Apologies May Be In Order

I've been really hard on the Cubs relievers this year. Most of it was well deserved, let's face it, they've been lackluster. But their failures are nothing compared to Nationals pitcher Levale Speigner. After Aramis hit a homer in the third inning and men got on first and second, the Nationals replaced their starting pitcher with Mr. Speigner. Excited about being put in the game, Speigner proceeded to give up a walk. And then another. And another. Then he threw a strikeout to Soriano, of course. Then, for the cause of being consistent, he gave up yet another walk. Three runs were walked in that inning, essentially the difference in a two run game. So to all of you relievers who I've been hard on, I apologize. But if you ever give up three walked in runs in one inning of a game, I will do everything in my power to make sure you are off the team faster than you can say Speigner. Be warned.

Game Summary for May 5th, 2007

• Score: Cubs walk to a win over the Nationals, 5-3.
  
• Player of the Game: Levale Speigner, for reasons mentioned above. He has a cool name too.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Rocky Cherry. I know it's still early, but he gave up two runs in 2/3 of an inning. He was the only reason this game was even close.
  
• Comments: Rich Hill reverted back to his more dominant form, giving up one run over six innings and lowering his ERA to an amazing 1.73. This was his shortest outing of the year and the first time he didn't make it through seven innings. I say that's Loue's fault thought, not his. Aramis Ramirez had another homer, putting him at 6 for the year. Derrek Lee reached base again, continuing his streak of getting on base ever game this season. And Ryan Theriot had 3 walks in 4 at-bats. For a rookie, that's pretty incredible. Like we've been saying, this kid needs to start every game.
  
• Magic Number:139. Milwaukee is on a blistering tear, and even with the Cubs winning 7 of their last 8, they'll be hard pressed to catch up at this rate.

Tomorrow is Angel Guzman's major league starting debut this year. Considering how bad he was as a starter last year, plus his 12.19 ERA, I'm worried. Combine that with the Nationals starting their own Hill tomorrow, who has been pretty solid this far, and it'll be tough to reach that five game winning streak and a sweep of the lowly Nationals. If Guzman can pull this off though, he can stay on the team for as long as he wants.