Every single player brought his bat in this one in support of their new skipper. It was one of the games where you almost want them to let up and save some for the next day, if that’s even possible.
- What impressed me the most was the patience and willingness to work the count deep, which in turn saw Livan Hernandez exit the game before getting through even five innings. Last time Livan worked less than five innings against us? NEVER
- Alfonso Soriano made me laugh in his approach to the plate late in the game and as much as I’d like to assume it was because the Cubs were winning big and he was facing his old team, I know better. He’d already hit a double and a bloop triple that went by the right fielder. Late in the game, when contact would have been the thing to shoot for with two strikes, he was swinging away with a big leg kick trying to hit the ball out of the ball park. Even the Nats broadcasters were making fun of it with the slo mo cam.
- Starlin Castro looked flat out fooled in his first at bat against Livan Hernandez when he was expecting a heater and got one of those slow spinners that Hernandez throws. At the same time, he rebounded nicely the rest of the game.
- What are your thoughts on Blake DeWitt? I’ve liked what I’ve seen from him so far and I found it interesting that Quade hit him at the top of the order. We hadn’t seen Lou do that as far as I could remember, but I’m too lazy to verify that. If there was a time….my bad. =)
- Casey Coleman had me a little nervous with the way he started the game, throwing just under 30 pitches in the first inning. He got out of the jam that was due in part to DeWitt’s error, and really threw a nice game. He wasn’t fancy with the strikeouts and didn’t really try to overpower the hitters. He reminded me a lot of Mike Leake when he faced us in his debut. I’d like to see what he does next time out.
- Really good to see Andrew Cashner put up the kind of outing he did. He’s not been as good as I know he’ll be in the future, but he’s learning. 1.2 IP with a minimal amount of pitches is an ideal outing. Very nice to see.
Finally, a look at the managers over the years for the Cubs who have been successful here.
| Rk | Mgr | Yrs | From | To | G | W ▾ | L | W-L% | G>.500 | BestFin | WrstFin | AvRk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cap Anson HOF | 19 | 1879 | 1897 | 2258 | 1283 | 932 | .579 | 351 | 1 | 9 | 3.9 |
| 2 | Charlie Grimm | 14 | 1932 | 1960 | 1737 | 946 | 782 | .547 | 164 | 1 | 8 | 3.4 |
| 3 | Frank Chance HOF | 8 | 1905 | 1912 | 1178 | 768 | 389 | .664 | 379 | 1 | 3 | 1.7 |
| 4 | Leo Durocher HOF | 7 | 1966 | 1972 | 1065 | 535 | 526 | .504 | 9 | 2 | 10 | 3.8 |
| 5 | Joe McCarthy HOF | 5 | 1926 | 1930 | 770 | 442 | 321 | .579 | 121 | 1 | 4 | 2.8 |
| 6 | Jim Riggleman | 5 | 1995 | 1999 | 794 | 374 | 419 | .472 | -45 | 2 | 6 | 4.0 |
| 7 | Dusty Baker | 4 | 2003 | 2006 | 648 | 322 | 326 | .497 | -4 | 1 | 6 | 3.5 |
| 8 | Lou Piniella | 4 | 2007 | 2010 | 609 | 316 | 293 | .519 | 23 | 1 | 5 | 2.1 |
| 9 | Fred Mitchell | 4 | 1917 | 1920 | 582 | 308 | 269 | .534 | 39 | 1 | 6 | 3.9 |
| 10 | Bill Killefer | 5 | 1921 | 1925 | 596 | 300 | 293 | .506 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 5.3 |
