Around the majors

-Since August 16, 2008, Zack Greinke has a ridiculous 2.11 ERA in 48 starts. In those games, the Royals are just 23-26. (hat tip: Joe Posnanski)

-Only two of the six NL Central teams are over .500; only one AL East team is under .500.

-Raise your hand if you thought the Braves and Mariners would be in last place and the Padres would have the best record in the National League.

-San Diego has eight shutouts this season. Go ahead, try to name two of their starters. I dare you. (Jeopardy song plays.) Jon Garland, Clayton Richard, Mat Latos and Kevin Correia and Wade LeBlanc.

-You get a prize if you can name two of the top three ERA leaders in the American League: Phil Hughes (Yankees), C.J. Wilson (Rangers) and Doug Fister (Mariners).

-I'm not sure if it matters much given all their big-time sluggers, but the Phillies do have an offensive weakness: speed. They have an NL-worst 10 stolen bases. And lest you think they've had success in recent years despite this flaw, they finished in the top 10 in the majors in 2008 and 2009 in this category.

-The Cubs led the majors in strikeouts for eight straight years, but finished second last year. They're currently second behind Toronto despite having Carlos Silva and Tom Gorzelanny in the rotation and Carlos Zambrano in the bullpen.

-No team has more complete games than Roy Halladay (three). Nyjer Morgan has more triples (five) than 10 different teams.

-Despite being a reliever, Tyler Clippard of the Nationals leads the majors in wins with seven. The Yankees' Alfredo Aceves led all relievers in wins last year with 10.

The coaching carousel is now open

Coaches often get too much blame when their teams struggle, but now it's gone too far. I mean, if Dick Jauron can get fired, is no one safe? Is nothing sacred? What has he ever done to deserve the axe?

What's that? He had just one winning season in nine tries? He made it to just one playoff game and his team got crushed? He was just 60-82 in his coaching career?

Oh. I see.

By all accounts, Jauron is a great guy. But I don't think we'll see him roaming the sidelines as an NFL head coach ever again.

A win for stats other than the "win"


Kudos to the Baseball Writers Association of America for finally scrolling past the "Wins" category on their computers as they cast their ballots for the AL Cy Young Award.

Wins and losses are the most overrated statistics in baseball, so I was glad to see Zack Greinke earn the award despite having 16 wins, which tied him for the seventh-most in the league. It's hard to pile up victories when you play for the Royals (their .401 winning percentage was easily the worst ever by an AL team with a Cy Young winner), and there's nothing he could do about that. But what he could do was mow down opposing hitters, and that he did consistently.

According to ESPN, his 2.16 ERA was the lowest in the AL since Pedro Martinez in 2000, his 242 strikeouts ranked second behind Justin Verlander (who finished third in the Cy Young voting), and he allowed just 11 home runs all year.

But here's the biggest reason his win total was rightfully overlooked:

Kansas City, which tied for last place in the AL Central at 65-97, scored just 13 runs in his eight losses and 21 runs in his nine no-decisions. He failed to get a victory in six starts in which he allowed one run or none.

Sure, every pitcher gets screwed now and then. It's part of the game. But those numbers are just stupid.

And not that this is why he deserved to win, but it's a great story as well. Greinke led the AL in losses in 2005 and quit baseball for six weeks in 2006 after being diagnosed with a social anxiety disorder (the Sports Illustrated article from May of this year is definitely worth a read). For him to come back and have such a dominant year with such a terrible team is pretty impressive.

There have been years in which the BBWAA has cared about nothing but "W"s. But this year, the writers did their job and did it well.

On the other hand ...

How the hell did Bud Black get two votes for NL Manager of the Year? Jim Tracy of the Rockies rightfully won the award in a landslide, but did you see that Padres manager Bud Black was listed in the "others receiving votes" category? What the f**k? I could see him getting one vote. You know, some guy or gal clicking the wrong button by accident (assuming you vote for Manager of the Year by clicking a button). But two??

The Padres finished 75-87, 20 games out of first, 11th in the NL in wins, and they scored 131 fewer runs than their opponents, third worst in the league. How on Earth do you read all that and think, "Bud Black really came into his own this year. Really got his guys to believe in themselves. No better skipper out there than Bud Black if you ask me. To take a rag tag bunch like that and take 'em right to the precipice of greatness, just 13 games out of third place in their division ... I don't know how he does it."

Baseball Writers of America, you did a good job. But the two of you, whoever you are, you did a bad thing. BAD two Baseball Writers of America!

The Cubs are now 22nd in the majors in runs scored. 'Nuff said.

Saturday: Padres 3, Cubs 1

The Cubs did something Saturday that they hadn't done since last Sunday--they took a lead. Unfortunately, the run that gave them the lead turned out to be the only one they'd score.

I could pretty much just copy and paste the following statement from any of the last few days' posts: the Cubs' starting pitcher pitched a good game and kept the Cubs in the game, but still got the loss. Randy Wells finally allowed a run (three, actually) after starting his major league career with 22 scoreless innings. Cubs pitchers have amassed a 3.00 ERA over the last five games, but are 0-5 to show for it.

Which of the following players isn't completely sucking at the plate of late?

Milton Bradley
Kosuke Fukudome
Ryan Theriot
Mike Fontenot
Geovany Soto
Alfonso Soriano
Derrek Lee

Amazingly, it's Derrek Lee. Lee is batting .319 in May, and his home run Saturday was the first home run for the Cubs since last Sunday when Soriano went deep against the Astros.

Is anyone else shocked that Lou Piniella hasn't yet blown up and gotten tossed from a game? I know that's not truly the solution to the Cubs' woes, but at this point, it's worth a try. Something needs to shake the Cubs out of their funk. I would like to see some sort of normally stationary object get thrown onto the field, in the dugout, or in the clubhouse. For reasons mentioned above, it might be the pitchers who start throwing things rather than Piniella.

Can you believe interleague play is in its 13th year?

The Cubs and Padres are playing in the only intraleague series this weekend. The first slate of interleague matchups always revives the debate about the merits of interleague play. Is it perfect the way it is? Should it be limited to the natural rivalries like Cubs-Sox and Yankees-Mets? Should it be eliminated?

Maybe this is just me being intellectually lazy, but I like it the way it is. Sure, we have to deal with our share of Rockies-Tigers, Pirates-White Sox and Nationals-A's matchups, but we also get the great rivalries and fans get a good look at some teams they don't typically see. Is Cubs-Twins a blockbuster series? No, but Wrigley fans will get the chance to see Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and whoever the hell pitches for the Twins. And until they get rid of the terrible DH rule, we get to see AL pitchers play defense AND offense every now and then, and we get to see what the Cubs lineup would look like if they played in the AL.

And whether fans say they like it or not, their wallets speak for them: according to the article linked above, "If you subtracted those four rivalries [Cubs-Sox, Yankees-Mets, Dodgers-Angels and A's-Giants] in each of the last three seasons, interleague attendance was still 7.5 percent higher last year, 4.1 percent bigger in 2007 and 6.0 percent larger in 2006."

I think the anti-interleague argument that holds the most water is that it makes the schedule unfair. The Cubs always play the Sox six times, and the Sox tend to be pretty good. The Cardinals play the Royals six times every year, and the Royals tend to be pretty bad. But there are two responses to this complaint:

1) The schedule is already unfair due to the unbalanced nature of it. If the Mets are battling the Brewers for the final wild card spot, the Mets are most likely going to be at a disadvantage playing the Phillies, Braves and Marlins 50 times as opposed to the Brewers battling the Astros, Pirates and Reds 50 times.

2) Other sports--especially the NFL--have "unfair" schedules, too. As pointed out in the same article referenced above, the Jets and Patriots will have 14 similar opponents this season, but while the Jets draw the Raiders and Bengals in their other two games, the Patriots have to face the Ravens and Broncos. And while two games don't sound like a lot, that equates to 20 games in baseball, percentage-wise.

There's no question that interleague play has its drawbacks, but I always enjoy seeing the unique matchups and the intense rivalries. Because they only play six times a year, Cubs-Sox games are even more intense than Cubs-Cardinals. Schedule fairness be damned, I want my crosstown rivalry.

Friday: Padres 4, Cubs 0

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Five hits, no runs. Two runs in four games. The Cubs have allowed 12 runs in the last four games, and won none of them. Things are going to get better, but that's only because they can't get worse. The Cubs struck out 16 times and Derrek Lee was the only starter who didn't K in the game.

Zambrano couldn't get through five innings in his return from the DL, as he racked up 97 pitches in just 4.2 IP. He gave up a run in the first despite not allowing a hit--he walked two, hit a batter and gave up a sac fly--and though he settled down after that, the Cubs' fate was sealed due to their inability score. Big Z falls to 3-2 with a 4.64 ERA.

Adding injury to insult

Rich Harden strained his back during a side session on Friday, and is headed to the DL. Randy Wells will fill in Saturday, his third start of the year. The injury is supposedly not all that serious, but it's unfortunate that the Cubs lose a starter on the day they thought their rotation was returning to full strength.

The last week of Cubs baseball has been downright painful to watch. Let's hope this is rock bottom.

Cubs-Padres series preview

The Padres got off to a surprising 9-3 start, but then the smoke and mirrors abandoned them. San Diego is 4-16 since then, and they have not won a series since taking two of three from the Phillies April 17-19. They've also lost eight straight road games. None of the three starters who will pitch against the Cubs have won since April 16.

As expected, the Padres have struggled to score runs, entering this series 14th in the league. They're also in a slump even by their standards, having scored just 26 runs in their last 10 games. The only real threats in the lineup are CF Scott Hairston (.333, 4, 16) and 1B Adrian Gonzalez (.294, 11, 22).

Surprisingly, the Padres also clock in at 14th in pitching, just behind the Cubs. After losing Trevor Hoffman, their middle relief is a huge question mark (sound familiar?), and their 4.73 relief ERA tells you that if you can knock the starter out of the game, you've got a good chance of putting up some runs late.

Tuesday: Jake Peavy (2-4, 4.27) vs. Rich Harden (3-1, 4.83)

Why have I heard the name Jake Peavy before? Seems like he was in the news during the offseason for some reason ...

As evidenced by his middling ERA, Peavy is doing just okay thus far, and he has not won since April 16. However, he's pitched 15 innings in his last two starts while allowing just two runs and striking out 20. On May 14, 2008, Peavy lasted just four innings at Wrigley Field in an 8-5 Cubs victory. Soriano is 4-10 with two home runs against Peavy, and Fukudome is 2-2.

Rich Harden has put together four quality starts in six outings, though his other two starts were anything but quality. He's 3-0 in his last four starts, and while he's never faced the Padres, he has faced five Padres batters including Adrian Gonzalez, who is 2-2 against him.

Wednesday: Chris Young (2-1, 4.76) vs. Ted Lilly (4-2, 3.11)

Chris Young's winless streak is even longer than Peavy's--he hasn't recorded a "W" since April 12. He has, however, received no decisions in 1-0 and 2-1 losses since then. Young did not face the Cubs last year, but started twice against them in '07. He gave up one run in seven innings on May 24, and got into a fight with Derrek Lee on June 16 in a game the Padres won 1-0 despite a complete game by Carlos Zambrano. The only Cub with a homer off Young is Soriano, and he is also the only Cub other than Aramis Ramirez with more than five at-bats against Young.

Ted Lilly has been the Cubs best starter to this point. He has allowed two runs or less in four of his six starts, and one of his two losses was a result of running into buzzsaw Johnny Cueto. Lilly was the winner of the 8-5 game pitched by Peavy last year, and he lost a tough 2-1 decision on June 4, giving up just two runs in 7.1 IP. Lilly has held lefty Adrian Gonzalez in check (1-9), but Scott Hairston is 4-11 with two home runs against him.

Thursday: Chad Gaudin (0-2, 4.08) vs. Randy Wells (0-0, 0.00)

In Thursday's matinee, the Cubs will see a familiar beard--I mean face. Chad Gaudin will no doubt be fired up to face the team that cut him this spring. After being picked up by the Padres, Gaudin has started three games: he shutout Colorado through five innings, got shelled by the Dodgers for six runs in 5.2 innings, and gave up just two runs in seven innings against Houston on Friday. Expect Aaron Miles--who is 3-5 against Gaudin--in the lineup Thursday.

Randy Wells made his first major league start Friday against the Brewers, and while he allowed seven baserunners in five innings (five hits, two walks), he kept waving his magic wand and finding ways to get out of trouble. Zambrano will be eligible to come off the DL by the time Wells's next scheduled start rolls around, so he'll no doubt empty the tank in what could be an audition for a spot in the Cubs beleaguered bullpen. Not one current Padre has ever faced Wells.

The next 12 games for the Cubs feature six with the Padres (how much do these new schedules suck? The Cubs play the Cardinals just three times after the All-Star break. The Red Sox and Rays don't play again until August. I could go on and on ...), three with the Astros and three with the Cardinals. These are the kind of games the Cubs need to win (nine against teams with losing records, three against the team leading the division) if they want to remain in the thick of it.

Cubs note
-I didn't even know this was a possibility.

**UPDATE** Ryan Dempster has been moved up and will start Thursday. Wells will pitch Friday against Houston.

Rumor mongering

From Buster Olney's blog:

"It felt like Jake Peavy was taking on the Dodgers all by himself in the Padres' season opener, and when he didn't dominate, they didn't win. And it feels like it's only a matter of time before he winds up in a Cubs uniform. The possibility of a future trade hovered over the Padres' ace, as Tim Sullivan writes."

I realize many people are sick of the Peavy rumors, but I found this tidbit interesting because I agree with Olney--I think there's a darn good possibility Peavy will be pitching at Wrigley later this season (as a Cub, not a Padre). The Cubs are in a win-now mode, will have a new owner soon, have room to add payroll, and with Peavy eating up 15% of the Padres' payroll (only to increase in the next three years), it just makes sense that the trade talks would be revisited.

I almost went so far as to lower my prediction for Sean Marshall's wins based on the assumption that he would be moved to the bullpen when the Cubs acquire Peavy. But who knows? A lot can change in a few months, but it sure is fun to fantasize about a rotation of Zambrano, Peavy, Dempster, Lilly and Harden.