Ted Lilly

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Ted Lilly

Chicago Cubs — No. 30
Starting pitcher
Born: January 4, 1976 (1976-01-04) (age 32) Torrance, California
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
Major League Baseball debut
May 14, 1999 for the Montreal Expos
Selected MLB statistics (through May 18, 2008)
Win-Loss	78-70
Earned run average	4.49
Strikeouts	1023
Teams
Montreal Expos (1999) New York Yankees (2000-2002) Oakland Athletics (2002-2003) Toronto Blue Jays (2004-2006) Chicago Cubs (2007-present)
Highlights and awards
All-Star selection (2004)

Theodore Roosevelt "Ted" Lilly III (born January 4, 1976 in Torrance, California), is a starting pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. He bats and throws left-handed. Lilly attended Yosemite High School in Oakhurst, California, and Fresno City College.

[edit] Professional career

[edit] Early Years

Lilly broke into the majors with the Montreal Expos in 1999, pitching in only nine games that year before being traded to the New York Yankees as part of a trade involving Hideki Irabu. ^[1] Lilly played two plus years for the Yankees before being dealt to the Oakland Athletics in a three team deal that included pitchers Jeff Weaver heading to New York and Jeremy Bonderman going to the Detroit Tigers. Lilly was in the starting rotation for Oakland, and pitched in the American League Division Series in both 2002 and 2003.

[edit] 2004 Season

Lilly was traded from the Athletics to the Blue Jays for Bobby Kielty.^[2] He made the American League All-Star team in 2004 as the Jays' lone representative that year.

The highlight of his career as a Blue Jay was a start on August 23, 2004 against the Boston Red Sox. He pitched a complete-game shutout and struck out 13 batters in a three-hit 3-0 victory.

[edit] 2006 Season

Lilly was 15-13 with a 4.31 ERA and 160 strikeouts in 2006, exceeding his previous career high for wins (12). He also equalled a career high for starts (32) and nearly matched his career highs in strikeouts and innings pitched. This season, he ranked first among the Jays' pitching staff in strikeouts and second only to Roy Halladay in wins (Halladay had a 16-5 record before a recurring elbow injury ended his season in late September).

On August 21, 2006, in a game against the Oakland Athletics, Lilly was surrendering an early 8-0 lead in the 3rd inning when manager John Gibbons took him out of the game with the score 8-5 and runners on 1st & 3rd, and Lilly refused to give him the ball. Eventually, he reluctantly left the mound and later feuded with Gibbons in the locker room, though Gibbons attains no punches were thrown. Ted Lilly declared for free agency at the end of the 2006 season, and alongside Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt and Jeff Suppan, was one of the most sought-after free agent pitchers, partially due to the thin market for starting pitching. On the morning of December 6, 2006, Ted informed the Blue Jays that he would not be returning to the club, thus rejecting a four year, $40 million deal. He cited a "change in scenery" as his reasoning. Later on that day, Ted agreed to an identical four year, $40 million deal with the Chicago Cubs, officially ending his tenure with the Blue Jays.^[3]

[edit] 2007 Season

In his first start for the Cubs, Lilly defeated the Cincinnati Reds in a strong outing, taking a no hitter into the fifth inning, and only yielding one earned run over seven innings.^[4] Lilly then was the starting pitcher for the Cubs home opening game at Wrigley Field on April 9, 2007. Lilly gave up three runs in six innings, but did not factor into the decision.^[5] Lilly pitched well in April, lasting at least six innings in each of his five starts while never giving up more than three runs in a game posting a 2.18 ERA.^[6]

Lilly was prominent in a contentious series in Chicago between the Cubs and the Atlanta Braves. In game one of the series, Alfonso Soriano hit three home runs in his first three at-bats as part of a Cubs 9-1 victory^[7]. In the next game, Tim Hudson hit Soriano with a first-pitch fastball triggering home-plate umpire Tim Tschida to issue warnings to both teams^[8]. On the final game of the series, Lilly hit Edgar Rentería in the first inning, and was promptly thrown out of the ballgame by Jim Wolf^[9]. Lilly was not suspended for his actions in the game, although the Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry was disappointed in the apparent double standard applied to the two teams as Hudson was not ejected from the second game.

Lilly enjoyed his best season to date, mainly due to the fact that he cut his walk rate down significantly. An article created by Yahoo Sports revealed Lilly as one of the best offseason signings for the 2007, and he has pitched much better than Barry Zito, who is earning twice as much as Lilly.^[10]

[edit] MLB Stats

current as of October 1, 2007.

[edit] See also

• Montreal Expos all-time roster

[edit] References

[edit] References

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube