Heilman will likely stay in.

He is indeed in, and starts Carroll off with a fastball strike. Another one, much better than he looked last inning. Singles into left, Soriano limping as he goes for it.

Peralta showing bunt, takes a ball. Pops a bunt out of play. Another foul bunt. He'll be swinging now. Foul ball down the right field line. Kerry Wood warming up for the Indians should they take the lead. Fastball high, 2-2. Changeup or splitter gets Peralta swinging.

Victor Martinez up. As Len says, "I don't like seeing that he's 0 for 4." He's due. 2-0 count, yikes. I hope it's still 4-4 after this at bat. 2-1 count, and he pops one out of play, 2-2. Might see Carroll running here. Grounds out to 2nd but only play is at 1st, 2 outs.

Intentionally walking Choo as I hoped they would here.

Trevor Crowe pinch-hitting for Ryan Garko. Vince Vaughn looks nervous in the stands. 1-1 on Crowe. Crowe pops out to Miles right by the stands and dugout to end the inning.

Very questionable move by Eric Wedge there. Ryan Garko is ten times the hitter. He was hurting on a swing earlier though, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Top of the 9th

Top of the order up for the Cubs.

Herges still in, throws a ball to Soriano. 2-0 count. 2-2 now as Soriano takes a couple of strikes. Foul ball now. Angel Guzman warming up, so apparently he's available. Soriano grounds out to 3rd, nice play by Peralta on a tough hop.

Theriot grounds out to shortstop.

Bradley is 4 for 8 in his career against Herges. Big hack and misses, 0-1. Check swing, Randy Marsh at 3rd says he went around. Bradley flies out near the track in center to end the inning.

We're off to the extras for the 7th time in June.

Top of the 10th

Guzman in to pitch, sporting the Gregg/Ascanio goggles. We'll see how his arm is feeling today.

94 mph fastball swing and a miss by Francisco right away. 91 mph slider upstairs, 1-1. Groundball to Miles at 3rd, tough bounce again there like Peralta got, but Miles fields it cleanly and makes the throw to 1st.

Josh Barfield pinch-hitting for the Indians. 2-0 count, Guzman doesn't have much command of his cutter/slider today. Now a fastball right on the corner called a ball, bad call. 3-0. Even Gameday agrees with me. Full count now. Flies out to Bradley in right, 2 outs.

0-1 on Valbuena. Grounds out to 2nd.

Bottom of the 10th

Lee leading off for the Cubs.

Sidewinder Joe Smith in for the Indians, he struck Lee out yesterday. Fastball outside. Slider high, 2-0. Fastball just misses, 3-0. Fastball down the middle taken for a strike, now swings and misses at a slider, full count. Drills one into deep right, caught by Choo on the track. Even Lee's outs are rockets right now.

Reed Johnson up, 2-0 count. Fastball on the corner, now a slider inside, 3-1. Reed draws a walk.

Good game for Fukudome, reaching base 3 times so far. Takes a ball low and outside to start this at bat. Scorches one into center for his 3rd hit of the day. 1st and 2nd, 1 out.

Koyie takes a change for a strike, questionable call. Now he takes a fastball right down the middle, have to take a swing at that. 2-2 count now. Koyie right on a Smith fastball on a foul ball. Takes a slider right down the middle for strike 3.

Blanco swings at a pitch way inside. Now gronds out to 2nd to end the inning.

Top of the 11th

Shoppach flies out to Fukudome on the 1st Guzman offering.

1-1 on Carroll. 96 mph fastball strikes out Carroll looking, 2 down. Good to see Guzman's apparently feeling just fine.

1-2 for Peralta. Strikes out, inning over.

Bottom of the 11th

Miles bunts foul. Zambrano on deck. Miles drives it to right, but as Len points out, the wind has died down quite a bit.

Zambrano batting. A rare check swing from Carlos on a pitch in the dirt, now takes a fastball right down the middle. Backdoor slider high. Fastball inside that Z awkwardly moves away from, now an awkward swing on a foul ball. Another check swing! This time he doesn't go around, full count. He strikes out looking. Rare that he looks at 2 strikes in an at bat.

Theriot flies out to right. Choo left his feet and got it like laying down for probably the 3rd time in these 2 games.

Top of the 12th

Again, Victor is due. He's 0 for 5. Facing new pitcher Kevin Gregg now. An "excuse me" swing on a slow roller to Lee.

2-2 on Choo. Full count, and he walks. He's walked in his last 3 plate appearances.

0-2 on Crowe. Gregg locating his fastball well on the outside to lefties. Groundball up the middle that appears to be a hit, Theriot cuts it off, flips to Blanco, who fires to Lee for the double play. This was a sensational turn that is difficult to describe.

Bottom of the 12th

Lefty Rafael Perez in for the Indians. He's been awful this year and with Bradley, Lee, and Reed up, this is a good chance for the Cubs to win it.

Bradley bounces the 1st pitch foul. Loses his bat into the crowd on the 2nd swing, now swings and misses on a slider down and in. That last pitch was a nasty slider, but our idiot fans of course boo him. Seriously, I'm embarrassed to be a fan of this team sometimes with all of the absolute dumbasses we have as a part of this fan base. What a joke.

Lee pops out on a 2-0 pitch right down the middle and he's very angry at himself as it's a pitch he's been hammering lately. Just missed it.

Reed now with a 1-2 count. He also goes down swinging on the slider to end the inning.

Top of the 13th

David Patton in to pitch and Jake Fox in to play left. Neither ideal choices, but this is the sort of stuff you have to do when you get this late in the game.

1-1 to Francisco, hits a high flyball to center, but the ball doesn't seem to be carrying as well as it was earlier. Fukudome makes an easy catch.

Rafael Perez batting, strikes out.

0-2 on Valbuena. And he of course hits a homer to left-center, an opposite field homer for Valbuena. Unbelievable. He had 1 homer coming into this series, 3 in the last 2 days. Indians lead 5-4.

Bottom of the 13th

Kerry Wood in for the Indians, and you know he wants to make up for yesterday.

Fastball in for a strike to Fukudome. Just low on another, 1-1. Low again, 2-1. Fukudome drills another single, his 4th hit in his last 4 at bats.

1-0 on Hill. Hill fouls it off. Ball 2 is in the dirt and Fukudome could've advanced but didn't get a good read on it. 2-1 count. 3-1 count now. Fouls off ball 4. Swings at ball 4 again, but Fukudome running and Shoppach throws it into center. Fukudome at 3rd with 1 out.

Shoppach redeems himself a bit with a big dig on a pitch in the dirt. 1-0 count. Blanco singles into center, TIED GAME!

Blanco running, Miles bloops it down the left field line and it's fair, Blanco to 3rd with 1 out.

Ball 1 to Jake Fox. -Crushes- one foul down the left field line. Wild pitch! Cubs win!!!!!!!!!


Another unbelievable win. These last 3 days have been a blast. I credit it to the Thigh twitter account. I switched over from the Blogfines twitter account at the beginning of the bottom of the 8th, when the Cubs then came back to beat the White Sox. I've stuck on it since. The Thigh magic is real.

Let's get a sweep tomorrow.


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