(( Planet Cubs ))

Whatever works, keep it coming!

After smashing four homers last night, the Cubs used outstanding pitching and small-ball tactics to beat the Brewers 2-1, their third straight win and fourth in the last five.

At this writing that puts the Cubs two games out of first place -- which is now inhabited by the Cardinals, who moved 0.5 games ahead of Milwaukee. That's as close as they have been to the top spot in six weeks, since May 17, and moved them over .500 for the first time since June 23. If the Cardinals beat the Reds tonight, the Cubs move into third place. If the Reds beat the Cardinals, the Cubs will be 1.5 games out.

Carlos Zambrano, despite hitting Prince Fielder (he said in his postgame remarks that he was trying to pitch inside and it got away. I believe him, and the pitch that hit Derrek Lee in the bottom of that inning was definitely a purpose pitch. Enough!), had good command today, getting ten outs on ground balls and walking only three. He helped himself with an RBI single in the fifth, tying the game, hitting righthanded against RHP Jeff Suppan. Why? In the postgame press conference, Z revealed that his left wrist has been bothering him, so he decided to hit all righthanded today. Clearly, that didn't bother his pitching.

The Cubs also got a solid inning out of Aaron Heilman and two excellent innings from Kevin Gregg, who undoubtedly will not be available tomorrow after having thrown 40 pitches. Gregg had to get an extra out after Milton Bradley dropped a fly ball. I'm going to say about that play only this: it didn't hurt the team, since no runs scored. And right field in Wrigley is a tough field to play. But I believe an outfielder with the "good defense" reputation Bradley has, must make that play.

Lou hinted that "adjustments" will be made to the lineup tomorrow, not saying what they'd be. I suspect it may include dropping Alfonso Soriano down in the lineup, because at this point he's hurting the team hitting leadoff. Sam Fuld, who came in for defense in the ninth and nearly won the game with a sharp line drive that would have been a game-winning single had it been a couple of feet higher (and what was Mike Fontenot doing straying off 2B in that situation?), might wind up starting in CF or RF tomorrow and leading off.

Meanwhile, there were other heroes: Kosuke Fukudome, who had two walks sandwiching a double play with a runner on third and one out, made the defensive play of the game in the seventh inning, taking a convenient hop on a Fielder single and gunning down Jeff Suppan trying to score. I couldn't believe that the Brewers' 3B coach, Brad Fischer, sent Suppan, with the hot-hitting Casey McGehee due up next and Z about out of gas. But it all worked out in the Cubs' favor.

In the 10th inning, Ryan Theriot singled and went to second on a wild pitch. In retrospect, that was likely the key play of the inning because otherwise, the Brewers probably would have pitched to Bradley with two out. Instead, they put him on and Brewers reliever Mark DiFelice couldn't throw strikes to pinch-hitting Geovany Soto (nice game, incidentally, for backup Koyie Hill, who went 2-for-4 and blocked the plate nicely on the Suppan play), running the count to 3-0 and then also putting him on intentionally. Sometimes when that happens, pitchers lose their command, and DiFelice then ran the count to 3-1 on Jake Fox. Fox decided to swing at 3-1 -- a pitch that was probably a strike -- and fouled it off, then fouled off three more pitches before taking the winning ball four, a really nice at-bat.

It was a team victory, always nice to see, and the Cubs are now 5-3 against the Brewers this year. Keep it going tomorrow.

True Prince Fielder story, relayed to me by a friend who often waits outside Wrigley for autographs while visiting players are arriving. Fielder came in a taxi, got out and signed and posed for photos for about 20 minutes, by all accounts being friendly to everyone. Then one of the people who sells candy for fundraising purposes came up to him with the usual sales pitch. Fielder gave him a $100 bill and took the entire box. True story.

Finally, I wanted to say a couple of words here about the use of profanity during game threads. My own personal policy is that I want to keep profanity, whether mild or rougher, to an absolute minimum here. That said, I understand where, in the heat of the moment in a tense game situation, some profane words can come out. (They do for me in the bleachers, too, and I once wrote on this site regarding this issue, "I don't mind the occasional 'fuck'", which resulted in gales of laughter by virtually everyone here.) So with that in mind, I'd like everyone to relax a little about this issue. If there's a VERY occasional curse word, I'm OK with it -- and don't want anyone to come down too hard on someone else in a game thread. If it gets to be repetitive or abusive toward other posters, though, that's definitely not OK. Hope that clarifies things.

Go Cubs. Keep on this nice roll.

From Thursday's game.

Pitch and win today, Z! No sideshows.

Jeff Suppan (5-6, 4.86 ERA) vs. Carlos Zambrano (4-3, 3.69 ERA)
Story-lines
Yesterday's game was pretty effin' cool.  In a game of offensive bounty (a particularly rare occurrence with the Cubs this year) Derrek Lee reminded us of why we once loved him, back before he got his wrist broken by a guy who might weigh 140 pounds soaking wet and before Lee had the bad luck of grounding into a ton of double plays*.  The decisive victory was nice.  But today's story, at least in my opinion, is Carlos Zambrano.

(*Now, if Rob had made either claim, we'd have people commenting about how Raffy Furcal actually weighs 187 pounds, and how 27 double plays is surely a lot but it would be difficult to assign a physical weight to a statistic.  Then again, in case you hadn't noticed, people are douchebags)

In the past week-or-so, we've had articles written by other douchebags about how Carlos should be waived, or released, or traded.  Why?  Because he's apparently to blame for his meager 4 wins in 13 starts or something, I'm not really sure.

Looking a little closer, we see that Carlos presently has a 3.69 ERA - his best since 2006.  He's striking out 7.16 batters per 9 innings - his best since '07 and damn near a full strikeout better than last year's.  His K/BB is the best it's been since 2005.  None of which is to say that he's pitching like an "ace."

Maybe it's because of his attitude.  Carlos, as you may know, is batshit insane.  When he's not pitching well, he curses loudly at the ball in Spanish.  When he's tossing a no-hitter, he curses loudly at the ball in Spanish.  When he hits homeruns, he curses loudly in Spanish as he rounds the bases.  When he strikes out... well, you get it.  The point is, he's immature.  He doesn't have the Maddux-like poise that we are seeking (ignoring the Maddux rampage in the dugout when he was in his second tenure with the Cubs, anyway).  He throws things.  He ejects umpires.  In the words of some douchebag Cub bloggers, he's a punk. 

I submit that he is none of those things.  Is he immature?  By what standards would we assess that?  Think about yourself and the most frustrating moment you experienced in, say, the past two years.  Did you throw things?  Did you curse loudly at yourself or at others?  Did you pull a Wayne Brady and have to choke a bitch?  Are you immature?  The difference is that you didn't have your meltdown on a national stage, but whether you are 20, or 40, or 80, chances are you've had at least one freak out in the past year that you're ashamed of.  It's called being human and caring about whatever situation you find yourself in -- even if you're wrong for the tantrum you've tempered.

Anyway, let's agree that Carlos will not win 20.  Not this year, probably never, but so long as he remains capable -- if not likely -- of holding opponents to 3 runs or less in a playoff start, then he's my favorite Game One starter.  Of all the other pitchers on the Cubs roster, I trust none more than him.  So, yeah, maybe releasing Zambrano, or trading him, or waiving him... maybe those are all really, really stupid ideas.

Who's Hot
Derrek Lee -- As somebody said in the ShoutBox, Lee had a good week last night.  He smacked 2 homers, drove in 7 RBI, and is probably the most legitimate All Star caliber player the Cubs have this year. 

Geovany Soto -- Admit it.  When I speculated about a month ago that Soto was on the cusp of having a decent season, you were doubtful.  When I suggested that he could finish the year with a .260+ batting average and 15 or more homeruns, you wanted to challenge me to a fistfight due to my blatant, reality-disregarding optimism.   

Well, based on his recent performance, Geovany is now on pace to hit 19 homeruns.  He batted .278 in May, but with only 1 homer, 10 RBI, and a .731 OPS.  In June he batted .257 but with 6 homeruns, 12 RBI, and a .916 OPS.  There's no doubt that he won't finish the season as impressively as he did in 2008, but at this point he appears likely to not be a sophomore bust.  And if he can keep hitting like he did in June but with perhaps a bit of a better AVG, then the Cubs offense just might be good to go in July and beyond.

Jake Fox -- Between him and Randy Wells, Jake Fox has been one reason Cub fans can look forward to not just how 2009 might turn out, but toward 2010 and beyond.  Probably Fox is not as good as he's looked in Iowa and Chicago, but ever since Lou started playing him he has responded with hitting the ball.  For the moment, Fox is on pace to have 284 at bats, 24 doubles, 14 homers, and 57 RBI while batting .317.  Sooner or later he will probably return to earth, or he'll lose opportunities to play -- unless the Cubs can figure out a way to wedge him in there.

Ryan Theriot -- Theriot is batting .348 in the past week with 7 singles and 1 homerun accounting for all his hits. 

Who's Not
Bradley, Fukudome, Soriano -- Combined, they've spent the past week going 14 for 63, a .222 AVG, with 1 homer and 4 RBI between them.  The only way these players should be batting consecutively in the lineup is if they're 6 through 8th.  Just saying.

Conclusions
With Jeff Suppan taking the ball for the Brewers and Carlos Zambrano on the mound for the Cubs, in a home game with a handful of hot hitters, the Cubs should absolutely flat-out dominate this game.  Of course, by now we know that "should" rarely translates into "did."  Still, I have to like the Cubs chances.  They've already beaten the best pitcher the Brewers were throwing at them this series while their own rotation should get stronger throughout the weekend. 

So I'll just put it like this, then...

Is anybody besides me excited for this afternoon's game?

One thing Lou Piniella has been about in his time as Cubs manager is playing young players when they produce. Ryan Theriot pretty much forced Lou to keep him as the starting SS in 2007 with a great spring. Mike Fontenot, same thing in getting to the major league roster and getting more playing time. And Micah Hoffpauir impressed Lou in last year's spring training and played himself into a bench role after several years mashing minor league pitching.

Sam Fuld, and granted it's only been two days, is making his case to at least play while he's hot, and maybe stick around as a bench player when everyone's healthy (hmmm. Couldn't he have done everything Joey Gathright was supposed to do, only better?). Me, I'd rotate Fuld through the outfield for the next few days, giving Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome and Milton Bradley days off on a rotating basis. Keep that bat, good fielding, baserunning speed and enthusiasm in the lineup until he cools off. Bruce Miles agrees.

Remember when Aramis Ramirez got hurt and we all hoped the Cubs could at least keep pace until he returned? That's exactly what they've done -- still 2.5 games behind, exactly where they were on May 8. And they could get a couple games closer before A-Ram's return on Monday.

And for those of you who want Lou to show some fire, maybe you should think again. You don't want to put him in the hospital, do you?

"I'm done with that," Piniella said Thursday of questions about his famous fiery approach. "You know, my chest was hurting after the ballgame. The trainer told me to take a nice, cold shower. I don't know why I had to answer that before.

"I went out and argued and I got kicked out, so now I don't have to answer that question anymore."

Today's Starting Pitchers

Carlos Zambrano Cubs vs. Jeff Suppan Brewers 4-3 W-L 5-6 3.69 ERA 4.86 66 SO 47 35 BB 37 7 HR 13 vs. Mil -- vs. Cubs

The Cubs have already beaten Jeff Suppan twice this year, on April 12 and May 10. Alfonso Soriano homered off Suppan once in each of those games, so I guess it might make sense to put Soriano back in the lineup today. Those are the only two HR he has hit off Suppan, though, and in his career he's hitting only .209 vs. Suppan. Derrek Lee, though, is 21-for-47 (.447) vs. Suppan with 7 doubles, 4 HR and nine walks.

Z gave up three ER in six innings and got a no-decision vs. Milwaukee on April 11. Prince Fielder, who hits almost everyone, hits Z, too: 11-for-30 (.367), 5 doubles, 2 HR, eight walks. In his career Z is 10-8, 3.68 vs. the Brewers in 24 appearances (23 starts).

Today's game is again on CSN Chicago and FSN Wisconsin. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Overflow comment threads will post today at 2:15 pm, 3:15 pm and 4 pm CDT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

I'm taking the weekend off from TCR to spend some much needed time with the family, although I probably will be around parachat for some of the games. We did have a decent chat crowd last night for the opener which always makes it more fun.

....Neal Cotts had Tommy John Surgery.

....Alfonso Soriano will be back at leadoff and left field today.

...Aramis Ramirez, Reed Johnson and Angel Guzman should be back Monday, goodbye Kevin Hart, Sam Fuld and ? (I assume one of Fox, Hoffpauir or Fontenot). Honestly, that Jeff Baker trade is making no sense. I assumed Ryan Freel was going to be the casualty of Aramis returning, but the Cubs created a bigger log jam with the acquisition. There's no doubt that Fox is hot and can handle major league pitching and while he sure hasn't been smooth in the field, he's made the plays so far. Ramirez isn't going to be able to play every day, so wouldn't you want Fox around on those days that he can't play and to give Bradley and Soriano some breaks (a lot more breaks)? I could see Fontenot getting sent down as he's just stunk up the joint, particularly over the last month, but that means committing to a Blanco/Baker second base platoon and having only three middle infielders which Lou doesn't seem to like.  I think Blanco is safe by virtue of being the only capable back-up shortstop on the team, safe at least until Aaron Miles returns.

I guess the answers will come Monday...Happy 4th!

"Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Tomorrow marks the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's timeless declaration, made during Yankee Stadium ceremonies in his honor on July 4, 1939. If you want to remember Gehrig's courage and support the outstanding work being done today, you can be a part of the Les Turner ALS Foundation's 15th Annual Lou Gehrig Day at Wrigley Field on Sunday, July 26. The event begins at 11:00am with a pregame party at the Vic Theatre emceed by WXRT's Lin Brehmer and follows the Reds-Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Tickets are $110 per person ($85 for kids 10 & under) and can be purchased by contacting the Les Turner ALS...

So. We will probably debate certain aspects of baseball philosophy forever. For example, while drowning in a sea of pessemism as of late, I have recently thrown out a lifeline by way of poining out how the Cubs are in an excellent position to give Brewer and Cardinal fans anxiety disorders. That is something Rob will disagree with staunchly even though doing so ignores that, were the Cubs in first place right now and had they just suffered a 9 to 5 loss to the fourth place Brewers, he'd be crapping his pants just as badly.

But while certain things are and always will be debated, I'm pretty sure that by this point we can all come together and agree that Derrek Lee was not in fact washed up after the 2008 season. The declining power? Probably an indication of nursing injuries more than anything else. The double plays? Just bad luck, fluke, and coincidence wrapped up in a nice bow. The Hoffsplooge love? Perhaps a little premature.

Last night for the second time this season Derrek had a two homerun game. The difference from the first, though, was that he did it with lots of runners on base. Derrek started things off in the first with a three-run homer -- amazing the things that can happen if your leadoff hitter manages to actually get on base -- and he was followed up two batters later by Jake Fox's 3rd. Then, after the Brewers came within 2 runs of the lead, Geovany Soto smoked his 8th homerun of the year* Derrek stepped up again -- this time with the bases loaded -- and hit a Grand Slam. It would be the last time the Cubs would score, but it would also be the last time they needed to -- even though the Brewers nicked back runs in the 6th through 8th innings, it was never close.

(*"Smoked his 8th homerun of the year?" Heh. Puns.)

Lee is now on pace to hit 33 homeruns, to drive in 112 RBI, and to have the second-highest OPS of his career with the Cubs. After only playing 65 games, he is 4 homeruns shy of last year's total. At GROTA we believe in flexibility in both women and baseball, and so while many of us argued that Lee was best-suited to bat 6th a few months ago I'm sure we'd all agree now that he should remain the #3 hitter for as long as his hot bat justifies it.

As for Ryan Dempster, the bad-luck Cubs starter, he pitched into the 7th, striking out 9, raising his ERA to 4.09, but collecting his 5th win of the season. It wasn't perhaps the ideal start but we'll take it.

The Cubs are now 2.5 games out of first. If they are able to win this series, they will be no more than 1.5 games behind the Brewers when Milwaukee leaves town. If the Cubs sweep, they might not find themselves settled in at first place (the Cardinals and Reds would still have a say in that) but they would be, at least temporarily, ahead of the Brewers in the standings.

Just food for thought.

Let's put to rest the idea -- if anyone still has it -- that Derrek Lee is declining. Since May 1, when he was hitting .189, he has 13 HR and 38 RBI in 46 games and is hitting .326/.408/.594 in that time frame.

D-Lee's three-run homer and grand slam -- both hit in the first four innings -- led the Cubs to a convincing 9-5 win over the Brewers, making the first "statement" that they're not going away in this tight division race. Only 2.5 games now separate the top four teams in the NL Central; the Cardinals' win over the Giants last night put them in a first-place tie with Milwaukee. The Cubs also edged back to one game behind the Brewers in the loss column, and Jake Fox and Geovany Soto also homered. Since May 12, Soto is hitting .277/.368/.515 with 8 HR and 22 RBI in 35 games started -- these numbers are very close to those he put up last year. If he can keep up this pace, he'll be just fine.

With his career-high seven RBI in the first four innings, D-Lee had a shot at the team record for RBI in a game -- nine, set by Heinie Zimmerman on June 11, 1911, and tied by Sammy Sosa on August 10, 2002, against the Rockies in Denver. Lee got only one more shot after the grand slam, and he hit a ball hard, but right to Mike Cameron. He was on deck in the last of the eighth when Ryan Theriot flew to right to end that inning.

The grand slam was Lee's second of the season and tenth of his career; that puts him in an 11th-place tie on the active player grand slam list, tied with Torii Hunter. The grand slam was caught on Waveland Avenue on the fly by Ballhawk Dave (thanks to our own ballhawk, Ken, for the tweeted info last night on this snag.)

Enough of the records. Ryan Dempster threw into the seventh inning and came a Mike Fontenot bobble away from finishing that inning; two batters later he gave up a single to Ryan Braun and Lou pulled him after 109 pitches (68 strikes) to a warm ovation. Dempster seemingly effortlessly struck out nine and only once, in the fifth inning, did his command desert him briefly. He walked Brewers reliever Chris Smith -- who had exactly one career AB before last night, what is it about these guys that makes pitchers suddenly unable to throw strikes? -- and Craig Counsell before ending the inning. Despite allowing a pair of homers, Dempster was never in trouble because of Lee's big day. Carlos Marmol was a bit shaky in the ninth inning, issuing a two-out walk to Prince Fielder (although, to be fair, it appeared Marmol wanted no part of challenging Fielder, throwing him nothing but breaking balls). He finished up by getting ex-Cub Casey McGehee (and raise your hand if you knew McGehee would be doing this well) on a called third strike, but not before Kevin Gregg had started to loosen up in the pen.

Sam Fuld continued his fine play, getting a pair of hits for the second day in a row. During his postgame remarks, Lou hedged when asked if Fuld would play again today. "We'll see," was his response. It appears Alfonso Soriano will return to the lineup today, but it's possible that Fuld will continue to play as long as he's hot (Lou often does this, riding the hot hand), perhaps spelling Kosuke Fukudome in CF for a day, and then Milton Bradley in RF for a day. Fuld is giving Lou and Jim Hendry a tough choice to make on Monday. That's the day three Cubs -- Angel Guzman, Aramis Ramirez and Reed Johnson -- will all return from the DL. Kevin Hart is the likely returnee to Iowa for Guzman, but who will go for Ramirez? Andres Blanco? He's played fine defense and is the only true backup SS. And will Fuld return to Iowa for Johnson? Stay tuned.

A final word about the booing I heard for Bradley in his first three at-bats last night, which resulted in a strikeout and two groundouts. You all know that I haven't been a big Bradley fan, but that booing is uncalled for and I did not join in. I think that sort of thing should be reserved for someone who isn't giving an honest effort. There's no doubt in my mind that Milton Bradley is absolutely, positively trying his best and giving 100% effort. He's just not succeeding right now. I truly do hope he turns it around. As long as he's wearing the blue pinstripes, we as fans, and his teammates, need him to succeed.

This morning's game preview thread will post at 11:30 am CDT.

A quick note. There will be a minor league wrap for tomorrow, but I can't guarantee that it will be posted tomorrow. I'm on my way to Boise, where I will see the Hawks play.

Iowa Cubs

It wasn't as good of a pitcher's duel as yesterday, but the Iowa Cub pitchers did outduel the Oklahoma City RedHawks pitchers, 2-1.

J.R. Mathes improved his record to 8-5 by allowing only one run on a solo home run over six innings. Mathes scattered seven hits total and walked three. He struck out one.

Blake Parker notched his eighth save with a perfect ninth. He struck out one.

Right fielder John-Ford Griffin hit his second home run for Iowa in the sixth. Griffin was 1 for 4 with the one RBi.

Tennessee Smokies

The Smokies were outdazzled by the Huntsville Stars, 4-3.

Starter Jay Jackson allowed only one run on four hits over four innings. Jackson struck out five and walked only two.

Todd Blackford got the loss, allowing three runs on four hits and two walks over 2.2 innings.

Third baseman Marquez Smith was 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI. Catcher Mark Reed was 2 for 3 with a run scored. First baseman Doug Deeds scored once in a 2 for 4 night.

Daytona Cubs

The Daytona Cubs were nailed by the Jupiter Hammerheads, 2-1.

Chris Carpenter had a really strong start in his High-A debut. He pitched six shutout inning, allowing only four hits and a walk. Carpenter struck out five.

Luke Sommer got the loss in relief. Sommer gave up two runs on five hits over 2.2 innings. Sommer struck out four.

Third baseman Josh Vitters was 2 for 4 and scored a run. Center fielder Tony Campana went 2 for 4 and stole a base.

Peoria Chiefs

The Chiefs extinguished the Kane County Cougars, 3-1.

Chris Archer had another five shutout innings tonight to grab the win. He allowed three hits. He struck out four and walked only one. I'll take that over the five no-hit innings he threw last time out but with five walks.

Chris Huseby got his eighth save with a scoreless ninth inning. He gave up one hit and struck out two.

Left fielder Josh Harrison was 3 for 4 with his fourth home run of the season. Second baseman Ryan Flaherty hit his tenth home run of the year in a 2 for 4 game. Both homers were solo shots.

Boise Hawks

The Korean Junior National Team Boise Hawks lost to the Tri-City Dust Devils, 6-5.

Starter Su-Ming Jung lasted only 2.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits. Both runs scored on a two-run home run. Jung struck out one.

Left fielder Jae-Hoon Ha was 2 for 4. Shortstop Hak-Ju Lee went 1 for 4 with a double and a walk. He stole two bases and scored twice. So far, Lee is hitting .340 with a .426 OBP and seven steals in 12 games.

AZL Cubs

Beat the Mariners, 6-5.

Center fielder Brett Jackson was 3 for 5 with a triple and two RBI. He scored all three times. He did strike out his other two times up.

Get that guy up to Boise before I get there.

Seth McClung (3-1, 3.56 ERA) vs. Ryan Dempster (4-5, 4.09 ERA)
Story-Lines
I think that Kyle summed it up rather nicely when he wrote: "THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SERIES OF OUR ENTIRE LIVES."

The Cubs are a team who have been under-performing so often this year that it's hard to justify the inclusion of "under" in that description nowadays.  They have ungodly talented hitters who just aren't hitting.  They've got relief pitchers with ice water in their veins who are about as reliable as a tool bought at a Dollar Store.  They've got a manager with winning in his blood who can't seem to do anything right. 

And now they've got a chance to hurdle their way above the first place Brewers in one fell swoop. 

Well, sadly my friends this is not the movies.  Willie Mays Hays isn't here to make some kind of impressive (and entirely unrealistic) base-stealing play.  Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn is neither here to notch an impressive victory nor to sleep with all the hookers of Division Street.  The Cubs could leapfrog the Brewers but it would take some kind of minor -- nay, major -- miracle for it to actually happen.

Still, let's just think about it for a second.  The Cubs, sweeping the Brewers, smacking around the Braves, and then demolishing the Cardinals.  That feeling in your gut that you had just now?  That's optimism, my friends.  Cherish it while you can.

Who's Hot
Jake Fox - 9 for his last 27, batting .333 with 2 homeruns

Geovany Soto - 7 for his last 23, batting .304 with a double, triple, and homer

Sam Fuld - 2 for 4 this season.  Actually I just wanted to mention him as a way to congratulate him on getting his first-ever major league hits, and for making another outstanding defensive play recently.  Fuld may come from the Doug Dascenzo School of Athleticism, but I'd say he's earned a stay in the Majors based on his head-breaking hard play.

Dave Patton - As mentioned perhaps by Nick V (sorry I can't remember for sure, it may also have been AJ) since April 29th, Patton's line is as follows: 13.2 IP, 13 hits, 7 BB, 4 ER, 2.63 ERA.  I'm not sold on Patton, but used sparingly and if he can pitch this effectively then I'll take back most of the mean things I've said about his mother.  (But she's still a hater of cheese)

Kevin Gregg - His May line: 11.2 IP, 7 saves, 3.86 ERA.  His June line: 13 IP, 5 saves (2 blown), 2.77 ERA. 

Who's Not
In the name of optimism, we'll skip this one. 

Conclusions
I made this point earlier in the day and I will make it again now.

Stop being a Cubs fan for a second.  Pretend you support the Brewers or Cardinals, and you always have.

It's July 2nd.  The team favored to win your division has been struggling along all season long.  And here's your team, a mere 4 -- or 8 -- games over .500, only 3.5 -- or 2.5 -- games ahead of the dangerous, sluggish Cubs.

Tell me you're not worried.  Tell me that you have written the Cubs off.  Tell me either of those things and I will call you a liar and an idiot.

We are so caught up in our Cubbie Mentality that we've forgotten a few things ... all the crap that's ever happened means nothing this year.  If the Cubs and Brewers were in opposite places in the standings, we'd be crapping our collective drawers right now.  So rather than taking this pervasive, unending perspective that these are the Cubs -- so of course they'll falter and eventually fade -- maybe we should consider that maybe, just maybe, talent will win out.

That's not being an optimist, or a Pollyellon, by any means.  It is simply recognizing that -- say it with me now -- the Cubs are not cursed.  Get over this ridiculous sense of hopelessness and have some frickin' balls for once, Cub fans!

Overview
Let’s see, how do I put this modestly? Hmmm. Ah screw it.

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SERIES OF OUR ENTIRE LIVES.

Well, not really. But I it’s kind of important or something. Think of it this way: If the Cubs sweep this 4-game series with the Brewers, then they could be in first place. However if they are swept, then they could be in last. Thanks mediocre NL Central.

Anyway, the Brewers come in 5-5 over their last 10 games with their most recent game being a 1-0 loss to the Mets at home. Milwaukee was 5-4 at Wrigley last season and this will be their first trip to the Cathedral in ‘09.

As for the Cubs, they’re coming off a hellish road trip (3-7) that has had players and fans alike tearing each other apart. Let me just say thank God for the Pirates. Taking two of three from Shatsburgh was probably more important for the confidence of this team than we realize. The Cubs should be carrying some of that momentum into the series (the important word here is “should”).

The Matchups
Thursday, July 2nd - Seth McClung vs. Ryan Dempster
McClung (Milwaukee’s more ginger and right-handed version of Sean Marshall) made his first start of the season against the Giants at home and was knocked around quite a bit. Being used mostly as a relief pitcher this season, I’d guess it will take a him a few more starts to stretch out the arm. So I’d expect him to be out by the fifth inning. Getting to McClung early and working high pitch counts should be the offense’s goal.

Dempster seems to pitch better at Wrigley this season than on the road, so he’s got that going for him. Hopefully the comforts of home will help Demp get a handle on his control because this dude needs to stop walking people. Unfortunately the Brewers are 2nd in the NL in walks. Fear the walk people.

Friday, July 3rd - Jeff Suppan vs. Carlos Zambrano
Guess what Phil Rogers? Carlos Zambrano is still on the Chicago Cubs. Yet amazingly you still have a job. It’s a crazy world we live in.

So what if Big Z is a little loco. At least someone on this team is showing some passion. I don’t expect things to change Friday and I’m thinking Scarlos has one of his better outings of the season.

As for Suppan, what can I say? The guy is the definition of “meh”-ish. The elements are ripe for a beat down.

Saturday, July 4th - Braden Looper vs. Rich Harden
Another Cardinals reject and another saucy matchup for the Cubs. Although Looper held the Cubs to only one run in five innings earlier this season, I like it when this lineup faces familiar foes.

Welcome back Rich Harden. Sure your gem was against the Pirates – whom my 72-year-old grandmother could probably throw a scoreless inning against based on the way they played this past series – but I tip my hat to you sir. Maybe this is the start of a dominating run for Rich…or maybe he’ll go to Wrigley and stink it up like he has all season (2-3 with a 6.31 ERA at home).

Sunday, July 5th – Mike Burns vs. Ted Lilly
Me likey Ted Lilly at Wrigley. Especially his 1.85 ERA while pitching at the Friendly Confines this season. I can’t remember the last time I saw a pitcher on the Cubs roster who was so consistently dominant at Wrigley and so consistently subpar on the road. Then again, I also drink a lot.

I really don’t know much about Mike Burns and I’m just trying to make it through this paragraph without referencing a “Simpsons” joke. What I can tell you is that this will be his first start on the road. Pretty tough considering it is at Wrigley during a primetime broadcast. I wish him nothing but back luck

Conclusion
If this series were being played in Milwaukee, I would be deeply worried. But it’s not, so tough nards for the Brewers. Not facing Yovani Gallardo means the Cubs have the starting pitching advantage across the board, which tells me it is imperative for the offense to score early. The Brewers’ bullpen has been surprisingly solid this season (especially Trevor Hoffman), so don’t expect many come-from-behind wins if the Cubs are trailing late.

I’m not going to predict a sweep either way, but the Cubs should win 3 of 4 if the starting pitching continues to give quality starts.

Go Cubs.

Win one for Riley, Ryan.

Nice work by 27-year old Sam Fuld last night. That's the way to have a major league season debut. It's also the way to lead off. Many noticed this, including Bruce Miles with some not so veiled criticism of the guy Fuld replaced in the lineup:

Fuld also saw a total of 26 pitches in his 5 plate appearances, showing ideal patience for a leadoff hitter. That's something rarely seen in Soriano, whose batting average has plummeted to .230 after a miserable June in which he hit .198 and struck out 23 times while drawing 10 walks.

Soriano's on-base percentage, a vital statistic at the top of the order, has sunk to .296, the lowest of any of the Cubs' everyday players.

"I talked to (Soriano Tuesday) and told him about players around the league getting some time off and that it might have helped them," Piniella told reporters before the game. "I told him that's what I planned to do. So we'll see."

Give him another day off, Lou.

We have the big holiday weekend coming up and the big four-game series to go with it. The Milwaukee Brewers lead the NL Central by a game over the St. Louis Cardinals and 3.5 up on our Cubs. The Brewers are fourth in the NL in runs scored...the Cubs 15th. On the flip side, they are 10th in Runs Allowed and the Cubs are third. As the saying goes, something has to give...

As you'd expect, the pitching matchups favor the Cubs the entire weekend - Seth McClung versus Dempster tonight,  Suppan vs Zambrano tomorrow, Looper vs. Harden on Saturday and Mike Burns vs. Ted Lilly to close the series on Sunday. 

Soriano will sit again tonight, but will be back at the top of the lineup tomorrow. Reed Johnson and Aramis Ramirez start a rehab assignment in Peoria tomorrow and should be joined by Angel Guzman in rejoining the team on Monday.

Tonight's lineup: Fuld (LF), Theriot, Lee, Bradley, Fox, Fukudome, Soto, Fontenot and Dempster.

Go Cubs! 

By this time a year ago, the Brewers had already played two series at Wrigley Field. Instead, in 2009, the Cubs have played two series in Milwaukee -- splitting the six games -- and welcome the visitors from up I-94 to Chicago for the first time in 2009. The Cubs had the best ERA in the NL in June -- 3.18 -- but, for reasons we are all well familiar with, had their second losing month of the year (yesterday, I posted that it was the first losing month since August 2007, but the Cubs went 10-11 in April 2009). If the bats can get turned on and the pitching remains consistent, wins will follow.

And, though I suppose we shouldn't expect the "old" Aramis Ramirez back right away -- even he says he's not 100% -- he's headed for a rehab assignment starting tomorrow, and:

If all goes well, the plan is to bring him back for the start of the series with the Braves on Monday.

That's ten days earlier than I had hoped he'd be back (right after the All-Star break), and the Cubs can use an A-Ram at even 85-90% of efficiency.

Interesting take from Chris DeLuca on the dynamic between Jim Hendry and Lou Piniella. I wasn't in favor of signing Raul Ibanez last off season; apparently Lou was, but Hendry wasn't:

Piniella's preference on the free-agent market for a left-handed bat was Raul Ibanez. And despite a recent poll suggesting many of today's players would rather avoid working for Piniella, Ibanez was not among them. They know each other well from their days together with the Seattle Mariners, and Ibanez told the Sun-Times last winter he loved playing for Piniella and was interested in the Cubs.

But Hendry focused on Bradley right out of the box and struck a handshake deal with the controversial player in December, though a final deal couldn't be completed until Hendry took care of some payroll shuffling.

This is not to suggest Hendry and Piniella have drifted off the same page, but the dynamic seems to have changed.

Today's Starting Pitchers

Ryan Dempster Cubs vs. Seth McClung Brewers 4-5 W-L 3-1 4.09 ERA 3.55 80 SO 30 42 BB 25 11 HR 6 vs. Mil -- vs. Cubs

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Seth McClung's numbers this year look decent. And his career numbers vs. the Cubs look very good (17.2 innings in 10 relief appearances, 2.55 ERA). And then you look at his career numbers starting (16-24, 5.71 in 50 career starts) and tonight's chances look much better. It would be another good day to sit Alfonso Soriano, who is 1-for-15 lifetime vs. McClung. Kosuke Fukudome is 4-for-6. McClung has never started against the Cubs and he didn't throw too well in his only start so far this year, five days ago vs. the Giants. (And would someone please give him some smile pills?)

Ryan Dempster has faced the Brewers twice already this year, winning on April 12 and losing on May 9. Lifetime he's 8-2, 2.45 vs. Milwaukee and the only one of the Brewers who really pounds him is, strangely enough, Jason Kendall (16-for-43, .419, 3 doubles, 5 walks).

Tonight's game is on CSN Chicago and FSN Wisconsin. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

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Here is where I usually link to the opponent's SBN site. I'm going to do it anyway, even though I know BCB readers haven't been welcomed with open arms at the "other" BCB. Brew Crew Ball.

Overflow comment threads will post today at 7 pm, 8 pm and 8:45 pm CDT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Uh, not really.

Jeff Baker, the Rockie backup corner infielder, who is hitting even worse than any of the Cubs, is now all ours. 

This is curious, considering we now have four first-basemen on the 25 man roster (the team has not as of yet revealed who will be going down - it better not be Blanco).  Also curious since we will probably get ARam back on Monday. 

Nope, THIS is not the trade that will bring me back into the fold of Kool-Aid drinking zealots.  But I don't see how it can hurt, either, Alberto Alberquerque be damned.

Update: Ryan Freel just got DFA'd to make room for Baker. Works for me! -AJ

For those of you who have screamed, about various players, "DFA! DFA!", today you got your wish.

Jeff Baker was acquired from Colorado for minor league pitcher Alberto Alburquerque, and he will be activated tonight (and wear #28). Ryan Freel was designated for assignment; that means he is removed from the 40-man roster, and within 10 days the Cubs have to either trade him, send him to the minors if he clears waivers, or release him.

* These teams have split their first six meetings of the season (all at Miller Park). The clubs have also split their last 18 meetings at Wrigley Field. * The Brewers were defeated, 1-0, by the Mets on Wednesday, marking the second time in their last four games that they have been shut out. Milwaukee is 21-10 against NL Central opponents this season.   * The Cubs have won five of their last six home games and will be looking to extend their current win streak at Wrigley Field to five in a row. * Seth McClung will be making his second start of the season and his first career start against the Cubs. * Chicago has lost each...

Tonight - Bill Kurtis Friday, July 3 - Bob Uecker Saturday, July 4 - Len Kasper Sunday, July 5 - Greg Olsen, Chicago Bears Monday, July 6 - Erik Estrada - 70's Night Tuesday, July 7 - Tom Dreesen Wednesday, July 8 - TBD Friday, July 10 - Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks Saturday, July 11 - Brad Miller, Chicago Bulls Sunday, July 12 (day-night doubleheader)             *12:05pm:         Kurt Busch, NASCAR             *7:05pm:          Ron Santo...

It's pretty astonishing to see all these kids running around, either just out of Triple A or semi-close to it, when my overall impression of the team is pretty much veteran.

If these Cubs are going to do anything in October, they've gotta be able to take a regular season, three-game series from a team like the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Fortunately, they were able to do that today.

Aside from Randy Wells continuing to outdo himself, the story from tonight's game has to be the pleasantly surprising performance of one Sam Fuld. Sam went 2-for-4 from the leadoff spot, including a double to start a game, and also walked once.

One other special surprise: Fukudome hit a home run! Crazy!

One more Randy Wells comment: he's chalked up another start in which he allowed one or fewer extra base hits. His allowed slugging percentage is a paltry .328 at this point.

It kinda feels like the Cubs can't win unless they hold the opposing team to zero or one runs. Fortunately, they've been able to do that fairly consistently.

Kudos to Wells, Fuld, the Fook-ster, Derrek Lee, and perhaps most importantly, the New York Mets, who took down the Brewers tonight. Three and a half out, with a whole half-season to go!

Additional Notes from Kurt
Although the Cubs held the lead all night, Lou Piniella finally exploded in a fit of ANGER and got himself expelled from the game.

The short of this series is that -- although the Cubs got shut out by a pitcher coming soon to a softball game near you -- the Cubs took 2 of 3 on a road series (something they haven't done a lot this year) against a crappy team overplaying their talent. Naysayers -- also known in some circles as "realists" -- will point out that beating the Pirates means about as much as successfully breathing. But I say that, on the contrary, every win is important even if they are to be expected. Besides, the Cubs are playing two out of their next three series against the Brewers and Cardinals -- if they had entered the up-coming four gamer after having lost to the Pirates, I think we'd all be going to games with our hangin' nooses around our necks.

I will say that I completely understand the negativity -- obviously. We've been saying since May that the Cubs are only a few games out, and all they need to do is string together a series of wins and it will suddenly be their division to lose. That's true but it's a lot harder than a three-dozen-or-so word sentence makes it out to be. In fact we've been saying it for so long that the season has now slipped into July, with the All Star Game looming. And we're probably wrong for feeling this way but the Cubs are playing with every appearance of time running out on them before they get their acts together.

Then again, if we were fans of the Brewers or Cardinals, I suspect that in our secret places we would be pissed off and perhaps even a little terrified of the fact that our teams have failed to spread the field with a team as potent as the Cubs creeping along behind them.

Perhaps we are so used to this being the Cubs, for gawdssakes, that we are forgetting how we would feel if the Cubs were in the place of the Cardinals right now. We'd be in a panic. We'd be furious at our team for failing to take advantage of a weak division. In other words, even if things were different we'd still be acting the same -- and that says a lot about our sanity or lack thereof. So I'll conclude my tack-on recap with the following, indesputable (not even by you, Rob) observation:

Perhaps it really still is ours to lose.

Rob: indisputable.  Anyway, only a moron would state that, statistically, the Cubs are out of the running when they are 3.5 games out with 85 games to go.

However, the Cubs have played .493 ball this year.  It is indisputable that they have the capability to play better ball.  You may believe they will, due to the logic that they are better than this.  I have not seen anything thus far in 2009 to lead me to believe that they are.  They have looked like a .500 team from day one.  They have some decent days, and some miserable ones. 

So do we all, I suppose.  Then again, I haven't deluded myself into thinking I am going to win the Employee of the Year at my job, and I am also not going to delude myself into thinking that we will win four more games than the Brewers AND the Cardinals the rest of the way.  The Brewers have a better lineup than we do on our best days, and the Cardinals are better managed, both Generally and on the Field. 

So, unless we make a good trade, or unless guys like Soto, Bradley, Zambrano and Soriano do an about-face, we won't be able to make up even the meager deficit we have now. 

Current Record: 37-38
Position in the NL Central: 4th place, 3.5 games out
Best Possible Record: 124-38
Worst Possible Record: 37-125
Record needed to win 110: 73-14
On Pace For: 80-82

The Cubs countered the Cardinals acquisition of Mark DeRosa with one of their own, acquiring 2B/3B Jeff Baker from the Colorado Rockies. It's like countering a handgun with a slingshot. Seemingly running out of players to put on the disabled list, Baker is already on it with a left hand sprain suffered back in April, so he should fit right in with the Cubs. He did start a rehab assignment in mid-June, so I presume he's ready to play again and the Rockies were just out of roster space.

The player the Cubs are sending back is unknown at the moment, most likely a player to be named later.

UPDATE: The Cubs send Hi-A Daytona pitcher, Alberto Albequerque to the Rockies. I can't tell you anything about him other than he was having a nice season for the Cubs and he had shoulder surgery back in April of 2008.

UPDATE #2: The Cubs will DFA Ryan Freel to make room on the roster. They have 10 days to try and trade him for a spare minor league part, but chances are he'll just get released.

The Iowa Cubs haven't scored since practically before Sam Fuld got married and that was over a week ago here in Des Moines. While Fuld's big league honeymoon continues his ex-mates have been one-upping the C-Cubs in offensive futility.

Last night the team dropped its second straight 1-0 tilt, and this one went 14 innings. Post-game fireworks displays scheduled for the next two nights may have to wake up the expected large crowds if the silly between innings sideshows can't keep them alert.

Josh Hamilton's in town but the Okey City Redhawks didn't take batting practice last night [glad I got to the park early for that]. Neither did the home team. Hey, after more than two dozen zeroes were hung on the scoreboard, I can see why neither team felt the need to do some pregame hitting.

Hamilton went 1-7 as the leadoff DH. Tonight he'll play CF. I wonder what the Cubs did with the 50k they got for doing the Reds the courtesy of snatching Hamilton in the '06 Rule V and routing him to Cincy. The guy's been out for a couple months with a torn stomach muscle and still matches up pretty well with our man from the Pacific Rim in HR's & RBI's, though The Fuker does a much better pirouette coming out of the box. 

Freshly demoted Jose Ascanio started last night as the organization's majors/minors/rotation/bullpen cha-cha featuring he and Samardzija [Little Z?] plays on. If he was angry at all he took it out on the Redhawks. In the first three innings Ascanio fanned seven, four of 'em looking. Apparently the plate ump was the only one who could see the ball since the pitcher was in the sun and the batters in the shadows for the first few frames. Plus, Ascanio was repeatedly registering 97 on the scoreboard radar screen, the highest number I can remember seeing posted there. It's usually thought to be 2-3 mph slow.

In the 4th he tired visibly so I finally got a chance to see Darwin Barney and his touted glove go to work. First impressions were mixed. He just did get a fleet runner on his first chance, a routine grounder to short. The next batter bounced one over the mound which Barney scooped up and then threw wide of the bag. The play was scored an infield hit but wasn't particularly impressive for someone whose glove is supposed to be their calling card. Later in the inning he made a nice dig and just late tag on a steal of second before nearly sneaking in behind the runner and picking him off of the base he'd just swiped. Suddenly Barney was getting almost as much action as the catcher.

At the plate he went 1-5 in his Triple A debut. He gets bonus points because the song they play when he bats is "Gimme Some Lovin."

In contrast to Ascanio's dart and flame throwing display were the two perfect innings of work turned in by none other than El Duque. The left leg kick isn't quite as high these days but it's still fun to watch the guy pitch. He tossed everything but the kitchen sink up there, none of it faster than 85. One especially lethargic offering finally reached the hitting area putt-putting along @ 53 mph. It was taken for a strike.

Let me just tell you that last night was a beautiful one here with temps in the 70's and a northwest breeze perfuming the whole ballpark with aromas wafting from the grills on the main concourse. The sausages went very well with the goose eggs.

Finally, remember Mitch Atkins? He took Tuesday's 1-0 loss, going the route. The start before that he took a no-hitter into the 8th. For the year he still carries a 5-8 log with a 6.14 ERA. But over his last five starts he's thrown 34 innings, allowing only 23 hits while walking four and fanning 26 to the tune of a 2.38 ERA. Guess he's back from wherever he was all spring.

Oh yeah, Neal Cotts was disabled with elbow trouble and Guzman's supposed to toss the first two innings tomorrow night...MW

NOTE FROM AL: Once again, the Cubs and Pirates played a swift game Wednesday night, so this recap was originally posted at 9:07 pm Wednesday ... I've moved it to the top of the front page this morning, for those who weren't online Tuesday night. (Again, that's why the "tonight" references.)

So this is all it took?

Benching Alfonso Soriano for a day and starting Sam Fuld in left field?

Fuld made the most of his chance, leading off the game with his first major league hit, a double (yes, Jessica, they saved him the ball and probably pulled the usual trick, where they scribble all over a fake ball and give that to him, then hold the real one for later). He also made two fine defensive plays, capped by his bullseye throw that caught Jack Wilson trying to score in the fifth inning.

And just to make it an all-Fuld night, he caught a fly ball for the final out of the Cubs' 4-1 win over the Pirates. Derrek Lee chimed in with his 12th homer of the year, and Kosuke Fukudome also went deep, his first homer since May 26. Fukudome also made a nice diving catch in center field tonight.

Is it too early to start beating the drums for Randy Wells for Rookie of the Year? Seriously, who else in the National League in his first season is doing what Wells is? (Colby Rasmus, maybe.) Wells has made 10 starts, thrown 63 innings, and if he had enough (it'd be 75 at this writing, equalling the number of games his team has played), he'd rank third in the NL with a 2.43 ERA. Wells won't appear among the league leaders, most likely, until after the All-Star break, but his seven strong innings today make him one of the most consistent starters in the league. He's had only one bad start among his ten.

All told, the Cubs put up five extra-base hits including a triple from Geovany Soto, only the third of his major league career. It was suggested in one of the comment threads not long ago that Soriano's travails the last two months might be because he is trying too hard to carry the team in Aramis Ramirez's absence.

There's something to this, I think. Soriano is an all-out kind of player -- all or nothing, as we have too often found out. If he thinks he has to carry the weight of two players, it's no wonder he hasn't been hitting. If this theory is correct, Soriano should take off on one of his hot streaks as soon as Ramirez returns to Chicago on Monday after his three-day rehab assignment this weekend (incidentally, anyone here who's going to the Kane County game on Friday, please take photos!).

I was out for a while tonight and was listening on the radio, and in between the usual "Gosh!" comments from Ron Santo, there was some cogent commentary from Pat Hughes about Fuld, who told the broadcast team that during his brief callup in 2007, he didn't feel comfortable because he hadn't been to major league spring training and didn't really know anyone on the team. This year, as a member of the 40-man roster who had some shot, at least, of making the club out of camp, he said he knew many of the current players -- and on the current team, there are five other players who spent significant time at Iowa this year and two others (Koyie Hill, Micah Hoffpauir) who spent much of last year there as a teammate of Fuld. Watching Fuld bat tonight, he looked completely different than that kid who endeared himself to Cubs fans with his crashing-the-wall catch that resulted in a double play on September 22, 2007 vs. the Pirates at Wrigley Field. It's one of those things you can't put a statistical measure on -- he looked more confident, as if he belonged on a major league field, whereas he didn't really look like that two years ago.

Me? I'd start him again tomorrow. Ride the hot hand. Lou likes doing that. And thanks for the show tonight, Lou -- that's his first ejection of the season, arguing a close call at first base where Wells almost beat out an infield grounder. (Replays were inconclusive to me, though Len & Bob thought he was safe.) Lou could sit Milton Bradley tomorrow and play Fuld in right field. (Thanks, Milton, for the pair of walks tonight, I guess -- though I thought we signed you to be a big bat in that cleanup spot. Glad you bumped up your OBA.)

In any case, the Cubs ended the road trip with a series win and crept back to within 3.5 games of first-place Milwaukee (two down in the loss column -- win three of four this weekend and they'd be tied in the loss column). Nice way to start a new month.

A major pitcher's duel in Des Moines tonight. And if Randy Wells even finishes in the top three in the ROY voting, I'll feel stupid for leaving him off my top 20 prospects list at the beginning of the season. Of course, everyone else did too.

Almost everyone lost tonight.  Only the rookies saved the system.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were outlasted by the Oklahoma City RedHawks, 1-0 in 14 innings.

Jose Ascanio went back to starting and had four great innings, allowing only two hits and two walks while striking out seven.

Ascanio was then followed by, in order, James Russell, Jeff Stevens, Blake Parker and Justin Berg.  John Gaub then threw a scoreless inning, but started the next one and had to be removed for an injury. Vince Perkins then walked the batter that Gaub had started on and when he came around to score, Gaub got the loss.

Darwin Barney was 1 for 5 in his AAA debut.

Tennessee Smokies

The Tennessee Smokies were downed by the Huntsville Stars, 3-1.

Jeremy Papelbon started and pitched five shutout innings, allowing only three hits and three walks. Papelbon struck out three.

Jake Muyco pitched two innings and took the loss. He gave up two runs on four hits and two walks. He didn't record a strikeout.

Left fielder Tyler Colvin was 2 for 3 with a walk. Shortstop Jonathan Mota went 2 for 3 with a double, a walk and a run scored. Right fielder Doug Deeds went 2 for 5.

Daytona Cubs

The Daytona Cubs were bitten by the Jupiter Hammerheads, 5-2

Ryan Searle has gone from all-star to the junk heap over the last month. Searle only lasted four innings tonight, allowing four runs on seven hits, two of which were home runs. Searle walked two but did strike out seven.

Center fielder Tony Campana went 2 for 4 with a run scored and two stolen bases. Campana has 23 steals so far this season. Second baseman Marwin Gonzalez scored once in a 2 for 3 game.

Peoria Chiefs

The Chiefs lost to the Kane County Cougars, 3-2.

Starter Justin Bristow took the loss. He allowed three runs on four hits and two walks over three innings. One of the runs was unearned. Bristow struck out one.

Third baseman Jose Made had a triple in a 3 for 4 night. Made had two RBI.

Boise Hawks

The Boise Hawks were choked and blinded by the Tri-City Dust Devils, 6-4

Starter Robert Hernandez didn't get the loss, but he got knocked around for four runs on four hits over four innings. Two of the hits were home runs. Hernandez walked one and struck out three.

AZL Cubs

The rookie league team salvaged the night and pounded the Indians, 12-3.

Catcher Richard Jones went 3 for 5 with two home runs and five RBI.

Go Randy! We can still win this series!

That's right, ledge-jumpers. Despite the Cubs' horrendous road trip (2-7 so far), they can come home with a series win by defeating the Pirates this evening. With the work Randy Wells has done so far, I'd give them a pretty good chance of doing just that. And the Brewers just lost to the Mets 1-0, so the Cubs can pick up a full game on Milwaukee with a win tonight.

Meanwhile, the schedule-makers did both Chicago teams a favor by scheduling them out of town the last three days. It's 61 degrees in Chicago this afternoon and drizzling, another lovely early November day. Fortunately, it's supposed to clear out tomorrow and be very pleasant all weekend.

I don't usually agree with Rick Morrissey, but he got it right in his column this morning blaming Jim Hendry for the current mess. He is absolutely correct. Hendry built the 2009 Cubs, whether by his own design or following requests made by Lou, or both. But read this passage:

Trading Mark DeRosa, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in Bosnia and parts of Herzegovina, is the least of Hendry's sins. And stepping in before the hated Cardinals swooped in and acquired DeRosa from Cleveland over the weekend wouldn't have solved the team's current problems. Cubs fans would like to think that, but it's not true.

Well, I do differ with that part. (And how did Not Bruce Froemming get into Morrissey's computer?) It would have solved one problem, at least -- getting a versatile player who can play several positions, hit reasonably well, and be a clubhouse leader. That's not to say that the Cubs don't have many other problems that have to be addressed soon. One of them will be after Aramis Ramirez returns from his rehab assignment on Monday; the rehab assignment to the Peoria Chiefs will begin Friday with Peoria's game at Kane County. For those of you hoping to see the recently-promoted Josh Vitters play in that series, now you can go to Friday's game and see A-Ram instead. You can get tickets here -- the game starts at 6 pm CDT and there's a fireworks show afterwards.

Lineup via Twittermyer:

Fuld, lf; Theriot, ss; Lee, 1b; Bradley, rf; Fox, 3b; Fukudome, cf; Soto, c; Blanco, 2b; Wells, p

I like this lineup. What does Lou do if they score 10 runs tonight?

Today's Starting Pitchers

Randy Wells Cubs vs. Virgil Vazquez Pirates 2-3 W-L 1-0 2.57 ERA 3.00 41 SO 7 13 BB 2 4 HR 0 vs. Pit -- vs. Cubs

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Neither of tonight's starting pitchers has ever faced his opponent, nor anyone on the teams' current rosters. You know how the Cubs usually do against guys like that, although Vazquez has already had his time of making another team look silly, last Friday vs. the Royals. He also made five appearances for the 2007 Tigers.

Other than the two Ozzie Virgils, father and son, Virgil Vazquez is the sixth major leaguer to be known by that first name. The last one before Vazquez was Virgil Trucks, who had a long career in the 1940's and 1950's, mostly with the Tigers, last appearing for the 1958 Yankees. There were four other players whose first given name was "Virgil" who chose to be called by some other name, probably wisely. The complete list of major league Virgils, in case you are bored, is here. (I love weird searches on baseball-reference.com!)

Tonight's game is on CSN Chicago and FSN Pittsburgh. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

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Please visit our SBN Pirates site Bucs Dugout.

Overflow comment threads will post today at 7 pm, 8 pm and 8:45 pm CDT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Along with billy goat curses, black cats, day baseball, and bespectacled yuppies with a lack of spatial awareness, one of the more compelling arguments behind the lack of Cubs success the past, oh, 75 years or so has been the poor performance of their farm system.  It is true that throughout P. K. Wrigley's ownership, he did not make the farm system a priority.  I have never figured out, though, how the "1969 Cubs" managed to emerge from the cesspool, for except for Fergie Jenkins, that was a homegrown bunch.

However, with the arrival of the Tribune and Dallas Green, for the first time since the Thirties, the farm system became a priority.  Remember that, prior to 1984, home attendance revenues were paltry compared to most other teams.  Most other teams had stadiums that held upwards of 50,000, so if they drew to 50% of capacity, they drew over 2 million.  In those days, yearly attendance of 1 million was cause for great celebration at 1060 W. Addison.  So, oddly enough, Green saw the Cubs as a "small market" team.  The "market" itself was big enough, but the "revenues" were not.  As we well know, the best plan for the "have-nots" is to build from the farm.

Green was in the catbird seat in his first draft - the #1 overall pick was shortstop Shawon Dunston.  He also spent first round picks on guys named Tony Woods and Stan Boderick.  No, I never heard about them either until I looked them up.  His #1 picks the next three years were P Jackie Davidson, P Drew Hall, and OF Rafael Palmiero.  Generally, Green hit about .333 in the "first innings" of drafts.  A few guys (Dunston, Derrick May, Mike Harkey) had decent careers, a few (Davidson, Hall, Ty Griffin) were total busts, and then you have Raffy.

It was clear from day one of his major league career that Palmiero was special.  Yes, he ended his career in infamy, smeared by steroids.  Maybe part of his motivation was this: upon coming up with the Cubs, the man had innate plate discipline, incredible bat control, and solid baseball instincts.  But he was dogged in the press from the start for what was termed a "lack of power".  No, he did not hit home runs in bunches for us.  But his first two seasons with the Cubs, when he was 21 and 22 years old, in 300 ABs, he hit 19 doubles, 17 home runs, and 42 RBI.  Sounds like enough power to me.  The one statistic about Raffy that has stuck with me to this day?

In 1986, when he was 21, in 78 plate appearances, he swung and missed exactly ONCE.  One time.  Uno.

So he, like Barry Bonds, did not NEED PED's to be successful in the big leagues.  It would be another twelve years or so until another guy with his kind of batting skill would break into the MLB, guy named Pujols.  And WE developed him.

Know who else we developed in the mid 80's, besides Raffy, Dunston, and Harkey?  Greg Maddux, of whom you've heard about.  Also Joe Carter, who actually was drafted the year the Cubs were sold, but whose name will always be linked with Rick Sutcliffe in Cubs lore, since they were traded for one another.  Jamie Moyer, who as of this writing is still laboring as a 'crafty lefty' for the Phillies, came up along with Maddux in 1986.  Mark Grace, Mr. Slumpbuster himself, came up in 1988.  Jody Davis, an all-star catcher and key to the 1984 Division winner, was also home grown, as was his replacement, Damon Berryhill.

Dave Martinez, who ended up crafting himself a nice career as a fourth outfielder, was one of ours.  Big Lee Smith, of whom it is impossible to refer to without the "Big" qualifier, was actually a 1975 draftee, but was one of ours.  The final fruits of Green's labors became ripe in the 1989 Division winning season, as a rash of injuries caused manager Don Zimmer to bring up a squadron of young Cubs farmhands, including ROY Jerome Walton, Dwight Smith, Joe Girardi, Garry Varsho and Darrin Jackson.

So, to recap: the Cubs farm system bore infielders Grace and Dunston, outfielders Palmiero, Carter, Martinez, Walton, Dwight Smith, catchers Davis, Berryhill and Girardi, Greg Maddux, Jamie Moyer and Lee Smith.  Throw in Ryne Sandberg (why not?  The Phillies did) and hindsight being 20/20, but it looks to me like a totally home-grown nucleus of a dynamic team.  No 50-homer guys, but lots of line-drive impact hitters, speed, great fielding, along with a staff ace, a wily lefty with durability, and an intimidating closer.

The Cubs should have been loaded for success, like the "1969 team" for five or six years, from about 1988 to up to the mid-nineties, with a few free agent acquisitions to fill in at third base and the back-end of the rotation.

Of course, the talent drain started when the original plan was scrapped, when the Cubs made the shift in 1984 from "have-nots" to "haves", when Carter was traded for Sutcliffe.  Sure, we "won" that trade in the short-term.  Sut won the Cy Young in 1984, should have won it in 1987 and made a case the next two years after that.  But Carter became an offensive force for the next decade.

From there, our "winning" record on trades took a plunge.  Beginning with the dumping of Lee Smith in 1987, a trade made as much in the local papers as it was made in the club offices, Cubs management totally scrapped their plan of development from within, and as a result doomed the franchise to yet another decade of futility.

Kurt Evans
As Rob pointed out, it was perhaps the trade of Lee Smith -- if not that of Joe Carter -- that began the Great Talent Drain.  After all, take a look at those players again. 

Lee Smith -- dealt in 1987 for Al Nipper and Calvin Shiraldi, two pitchers who would be gone from the Cubs before 1990.  Smith meanwhile would close successfully into the mid 90's.

Joe Carter and Mel Hall -- dealt in 1984 for Rick Sutcliffe.  Carter would be best remembered as the RBI machine who hit a Series-winning homerun while with the Blue Jays against ex Cub Mitch Williams.

Speaking of Williams, he was acquired as a "makeup" move for the loss of Lee Smith.  The price on Mitch?  Drew Hall and two players with Hall of Fame caliber numbers -- Jamie Moyer and Rafael Palmeiro.  Williams, meanwhile, would be done as a Cub by the end of 1990, as would pretty much every other player acquired from Texas in the trade.

Dave Martinez would be traded in 1988 for Mitch Webster, who would leave Chicago after the '89 season.

Damon Berryhill would be ruined by injuries and traded from the Cubs in 1991.

Joe Girardi would be claimed in an expansion draft, only to return to Chicago well past his prime nearly a decade later.

Mike Harkey -- who Rob failed to mention -- would have one good season for the Cubs before suffering a career-wrecking injury, the result of a stupid backflip. 

And, of course, perhaps the hardest drain of all -- Greg Maddux was chased from the Cubs, his recently won Cy Young trophy in hand, by Larry Himes after the 1992 season.

But hey, it bought us 1984, and 1989, and a lot of mediocrity in the early 1990's.  It's amazing to see the house that Green nearly built and how quickly his predicessors were able to swoop in and demolish it.  But a strongly-stocked Cubs farm system became quickly barren after he left and the many fruits of Green's labors bloomed elsewhere ... except for Grace and Dunston, who would stick around for the longest.  But while those two were talented, fun to watch, and -- at their best -- All Stars, the men the Cubs lost were giants. 

In many ways, the organization has yet to recover from their loss.

Let Coast to Coast Tickets get you to those Chicago Cubs games!

Remember last season when the Cubs were kicking ass in first place, and as a Cub Fan you walked around with a big cocky strut?

This one is coming up early because I won't be around to publish it tonight.

Randy Wells (2-3, 2.57 ERA) vs. Virgil Vasquez (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
Story-lines
The Cubs, a team of destiny.  The Pirates of mediocrity.  The pitchers, Ross Olendorf, a mediocre-at-best 5th starter with a near-5 ERA.  The hitters, a Cubs lineup loaded with super expensive superstars.  The results?  A shut-out with the Cubs being the sad participants.

The other day Rob criticized the team for having three incredibly expensive corner outfielders who aren't producing.  Except he exaggerated, which is apparently against the rules of the internets, which apparently gave readers permission to ignore that the Cubs have three incredibly expensive corner outfielders who aren't producing.

So, sorry, but minus the exaggerations Rob is right. 

With all due respect to those who would go as far as to tell Rob he pooped if Rob claimed he'd peed, Jim Hendry's moves have not paid off.  Even back when he first signed Soriano, Lilly, and Marquis, we called them reactionary moves made by Jim to save his job.  They weren't necessarily smart moves, but they were moves that worked for 2007 and 2008. 

Well, 2009 is here.  Baseball was, is, and always will be a What Have You Done For Me Lately sport.  And what Jim has done for me lately is nothing.  He's made trades that didn't work, moves that have absolutely failed, and signings that have absolutely hand-cuffed the team from taking further steps to try to get competitive.  Rather than nitpick the exaggerations like an annoying mother, why not step back and acknowledge that the Cubs are in a tough situation right now and, yes Rick Morrissey, Hendry is at least partly to blame?

Anyway, it's a moot point if the under-performing Cub hitters step up, but we aren't wrong for pointing out that they haven't and they may not.

Who's Hot
After yesterday's fiasco, we're back on the "nobody at all" kick. 

Who's Not
See above.  Hey, at least Samardzija pitched a scoreless inning of relief in his return.  At this point, after his earlier performance this year, I'm not sold on his big league ability.

Conclusions
Despite the justified worry, I feel confident that any Cubs team from any bad year can take 2 of 3 from this year's Pirates, even when they're playing in Pittsburgh.

As is so often the case with this team, tonight's loss is pretty much completely attributable to the offense--or specifically, the lack thereof.

If I told you a certain "Pitcher McPitcherson" put up this line:

7.0IP, 0R, 4H, 0BB, 8K

Wouldn't you assume the Cubs were facing some sort of well-established ace? That's a Johan Santana line, or a Peavy-in-his-prime line, or something like that. 

I guess, for tonight at least, it's also a Russ Ohlendorf line.

Russ got through seven innings on 93 pitches, 62 of which were strikes. In other words, Ohlendorf was all over the strike zone, for the entire night, and the Cubs couldn't convert. 

Even when Ohlendorf was gone, the Cubs couldn't take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves later in the game.

In a moment of maximal frustration, the Cubs were unable to capitalize on a no-out situation with runners on 2nd and 3rd in the 8th inning. Soriano struck out swinging on an outside change-up, Fukudome looked at strikes two and three, and Derrek Lee grounded out.

Are Pirates pitchers that good? Maybe.

Is the Cubs offense that bad? Almost certainly.

Go... eh.

NOTE FROM AL: Due to the quick game again last night, this recap was actually posted at 8:55 pm Tuesday... I've moved it to the top of the front page this morning, for those who weren't online Tuesday night. (This is why it refers to July 1 being "tomorrow" and other references to Tuesday as "today".)

Tomorrow is July 1 and I'm sure the Cubs are happier to see the calendar change than at almost any time in recent team history.

There's no need to go through the litany of bad play and even goofier sideshows that have marred the Cubs' 11-14 month of June, their first losing month since August 2007 (not counting the 0-1 in March 2008).

I'm so tired of seeing the Cubs actually get baserunners in scoring position with nobody out and then have three hitters go to the plate with absolutely horrendous approaches. The eighth inning of the Cubs' 3-0 loss to the Pirates, their eighth shutout loss of the year, is a case study to be dissected by baseball analysts everywhere. (That analysis shouldn't take too long, as the game was over in 2:18, only a minute longer than last night's game and the second-shortest nine-inning game of 2009.)

The Cubs caught a break when pinch-hitter Milton Bradley's sharp grounder that appeared headed to left field was stopped by a diving Jack Wilson. It might have turned into a double play, or at least one out, but Wilson threw the ball past Freddy Sanchez at second base and into right field. Great! Ryan Theriot's at third, Bradley's at second, and the top of the order is up! Runs coming, right?

Wrong. As Len & Bob pointed out, the Pirates were actually conceding at least one run, as teams often will do in such situations; all Alfonso Soriano had to do was try to go the other way with a ground ball, or lift the ball into left field medium-deep, and the Cubs score a run (and likely get Bradley to third with only one out, a chance for two).

No. Soriano strikes out and has a terrible approach to his at-bat.

Then, please explain to me why Lou let Kosuke Fukudome bat against lefthander John Grabow. In that situation, Fukudome has about as much chance of getting a hit vs. Grabow as I do -- and I hit righthanded. If Ryan Freel's going to be on the team, that is the ideal situation to send him up to hit. Nope -- Dome bats, Dome gets called out on strikes. And Derrek Lee then took exactly one pitch from Grabow before hitting a weak ground ball to second base.

Oh, and Lou? What a concept -- John Grabow faced five hitters, four of them righthanded. Do you think Sean Marshall maybe, possibly, could do this sometime? And further, what on Earth was Bradley doing in center field, replacing Fukudome? Bradley's played CF before, sure, but only 15 games there since 2005. Isn't that why Sam Fuld was recalled, to play defense? I can just see Lou's response, had I been able to ask him that question: "I wanted Bradley to have another chance to bat." Sure, Lou -- that only would have taken three men to get on base, an unlikely scenario, and considering the meek way the Cubs went down against Pirates closer Matt Capps in the ninth, a pipedream.

All of this wasted another fine pitching effort by Ted Lilly, who allowed three runs in seven innings. Only two of those runs were earned, the first run scoring crazily on a dropped third strike on which Freddy Sanchez scored all the way from second base. It looked like a good throw from Geovany Soto to Lilly covering might have gotten Sanchez, but Geo's throw was wild.

Here's one good thing about today's game, about the only thing: Jake Fox again played third base competently. When Aramis Ramirez returns -- and it appears his rehab assignment, if it starts Thursday, will end Sunday, because Lou said in pregame remarks that A-Ram should need only "15 to 20 at-bats" -- if he's not at full strength (and who could expect him to be?), Fox could play third base a couple of times a week if needed.

In any case, let's all be glad June is over. July can't be worse.

Right?

Angel Guzman made a rehab appearance for Peoria tonight.

Iowa Cubs

The I-Cubs were stopped by the Round Rock Express, 1-0.

Mitch Atkins pitched his best game of the year and got the eight inning, complete game loss. Atkins allowed the one run on three hits. He didn't walk anyone and struck out seven. Atkins had a no-hitter going into the seventh inning, when he allowed all three of the hits.

Center fielder Matt Camp was 2 for 3 with a walk.

Tennessee Smokies

In the only Cub win of the day, the Smokies extinguished the Huntsville Stars, 7-2.

Hung-Wen Chen started and picked up the win, allowing only two runs on seven hits. He didn't walk nor strike out a batter.

Third baseman Marquez Smith hit a solo home run in a 2 for 4 game. Smith also had a double and scored twice. It was his sixth homer.

Shortstop Jonathan Mota went 2 for 4 with a double and a walk. Mota scored once and had one RBI. Right fielder Doug Deeds went 2 for 4 with a double, a run scored and an RBI.

Catcher Welington Castillo was 2 for 4 with a double and two RBI. He also scored once. Center fielder James Adduci had one RBI and one run scored in a 2 for 3 game. He also walked once.

Daytona Cubs

The D-Cubs were beat down by the Jupiter Hammerheads, 6-4.

Starter Rafael Dolis took the loss, allowing four runs on three hits and two walks in only 2.2 innings. Dolis struck out three.

Left fielder Jonathan Wyatt was 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI.

Josh Vitters was 0 for 3 with a walk in his High-A debut. Vitters did score once.

Peoria Chiefs

The Chiefs were bitten by the Kane County Cougars, 4-3.

Angel Guzman started the game and pitched a perfect first inning, striking out two Cougars.

Marcus Hatley then became the "real starter" in the second inning and he pitched five shutout innings. Hatley surrendered only one hit and two walks. He did not have a strikeout.

Manolin DeLeon got the loss in relief when he allowed a run on two hits over a third of an inning.

Left fielder Drew Rundle went 2 for 4 with a double, a run scored and an RBI.  Third baseman Josh Harrison went 2 for 5 with a run scored,

Catcher Michael Brenly was 2 for 4.

Boise Hawks

The Hawks were mauled by the Yakima Bears, 9-5.

Starting pitcher Jonathan Nagel pitched three innings and allowed three runs on five hits. One of the runs was unearned. Nagel didn't walk a batter and fanned two.

Left fielder Jae-Hoon Ha did most of the damage tonight. Ha was 2 for 4 with a double and four RBI. He also scored once. The double was with the bases loaded and scored three Hawks.

Third baseman Jordan Petraitis was 2 for 4 with a double and two runs scored.

AZL Cubs

Did not play.

Let me preface this entire article with a big old - who cares? With the Cubs playing the way they are, the mercy All-Star that the Cubs will get is of little importance, but I needed an article idea for the day and it's a fun discussion. And dagnabit, baseball is suppose to be fun.

So assuming the lemmings that are voting don't get Alfonso Soriano in there (currently 4th behind Carlos Beltran who is on the DL), the Cubs All-Star will be a reserve. In 2003, the All-Star process was changed and the players vote for eight reserves and eight pitchers, along with the eight starters voted by the fans. It's a 32-man roster, so the managers (in this case Charlie Manuel) gets to pick seven and the fans vote for the final player out of a pool of 5.

So who will be the Cubs representative(s)? Options below the fold...

Ted Lilly -  He's probably my pick for the Cubs because if you're going to take a representative of this team, it should be on the pitching side. He leads the team in ERA (for qualified pitchers), wins and strikeouts. Has he been one of the 8 or 9 best NL starting pitchers this year? Well until that second to last start versus the White Sox he was probably in the discussion, although now he's just 14th in ERA and tied for 12th in wins. He seems to be pretty well-respected around the league, so the player vote should be strong and I assume some will remember that he was a choice for the WBC.

Randy Wells - The unqualified ERA team leader has been more than a pleasant surprise, but for the entire NL to notice, a glossy win-loss record would need to accompany it. I just don't see him getting picked over a vet.

Carlos Zambrano - Like Lilly, if the players got their vote in early in the month, he may have a shot when his ERA was 3.39. He's still considered the ace of the staff by most of the league, so maybe he'll get the reputation vote or as Joe Sheehan likes to pimp at Baseball Prospectus, the All-Star game should be a reward for the better players in the league rather than just having good first halves.

Derrek Lee - He's been the only Cub to hit decently over the last two months but his overall first half numbers are sorely lacking at a strong position in the NL. Albert, A. Gonzalez and Prince Fielder are all sporting OPS numbers over 1.000 to Lee's .834 which just ranks 8th among qualified 1st basemen. His production numbers are sorely lacking as well behind Berkman, Howard and Todd Helton.

Ryan Theriot - The shortstop crop is pretty weak in the NL once you get past Hanley Ramirez. Tejada has trailed off considerably from his hot start and Tulowitzki's surge has been pretty recent that it may have gotten missed by the players. Theriot's 4th in runs scored and home runs among shortstops and no doubt it would be a mercy inclusion if he makes it, but someone has to on this forsaken team.

Vote below for your choice

<a href="http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/1750799/">Who Should Be the Cubs All-Star Representatives? (more than one answer is allowed)</a><span style="font-size:9px;">(<a href="http://www.polldaddy.com">polls</a>)</span>

Ted Lilly (7-5, 3.41 ERA) vs. Ross Ohlendorf (6-6, 4.75 ERA)
Story-Lines
Fresh off a fairly long bout with losing, the Cubs managed to beat the Pirates yesterday 3 to 1.  Today the Cubs should have a pretty decent shot of winning as their best pitcher this season squares off against a guy who would hemorrhage runs against a more offensively competent team than the Cubs.

We keep talking about momentum as if it is something that even a team as rocky as the Cubs can grasp.  I can only direct you to the Colorado Rockies, who were at their low point 20-32.  Since then they've rattled off an 11-game winning streak and are 20-6.  Momentum.

Then again, as I write this the Cubs are being 1-hit by Ross Ohlendorf.  It's probably not a good thing that he has apparently joined the long line of pitchers who've had their best games of the year against the Cubs.  You know why it's happened?  Inertia.  Like the fat kid trying to peddle his bike from a stand-still up a steep hill, it's reallllly hard to get started sometimes. 

Who's Hot
Jake "Please Let Me Play" Fox.  In the past week the young man is 9 for 23 with 2 doubles, 2 homers, and 6 RBI.  Apparently he may actually belong in the major leagues, defensive incompetence be damned.

Alfonso Soriano.  Is he finally awaking from hibernation and crawling out of the Slump Cave?  In the past week the Fonz is batting .300 with a .344 OBP -- the sort of numbers that are actually passable for a leadoff guy.

Who's Not
Pretty much everybody else.  It's the same old story.  Team can't hit, blah blah, shaky bullpen, yadda yadda, crazy guy on roster, etc.

Conclusion
Assuming that today's crazy guy is actually Ted Lilly, and he displays his insanity by owning the Pirates from innings 1 through 9, then the Cubs just might sneak off with their second straight win.  But it's a big assumption.  This team needs an injection, and not of the steroid variety.

Ted Lilly ain't afraid of no Pirates!

The Pirates will have a new look of sorts when they take the field tonight. Earlier today they traded ex-Cub farmhand Eric Hinske to the Yankees for a couple of minor leaguers. They'll recall a Triple-A journeyman, 28-year-old Garrett Jones, to take Hinske's place on the roster.

The Pirates have also sent Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett to the Nationals for Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan. Morgan's 29 on Thursday and the only thing he's leading the league in is caught stealing. Milledge, at 24, still has a chance to become a decent regular player. As for Burnett and Hanrahan, that's a classic case of "maybe a change of scenery will help".

Meanwhile, the Cubs seek bigger prey. Phil Rogers again continued his "get rid of Z" campaign in today's Tribune, something I think is so silly I won't even link to it. The headline of this post is, I suppose, a bit misleading -- of course Jim Hendry is trying to make deals; I know he always is working his cellphone overtime. It's not easy to make trades if no one is dealing right now, and with 23 teams still within six games of a playoff spot, can you blame teams for thinking, "We'll wait a couple weeks and see if we get hot, and maybe we'll be buyers instead of sellers."

Also, Hendry is well known for not negotiating deals in the media, which I'm sure players appreciate. Many of Hendry's best deals (the Aramis Ramirez/Kenny Lofton deal of 2003, and the Derrek Lee trade of 2004) came out of nowhere. I don't think we'll see any action from the Cubs till after the All-Star break.

Lineup for tonight via Twittermyer:

Soriano, lf; Fukudome, cf; Lee, 1b; Fox, 3b; Hoffpauir, rf; Soto, c; Fontenot, 2b; Theriot, ss; Lilly, p

Today's Starting Pitchers

Ted Lilly Cubs vs. Ross Ohlendorf Pirates 7-5 W-L 5-5 3.41 ERA 4.75 81 SO 44 21 BB 25 16 HR 14 vs. Pit -- vs. Cubs

Ross Ohlendorf was one of the miscellaneous Yankees minor leaguers acquired by the Pirates last year for Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte. Since Yankee minor leaguers are generally overhyped, it's not surprising that Ohlendorf has struggled at times. He has never faced the Cubs.

Ted Lilly has not faced the Pirates this year. Last year he was 2-0 with two no-decisions and an alarmingly high 5.09 ERA. Adam LaRoche is 5-for-12 (.417) with three doubles and a HR vs. Ted. Brandon Moss is 3-for-3 with a HR. The rest of the Pirates, he handles pretty well.

Tonight's game is on CSN Plus -- that'll be a different channel than the normal CSN feed in Chicago. EI (at least on my Comcast system) lists only one feed -- so who knows which one you'll get. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SBN Pirates site Bucs Dugout.

Overflow comment threads will post today at 7 pm, 8 pm and 8:45 pm CDT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Following yesterday's Fuld-for-Miles move, the Cubs have another roster swap to announce.

According to ESPN.com, the Cubs will send Jose Ascanio back to Iowa, and will recall fan favorite Jeff Samardzija to replace him. Samardzija will operate out of the bullpen for the Cubs.

In terms of pure stuff, it seems like Samardzija should have Wells' rotation spot, and Wells should be in the 'pen. But Wells has done nothing but succeed while pitching as a starter, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Jeff's issue has always been control, and if you check his player page with the Iowa Cubs, you'll see that he's still been walkin' dudes, even in his past few games. Hopefully he's able to throw strikes at the major league level.

As a refresher, here's our current bullpen:

Gregg (CL)
Marmol (SU)
Heilman
Marshall
Hart
Patton
Samardzija

Getting Guzman back from the DL will make that a pretty serviceable group, if you ask me.

I became a Cubs fan around 1987, when Andre Dawson came to town.  But while I would follow the team occasionally as a kid, probably the first year where my interest became intense was 1989.  That was the year everything just clicked for the Cubs, where a number of average players had career years, where every role-player actually did his job, where I became flat-out obsessed with the team.

Blame Jim Frey for giving away the kingdom for a bauble, but it was one hell of a bauble at that.  The team was young -- six offensive regulars were under the age of 30, as were three starters (with Mike Harkey waiting in the wings), and no regular in the bullpen was over the age of 28, and Don Zimmer was the gruff old skipper who'd make it all happen on the field.

Born in 1931, Zimmer was 57 years old when he took over the managerial reigns in 1988.  He brought with him a lifetime of baseball acumen, including more than a thousand games as a player and by then better than 1,200 games as a skipper.  By today's standards we'd probably hate him -- he was a guy who went with his gut, trusting instinct over stat, and while his coaching style would be outdated now he's probably somebody who'll work in baseball until the day he drops.  And in '89 everything worked in his favor.  He should probably thank Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith for a lot of it.

In 1988, the Cubs had traded for Mitch Webster, one of many former Expos who would have some play-time on the Cubs.  Webster was unimpressive, a career .263 hitter who'd do a servicable job as the 4th (or 5th) outfielder.  Still, he was almost certainly the projected starting center fielder in 1989 until Jerome Walton came along.

Walton was a 23-year-old second round selection in 1989.  In Spring Training - in which the Cubs bombed, by the way - Zimmer had asked Walton if he thought he could hit .250 in the majors.  Walton responded by saying "I could bunt .250."  He'd wind up doing better than that - in 475 at bats Walton hit .293, smacking 23 doubles, 3 triples, 5 homers, and stealing 24 bases from the leadoff spot.  By today's standards his .335 OBP is mediocre at best, but his scrapiness, talent, and consistency (including a 30-game hitting streak) won out and he'd finish the season with the Rookie of the Year trophy in his possession. 

His partner in crime was another rookie outfielder Dwight Smith.  Smith joined the Cubs on May 1st of the '89 season and, as Andre Dawson battled knee problems, would go on to play in 109 games.  Smith would bat .324 with 19 doubles, 6 triples, 9 homers, and 9 steals for the Cubs, giving the Cubs another reliable hitter and the second-most vote-getter behind Walton for the Rookie of the Year award. 

On paper, the '89 Cubs starting offense doesn't really look very special.  Nobody drove in more than 79 runs that year and Ryne Sandberg was the only player to hit more than 20 homers, but for the most part the hitters were reliable and consistent and the team saw some outstanding play come from their bench, too.  From Lloyd McClendon, who'd bat .286 with 12 homers while playing four positions - including catcher! - to late-trade Luis Salazar, who'd step in and bat .325 as the team's new third baseman, the Cubs didn't have many easy outs.

On top of that, their true strength was their pitching.  Rick Sutcliffe had spent previous seasons as the team's ace, but even with 16 wins and a 3.66 ERA he was no more than the third best pitcher on the team behind 18-game-winner Mike Bielecki and 23-year-old Ace in Training Greg Maddux, who won 19 games and posted his first sub-3.00 ERA.  I was obviously a pretty stupid kid because Maddux wasn't even my second favorite pitcher on that team.

Then again, I was also pretty enamored by the team's 24-year-old fireball closer Mitch Williams, who made his Cubs debut by throwing 1.2 innings against the Phillies, where he gave up 3 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 3 in 52 -- 52!!! -- pitches to get the save.  Most fans misremember Williams as having walked the bases loaded that game before striking out the side to get the one-run save, but in fact he'd issued his 2 walks in the 8th before surrendering 3 hits in the 9th.  Still, the rest is true - he struck out Mike Schmidt, Chris James, and Mark Ryal to end the game.

Although Ryne Sandberg would later describe that team as being incredibly streaky, they would take first place on August 5th and never look back.  By the time mid September rolled around they'd pretty much put it out of reach and it surprised no-one when they reached the NLCS against the Giants.

At which point Zimmer's legendary gut -- and his over-worked bullpen -- failed him and the Cubs got snuffed out in 5 games.  Aside from the Game 1 route, it was actually a pretty close series -- closer than I remember it being, at least.  The Cubs lost Games 3, 4, and 5 by 2 runs or less. 

It would be the only Cubs playoff team of my childhood.  I was too young for 1984 and I'd be a high school graduate in 1998.  By 1991 Zimmer would be gone, as would many of the components that won it for the Cubs that year.  If I wanted to be overly-dramatic I would say that I could tell I was growing up based on how many pieces of the '89 team fell away, but that would be over-selling it a bit.  Instead I'll just say this: for a long time the summer of 1989 was one of my most favored memories.  Part of it was because of my age, part of it was because it was my final summer with my friends before moving away from home, and part of it was because of the Cubs.  The early '90's would be a huge disappointment because of the promise this team carried -- a promise the Cubs have yet to fulfill.

Let Coast to Coast, sponsor of Cubs 101, get you to Wrigley Field!

July 2009

TV listings for Chicago Cubs fans

Comcast Sports Chicago daily listings
http://csnchicago.com/pages/tvlisting

July 2009 Cubs game schedule including which channel they'll air on that day.
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=chc&m=7&y=2009

Shows that may interest Chicago Cubs fans...

Great American Road Trip
Next episode: Pilot
Tue 7/7 7:00 PM NBC 1 hour TV-PG
The contestants start their journey at Wrigley Field
http://www.nbc.com/great-american-road-trip/

MLB Baseball
2004: Chicago Cubs at San Francisco Giants
Fri, Jul 3, 9:00p - 11:00p [Closed Captioned]
ESPN CLASSIC
2009 | 120 mins
From Aug. 7, 2004.

read more

Cubs/White Sox Rainout Officially Rescheduled For September 3

Via Twittermyer -- it will be at 1:20 pm on 9/3, television: WGN and WCIU.

Frightening guy, Sam Zell.

That was more like the Rich Harden we remember.

On a day in which the Chicago Cubs could've been hurdled by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the standing, Rich Harden stood up and delivered 7 strong innings, minus one blip in the 5th in which he loaded the bases and surrendered a run before escaping. Harden was then relieved by Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg, both of whom delivered hitless, walkeless, scoreless 8th and 9th innings for the Cubs. Apparently 1-2-3 innings are so rare with those guys that it bares mentioning in this recap.

Offensively the Cubs were able to collect 7 hits and draw 2 walks, with multi-hit days coming from Milton Bradley and Jake Fox. How about Fox, by the way? Two weeks ago he was a pinch hitter whose defensive skills were so terrible that the Cubs couldn't possibly think of him in a starting role. Except now he's holding down the fort at third (and whether his defensive skills are on par with Keith Moreland, Ron Cey, or a cardboard box he hasn't cost the Cubs any games over where) while batting .347.

Speaking of getting hits, Ryan Theriot knocked his 7th homerun of the year last night. Before this season Theriot had 7 career homeruns, so naturally he's on steroids. I wonder what Colin thinks about him these days?

The Cubs remain within striking distance of first place. It's probably wrong to expect a sweep, but a series win would be huge considering that the Cubs play their next two sets against two of the three teams ahead of them in the standings. It's not too late to go on a rampage. Another win today would be heee-yuuuuuge.

NOTE FROM AL: Due to the quick game last night, this recap was actually posted at 8:35 pm Monday... I've moved it to the top of the front page this morning, for those who weren't online Monday night. (This is why it refers to "today" and the other games still in progress.)

Last year, the Cubs were 14-4 against the Pirates -- 7-2 at Wrigley Field, and 7-2 at PNC Park.

Thanks to the wacky schedules that we are now forced to become used to in major league baseball, the Cubs, who had played the Pirates 12 times by this calendar date in 2008, had faced them for only one series so far this year before Monday night -- winning two of three at Wrigley Field in late May. Today marked the Cubs' first visit to PNC Park this year; they had done so twice by the end of May, 2008.

Maybe this is what the Cubs needed -- a reminder of where they did well in the past. They sure looked like the Cubs of 2008 in an efficient 3-1 win over the Pirates, starting the final leg of a so-far-unsuccessful 1-6 road trip with a victory.

Thanks to the fast win, this will be a fast recap.

This is how Cubs teams won a year ago -- timely hitting, the occasional home run, good defense and solid pitching. Rich Harden, who got hit pretty hard in his last two starts, was nearly unhittable Monday. He scattered nine hits -- eight singles and a double, threw strikes (65 in 102 pitches), and with one walk and nine strikeouts looked like the Harden we got last year when he was acquired from Oakland, the dominant Harden, the guy who could strike batters out almost at will.

Where have these guys been the last week?

The runs scored with seemingly great ease -- a timely two-out hit from Andres Blanco with a runner in scoring position (when's the last time we saw that? -- answer: I can't even recall), a home run from Ryan Theriot (when's the last time we saw that? -- answer: June 7), and a RBI double from Milton Bradley after Geovany Soto walked leading off the fourth inning (and when was Milton's last RBI? Believe it or not, more than two weeks ago, June 12, when he had a two-RBI double off Kevin Slowey of the Twins).

Now, that's more like it, right? Obviously, there's a lot more work to be done, but a win like this gives something to build on. In addition to Harden's fine pitching, Carlos Marmol had an uneventful inning (the last time he had a truly uneventful inning: four appearances ago in Detroit), and Kevin Gregg finished up easily for his 13th save. Jake Fox had a pair of hits and scored the first run of the game. And Sam Fuld, just recalled from Iowa, got into the game pinch-running for Fox... and promptly got caught stealing. Sorry, Jessica.

It was the Cubs' fastest nine-inning game of the season, two hours and seventeen minutes. The win moved the Cubs to within a half game of idle Cincinnati. The Brewers, at this writing, lead the Mets so, with the Cardinals apparently about to lose to Tim Lincecum and the Giants, Milwaukee will go into first place alone, a game ahead of St. Louis and remaining 3.5 games ahead of the Cubs.

There is work yet to do. But tonight makes a good starting point. Keep up the good work.

Nothing too exciting last night, Rich Harden worked out of a lot of trouble his last three innings, but did strike out 9 in 7 innings without giving up a home run. Milton Bradley went 2/4 with an RBI, a ricochet short of going 3-4. Soto and Fox continue to hit as well and the Marmol/Gregg combo actually did their job. Then we all remember it's the Pirates.

- The Southern League annouced their All-Star rosters and the Tennessee Smokies placed six:  Position players Jim Adduci, Darwin Barney and Blake Lalli will join teammates Casey Coleman, Jay Jackson and Brian Schlitter. 

- Barney will be headed to Triple A though along with a number of other promotions yesterday. Top picks Andrew Cashner and Josh Viiters will each move up a level, Cashner to Double A Tennessee and Vitters to Hi A Daytona. Cub Carpenter will  join Vitters on the ride to Daytona. 1B John Contreras makes the jump from Boise to Daytona, 2b Nathan Samson goes to Tennessee and 1b Ryan Keedy has been released.

-  I stumbled across this old Q&A with Bill James which touches on a wide variety of topics, some Cubs related.

UPDATE: Bill James and Joe Posnanski more recently talked about the age 33 fall-off. Cubs that are 33 this season: Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Freel. So is Ted Lilly, but the discussion focuses on offense.

- Milton Bradley is going to get a few days off to work on his left-handed swing with Von Joshua. The Cubs will likely go with Sam Fuld in center and Kosuke Fukudome in right field.

- 57% of Cubs fan agree with Phil Rogers that the Cubs should put Carlos Zambrano on waivers and see if anyone will take his contract off the Cubs hands. Probably the same 57% that applauded Mark DeRosa each time he came up in Wrigley.

- Barring any setbacks, Aramis Ramirez will begin a rehab assignment on Thursday, it's unknown which lucky affiliate will benefit from the added gate receipts.  If all goes well, he could be back in the lineup against Atlanta next Monday.

- A poll of players around MLB conducted by Sports Illustrated came up with Lou Piniella as the manager players would least like to play for...Ozzie Guillen finishing second.

- If you're looking for a write-up on Aaron Miles elbow problems from Dr. Hecht...

I'd do an ortho writeup on Miles hyperextended elbow... but honestly, who cares other than Sam Fuld.

It's finally happened. Josh Vitters was promoted to Daytona.

(Hat tip to Outshined_One.)

Iowa Cubs

The I-Cubs lost to the Round Rock Express, 3-2.

Esmailin Caridad started and took the loss, allowing three runs over 5.2 innings. He gave up five hits and issued four walks while striking out seven. One of the runs Caridad allowed was unearned.

Nate Spears went 3 for 4 with an RBI. So Taguchi was 2 for 5.

Tennessee Smokies

The Smokies outshined the Huntsville Stars, 7-2.

Casey Coleman improved his record this season to 8-3. He allowed two runs on seven hits and two walks over 6.2 innings. Coleman struck out six.

Alex Maestri went the final 2.1 innings without allowing a hit for his second save of the season. Maestri walked one and struck out one.

Six Smokies had two hits tonight.  Second baseman Tony Thomas was 2 for 2 with a double and an intentional walk. He had one run and one RBI.  He also stole a base.

Center fielder James Adduci went 2 for 3 with two RBI. Shortstop Darwin Barney went 2 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored.

Third baseman Marquez Smith had a double and two runs scored in a 2 for 5 game. Left fielder Ty Wright went 2 for 4 with three RBI and a run scored. First baseman Russ Canzler had a double in a 2 for 4 night.

 

Daytona Cubs

The Daytona Cubs nailed the Jupiter Hammerheads, 3-1.

Dan McDaniel had a good start tonight, allowing one unearned run over six innings. McDaniel surrendered five hit and one walk while striking out four.

David Cales entered the game with one out and two on in the ninth and struck out both batters he faced to get his ninth save.

Right fielder Brandon Guyer got his High-A batting average up to .410 with a 3 for 4 an RBI.He also stole a base.

Center fielder Tony Campana went 2 for 4 with a double. He scored once and had one RBI. Catcher Robinson Chirinos was 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI. Third baseman Marwin Gonzalez went 2 for 4 with a run scored.

Peoria Chiefs

Had a going-away party for Josh Vitters and Chris Carpenter.

Boise Hawks

The Hawks and the Yakima Bears were scoreless through nine tonight, and then they gave up two runs in the top of the tenth. But then the offense came alive and they stunned the Yakima Bears 3-2 in ten innings.

Starter Tarlandas Mitchell struck out six in three scorless innings. He gave up two hits and a walk.

First baseman Greg Rohan was 3 for 5 with the game-winning RBI double in the tenth inning.

Shortstop Hak-Ju Lee was 1 for 4 with a two RBI double that tied the game in the bottom of the tenth. Lee also scored the winning run.

AZL Cubs

Lost to the Brewers, 7-1

Story-lines
What a crazy day it's been.  It's probably never a good thing when a sports blog's biggest news is the strife on the blog -- rather than on the team the blog covers -- although I suppose I'd rather there be dissent here than on the Cubs. 

Still, we've learned today that we shouldn't care about whether or not rival fans are homophobic -- and the act of caring may make us homophobic to boot -- and that people are incredibly, unbelievably sensitive on both sides when it comes to voicing opinions that aren't necessarily popular (and opinions on either side could fall into that category, so don't assume I'm talking about one or the other). 

I have learned, meanwhile, that it is impossible to satisfy everybody -- and to try doing so leaves nobody at all feeling any kind of satisfaction.  So, I guess I'm going to go back to only trying to satisfy meself. 

Who's Hot
Not the Cubs.  Sorry, should I sugar-coat it?  Should I pretend that before the 2007 season I never wanted Jim Hendry fired for a laundry list of reasons, which he only was able to avoid by finally opening the check book and signing some top tier talent?  Should I pretend to have never felt that Hendry was forced to compensate for his complete and undeniable inability to grow talent by throwing oodles of money at players who are now under-performing en masse -- players he now has zero chance of moving even if he sees a way to improve his team?  Should I also pretend that I was alone in wanting the Cubs to have a change back before two winning -- but ultimately futile -- seasons were purchased?

That doesn't mean I have given up on the 2009 season, on the contrary I really haven't.  But I have given up on having expectations.  Maybe the Cubs will pull it together -- they should certainly be capable of doing so, but we all may agree that inertia is a bitch -- or maybe they won't.  I don't think this blog is doing a disservice by suggesting that the possibility that they won't is indeed a possibility.  And it's a possibility that's growing stronger each and every day.

In the past, this blog -- along with all the other cool blogs -- would have sneered at the Pollyellons of the world, forecasting sunshine on even a cloudy day, but it seems that even some of our own writers get very, very ANGRY when we say things like "this team isn't performing up to expectations" and "maybe somebody should be held accountable, like Lou Piniella or Jim Hendry."

This morning I wrote a big section about who's to blame.  Without blaming any one person, I did point out that everybody could be blamed.  From Milton Bradley and his fragile ego to Lou Piniella and his questionable management, from any hitter who's underperforming to any pitcher who's failed to get a big out, this mess does not fall on the shoulders of just one person.  But why is it too much to ask that maybe somebody man up and take some kind of responsibility for things?  Rather than get mad at me for asking that question, answer it instead.  I'd appreciate that.

Anyway, I have always -- always* -- said that baseball is very much a What Have You Done For Me Lately sport.  The mastermind who built your team's World Championship squad five years ago should not be guaranteed a job for life, especially if said team is lounging about in the basement on mom's computer.  I refuse to kiss Lou Piniella's ass from now until the day he gracefully retires because he gave me the first back-to-back division title Cub teams of my lifetime.  Getting mad at me for being consistent -- and you can go back and read through everything I have ever written, my philosophy of baseball has not suddenly changed -- is pointless and wrong. 

(*ALWAYS)

So here's what I'm going to do.  I am going to blog about the Cubs.  When they lose a tough game, just like Harry Caray in the booth, or like Steve Stone, I am not going to pull my punches about how upset I feel.  When they win big -- or even little -- I'm not going to rain on everybody's parade. 

I will try like hell to have fun while doing it.  If the season progresses and the Cubs continue to tank, you can bet your ass that the fun I have will be directed at them.  The balls-busting photoshops are on their way. 

But I will not give up on the 2009 season until my two previously-mentioned conditions are met.  For those with short memories, they are as follows: 10 games below .500, or 10 games out of a playoff spot.

If you have a problem with me busting balls or being truthful about the frustrating moments then this is the time to voice your displeasure.  Otherwise I can only assume that you're in it with us for the long haul.  Sound fair?

Conclusions
So, yeah.  That's tonight's GameCast.  Fun, wowee, I hope you enjoyed it my friends.

Overview

The Pirates roll into town with a chance to leap-frog the Cubs and send the Cubs reeling into last place.  That's cool.

The Pirates, compared to the Cubs, are an offensive juggernaut.  They currently rank 7th in the league in runs (the Cubs are 13th), lead by Adam LaRoche, Freddie Sanchez, and Andrew McCutchen.  Those are pretty decent hitters, but do you know how many of the Pirates hitters have been better than their Cub counterpart?

All of them.  Seriously.  If you swapped any Pirate player for his positional equivalent on the Cubs, you would see an offensive improvement.  That may be the most remarkable statement I've ever written on this site.  The Pirates are that much better than the Cubs offensively.

Me: astounded.

So next time you think about the trouble the Cubs have had hitting the ball, just remember this: the Pirates are 100% better.

Niiiiiice.

The Matchups

Monday, June 29th - Rich Harden vs. Zach Duke
Harden has been a hard 'en to figure out (heh).  We all know that there are hardly any pitchers out there with better stuff then Harden when healthy and on, and yet Harden looks terrible.  Granted, he hasn't been on and we don't know if he's healthy, but...well, I don't have a conclusion to that sentence.  I just want him to do better. I was really excited to have a full season of Rich Harden and he's been yet another disappointment in 2009. 

Zach Duke is the Pirate's best pitcher and a likely all-star, so of course the scuffling Cubs get to face him.  Whee!  Historically, the Cubs have handled him pretty well, but historically the Cubs haven't tried this hard to break my heart.  Okay, that's a lie. But in the last two years, they haven't tried to break my heart at all.

Except in the playoffs.  What was my point again?

Tuesday, June 30th - Ted Lilly vs. Ross Ohlendorf
Other than in his last outing, Lilly have been quite good.  He has started to slow a bit recently, but overall he's still the Cubs' go-to guy and their likely all-star representative.  If anyone can stop the pain, it's Lilly.  Of course, generally "stopping the pain" means "killing the victim" after "a long night of torture" and is followed up with "sauteeing the victim's liver in olive oil and serving it up with a light chardonney".  However, if could also mean beating the Pirates.

Ross Ohlendorf?  I'm sorry, until you get a real name, I can't write about you.

Wednesday, July 1st - Randy Wells vs. Virgil Vasquez
Randy Wells has stopped his losing ways and has begun a nice little winning streak (yes, two games is a streak).  Aside from Lilly who gets the nod for a full season's worth of performance, Wells has been the Cubs' best pitcher.  With a combination of control and movement, Wells have kept hitters off balance and the Cubs in the game. 

Virgil?  Jeebus, where do the Pirates get these guys.  Virgil threw 6 innings of 2 run ball against the Royals in his only start.  Extrapolating from those numbers, I expect him to throw 14 innings of shutout ball against the Cubs and with 42 strikeouts.

Conclusion
The starting pitching is strong and the offense is weak.  Will the Pirates come in and sweep the Cubs and send them rocketing into last?  Only time will tell.

(although the answer is yes)

Go Cubs.

Bring back the 2008 version of Rich Harden.

Interleague play is now over, except for the tentatively-but-not-officially-rescheduled-for-September-3 Cubs/White Sox game from the May 16 rainout. The Cubs are 6-8 in interleague this year, pending that game. Once again, the AL dominated interleague play. Only five NL teams finished with winning interleague records (Marlins, 10-8; Cardinals, 9-6; Pirates, 8-7; Giants, 9-6, and Rockies, 11-4). Even the Dodgers, still running away with the NL West, only played .500 (9-9) in interleague.

The Cubs have 13 games until the All-Star break; ten of these will be against teams from the NL Central (the three vs. Atlanta next week are the only ones that are outside the division). At two games under .500, it'd be nice to go at least 8-5 in those 13 games to reach the break with a winning record. However, let me point out that of the three Cub playoff teams in this decade, only one (last year's) reached the All-Star break with anything resembling a good record. The 2007 team was 44-43 and 4.5 games out of first place at the break, and the 2003 team was 47-47 and 3 games out.

There's still time. But this club needs to start playing to its capabilities, get Aramis Ramirez back at even 85% of full strength, go out and get another hitter and some bullpen help, and focus on baseball. Enough of the off-field soap opera.

I'm not even going to link to Phil Rogers' silly column about waiving Carlos Zambrano. That's another of Phil's "heat of the moment" idiocies. Z just has to get his head on straight and live up to his considerable talent.

What I am going to do again... is ask for civility here. I have received numerous emails over the weekend with various complaints about personal attacks and profanity in the game threads. While I understand we are all frustrated with this team's performance -- I'm no exception to that -- all I ask is that you keep those two things out of the game thread (and other thread) discussion. Also, I know there are quite a few new posters here, and some of the posts recently have, quite frankly, gotten away from the types of posts that help further the discussion here. If you are new, we welcome you -- but I also ask that you please read all the posts under "BCB Specials & Site Info" on the right sidebar that have to do with posting tips and suggestions. Following the ideas in those posts will help you make better posts.

Lineup via Twittermyer:

Soriano, lf; Theriot, ss; Lee, 1b; Fox, 3b; Soto, c; Bradley, rf; Freel, cf; Blanco, 2b; Harden, p

Today's Starting Pitchers

Rich Harden Cubs vs. Zach Duke Pirates 4-4 W-L 8-5 4.95 ERA 3.09 67 SO 51 30 BB 25 15 HR 10 vs. Pit -- vs. Cubs

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Zach Duke is 4-5, 3.03 in 14 career starts against the Cubs, but has not beaten them at all since shutting out that horrific 2006 team on May 2, 2006. He pitched seven good innings at Wrigley Field on May 27, but left in a 2-2 tie and the Pirates bullpen blew the game (hmmm. Sound familiar?) It would seem that Duke would be a guy that Alfonso Soriano would love to see to break his slump. Soriano is 15-for-29 (.517) lifetime vs. Duke with four doubles and two HR.

Rich Harden: please give us the 2008 version of yourself. He's 0-3, 5.64 in his last four starts. Tonight will be his first career start against the Pirates; the only Buc he has faced for more than two at-bats is ex-Cub farmhand Eric Hinske (4-for-14, 2 HR).

Today's game is on WCIU. That means it can be seen within a three-block radius of their headquarters downtown. Maybe this is a good thing, considering the recent play of the team. The FSN Pittsburgh feed should be available on EI. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SBN Pirates site Bucs Dugout.

Overflow comment threads will post today at 7 pm, 8 pm and 8:45 pm CDT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

About 100 season ticket holders got a chance today to meet with Crane Kenney and several other members of senior Cubs management (they're all identified in the photo caption). This is the first of what Kenney said will be three such meetings this summer, so if you are a season ticket holder and didn't get picked, you'll have two more shots at it. For the rest, this is a summary of what went on in the 90-minute Q-&-A session. (It's cool to watch the sprinklers go on, too -- you can see them in the background of the photo.)

Lunch was from one of the concession stands; everyone got a brat or hot dog, chips and a non-alcoholic drink, and then everyone assembled in the field boxes down the first base line. Many of the questions were regarding various logistical problems that people had. These were primarily in the upper deck and terrace reserve/box sections, things such as vendors with cotton candy sticks blocking views (they said they'd probably eliminate these), ushers blocking aisles while escorting people to seats (they'll look at this), and having enough TV's to view the game in places like the upper deck patio (where you can't see the game at all -- they said they'd either put monitors out there or pipe the WGN radio broadcast in).

Several people, mainly women, asked about the restrooms. Kenney said, "We're not going to defend the restrooms", and noted several issues, all of which he said they're going to deal with, including the problem of people going in the exit doors in certain restrooms, which creates traffic problems as well as other issues. The restrooms are also going to be addressed once new ownership comes in, along with a number of other things that have been pushed to the back burner, notably the Triangle Building. There were some other questions regarding the "older people" who serve as ushers sometimes getting involved in having to break up altercations, and they are looking at different ways to get security to such a scene faster and more efficiently. There are off-duty Chicago police officers in the ballpark during games, too.

There's quite a bit more, and this got to be a rather long post, so the rest is below the fold.

About new ownership, Kenney wasn't specific, only saying that they "hope" it will be finalized by season's end. The Triangle Building is top priority; Kenney repeated what he has told me several times, that they want to get non-essential things like team offices and storage out of Wrigley Field and move it to that building, so they can increase player and fan amenities in the ballpark itself. Kenney mentioned that all 29 other teams -- including the White Sox -- get some form of public money to improve their facilities, but the Cubs get none. Part of this is, he said, by choice, but he also hinted that perhaps new ownership could get some public funding, given that Wrigley Field is the third largest tourist attraction in the state.

Several questions were asked about season ticketing itself -- whether season ticket holders would ever get discounts (answer: no, primarily because of the 100,000 on the waiting list, many of whom would pay "more than face value"), and whether partial season ticket holders could get more playoff tickets (the team wants to make some tickets available to the general public, so that the team can create new Cubs fans -- this is a constant issue, how do they engage the next generation of baseball fans).

The issue of more night games was raised, and how having fewer night games requires an "adjustment" on the part of players who come here from other teams used to about 54 home night games (the ML average), cutting down to 30 here. It appears that at this time, they're not going to push the issue of adding night games, but both management and those season ticket holders in attendance (myself included) were strongly in favor of having a couple of Friday nights during the year, especially when coming home from a distant road trip on Thursday. This appears to be something they may push for, and I hope they get that. It wouldn't seem too disruptive to the neighborhood to have two Friday nights (out of 52 weeks a year) having Cubs home games.

Another show of hands was asked for regarding a Jumbotron, after a question was asked about "showing the errors" on the scoreboard. More than half the people (yes, myself included) said, yes, we'd approve of a Jumbotron, presuming the existing scoreboard was left alone AND they didn't do some of the ridiculous stunts some other teams do with such boards. Kenney hinted that perhaps it could be "on a rooftop". I'd be 100% in favor of something like this.

There were a couple of questions regarding the evacuation procedure for emergencies, prompted by the confusion that occurred during the tornado warning that happened during the game last August. They assured us that they pay close attention to weather forecasts, get the information out as quickly as possible, and are re-evaluating procedures. The problem comes in part from having an old facility with narrow aisles; this theme was repeated often during the lunch, with many hints that the Triangle Building will help in getting some logjams of various kinds fixed. The Triangle Building was mentioned many times during the lunch; this appears to be the club's #1 priority in improving the facility once ownership changes.

Since this lunch was not intended to be a discussion of the team on the field (and no baseball-side management people were there), no such questions were asked. I can tell you this, though: Cubs management does read this site and they always appreciate thoughtful and constructive suggestions on how to improve the team, no matter whether it's on the field or about the ballpark. Thanks to Crane Kenney and the management team for having these sessions. (Site note: because of this unusual midafternoon post, tonight's game preview will post at 4:30 pm CDT, half an hour later than usual.)

Neither rain, nor snow, nor a faulty generator spewing black smoke behind the WGN production truck could keep Len & Bob from bringing you this week's podcast. RSS Subscribe to Len and Bob's Podcasts via an RSS link.Audio Video Podcast on iTunes Subscribe to Len and Bob's Video Podcasts on iTunes.Video PodcastAudio Podcast...

Our pal Tim Souers was inspired by Saturday's post and gave me this awesome graphic. And I don't really care to harp on the trade, but let me give you my final thoughts. The Cardinals got a good player and it should help them...a little. DeRosa was a 3.8 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) last year, he's been 1.1 so far this year as his defense at third hasn't been too great (at least according to UZR). The Cardinals are going to get him for a little over a half year and the 2 main guys he's replacing are Joe Thurston and Brian Barden who have combined for 0.8 WAR to this point. You can't just simply add and subtract it though, so my rough back-of-the-envelope guestimating says he's probably gonna be good for anything between 1-3  more wins on the year for the Cardinals, which is indeed significant for an individual player.

As for the Cubs not getting him, if we go by prospect lists and assuming the Indians like our pitchers as much as they liked Chris Perez and a supposedly top-end player to be named later, it would have cost something in the neighborhood of Jeff Samardzija and Jay Jackson. Samardzija has a no-trade clause of course, so maybe it would require Sean Marshall or Randy Wells and maybe that second player would be Kevin Hart or Angel Guzman instead of Jackson or another decent arm that could be ready for the majors by next year. It's a whole lot of speculating on who the Indians might like and who the Cubs are willing to trade, but let's take some educated guesses.

So in theory if the Cubs met the Indian asking price, it would be something in the neighborhood of (let's just say) Marshall and Jackson for John Gaub, Chris Archer, Jeff Stevens and a half a season of Mark DeRosa, plus the $2M or so added to the Cubs payroll that is owed DeRosa. That actually doesn't sound too terrible for the Cubs, they basically replace some of the arms they would have had to given up to reacquire DeRosa with the initial trade and the Cubs get back the wind beneath their wings.

Looking at the WAR values of the guys that DeRosa would be taking playing time from (Fontenot, Miles, Blanco, Scales and Jake Fox), they add up to -0.1 WAR so far and as I said you can't just simply and add and subtract due to playing time and small sample sizes and all that, but had the Cubs been able to make this trade back in early May (and the asking price was reportedly higher back then), you're talking probably 2-4 wins over a full season and 1-2 over the last two months (once again, more a guestimate than anything). The impact probably would have been less if Lou would have had just sucked it up and played Jake Fox at third to begin with instead of having his Neifi/Lee 2006 moment. With Aramis Ramirez due back soon, that impact is going to be a bit limited, although we still don't know if we're getting the old Ramirez back and how many days off he'll have to take. I guess I would have liked for Hendry to pull the trigger, DeRosa's a quality player that has been able to get it done with runners on this year. Whether that would translate to the Cubs or not I can't say for certain, the slump and inexplicable inability to get a hit with runners on seems to be nearly a team-wide affliction and maybe DeRosa would have caught it like a cold.

I'm disappointed that DeRosa could be the dagger in the Cubs 2009 hearts and it sure does seem like the Cubs could have avoided some of this mess back in January. But he's a Cardinal now and be damn certain I hope he strikes out everytime he comes up. And every moron at Wrigley that ends up cheering for him in a Cardinals uniform, go jump off a cliff with the other lemmings.

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In other news, Aaron Miles is back to the disabled list with a hyperextended right elbow and the Cubs have called up Sam Fuld. Soriano has had four mult-hit games in his last five so I'm guessing that Fuld won't get a shot at being a leadoff hitter/center fielder for a few games, not that I really thought he had shot at that, but maybe he can spell a still struggling Kosuke Fukudome. Fuld's warmed up with the weather down in Iowa with a 398/474/506/980 OPS line in June.

 

Yeah, I'm afraid it's true.

Lot's of people are on Lou Piniella’s back. People are saying he’s quit on the team. That's he become passive and doesn’t care. Even this page has noted that he’s likely a short timer and will probably not return to the Cubs for the 2010 season.

Most of the people making these comments are looking for a single source to blame for the team's reversion from 97 win regular season juggernaut to Dusty Baker era Keystone Copishness. Most of this criticism is underserved. It's stupid to blame Lou for Aramis Ramirez’s bad shoulder. Or Alfonso Soriano's Korey-esque last two months. Or Milton Bradley's predictable demeanor and unexpected loss of a hitting stroke. Or Mike Fontenot's disappearance. Or Carlos Marmol's evolution into Rick Ankiel.

These are good players who, for a combination of reasons, are not playing as well this year as last year. It’s impossible to blame Lou for all of that.

But where Lou made his mistakes was in his handling, or, more accurately, the lack of handling of his corner outfielders.

Soriano should not be leading off. Period. Yes, he hits worse when you bet him elsewhere. At this point, so what? How much worse could he be? Giving Soriano more at bats hurts the team. He needs to hit fewer times, not more. And he needs to be replaced in the outfield late and often.

The Bradley incident from Friday seemed to be handled correctly. After Milton had another tantrum, Lou told him to go home. Smart.

But to start him the next day? Bad move. Maybe Lou felt guilty for calling Bradley what a lot of people seem to have called him. Another so what? After Soriano, of all people, went off on Bradley saying Milton needed to be here 100%, Bradley needed a day to think about it. Lou starting him on Saturday was enabling, not corrective.

There's plenty of time to fix this season. Lou can start with Soriano and Bradley.