Spring Training: Cubs vs A’s 3/23/11

On Wednesday, the Cubs took on the Oakland A’s for another round. The Cubs lost to the A’s last week. On to the game notes.

PITCHING

Carlos Silva took the mound for the Cubs in hopes of salvaging any chances he still had left at the 5^th starter job. After a terrible Spring, the veteran pitcher did a 180 degree turn and pitched a stellar outing. He was stretched to six innings and settled down quite nicely after giving up a first inning run. That first inning also featured two of his three strike outs on the day, but more importantly, he did not issue any walks. Another good sign is that he recorded six ground outs, a common occurrence when Silva is pitching well.

As Jordan informed us the other day, it sounds like the front office was leaning towards going with Silva as the 5^th starter despite his horrible Spring even before the pitcher took the mound. There are two ways to look at this decision. The first, and most heated it seems, is that Silva is the rotation because of his hefty contract. While this is very possible, I do not believe it is the sole reason for selecting the veteran for the final rotation spot. I say this because the Cubs could just as easily stick Silva in the bullpen as a long relief or mop up duty pitcher if the reason is strictly because of his contract. The other angle, as one of our very own readers mentioned, is that maybe Andrew Cashner is just not quite ready to be a starter at the Major League level yet. Although the young pitcher has looked a little better than his counterpart Silva, he also has not seized the opportunity either. This may also be a sign that his secondary pitches are not ready yet either.

For what it is worth, Silva has had bad Springs before, including last year, only to come out in the regular season being a serviceable pitcher. We may not see the hot start we saw out of him in 2010, but there is enough history to show that he will not be as bad as he looked this Spring until yesterday.

Kerry Wood chipped in a clean 9^th inning to record the save.

DEFENSE

How bad is Silva trying to earn a rotation and roster spot? He even covered first base on a ground ball to Tyler Colvin to record the second out of the first inning. Although it is a little sad that I am highlighting this play as it should be a no brainer for a baseball player, considering the times in recent memory Cubs pitchers have failed to cover first base in the regular season, at least they appear to be working on making sure they do not forget it in 2011.

OFFENSE

The second time must have been the charm, as the Cubs scored two runs in the first off Gio Gonzalez on their way to the 3-1 win over the A’s. You may recall that this is the same Gonzalez of the A’s that shut them down in their last meeting. Reed Johnson, who has been my pick to win the 5^th outfielder job, was given a shot at lead off today and responded with a 2 for 4 day while touching home plate twice to account for two of the three Cubs runs. Alfonso Soriano was responsible for 2 RBIs while Geo Soto picked up the other RBI.