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10

Jun

I had a lot of fun. I didn’t realize how tired I’d be running from home to third. I’d never experienced that. I think that was the first one I’d ever had. I had one in softball one time.
Ted Lilly speaks about his first career triple, one of 16 Cub hits in Tuesday night’s 7-1 thumping of the Astros in Houston. Lilly pitched 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball on the way to his seventh win this year against four losses. Lilly is now 6-1 in his career against Houston.

15

Apr

What Lilly Did

Colorado Rockies vs. Chicago Cubs

Some details of Ted Lilly’s one-hit start against Colorado in the Cubs’ home opener on Monday:

  • Lilly faced 23 hitters. Of the 20 he retired in 6 2/3 innings, he fanned 8, retired 2 by ground-out, and got 10 by fly-out. Over his career, Lilly’s ground ball/fly ball ratio has been about 3:4. The higher proportion of fly balls on Monday tracks with Lilly’s performance this spring, when he was tagged for 5 HR in just 11 IP, and in his first start at Houston, when he gave up 4 longballs. On Monday, obviously, nothing left the ballpark.
  • Lilly’s game score on Monday was a 78. That’s his second highest score in Lilly’s 70 starts as a Chicago Cub, however it’s only the fifth highest in the lefty’s career. In August of ‘04, when he threw a three-hit, complete game shutout at the Red Sox while striking out 13 and walking just 2, Lilly set a personal high with a game score of 83.
  • Lilly only threw a first-pitch strike to 12 of the 23 men he faced.

All in all, a brilliant way to open the 2009 home season and set the Cubs on their way to duplicating last year’s consistent excellence at Wrigley Field.

Stats from Baseball-Reference.com, FanGraphs.com, and MLB.com.