Anthony Rizzo named NL Rookie of the Month; MLB's social media accounts hacked

The Cubs have an off-day today and will play a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the road starting at 9:10 CT tomorrow night.  Jeff Samardzija will start for the Cubs and try for his 8th win of the season.

In Cubs news today, top rookie Anthony Rizzo has been named the National League Rookie of the Month for July.  The first baseman led NL rookies in hits with 32, home runs with 7, RBIs with 17 and total bases with 55.  His seven homers were the most by a Cubs rookie in a calendar month since Mel Hall set the record with nine in August of 1983.

Anthony Rizzo has been named NL Rookie of the Month for July (photo from cubs.com)

Rizzo also finished in third place among NL rookies with a batting average of .330, an on-base percentage of .375 and slugging percentage of .567.  Other Cubs that have earned the award are:  Hee-Sop Choi in April 2003, Geovany Soto in April and August 2008 and Darwin Barney in 2011.

In other baseball news today, MLB's Facebook and Twitter accounts were hacked earlier today.  For a full listing of the hacked posts, here's a link to Deadspin.com.

Former Cub Ryan Dempster will make his first start tonight since being traded just minutes before the MLB trade deadline on July 31st to the Texas Rangers.  The Rangers will face the Los Angeles Angels in Arlington, Texas at 7:05pm CT.  It sure will be strange to see Demp in another team's uniform, but I wish him nothing but the best.

We'll miss you in Chicago, Ryan!

The Cubs acquired Class A Carolina minor league infielder Christian Villanueva and pitcher Kyle Hendricks in the Dempster deal.  The Rangers picked up the remainder of Dempster's salary for the season, equal to $4.67 million.

Villanueva, 21, is batting .285 with 19 double, one triple, 10 homers and 59 RBi in 100 games with Single-A Myrtle Beach this season.  He has a .356 on-base percentage and a .421 slugging percentage.

The Cubs acquired infielder Christian Villanueva in the Ryan Dempster trade

Hendricks, 22, has an ERA of 2.82 (41 ER in 130.2 IP) in 20 starts for Single-A Myrtle Beach this season.  He has struck out 112 and walked just 15 batters in 130.2 innings pitched, which is an average of just 1 walk per nine innings pitched.

The Cubs acquired pitcher Kyle Hendricks in the Ryan Dempster trade