FPLL Major Yankees

The Cubs followed their best played game of the year with perhaps their worst, dropping a 14-8 decision to the WCLL Tigers this afternoon. Story of the game: Sloppy, uninspired play in the field, horrible baserunning and an ill-conceived game plan from the Manager doomed the Cubs in this contest. Miles fought hard on the mound over 4 innings, walking 0 batters but was let down by a defensive that committed 5 costly errors. Miles has thrown 9 innings this year and has yet to walk anyone. The Cubs did hit better than they ran the bases and fielded however, putting up 10 hits and scoring 8 runs. Marcus led the way with his team leading 3rd home run of the year and a single. Josh had 2 doubles, George had a big RBI producing double in the second inning, Will had a double and Cabell, Vince, Miles and Sam all contributed singles. Next game is this Wednesday against the Yankees.

In perhaps the best played game at the Major level at Fleet Park this year, the Cubs posted a 2-1 victory tonight over our NBLL comrades, the Orioles, in a 7 inning extravaganza. Story of the game: Marcus and Vince combined to pitch 7 innings of 5 hit ball, allowing only 1 run while issuing 2 walks. Strong Cubs hitting ruled the night, and although some of our best shots were caught in the outfield, our kids never gave up and came away with the W. The Cubs used a 7 hit attack to score our 2 runs, but some opportunities were missed, witness the 8 runners left on base, several at 3rd. Marcus had a single in the 1st inning and scored our first run on Wyatt's first of 2 singles, Will and Miles had doubles and Vince and Robey chipped in with slashing singles. On the mound, Marcus threw 5 innings, giving up 1 run, allowing 3 hits, striking out 10, all while issuing only 2 free passes to first. Vince came on in the 6th, threw 2 innings, got 3 K's, allowed 2 hits and 0 runs. Great job guys. An inning by inning recitation will not be done here but not commenting on the 7th inning would be a dereliction of duty. With the scored tied at 1, the Cubs batted in the top of the 7th and Will led off with a blast to the fence that netted him 2nd base. He moved to 3rd on Vince's ground out, and on a wild pitch to Miles dashed home to score what would prove to be the winning run. As exciting as that was, the real fireworks were touched off in the bottom of the inning. With a 2-1 lead, and the top of their order up, Vince got the O's leadoff hitter to hit a soft bloop out beyond second just to the edge of right field. Cabell went back and made a great backwards diving catch to record the first out. A single followed and Vince struck out their cleanup hitter. The next batter hit a arching blooper that just went over the outstretched glove of Will at 1st base and fell in for a hit. Cabell, at 2nd, and showing far more baseball intuition that his tender age would suggest, was already backing up the play, picked up the ball, threw a strike to Wyatt at home, who tagged the runner out, and the Cubs picked up another win. Next game is this Friday against the WCLL Tigers.

The Cubs left their big bats at home today and decided to play small ball. Singles, walks, a few steals and taking advantage of some opponent miscues keyed a 7-1 victory over the Yankees this afternoon. Story of the game...The Cubs used a 9 hit attack, with 8 singles and only one extra base hit (a double) to rack up 7 runs and Will shut down the Yankee bats in a complete game outing. Scoring wise, we were led by hitters 7 - 12. Vince, Anthony, Parker, George, Miles and Robey all rounded the bases for the team. Marcus led the hit parade by going 3 - 3. Miles got a single and our only extra base hit, the double, Will, Cabell, Vince and Parker all kicked in with singles. On the mound Will used every single one of his allotted 85 pitches in throwing a 1 hitter, with 11 strikeouts and 4 walks. The only run scored was unearned and he kept the Yankees off balance with some good fastballs and a devastatingly effective breaking ball. Three defensive plays of note: *Great catch by Robey of a towering shot in centerfield in the 4th * Good work by the Thomas boys on a grounder to first that Vince flipped to Cabell who had come over to cover *And finally, a real white knuckler catch by Vince for the final out of the game of a short, but tremendously high shot to first One more note: Robey did his Jim Rice impersonation today by breaking a metal bat completely in half during his time at bat in the 4th. Not just cracked but in 2 distinct pieces.

Despite a furious rally in the top of the 6th inning, the Cubs dropped a 6-5 decision to the WCLL Red Sox tonight. Story of the game.... the Cubs hit the ball well tonight against a top flight pitcher but walks, errors and defensive miscues were too much to overcome. Offensively, Wyatt led the way by going 3-3 with two singles and launching a missile out over the right center field fence in the 4th that cleared said fence before he had taken 2 steps out of the batter's box. With that blast, he now joins the increasingly less exclusive Cubs Home Run Club, other members being Will, Marcus and Josh. Other hits were Cabell with a big 6th inning single that drove in 2 runs, Vince with a double, Josh with a single and 2 walks and Robey and George, which between them, worked Red Sox pitching for 5 walks. On the mound, Marcus went 5 1/3 innings giving up 4 runs, striking out 5 while only allowing 2 hits. Vince finished out the game in the 6th inning after Marcus reached his pitch count limit. Next game is Saturday against the NBLL Yankees.

The Cubs relied on a productive 1st inning and effective pitching to take a 3-1 victory over the WCLL Tigers tonight at Fleet Park. Story of the game: Will pitched 5 innings of 1 hit, 1 run ball, drove in 2 runs in the 1st and added a score on a passed ball to account for the Cubs scoring. Vince came on in the 6th to seal the win and get the save. In the first, our lead off man, Cabell, got on with a shot to 3rd that the fielder mishandled. Marcus followed with a single and Will lifted a high, fly ball over the leftfielder's head to score both. He took third as Wyatt advanced him with a grounder to second and then scored on a passed ball to Josh. That's it...the Cubs scored no more in the game. It was enough, however, as Will struck out 10, gave up only 1 hit and 1 run and walked 3. Vince relieved in the 6th and faced 4 batters...the first hit a lazy fly ball to the edge of the outfield that Cabell made a great running catch on to secure our first out. The next hitter grounded back to Vince for a put out at first. The next batter, the third in their lineup, singled hard up the middle, bringing up the Tiger's cleanup hitter. Vince worked him to a 2-2 count and then got him to swing at a low pitch for the game ending third out. Overall, we had 6 hits, Marcus, Anthony and Sam all had singles, Vince had a double and Will went 2 for 2 on the night with 2 doubles. Next game is Tuesday against the Red Sox.