The Defensive Player Award was one of the closest votes this year with four different players recieving votes. Those four players were Evan Dawley, Steve Girodat, Jason Rider and Jon VanSon. All were excellent this year defensively and contributed to the Cubs success this year.
Dawley has been steller for the Cubs behind the plate for a number of years and consistantly recieves votes for this award despite not having won it yet. Dawley is always a brick wall behind the plate and is great at blocking those arrant pitches.
Girodat has been the wondering fielder for the Cubs during his career. He started out as mainly a utility players seeing most of his time at third and outfield. Then in 2006 he became the Cubs regular centerfielder. In 2007 he moved over to left mainly, while seeing some time at second base as well. His play in 2007 earned him the Defensive Player of the Year award. Then this year he became the Cubs fulltime second basemen and played as if he had played his entire career there.
Rider was again the teams centerfielder after taking over fulltime in center in 2007. Rider is one of the fastest players in the league and has one of the strongest arms of any outfielder in the league. With the move to SCS with smaller outfields and wood bats Rider was able to play very shallow and was able to catch a lot of bloopers that would have been hits. Rider also threw out a number of runners trying to score this year. Despite not being a fulltime starter in 2006 until part way through the season Rider won the Defensive Player of the Year award that year playing in left and centerfield.
The last candidate for this award was Jon VanSon. VanSon was the team's shortstop again and was very reliable and consistant in 2008. He made a number of outstanding plays this year to help the Cubs pitching staff.
So without any more writing the winner of the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year award is Jason Rider. As stated above Rider also won the award in 2006 and ties Derek Elsner for the most Defensive Player of the Year awards with two. Other past winners include: Paul McGlaun, Jim Vick, Josh Patton, Chris Baroli, Dave Brumagin and Steve Girodat.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Offensive Player of the Year
The first award for the 2008 season is the Offensive Player of the Year. This year it was a two man race between two past winners. Randy Nettles and Evan Dawley stood out for the Cubs this year offensively.
Nettles led the team this year in homer runs with 5, RBI with 25, walks with 20, average (.444), on-base percentage (.570), slugging percentage (.741) and OPS (1.311). Nettles also had 9 doubles (second) and 36 hits (tied for second). Nettles hit fourth in the Cubs order and was the most constant hitter the team had throughout the season.
Dawley was again one of the teams best hitters. Dawley led the team in hits with 37 and double with 11. He also had 2 homers, 21 RBI and 30 runs scored (second). He hit .394 with a .478 OBP and a .596 slugging percentage. Unfortunately for Dawley he really turned it on in the last third of the season right before playoffs but had to leave for school and missed the playoffs.
With over 60% of the votes Nettles wins Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight year. Past winners of this awardfor the Cubs include: Dave Cordova, Mike Dawson, Derek Elsner, Adam Lipski, Evan Dawley, Bill Bode and Steve Girodat. Nettles is the first two time winner of this award.
Nettles led the team this year in homer runs with 5, RBI with 25, walks with 20, average (.444), on-base percentage (.570), slugging percentage (.741) and OPS (1.311). Nettles also had 9 doubles (second) and 36 hits (tied for second). Nettles hit fourth in the Cubs order and was the most constant hitter the team had throughout the season.
Dawley was again one of the teams best hitters. Dawley led the team in hits with 37 and double with 11. He also had 2 homers, 21 RBI and 30 runs scored (second). He hit .394 with a .478 OBP and a .596 slugging percentage. Unfortunately for Dawley he really turned it on in the last third of the season right before playoffs but had to leave for school and missed the playoffs.
With over 60% of the votes Nettles wins Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight year. Past winners of this awardfor the Cubs include: Dave Cordova, Mike Dawson, Derek Elsner, Adam Lipski, Evan Dawley, Bill Bode and Steve Girodat. Nettles is the first two time winner of this award.
Friday, October 24, 2008
2008 Season in Review
For the first time in the Cubs history the team did not play in the Pontiac Class ‘A’ league. For the 2008 season the Cubs switched to the St. Clair Shores MABL wood bat league. The two biggest differences in the two leagues were the SCS league is a wood bat league and the SCS league has much better fields. The SCS league also is a 23+ league, meaning a couple of players from the 2007 team were ineligible to play this year. The team did though keep most of it core players.
Evan Dawley and Tom Girodat were behind the plate. Randy Nettles saw time at third and first. Steve Girodat took over full-time at second base and Jon VanSon again was the team’s shortstop. Mike Dawson was limited in the field but did play some third base. In the outfield Jason Rider was again solid in center and Dave Reitman was in right.
On the mound Dave Theriault returned for a few starts with Chris Johnson back in the rotation. Mike Dawson was limited in his mound appearances due to his knee surgery in the off-season.
However, they did lose their top two pitchers from last year. Ryan Drews was out because of injury and Yuki Minigawa was not available due to work and school. Fortunately though, the Cubs were able to add three new starters to the staff. Kris Krstich came over from the Pontiac Red Sox and become the team’s new number one starter. He threw over 64 innings for the Cubs, the second most in team history. Steve Gordon was came on to the team and provided the team with some great starts. Also new to the staff was an old face. Chris Baroli, the Cubs former shortstop, converted to a pitcher and threw some great games for the Cubs. Unfortunately though Baroli had some arm trouble late in the year which limited his effectiveness and availability.
The team also added a couple other newcomers. Matt Cook was a nice addition to the team providing the team with some speed and utility in the field. Cook played five different positions for the Cubs from the corner outfield positions to third and second and catcher. Jimmy Roehm came to the team having not played organized baseball for a number of years; however he was able to pick things back up right away. Roehm was a backup but quickly earned playing time with his bat and his play in the field. Unfortunately, less than half way through the year Roehm separated his shoulder diving back to second and tore his labrum and was out for the year. Also back with the team in a part time role was Jason Westphal. Westphal started the year as a pitcher but arm trouble ended that comeback quickly but he was able to play in the field and hit with some effectiveness in a backup role.
To start the season the Cubs faced off against the Braves, who won the regular season in 2007 and were runners-up for the league championship. The Cubs lost that first game in extra innings and then tied the second game of the season to the Angels. So after two games the Cubs were still winless. Then the Cubs went on a run of 9 straight wins as they started things off with another extra-inning game as they beat the Angels two nights after there tie game. During the nine-game winning streak the Cubs outscored their opponents by a score of 74-11.
Following the winning streak the Cubs hit a rough patch as they went 3-5-1 in their next nine games. In those nine games the Cubs scored 34 runs and allowed 34 runs. Then they were able to straighten things out winning four in a row, outscoring their opponents 26-5, before tie and then a loss and then ended the season winning six in a row, outscoring their opponents 44-5.
In the end the Cubs finished the regular season with a 22-7-3 record, coming in second place behind the Orioles. The Cubs scored a league high 211 runs and gave up 92 runs, second least in the league.
The playoffs though were another story for the Cubs. For the most part during the regular season the Cubs were very solid in all aspects of the game, from hitting to pitching to fielding. However, in the playoffs all aspects fell apart for them. The Cubs were swept in their first round series with the Tigers losing game 1, 5-2, and game 2, 2-1.
Evan Dawley and Tom Girodat were behind the plate. Randy Nettles saw time at third and first. Steve Girodat took over full-time at second base and Jon VanSon again was the team’s shortstop. Mike Dawson was limited in the field but did play some third base. In the outfield Jason Rider was again solid in center and Dave Reitman was in right.
On the mound Dave Theriault returned for a few starts with Chris Johnson back in the rotation. Mike Dawson was limited in his mound appearances due to his knee surgery in the off-season.
However, they did lose their top two pitchers from last year. Ryan Drews was out because of injury and Yuki Minigawa was not available due to work and school. Fortunately though, the Cubs were able to add three new starters to the staff. Kris Krstich came over from the Pontiac Red Sox and become the team’s new number one starter. He threw over 64 innings for the Cubs, the second most in team history. Steve Gordon was came on to the team and provided the team with some great starts. Also new to the staff was an old face. Chris Baroli, the Cubs former shortstop, converted to a pitcher and threw some great games for the Cubs. Unfortunately though Baroli had some arm trouble late in the year which limited his effectiveness and availability.
The team also added a couple other newcomers. Matt Cook was a nice addition to the team providing the team with some speed and utility in the field. Cook played five different positions for the Cubs from the corner outfield positions to third and second and catcher. Jimmy Roehm came to the team having not played organized baseball for a number of years; however he was able to pick things back up right away. Roehm was a backup but quickly earned playing time with his bat and his play in the field. Unfortunately, less than half way through the year Roehm separated his shoulder diving back to second and tore his labrum and was out for the year. Also back with the team in a part time role was Jason Westphal. Westphal started the year as a pitcher but arm trouble ended that comeback quickly but he was able to play in the field and hit with some effectiveness in a backup role.
To start the season the Cubs faced off against the Braves, who won the regular season in 2007 and were runners-up for the league championship. The Cubs lost that first game in extra innings and then tied the second game of the season to the Angels. So after two games the Cubs were still winless. Then the Cubs went on a run of 9 straight wins as they started things off with another extra-inning game as they beat the Angels two nights after there tie game. During the nine-game winning streak the Cubs outscored their opponents by a score of 74-11.
Following the winning streak the Cubs hit a rough patch as they went 3-5-1 in their next nine games. In those nine games the Cubs scored 34 runs and allowed 34 runs. Then they were able to straighten things out winning four in a row, outscoring their opponents 26-5, before tie and then a loss and then ended the season winning six in a row, outscoring their opponents 44-5.
In the end the Cubs finished the regular season with a 22-7-3 record, coming in second place behind the Orioles. The Cubs scored a league high 211 runs and gave up 92 runs, second least in the league.
The playoffs though were another story for the Cubs. For the most part during the regular season the Cubs were very solid in all aspects of the game, from hitting to pitching to fielding. However, in the playoffs all aspects fell apart for them. The Cubs were swept in their first round series with the Tigers losing game 1, 5-2, and game 2, 2-1.
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