Cubs on pace to go 76-0 in second half

Maybe I should stop watching Cubs games. I was out of town and away from the TV all weekend attending the magnificent wedding of two of my wonderful friends, Van Miller and Laine Twanow. The ceremony was short (but very sweet) and the reception was a blast. Congratulations to Van and Laine.


Honestly, I can't remember the last time I missed three consecutive Cubs games. But if that's the secret recipe for a Cubs sweep by a combined score of 26-11, perhaps I'll have to avoid the Cubs altogether!

The Cubs beat a bad, bad (and I mean bad) team, but

a) they did it on the road
b) the Nationals took two of three from the Yankees in Yankee Stadium earlier this season, and also took a series from the Blue Jays
c) they absolutely destroyed them--along with outscoring them by 15, they amassed 17 more base hits

Each Cubs starter (Harden, Zambrano, Wells and Hart) got a win in the series, though perhaps the worst aspect of the sweep was that only Harden managed to go more than five innings. Samardzija saved the bullpen Sunday with three innings of work, and will probably be unavailable tonight. The Cubs' overtaxed bullpen may not get much of a reprieve against the Phillies, who lead the league in runs scored and have won eight in a row.

On the offensive side, Aramis Ramirez got back in the swing of things with his first home run since May 6; Soriano got his groove back with home runs in back-to-back games after sitting out Friday's game with a swollen pinky finger; Micah Hoffpauir and Jake Fox combined to go 6-for-10 with a HR and 4 RBI on Sunday; Fukudome had six hits in the three games he played; well, you get the picture. The Cubs moved up two spots to 13th (yay!) in the NL in runs scored with their big weekend.

The Cubs were looking to build some confidence coming out of the break, and with that goal in mind, it doesn't get much better than winning the first four on the schedule. The Cardinals lost one to the Diamondbacks while the Brewers split four with the Reds, so the Cubs sit in 2nd place alone, just two games back. The Cubs have also won six of seven overall.

The last time we could feel this good about the team was after they swept the Indians in mid-June. But two of those wins were one-run, walk-off victories, whereas the Cubs abused the Nationals like Mary Murphy abuses my eardrums every Wednesday and Thursday on So You Think You Can Dance (I've been watching this season's shows because IWU student Evan Kasprzak is in it, and is now in the final eight). All the Cubs can do is win the games on their schedule, and they did that in style this weekend. It will be interesting to see how they stack up against one of the better teams in the majors this week. The Phils have taken control of an underperforming NL East, building a 6 1/2 game lead over the Braves and a 9 game lead over the fading Mets.

Quote of the Day

"Jake can swing the bat," Piniella said. "He had a new glove at third base today, and we checked it out a little bit. He said, 'I couldn't catch the ball with my old glove.' I said, 'So far, you're not doing much better with the new one.' The guy swings the bat. He likes to hit."

(hat tip: Mandy Christol)


Rocky Mountain High


Jason Marquis matched his highest win total as a Cub when he notched his ML-leading 12th victory yesterday (he won 12 in '07). He went eight innings against the hapless Padres and allowed just one run to lower his ERA to 3.49.

And in golf ...

On Sunday, the PGA proved it can have an exciting, nail-biting tournament without Tiger Woods even making the cut.

Tom Watson, 59, would have become the oldest golfer to win a major and would have tied for the most British Open wins, but he bogeyed the 18th hole to set up a playoff with Stewart Cink, who had never had even a share of the lead until then. Watson fell apart in the four-hole playoff and lost by six strokes.

Usually if Tiger's not near the top of the leaderboard at the end, many viewers aren't near that channel. But I was definitely not happy when I had to stop watching the re-broadcast with about three holes to go. It turned out to be a great finish, and the PGA has to be thrilled that Sunday's action reminded golf fans that there are indeed other compelling story lines out there--it's just that Tiger usually doesn't let us find them.

On a separate note ...

This is weird.

Cubs creep to within 3 1/2 of first, prepare to meet their destiny heading into the break

Wednesday: Cubs 4, Pirates 1

Well, the Cubs won their first road series since June 5-7 at Cincinnati.

Is there any way to argue that Randy Wells isn't the Cubs' best starting pitcher? He has the best ERA and WHIP of anyone on the staff, and his quality start percentage is higher than everyone's but Ted Lilly. He goes out there and gives the team a chance to win every single time, and he's been rewarded with three consecutive wins after being denied a win in his first seven starts.

Congratulations to Sam Fuld for getting his first two career hits and his second career assist on a great throw to the plate from left field. Honestly, I'd rather see Fuld in the leadoff spot tonight than Alfonso Soriano.

Marmol and Gregg put the cherry on top of the win once again, and that's good news heading into The Homestand. With four against the Brewers, three against the Braves, and four against the Cardinals heading into the break, this homestand could determine the fate of the Cubs' 2009 season. An 8-3 'stand could have them nipping at the heels of first place; a 3-8 'stand could have them selling off pieces at the trade deadline. The Cubs are 21-13 at home thus far--here's to them keeping up that pace over the next 11 days.

Cubs notes

-The Cubs led the NL in ERA in June (3.18), while the Brewers were last (5.37). But the Cubs gained no ground during the month.

-The Cubs will miss Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo, who lost 1-0 Wednesday to the Mets.

Quote of the Day

It's going to be hard the rest of the year because I'm not even close to being where I want to be. It's still sore and it's going to be like that--some days good, some days bad."

-Aramis Ramirez, on his left shoulder. Ramirez is expected to return Monday vs. Atlanta.

Marquis de Trade

Jim Hendry has been getting a lot of flak lately, and rightly so. DeRosa would have been one of the Cubs' better run producers this season, and now he's on the rival Cardinals. Milton Bradley has to this point been an overpaid ball of crazy. Aaron Miles? Joey Gathright? Ouch.

But perhaps the move that looks the worst (but is getting the least attention) is the trade of Jason Marquis. While starting pitching has not been the problem for the Cubs this season, have you seen what Mr. Marquis is up to in Colorado?

-He's the only NL pitcher with 10 wins.
-He has a 3.87 ERA, which would be his lowest since 2004 with the Cardinals.
-He's on pace to throw 232 innings, which would easily surpass his career high.
-He's thrown two complete games; he had thrown four in his career prior to 2009.

Now I'm certainly not here to say "I told you so," mostly because I didn't. I was A-OK with the Cubs unloading Marqius' outrageous $9 million contract, but amazingly, he's actually been worth that much to this point in the season. We're not quite to the halfway point, so don't hand Marquis the Cy Young Award just yet. But still, it's yet another addition on the laundry list of moves that don't seem to have panned out for Hendry this year.

Did you see it?

On Tuesday, the Orioles and Red Sox went into a rain delay with the Red Sox up 10-1. Then the rain stopped, and the Orioles started. The O's completed their biggest comeback in franchise history by scoring five in the 7th and five in the 8th to win 11-10. On Wednesday, Boston returned the favor--they trailed 5-1 in the 9th, but scored four to tie it and then added the winning run in the 11th inning. It's not real often you see two huge comebacks in back-to-back games.

Stunning of the Bulls

Let's play a game called Which Statistic From Game 3 Most Offends You as a Bulls Fan?

A) The Bulls lost by 21, and trailed by as many as 34
B) The Bulls shot just 37% from the field
C) The Bulls turned it over 22 times
D) The Celtics had 16 steals, including six by man-beast "Big Baby" Davis
E) The Celtics were 12-21 from the three-point line
F) all of the above

The Bulls were dominated from the start in Thursday's 107-86 pounding by the Celtics. If you only had one word to describe their performance? Sloppy. They looked unfocused and unprepared, a very different team than the one we saw in Boston. The Celtics wrested home court advantage back with the victory, and Game 4 is now a must-win for the Bulls.

What a dump
Rarely has there been a purer example of a salary dump than the Cubs' trade of Jason Marquis to the Rockies this past offseason.

The return on that trade--reliever Luis Vizcaino--was officially DFA'd (designated for assignment) Thursday after Hendry was unable to trade him. If Vizcaino signs elsewhere for the league minimum salary, the Cubs will eat $3.6 million. Add in the $875K they sent to Colorado as part of the trade, and the Cubs will have essentially paid $4.475 million instead of Marquis' $9.875 million salary.

So the final math looks like this: $5 million in the coffers, one less starting pitcher. That, my friends, is a salary dump.

Cubs notes
-Just what any sane person would have predicted on the heels of a three-game winning streak: the Cubs scored a total of one run in two games against the Reds, and consequently lost their first series of the year.

-The red hot Cardinals (10-3 in their last 13) swept the Mets, upping their record to 11-5. The matchups for this weekend's series in St. Louis will be:

Dempster vs. Wainwright
Marshall vs. Walters
Harden vs. Wellemeyer

Hopefully, facing the "W"s of the Cardinals will result in some "W"s for the Cubs.

-Soriano has a 10-game hitting streak.

-Milton Bradley will sit until he's completely healthy (is that an oxymoron?), and will bat sixth when he returns. I'm not sure if that means Fontenot will move up to five, or if the lineup will look more like Thursday's, with Theriot moving up to two, followed by Fukudome, Lee, Ramirez and then Bradley. I prefer the latter--Theriot's a good fit in the two spot. It's unfortunate that injuries and struggles at the plate have quickly eroded the lefty-righty balance Piniella was seeking when we traded for Bradley.

Did you know ...
-Carlos Quentin leads the majors with seven home runs.

-Oakland has hit just four home runs; Texas leads the league with 27.

-This is completely inconsequential, but I can't help myself: I saw on the interweb today that a no-hitter was thrown on this date in 1946. The pitcher who threw it was named Ed Head. Ed Head. I just thought you should be aware of the fact that there was once a person with the name Ed Head.