Game Notes for Sunday, June 17th - Father's Day

Iowa Cubs (39-29) vs.

Memphis Redbirds (31-39)

Game # 71 - Home Game # 35

 

 

 

TODAY'S GAME: The Cubs and Redbirds meet in game three of their four-game series today. The Cubs are 4-6 so far in their longest home stand of the 2007 season. The Cubs, losers of three in a row, trail Nashville by a half-game for first place. Iowa is nine games ahead of Memphis in the standings. The Cubs will send left-hander Les Walrond to the hill today against Redbirds right-hander Mike Smith.    

 

TODAY'S STARTER: Les Walrond makes his 14th start for Iowa. The Cubs are 10-3 in games started by Walrond, as he has received 6.23 runs per game of support (81 R/13 G).  The Cubs have won all seven games Walrond has started in Des Moines (he is 6-0) and they have won the last eight games he has started overall. He has thrown at least five innings in every one of his outings in 2007, and has thrown six innings in 10 of his 13 starts.  Walrond was named Iowa's 2006 Pitcher of the Year (10-5, 3.98 ERA in 31 games, 20 starts). He was promoted to Chicago August 25 and made two starts and eight relief appearances for Chicago in 2006.    

 

CUBS VS. REDBIRDS: The Cubs are 1-5 against Memphis in 2007, going 1-3 in Memphis and 0-2 in Des Moines.  The Cubs were 11-5 against Memphis in 2006 (6-1 in Des Moines and 5-4 in Memphis).  The Iowa Cubs are 60-57 all-time against Memphis (38-20 in Des Moines and 22-37 in Memphis).  

 

RONNY ROLLIN: With last night's 3-5, Ronny Cedeno has reached base safely in 21 of his last 23 games dating back to May 19^th, hitting .405 (34H/84 AB) over that span.  In his last nine games he is hitting .500 (19H/38 AB). 

 

REHAB REPORT: 1B/OF Daryle Ward was 0-3 and played six innings at first.  In his three rehab games, he is 1-9 and has seen 24 pitches for an average of 2.67 per plate appearance. Four times he has put the first pitch in play, and twice, he put the second pitch in play.  Ward was placed on the disabled list June 3 with a strained left hip.

 

HITTING MACHINE: Buck Coats has 14 hits in his last 29 at bats (.483) with three doubles and five runs scored. As the temperatures have warmed, so has Coats, who hit .198 in April (17-86), .347 in May (33-95) and is hitting .438 in June (14-32). Coats is hitting .349 (38-109) in Des Moines and .250 (26-104) on the road.

 

JUST GIVE US SIX: The Cubs are 13-3 at home when their starter works six or more innings. The Cubs are 23-6 overall when their starter works six or more innings, although Iowa has lost the last two nights despite six inning performances by their starters.

 

SINCE WE LAST MET: When Iowa left Memphis after their first series of the year, the Cubs were 10-13.  Iowa then went 29-14 (.670) before losing twice to the Redbirds.  The Cubs have played .612 baseball against the rest of the PCL, while Memphis, a .443 team overall at 31-39, drops to .406 in games not played against Iowa.    

 

STAGE FRIGHT? The Cubs are 3-6 in front of crowds of 10,000 or more, 205 at home and 1-1 on the road.  Last night's attendance of 12,753 was the ninth best in Principal Park history. 

 

NEW OUTFIELD: Last night, after 56 starts in rightfield, Buck Coats played center for the first time, and Matt Murton made his first start in right field in 2007 for Iowa, while Micah Hoffpauir made his ninth start in left field. 

 

THREESOME: Before last night, Mark Little, April 9^th, 2005 at Albuquerque, was the last Iowa Cub opponent to go deep three times in a game.  Brad Hawpe of Colorado Springs, was the last opponent to accomplish the feat at Principal Park June 18^th, 2004 on a day when he had 6 RBI. 

 

FIRST PLACE FACTS: Iowa dropped out of first place for the first time in 39 days (since May 10^th)).  The Cubs are 27-14 in their last 41 games and 28-16 since May 1.

 

NEW FOUND POP: Tony Richie has homered four times in his last 57 at bats. Prior to those four homers, Richie had gone 405 at-bats without a home run (last one was June 23, 2005 for class-A Daytona). Richie had hit five home runs in 734 at bats at the class-A and double-A levels, but had four homers in his first 29 at bats in triple-A ball.   

 

HOME COOKING: The Cubs are 21-13 at Principal Park where the team averages 5.97 runs per game (203 runs in 34 games) behind a collective batting line of .304/.362/.497 with 81 doubles and 39 home runs.   

 

LONGBALL PRODUCTION: The Cubs have homered 20 times in the last 12 games. The Cubs have hit 68 home runs this season (38 solo) which have accounted for 114 runs (1.68 runs per game on one homer 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)/span>&                             

Date	Time	Opponent	Cubs Starter	Opponent Starter
Monday, June 18	12:05 p.m.	Memphis	LH Neal Cotts (0-1, 5.68)	RH Blake Hawkesworth (3-8, 3.80)
Wednesday, June 20	7:00 p.m.	at Nashville	RH John Webb (1-4, 6.04)	LH Manny Parra (NR)
Thursday, June 21	7:00 p.m.	at Nashville	LH Ryan O'Malley (3-6, 7.03)	LH Adam Pettyjohn (2-1, 3.60)
Friday, June 22	7:00 p.m.	at Nashville	LH J.R. Mathes	RH Tim Dillard
Saturday, June 23	7:05 p.m.	Albuquerque	LH Les Walrond	TBA

Buy Iowa Cubs Tickets!!/span>