Bring some chicken soup by Jason Schmidt's house
But just leave it on the doorstep and ring the bell, because he's all covered in flu germs. Schmidt came down with a bug during the off-day- sweet way to relax, huh?- and was told to stay home during tonight's game, lest the whole team end up feverish and queasy. What are the repercussions of this sudden illness? Well, aside from the fact that Schmidt likely feels like absolute crap right now, his simulated game scheduled for today required postponement. For those of you who laid a little cash in Vegas on the results of Schmidt's imaginary game, I imagine the casino will just refund your original bet or allow you to put it on another simulated game down the road. Mark Prior has one penciled in for April 2008, if you wanna get on the stick early.
On a related note, BK and I have a buddy named Rob who'd easily bet on a simulated baseball game. Gladly. In, like, two seconds. Hell, he would bet on simulated simulated baseball if a line was made available. The boy likes him some gambling.
Anyway, the canceled contest isn't a big deal in terms of putting the Dodgers behind any theoretical 8 balls, since Schmidt wasn't considered a candidate to pitch on June 2nd when the rotation's vacant fifth spot next comes up on the schedule. That's way too soon for Schmidt to have built up the requisite strength for a trip to the hill. So who's Grady Little eying come a week from tomorrow? "We have a couple of options there. I think that some people being considered in that spot would be Kuo, Billingsley." And considering Little didn't mention anyone else (aside from confirming that Brett Tomko- who's now entrenched in the pen- wasn't in the running), it stands to reason that those two are perhaps the leading and only candidates.
Kuo's recent four innings in Vegas were reported to Grady as "okay. He got his pitches in and that's what the number one objective is. To get stretched out a little. More than we were able to do in the bullpen. And that's a first step in that direction. He'll start again on Monday and try to get that out even further." There's also a chance Bills will find himself in Vegas for a "stretch out" gig down the road as well.
The newly-activated Yhency Brazoban is still being pegged mostly for middle relief, although if the time and/or need arises, Little wouldn't hesitate to use later in a game. "But right now," emphasized Little, "We're satisfied with the people we have in 8th and 9th inning, unless they get overworked." As far as Brazoban's concerned, Little can use him in the first, ninth, or any inning between, as long as he's able to take the mound. "I'm just thinking about pitching wherever the manager needs me, however he wants to use me," said Brazoban through a translator. He was also pretty geeked to both get some action in his first game on the roster and allow nothing in the run column. The three strikeouts didn't cause a sleepless night, either.
Tonight's lineups
Cubs
Alfonso Soriano - LF
Mark DeRosa - 2B
Derrek Lee - 1B
Aramis Ramirez - 3B
Cliff Floyd - RF
Michael Barrett - C
Jacque Jones - CF
Cesar "Remember me?" Izturis - SS
Ted Lilly - P
Dodgers
Furcal - SS
Pierre - CF
Nomar - 1B
Kent - 2B
Martin - C
Gonzo - LF
Abreu - 3B
Ethier - RF
Lowe - P
-AK
Subscribe to this Blog | What is RSS?
Lowe pitched a great game (left with 5-1 lead)...too bad he got no decision. Bullpen ( the double B's) got hit hard today in the 7th (7 runs) but we stuck it out and had timely hits in the eight to pull it out after almost giving it away. lucky for us the Cub's bullpen is struggling.
Posted by: K T USN | May 25, 2007 at 11:37 PM