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Game Notes for Thursday, July 26

Security Service Field - Colorado Springs, CO
July 26, 2007
TONIGHT

Iowa Cubs (59-46) vs.

 Colorado Springs Sky Sox (53-51)

 Game # 106 - Road Game # 50

RH Juan Mateo (1-1, 0.79) vs.

RH Bobby Keppel (5-6, 6.31)

 

 

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Cubs and Sky Sox meet in game three of their four game series tonight. The Cubs will send right-hander Juan Mateo to the hill, while the Sky Sox will turn to right-hander Bobby Keppel. The Cubs have won four straight and trail Nashville by 4.5 games in the American North division. Iowa has made up three games in the last five days. 

 

TONIGHT'S STARTER:  Juan Mateo will make his second start for Iowa. Mateo delivered five and a third innings against Nashville in relief of Wade Miller in his last appearance.  He worked around trouble in his first four innings, but allowed five two-out runs in the eighth inning after a throwing error on Eric Patterson as the Sounds came from behind to beat the Cubs 5-3.  Mateo is coming back from a right shoulder injury.  In six starts with the class-A Peoria Chiefs, Mateo was 2-1 with a 5.24 ERA.  However, over his last four starts, he was 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA in 18 innings, striking out 13, walking seven and allowing 16 hits.  Mateo began 2006 with double-A West Tenn where he was 7-4 with a 2.82 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 92.2 innings.  He jumped over Iowa to Chicago where he was 1-3 with a 5.32 ERA in 45.2 major league innings.  Over a three-start span in September, he allowed just a 1.93 ERA and a .170 opponents' batting average.  The Cubs signed Mateo as a non-drafted free agent July 3, 2001.

 

CUBS VS. SKY SOX: The Cubs lead the season series 2-0.  Iowa was 1-3 against Colorado Springs at Principal Park in 2006.  The Cubs' earned a split of a four-game series in 2005 during their last visit to Colorado. The Cubs are 54-50 all-time against the Sky Sox (29-21 in Des Moines and 25-29 in Colorado). 

 

ROSTER SHUFFLE: Wednesday, the Cubs put Scott Moore on the disabled list with an injury to his right foot.  Thursday, Jorge Cortes was sent from Iowa to double-A Tennessee. Infielders Matt Craig and Joe Simokaitis were both promoted from Tennessee and are expected to join Iowa today.  Craig was hitting .326/.416/.514 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with 20 doubles, 10 home runs and 44 RBI in 87 games for Tennessee while Simokaitis was hitting .257/.346/.343 with nine doubles, three home runs and 15 RBI in 76 games. 

 

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGHS: The Cubs set or tied six different season highs last night.  The team set a new high for runs scored in a game eclipsing the offense's 17 run outburst on May 13 vs. Sacramento.  The Cubs tied season highs in hits (21), home runs in a game (5) and home runs in an inning (2).  It was the third five-home run game for the team and the 13th time Iowa has gone deep twice in an inning.  Matt Murton became the first Cub to have six RBI in a game while Josh Kroeger's two home run night tied a season high now accomplished ten times by the Cubs....The Cubs improved to 13-0 when scoring 10 or more runs (8-0 at home, 4-0 on the road).

 

RUNS!: The Cubs have scored in double digit runs in consecutive games for the second time (last at Omaha and vs. Round Rock 7/15, 7/16), but the Cubs have not yet scored in double digits in three straight games.  The Cubs two-game total of 28 runs is their best of 2007.   

 

KROEGER KRUSHING:  Josh Kroeger has hit three home runs in the last three games and eight in the month of July in which he has hit .338/.420/.704 with 20 RBI in 21 games.

 

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN: Buck Coats needs five more runs scored to reach his 400th career run.... Clay Rapada and Rocky Cherry each need four more strikeouts to reach their 300th career strikeouts.

 

ALMOST STREAKING: Felix Pie has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games.  He is 22-56 (.393) with one double, one triple, six home runs (one grand slam), 13 runs scored and 12 RBI...Geovany Soto has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games with Iowa.  He is 20-48 (.417) with two doubles, two triples, four home runs, nine runs and 13 RBI...Matt Murton has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games.  He is 23-54 (.426) with five doubles, four home runs (one grand slam), 13 runs scored and 14 driven in.    

 

CUBS RECORDS: The 2007 Iowa Cubs lead the league in both runs scored and home runs.  The last time Iowa led the league in either category was the record setting 1998 season in which Iowa bashed 216 home runs, setting what was then a modern minor league record.  The 2007 Iowa Cubs are now on pace to set a new club record for runs scored in a season, averaging 5.85 runs per game (614/105) and on pace for 842 runs. The 1998 team scored 835 runs, averaging 5.8 runs per game.  This year's team is on pace for 185 home runs, which would be the second-best mark in franchise history. 

 

LONGBALL PRODUCTION:  The Cubs have homered 86 times in the last 47 games (1.83 homers per game). The Cubs have hit 136 home runs this season (73 solo) which have accounted for 229 runs (2.18 runs per game on 1.30 homers per game). In 2006, the Cubs hit 120 homers (76 solo) which accounted for 185 runs (1.28 runs per game on .83 home runs per game).

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTERS (times CT)                             

Date Time Opponent Cubs Starter Opponent Starter
Friday, July 27   8:05 p.m. @ Col. Springs RH Randy Wells (5-5, 4.76) RH Mike Esposito (5-2, 5.50)
Saturday, July 28 8:05 p.m. @ Salt Lake RH Cory Bailey (3-1, 3.20) RH Henry Borilla (7-6, 5.85)
Sunday, July 29 3:05 p.m. @ Salt Lake RH Sean Gallagher (1-1, 3.46) LH Jonathan Rouwenhorst (9.5, 5.12)
Monday, July 30 8:05 p.m. @ Salt lake RH Kevin Hart (1-0, 4.50) RH Kasey Olenberger (8-4, 4.51)
Tuesday, July 31 8:05 p.m. @Salt Lake LH J.R. Mathes RH Pedro Liriano