Cubs fight on without Patterson

Tom Goodwin replaced Corey Patterson in center field and as the heart of the Cubs offense tonight as the Cubs tipped the Marlins 6-3. Goodwin was 3-4 with a walk and two steals, and Hee Sop Choi chipped in two hits and a walk. Choi did strike out in the seventh though, so clearly he needs another month on the bench to get his stroke back. Anyway, starter Matt Clement was revisited by the homer bugaboo, but he had the good sense to make sure the two he gave up were both solo shots. Guthrie, Farnsworth, and Borowski (aka "the good relievers") combined for 2.2 perfect innings of relief to close it out.

An interesting breakdown of some options for our outfield is up over at the Cub Reporter. My gut reaction is that we are now two or three major acquisitions away from having the firepower to contend, but as we are all Cub fans we should I suppose try to keep our chins up in the face of adversity.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, Carlos Zambrano will take on Dontrelle Willis. It looks like a great matcup, with Dontrelle getting a chance to show up Dusty for snubbing him. Hopefully our bats can back up Dusty's decision.

posted by Scott at 11:15 PM : |

 

Patterson reportedly out for the year

A brutal blow to the Cubs hopes for this year and perhaps beyond, as Corey Patterson has been diagnosed with a torn ACL and torn meniscus in his left knee. Its hard to see how this offense could survive the loss of their most productive player of the first half of the year. We'll have more on this devastating blow later in the evening.
posted by Scott at 5:28 PM : |

 

Couldn't we all use an (All-Star) Break?

I know I could, after another brutal performance by our offense today. Mark Prior hung a 2-2 curve and Eduardo Perez hit it out for all the runs the Cards would need today. The Cardinals now sit two clear of the Astros and the Cubs, and the way things look right now it wouldn't surprise me if they stay on top the rest of the way.

I think Mike Sciosia, Bud Selig, the players and managers of both leagues, the fans, and our own Dusty Baker could use a break too, after the performance they put on picking the All-Star teams. There is certainly room for different philosophies on these matters (see our takes on the rosters below), but a few of the choices made tonight defy explanation. No Pedro? No Clemens? No Frank Thomas? No Jim Thome? Instead we get Marcus Giles? Ramon Hernandez?? Mike 6.29 ERA Williams??? There's got to be a better way here people...

Last but not least, let's give Dusty a second break, because I think he may be suffering from a bit of heat stroke himself. He apparently presented a rather bizzare theory to a Trib reporter this weekend. I really don't feel like discussing the specifics right now, but I can say that this might have been a good time for Dusty to keep his mouth shut.

Seven games to go before we actually get a break though, so here's to a surprise win streak and a charge back in to contention. Matt Clement versus Josh Beckett at Wrigley tomorrow night.

posted by Scott at 9:17 PM : |

 

All-Stars at Comiskey Park and other ironies of life

Dennis and I have each endeavored to select 32-man All-Star rosters while obeying the player for every team role and staying true to our own philosophies on such matters. As you will see, he relies a bit more on present year performance while I look at past performance a bit more. We didn't worry much about injuries and we chose the starters regardless of what the fans are deciding. Blogger is forcing me to break it up into two posts, so here is the American League, with the National in the post below:

American League
Dennis Speaks	Dennis Picks:	Pos	Scott Picks:	Scott Speaks
Pretty easy one to get started. Posada has a much better OBP so he gets the nod, but I had no clue how good Varitek has been.	Jorge Posada Jason Varitek	C	Jorge Posada Jason Varitek Greg Myers	Varitek gives Posada a run for his money, but Posada has a small edge this year and a larger edge in years past. Myers has outperformed both of them, albeit in a platoon role.
Carlos has a slugging percentage 100 points higher than any other player. Sweeney gets the second nod over Giambi because he has edges in both slugging and OBP.	Carlos Delgado Mike Sweeny Jason Giambi	1B	Carlos Delgado Mike Sweeney Jason Giambi	Delgado has been a monster and is a lock for the starting spot. Sweeney's having a decent year, but there isn't much competition at first this year so he's in. Giambi has been off this year, but his resume is good enough that he slides in.
Soriano will probably win the fan vote, but Boone is getting on base more, slugging more and doing it in a harder park.	Bret Boone Alfonso Soriano	2B	Bret Boone Alfonso Soriano	Boone looked like a latter day Brady Anderson in 2001, but he had a decent followup last year and he is absolutely killing the ball this year. Soriano is a worthy backup.
Again, ARod will be the fan darling because he is more famous, but Nomar is doing everything better. He also has 12 triples so far this season. Yikes!! He is having a Patterson, Furcal, Soriano type season with a chance at 20+ in the counting stats all while batting high.	Nomar Garciaparra Alex Rodriguez	SS	Nomar Garciaparra Alex Rodriguez	If it was anyone else having this season, ARod would take the starting spot based on past performance, but Nomar's got the resume to make this year's edge in performance stand up. Plus, Nomar went to Georgia Tech, always a good tiebreaker. Don't even mention the New York guy.
I will give the nod to Blalock here because he is a fun story and he is practically even with Mueller. Koskie gets the surprise nod as the reserve. I probably should have gone with Mueller, but I am bitter he never hit like this with the Cubs. Plus Koskie is getting on base more.	Hank Blalock Corey Koskie	3B	Corey Koskie Hank Blalock	Blalock has hit a smidge better than Koskie, but Koskie has got the edge in playing time and doesn't have the advantage of playing in the best hitter's park in the AL. Mueller is close, but limited playing time makes him the odd man out.
Mora should probably get the start here, but, come on, it has only been half a baseball season which is still a small sample. I say give the start to Manny due to fame but let Melvin have his due as a deserving all star (plus, it makes the Baltimore selection easy).	Manny Ramirez Melvin Mora Dimitri Young	LF	Manny Ramirez Melvin Mora Dimitri Young	Manny's track record trumps Mora's unbelievable start to this season. Dimitri Young is, needless to say, the token Tiger.
The pain in the butt of picking an actual OF is that you get a couple of lesser knowns for center. Truth be told, Milton Bradley is having a whale of a season. His OBP is .436 and he is slugging over .510. Byrnes gets my nod over Wells due to OBP.	Milton Bradley Eric Byrnes	CF	Milton Bradley Eric Byrnes	Did you know Milton Bradley hit the only 3-2 count, bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, seventh game of the World Series, team down by three home run (Real Audio link) in the history of professional baseball?
Another freaking Red Sox starter, but a .400+ OBP and near 1.000 OPS makes me a believer. Tampa does need a representative, but Huff is having a decent season. A .900 OPS is good for a slot.	Trot Nixon Aubrey Huff	RF	Ichiro Suzuki Aubrey Huff	Ichiro and Huff have each been very nearly as good as Nixon in significantly more playing time. Ichiro gets the starting nod on speed, defense, and resume.
The Big Hurt is getting hot and posting a plus 1.000 OPS season. Edgar continues to be an on base machine and deserves the spot.	Frank Thomas Edgar Martinez	DH	Frank Thomas Edgar Martinez	I give a fairly hefty penalty for not playing a position, but these two have the numbers and the track record to earn their way on the team.
There is no way Mussina will get this start because his hot streak came at the beginning of the season and has-been forgotten, but he has the 8th best opponents OPS and has struck out 106 batters in 109.1 innings. He has only allowed 19 walks all season. A little homer happy, but good enough to be my starter. Hudson has pitched better than his wins and losses seem so he will probably be snubbed.	Mike Mussina Esteban Loaiza Tim Hudson Jamie Moyer David Wells Roy Halladay Mark Mulder	SP	Esteban Loaiza Mark Mulder Barry Zito Tim Hudson Pedro Martinez Roger Clemens	Loiaza's got no track record of all-star performance, but he is head and shoulders above the rest of the league so he gets the starting nod. The Oakland pitching staff is just amazing, as all three of their young guns are deserving of all-star spots. Clemens and Pedro are neck and neck with several other guys this year, but Hall of Fame careers count with me.
Donnelly is there to make sure the world champs have a representative. Middle men are underrepresented at times, but he has a 50/11 K/BB ratio in 42 innings and allowed only 2 ER all season. Hawkins has been pretty dominant as well.	Keith Foulke Eddie Guardado Mariano Rivera LaTroy Hawkins Brendan Donnelly	RP	Brendan Donnelly Shigetoshi Hasegawa Scott Shields LaTroy Hawkins Arthur Rhodes	I didn't pick a single closer here, so I am sure I won't see many of these picks make the actual game. Donnelly is having a freakishly dominant year though, and each of the others has been among the best at what they do this year.

posted by Scott at 1:11 PM : |

 

National League
Dennis Speaks	Dennis Picks:	Pos	Scott Picks:	Scott Speaks
Yeah, Lopez should probably start, but call it the Mora theorem of small sample size skepticism. IRod is only 4 runs below him in RARP. Lopez has most of the advantage due to power and that could come down as the season wears on.	Ivan Rodriguez Javy Lopez	C	Ivan Rodriguez Javy Lopez	Javy's power surge nearly earned him the starting nod, but he has been so awful in recent years that Rodriguez's track record keeps him on top. I really wanted to find room for the twice screwed Paul Lo Duca, but it just wasn't there.
Coors field or not, a .400 OBP speaks volumes. He is far and away the best first sacker in the league. Thome's 915 OPS is good enough to put him on the squad.	Todd Helton Jim Thome Ryan Klesko	1B	Jim Thome Todd Helton Ryan Klesko	Thome started slow, but he has been gradually heating up and with help from the Coors penalty on Helton he slips by at the wire. Klesko's your daddy, I mean, the Padre.
Vidro is getting on base and hitting with power. What else could you want? If Kent is injured, I have no problem putting Durham on the team as a replacement.	Jose Vidro Jeff Kent	2B	Jose Vidro Jeff Kent	Vidro is having a great year and remains under appreciated behind Guerrero in Montreal. Kent edges Durham on track record. I love Marcus Giles, but how on earth are voters bypassing these great players and voting for him?
Renteria gets on base more than Gonzalez. Gonzalez over Furcal is probably the hardest decision I had to make. Alex has a little more power, so he gets my vote	Edgar Renteria Alex Gonzalez (FL)	SS	Edgar Renteria Rafael Furcal	Is it really fair that the Cardinals have this much offense? Anyway, Furcal edges Gonzalez on the strength of 70 extra plate appearances.
Pretty easy to pick the players here. I went with Rolen as the starter because he plays better defense and gets on base more.	Scott Rolen Mike Lowell	3B	Mike Lowell Scott Rolen	I'll take Lowell's amazing power streak and solid defense over Rolen's track record and elite defense.
Nothing to say here over what has been said more eloquently by others. Best two hitters around at the moment.	Barry Bonds Albert Pujols Cliff Floyd Brian Giles Geoff Jenkins	LF	Barry Bonds Albert Pujols Brian Giles Cliff Floyd	Barry is king. Pujols gets the start at DH since we are in a lousy American League park. Giles deserves to be here and Floyd is the token Met.
I really don't like Edmonds all that much, but who can argue the glove and the OPS. I had no clue that Finley was having this type of season. What is it with the water out in Arizona that makes 38 year olds play like 27? I would have loved to have put Preston Wilson in here, but even his Coors inflated OPS is lower than these two. Also, even the largest Cubs bias in the world cannot get me to include Patterson here.	Jim Edmonds Steve Finley	CF	Jim Edmonds	I hate Edmonds as much as the next guy, but he's the only center fielder swinging this kind of stick. Andruw gets left off so I can take guys who are just having better years at corner slots or are their team's only reps.
Sheffield is a no doubter with a 1.000+ OPS. I will go with Walker over Hidalgo because he gets on base more and both players play in hitter's paradises.	Gary Sheffield Larry Walker	RF	Sammy Sosa Gary Sheffield	Sammy Sosa has the seventh best outfield EQA in the NL, and he has five straight years with at least a .993 OPS, and he has 300 homers since the start of 1998, and all that doesn't just vanish because of a minor injury and a little cork. Sheffield's been good too.
Schmidt's has a WHIP under one,lowest opponents OPS allowed, more Ks per innings and a 4.35 K/BB ratio. I will take that most every time. Wood and Prior are 6th and 7th in opponent's OPS and have more Ks than innings pitched.	Jason Schmidt Kevin Brown Kerry Wood Mark Prior Woody Williams Randy Wolf	SP	Kevin Brown Brandon Webb Jason Schmidt Hideo Nomo Miguel Batista Dontrelle Willis Mark Prior Kerry Wood	Brown was neck and neck with Schmidt so I took the guy with the track record. Willis earned his way on despite the limited innings, as did the virtually unknown Brandon Webb. Wood and Prior were the last two on, but it wasn't just Cubs bias I swear.
Williamson is there because the Reds need someone and Kearns was the only hitter worth even considering and he has leveled off. Borowski might seem like a homer pick, but he also has more Ks than innings pitched and 3.5 more Ks than BBs.	Octavio Dotel Tim Worrell Scott Williamson Joe Borowski Eric Gagne John Smoltz	RP	John Smoltz Octavio Dotel Eric Gagne Billy Wagner Scott Williamson Leo Estrella	Williamson is the token Red over Jose Guillen and Estrella is the Brewer over Sexson and Jenkins. JoBo would have made the team two weeks ago but he's now on the outside looking in.

posted by Scott at 1:09 PM : |

 

Baseball: Game of Inches

Staked to a five run second inning lead, the Cardinals seemed to have the game and the series in control before the Cubs put on their rally caps to stun the Redbirds 6-5 in the ninth inning. Mr. Clutch, Alex Gonzalez, knocked in the game winning run with a bases loaded infield single that barely alluded Scott Rolen's dive and the webbing of Edgar Renteria's mitt. Tom Goodwin was the beneficiary of an extra inch in the seventh inning when he streaked home on a wild pitch and slid his hand in just before Cal Eldred's tag. If Eldred would have actually looked where to tag rather than setting the glove over the middle part of the plate Goodwin would gave been meat because the throw beat him. But, he snuck his hand in on the high side and the umpire did a great job of calling it correctly.

The Cards scored one run in the first on a Jim Edmonds homer and 4 more in the second highlighted by a Albert Pujois moonshot onto Waveland. Moises Alou countered with a solo homer in the bottom of the second to make it 5-1. Unlike yesterday when the Cub pitchers could not hold the Cards in place, Estes, Veres and Remlinger combined to give up no runs after the second inning. Sammy Sosa hit another homer to pull the game to 5-4 before Goodwin and Gonzalez's heroics. This was a big game in a big series and it was nice to see some of the breaks fall for the boys in blue.

The ninth inning was interesting. Corey Patterson got lucky and beat a Texas Leaguer into the ground and made first without a play. Tom Goodwin came up and had three of the worst bunt attempts I have ever seen in my life. The guy cannot hit homers and he cannot bunt, what in the heck does he practice? Grudz smacked a double down the line to set up 2nd and 3rd with one out and Sosa up. LaRussa elected to face Sosa and Esteban Yan struck him out. He then walked Moises intentionally to set up Alex's game winning hit.

This all leads me to a theory about Sosa. He is a vulerable force. I thought in 1998 he had a chance to hit more homers than McGwire because his swing had more holes. Sounds odd, but think about it. McGwire was another plane (think Bonds or Ruth) and you could barely pitch to him. On the other hand there were a couple of different ways to get Sosa out and still are. Thing is that if the pitcher misses a spot by even the smallest portion, the ball is punished. It creates a situation where pitchers feel like they can challenge Sosa when they would automatically walk other hitters. If Sosa gets the game winning hit this afternoon, LaRussa would have been torn apart in the media. He realizes though that Sammy can be an out if pitched effectively. Good thing for the Cubs is that it is very hard to hit a spot with every pitch so his vulerability leads to more chances and more homers.

posted by Dennis at 6:54 PM : |

 

Another day, another way to lose

The Cubs backed ace pitcher Kerry Wood with three homers from Alou, one from Karros, and one from Sammy Sosa, yet fell to the arch-rival Cards 11-8 at Wrigley. On the third base watch, Lenny contributed even less than his usual nothing as he paired two errors to go along with a strikeout and a popout. I know I am beating a dead horse, but I am hoping it will make me feel better somehow. Anyway, the Cubs find themselves at what looks like a turning point in the season. We sit in third place, one behind Houston and two behind St. Louis. A sweep of the remaining two games in this series and we are right back in the mix. A split leaves us in a badly leaking ship but still in striking range. Losing both would put us four back of a more talented Cardinals team, and may well spell the end of the run. Oh, and today we have Shawn Estes facing Matt Morris and a Cardinal lineup that absolutely owns left-handed pitching- their .905 OPS against lefties is 64 points better than the next best non-Coors team in the majors.

Now that you are nice and miserable like me, lets try to lighten the mood a bit. Sports Illustrated has a fascinating player survey out in this week's issue. They asked every major leaguer to answer twenty questions and got 550 of them to respond to at least some. I'll comment on a few of the questions, but you should really read the whole thing as nearly every question is intriguing.

1. Who's the greatest living player?
An interesting array of responses favoring some current players, with Barry Bonds beating out Alex Rodriguez for the top spot. The best part though was Babe Ruth garnering 1.5% of the vote. I guess its reassuring that at least some players have heard of Babe Ruth, but he has been dead for half a century! On the other hand, I admit Ruth's corpse would most likely outhit Lenny Harris today so I guess I shouldn't be too harsh.

6. Who gets the least from the most talent?
With nine of the top ten answers to this question non-white players and eight of the ten answers to the inverse question white, its a depressing indication that certain racial stereotypes are alive and well. That said, congratulations to our own Kyle Farnsworth (sorry, can't use the nickname yet) for being the only white player to make the survey in sixth place with 2.8% of the vote. I am aware of some of the stories that have bounced around about Farnsworth's supposedly lackadaisical attitude, but he has an ERA under three this year as well as two years ago. Its not like he has been a Lenny Harrisesque disaster. (OK, I swear that's the last Lenny joke today.) Of course, cross-town slugger Frank Thomas came in third despite having the tenth best OPS of all-time, so it could be worse.

11- Which city has the best/worst fans?
Chicago managed to place fourth in both lists. Whatever could account for this seeming contradiction? The note at the bottom of the second question explains "Chicago finished first among AL players in the worst-city voting (19.0%) but second among NL players in the best-city voting (12.8%)." I am shocked- shocked- that the Wrigley denizens are so heavily favored to the vaunted "serious baseball fans" on the Southside. Perhaps playing in a half-empty tomb isn't all its cracked up to be, eh Sox fans?

12- Which ballpark has the best/worst quality playing field?
Wrigley comes in atop the worst field list despite being third on the favorite park overall list. I suppose that speaks to the love players have for Wrigley aside from the field, but its still no reason the Trib can't get a little better effort out of the grounds crew.

18- Who's the best manager?
Dusty waltzes to the win, beating out Joe Torre 23.6% to 18.7%. As much as we have picked on certain aspects of Dusty's tactics and decision making, the fact remains he does many things well. He is unfailingly loyal to his players, never ripping them in the media for anything that goes wrong like a certain former Cub manager so like to do. He commands respect and admiration from his team, and the surveyed players clearly respond to that. I'll keep pointing out where I think he could do better, but this is a reminder not to forget his strengths.

Anyway, check out the survey for yourself, and cross your fingers for Shawn Estes today. We'll be back with what we hope is a cheerier recap after the game.

posted by Scott at 11:04 AM : |

 

And now, this word from Hoosiers

I am originally from Indiana, lived there for the first 22 years of my life and more than likely will wind up back there one day. It is a requirement for all Indiana residents to own and watch the Gene Hackman vehicle Hoosiers at least once a year (usually in March). Heck, when I drive home from Cincinnati I pass the exit for Milan which is the real school in which the movie was based. Putting it mildly, I love this movie and quote it with the same ease as quoting the Simpsons or thinking of witty Lenny Harris putdowns. After watching last night's 7th inning, this quote immediately came to mind:

There's two types of dumb guys that one gets naked, goes outside and barks at the moon. The other is standing in my living room. First one don't matter, second one you're kinda forced to deal with. (copied from IMDB)

Here was the situation, the Cubs are down three and have two runners on base with the pitcher's spot due up and one out. Philly right handed pitcher Brett Myers appears to be tiring. Baker brings out Lenny Harris to pinch hit. Bowa makes the stupid decision to go lefty-lefty against Harris even though he is batting .170 and my dog could get him out (she has a great spitter). This is the perfect chance for Baker. It is like a poker player holding a straight, checking, and waiting for his opponent to bet into him. He now has a lefty on the mound and southpaw masher Eric Karros on the bench. Karros even has a lifetime .375 OBP against Rheal Cormier. It's the perfect chance to get back in the game because by baseball rules, Bowa is stuck with the lefty on the mound while Baker can pinch hit for Harris. He decides to stay with Harris who kept his word and half hacked at the first pitch tapping out weakly to the pitcher. Bowa's stupidity I can handle, Baker's should be dealt with.

Of course the bullpen implosion makes this look like a moot point, but the constant use of players who are old and clearly beyond their prime seasons (when their prime season were not that good) is troubling. Baker has been quoted lately as saying that verteran players will play better in the second half, so we might see even more of Harris rather than less. This is not like a basketball player who needs to shoot his way out of a slump, Harris should just be shot (not really, just figuratively from the Cubs team). Hendry should cut Harris and tell Dusty, "my team is on the field". That's what Husker Coach Norman Dale would do.

posted by Dennis at 8:05 AM : |

 

Another frustrating night

Well, another day another miserable performance by the Cubs. Led by a clueless looking Sammy Sosa whiffing three times, the Cubs couldn't score a single run for... wait a second... hold on... STOP THE PRESSES! Get me rewrite! Take two!

Another glorious victory!

Cubs win! Cubs win! Matt Clement was effectively wild, scattering six walks around a lone hit while holding the Phillies scoreless for seven innings. Guthrie and Farnsworth got through the eighth, and when Sammy tagged Turk Wendell for his first homer allowed of the year to leadoff the ninth, JoBo came on to close it out.

Tonight's outcome notwithstanding, the Cubs offense of late hasn't performed quite as well as we would like. Actually, its been awful. Lenny "F" Harris has been the whipping boy for many of our problems, but the ever-reasonable David Geiser posted a comment to the effect that Lenny was probably only costing us a win or two over the course of a full year. He is absolutely right in a general sense- most studies have agreed that even a very extreme player is worth only a handful of wins- but it piqued my curiosity to try to quantify just what the impact of the LFH on the standings has been.

Fortunately, Baseball Prospectus has already done some legwork for me. In their 2003 book and on their website, they calculate a statistic called Marginal Lineup Value rate, or MLVr. It is a park adjusted offensive measure, meant to equal the number of additional runs per game a team of average hitters would score if the player in question replaced one of the average guys in their lineup. For instance, if last year's leader Barry Bonds (.994 MLVr) replaced an average player on an average team, they would score nearly one extra run per game.

Lenny Harris is sporting a -.481 MLVr so far this year, third worst in baseball among players with at least Lenny's PA total, ahead of only Jermaine Dye and Doug Glanville. For some context, let's look at Lenny alongside Ramon Martinez (-.024 MLVr), the best third baseman in baseball this year (Mike Lowell, +.378 MLVr), and the average third baseman (-.038 MLVr).

Assuming 150 games played over a full season, Mike Lowell would be expected to produce about 57 more runs than the average hitter. Ramon Martinez would produce about four runs less than the average hitter, the average third baseman about six runs less, and Lenny Harris about 72 runs less. (Interesting to note that by this measure at least, Lenny is worse than the very best third baseman is good.)

Team	RS	RA	PW	PL
'03 Cubs	720	677	85.7	76.3
Cubs w/ Martinez replacing Harris	788	677	92.7	69.3
Cubs w/ avg 3Bman replacing Harris	786	677	92.5	69.5
Cubs w/ Lowell replacing Harris	849	677	98.1	63.9

Lets pretend Lenny has been the fulltime third baseman for the Cubs. I realize this isn't the case, but it will give us a baseline for comparison. Adding the numbers from the preceding paragraph to the Cubs projected runs scored and allowed numbers for a full season and then applying Bill James's Pythagorean Formula, we can estimate the impact that our various candidates would have on the Cubs if they replaced Lenny fulltime. As you can see, Ramon and an average third baseman would each be worth about seven wins over Lenny over a full season. The best third baseman in the game would be worth an additional six wins. Naturally this assumes everyone were to keep performing the way they have so far.

So over a full season, Ramon's bat is worth seven wins over Lenny's. If we figure a full season to be about 700 PAs, then Lenny has eaten up about a sixth of a season so far. Give that playing time to Ramon, and you get about a full win in the standings, and expect another full win if you give Ramon all that playing time in the second half as well.

All of this basically confirms what David suggested earlier, that Lenny isn't the difference between this team being what they are and being a 110 win juggernaut. However, it doesn't take many wins to be significant. The difference between the average team and a pennant might be 15 games. This isn't the kind of team that has so much talent they can afford to give away any tiny margin they have by playing LFH and his impotent friends. Two games here, two games there, sooner or later you are talking about a 57th straight pennantless year.

posted by Scott at 12:28 AM : |

 

Around the Cubs World

I feel like it has been about three weeks since I posted on this blog - or maybe just three weeks since the Cubs have been respectible. Regardless, here is a random sample of some Cub thoughts from around the print media and blog world.

We will start with the Chicago Tribune story covering last night's game. Here is an interesting quote from Baker. Man, somebody has something on us or something. This is unbelievable. You think you've seen it one day, you see it another day, you see it another day. … Man. Every time we walk somebody it costs us. Boy, this is a terrible feeling. To me the key part is the last part. If Dusty realizes that walks are hurting him, wouldn't it make sense to preach walks to his hitters thus hurting the opposition. Maybe that's too easy.

Here is another Tribune article on All-Star voting. The writer becomes a conspiracy theorist and wonders if players from the Reds, Giants and Cardinals will snub Prior because of previous actions. I chalk this speculation up to the fact that the Trib needed another column this morning.

The Northside Lounge's favorite columnist Mike Kiley weighs in with this effort headlined "Dying Cubs beaten again in last at-bat." Jose Hernandez had a tough night with the glove last evening committing one error and he probably should have been given two. Kiley describes the second play as such, It was not a simple play. Hernandez had to shuffle to his right to try to field Burrell's rip. Still, good third basemen have made that play, and the Cubs' pitching is going to need better support to continue to be this club's anchor.. He does say a good third basemen makes this play, but the qualifying statement about it not being a simple play seems out of sorts for Kiley. This is the man that was beating the anti-Bellhorn drum louder than anyone else. Why is Hernandez getting this sort of respect from Kiley?

Kiley has another article today with some random news and notes. Included is this gem from leadoff man extraordinaire Lenny Harris: Anything close I'm swinging. That's the mentality I'm going to carry up there now. That's just great. So he is intentionally trying to be a .200 hitter with no walks. I think I am going to be sick.

Around the Cubs Blog world, I will start with the Clark and Addision Chronicle where Jason has a spiffy new site design and his opinion on the above mentioned Harris quote. He also has more news on the no-news that is Mike Lowell to the Cubs and some Prospectus banter on Mark Prior and pitch counts.

Brian Carstens has some thoughts on last night's game including some great points on making moves just for the sake of making moves. He would rather Dusty use his head than his book of baseball conventional wisdom at times. I agree 100%.

Dan's Cub Log has some new commentary up on Dusty Baker's education as a Cubs manager. Yes, these are dark times for the Cubs. They need something to snap them out of this hole and hopefully it comes soon.

Al Yellon makes a plea for Hendry to go out, get some players and win this weak division. The White Sox made some moves yesterday that look to help them out. Al is hoping the Cubs follow suit expecially with the Cubs in the middle of the winnable Central. Cannot say I disagree with this statement either.

The funniest thing I have read in awhile was at Weeghman Park. I have been calling Kyle Farnsworth Dr. Tightpants all season hoping it would catch on and a revolution would be born. The author (who I cannot find his name on the page anywhere) of Weeghman park has taken up the good fight. He will refer to Kyle as Dr. Tightpants, Mr. Tightpants, or the amazingly funny Sir Tightpants. Pure genius. I believe I shall call him Sir Tightpants as well. Just the thought of him being knighted in his uniform is enough to bring a smile to my face during the darkest of losing spells.

Finally, Andy Dolan at Desipio puts on his investigative journalist hat and discovers some clues to Albert Pujois' real age. I always knew he was older.

posted by Dennis at 1:56 PM : |

 

Summer in Cubland- does the fun ever start??

The Cubs shocked their fans tonight as they uncharacteristically fell by a single run scored on an Alfonseca-allowed game winning hit. Meanwhile, indications are that Mike Lowell will not be the solution to the ongoing third base disaster. I swear to you, I am not always a pessimistic crybaby, but we aren't talking about a half-empty glass here. Its more of a bone-dry glass, riddled with bulletholes and sitting in a kiln. Dusty! Hendry! Please, someone, give us something to at least moisten our throats a little.

Matt Clement tries to turn the tide tomorrow as he faces Brandon Duckworth. Early Vegas line favors a 4-3 Cubs loss, marked by poor tactical decision making, a lousy lineup, and myriad Lenny Harris failures. Any takers?

posted by Scott at 10:30 PM : |

 

Thoughts while wondering how I got jetlagged on a north-south trip

Note: I am writing this as I sit down to watch the Cubs and Phillies tonight. I'll interject comments on tonight's game in italics as I go.

First off, congratulations to my friend Robert and his new wife Tara. I spent the weekend in Pittsburgh at their wedding, an affair at which a good time was had by all. Is that really Lenny Harris leading off? One pitch, one out... I guess it is. One damper on the party was (approximately) two-year old Clayton, running around in a Braves jersey. I tried to whisper subliminal messages to get him on the path to a fulfilling lifetime of rooting for the Cubs, but I don't know how well they took. Good to see Choi hammer one in his first PA back with the club, too bad it was right at the center fielder. I suppose wedding talk isn't exactly hitting our target audience though, so I'll move on to the baseball game I managed to get to Friday night- Pirates/Rockies at PNC Park.

I left Atlanta around 6:30 a.m. with five of Robert's high school buddies. The ticket the hillbilly cop gave us in the West Virgina speed trap notwithstanding, we got into Pittsburgh about twelve hours later. My traveling companions dropped me off at PNC and went on to the hotel to check in. Estes just tied Lenny for homers on the year. Let's see if Lenny can answer... well, no, but kudos for drawing a ball before going on to strikeout on four pitches. Despite a fireworks induced sellout (more on that later), the good folks at the ticket window produced a $27 ticket in the tenth row almost directly behind home plate. Why is it I can pull that off at Wrigley and PNC Park, but never at home in Atlanta?

I took my seat just before gametime, and was fortunate enough to meet Rice physics professor Doug and his father Mike who lucked in to good seats at gametime just as I had done. Although they didn't seem to be cut from the sabermetric fold, they did bring up Moneyball of their own accord, so maybe saber-folk are going mainstream after all. Steve Stone just called that WP/PB three seconds before it happened. He is uncanny.

PNC Park is a beautiful facility. There are a very limited number of seats beyond the outfield walls, making the walls appear much closer to the fan than they really are. Behind the wall is the Allegheny River, and behind that is the city skyline. I can report that the footlong hotdog ($5.25) is respectable, although you have to buy water to drink since their beverage contract isn't with Coca-Cola. I can also recommend that you not go to get that hotdog when the Pirates are planning to jar the ball from the catcher's mitt on a play at the plate right in front of your seat.

The Pirates took the lead in the fourth on a homer by ex-Cub Matt Stairs and tacked on three more in the fifth. The bullpen gave back two but got the ball into Mike Williams's hands with the lead at 5-3. Williams retired the side in order, even as I learned that standing up as your closer tries to record the final out of the game just isn't done in Pittsburgh. Ah well...

After a brief setup period, the fireworks show commenced. I can safely say that Skyblast '03 was unlike any other fireworks show I have ever seen. It consisted of comedy sketches on the big screen and live performances on the field, with massive pyrotechnic displays providing the segues from sketch to sketch. Lenny goes down to a five-pitch strikeout. At this rate, he'll be striking out on seven or eight pitches in no time. The sketches starred everyone from manager Lloyd McClendon to Pirates broadcaster Bob Walk (aka Squarebob Walkpants) and were unfailingly funny. There was a dead-perfect sendup of Behind the Music chronicling the long road traveled by Pete the Potato Pierogi, and a touching episode of the power... the passion... of Hannah, Warrior Pierogi Princess. Perhaps my favorite was the episode of the Real World: PNC Park in which ex-Pirate catcher Manny Sanguillen caught Jack Wilson shoving a massive piece of cake in his mouth after dinner was over. "I caught Lou Brock stealing seconds," said the thickly-accented Sanguillen. "You don't think I can catch a little punk like you?" There were about a dozen sketches, all hysterical. I only wish they were available on the Pirates website or somewhere.

Let's go to bullet thoughts for the final few innings here:

• Chip just correctly pointed out that the Phillies seem to have been the beneficiary of a neighborhood call at second on which the neighborhood in question was about the size of the European Union.
• Estes has now made it through six with a 3-2 lead. I don't profess to know exactly why the Cubs starters have seemed to stay in one inning too long, but the perceived problem is certainly on my mind about now.
• Dennis is IM'ing me, livid that Baker didn't have Guthrie warming to start the inning and thus having no option but to leave Estes in against Thome. I wonder if I should bring up Lenny's leadoff performance to distract him.
• Choi looked like he might have been laboring a bit, but he got into second so we'll take it. Need a hit, Ramon...

Well, that's all she wrote. Another day, another one-run Cubs loss. A cynic would point out that Mesa has been significantly tougher against lefties than he has against righties (.529 OPS allowed versus .820 to righties this year, and a .732/.689 reverse split over the last three years.) A cynic might point out that Miller has essentially no platoon split. A cynic might point out that O'Leary has a worse OPS against righties this year than Miller (.592 to .693). A Cubs fan though would just turn the TV off and go to bed, having expected nothing else.
posted by Scott at 10:00 PM : |

 

Deja Vu all over again

OK, this is getting old. For the 3rd consecutive game, the Cubs lost a game in the ninth inning. The game before this little streak the Cubs bullpen blew a lead for Shawn Estes and got beat by 6 runs in extra innings, no easy feat. Carlos was by no means overwhleming yesterday but he did give a gritty performance. He held the Sox when needed, but Alfonseca gave up a 2 run homer in the 8th to tie the game. Juan Cruz and Mike Remlinger combined to give up a run in the ninth. The Sox won 7-6.

Both the Astros and the Cardinals won last evening so the Cubs are officially looking up at first place. They are also only three games above .500. I had hopes that the Cubs would use these games before the All Star break to strecth out their lead. Now, I just hope they are within 5 games at the break and the rest will rejuvenate them. The Cubs need Wood to step up today to end their longest losing streak of the season and also to avoid their first sweep.

Random Thoughts

The Cubs are depressing me, so here are some random thoughts from this weekend so far:

I caught some of National Lampoon's Vacation on Comedy Central yesterday and was quite surprised at one of the cable edits. There is a scene where girls are comparing their experiences with boys. The country girl comments that she has french kissed guys. Clark's daughter replies this is no big deal to which Eddie's kid retorts "well, my daddy says I am the best at it." Comedy Central changed the line to "well, my science teacher says I am the best at it." OK, so some censor decides that insinuating a 14 year old girl is kissing her teacher over her father is better! Personally, I think the line should have stayed as is. I watch the Godfather and don't kill people, I watch Return of the Jedi and don't try to control minds, I watch Superman and don't try to fly, I have seen Field of Dreams and know Joe Jackson was left handed, so I think I can watch a film and not think it is wrong to kiss your daughter. It is a movie for goodness sakes.

Have you ever done the video store tango? Usually at the store people start in the "A" movies and move around. Someone always seems to get there at the same time as me. For the entire length of the store I am constantly going around them, stopping, and then having him go around me and so forth until we reach the "Z"s. I must have said excuse me to one guy 10 times yesterday.

OK, that's enough for now. I will be back tonight or tomorrow after the Cubs salvage a game of this series.

posted by Dennis at 8:36 AM : |

 

Cubs beaten by 9th inning homer for second consecutive day

Antonio Alfonseca was in the game long enough yesterday to serve up an RBI single to Magglio Ordonez in the 8th inning and then a walk-off homer to Jose Valentin in the 9th. Just like last weekend, the Cubs dropped the first game of the crosstown series this time by the score of 4-3. The Cubs were down 3-1 going into the ninth inning before rallying against former Cub Flash Gordon and Sox closer Billy Koch. They loaded the bases with no outs on two softly hit singles by Grudz and Goodwin and a walk by Alex. Koch then came in to strike out Patterson, induce a sac fly from Sosa, and allow a clutch two out hit from Moises to plate the tieing run.

The momentum would not last as Alfonseca put a slider on the outer portion of the plate when Bako wanted it inside and Valentin deposited it into the stands. Thankfully, the Sox announcers had this game for Fox Sports so I have Hawk Harrelson's "you can put it the boarddddddd yes!!" in my head until today's game. Great.

Sosa had some big strikeouts again yesterday and he and Moises combined to strand a ton of runners (see the NOTD). I think Sosa is seeing the ball fine, but wanting to do to much to them. I will love to see 390 foot homers to right center once every 10 ABs compared to a 500 homer to left center once every 25 ABs. All was not negative in the game though, Grudz got 4 hits in the leadoff spot and is flirting with .300 again, Patterson actually walked twice (once intentionally), and Clemet pitched a heck of a game. He only allowed 5 hits in 7.2 innings. That bodes well for the future.

The Cubs are playing pretty brutal baseball at the moment, but no one wants to come and take first place from them. They are still tied with the Cardinals and a half game up on the Astros. It leads to very conflicted feelings. I realize that this team is probably no better than an 87 win team, if that, and would hate to see them make a hasty move for a chance to win 90 games when that usually does not win the division. But this season, 90 wins could very well win the division given the competition. One more offensive player and Dusty playing the right guys could get us the promised land. One thing is for sure, we need to win games where Estes and Clement pitch well like the last two.

The Cubs and Sox will play game 2 this afternoon. It will be a rematch of last Sunday's awesome pitching duel between Carlos Zambrano and Bartolo Colon. Again, the Cubs need Carlos to be the stopper to a losing streak. I am confident he can do it.

posted by Dennis at 8:52 AM : |

 

Jenkins boom booms Borowski

Geoff Jenkins hit a three run homer in the ninth inning off closer Joe Borowski to give the Brewers a 5-3 gut punching win Thursday afternoon at Wrigley. The blown save took away Mark Prior's victory. Minus a homerun pitch to mighty Keith Ginter, Prior was dominant. He struck out 16 men over 8 innings and walked nobody. He did use 126 pitches to get through those 8 innings, so Dusty really had no choice but to bring in Joe in the ninth.

Joe was annoited closer out of spring training because the octopus was on the DL with a strained tenticle. Joe has pitched nothing short of fantastic, but now I wonder if Dusty will be tempted to go back to Alfonseca. If I were the manager, which I am not, I would leave Joe out there. He walks less (2.84 versus 3.03 BB/9), strikes out more (9.47 versus 5.74 K/9) and better command (3.33 versus 1.89 K/BB ratio)- what else is there? Besides, Dusty's perceived biggest asset as a manager is the personal side. How would Joe feel if he got demoted after one bad outing?

Yesterday's loss ended a short 6 game home stand in which the Cubs went 2-4. The Cubs are barely a .500 team at The (not so) Friendly Confines this season going 20-19. Compare that to St. Louis (25-15) and Houston (23-14) and you can see where the team needs improvement. Thankfully though, they are a very good road team and the only team in the division over .500 on the road.

Baker trotted out Lenny Harris to pinch hit in the ninth inning again yesterday. I guess he figured having three outs was a little unfair against the commissioner's team. All joking aside, Harris is just plain and simply killing this team. His BA/OBP/SLG is .175/.243/.227. He has fewer extra base hits (3) than Prior and Zambrano (4). I just wonder how low the batting average has to get before he is released. Playing talent in baseball is distributed somewhat like a half normal distribution - imagine the right side of the bell curve. There are not an equal number of players 2 standard deviations from the mean in both directions. Rather, there is a large mass of people near the average and the extremes are on the positive side. Bonds will get on base 50% of the time, but GMs would likely not keep a player who only reaches base 15% of the time (in theory). Harris is single handedly trying to be a negative outlier. Good for him!

The Cubs move on to US Cellular Field to face the White Sox today. Speaking of the field, I think AT&T should have bought the naming rights because fans like to "reach out and touch someone" - usually a coach or umpire. Matt Clement takes on Dan Wright in the opener. Clement got roughed up pretty bad in his last start against the Pale Hose. Today, the Cubs need a big start from him to get the road trip off to a good start.

I added some new Cubs Blogs on the left hand side of the page. Take some time and visit Weeghman Park, And Another Thing!, and The Waveland Chronicles. You will not be disappointed.

posted by Dennis at 8:05 AM : |

 

Cubs request a mulligan

Yesterday was one of the ugliest bullpen days of the season as the Cubs dropped a game 12-6 in 10 innings. The Cubs took a 5-1 lead behind the strong pitching of Shawn Estes. Estes went 6 innings allowing only the one earned run walking 4 and striking out 6. He left the game only to have Remlinger and Alfonseca give up 5 runs to vault the Brewers into the lead. Lenny Harris came up in the 8th and made an out, but at least it was deep enough to score the tying run. I always say you have put people in a position where they can succeed. Giving Lenny Harris a chance to be productive while making an out is a good example.

The Cubs had a golden opportunity in the 9th inning to win the game. Corey Patterson flew out with runners on 1st and 2nd and then Sammy Sosa had one of his worst ABs I can remember in recent memory. He tried to jerk two sliders about 500 feet. Problem is that they wound up on the outside corner. Sad part is that he is excellent at driving the ball the other way, but he decided to try and pull these. Oh well, it is just one AB and hopefully not a trend.

Suffice to say that Wellemeyer will not remember this 10th inning with the fondness of his first outing against the Brewers. He allowed six runs in the 10th to take the loss. He also allowed 6 runs in his last outing against the White Sox. Another distrubing potential trend is that the Cubs AAA starters are having little success in the bullpen. Little success might be unfair so lets change that to a problem being consistent. Cruz and Wellemeyer are both guilty of this.

With the shuffling of the starting pitchers, Mark Prior will take the mound this afternoon against Wayne Franklin. The Cubs are looking for a series victory to take into the cross town challenge series part 2. The Cubs are also guanteed to be in first place when they see the Sox because the Astros lost last night and remain a game behind.

Random notes

King Kaufman, a senior sports editor for Salon.com, wrote me last evening to tell me about his newest metric - the Neifi Index. Take a team's winning percentage without a player in the lineup and subtract from it their winning percentage with the player in the lineup. If this number is big, then the team fares a whole lot better without player X in the lineup. The NL leader at the moment is our very own Lenny Harris. Through Tuesday's games, the Cubs are 18-3 without Lenny in the lineup and 23-31 when he plays. He has nearly a 100 point lead on his nearest competitor.

I see Dr. Tightpants got a 3 game suspension for his tackle of Paul Wilson. Wilson only got 5 games although the game's only hit batter came from his hands. Farnsworth is quoted as saying he will not appeal, but I think he should. He would probably get the standard one game deduction which would obviously help the Cubs. Personally, I think this result is garbage. What was the good doctor supposed to do? He made a pitch that was closer to being a strike than striking Wilson, then defended himself once Wilson charged. Given this precedence, I would have the Cubs charge at Billy Wagner the next time he even gets one close. Might as well get him suspended as well.

There has always been debate on whether people are born bad or simply become bad due to environment and other factors. Can this debate be applied to sarcastic bloggers? Talking to my dad yesterday afternoon he wondered if the Cubs would warm a bullpen pitcher up before the game since Estes was pitching. See, my biting comments on Harris and Goodwin are merely a function of genetics. OK, maybe not, but Dad got off a good line and I am always looking for material.

posted by Dennis at 7:58 AM : |

 

Cubs offense explodes versus Brewers

Now that's more like it.

Last known image of Sammy Sosa's fifth inning homer. Ball is in foreground, lower left.

The Cubs showed no mercy at Wrigley today, hammering the AAA Brewers 9-1. One Sammy Sosa was the ringleader, releasing two months of frustration into a Luis Vizcaino pitch that still hasnt come down, and chipping in a 420 foot homer, a scorched double, and a four pitch walk in his three weaker at-bats. Kerry Wood was effective again, striking out eight and walking just one while getting into the offensive act with his second homer of the year. The Wood homer was followed by circuit clouts from Grudz and Gonzalez for the ninth back-to-back-to-back jacks in team history.

Shawn Estes tries to right his ship tomorrow against Olympic hero Ben Sheets. While I would like to see the Cubs take our friend Jason Steffens' suggestion and replace Estes with Juan Cruz, I certainly want Estes to turn it around if and when he is in there. I am sure Sammy's got a three-homer game he can bust out to make it a little easier on him.

Last but not least, HP5 is the best of the bunch. I was a little worried about the three year layoff, but like Sammy J. K. Rowling came back with a vengance. I don't want to discuss any spoilers here, but I heartily reccomend it to anyone who is able to set aside their prejudice and leap into a so-called children's book.

posted by Scott at 11:56 PM : |

 

Cubs offense looks to explode versus Brewers

The Cubs welcome the Brewers into town this evening to start a 3 game series. The last time these teams played the Cubs swept the Brewers in Milwaukee to begin their monster 14 game in 14 days road trip (1 game eventually being washed away). Kerry Wood (6-5 3.06) takes on former Cub Ruben Quevedo (1-3 5.75). Wood is coming off his best start of the season. Against Cincinnati last Wednesday night he carried a perfect game into the sixth inning before eventually pitching a complete game and winning 4-1. He did not walk a man and struck out nine.

The Cubs are going to use the off day to flop their rotation again. Shawn Estes will pitch the second game of the series and Mark Prior gets moved to the finale. Basically, the Cubs are scared of having bullpen busters Estes and Clement pitch back to back. Hopefully Estes and Clement will find their form again, but if not, I don't have a problem with this move.

My favorite writer Mike Kiley has some interesting things to say in his column this morning. Talking about how the Cubs have never been a good offense since 1945 he states

If you want someone to blame, point a finger at Wrigley Field. It's not a hitter's park and never has been. Houston and Cincinnati have new ballparks that are built for offense. St.Louis and its humid summers are made for the ball to jump off the bat at Busch Stadium. Milwaukee can shut its roof and control its hitting conditions.

A quick glance at Baseball Reference's Cubs team page shows a lot of offensive park factors over 100 which means that Wrigley has on some occasions been a good place to hit compared to other parks in the league. Before the quoted paragraph above Kiley uses batting average to make his claim that the Cubs have never hit well as a team. He either does not know better or is simply forgetting that the '84 and '89 teams lead the league in runs which, of course, is more important than batting average.

He ends his piece with this quote:

Would Cubs fans rather have a monument to admire or a park that can compete in runs scored with Minute Maid Park in Houston and Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati? Would Cubs fans rather have a lovely beer garden or a championship?

Let me get this straight, first he makes the erroneous claim that Wrigley has never been a good hitter's park followed by the claim that the Cubs have never had a good offense since 1945 even though they have led the league in runs scored twice in the last 14 seasons and uses those two fractured facts to jump to a point where the Cubs need a new ballpark to compete. Man, those Sun-Times boys will stop at nothing, especially facts, to get a pot shot in at the Tribune Company. Plenty of teams have won in pitching dominated ballparks by using it to their advantage. The Dodgers are the first example that comes to mind. The key is figuring out what type of park you have relative to the league and building your team to it, not building your team and then deciding what sort of ballpark you need.

[Update] It appears that Jason Steffens over at the Clark and Addison Chronicle and I are sharing a brain this morning. That shows that we are either both really smart or debunking a Mike Kiley article is like shooting fish in a bucket. Probably a little from column A and a little from column B. On a somewhat related note, I would like to wish Jason and his wife a happy anniversary. 3 years with a Cubs fan?!?! The girl deserves a medal and a support group. Hope you have a good day.

Milestone for Barry

Barry Bonds became the first member of the career 500-500 club last evening with an 11th inning swipe against Eric Gagne. He becomes the 36th person in big league history to swipe 500 bases. It was also his 7th steal of the season already. Last season was the first time in 17 big league seasons that he did not have a 10/10 season as he finished the year with 9 swipes. Man, those are some mind boggling facts.



posted by Dennis at 8:12 AM : |

 

June Swoon?

The Cubs are used to a June swoon most seasons, but in 2003 they have played .500 ball in ths month thus far at 10-10. What is cause for concern has been the swoon in the offense over the month. Here is a list of players and their June OPS (greater than 10 ABs):

• Patterson - .779
  
• Alou - .852
  
• A-Gonz - .713
  
• Grudz - .639
  
• Karros - .872
  
• Martinez - .788
  
• Sosa - .810
  
• Miller - .661
  
• Goodwin - .699
  
• Harris - .274 (and no that is not a misprint....see for yourself)
  
• Bako - .427
  
• Choi - .845
  
• Bellhorn - .528
  
• O'Leary- .771
  

The league average for OPS is usually around .750, so the Cubs have about 7 of 14 players with an above average OPS. Does not sound too shabby, but consider this, the player's who routinely bat leadoff are two of the players (Grudz and Goodwin) who are below the league average. The most important thing an offense can do is get its leadoff man on base. The Cubs have not done that in June which goes a long way to explain the meager 3.7 runs/game output.

The Cubs team OPS in June is .707. It was also .707 in May but a much better .762 in April. It is no coincidence that the Cubs downward trend in offensive production follows a downward trend in walks. The Cubs received 3.96 walks/game in April. It dipped to 3.0 for May and stands at 2.1 for June. Patterson and Soriano can survive as hackers because they hit the ball hard, but they are exceptions to the rule. This team could use an infusion of patience.

I realize that looking only at a limited subset of a season opens the door to all sorts of sample size issues and skewing of the data. So, I looked at the pitching staffs the Cubs have faced this month. They played Houston for one game and they are 9th in the majors in runs allowed. They also had 3 against the Rays (25th), Yankees (7th), Orioles (20th), Blue Jays (23rd), and White Sox (13th) with a four game series against the Reds (29th). Taking the weighted average of the team ranks in runs allowed (weighted by games against) the Cubs faced about the 19.5th best staff in the big leagues this month. That position has given up 369 runs this season or 4.99 runs/game in 74 games. Remember from above, the Cubs have scored 3.7 runs/game this month. In a nutshell, the Cubs June offensive swoon cannot be blamed on the competition.

The good news is that they have actually split their games during this horrendous drought. It may be that the Cubs were lucky to get that split, but those games can never be taken away. The Cubs have yet to get really, really hot. This is a team that with some decent offense could easily pop off a 12 of 15 game stretch given their pitching. With the other teams in the Central struggling, here is to hoping it happens soon.

posted by Dennis at 1:21 PM : |

 

Cubs salvage one

If you like pitching duels, the Cubs are your kind of team. Carlos Zambrano turned in yet another gem, this his fifth start in the last eight of at least seven innings and one or zero runs allowed. The White Sox pushed one across against him on a double, ground out, and a sac fly, and for a few nauseating minutes it looked like it might hold up. Damaso Marte came on for Colon in the eighth though, and after getting O'Leary he gave up consecutive hits to Grudz, Martinez, and Patterson to earn the Cubs the lead. JoBo mowed down three Sox hitters in the ninth and some small scrap of diginity was regained on the Northside.

Lenny Harris got the start at third today with Jose Hernandez coming on as a ninth-inning defensive replacement. I have no idea what to say about that, so I'll just say that Bellhorn was 0-2 with a walk for the Rockies today, dropping his OBP since the trade to .583. In other news, we have a share of first again pending the outcome of tonight's Astros/Rangers game. We'll have the day off tomorrow before welcoming the American League reject Brewers to Wrigley on Tuesday.

posted by Scott at 7:30 PM : |

 

Sometimes Chicken Little is right

I don't mean to be overly pessimistic, but today's fall from first is putting me in a lousy frame of mind. The Cubs are finding ways to lose, falling 7-6 after fighting back from an early 7-0 deficit. Matt Clement walked three and saw eleven White Sox hits fall in, but when the bullpen came on (an inning too late don't you know) they were strong and allowed the bats to make it close.

It was another brilliant day on the bases for the Cubs. Wendell Kim got Damian Miller thrown out at home in the seventh trailling by four. I mean come on. My lousy company softball team knows better than to send runners when you are down four late. Then, in what I think is an even worse decision, Dusty yanked Sammy Soas in the ninth for pinch-runner Tom Goodwin. Of course, the chance of that slot in the order coming up again was promptly removed when Goodwin was gunned down at second to end the Cubs hopes. As I have said before, this is not a team with enough talent to make a lot of dumb decisions and still contend. Sigh. Clark & Addision has more detailed coverage of the Kim fiasco.

One of the most underrated starters in baseball takes on one of the most overrated as Carlos Zambrano takes on Bartolo Colon today in the final game of the series. If past history is any indication, he'll pitch seven great innings and the team will make Colon look like Walter Johnson and we'll lose 2-1.

posted by Scott at 11:43 AM : |

 

Crime wave

Attention citizens! Crimes are being committed all across our fair land, and the suspects remain on the loose. Be on the lookout for the following:

Wanted for assault and battery: The Chicago White Sox
Dusty has had a habit of letting his starter go one inning too long and today that inning was the first. Shawn Estes walked four and gave up a grand slam to Miguel Olivo in a back-breaking first inning. Todd Wellemeyer was placed in the unenviable role of second inning relief pitcher and gave up six more over the next four innings. Dusty made sure to get Farnsworth, Guthrie, Remlinger, and Borowski an inning each to make sure we don't have anyone, you know, fresh or anything for tomorrow's game.

Wanted for larceny: Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd
How do you turn your mediocre starting shortstop into a younger, cheaper, better infielder? Just sit around waiting for the Cubs to come begging you to take advantage of them. Actually, this may be one case where the "she was asking for it" defense may work. If you were curious, Mark Bellhorn was 2-3 with a walk today while Jose was 0-2 with a strikeout. The sample size is admittedly a bit small, but its enough to convince me. Guilty!

Wanted for vandalism and car theft:John Doe
I don't know who you are, John, but this is really getting out of hand. I mean, the Caddy I watched you and your buddy break into outside my window the other day at 6 a.m. was one thing. The six cars you broke windows of and stole stereos from until I chased you off at 4:30 a.m. Thursday was something else. But breaking into two cars right outside my window at 11 p.m. on a Friday night is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. As its been an hour since I called the cops and a half hour since I called them again and they still haven't showed, you may think you have nothing to fear- but not so fast, my friend. If I catch you I will beat you down and hand you to the cops myself or die trying. Try me.

posted by Scott at 12:25 AM : |

 

Everything old is new again

Travis Anderson
Team	IP	ERA	K/9	BB/9	HR/9
Daytona 03	22.2	0.00	9.0	0.4	0.0
West Tenn '03	35.0	4.37	6.4	3.3	0.77

As you probably know, the Cubs picked up Jose Hernandez from the Rockies today in exchange for Mark Bellhorn and AA pitcher Travis Anderson. Anderson is one of the guys we picked up when we dumped Tom Gordon on the Astros a couple years back. He's a 25-year old AA righty and not all that highly thought of, so I'll assume his value is minimal. For simplicity, I am also going to ignore Lenny Harris and Ramon Martinez and instead concentrate on the head-to-head comparison between Hernandez and Bellhorn.

Name	Age	OBP	SLG	EQA
Hernandez '00-'02	--	.324	.434	.254
Hernandez '03	33	.308	.362	.221
Bellhorn '00-'02	--	.350	.466	.287
Bellhorn '03	28	.341	.317	.244

Third base has been a mess for the first three months of this season. Mark Bellhorn has gotten a little more than half the starts at third, but despite a decent OBP hasn't shown the power that made him one of the better infielders in the league last year. Meanwhile, Jose Hernandez has been a disappointment in Colorado as well. After a career year in Milwaukee last year, his raw numbers have gone way down this year despite playing in the hitters' haven of Coors Field. In fact, the numbers show that despite Bellhorn's mediocre performance this year, Hernandez has been even worse.

So let's see- we have one guy who is 28 and one who is 33- advantage Bellhorn. We have one guy who hit better over the recent years, and one who hit worse- advantage Bellhorn. We have one guy with a mediocre offensive record this year, and one with an even worse record this year- advantage Bellhorn. We have one guy who has played third base in 2001, 2002, and this year, and one who hasn't played a game at third since 2000- advantage Bellhorn. We have a guy who is making $400,000 and one who is signed up for $1,000,000- advantage Bellhorn.

I really don't see a reason on paper for the Cubs to prefer Hernandez to Bellhorn. There has been talk that Bellhorn is not mentally on the same page with Dusty and the Cubs- bad attitude, uncoachable, things like that. I am generally suspicious of such talk, but obviously I have no way to say that it is or isn't true. Based on what I know though, there is no way this is a good move. Hernandez was admittedly a very good player last year, but the odds are fairly strong that he will play more like the Jose Hernandez of 2000, 2001, and 2003 than the Jose Hernandez of 2002. In short, this move is not going to help the Cubs.

posted by Scott at 2:08 PM : |

 

Blood, rain and tears

The Cubs ended their 10 game road trip 5-5 after splitting a 4 game set with Cincinnati. The sad part of the Reds series is that the Cubs with any sort of offense would have taken all 4 games. Yes, the optimist says that they split on the road which is very good. The pessimist states that the Cubs only scored 10 runs in Coors Field East and wasted two good pitching performances. Now, like a man whose bi-polar prescription needs filling I fluctuate from optimist to pessimst about 20 times a day when thinking about this team. I am not sure if the glass is half full or half empty I just feel that having half a good team will not be enough. Despite losing winnable games, the Cubs open their interleague series against the Sox in first place a game up on the Cardinals with the Astros and Reds still within splitting distance. Shawn Estes pitches against Jon Garland.

Obvioulsy the story of yesterday's game was the brawl between Wilson and Dr. Tightpants. The sad part is that I missed the beginning of it. I was down the third base line and had a hard time telling whether pitches were inside or outside. The pitch whizzed by Wilson's head and the runner took second on the wild picth. I am watching the runner as he rounds second and all of the sudden he darts toward what I think is third. I look back toward the catcher to see where the ball is just in time to see Wilson indented into the sod at the GAB. It turns out the runner was coming in to join the fight.

The funniest thing about brawls are when the bullpen guys come in to join the fun. All of the Cubs players left their gloves on the field as they got into the scrum, but in the outfield was also the warm up jackets for two or three Cincinnati relievers. Not only did they rush in to just stand there, but they disrobed on the way. They were about half way back to the pen with Russel Branyan started jawing with Karros almost starting another fight. Upon hearing a new excitement in the crowd they turned around and started jogging back. The best side story of the brawl was Alou's efforts to get to Wilson. Mo was the one that Wilson hit in retaliation to Prior throwing behind LaRue. Red third base coach Tim Foli spent the entire brawl holding back Moises. I was hoping someone would come and set a pick, but it never happened.

I have seen the tape of the fight and will be disappointed if Farnsworth gets a stiff penalty from MLB offices. He was not throwing at Wilson. What is the first thing they always tell pitchers to do when they know a guy is bunting? That's right, throw the ball up so they can induce a pop up. Wilson was even leaning over the plate and it missed him by 6-8 inches. Besides, why would you want to put men on 1st and 2nd with no outs in the 7th inning of a game you are losing?

Bob Boone was convinced that it was intentional. He also tried to double steal with his pitcher and catcher earlier in the season, so maybe his thinking is skewed. Boone was also quoted as saying that something was "up" because Prior threw behind LaRue and he has good control. Well, of course something was up, it was a get off the plate pitch. With his control, if we wanted to hit him he would have. There is nothing in the rules about sending message pitches. There is something about intentionally throwing at someone and the only person who did that was Wilson. If I were MLB, I would not suspend anyone but make Wilson wear his bloody jersey as a badge of stupidity the next time he pitches.

The fight was the big story, but it is not the thing I will remember from the game. I will remember the putrid Cubs offense. The Cubs were able to get the bases loaded in the 9th with 1 out and only put one decent swing on the ball. Dusty decided that Lenny Harris and Troy O'Leary were better options that Bellhorn or Miller. I watched the replay of the game and O'Leary's check swing looked like a ball on the television. To be fair though, I was sitting with the exact same angle the umpire had and I got up and started walking out before the appeal even happened. Karros (who had a great 9th inning PA) and Harris got hosed on some check swings but O'Leary swung.

Let's play the Pyramid

One of my favorite game shows of all times is the old $100,000 Pyramid. In honor of this great show, I decided we should play a little round of the bonus game. Lets see how sharp The Northside Lounge readers are on this Friday morning. Here is how the game works: the giver (me) will give a list of items and the receiver has to guess what they all have in common. For example, if I said banana, apple, orange, the correct answer would be "types of fruit". Get it. You will have highlight the blank text at the bottom to get the answers. Let's begin...

1. • "My son should have been given a hit"
     
   • "My 250 lb pitcher can steal a base"
     
   • "Let's go ahead and try that squeeze play"
     
   
   
2. • Paul Wilson
     
   • Europe in the late 70s
     
   • Ashton Kutcher's friends
     
   
   
3. • 3 to the question 1+1
     
   • Jose Hernandez to the Cubs offensive woes
     
   • Allen Iverson's backup
     
   
   
4. • An air conditioner to an Eskimo
     
   • A bat in Tom Goodwin's hands
     
   • Fake Diamonds
     
   
   
5. • White Sox fans
     
   • Jan Brady
     
   • Every man that sees me walking down the street
     
   
   
6. • Astros
     
   • Cardinals
     
   • Baby deer in the forrest poker game holding a pair of 4s
     
   
   

And the answers are:

1. Things Bob Boone would say
   
2. Things that got Punk'd
   
3. Things that are not the answer
   
4. Things that have no value
   
5. People stricken with envy
   
6. Things hoping the Cubs will fold
   

Hope you enjoyed the Pyramid. We will be back later with a recap of Cubs/Sox game 1.
posted by Dennis at 8:14 AM : |

 

Thursday afternoon fights

The Cubs trail the Reds 3-1 in the seventh inning this afternoon in Cincinnati. The third Reds run scored after Kyle Farnsworth was booted from the game for A) throwing a pitch that missed Paul Wilson by six inches despite Wilson's leaning in to try to bunt it or B) being attacked by Paul Wilson immediately after the pitch or C) defending himself a little too well. Its probably "C" as Wilson found himself on the receiving end of what I believe is the WWE move known as the "Spear," followed by enough haymakers to turn Wilson into a bloody mess of a fight instigator. I'll be back with a recap when this one ends. Here's hoping my fully Cub-clad tag-team partner makes it out of the Great American Brawlpark alive.

Updated 3:30 pm- The Cubs spilt the series with Cincinnati, losing today 3-1. They loaded the bases in the ninth, but Lenny Harris and Troy O'Leary came up empty in two chances to tie it up with a single. Scott Williamson was bailed out by two horrible calls on checked-swing strikes in the ninth, but when O'Leary and Harris are the best pinch-hitters you can come up with maybe you don't deserve to win.

Mark Prior pitched his typical strong game, allowing an unearned run in the third and a second run on a groundout in the fourth. The lone Cubs run came when Patterson, Sosa, and Alou strung three singles together in the third. We've got Sosa back in the lineup, but we are at least two hitters away from a lineup I'll feel comfortable with (that is to say Choi and Trade Acquisition #1).

The Cubs weren't the only team getting the short end of the arbitrators' sticks today, as the US soccer team fell victim to a hostile French crowd and a hostile Uruguyan referee. The US took the lead on a pass from Landon Donovan marvelously headed home by DaMarcus Beasely, but a dubious penalty kick was awarded just three minutes later to allow the Turks to equalize. The Turkish fans, who jeered through the Star-Spangled Banner, were sent home happy with a late defensive breakdown allowing Tuncay Sanli to beat Tim Howard for the winner. The US is now faced with the prospect of having to get at least a point if not all three off of the World Cup champs to have even a chance to advance.

Nothing like two bitter defeats to really make a great Thursday afternoon, huh? Anyway, if Dennis survived the afternoon at the game, he'll be in to tell you all about it.

posted by Scott at 3:01 PM : |

 

Sammy returns but Wood steals show

During my lifetime I have been lucky enough to see some memorable/historic moments at the ballpark. I was there for McGwire's 70th homer in 1998, Dawson's 399th in 1992 (also got my one and only foul ball at this game), the last opening day in Riverfront/Cinery Field history, an actual Todd Hundley homer in a Cubs uniform, and just this season Sammy's 500th homer (if any Northside Lounge readers have been to historic games, tell your story in the comment section). I have never even gotten close to seeing a no-hitter yet alone a perfect game. That almost changed last inning. The first five innings were quadruple goose eggers (0 R 0 H 0 E 0 LOB). He retired the first 17 batters before leaving a curve ball up to Reggie Taylor who singled cleanly into center field. The only run scored in the seventh on a Carlos Guillen homer to right field.

It was amazing to watch Wood cut up the Reds with a glove popping fastball and a knee-buckling curve. He did not walk a batter and only reached 3 balls on a few. He was also very economical needing only 108 pitches to complete the game. We were down the first base line last night, so I could tell the speed of the pitches but not the actual movement at times. My wife was also struggling to determine pitches and asked me "how can you tell when it is a curve ball". Carlos Guillen struck out on the next pitch which prompted my reply, "when you see a right hander's butt bail toward the dugout, swing weakly and look silly, that is the curveball."

The other big story last night was Sammy Sosa returning from his corking suspension. He was loudly booed by the Cincinnati pot fans right after they proclaimed Pete Rose a Hall of Famer and called the kettle black. Sosa responded by almost hitting one into the river. He dented the batting eye structure 464 feet away from home plate. It was an absolute no doubter. Also, the homer was to center field. Sammy is his best when he drives the ball to right and right center field. I thought he was pulling off the ball a little when he returned earlier. Glad to see him locked in at the present time.

Again, here are some random thoughts from the ballpark:

• The Reds don't bring a team representative to catch the ceremonial first pitch. They have the pitcher and then state who will be catching the ball. You mean to tell me that Pena has something to do?
  
• I was real happy to see Bellhorn get another start and ring a double. Hopefully he is starting to gain the confidence of Baker. If not, Texas needs pitching and they have some extra young third sackers. Wouldn't it be great to get both Prior and Teixera. A guy can dream right?
  
• The Reds PA announcer urged fans to get out and stuff the ballot box for Reds. I think this is somewhat shady. Shouldn't you vote for the best players regardless of team.
  
• I was real worried we were going to run ourselves out of the game early, but thankfully we got just enough offense.
  
• Wood retired the side in order in 7 of 9 innings
  

I am actually pretty busy this morning, so this is an abbreviated update. I will be back tomorrow with more. The Cubs play an early game as Mark Prior looks to close out the series victory again Paul Wilson.

posted by Dennis at 8:59 AM : |

 

Five-year reunion

He's back and he's pissed.

The Cubs are in contention. They are getting dominating pitching from Kerry Wood backed up by mammoth home runs from Sammy Sosa. Its like there is a glitch in the matrix or something.

Kerry was perfect through five and two-thirds and ended up striking out nine and walking none in his best start of the year. Better yet, he went all the way on just 108 pitches showing the economy he's been needing. In the "As the Lineup Card Turns" saga, Dusty stuck with Goodwin at leadoff but also stuck with Mark Bellhorn at third. Bellhorn was 1-3 with a double and a walk, lending some faint hope that he might continue to get opportunities.

Anyway, Dennis will be in tomorrow morning with another commentary on the rampant pituatary disorders among the Ohio populace. In the meantime, tide yourself over by skimming over my lengthy but heartfelt USA soccer Confederation's Cup preview. Then roll your eyes at me and *boom*- back to baseball!

posted by Scott at 11:17 PM : |

 

A sport other than baseball

Tomorrow afternoon as the Cubs tangle with the Reds, the US Men's National soccer team takes the field in the Confederations Cup. Unless you are a dedicated soccer fan, you probably haven't heard of it, but the Confederations Cup is the biggest tournament other than the World Cup that features full top teams from all over the globe. In order to maintain the status of the Northside Lounge as the unquestioned leader in soccer coverage among Cubs blogs, I present you with a brief tournament primer.

The good guys
Coach Bruce Arena has selected a largely domestic team for the Confederations Cup. With Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller unavailable for the tournament, Tim Howard of the NY/NJ MetroStars is expected to be the main keeper for the US squad. It will be an interesting test for a man who has had success in MLS but who has had to wait behind Keller and Friedel for a chance in a major competition. Defensive rock Eddie Pope is out with a fractured knee, so look for rising star Carlos Bocanegra and the perennially underappreciated Gregg Berhalter to anchor the defense in front of Howard. Either that, or they are just my favorites.

Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley (the Corey Patterson and Hee Sop Choi of the US team) will be counted on to provide much of the offensive thrust. The two phenoms from last year's World Cup have reached legal drinking age and should see plenty of playing time. Conyers, Georgia's own Clint Mathis is a bit of a wild card- while he can be brilliant he also has a habit of disappearing for long stretches. I'll stick by him though, and predict at least one highlight reel goal for him. The reliable veteran Ernie Stewart is on the roster- it would be great to see him bag a goal in one of his last shots at the world stage.

The enemies
Game one: US vs Turkey, 6/19- The Turks are one of the hottest teams in the world. They made an amazing charge through the World Cup and in the end only the Brazilians were able to stand between them and the final. They have talented players able to push forward and threaten from anywhere on the field. Two of their premier players, Hakan Sukur and Ilhan Mansiz have struggled a bit over the last year, but Turkey has more than enough firepower to contend with anyone even without those two.

Game two: US vs Brazil, 6/21- Fresh off an opener with one of the world's hottest teams the US has to deal with none other than Brazil, land of Garrincha, Pele, and Ronaldo, and owners of five World Cup trophies. Now you begin to see why even first round elimination might not mean the US played poorly this tournament. Ronaldo is too busy getting divorced (lesson: women ruin everything) to be at the tournament, but look for Ronaldinho to pick up the slack both in the attack and in shear buck-toothedness. Emerson will be the key player in the Brazilian midfield, and Lucio is as dangerous a scoring threat as any defender in the world.

Game three: US vs Cameroon, 6/23- The African champions are an individualistic, counter-attacking team not un-like the US on one of our more aggressive days. The so-called Indomitable Lions will return six starters from last year's World Cup squad including the captain Rigobert Song. Expect an especially hostile reception for the US team in this one, as most of the Cameroon squad plays professionally in France. Unless one of these two teams can pull off an upset, this may end up a consolation game while Turkey and Brazil duel for the top spot in the group.

The revolution will not be televised
So you are all fired up to watch some soccer action right? Well, hold your horses. None of the US games will be available on English language TV, and only Saturday's match with Brazil will be live (on Spanish-language Telefutura.) If you happen to have Telefutura, I promise a couple hours out of your Saturday afternoon will be well worth your time even if you don't speak the language. If not, check around on the web and see how your country's team is doing. If all else fails, I'll probably find time to mention the scores here. In the meantime, give 'em hell USA!

posted by Scott at 7:07 PM : |

 

Goodwin leadoffs, hits for out cycle, Cubs produce no offense

Tom Goodwin came to bat in the 7th inning of a 1-1 tie with a runner on second base and only one out. To that point, he had popped out, grounded out and flew out. I commented that he only needed a strikeout and a lineout to complete the cycle. Feeling the telepathic gauntlet being thrown down, Goodwin struck out in the 7th. He then lined out in the 9th to complete the feat. Thankfully for the Reds the lineout in the 9th was the start of an inning ending double play. 5 ABs for Goowin accounted for six outs. He now features a .238 OBP and fewer extra base hits than Carlos Zambrano. Although numbers themselves are black and white, the interpretation of numbers is subjective. Just in case I thought I was looking at the wrong set of numbers to judge Goodwin consider this - Cincinnati manager Bob Boone walked a .178 pinch hitter in the ninth to get to Goodwin. If Boone can figure out Goodwin stinks, shouldn't Baker.

Zambrano was out of this world again last night. He started off wild walking 3 in the first two innings, but he recovered to walk only one (intentional) in the reamining 6 innings of work. He allowed only 4 hits and struck out seven men. One perceived negative attribute to Carlos is his ability to control his emotions. Last night in the 8th he had the chance to self destruct after umpire Joe West called a phantom hit by pitch. I have not seen the television replay yet, but the ball did not change direction, made no sound as it passed the batter, and still had enough steam to hit the backstop and come darting back toward the plate. If that ball hit him, I am Mr. America. Last night was the second time Zambrano has went 8 innings while giving up less two runs only to be saddled with a no decision.

Here are some other thoughts from the game 2 loss:

• My wife mentioned that Lenny Harris probably has a dreadlock for every career pinch hit. He is the leader in that category afterall.
  
• We wound up three rows from the field last night which is always nice, but I sat next to man-child who was at least 6'5 275. This guy looked exactly Pvt. Pyle in Full Metal Jacket and boy did I wish I had a sock full of soap. He was one of those 25 year old guys that brought his glove to the ballgame. After every Reds play, he would pound his enormous hands into the glove like the Reds won the World Series. To top it off, another very large man sat in front of us. Oh well, we got a good look at all the Cubs.
  
• Why did Dusty bring in Ramon to play first base in the double switch. I would have just brought in Wellemeyer, pinch hit Ramon and then let him stay in the game to play one of the other infield positions. The pitcher's spot was up fourth in the 11th, so no real advantage was gained. The only reason to double switch is if Wellemeyer was slated to pitch 3-4 innings. In that case you could have brought in Alfonseca and took him out for a pinch hitter and then brought in Wellemeyer. Odd move in my opinion.
  
• I was happy to see Bellhorn get the start but his 0-3 with a walk probably puts him back on the bench for a few games.
  
• Tough 0-5 night for Karros as he made the 3rd out in three innings all with runners on base. He can mash lefties, but is quickly showing how much we need Choi back.
  
• Grudz is a pretty annoying hitter to watch bat. He basically just lunges and slaps at the ball. It is like he is trying to hit four hoppers to the second basemen. There is no power to his swing. Who cares if you never strikeout if you never hit the ball hard. Besides, he struck out twice last evening in crucial situations.
  

Game 3 of the series is tonight as Kerry Wood takes on Jimmy Haynes. The Tribune is reporting that Baker is giving Patterson the night off this evening. That means I get to see more of Tom Goodwin. Great. Tonight also marks the return of Sammy Sosa, so I imagine there will be a lot of cork jokes around the stadium. Wouldn't it be great if he hit a couple of homers and got the Cubs on a roll.
posted by Dennis at 8:46 AM : |

 

Reds get another walk-off win

Cincinnati's good luck continued with a two-out RBI double from Sean Casey on a Wellemeyer pitch well out of the strike zone. Carlos Zambrano was on once again, striking out seven Reds in eight innings and allowing only one run. In a completely unexpected turn of events however, the Cubs offense was throttled all night long. The need for the return of the real Sammy Sosa tomorrow and Hee Sop Choi in a few days cannot be overstated.

Tonight's loss dropped the Cubs into a tie for first with Houston. I hate to flip over to panic mode, but time is running out for Jim Hendry to make something happen. He was crowing in the Trib the other day about how he would be free to make a move to add salary if necessary, but its going to be too late if something doesn't happen soon. The great pitching of Prior, Wood, Zambrano, and most of the pen has kept us in it along with the lack of great play from our competition, but there is no way this team with this offense hangs in there much longer.

Dennis will be in tomorrow morning with his in-person report. How fun is it to fight GAB traffic after an extra-inning loss? Dennis will tell all.

posted by Scott at 10:54 PM : |

 

To Dusty, one victory, from Bob

This space has been pretty hard on Dusty Baker in the past for lineup decisions and on the field strategic moves. Think of it like getting mad at your family. You get mad, state your peace and