A blog dedicated to coverage and analysis of the Cubs and Bears, along with observations on other teams and random nonsense. Warning: Coverage is incomplete, analysis poor, and predictions typically wrong.
But love for the Boys in Blue and the Monsters of the Midway? You can count on that.
First they fail to extend Albert Pujols, now their #2 starter is out for the year. It has not been a good month for the Cardinals.
Adam Wainwright, who finished second in Cy Young voting this past season, is slated for Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire season. This doesn't devastate the Cardinals--they still have Carpenter, Garcia, Lohse, and Jake Westbrook--but it's a significant blow. Instead of one of the most potent 1-2 punches in baseball, they now have one ace and several average-to-above average pitchers.
I must admit, I'm intrigued to see what kind of magical spell Dave Duncan will be able to cast on whatever castoff or minor leaguer replaces Wainwright. Some free agent options include Kevin Millwood (4-16 last year with Baltimore) and Jeremy Bonderman (5.53 ERA last year with Detroit), though they may simply hope for one of their prospects to step up this spring. Surely whomever they choose will set a major league record for wins because Dave Duncan is a witch.
In other baseball news, former Cubs second baseman Mark Grudzielanek has decided to retire. Grudzielanek, who is now 40, batted .314 for the 2003 Cubs team that fell one win shy of the World Series. In fact, it was Grudzielanek who would have taken the flip from Alex Gonzalez, thrown it to first for a double play and ended the infamous 8th inning that cost the Cubs Game 6 of the NLCS. Instead, terrible, unspeakable things happened and part of me died inside forever.
Ryan Theriot is back in the NL Central. But instead of playing for the Cubs, he'll be playing for their biggest rival.
On Tuesday, the Cardinals acquired Theriot from the Dodgers in exchange for righthander Blake Hawksworth. Ken Rosenthal says the Cardinals view him as a shortstop, which is a rare act of stupidity on their part. The only position from which Theriot can easily throw to first is ... well, first; he should be a second baseman. Brendan Ryan is the Cards' shortstop but they might consider moving him to make room for Theriot.
I always hate to see a Cub head to St. Louis if for no other reason than they might pull a Lou Brock and suddenly be awesome. I liked Theriot as a person and would like to see him do well, but I pretty much have to root against him now that he wears red. I also have to root against him because he said he's "finally on the right side of the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry." A--hole.
It will be interesting to see if the Cardinals, who preach the importance of getting on base, can get Theriot to buy in; he had a .321 OBP last season.
Apparently Mark McGwire is finally ready to "talk about the past." He had little choice, given that he will be the Cardinals hitting coach in the near future.
What amazed me about his admission that he used steroids is that he used them on and off for nearly a decade. I guess we now know for sure what fueled his remarkable statistics in the late '90s. I hope for the Cardinals' sake that he has more hitting wisdom to share than simply asking players "cream or clear?" I also think the "i" in Big Mac Land should be replaced with a giant syringe.
Shirking responsibility
Which is more ridiculous? 1) That when McGwire was summoned by Congress to provide valuable information in the effort to clean up the game of baseball, he demurred and refused to "talk about the past," and is only now willing to come forward about his steroid use because he has little choice given that he is going to be back in a spotlight of sorts as the Cardinals hitting coach.
2) His "woe is me" attitude in Monday's statement, in which he whined, "I wish I had never played in the steroid era." As if the "era" put a needle in his ass.
Birds of a feather
We know McGwire lied to the public for years, and I think we can assume his boss Tony La Russa knows more than he's willing to share as well. From a few years ago:
"I am absolutely certain that Mark earned his size and strength from hard work and a disciplined lifestyle."
--ESPN
And as recently as December, La Russa said:
"One of the reasons I defend Mark and have defended him and will defend him is I know in Oakland and St. Louis, we ran a 100 percent clean legal official program."
--Chicago Tribune
There are two possibilities here:
1) La Russa is full of s**t. He knew what was going on with Canseco, McGwire and presumably many other players both in Oakland and St. Louis. He lied continuously (as have other coaches, surely) to protect them and protect himself. He has vehemently done so in McGwire's case because he genuinely likes him and because he has now made the choice to bring him on as hitting coach.
2) La Russa was blinded by those sunglasses he wears, and truly believed--until Monday--that Big Mac was always clean. If that's the case, Monday's "revelation" would have to give him a great deal of pause about the hiring of McGwire. A guy that lied to him all these years? A man who helped lead baseball back from the brink while La Russa watched from the dugout, but apparently did so with some syringical assistance? What a betrayal of trust!
Yeah, #2 doesn't sound very plausible to me either. Which leaves us with option #1. Which means La Russa is full of it, just like his new hitting coach. Pete Rose bets on his team and gets banned from baseball while McGwire juices his way to the most hallowed record in all of sports and gets a job sitting next to Tony La Russa.
SI's Jon Heyman reports that the Cardinals have agreed to a seven-year, $120 million deal with Matt Holliday.
Holliday, 29, will provide much-needed protection for Albert Pujols. The signing will likely make the Cardinals the favorite to win the NL Central this year, though we must keep in mind that they lost Mark DeRosa and may still lose Joel Pineiro, Rick Ankiel, and Brad Thompson.
Looking beyond 2010, the real question for the Cardinals becomes whether they will be able to afford both Holliday and Pujols when Pujols becomes a free agent after the 2010 season (he has a team option for 2011).
It's good to know they can share a mic, since they'll now be sharing a professional sports franchise. And it's interesting to note that even when viewed in a still, photographic format, Todd looks like a douche.
The transition of team ownership into the hands of its eighth owner, the Ricketts family. There's something soothing about real, live human beings sitting there and talking about the team. Something comforting about the fact that the owners don't have an opening and a closing price.
The new owners pretty much said all the things you'd expect at their opening press conference (save one super awkward moment when Tom's brother Todd said Jim Hendry "knows way better than" to eat part of Milton Bradley's contract. He then winked (seriously), cementing his status as The Really Creepy Brother Who Will Keep Trying to Share His Ideas with the Other Siblings but They'll Just Nod and Not Really Pay Any Attention to Him, Which They've Probably Been Doing for Twenty Years Because, as Was Just Explained, He's Creepy. And Weird.).
And while growing up watching and rooting for a team does not by any means guarantee that you will be successful as an owner of that team, it is really nice that Tom used to live just beyond the Wrigley walls and spent many a summer day in the bleachers. I have no doubt that he'll treat the Cubs as a business, because he has to. But I also have no doubt that part of him will treat the Cubs as his favorite team, a team that he desperately wants to win the World Series. And that's a very good thing.
Also a good thing is that according to the Windy City Times, Tom's sister Laura Ricketts is the first openly gay owner in all of American professional sports. I think that's a pretty neat "first" for the Cubs to be a part of.
The bad: The decisions by Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan to return to their perches at Busch Stadium for 2010. These guys continually enable the Cardinals to get way more bang than should be humanly possible for that much buck (2009: 17th highest payroll, 92 wins), and unfortunately there was never much more than a fleeting glimmer of hope that the two wouldn't return for next year.
Question now is, will the Cards pony up the BIG bucks for Matt Holliday? His agent, Scott Boras, has made a point of comparing him to Mark Teixeira, whom the Yankees gave eight years and $180 million last year.
Most pitchers get a month of spring training to work their way up to regular action. So Lilly may not be at full strength until mid- or late May. Not a great development to begin the offseason, especially since Lilly was clearly the ace of the staff in 2009. If the season started tomorrow (and, of course, it doesn't, and things will likely change), the Cubs would come out of the gates with Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Marshall and Gorzelanny. Does this mean Hendry will need to seriously consider trying to re-sign Harden? Hurry back, Ted ...
There's one word for what happened at Soldier Field on Sunday: embarrassing.
Exactly how many guys were the Bears playing defense with? Seven? Five? Or was it 11 guys moving in slow motion? It was one of the two. Had to be.
The Bears were starting a three-game stretch that would determine whether their game in Minnesota (Week 12) would truly matter from an NFC North standpoint. It won't.
In fact, the Vikings may have had one of the best weeks of any team, and they didn't even play. But the two teams chasing them--the Packers and Bears--lost. One to a previously winless team, and another in humiliating fashion.
What are Bears fans supposed to look to to make themselves feel good? The running game? No, it's nonexistent.
The offensive line? They wouldn't be able to keep The Hulk from getting sacked.
The secondary? Pathetic.
The ability to rush the passer? They can barely touch QBs, let alone tackle them.
Cutler and the passing attack? Not really.
Cutler's 80.8 QB rating ranks 20th in the NFL. His +3 TD/Int differential is worse than the likes of Carson Palmer, Matt Schaub, and Kyle Orton. Cutler's a solid quarterback, and I'm glad they have him for the next few years. But you can't pretend that he's anything like Tom Brady. Or Aaron Rodgers. Even Tony Romo's numbers are significantly better than Cutler's.
And where are Bears fans supposed to look for wins? Are you confident they'll beat the Niners in San Francisco this Thursday, in prime time? Do you think they'll beat the Eagles? They do have the Rams and Lions remaining on their schedule, but brace yourself because the second half of the season might be paved with frustration and failure.
Speaking of frustration, what the hell was Tommie Harris doing on the boneheaded play that earned him an ejection? He was benched earlier in the year, and apparently he thinks that's where he serves this team best. Or maybe he knew what was about to take place and wanted no part of it.
I guess the fact that they have to turn around and play in three days could either be great or terrible. Terrible because they need three months to analyze all their problems, not three days. But great because at least they don't have to spend a full week digesting that pile of you-know-what. And fortunately, neither do we.
See you Friday, hopefully with something better to say.
Minnesota Vikings, 6-0 You have no idea how much it pains me to be writing this. Saying that things are looking up for the Vikings makes me feel like my lunch might be looking to come back up. But what can I say? They're one of four remaining unbeatens, Brett Favre has the third-highest QB rating in the land, and Adrian Peterson is back atop the NFL in rushing yards. I predicted they would go 9-7, and that's looking about as likely as the Rams making the playoffs. But hope remains, Bears fans: in 2008, the season took its toll on Favre and he struggled mightily down the stretch. He's been sacked 14 times this year, so we'll have to wait and see what November and December have in store for the Vikes. But for now, their stock is higher than Geovany Soto.
Arizona Cardinals, 3-2 Warner, Fitzgerald & Co. started 1-2 and it was easy to say they had fallen back to Earth after a lucky run to the Super Bowl last year. But after beating a solid Texans squad and pasting a Seahawks team that had played well at home until then, the Cardinals find themselves over .500 and tied for first in the extremely winnable NFC West. (Unless you are the Rams. The Rams cannot win the NFC West. This is known as the Rams Clause.) But they need to get the ground game going if they want to continue to rise--their best rushing performance of the season was a 72-yard game from Tim Hightower in Week 2. New England Patriots, 4-2 Remember when the Jets held them to zero touchdowns and made Tom Brady look like, I don't know, Wayne Brady? A changing of the guard in the AFC East, right? Wrong. Four weeks later and the Pats are back in their cozy little first place nook, a nook to which they've become quite accustomed over the years. And even if they were still in last place, they would have to be in the "Things are looking up" category after their 59-0 drubbing of the Titans. NFL Visions rule #1: If you win by at least 50 points, things are looking up.
Atlanta Falcons, 4-1 If the season ended today, the Falcons would be the top-seeded NFC Wild Card team. Plus, they're only a game back of the seemingly unstoppable Saints. They were underdogs in San Fran two weeks ago but handed the Niners their worst-ever loss at Candlestick. Then they beat a tough Bears team (single tear) to move to 4-1. They have the Cowboys on tap, and then a huge Monday night affair in New Orleans.
THINGS ARE LOOKING DOWN
New York Jets, 3-3 Tell me if this sounds familiar: Jets get a new quarterback, get off to a hot start, then said quarterback throws 10 million interceptions and things go downhill. Last year it was veteran Brett Favre, this year it's rookie Mark Sanchez. Three weeks into his NFL career, he was 3-0 and everyone was talking about an all-New York Super Bowl (didn't they say that last year, too?). But it turns out Sanchez is, in fact, a rookie: one TD and eight picks in his last three games, including back-to-back divisional losses.
Baltimore Ravens, 3-3 Just call it the NFL Visions jinx. Things were looking up for both the Jets and Ravens after Week 3, and now they both find themselves spiraling downward in this random categorical system I've made up. In their first three games, they scored 38, 31 and 34 points, respectively. A potent offense to go with your dominant defense? Yes, I'd like that very much, thank you. But wait--where'd the defense go? They're allowing nearly 22 points per game and rank 22nd in pass defense. Since when does Baltimore score 31 points and lose? They sit in third place in the AFC North.
Philadelphia Eagles, 3-2 Though 3-2 is very respectable and they're still just 1.5 games behind the Giants, a loss to the Raiders is absolutely crushing. Oakland had been outscored 130-49 prior to their 13-9 victory on Sunday. McNabb was sacked six times even though Oakland had just nine sacks in their first five games combined. Any given Sunday, etc., etc., but in a season where the "Have"s have a lot and the "Have not"s all look like they're owned by Al Davis, this may turn out to be the biggest loss of the year for any team.
New York Giants, 5-1 Lucky for the Eagles, the team they're chasing appears to have a few chinks in their armor. Saying that "things are looking down" for them doesn't mean they're a bad team, it just means that there's no way Giants fans are looking at the G-Men quite the way they were one week ago. Saints-Giants was supposed to be the game of the week. Hell, the game of the year. The Giants' ground game versus the Saints' air attack. Bruising backs against a precise passer. And then ... pfffft. The air came out of the Giants' balloon faster than Balloon Boy came out of his. The Giants might still be the second-best team in the NFC, but right now, it appears to be a pretty distant second.
Cardinals fans were on top of their Chicago-hating world just one week ago. The Cubs had it handed to them in last year's playoffs and flopped their way to a second place finish this year. The Cardinals had beloved Cub Mark DeRosa in their dugout and acquired slugger Matt Holliday at the trade deadline. Adam Wainwright led the league in wins and Chris Carpenter put up Cy Young numbers. Many (including your truly) thought they'd represent the NL in this year's World Series.
And then ... the NLDS.
Five total runs in three games. A .129 average with runners in scoring position. One RBI for Pujols. Huge errors--the kind that bring to mind that internationally known sign where the hands are grasping the throat. Blaming the towel-waving fans in the stands. Arguing with the home plate umpire even though TBS's little pitchtrax thingy clearly showed a strike (c'mon, La Russa, you owe it to your team to watch the game on TBS in the clubhouse so that you can see the technological miracle knows as pitchtrax).
The Cardinals simply didn't show up. Instead, they were shown up by Randy Wolf, Clayton Kershaw and Vicente Padilla. Vicente Padilla! Padilla was cut by the Rangers earlier this year, but on Saturday he cut up the Cardinal lineup as he put the icing on an old fashioned playoff whooping that put the redbirds on ice until 2010.
Cards fans now have some questions to consider:
Does this make La Russa more or less likely to return next year?
How about pitching coach Dave Duncan?
Do you still want to dish out big-time dough for Matt Holliday?
How much does it suck to be dealing with these questions just one week after completing a 91-win season?
Will Brendan Ryan finally shave that god-awful mustache?
If you couldn't already tell, I really, REALLY enjoyed the Dodgers-Cardinals series. I still think MLB should move to a best-of-seven format in the first round, though I'm not sure it would have made a lick of difference in this case.
In a related story, remember what I said about St. Louis hating Chicago? Someone needs to tell Bernie Miklasz at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that it's not all that insightful to boil down your analysis of the Cardinals' performance to a bunch of cheap shots at the Cubs. The Cardinals didn't morph into the Cubs--this collapse was all their own. They borrowed the Dodgers' fans white towels and spent three games waving them. Just because your crappy little town plays second fiddle to the Second City doesn't mean you should try to make yourself feel better about the Cardinals' pathetic performance by dragging the Cubs into this.
After the Cardinals went down 2-0 in the series, Step 1 of Bernie's two-step process for them to get back on track was to "quit impersonating the Cubs." Oh, that's very helpful, Bernie. I'm sure Tony La Russa wrote your plan on the back of his hand so he wouldn't forget it.
But the Cardinals do have something in common with the Cubs now: they, too, will be watching the rest of the playoffs on TV.
I refer to the number of undecided races remaining in baseball's hunt for October. It has been an inordinately uninteresting stretch run, with only the NL Wild Card (the Rockies lead the Braves by three games) and the AL Central (the Tigers lead the Twins by two games after the two teams split a doubleheader yesterday) races undetermined.
All the way back on September 10, the Yankees had built up a nine-game lead over the Red Sox, and the Angels and Phillies had five-game leads over the Rangers and Marlins, respectively. The Rockies had reduced their NL West deficit all the way down to two games, but the race lacked drama because the average fan knew only that the Dodgers had built up a seemingly insurmountable lead early in the season. And as you'll begrudgingly recall, the Cubs were approximately 70 games out of first by the time the September 10th rolled around.
The Tigers and Twins are 11 and 9 games over .500, respectively, and are vying for the chance to play the Yankees, who are 46 games over. Anything can happen in a best-of-five series (cough 2008 Cubs cough), but the two AL Central contenders would seem to be battling for the chance to get trounced and bounced by the Yanks. I hope I'm wrong. I'm especially rooting for the Tigers after reading this cliched ("Detroit's economy is struggling," etc., etc.) but still interesting story about the importance of a strong season for a team representing a city with a 29% unemployment rate and an average home price under $12,000.
There is actually one other race to watch: the Cardinals and Phillies are battling for home field in the first round of the playoffs. After yesterday's games, the Phillies are one up on the Cards. While the NLDS match-ups won't be determined until the Wild Card race is over, only one of those teams will host a series next week. So while it would seem that the Cardinals and Phillies are simply playing out the string at this point, every win still matters. With the Phillies owning the tiebreaker by virtue of their 4-1 record against the Cards this season, the Cardinals would have to end up with a better record than the Phillies in order to earn the home field advantage, so the Phils are effectively up by two games. (Note: technically, the Dodgers haven't yet clinched a better record than the Phillies or Cardinals, but they're close enough that we're going to ignore that for the sake of the sanity and readability of this paragraph.)
Tuesday: Cubs 6, Pirates 0
Ryan Dempster is starting to make the four-year, $52 million contract he signed last November look a little more reasonable. After tossing the third complete game shutout of his career, he's 11-8 with a 3.51 ERA on the season. He has a 1.39 ERA in September, and will hit the 200-inning mark if he can last just five innings this Sunday against Arizona. His stats definitely aren't akin to the ridiculous 17-6, 2.96 he put up last year to earn that contract, but he's finishing the season on a very high note.
And while it hasn't been talked about much of late, Gordon Wittenmyer reminded us today that for Dempster, the real drama this season has taken place off the field. Dempster and his wife have had to deal with their infant daughter Riley's unique affliction, and no doubt it took a toll on his on-field performance.
From the article:
Ryan's early season involved commuting from Chicago to Arizona, crib-side vigils when possible, giving blood for surgical procedures and countless sleepless nights followed by mind-numbed starts for a team that was supposed to contend for a pennant yet couldn't find its footing.
And:
As recently as a few starts ago, Dempster's most recent rough start coincided with another hospital procedure for Riley.
''He's human,'' pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. ''And he handled it better than most people. But that doesn't mean it didn't have an effect. It did. Clearly.''
While Riley still suffers from DiGeorge's Syndrome, she is now home and doing better than she was, and hopefully Riley will continue to get better and 2010 Dempster will look more like today's version than the guy we saw in the first half of 2009.
With two clutch hits by Aramis Ramirez, a home run by Geovany Soto, and four shutout innings by Aaron Heilman, Esmailin Caridad and Carlos Marmol, the Cubs pulled to within 10.5 games of the Cardinals, who were denied their third 15-game winner as Joel Pineiro was outdueled by Jair Jurrjens in a 1-0 loss.
Why do I even take the time to mention how far back the Cubs are in the standings? Because while it took 39 days and 71 combined games, the Cubs finally gained ground on the Cardinals for the first time since August 3. If we keep up this pace, we'll catch 'em by 2012 for sure!
How rude of Derrek Lee. And this after Fontenot turned in SportsCenter's #1 play earlier in the game.
Lilly and Marmol combined to post shutout number four on the year for the Cubs, vaulting them out of a tie for last place in the NL in that category. The others were Ted Lilly over the Rockies 4-0, Ryan Dempster over the Dodgers 7-0, and Randy Wells over Houston 12-0. It was good to see Lilly get the win, his 10th, after he went 0-1 in August despite a stellar 1.86 ERA. The Cubs scored just eight runs in his three August starts.
Wednesday wasn't much different, as a two-run homer by Derrek Lee was all the offense could muster. In fact, the four through eight hitters (Bradley, Fox, Fontenot, Baker, Hill) were a combined 0-for-14. But it was enough for Teddy Roosevelt Lilly, as he dominated the 'Stros with eight innings, four hits, no walks and five strikeouts. He's now 7-1 with a 1.73 ERA at home in 2009.
I said yesterday that if there's been one bright spot for the Cubs this season, it's Randy Wells. I stand by that, but if there have been two bright spots for the Cubs this year, the other is Derrek Lee. His home run was his 27th, and with six more he would have his highest career total outside of 2005 when he hit 46.
On top of that, the two RBI gave him 90 on the season, matching last year's total. With nine more, he'll once again have his highest career total outside of 2005, and with a great September, he could surpass that year's total of 107.
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Hey, look who's back: Andres Blanco! He wasted no time showing why Aaron Miles should never, ever play again for the Cubs, going 1-for-3 with a run scored.
"One hit?" you say. "That's nothing to write home about."
True, unless you're comparing him to Aaron Miles, which I am. Miles is 0-for-his last 700 (okay, actually his last 19), and is completely useless. On the other hand, Blanco was batting .304 in the minors, is hitting .240 with the Cubs, and is probably the best fielder they have save Derrek Lee.
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While there's no arguing the fact that the Cubs have folded like a guy in a tent wearing a cheap suit, sitting on a 2/7 off suit, we have to give credit where credit is due. The Cardinals went 20-6 in August, meaning it would have been difficult for the Cubs to stay in the division race almost no matter what they did. The Cards are now 2-0 in September as well, meaning the Cubs haven't gained any ground on them at all since August 3. For a full month straight, the Cubs have either held their ground or fallen back in the standings every single day.
Overall, the news was good on Saturday. The Cubs came back from two early deficits and pounded the Mets 11-4, winning back-to-back games for the first time since two weeks ago against the Pirates. Let's take a look at some other good news from Saturday, along with some corresponding bad news:
Good news: Ryan Dempster has now won back-to-back starts, and every Cubs starter is now over .500.
Bad news: It's the first time all season that Dempster has won consecutive starts, and how are the Cubs just three games over .500 despite every starter having more wins than losses?
Good news: Jake Fox hit his first career grand slam and had five total RBI.
Bad news: He was only playing because Soriano was at the hospital getting an MRI. The exam revealed only inflammation, and Piniella said Soriano will most likely play today. Why does Piniella continue to choose MRIs over RBIs? While Fonzie is batting .185 with just one home run and seven RBI in August, Fox is batting .327 with three home runs and 13 RBI in 16 starts this month. And after Soriano's Little League-esque defensive performance on Friday, we can officially put the "But Fox can't play defense" reasoning to rest. Fox has made just two errors in left field all year, and no one can tell me that Fox is a defensive liability compared to Sori-oh-no.
Good news: Fontenot went 1-for-2 with two RBI.
Bad news: He was playing because Jeff Baker took a ball off his pinky in batting practice, and was taken to the hospital. But wait, more good news! He's okay, and could be back as early as today. The rare good news, bad news, good news. Didn't see that comin', did ya?
Good news: Koyie Hill went 1-for-2 with an RBI.
That's bad news for Geovany Soto, who is quickly fading into the backstop background, at least when it comes to the remainder of the 2009 season.
Good news: The Rockies--with Jason Marquis on the mound--lost to the Giants, allowing the Cubs to pull within 5.5 games in the Wild Card race.
Bad news: The Cardinals beat the hapless (except when they play the Cubs) Nationals, so the Cubs remain nine back in the Central.
No matter which opponent takes the field against the Cubs right now, they're likely to be shaking hands after the last out is made. The Cubs are now 9-15 in August, and they have more problems than you can shake a bat at. Problems like:
-Milton Bradley taking the train back to Crazy Town, claiming that he faces "hatred" at Wrigley Field and that he prays each game goes only nine innings (no matter who's winning, presumably) so that he can get home. Phil Rogers says the Cubs should let him stay home, though that would mean eating the $21 million remaining on Bradley's contract.
-And his isn't the only contract the Cubs would love to shed but probably can't. Alfonso Soriano continues to be unproductive (0-for-4 Thursday to drop his average to .238), and the Cubs appear to be stuck with his indolence, inconsistency and ineptitude for five more years. I believe Hendry can fight his way out of this, but if he gets axed and someone else is charged with putting this team back together, I feel for them.
-No second baseman. The Cubs will need to address the hole in the middle of their infield this offseason, with Fontenot looking very much like a backup this season and Jeff Baker and Aaron Miles (shiver) the only other options on the current roster.
-Soto's demise. Wha' happened? From .285, 23 and 86 last year to .218, 9 and 31 this year. Koyie Hill--Koyie Freakin' Hill--is getting more and more playing time, and it's hard to argue with that decision; Soto's batting .150 in August after a .222 July.
-What to do with Rich Harden? Zambrano, Lilly, Dempster and Wells appear to be cemented in the 2010 rotation, but should the Cubs offer Harden a big deal? I think the Cubs should offer one or two years at a moderate salary, say $6-7 million/year. I'm not sure he'll get many offers bigger than that, given the economy and his long history of injuries.
-Randy Wells's Rookie of the Year chances are fading along with the Cubs. Now 9-7 with a 3.06 ERA, he has clearly ceded front-runner status to Spring Valley, Ill. native J.A. Happ (10-3, 2.63). Even the Braves' Tommy Hanson (9-2, 3.12) might have a leg up on Wells at this point. Wells has obviously had a fantastic season (and he deserves a better record to show for it), but his chances of picking up some hardware to remember it by have gotten a lot slimmer.
In fairness, the Cubs did get robbed Thursday on a bad call at the plate when Derrek Lee was called out trying to score on a wild pitch even though pitcher Sean Burnett tagged him with an empty glove. That's the way this season has gone on the North Side, as a chance to gain a game on the Cardinals was wasted perhaps in part because of the missed call, but mostly because the Cubs fell into a 5-0 hole against the worst team in the National League.
It's incredible that the Cardinals have the biggest cushion of any divisional leader (nine games). Last time they made the playoffs, in 2006, they scratched and clawed their way in with a mediocre 83-win season. No need for them to buckle up, put their seats in an upright position or put their tray tables up this September, for they appear headed for a soft landing in what has turned out to be a terrible division.
Pujols heads back to the dugout after being robbed of a home run by one of the seven Astros playing the outfield.
ST. LOUIS--The Houston Astros may have started a trend Wednesday when they implemented what they call the "Pujols Shift," placing all their fielders except the pitcher and catcher on the warning track when Pujols batted. Manager Cecil Cooper called the experiment a success after Pujols went 2-for-4 with two home runs, including an inside-the-park home run, and two deep fly balls on which he was robbed of home runs by Astros fielders.
"I was so excited when we robbed those homers," Cooper said. "I was like, 'It worked! We did it!'"
Cooper said after the game that he plans to use the shift for the rest of the series, though he may ask the umpires if he can place some of his fielders in the stands.
The Cubs are three games back in the division and the Wild Card.
So, yeah, there aren't a whole lot of positives to talk about today.
Let's look forward: The Cubs will have a chance to help Randy Wells' Rookie of the Year chances if they can beat up on J.A. Happ tonight. Tomorrow, Pedro Martinez will make his first start of the year, and it'd be nice to win that one with last year's AL Cy Young Award winner, Cliff Lee, taking the mound on Thursday.
The Cubs will be trying to build on their stellar 33-19 home record, and things start to look a little brighter after Philadelphia with the Pirates and Padres on the schedule. The Cardinals schedule is very weak in August, but heats up in September. If the Cubs can stay close over the next couple weeks, perhaps they can get healthy in September and really make a run.
Have you ever seen a team get 17 hits and score only five runs?
Sunday's game was something of a microcosm of what's been wrong with the Cubs this year. They were unable to get the big hit (5-for-19 with runners in scoring position), struggled in the field (three errors, which they spread around among the catcher's position, the infield, and the outfield), and the bullpen couldn't get anyone out. The problems, though, started with the starter, as Randy Wells had one of his worst outings of the year. In fact, the seven runs he allowed are the most he's ever allowed in the majors, and the four earned runs are tied for the most he's ever allowed. He just wasn't sharp, as he fell behind hitters all day and needed 100 pitches to get through 5.1 innings. His ERA rose to 3.01, and he came just 1.1 innings shy of qualifying for the ERA leaderboard. He will almost certainly qualify after his next start Friday against the Pirates.
The Cubs are entering a dangerous stretch. The Cardinals used a five-run 8th to sweep the Pirates, pushing the Cubs two games back in the Central, and they're also two games out in the Wild Card. After one more with the Rockies, the Cubs will battle the Phillies (though perhaps they're catching them at the right time--they were just swept by the Marlins) while the Cardinals come home to face the Reds and Padres, two of the four worst teams in the league.
The Cubs offense was locked in Sunday, except when it came to scoring runs. They had at least two hits in each of the first four innings, but tallied just two runs. Second base umpire Chris Guccione cost them one run with an absolutely awful call at second (after which Piniella was ejected for the second time this season), and Jake Fox should have had an RBI were it not for his gapper bouncing over the wall for a ground-rule double. The Cubs finished with a season-high 17 hits overall, but just couldn't figure out ways to plate enough of those baserunners. They stranded 13 in all.
The bottom of the order, which consisted of Jeff Baker and Koyie Hill, really had it going. Baker had a double and a triple against his former team, and Hill had three hits and an RBI.
A win tonight would give the Cubs a 5-5 road trip, which to me is perfectly acceptable. Tom Gorzelanny will try to follow up a very successful start against the Reds, going up against Jorge De La Rosa who has a 5.00 ERA and is coming off a very poor start against the Phillies.
By the way, if you're feeling down about the Cubs at all, just tell yourself, "At least we're not the Red Sox." Boston went into the Bronx down 2 1/2 games in the AL East, and proceeded to get swept in a four-game series. At one point, they went over 30 innings without scoring a run. They finally scored two in the 8th last night to take a 2-1 lead, and promptly allowed four runs in the bottom of the inning on their way to a loss. So the Red Sox suddenly find themselves 6 1/2 games out of first.
Kane it be true?
I sincerely hope the allegations about Patrick Kane aren't true. I don't care about hockey, but for any superstar athlete (or any person, for that matter) to beat up a cab driver over any amount of money, let alone 20 freakin' cents, is unconscionable. If it's true, this will be quite the scar on the face of the Blackhawks organization.
Major momentum
Tiger Woods won for the second straight week, conquering the Bridgestone Invitational for the seventh time. It was the 70th win of his career, bringing him within 12 of Sam Snead's all-time record. Tiger's surely glad to have some momentum heading into this week's PGA Championship, the year's final major.
Kevin Gregg will be okay. Until his last two games, in which he imploded for two blown saves against the team that traded him a few months ago, Gregg had a two-month period in which he converted 13/15 saves, posted a 2.33 ERA, and walked just eight men in 27 innings.
Jake Fox should play damn near every day.
Ryan Dempster should have had a rehab start. He looked terrible against the Astros last week, but perhaps he just needed time to get settled. Sunday's start was his best since early June.
It'll feel better if we just focus on the fact that the Cardinals lost to Roy Oswalt's rookie replacement, keeping the Cubs within 1/2 game of first.
News flash
Matt Holliday went 0-for-4 on Sunday. His average as a Cardinals plummeted to .541.
Did you know ...
In the last two seasons, the Pirates have traded Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Adam LaRoche, Nyjer Morgan, Nate McLouth, Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny.
Prior was drafted second overall by the Cubs in 2001, with the Twins taking Joe Mauer first due to fears that they may not have been able to sign Prior. He burst onto the scene in 2002 with 147 strikeouts in 116 innings, and made a real name for himself in 2003 when he won 18 games and helped lead the Cubs to the NLCS. Injuries sent his career downhill after that (though he did win 11 more games in 2005), and the Cubs released him after the 2007 season.
The Padres took a flier on him, partly because he's from southern California. But a year-and-a-half later, he hasn't been able to physically right himself, and the Padres are apparently giving up on him.
It's a sad story in the sense that Prior had so much raw talent and was so fun to watch for a few years, yet he'll likely end up with just 42 wins in the majors and a career that flamed out at the age of 27. Hard to believe.
Speaking of former Cubs ... The Brewers signed Corey Patterson and assigned him to Triple-A. Patterson was recently released by the Nationals, which, of course, is never a good sign.
Saturday:Cubs 9, Marlins 8 (10 inn.)
Well, let's hope Zambrano's back issues don't cause him to miss any starts. With Lilly out until mid-August and the Gorzelanny Experiment about to start, the Cubs can't afford to be without Big Z for any extended period of time. The Cubs of course need Aramis Ramirez to be healthy as well--hopefully he'll be okay after leaving the game in the 10th. Both players said after the game that they don't expect to miss any time.
Being without Zambrano after the third inning was something they could barely afford on Saturday. The bullpen held a meeting prior to the game and collectively decided to see what would happen if they didn't throw any strikes--six relievers combined to walk six men in seven innings of work, blowing the 6-2 lead that Zambrano left them with (Zambrano walked three himself). Ryan Theriot finally delivered what seemed to be the exclamation point the Cubs had been waiting for since the second inning, pounding a two-out, two-run triple in the 9th, but Kevin Gregg couldn't hold a three-run lead against his former team.
Fortunately, another former Marlin delivered a win for the Cubs, as Derrek Lee smashed home run #21 to lead off the 10th. Lee called the game--which saw Lou Piniella switching Alfonso Soriano between 2B and 3B in the bottom of the 10th--the longest nine innings he's ever been a part of.
Speaking of the bullpen, someone is going to have to be sent down when that Gorzelanny Experiment begins on Tuesday. I nominate Jeff Samardzija, who is finding none of the success this year that he had last year. His ERA is up to 6.52, and though he's pitched just half the innings in 2009 as he did in 2008, he's already allowed more earned runs, home runs, and hits than he did all of last year. Let's keep Jeff Stevens in the pen and let Samardzija stretch out as a starter in the minors.
The Cubs reached double-digits in hits yet again (and on the road this time!), including two from Aramis Ramirez. His hit totals during his nine-game hitting streak: 2, 4, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 2, 2. It took him a little time to find his timing after his injury, but he's been locked in for a while now.
Central Intelligence
Matt Holliday has been absolutely out of control since being traded to the Cardinals. He went 3-for-4 Saturday with two home runs, helping the Cardinals to a 3-1 victory over the Astros. He's now 20-for-33 (.606) since putting on the red and white. I figured he'd help the Cardinals lineup, but I didn't realize he was from another planet.
Stat of the Day
Courtesy of Baseball Musings, the Yankees are 0-11 against teams with Sox in their name, 62-31 against everyone else.
Apparently it was Grand Slam Day in Major League Baseball, as there were a total of four on Monday night. Josh Willingham of the Nationals hit grand slams in the 5th and 6th innings. He's the thirteenth player to hit two grand slams in one game (meaning it's a feat more rare than a perfect game), and the sixth to hit them in back-to-back innings. Fernando Tatis, by the way, is the only player ever to have hit two grand slams in one inning, and, interestingly, he hit a grand slam Monday as well.
And the fourth, of course, was hit by Alfonso Soriano. He was 0-for-5 through 12 innings, meaning his nine-game hitting streak was in serious jeopardy. But even though all he needed was a long fly ball in the 13th, he smashed one about 430 feet to straightaway center just for fun.
The win enabled the Cubs to match their high-water mark of the season: they were seven games over .500 at 21-14 after beating ... the Astros on May 16.
Speaking of home runs, it doesn't matter what jersey Carlos Lee is wearing, he always hits the Cubs. He wailed on them with the White Sox, bashed them as a Brewer, and now he annihilates them as an Astro. His tape measure shot in the 2nd was his 29th career home run against the Cubs, by far the most for him against any team (he has 19 off the Royals and Indians). As I mentioned yesterday, he's definitely a starter on the All-Cub Killer Team.
A different Lee--Derrek--became the first Cub to hit 20 HR, and he did it in style with a visit to Waveland Avenue. He also matched his home run total from last year. Back in April, he would have been about fifth on my list of Cubs Likely to Hit 20 HR.
And while I give Piniella huge props for calling a suicide squeeze, what was he doing letting Zambrano bat in the 7th even though no bench players had been used and he was coming out of the game anyways? No Jake Fox? I realize Lou is loathe to use him because he's the back-up catcher, but you have to put an actual hitter in the game with runners at first and second in the bottom of the 7th, especially when the pitcher is being taken down one way or the other. Plus, Fox ended up coming in to catch late in the game anyways.
On the bright side, Z did an excellent job on the mound. With 7 IP and 1 ER, he now has a 2.63 July ERA and a 3-1 record to go with it. He took a tough no-decision Monday as Wandy Rodriguez continued an even better month--a 0.75 ERA and a 4-0 record. Rodriguez, 30, has seen his ERA go down every year since 2006, and his next win will give him more wins (11) in 2009 than any year of his career. Let's hope we don't have to see him in our one remaining series with the Astros.
On a separate note, Carlos Marmol has really turned it on of late. He hasn't allowed any runs in his last eight appearances, and has allowed just one run in his last 14. With Gregg just four saves off the league leading pace, the 8th and 9th innings have become very comfortable for the Cubs (as comfortable as 8th and 9th innings can be, anyways).
Central Intelligence
The Cardinals beat the Dodgers with the assistance of yet another home run by Mark DeRosa (5 of his 11 hits as a Cardinal are home runs, though he's hitting just .244), while the Brewers lost in part because of those Josh Willingham grand slams mentioned earlier. So the Cubs remain 1/2 game up on the Cards, and extend their lead over the Astros and Brewers to three and four games, respectively.
Quick trivia question: Who's in first place in the NL Central?
That would be the Cubs.
I'm just going to let you soak that in for a second.
I know, it's only July 27, but the Cubs haven't been in first since April 21, so it's worth enjoying. On top of the fact that the Cardinals lost (despite DeRosa's fourth home run as a Cardinal), the Astros and Brewers lost, meaning the standings are quite pleasant to look at:
And after the Cubs' second sweep in their last three series, let's put a couple of theories to bed:
1) Rich Harden needs to pitch at night. Gimme a break. A story in the Trib last week indicated that the Cubs would try to have Harden pitch at night, though it also had him pitching in his normal spot in the rotation, so the story seemed a bit nonsensical to me. With Lilly going on the DL, there was concern from some corners that Harden had to be moved up to Sunday to pitch during the day. Unless Harden is half-human, half-bat (the flying kind, not the hitting kind), the whole thing seems utterly ridiculous to me.
First of all, Harden's career day/night splits are practically identical; it's only this year that a significant difference has appeared. Second, I'm much more prepared to give credence to home/road splits (see: Ervin Santana, who was 6-4 with a 3.27 ERA at home in 2007, but 1-10 with an 8.38 ERA on the road), where the crowd, ballpark quirks, and mound can affect performance. But day vs. night? Absurd.
Harden helped prove this point on Sunday with six amazing innings (and just 90 pitches) in which he allowed just one baserunner. Cub killer Joey Votto launched a 1st inning home run, but that was literally all the Reds could muster against Harden. By the way, Joey Votto is definitely a starter on the All-Cub Killer Team, joining Carlos Lee, Lance Berkman, Craig Counsell, Jeff Blauser, and others. Votto has hit 11 of his 47 career HR against the Cubs.
By the way, Harden's last three starts: 19 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 21 K (0.95 ERA)
2) Soriano can only hit in the leadoff spot. Up until this year, Soriano bitched and moaned every time it was suggested he should hit lower in the lineup. Despite no longer being a threat to steal and never having been an OBP guy, a change seemed to make sense. Now I'll admit that I never got too caught up in this debate, mainly because the Cubs led the NL in runs scored in 2008 with him at the top. My thought was: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
But Soriano has been broke this year. His OBP has plummeted to .315, and instead of providing an immediate energy boost at the top, he's been a buzzkill.
But wait, what do we have here? Soriano is hitting .392 with 3 HR in the 6th spot in the order. He added a single and a double on Sunday. Soriano is much better suited to bat in the middle of the order, and perhaps even he realizes that after his recent run of success.
Did you know ...
Heading into Sunday, there had been 160 home runs hit at the new Yankee Stadium this year. So what, right? Well, there were 160 home runs hit at the old Yankee Stadium all of last year. That's 51 games compared to 81, and 0ver three home runs per game this year compared to under two per game last year.
Quote of the day
"When he pitched his last no-hitter in 2007, we lost five in a row, and now we've lost three," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "Mark Buehrle, this is all your fault."
I grew up in Wadsworth, Ill., a northeast suburb of Chicago, and have been a die hard (and we do die hard, every year) Cubs fan ever since my mom took me away from a day of preschool to bring me to Wrigley Field. I follow them--and sports in general--way more closely than can be considered healthy, and I'm sharing my obsession with you.
