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.
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.
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.
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.
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 LaineTwanow. 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 underperformingNL 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.
Zambrano got a no decision after pitching 6.1 innings and allowing two runs, so his record remains 3-2 and his ERA drops slightly to 4.22. Last year at this time, he was 7-1 with a 2.47 ERA. Then again, this time in 2007 he was 5-4 with a 5.24 ERA. You never really know when Zambrano is going to have a good or a bad stretch, but he usually provides solid production when all is said and done: in each of the last six seasons, Z has started at least 30 games, won at least 13, and had an ERA under four. I get frustrated with his high pitch counts and short outings at times, but he has thrown over 200 innings in five of the last six seasons.
If there's anything to be frustrated about after Wednesday's start, though, it's that Zambrano might face a suspension after he bumped home plate umpire Mark Carlson while arguing a safe call at home. Though it did appear to me that Carlson bumped him, so hopefully Zambrano will only incur a fine. And it was pretty hilarious when Zambrano subsequently motioned as if he were throwing Carlson out of the game:
Milton Bradley went 1-for-3 to raise his average to .200 exactly. It's the first time Bradley has cracked the Mendoza line this year.
Ryan Freel left the game with a hamstring strain, which almost certainly means he's headed to the DL--welcome back, Bobby Scales! How was your day in Iowa? While Fontenot will presumably get the lion's share of time over at third, we may soon get to find out what Jake Fox is capable of in the field. It was great to see Fox start off with a bang by hitting a pinch-hit double in the ninth. Fox now has three career hits in the majors, all of them doubles.
Funny little ironic tidbit (courtesy of Bleed Cubbie Blue): Wednesday was Jake Fox Jersey Day at the Iowa Cubs game.
On deck
The Cubs will welcome the Dodgers to town for four games, which is scary because the Dodgers are 33-15, have not lost more than two games in a row this entire season, and have won 11 of their last 14. The Blue Crew has the second best starting staff in the NL (by ERA), the fifth best bullpen, and they've scored the most runs. Here's how good the Dodgers are:
-Manny Ramirez got suspended, and his replacement Juan Pierre is batting .404.
-Their closer, Jonathan Broxton, has 11 saves and five wins.
-They signed Eric Milton, who hadn't pitched in the majors since 2007, and he's 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA.
Pitching matchups:
Thursday: Randy Wolf (3-1, 1.02) vs. Randy Wells (0-1, 1.50) Friday: Chad Billingsley (6-2, 2.82) vs. Ted Lilly (5-4, 3.77) Saturday: Eric Stults (4-1, 4.29) vs. Ryan Dempster (3-3, 4.99) Sunday: Eric Milton (1-0, 3.00) vs. Sean Marshall (3-3, 3.70)
Five of the eight starting pitchers in this series are left-handed, while two of them are named Randy and two are named Eric. Also, Ryan Dempster is the only pitcher without an "L" in his last name. Interesting stuff, huh? You only get that here, folks.
When Wolf pitched at Wrigley last September, he threw a complete game shutout. He was cuffed around earlier in the year, though, allowing seven runs in just four innings on May 12. Wells has impressed in all three of his starts, and Saturday in San Diego was the first time he'd allowed a run in the majors.
Billingsley is the "ace" of the staff with Derek Lowe gone, and he's pitched at least six innings in all 10 starts. He beat the Cubs in Game 2 of the NLDS last year, but was 0-1 in two regular season starts against them. Lilly has been the Cubs' best starter this season, and has held most of the Dodgers lineup in check throughout his career. He didn't pitch against LA last year, but was 1-0 against them in two starts in '07.
Stults missed some time after jamming his thumb, and lasted just 4.1 against the Rockies in his return on Monday. He's gone six innings only once this year, and the three Cubs who've faced him have all fared well (Soriano 1-for-3, Lee 1-for-2, Soto 2-for-2). Dempster has alternated wins and losses on his way to a 3-3 record, and since his most recent decision was a loss, the Cubs are looking good in this one! We can all recall that Dempster imploded against the Dodgers in Game 1 last October; he was 1-0 with a 2.92 ERA against them in two regular season starts.
And finally, Sunday Night Baseball. Milton was signed off the scrapheap to a minor league deal in February, and was called up in May. He's gone four and five innings, respectively, in two starts, and he beat the Rockies on Tuesday. Soriano is 6-for-12 against him in his career. Marshall threw a *cough* complete game in his last start, and has been a reliable fifth starter thus far. He has had success against every Dodger he's faced, with the slight exception of Russell Martin, who's 1-for-2.
Before we get into Thursday's game, I thought it'd be fun to check in on some former Cubs. Let's have at it:
Kerry Wood, Indians Many Cubs fans were sad to see him go this past offsesason. While part of me was sad as well, I didn't think it was prudent to spend $20 million on a closer. Wood is 6-for-8 in save opportunities, and has an ugly 7.71 ERA and 1.86 WHIP (the ML average is 1.42). Wood might be wishing he'd chosen a different team to sign with--the Indians don't have the worst record in baseball (Nationals), but they do have the second-worst.
Mark DeRosa, Indians With DeRosa's contract up at the end of the year, it would be a shock if DeRosadoesn't get traded away from the Tribe. His .253 average is his lowest since 2005, but he's still providing decent production with six home runs and 26 RBI.
David Aardsma, Mariners The player who will forever be listed first in an alphabetical listing of baseball players is on his third team since the Cubs (White Sox, Red Sox, Mariners). The 27-year-old has pitched in 19 games for Seattle and has five saves and six holds with a sparkling 1.37 ERA.
Rich Hill, Orioles In his first start since last May, Hill won his first game in over a year by beating the Royals last Saturday. He'll start again Friday against the Nationals.
Ronny Cedeno, Mariners Cedeno has played in 15 games for the Mariners, and is batting just .200 with two home runs and five RBI.
Jason Marquis, Rockies Marquis started the season red hot, but has come back to Earth a bit in his recent starts. As is his custom, he has recorded a decision in all eight of his starts (he seems to either be great or terrible in all of his starts); he's 5-3 with a 4.75 ERA. His most recent outing was a good one, as he held the Braves to one run over eight innings.
Thursday: Cardinals 3, Cubs 1
Okay, that was painful. And dreadful. And woeful. The Cubs forgot something at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport--their offense. Hopefully they retrieved it on their way to San Diego.
The Cubs' recent struggles have been frustrating, no doubt. But when you step back and realize that Derrek Lee, Geovany Soto, Mike Fontenot, Milton Bradley, Reed Johnson and Aaron Miles are hitting under .240; that Aramis Ramirez is on the DL; that Carlos Zambrano has missed nearly three weeks; and that Ted Lilly is the only starter with an ERA under four, what's really amazing is that the Cubs are still three games over .500.
The Cubs have holes in their lineup and in their bullpen, but Piniella has coaxed 21 victories out of them to this point. While it's taking way too long, Soto and Bradley are going to hit (and hopefully Lee will, too), and Ramirez will be back for most of the second half. With so many new faces in the clubhouse, Piniella seems to be pulling a 2007, i.e. using the first couple months to figure out who belongs in what role. Add to that the fact that Hendry should have some flexbility to make a move or two in July, and the Cubs should be okay.
But in the meantime, Hoffpauir and Koyie Hill should both see some increased time at the plate if you ask me. Somebody needs to jump start this offense, and Hoffpauir has been perhaps the Cubs' most consistent hitter all season, and Hill played well when Soto was hurt earlier in the year. It's worth a try.
Getting swept at the hands of the Cardinals was not even the least bit pleasant, but as Walter Sobchak once said, "Nothing is f---ed here, Dude." Believe it or not, the Cubs have not yet played a quarter of their schedule. Let's go get a couple (or a few) wins in SoCal before coming back home for a seven-game homestand.
MLB pitching notes -The Dodgers have four lefties--Randy Wolf, Clayton Kershaw, Eric Stults and Eric Milton--in their rotation.
-The Nationals have a rotation consisting of four rookies--Craig Stammen, ShaironMartis, Jordan Zimmermann and Ross Detwiler--and a second-year pitcher, John Lannan. But no worries, they're backed up by a bullpen with a 1-15 record and an ML-worst 6.68 ERA.
-Remember how the Mets' biggest offeseason priority was fixing their bullpen? Well, it appears to have worked: Mets relievers lead the league with a 2.83 ERA.
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.
