Castro, Barney leading the way for Cubs
Since you can start almost anywhere in dissecting Saturday's 10-8 Cubs victory over the Dodgers, you might as well start at the top.
That's top, as in top of the order.
The Cubs have something special going on there, with Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney. The two kids helped get the Cubs off to a 5-1 lead, and they also were right in the middle of a 5-run eighth inning that sent the Wrigley Field crowd of 41,161 home happy.
Castro is showing that it doesn't matter where manager Mike Quade bats him. Moving up from third in the order Friday to first Saturday, Castro was 4-for-5 with a double, 2 runs, 3 RBI and a stolen base.
Barney, the rookie No. 2 hitter, was 3-for-5 with a double, 2 runs 3 RBI and a stolen base. Barney's RBI forceout tied the game at 8-8 in the eighth before Jeff Baker hit a 2-run double three batters later.
“What a ballgame; those kids are something,” said Quade, whose team is 10-10. “They've been doing it, and we hope they keep doing it. There were contributions all over the place. It had a 10-8 feel to it.”
Castro is now batting .393 with a .419 on-base percentage and a .528 slugging percentage. Barney's hitting line is .323/.357/.415.
“I feel real good,” Castro said through coach Ivan DeJesus. “Barney has good bat control. He always puts the bat on the ball.”
The rest of the Cubs are getting a kick out of the kids, who seem to be feeding off each other.
“It's fun to hit behind a guy who's getting on base, who's making things happen,” said Barney, who has taken the second-base job and run with it, literally. “It makes my life easier, when I can simplify things at the plate and just be a situational hitter.
“That's just baseball. You see a couple guys get hits. You have hit on your mind. That's how the game works. It's funny how it works in this game where things like that feed off of each other. Yeah, we feed off each other. We like working together, and we kind of have a good idea of what we're trying to do.”
Reed Johnson (2-for-3, 2 runs) was one of the contributors in the eighth that Quade was talking about. He laid down a bunt basehit after Alfonso Soriano opened with a single. Pinch hitter Kosuke Fukudome (.543 OBP) drew a pinch walk, and Aramis Ramirez dropped a single into left to set up Baker. And reliever Jeff Samardzija (2-0) struck out three in 1 innings to get the win.
All of that got starting pitcher Ryan Dempster off the hook. Dempster couldn't hold a 5-1 lead against old friend Ted Lilly, as he gave up 3 homers. His ERA went from 6.84 to 7.63.
“It's a little bit of a bad pattern that I'm getting into,” Dempster said. “At the end of the day, it's not about me. It's about us as a team. These guys in there did an incredible job of scoring some runs.”
Like everybody else, Dempster enjoyed watching the kids tear up the place.
“Yeah, they bring a lot of energy, especially at the top of the lineup,” he said. “I know, being a pitcher being out there facing guys like that, that's not a lot of fun. They bring a different aspect we haven't had the last couple years. They bring a lot of speed. It's good to see it. It's a lot of fun.”
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