Grabow, wasted opportunity in ninth do Cubs in

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum / May 20, 2010)

I'm not mad that the Cubs lost yesterday, but I'm definitely frustrated about the way they lost. One out of two in Philly ain't bad--heck, I'll usually settle for one out of three in Cheese Steak Land. But the Cubs could have had that one. They came back from three runs down only to see John Grabow fire up his Evil Machine of Suckiness, and then failed to score the tying run in the ninth despite putting runners at first and third with nobody out against 77-year-old (it's true, look it up ... never mind, don't look it up) Jose Contreras.

Castro had a solid day at the plate with two hits and an RBI, but he looked bad striking out on three pitches in the ninth. Aramis Ramirez worked a 3-2 count but then swung at a pitch that may have been in a different time zone, and then Soto fouled out to end the threat and the game. It was just the second save of Contreras' career.

But even though I don't want to, let's go back to Grabow. The game-winning hit was a single to right by Raul Ibanez, but the real problem was the two walks that came before it. Grabow's never been a control guy--he actually walked more men per nine innings last year than he has this year, if you can believe it. But he's also allowed 23 hits in 15.1 innings this season, resulting in an 8.44 ERA and a crazy-bad 2.08 WHIP. He has allowed at least one run in five of his eight appearances in May. (Side note: I don't blame Piniella for not going to Sean Marshall given that he pitched Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. He's been great, but we can't use him 90 times.) This is a tough situation--if Grabow can't pitch effectively, the Cubs are screwed anyways. But when we keep trotting him out there and runners keep trotting around the bases against him, it's not fun to watch.

Speaking of trotting around the bases, Dempster pitched decently but was hurt yet again by the long ball. Chase Utley hit one early and Jimmy Rollins's three-run blast, which came on a 3-0 pitch, was the eighth home run Demp has allowed this year. He allowed 22 last year and only 14 in 2008.

Two starts ago: Three-run shot by Joey Votto, Reds go up 5-3
Three starts ago: Two-run shot by Ryan Church, Pirates go up 2-1
Four starts ago: Home runs by Adam Kennedy and Adam Dunn account for two of the Nationals' runs in a 3-2 Cubs loss

So, it's safe to say that it's becoming a trend. Dempster has pitched solidly this year, but he's now lost five straight starts. He's going to have to keep the ball in the park more often if he wants to get into the win column more often.

Fukudome and Lee had home runs of their own yesterday. Lee's was especially nice to see as it was his first since April 25. Pat Hughes told listeners they could "get out the tape measure" on Lee's blast, which was nice to hear given that the only distance Lee's been covering lately is that from home plate to the dugout.

The Cubs are still 3-1 on the week and split a road series with the best team in the National League. They'll have to shake off this tough loss as they prepare for an early interleague series in Texas. The Cubs last played in Arlington in 2007, losing two of three (hey, look who lost the last game of that series!).

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.

Around the majors

Phillies slip up

The Phillies have revealed that they are, in fact, human. They're 3-7 in their last 10 games, and had a recent four-game stretch in which they scored just six total runs. Obviously it's very early, but with the Phillies stumbling a bit, no one in the National League is doing anything that even resembles running away with their respective division.

Roy Halladay also proved last night that he is not a pitch-throwing droid sent from the future to destroy the National League. He gave up five earned runs to the Giants and took his first loss of the season.

Staying in the NL East ...

If you'll kindly scroll down your NL East standings, you'll find that the Mets are surging while those Phillies fall back to the pack. After taking three of four from the Cubs, they swept the Braves over the weekend. They're now above .500, in large part because they're fourth in the majors with a 3.17 ERA.

Did you know ...

Second baseman Kelly Johnson, who struggled mightily with the Braves last year and was signed as a free agent by the Diamondbacks in December, is tied for the National League lead in home runs with seven (his career high is 16). Even more impressive, he's third in the majors with a 1.162 OPS (the league average is about .770).

Who does Kyle Orton think he is, Jay Cutler?

Let me get this straight ...

Kyle Orton is 5-0 and Chad Henne is 2-0. Chad Pennington, whom Henne replaced, was 0-3. Kerry Collins is 0-5 while Tom Brady and Philip Rivers are a combined one game over .500. Did I get that right? It's nice that we've had the chance to enjoy some surprises even though many aspects of the 2009 NFL season have been quite predictable (e.g. Giants good, Rams bad).

This week on Fox ...

This says it all about last Sunday's slate of NFL games: Joe Buck, Fox's #1 play-by-play man, was doing the Cowboys-Chiefs game. That's right, the 2-2 Cowboys vs. the winless and hapless Chiefs. It actually turned out to be a barn burner, but Fox execs must have looked down the list of games about 10 times before finally convincing themselves that yes, that was in fact the best early game on the schedule. All the others involved either unwatchable teams like the Rams and Redskins or likely blowouts such as Giants-Raiders and Eagles-Bucs, which turned out to be blowouts indeed.

Getting the rally monkey off their back


Despite having lost 12 of 13 postseason games against the Red Sox prior to their ALDS series, and having been eliminated by Boston in 2004, 2007 and 2008, and having never EVER beaten the Red Sox in a playoff series, the Angels scored five runs in the final two innings--including three in the 9th--on Sunday to pave the way to an improbable sweep. Here's hoping they can maintain their confidence and level of play against a stellar Yankees team.

Nearly a clean sweep

Obviously, the Rockies didn't get the memo about getting swept in the first round. By winning Game 2 of their series with the Phillies, they prevented 2009 from being one of the worst years ever when it comes to the divisional round of the playoffs (introduced in 1995). No, wait, it was still one of the worst years ever. Sweep, sweep, sweep, 3-1. Not exactly the best way to tear up the ratings.

While we're on the topic of parity, or lack thereof, the four teams left standing have the 1st (Yankees), 6th (Angels), 7th (Phillies) and 9th (Dodgers) highest team payrolls, respectively. And the Phillies-Dodgers match-up mirrors last year's NLCS. Did someone say salary cap? No? Sorry, I thought I heard someone say salary cap.

And then there were two

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.

Phillies extend longest winning streak since 1991 at Cubs' expense

Tuesday: Phillies 4, Cubs 1 (13 inn.)

Okay, seriously, what's going on with these home/road splits? Ryan Dempster was Dorothy last year ("There's no place like home. There's no place like home"), and this year Lilly has taken that mantle while Harden is the anti-Dorothy. He continued to find success on the road Tuesday with one of his best outings of the year: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. Harden has allowed just 4 ER in his last four road starts. And get this: in the Cubs' last six games, Harden is the only starting pitcher to have gone more than five innings, and he's done it twice.

But here's a news flash for you: a good outing by a starting pitcher was wasted due to a lack of offense. The bats have gone back into hibernation, scoring just two runs in two games in a hitters' ballpark against the 13th ranked pitching staff in the National League. Milton Bradley, shortly after announcing that he was "back," was back on the bench for a second straight game. But instead of getting Fox's bat in there, Reed Johnson replaced him as Fukudome moved over to right. With the bats back to their old ways, I'd like to see Fox get in there on a more regular basis.

Last night's game went 13 innings, but you wouldn't know it by checking the Cubs' half of the line score--the offense stopped participating after the 7th inning. From the 8th through the 13th, the Cubs did not have a single hit, and had just one baserunner on hit by pitch. Allow me to repeat: in the last six innings, the Cubs had one baserunner.

The Cubs bullpen, on the other hand, had a great game. They kept the Cubs in the game by allowing just one hit over the last 5 2/3 innings until Jayson Werth ended the game with a home run.

Carlos Marmol may have had his best outing of the year, and though I say this cautiously, he may be building some momentum. In his last four outings, his line is: 4.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. On Tuesday, he was throwing his fast ball up in the zone and getting guys to swing and miss. Throwing that heater up top is great--throwing it a foot outside as he often does is not effective. If he can start to control that fast ball, the Cubs will be in great shape in the 8th and 9th innings.

The good news is that the Cardinals lost to the Astros for the second straight night (despite two home runs by Mark DeRosa), keeping the Cubs within two games of first. The bad news is that the Brewers and Astros (!) pulled into a three-way tie for second.

Can the Astros fade away just one freakin' time? Every year they start terribly and then come on strong in July and August. They were 18-28 on May 27, and today they sit at 48-46 and in a tie for second.

Random link

Over at ESPN, Jerry Crasnick shares his take on the Cubs. Quote worthy: "They have a campus-police-like flair for killing a party mood."

Cubs get their Phil of a real team

Monday: Phillies 10, Cubs 1

The most disappointing thing about Raul Ibanez's three-run, back-breaking home run in the 1st inning was that it could have been hit in a blue uniform instead of a red one.

On a day on which Milton Bradley sat in order to work on his swing with Lou Piniella, the man Jim Hendry could have signed in the offseason demonstrated why Hendry should have done so.

The 37-year-old, left-handed right fielder hit at least .289, slammed at least 21 HR, and drove in at least 105 runs in each of the last three seasons. He became a free agent last fall after five seasons with the Mariners, and was signed by the Phillies in December to a 3-year, $30 million contract--a deal identical to Milton Bradley's.

Ibanez's homer was his 25th, and the three RBI gave him 68, good for second and third in the NL, respectively. And this despite the fact that he missed three weeks due to a DL stint.

Ibanez's home run certainly wasn't the last of Lilly's worries on this day. After the home run, he fought his way through three more innings, throwing 96 pitches in all and allowing a season-high nine runs, seven of them earned. The two unearned runs scored after Soriano flat out dropped a fly ball despite getting under it and putting his glove on it. And this was after he and Fukudome jointly decided to let a short fly ball drop between them in the same inning.

But the sad thing wasn't that Soriano made two inexcusable, laughable miscues in the field--the sad thing is that I wasn't the least bit surprised. Soriano is the laziest, least focused fielder I've ever seen. He's making over $11,000 per inning and can't find it in himself to catch routine fly balls. On the bright side, he had three of the Cubs' six hits, raising his July average to .340.

But more disappointing than the pitching and defense, at least to me, was the offense. Coming off a four game series in which they scored 26 runs, playing in a bandbox of a stadium, and facing a starting pitcher who, until his first start with the Phils on July 3, had not pitched since 2007 elbow surgery, one would think the Cubs would have at least made a slugfest out of it instead of plating just one run and letting the Phillies walk away with it. In short, they looked like they usually look when they play in Philadelphia.

After this thorough beat down, it's time to flash the Men in Black memory-erasing thingy and move on. Whereas Lilly has struggled mightily on the road this season, Harden has made himself right at home there. The Cubs are fortunate to miss both Hamels and central Illinois native J.A. Happ in this series, so let's go get the next two and complete a great road trip.

Phillies expected to sign Pedro

According to Yahoo!, Pedro passed his physical today and the signing ($1M, plus $1.5M in incentives) will be announced at a Wednesday press conference. Pedro, 37, will become the fifth starter, filling a void that has thus far been filled with crappy pitchers/pitchers who've gotten injured.

***UPDATE*** The Phillies signed Pedro and immediately placed him on the DL. I guess the Phillies decided they didn't have enough injured starters.

Bearing down

The Bears had a big day on Friday, signing free agent linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa (PEES-oh tee-noy-SAW-mo-ah), giving defensive lineman Israel Idonije a two-year extension (he had been signed through 2010), and inking seven of their nine draft picks to contracts.

Tinoisamoa, who will turn 28 in July, will most likely replace Hunter Hillenmeyer, who is recovering from sports hernia surgery. He played under Lovie Smith for one year when Smith was the defensive coordinator in St. Louis. Tinoi (may I call you Tinoi?) had 104 tackles last year; as a point of comparison, Urlacher had 93. To be fair, the only other season he had more tackles than Urlacher was 2004, when Urlacher missed seven games.

After improving their offense by acquiring Jay Cutler, it's good to see Jerry Angelo working to improve the defense as well. The Bears "D" allowed 334 yards per game in 2008, 21st in the NFL.

Not Yankin' yer chain

The Yankees have taken over first place in the AL East, and while that doesn't sound like a big deal, it's the first time they've been atop the division since they won the division in 2006.

A rotation spot to Phil

With Brett Myers out for the season after electing to have hip surgery, the Phillies could pursue an impact pitcher such as Roy Oswalt or Erik Bedard, according to Ken Rosenthal. As of Saturday morning, the Phillies trailed the Mets by .5 game in the NL East.

Wings clipped

While I wouldn't mind seeing LeBron and Kobe go at it for the title (this was written Saturday morning, so if the Cavs lost Saturday, then never mind), Denver was a pretty fun team to watch. Birdman absolutely cracks me up, and with Carmelo, Chauncey and Kenyon Martin, the Nuggets were an exciting bunch.

If the Magic manage to de-throne the King Saturday night, I'll be rooting for them as the underdog against the Lakers. But what I'd most like to see is for LeBron to get his first ring. Just for perspective: MJ won his first title in his seventh year; this is LeBron's sixth year.

Me on the MLB, and the MLB on TV

Sidney Ponson lost against his former team on Friday, but that doesn't tell you much (it was the Yankees). Ponson has played for seven teams, including two of them twice. How is he only 32 years old?! With all the teams he's played for (seven in the last six years) and runs he's allowed, I would have thought he was at least 78 years old. He had some decent years early in his career (17-12 with the Giants in '03), but he's been awful of late--since 2004, his ERA is 5.65, and he hasn't won more than eight games in a season. But surely things will turn around for him now that he's on the Royals.

------

From the "Uh-oh, my prediction is not looking so hot" category, Cole Hamels got lit up in his pushed-back season debut Friday. He went just 3.2 innings, allowing 11 hits and seven runs. He also got pounded for six extra-base hits in one inning. I wouldn't have though too much of it, but then Buster Olney enlightened me as only Buster Olney can: the staff aces of the last five World Champions have struggled in the season following their championship. Schilling was injury-riddled and bad in '05; Buehrle struggled in '06; Carpenter missed nearly all of '07; and Beckett wasn't himself last year.

Hamels, in leading the Phillies to Philadelphia's first major sports title in 25 years, pitched a ridiculous 262 innings in 2008. Elbow soreness delayed his first start of the season, and suckiness made that start a short one. I'm not going to bail on my NL East prediction just yet, but Hamels better buck this World Series champion ace trend right quick.

Throwing one away
What the f*** was Ryan Theriot thinking? Why did he throw home on the last play of Friday's game instead of trying to turn the double play?

This play, unfortunately, brought to light one of the Cubs' weaknesses--their defense in the middle infield. Mike Fontenot is just okay at second base, and Ryan Theriot is a defensive liability at short. His range factor was the lowest of any NL shortstop last season, and his arm is not strong enough to throw runners out from the hole. I can't really recall any "great plays" from Theriot last year.

This is certainly not to suggest that Theriot shouldn't be in the lineup; it's simply a statement of the fact that he is a weakness in the field. He's got two errors in the first four games (one of which led to a Brewers run in the first inning Friday), and he may have cost the Cubs a chance at a victory Friday with his inexplicable decision to throw the ball home instead of attempting to turn the double play.

On a separate note, Rich Harden looked very good against the Brewers. Some were saying that his fastball was clocking in at the mid to high 80s in spring training, but the gun was revealing lots of numbers starting with "9" on Friday. Harden joined Josh Beckett as just the second pitcher to strike out 10 batters in a game this season, and if he continues to pitch like that as our #4 starter, our rotation is going to be downright filthy.

Infomercial
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You know how sometimes Baseball Tonight is on ESPN, and you get to catch some highlights just after they've happened, and the hosts provide information and analysis about baseball? Well, MLB Network airs their version of Baseball Tonight every Monday-Friday from 6 pm CST until the last game of the night is over. Sometimes they're even able to show live action of big at-bats or end-of-game situations. Admittedly, the analysis isn't as solid or polished as ESPN's, but the quantity overrides the quality, and I'm sure it will improve as time goes on.

Additionally, MLB Network will carry 26 Thursday night games throughout the season, plus the same number of Saturday night games. Saturday's Dodgers/Diamondbacks game is on, and next Thursday will feature two games, including the Indians vs. the Yankees.

MLB Network also airs great games from the past, classic World Series highlights, and other specials including in-depth tours of the stadiums and countdown shows of the best home runs, rookie seasons, etc. Most importantly, it's all in HD.

MLB predictions

NL Central
Cubs

The Cubs core returns from '08, and they should hold off the Cardinals and Brewers.

NL East
Phillies

The Mets spent the offseason fixing their primary problem in '08--the bullpen--by acquiring J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez. But their rotation is a question mark, and the Phillies' is not.

NL West
Diamondbacks

Webb and Haren return, and their young hitters will continue to come into their own. I came this close to picking the Rockies based solely on the fact that they acquired Jason Marquis, who has made the playoffs every year of his nine-year career. I also think the Giants could be a surprise team.

NL Wild Card
Cardinals

NL playoffs
Cubs over Diamondbacks
Cardinals over Phillies

Cubs over Cardinals

AL Central
Indians

A strong offense, a new closer (Kerry Wood), and a rotation led by Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona. The Twins have a healthy Francisco Liriano and should compete, and the Tigers, with all that talent, can't be terrible two years in a row, right? This division should be up for grabs.

AL East
Yankees

What can I say? They have a $207 million payroll. The Red Sox and Rays are certainly no slouches either.

AL West
Mariners

The Angels are getting old, and it's time for a new champion out West.

AL Wild Card
Red Sox

AL playoffs
Yankees over Mariners
Red Sox over Indians

Red Sox over Yankees

World Series
Cubs over Red Sox