Cubs @ Diamondbacks Game One Recap

I am only now getting to the recap. I have spent the last 12 hours shaking my head. All creativity  has been sucked out of my head and I don’t really feel like tlaking to much about the Cubs after watching the last five games….so here are the notes

• Randy Johnson is now 13-0 lifetime v. the Cubs
• The Cubs are 13-26 in Arizona (not including playoffs)
• In 12.1 inninngs Rich Harden has 20Ks…but a loss and a ND to show for it
• Ararmis Ramirez is slumping…badly He is 2 for his last 30
• The Cubs have lost 4 of their last 5, but the other teams have scored a total of only 12 runs
• The Cubs Offense is an issue right now…Piniella is not allowing BP tonight before the game
• The Cubs are 2 games up in the Central on MIL and STL which are playing a series together right now

Off to the Desert / Cubs v. D-Backs Game One Preview

From Chase Field
9:40 p Eastern

Rich Harden v. Randy Johnson

At their healthiest (Harden) and in their prime (Johnson), this would be quite the matchup of pitching studs. However, Johnson at 44 years old is here collecting $15 million a year to ride off into the sunset…his vest years clearly behind him. Harden (5-1) is the easy pick on paper against Johnson (6-7). But until yesterday the Cubs bats have been frozen stiff. Hopefully the short flight from Huston to the desert didn’t do anything to cool them  off from yesterdays output.

Harden should be solid on nine days rest. Marmol hopes to rebound to his former self when he blew what should have been Harden’s sixth victory back on July 12.

To the pitching outlook…

Johnson has not faced the Cubs this year…here are his lifetime numbers against the team

Randy Johnson vs. Batters, for Career, Min. 0 PA’s, Sorted by PA DESC, Then by Name, vs. players for CHC

PI Click on the player name for a list of plate appearances between these players.

                    **PA**  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+-------+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
 Jim Edmonds          30    25   6  2  0  2   3   4   7  .240  .367  .560  .927   0   0   0   1   1
 Derrek Lee           24    22   4  0  0  0   0   1  13  .182  .250  .182  .432   0   0   0   1   0
 Aramis Ramirez       19    17   3  0  0  1   1   1  12  .176  .263  .353  .616   0   0   0   1   0
 Reed Johnson         18    12   5  1  0  0   0   2   5  .417  .611  .500 1.111   0   0   0   4   0
 Henry Blanco         15    14   4  0  0  1   1   1   3  .286  .333  .500  .833   0   0   0   0   1
 Mark DeRosa          10    10   1  0  0  0   0   0   2  .100  .100  .100  .200   0   0   0   0   0
 Ryan Dempster         9     8   0  0  0  0   0   0   5  .000  .000  .000  .000   1   0   0   0   0
 Daryle Ward           4     4   1  0  0  0   0   0   2  .250  .250  .250  .500   0   0   0   0   0
 Jason Marquis         3     2   0  0  0  0   1   0   1  .000  .000  .000  .000   0   1   0   0   0
 Carlos Zambrano       3     3   1  0  0  0   0   0   2  .333  .333  .333  .666   0   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+-------+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
 Total               135   117  25  3  0  4   6   9  52  .214  .306  .342  .648   1   1   0   7   2

Has not faced: Ronny Cedeno, Mike Fontenot, Kosuke Fukudome, Micah Hoffpauir, Geovany Soto, and Ryan Theriot & Has not faced pitchers: Neal Cotts, Chad Gaudin, Rich Harden, Kevin Hart, Bobby Howry, Ted Lilly, Carlos Marmol, Sean Marshall, and Kerry Wood

 

G_miss is the max number of games for which we don’t have data for this matchup
  (both players appeared in the game and may have faced each other).
  Retrosheet is missing about 200 games from 1956-1973.
Yr_miss is the number of seasons for which these two may have faced each other, but we don’t have data (pre-1956).

Harden has only faced two current D-Backs in his career

Rich Harden vs. Batters, for Career, Min. 0 PA’s, Sorted by PA DESC, Then by Name, vs. players for ARI

PI Click on the player name for a list of plate appearances between these players.

                    **PA**  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+-------+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
 Orlando Hudson        8     8   2  0  0  0   1   0   1  .250  .250  .250  .500   0   0   0   0   0
 Tony Clark            3     3   1  1  0  0   0   0   1  .333  .333  .667 1.000   0   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+-------+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
 Total                11    11   3  1  0  0   1   0   2  .273  .273  .364  .637   0   0   0   0   0

Has not faced: Emilio Bonifacio, Chris Burke, Stephen Drew, Conor Jackson, Miguel Montero, Augie Ojeda, Mark Reynolds, Alex Romero, Chris Snyder, Chad Tracy, and Chris Young & Has not faced pitchers: Billy Buckner, Doug Davis, Danny Haren, Randy Johnson, Brandon Lyon, Micah Owings, Tony Pena, Yusmeiro Petit, Chad Qualls, Connor Robertson, Leo Rosales, and Brandon Webb

Not much to go off to determine or project anything….alot of rest for both pitchers…D-Backs are at home but like the entire NL West have a losing record v. the team with the best record in the NL…

Accuscore Predictions available by clicking here…

The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet.  Interested  parties may contact Retrosheet at “www.retrosheet.org“.