Ted Lilly

Infobox MLB player
name = Ted Lilly


width = 300
caption =
team = Chicago Cubs
number = 30
position = Starting pitcher
birthdate = birth date and age|1976|1|4
birthplace = city-state|Torrance|California
bats = Left
throws = Left
debutdate = May 14
debutyear = 1999
debutteam = Montreal Expos
statyear = September 30, 2008
stat1label = Win-Loss
stat1value = 91-75
stat2label = Earned run average
stat2value = 4.40
stat3label = Strikeouts
stat3value = 1,157
teams =
*Montreal Expos (by|1999)
*New York Yankees (by|2000-by|2002)
*Oakland Athletics (by|2002-by|2003)
*Toronto Blue Jays (by|2004-by|2006)
*Chicago Cubs (by|2007-present)
awards =
*All-Star selection (by|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.

Professional career

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. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lillyte01.shtml Ted Lilly] , baseball-reference.com, Retrieved on June 6, 2007.] 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.

2004 Season

Lilly was traded from the Athletics to the Blue Jays for Bobby Kielty. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lillyte01.shtml Ted Lilly] ,baseball-reference.com, Retrieved on June 6, 2007.] 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.

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 maintained no punches were thrown.

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, He 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, Lilly agreed to an identical four year, $40 million deal with the Chicago Cubs, officially ending his tenure with the Blue Jays. [ [http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6246392] , Fox Sports, Retrieved on June 6, 2007]

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. [Wittenmyer, Gordon, [http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/328409,CST-SPT-cub05.article In complete command] ,Chicago Sun-Times, Accessed on June 6, 2007] 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. [Gano, Rick, [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=270409116 Houston 5, Cubs 3] , Yahoo! Sports, Retrieved on June 16, 2007.] 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. [No Author, [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6223 Ted Lilly Stats] , Yahoo! Sports, Retrieved on June 16, 2007.]

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 [Odom, Charles, [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=270608115 Chi Cubs 9, Atlanta 1] , Yahoo! Sports, Retrieved on June 16, 2007] . 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 [Odom, Charles, [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=270609115 Altanta 9, Chi Cubs 5] , Yahoo! Sports, Retrieved on June 16, 2007] . 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 [Henry, George, [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=270610115 Atlanta 5, Chi Cubs 4] , Yahoo! Sports, Retrieved on June 16, 2007] . 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.

MLB Stats

"current as of September 21, 2008."

ee also

* Montreal Expos all-time roster

References

External links