Puh-lease, lineup

Lou Piniella was not kidding when he said he was going to tweak his lineup for the Cardinals series. Five of the spots were different from what we've typically seen so far.

Old lineup

Soriano
Fukudome
Lee
Hoffpauir
Ramirez
Fontenot
Soto
Theriot

New lineup (* indicates change)

Theriot*
Fukudome
Soriano*
Ramirez*
Lee*
Fontenot
Soto
Johnson*

Theriot batting leadoff (yay!)? Lee dropped to five (yay!)? Soriano batting third?

That is some serious change. For the most part, I like it. But in the end, it's not as much about where players are hitting as it's a matter of how well they're hitting. And right now, no one on the Cubs is doing much of anything at the plate. Ramirez has been carrying much of the load, and he left Friday's game with a strained left calf. He's out for Saturday, leaving the Cubs with no back-up infielders.

After a 4-3 loss to the Cardinals, the Cubs have now scored four runs in their last three games. The futility has gone on long enough that you have to figure when the Cubs finally do break out of it, they're going to do it in a big way. Saturday would be a good time for it, as they'll be facing Mitchell Boggs, who has six career starts to his name and a career 7.25 ERA.

Cubs notes
-I gotta admit, I'm already getting real sick of Milton Bradley. He's way less fun than his family-friendly name would suggest. He has started just one game since April 12, has exactly one hit on the season, boycotted the media for approximately one week, has been ejected from one game, and has been suspended by the league once. But perhaps what's most upsetting is that he's living up to his reputation of being a distraction. He's got this whole paranoia thing goin' on, like everyone in the world is after him for no apparent reason.

And why oh why will he not just serve his two-game suspension while he's too hurt to play anyways? Granted, that may be his status the entire season, so I suppose we shouldn't worry about that too much.

-Aaron Heilman has been a real bright spot out of the 'pen. He has appeared in 10 games, has gotten in the win column twice, and his ERA is 0.93. Heilman's success will be even more vital the next few days, given that Marmol left Friday's game with a sore knee and will miss at least 4-5 days.

-The Cajun Connection is really struggling to connect right now. Fontenot is 3-30 dating back to April 11, while Theriot is one for his last 13.

-The Cubs have turned 12 double plays, and are on pace for 129 this season.

Did you know ...
-The Phillies have allowed at least one home run in all 15 of their games this season, an MLB record to begin a season.

-The Pirates lead the National League in ERA.