Cubs All Star f/x - Zambrano, Dempster and Marmol

Clint Hurdle gave three top-shelf pitchers two innings a piece, following starter Ben Sheets with Carlos Zambrano and Dan Haren. He stuck to his plan for a while, but, well, the plan didn't last. But the game did.

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Carlos Zambrano threw the 3rd and 4th innings. Zambrano was a little wild, but turned in two shut-out innings, capped by a pick-off of Milton Bradley. A lead-off single to Ichiro was quickly followed by a double-play from Derek Jeter. Both were on sinking, two-seam fastballs. The third inning ended uneventfully.

After Carlos struck-out A-Rod, finishing him off on a hard four-seamer, Hanley Ramirez created trouble in the 4th when he committed on error on a Milton Bradley grounder. Big Z picked-up his team by picking off Kevin Youkilis, who reached on Hanley's gaffe.

The first three pitches Zambrano threw to Manny Ramirez were not recorded by PITCHf/x, and Yankee Stadium, may it rest in pieces, has a PFX installation that runs a couple MPH hot and the spin movement is a few inches off to the catcher's left (negative on the pfx_x scale).

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All-Star Game - PITCHf/x - Carlos Zambrano



Key
mph - Pitch Speed 50ft. from home plate (I usually adjust to 55)
pfx - Movement, in inches, caused by spin
px/pz - Plate location, in feet
All negative values indicate movement/location to the catcher's left.

#	mph	pfx_x	pfx_z	px	pz	CFX	Hitter	Result
1	90.1	-4.93	7.54	1.25	2.45	FC	Ichiro	Ball
2	93.9	-10.08	7.59	-1.30	1.35	F4	Ichiro	Ball
3	88.9	-14.60	2.07	0.35	1.82	F2	Ichiro	Single to Right
4	89.9	-12.24	1.97	-0.87	2.98	F2	Jeter	643 Double Play
5	93.3	-8.37	9.68	0.87	2.34	FC	Hamilton	Ball
6	86.1	-9.03	-2.55	0.52	1.12	SI	Hamilton	Foul
7	92.4	-6.11	5.07	1.00	3.23	FC	Hamilton	43 Ground Out
8	91.9	-14.39	3.52	0.27	1.70	F2	A-Rod	Whiff
9	93.3	-13.31	4.12	-0.28	2.82	F2	A-Rod	Foul
10	85.0	2.47	3.47	2.16	2.08	SL	A-Rod	Ball
11	95.8	-10.08	9.16	0.67	3.59	F4	A-Rod	Whiff Out
12							Manny	Ball
13							Manny	Foul
14							Manny	Ball
15	95.1	-13.64	7.56	0.12	2.91	F4	Manny	Foul
16	96.1	-13.90	3.54	0.15	2.12	F2	Manny	43 Ground Out
17	93.3	-7.59	6.77	1.45	1.86	FC	Bradley	Ball
18	94.6	-10.10	9.27	0.20	2.99	F4	Bradley	Whiff
19	93.7	-14.45	2.49	-0.48	1.86	F2	Bradley	E6
20	81.1	3.75	2.18	1.47	2.25	SL	Youkilis	Ball
21							Youkilis	Pick-Off
22							Youkilis	Pick-Off Out

Values are un-adjusted and taken directly from Gameday's with the exception of Pitch ID's

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Hurdle's plan was Edinson Volquez in the 7th, Brian Wilson and Billy Wagner in the 8th, followed by Brad Lidge. Ryan Dempster wasn't in the plan, but the game ended up tied in the 9th, and things changed. Volquez and Wagner both blew the save, so Hurdle went back to the starters, beginning with Dempster.

Ryan didn't draw the big names Zambrano faced, but Kinsler/Navarro/Drew is no picnic. Perhaps a walk in the park. Or a walk back-and-forth from the dugout. That's what it was for the AL trio, as Ryan set all three down on strikes, sending the game to extra innings.

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All-Star Game - PITCHf/x - Ryan Dempster

Refer to the notes and key above

#	mph	pfx_x	pfx_z	px	pz	CFX	Hitter	Result
1	93.1	-9.33	11.39	0.91	2.56	FA	Kinsler	Called Strike
2	93.6	-10.91	10.03	1.57	2.94	FA	Kinsler	Ball
3	86.1	-4.19	1.23	0.23	1.49	SL	Kinsler	Whiff
4	86.1	-4.27	1.49	1.89	0.97	SL	Kinsler	Ball
5	94.2	-8.21	11.42	1.34	2.46	FA	Kinsler	Foul
6	88.8	-5.14	2.29	1.12	1.18	SL	Kinsler	Whiff out
7	94.1	-11.61	7.69	-1.57	3.65	FA	Navarro	Ball
8	84.3	-11.18	2.37	0.39	1.28	FS	Navarro	Foul
9	94.0	-11.97	6.74	-1.42	2.95	FA	Navarro	Ball
10	92.7	-11.96	8.67	-0.58	2.71	FA	Navarro	Foul
11	87.7	-3.36	0.64	-1.40	2.78	SL	Navarro	Ball
12	95.3	-11.72	6.45	-0.56	3.19	FA	Navarro	Foul Tip Strike out
13	86.8	-4.22	-1.38	-0.49	1.43	SL	Drew	Called Strike
14	85.9	-8.85	0.59	-0.73	3.46	FS	Drew	Ball
15	85.6	-10.58	4.21	-0.50	0.78	FS	Drew	Ball
16	94.6	-11.85	7.09	-1.09	3.29	FA	Drew	Ball
17	84.6	-9.33	4.10	-0.34	2.98	FS	Drew	Called Strike
18	93.9	-10.46	9.17	-0.60	1.73	FA	Drew	Called Strike out

No matter what happens the rest of this season, or his career, Ryan Dempster can always say he struck-out the side in the bottom of the 9th of a tied All Star Game, in Yankee Stadium, the year the park closed. Being in that game, in that situation is odd enough. The chances of striking out those three guys in order is about 1 in 300, roughly speaking and based on career strike-out rates.

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All-Star Game - PITCHf/x - Carlos Marmol

When the game continued on into the 13th inning, Carlos Marmol got the call. The top player remaining on the players' ballot after Kerry Wood's blister forced him out of the line-up was Marmol, but he wasn't expected to appear.

What didn't appear was Dan Uggla's mitt. After making back-to-back errors earlier in the game, he booted a one-out grounder off the bat of J.D. Drew. In all fairness, the ball hit a heal divot and took a horrible bounce up and into Uggla's chest. It had practically been rolling prior to that.

Marmol was his wild self with the fastball, controlled self with the slider. He struck-out Michael Young looking at a 3-2 slider, while Drew stole second. Carlos ended the 13th with a strike-out of Carlos Quentin, a foul-tip of another slider.

#	mph	pfx_x	pfx_z	px	pz	CFX	Hitter	Result
1	94.6	-10.154	9.408	-0.592	1.817	FA	Navarro	Called Strike
2	81.7	0.917	-4.92	-0.444	1.614	SL	Navarro	43 Ground out
3	83.2	1.407	-4.56	0.065	1.914	SL	Drew	Whiff
4	81.9	2.854	-5.902	-0.845	1.544	SL	Drew	Ball
5	81.7	2.675	-4.334	-2.022	2.993	SL	Drew	Ball
6	94.9	-9.514	11.315	0.644	2.026	FA	Drew	Ball
7	80.9	2.168	-2.998	-0.073	2.341	SL	Drew	Callled Strike
8	80.8	2.941	-4.905	-0.301	2.023	SL	Drew	E4
9	95.2	-11.628	10.088	0.634	1.576	FA	Young	Ball
10	94.3	-10.841	9.18	0.09	2.713	FA	Young	Foul
11	80.9	3.05	-4.274	-0.323	2.579	SL	Young	Callled Strike
12	81.6	2.929	-3.771	-1.296	2.497	SL	Young	Ball
13	94.4	-10.421	9.594	0.002	0.934	FA	Young	Ball
14	80.8	3.323	-5.075	0.352	2.972	SL	Young	Called Strike out
15	93.8	-11.605	9.094	0.866	2.311	FA	Quentin	Foul
16	95.6	-11.752	8.885	1.961	2.906	FA	Quentin	Ball
17	81.1	2.187	-4.281	-0.564	2.279	SL	Quentin	Called Strike
18	84.1	-0.709	-4.191	0.048	1.827	SL	Quentin	Foul
19	82.0	3.771	-5.602	0.623	3.079	SL	Quentin	Foul Tip Strike out

Marmol was a nice finish to a fine Chicago showing, as all three of our pitchers represented the Cubs nicely.

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The game went on into the 15th inning, and Terry Francona had to bring in Scott Kazmir, who, like Dempster, worked on a single day's rest. Brandon Webb replaced Marmol for the 14th, and Brad Lidge was the NL's last man out, as he took the ball for the bottom half of the 15th. Brian McCann also came in, making him the last man of the bench for either team.

It seemed the game would end after the 15th, no matter what. Would we see another Bud Selig shrug? Or a walk-off? Fortunately, the latter. A walk-off Sacrifice Fly. Michael Young drove-in Home Run Derby champ Justin Morneau to end it properly.