Cubs Continue Spring Struggles

(cross-posted at http://www.viewfromthebleachers.com/)

With Mark DeRosa back in camp, the Cubs were beat by the Giants in Mesa today

Ted Lilly's first Spring outing looked like, well, his first Spring outing. He lacked command in the first inning, but was helped out by a very generous call on a 3-2 pitch to Dan Ortmeier. It should've been a walk, instead it was a double-steal and K. He did get Matt Cain on a nice breaking ball for a legitimate K in the 2nd inning.

Soto's been getting plenty of work with the starters, and the base runners have tested him frequently. The Giants ran at will against Lilly - stealing 4 bases - and I'll chalk-up Soto's error in the 5th to fatigue. He nailed Fred Lewis with Jose Ceda on the mound, but, other than one solid throw, had no chance with Lilly "holding" runners on.

Continuing his comeback from injury, Juan Mateo pitched an impressive inning. With Jose Ceda warming up in the pen, Mateo gave-up nothing, other than a well-earned walk by Ortmeier, and made his case for a longer look for the last spot.

Ceda came out, looking nervous again, and quickly hit a man in the shoulder. Soto settled him down after his 2nd pitch sailed a little high. Geovany really saved him by cutting down Lewis, as Ceda gave up a sharp base-hit immediately after Soto's strong throw to second. A grounder to Theriot ended the inning.

Neal Cotts was the only lefty to appear for the Cubs out of the bullpen, and struggled in the 5th. The Giants took advantage of Soto's error and the subsequent drawn-in infield to take the lead and start a rally. Ortmeier got in the action again, with a 1-out double putting two men in scoring position.

Cotts got a ground ball with the infield back, and traded a run for an out, but continued to struggle and couldn't get out of the inning. Ascanio relieved him, with the Cubs trailing by three and the bases loaded. The Giants added a pair before Ascanio got the third out on the 11th batter of the inning.

The Cubs have a real battle going for the the utility infield spot. Despite wielding the best bat, Mike Fontenot looks underwhelming compared to the versatile, slick-fielding group competing for the spot.

Alex Cintron, a switch-hitter, has been impressive on the field and ripped a double today. Bobby Scales flashed leather in Saturday's game and put up good AAA numbers last year. This all means Ronny Cedeno is not assured of a job, nor is Eric Patterson, let alone the one-dimensional Fontenot.

In today's game, Luis Figueroa was very impressive at third, turning in a pair of quality plays filling in for Aramis. Too bad he cost us four outs in two at-bats. His second GIDP was even on a hit-and-run. He was replaced in the 5th by Cintron as part of a double-switch.

Patterson got the chance to lead-off, and showed impressive speed, with a bunt hit and a hustle double in the 5th. Felix Pie made up for a poor at bat in his first trip with a long home run off Giants' closer, Brad Hennessey, to start the inning. From there, the Cubs tried to rally themselves back into the game. With one out and Patterson on second, the elbow-guard wearing Fukudome only managed to move the runner over, and the inning ended quietly.

Getting my first look, Kosuke was as advertised. He displayed good range in right, wisely pulling up near the rail to avoid injury on one play. He got an earlier chance to show off his strong arm, but didn't get his feet settled, and the throw sailed to Figueroa's left. He showed good speed out of the box, and a take-what-you-get approach to hitting.

I also got my first look at Tyler Colvin today, striking out with Micah Hoffpauir on second base in the bottom of the 6th. The Cubs appear to be solid up-and-down the organization at most positions. I am resting my shortstop hopes on Darwin Barney for now.

Ascanio, now working with J.D. Closser, took care of the Giants in the top half of the 6th, and yielded to Shingo Takatsu for the stretch inning. Kevin Frandsen, who is not a real shortstop, stole second on a breaking ball after singling to center. Closser had no shot at Frandsen, but double-clutched and was very late with the throw. It didn't matter, since Shingo's next act was to give up a gopher ball to left, over Fuld's head and into the bleachers.

After the stretch, Andres Blanco and Andres Torres created a two-out rally. Blanco worked a tough single off Jose Capellan, the lefty, before Torres took him yard. Torres didn't seem to realize he had hit a home run, since he sprinted the bases.

Closser followed with a single up the middle, from the right-side of the plate, before Hoffpauir made the third out. The Cubs had pulled back within 3 runs.

For the 8th frame, the Cubs sent Mark Prior Kevin Hart to the mound. #22 didn't get a chance to pitch Saturday, as the Angels had no need to bat in the 9th. Lou gave Hart the ball today to "set-up" for Carlos Marmol, who is looking more and more like the closer (but not to Len Kasper and Dan Plesac). After some nice defense on a 43 and a 31, Sam Fuld did some type of belly-flop/face-plant in left field to give Travis Ishikawa double. Pie battled the sun to snuff the rally. It is pretty clear who's going to be cut, and you don't need a phonetic hint to pronounce his name.

Former Cub Scott Williamson came in to face an endless stream of lefties in bottom of the 8th. After a first-pitch single by Fuld, Williamson walked the bases loaded with no outs. Following a sac-fly by Cintron, Pie was picked-off and tagged out near 2nd base, taking the tying run off base. Get it out of your system now, Felix. Meanwhile, Eric Patterson battled Williamson, working the count full with two outs before getting punched-out.

Marmol rolled the Giants over 1-2-3 in the 9th, sending the Cubs to the plate needing two to tie. Julio Mateo pitched well, unfortunately, it was with the Giants 9th string defense behind him. Which would be anyone else's 12th string. An error and a base hit by Closser gave Sam Fuld a shot with two outs.

Mateo, who turns out to be the former Mariner, got to a full count, making me wonder why we didn't pinch-run for Closser, before walking the bases loaded.

With the tying run on second, Jake Fox was called on to make it happen. A pop-up, that was close to being dropped, is what happened.