2007: (April 9-11) Houston Astros @ Chicago Cubs

[JoseA]

Houston Astros vs. Chicago Cubs
HOME OPENER!!!!
At Wrigley Field



Monday, April 9 @ 1:20 p.m. CT
TV: WGN | Radio: WGN 720

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Woody Williams, RHP vs. Ted Lilly, LHP
(0-1, 5.79)-------------(1-0, 1.29)

[JoseA]

Tuesday, April 10
1:20 PM CT
CSN, MLB.TV

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Chris Sampson, RHP vs. -- Jason Marquis, RHP
(0-0, 0.00)----------(0-0, 1.50)

Wednesday, April 11
1:20 PM CT
WGN, MLB.TV

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Wandy Rodriguez, LHP -vs.-Rich Hill, LHP
(0-1, 3.86)-------------(1-0, 1.29)

[JoseA]

I have a great feeling about the series.

I am going to be bold and predict a sweep. However I may see us losing 1 game, but it shouldn't be that bad of a series for us.

All of our pitchers in this series are hot, so we will have to see. Hopefully the batting can contribute even more.....

[JoseA]

Cubs drop Wrigley opener to Astros

Bullpen allows go-ahead runs to Houston in eighth inning

It was a tough day for the Cubs on their Home Opener

CHICAGO -- Adam Everett hit a tie-breaking, two-run homer with one out in the eighth inning on Monday to lift the Astros to a 5-3 victory over the Cubs and spoil new manager Lou Piniella's home debut.
With the game tied at 3, Everett connected off Bob Howry (0-2) on a 3-2 pitch, driving in Morgan Ensberg who doubled to lead off.

Monday's game marked the home debut not just for Piniella but also free-agent additions Ted Lilly, Cliff Floyd, Mark DeRosa and $136 million outfielder Alfonso Soriano. Soriano, cheered by the sellout crowd of 41,388 in every at-bat, went 1-for-4 with a first-inning single, stole his first base and scored the tying run on Craig Biggio's throwing error in the seventh.

Recap

[JoseA]

Damm you Bob Howry! He blows his second game of the season, I wish we would just call him down to the minors by now.

Ted Lilly was solid today, but not nearly as good as his 1st start. Once again not that good of game for the offense sadly.....we better kick it in the butt pretty soon

[aCutb]

I was glad Woody Williams pitched well against the Cubs today. The Astros will not go far in the season when Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee go 1 for 8. Chad Qualls is living up to his nickname, "Choke" Qualls. The Stros only have two reliable arms in the bullpen, White and Wheeler.

Lilly is going to be a good pitcher for the Cubs. He was a good signing. The Cubs first four hitters could be the best in the central. Soriano-Jones-Lee-Ramirez are all tough at bats and all have power. Lee looks like he has his 2005 form back, which is scary for the Astros as they have to face him for roughly 50 more at bats.

[JoseA]

Cubs' offense awakens too late in loss

Izturis has 3 crucial errors

Cubs drop 3rd consecutive game, 0-2 at home this season

CHICAGO -- Luke Scott drove in three runs Tuesday and shortstop Cesar Izturis had a day he'd rather forget, making three errors, as the Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-2.
Scott hit a two-run double in the first and a run-scoring groundout in the fifth to back Chris Sampson (1-0). The right-hander, making his first start, threw five scoreless innings, giving up three hits and striking out three.

Jason Marquis (0-1) was making his second start of the season and first at Wrigley as a Cub. The right-hander went five innings and gave up four runs (three earned) on four hits and four walks while striking out three. While Sampson needed 64 pitches over five innings, Marquis threw 91.

Recap

[JoseA]

Originally Posted by aCutb

I was glad Woody Williams pitched well against the Cubs today. The Astros will not go far in the season when Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee go 1 for 8. Chad Qualls is living up to his nickname, "Choke" Qualls. The Stros only have two reliable arms in the bullpen, White and Wheeler.

Lilly is going to be a good pitcher for the Cubs. He was a good signing. The Cubs first four hitters could be the best in the central. Soriano-Jones-Lee-Ramirez are all tough at bats and all have power. Lee looks like he has his 2005 form back, which is scary for the Astros as they have to face him for roughly 50 more at bats.

Yeah Woody Williams did a lot better than I expected. After watching the Astros play they don't look too bad. I though they were going to be in for a hard season, and I thought they would lose at least 2 of the 3 this series. I felt we put better pitching on the hill each game, but once again blame it on the offense

[JoseA]

Well it should be a pretty good game tomorrow. Two young lefties will duel it out, I believe both of these guys have good futures ahead of them.

Now come on batting lets get it going!, once again we have been having a miserable batting series......

[aCutb]

I wasn't able to watch the game today, because I played in my own baseball game. I know they won, and Wheeler gave up 2 runs in the 9th inning but still won.

Hill definitely has the advantage over Wandi. Wandi isn't really that good and expect Lee and Soriano to tear it up.

[JoseA]

Astros, Cubs snowed out at Wrigley

CHICAGO -- The Cubs and Houston Astros game Wednesday was postponed because of snow, and no makeup date has been set.

The field was covered by snow early Wednesday morning, and the forecast for the Chicago area called for more precipitation.

The Cubs and Astros are next scheduled to play in Chicago July 13-15, which is after the All-Star break. Both teams have July 12 off, which is a possible makeup date. The teams were waiting for Major League Baseball to approve a makeup date and time. Thursday was already an off-day on the Cubs schedule.

Article

Well, a lot of snow stopped this game. As noted it will be made up in July, so the Astros and the Cubs will have a 4 game series then. Sounds great to me, I love it when it warms up!

[JoseA]

Originally Posted by aCutb

I wasn't able to watch the game today, because I played in my own baseball game. I know they won, and Wheeler gave up 2 runs in the 9th inning but still won.

Hill definitely has the advantage over Wandi. Wandi isn't really that good and expect Lee and Soriano to tear it up.

Yeah, its a shame we didn't get to see that pitching matchup. I know Hill has been hot lately, I believe he will be starting tomorrow's game though. I see the Astros aren't that high on Wandy, they pushed him all the way back. We will see which one has the better season, but I still like Wandy