Game Notes for Tuesday, August 21

Iowa Cubs (72-58) vs.

Memphis Redbirds (51-79)

 Game # 131 - Home Game # 68

RH Sean Gallagher (3-1, 2.05) vs.

LH Randy Keisler (8-9, 4.53)

 

TODAY'S GAME: The Cubs and the Memphis Redbirds finish a four-game series today. The Cubs trail the Nashville Sounds by 7.5 games for first place in the PCL American Northern Division.  The Cubs will send right-hander Sean Gallagher to the hill to face Memphis left-hander Randy Keisler.  

 

TODAY'S STARTER:  Sean Gallagher makes his seventh triple-A start today.  Iowa is 4-2 in his starts and has supported him with five runs per game (30R/6G). In three different stints with Chicago this year, Gallagher is 0-0 with a save and a 7.82 ERA in seven relief appearances.  He made his major league debut at Atlanta on June 9 and allowed a home run to Edgar Renteria for his first run allowed and struck out Andruw Jones for his first major league strikeout.  

 

CUBS VS. REDBIRDS: The Cubs are 4-7 against Memphis in 2007, going 1-3 in Memphis and 3-4 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 63-59 all-time against Memphis (41-22 in Des Moines and 22-37 in Memphis).  

 

MIX IN A STRIKE: The pitchers for both teams Monday night combined to throw 44 pitches in the ninth inning with only 16 of them being strikes (Clay Rapada: 26 pitches, 10 strikes and Chris Perez: 18 pitches, six strikes). Two of those strikes resulted in five runs worth of home runs.

 

DRAMATIC WINS: Last night was Iowa's 13th win in their final at bat, and their eighth walk-off win at Principal Park, the fourth by home run.  The other three Iowa walk-off homers were April 30^th (Geovany Soto), May 15^th (Mike Kinkade) and August 2^nd (Jake Fox). 

 

STRUGGLING: Clay Rapada has recorded a blown save in each of his last three appearances.  Three of his six wins this year, and each of his last two have followed blown saves.

 

QUALITY STARTS: Kevin Hart's quality start Monday was just the 36^th of the year for Iowa. Through August 20 of last season, Iowa starters had made 64 quality starts (six or more innings, three or fewer runs allowed).  In their last 10 games, Iowa is 6-0 when their starter provides a quality start and 1-3 in other contests. 

 

FIRST TIME: Geovany Soto is the first Iowa catcher to hit 20 home runs (he has 21), since Iowa began its affiliation with Chicago in 1981.  Soto has played 66 games at catcher and 18 at first base.  Alan Zinter hit 23 home runs in 1998 while playing 66 games at first base and 39 as a catcher.

 

STREAKERS: Carlos Rojas has hit safely in nine straight games and 14 of his last 15.  In his last nine games, Rojas is hitting .364 (12 H/33 AB) with two doubles and three RBI... Geovany Soto has reached base safely in 21 straight games.  Over his 21 game on-base streak, he's 35-79 (.443) with 10 doubles, a triple, five home runs, 30 RBI and 20 runs scored....   Matt Craig had his 15-game hit streak snapped last night.  Over his streak, he was 23-58 (.397) with five doubles, a triple, two home runs, 13 runs scored and 16 RBI.

 

PACKED HOUSE: Iowa's season attendance total of 534,223 is the third-best in franchise history.  With a crowd of 5,833 today, the Cubs will pass beyond the second place mark of 540,055 set in 2004.  The Cubs are just 12,332 attendees away from setting a new record, eclipsing the 546,554 fans who set a record in 2006. 

 

PCL MVP???: Geovany Soto leads the league with a .359 batting average and .641 slugging percentage.  The only Cub to lead the league in batting average was Roosevelt Brown (.346, 2001).  Two Cubs, Karl Rhodes (.602, 1993) and Micah Franklin (.655, 1998) have led their league in slugging.  If the season ended today, Soto's .359 batting average would be second all-time in Iowa Cubs' history behind Derrick White (.363, 1998) and one point ahead of Roosevelt Brown (.358, 1998).  Soto enters play today two off the league lead in RBI.  The last Cub to lead the league in RBI was Eddie Zambrano with 115 in 1993. 

 

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 on pace to set a new club record for runs in a season, averaging 5.85 runs per game (761/130) on pace for 843 runs. The 1998 team scored 835 runs, averaging 5.80 runs per game.  

 

LONGBALL PRODUCTION:  The Cubs have hit 157 home runs this season (82 solo) which have accounted for 269 runs (2.07 runs per game on 1.21 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). The Cubs have homered in 88 of their 130 games.  The Cubs are 32-16 when they go deep at home and 22-18 when homering on the road.

UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTERS

Date	Time	Opponent	Cubs Starter	Opponent Starter
Wednesday, August 22	7:00 p.m.	@ New Orleans	LH J.R. Mathes (10-7, 5.19)	RH Philip Humber (10-9, 4.66)
Thursday, August 23	7:00 p.m.	@ New Orleans	RH Juan Mateo (2-3, 4.26)	RH Mike Pelfrey (3-6, 4.16)
Friday, August 24	7:00 p.m.	@ New Orleans	LH Les Walronds	LH Jason Vargas
Saturday, August 25	7:00 p.m.	@ New Orleans	RH Kevin Hart	LH Dave Williams (2-2, 4.14)
Sunday, August 26	2:00 p.m.	@New Orleans	RH Sean Gallagher	LH Adam Bostick