Renteria Tossed in Cubs Loss; Sox Hit 6 HR in Win

April 9, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

Midweek musings: Rick Renteria earned his first ejection as Chicago Cubs manager for arguing balls and strikes in the ninth inning of the team’s 7-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field. Chicago Bears fans were thrilled Renteria showed more emotion that Lovie Smith did during his time as coach. Something says this won’t be the last time Renteria is tossed this season.

Paige Ocktobur reminds us the Master golf tourney is this week.

* On the bright side for the Cubs, Renteria did have a certain resemblance to Don Zimmer in being ejected. And Zimmer did take the Cubs to the playoffs during his tenure as Cubs manager.

* On the bright (?) side for the Cubs, shortstop Starlin Castro went 3-for-4 with his first two home runs of the season. He raised his batting average to .310. First baseman Anthony Rizzo went 2-for-3 to raise his batting average to .296. The Cubs will wait a little longer before starting the bidding process to print playoff tickets.

* Speaking of two-homer games, the White Sox had two players with them in their 15-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies in Denver. Avisail Garcia and Jose Abreu did the trick. Each entered the game without a home run this season. Alexei Ramirez and Tyler Flowers also homered for the Sox, who entered the game with six home runs for the season.

* In a battle of unbeatens, Connecticut defeated Notre Dame 79-58 for the women’s NCAA basketball title. Irish coach Muffet McGraw shook hands with UConn coach Geno Auriemma after the game.”I said something like, `I thought we were playing the Miami Heat for a while you guys are just that good. What a great season, you know things like that,” McGraw said. “I thought … LeBron [James] was the only thing they were missing.”

* Ex-White Sox of the day (night, actually): Right-hander Bartolo Colon struck out six and walked zero in seven innings, as the New York Mets defeated the host Atlanta Braves 4-0 on the 40th anniversary of Braves legend Hank Aaron surpassing Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs. Not bad for a pitcher who will turn 41 on May 24.

* Ex-Sox of the day/night, part II: Gio Gonzalez improved to 2-0 and lowered his earned-run average to 0.75 by tossing six innings of three-hit ball with five strikeouts in a 5-0 victory vs. the visiting Miami Marlins.

* Ex Sox of the whenever, honorable mention: Toronto left-hander Mark Buehrle (2-0) allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings in a 5-2 victory vs. the visiting Houston Astros.

* Ex-Cub of the whenever (so Cubs fans won’t feel left out): Kyle Farnsworth pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout in relief of Colon.

* Ex-Cub of the day, honorable mention: New York Yankees designated hitter Alfonso Soriano hit his first home run for his first run batted in of the season. He went 2-for-4 in a 14-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Soriano did improve his batting average to .192.