Another DeRosa-Bonds HR Update

After MarkyMark's blast in the first last night, Barry responded. Buckle up folks, we're knotted at 4.

Go Cubs.

-rfs.

Our Bullpen Needs a Nap

That's right, it turns out that the latest tendency the Cubs have of blowing games when the bullpen comes in to pitch is because they're overworked. Lou mentions the painful 14 inning game we all just had to endure, when he used all six of his bullpen pitchers. He then mentions that Ohman will get his stuff together eventually, which is a boldfaced lie. However, this is my favorite line:

Prior to Wednesday's game, Piniella stated that only Eyre, who used two pitches to get the final out in the ninth, was really rested.

Apparently being rested does not equate to pitching well as Eyre decided to follow up his first two easy outs with a walk, a single, another walk, and then two more singles. The Cubs had the lead for about 5 minutes when Eyre fell apart. I don't care how rested he was, Lou should have taken him out after the second walk. Even Dusty would have seen that coming.

Game Summary for April 18th, 2007

• Score: Cubs lose to the Braves, 8-6.
  
• Player of the Game: Mark DeRosa. The man is a machine. Another home run, two more RBIs, he's on pace to hit about 40 of them. Would have been Pie, but no one has won it twice in a row yet, and I'm trying not to overhype the kid too much.
  
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Scott Eyre. Was handed the lead on a silver platter, proceeded to vomit on said platter. Bad table manners Scott.
  
• Comments: Zambrano was bad in the first inning, but it's April so we expect that. What's important here is that the offense actually fought back to take the lead, and the bullpen couldn't hold it. Again. Pie scored two runs and is still the most exciting thing about this team.
  
• Magic Number: 152. Slowly dropping, but no fast enough. Remember, this needs to get to zero by the end of the season. A few weeks before would be nice too.

Rich Hill pitches tomorrow, so you can put away the Prozac. He's facing off against Mark Redman, who is 0-2 with a 12.96 ERA. If we can't finish the job here, an intervention is in order.

An Open Letter to the Chicago Cubs

Dear Cubs,

If you're going to lose anyways, please don't drag it out for 4 hours and 15 minutes.

Also, play Felix Pie more. Get rid of Jacque Jones if you have to. In fact, do that either way.

And never put in Will Ohman with the game on the line. Call Angel Guzman back up from the minors as quickly as possible and send Ohman down. He needs the extra work, he'll thank you for it later.

Thanks,

SITI





Game Summary for April 17th, 2007

• Score: Cubs lose to the Padres, 4-3, in 14 agonizing innings.
  
• Player of the Game: Felix Pie. Has already thrown out more players at the plate than the rest of the team combined.
  
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Himself. I think he gave up on this game when he put Ohman in to blow the lead, and put Jason Marquis in as a pinch runner, meaning if we somehow managed to tie it Marquis would be playing first. Shame on you Lou.
  
• Comments: All that matters in this game is Felix Pie, the rest is an afterthought. I'll write more on him later, but all you need to know now is that Soriano will be out for about a week, so the kid has plenty of time to convince Jim Hendry and Lou that Jacque Jones is a waste of time.
  
• Magic Number: 153. The Cubs sit alone at the bottom of the standings in the Central Division. A sad day indeed.
  

Cubbies say the darndest things

I was perusing the ESPN page for the Cubs today and came across this blurb under the team notes area. The reporters were discussing the switch of Murton to right field, and then this transpired:

Asked if he needs a stronger arm in right, Piniella paused for about 15 seconds and said, "You guys ask tough questions. Ten, 11 games into the season, why can't you all throw a softball right down the middle?" He laughed, but never answered the question.

Sounds like the skipper isn't very confident with the Frenchman's throwing abilities.

The Cubs are facing Greg Maddux this afternoon, which should be interesting to watch. Michael Barrett served up this quote when asked about encountering the legend today:

"I'm going to try to hit a line drive off his head..."

Barrett then tried to cover himself by claiming he was joking, but I'm not so sure about that.

Cubs vs. Padres at 1:20 today, our worst against their classiest. May God have mercy on our souls.

BP (April 17th, 2007)

• With Soriano questionable for the next few days, the lineup is once again in question (isn't it always?). This writer thinks that if Alf needs more than a few days, its time to give Felix Pie (who's hitting in the upper .400s down in the minors) a shot at center.
• Speaking of injuries, all signs point to Aramis coming back to start at third tomorrow. But with the way "The riot" and DeRosa worked out today, I think Lou might want to consider giving him one more day off.
• And on that note, MarkyMark has evened the DeRosa-Bonds HR race at 3. Booyah.
• Finally, props to the seagull that tried to hit Marquis with a pizza crust during the first inning of tonight's game. You got a heck of a lot closer than I've been able to so far. (Jeeze Jason, even the freaking birds hate you -- I mean, thanks for not screwing up tonight.)
  

Bittersweet Victory

That game was incredible. It was cold, and I was tired, but we got to see some great baseball on the offensive and pitching side. And when Lou came out to discuss that fly ball that Soriano trapped, the crowd went nuts. I've never been so excited to see a manager. It's just too bad he kept his cool.

The reason the game was bittersweet was that Soriano strained his hamstring on that very play. The Cubs have him listed as day-to-day, but that could mean anything. Prior and Wood have been listed day-to-day for a combined 6 years or so.

The ump could have at least called it a catch out of pity.

The lineup today was strange to say the least. Murton and Jacque Jones were flipped in the outfield, with Murton playing right and Jones playing left. Theriot was at 2nd base and DeRosa was at 3rd, with Aramis still out with tendinitis. Murton was batting cleanup for some inconceivable reason, and though he did hit fairly well I still can't figure out why Lou put him where the home run hitters go.

When Soriano went out with the injury, Floyd came in to play left field, shifting Jones over to center and further confusing everyone in the stadium. I'm not sure if all this changing around was the cause of it, but there were a couple near collisions out there. Soriano and Jones hit gloves once as Soriano made the catch somehow. Not a big confidence booster with regards to fielding.

There was hitting aplenty though as the Cubs ran up the scoreboard to a 12-1 lead. DeRosa, Barrett, and Floyd all had home runs spread out over the 5th and 6th innings. Murton legged out a ground ball and beat the DP throw in one inning, allowing Floyd to score. Jason Marquis even had two hits to help himself.

Some other random notes from the game:

• It was cold. I'm starting to think that baseball in Chicago in April is a bad idea.
• I was sitting behind someone who I thought must be the most white trash Cubs fan at Wrigley. The he opened his mouth and I learned that he thought Juan Pierre sucked last year, he can't stand Ronnie Woo-Woo, and he's from the south side. And then I knew that my suspicions were true.
• I high fived Ronnie Woo-Woo again. Always fun to do. Later I saw him go for a high five while walking past some girl and she just kept walking like she had no idea who he was. Stupid Trixies.
• There's a lot of things you can yell at a Padres outfielder, but my favorite is: "Hey! You throw like Jacque Jones!"
  

Alright enough with the jibber-jabber. Here's your game summary.

Game Summary for April 16th, 2007

• Score: Cubs dominate the Padres, 12-4.
  
• Player of the Game: Cliff Floyd. Went 2-for-3 with 4 RBIs and a 3 run blast to right field. Would have given this to Jason Marquis, but with the run production we had today his performance was really just an afterthought.
  
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Hamstrings. Who said they were allowed to go and get strained? Also Will Ohman, because when you give up a 3-run homer with 2 outs in the 9th it's always bad, even when we're up by 11.
  
• Comments: Great pitching, great hitting, great game. If it wasn't for the Soriano injury it would have been nearly perfect. And I'm still trying to figure out what Lou was doing when he chose the lineup and positions for today. Whatever it was, it worked.
  
• Magic Number: 153. Milwaukee sits alone atop the division, but they will fall soon enough.

Wade Miller faces off against Greg Maddux tomorrow. Excuse me while I go cry now and get it out of the way ahead of time.

Goin to the Game

In a spur of the moment decision, I'm going to the Cubs game tonight. Bleacher seats are $16 if you get the college discount. And at that price, why wouldn't you go?

If you're not in college, just call the ticket office and tell them you go to Northwestern, they'll give you the promotion code over the phone.

Hint: It's the school mascot. In all caps. Plural. If you can't figure that out, you don't deserve the cheap seats.

I just wish we had someone better than Marquis pitching. Someone like Rich Hill. Or half of the pitchers in baseball.

BP (April 16th, 2007)

Just a few things on my mind:

• You know it's sad when the opposing team is walking pinch-hitters to get to your $100+ million dollar man (*cough* Soriano *cough*)
• In Alfonso's defense he is 3 for 3 in something this year; getting picked off if he somehow reaches base. Yikes.
• How cool is it that are best player on the team right now is named"the riot"?
• Congrats to Big Z, you now have more home runs than Lee, Barrett, and Soriano combined.
• On that note: Barry has stolen the lead in the annual DeRosa-Bonds Rivalry. MarkyMark 2, Bonds 3. Keep the faith.
  

Today is Opposite Day

My preseason predictions went like so: our offense will be amazing with the high-powered group of Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, Jones, and Barrett, and our pitching will be disappointing considering how much we paid for it.

Forget everything I said before the season started. It was all a pack of lies.

Ted Lilly pitched a great game today, only giving up one run and two hits in six innings. My first question is, why did he only pitch six innings? I mean I understand that Lou is trying to be the opposite of Dusty Baker, but that seems a little extreme.

Our offense, on the other hand, looked horrible. The only bright spot was Ryan Theriot who went 3-for-4 while filling in for Aramis while he's fulfilling his obligatory stint on the bench with an injury. This time, it's tendinitis. The only other Cub to get a hit was Soriano, with a double. In the 6th inning Soriano led off with that double, and then Theriot got a single, advancing the speedy Soriano all the way to 3rd base. Lohse then managed to strike out Jock Jones, DLee, and he made Barrett fly out to end the inning. If we can't get a run with men on first and third with not outs, then there is no hope for our offense.

Game Summary for April 15th, 2007

• Score: Cubs lose to the Reds, 1-0.
  
• Player of the Game: Ted Lilly. Great pitching, not sure why Lou pulled him so early but the bullpen held up very well. Too bad he had zero run support.
  
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Batters number 3-8 in the order. None of them had a hit. Neither did Lilly in the 9 spot, but he's a pitcher, that's not his job. Everyone else is paid to get hits, and I give them all an F on their performance reviews.
  
• Comments: Lilly pitched extremely well, the offense didn't produce. Lather, rinse, repeat.
  
• Magic Number: 154. Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Cincy all have 5 losses. The Cubs don't even have 5 wins yet.
  

Living Here is Gonna Be So Awesome in 9 Years

Ok so I know I'm a little slow on the draw here, considering they announced this at 3 PM Central Time, but Chicago was chosen by the USOC as the American city that will make a bid for the 2016 Olympics. This means that if I'm still living in the area in 9 years, I'm gonna go to the Olympics! That's pretty awesome to think about. Or at least I'll be able to walk through downtown and pass a ton of foreign people wearing athletic garb. That will be pretty cool too.

As mentioned in the article, if Chicago pulls off this bid we could be having Olympic baseball and softball at the Friendly Confines. Also mentioned is that those sports were decided to be eliminated starting with the 2012 Olympics, because London doesn't have a place to play baseball. Well I say screw London. If I don't get to see some Olympic baseball at Wrigley, I'm going to have to write a strongly worded letter to Mayor Daley voicing my disappointment. And then I'll have to vote 8 times in the next election to prove how upset I am.

Hill makes an early push for the Cy Young

Today's game went almost exactly as I had imagined. Rich Hill was nearly flawless, yet again, and Bronson Arroyo is still the only Reds pitcher the Cubs have beaten this year. I don't know whether the possibility of Lou exploding in his face had anything to do with Hill's gem, or if it was just this kid's awesome talent. With a combination of the two, he could be a contender for the Cy Young. I'm not even kidding, he's 2-0 this year with a 0.64 ERA. Obviously he won't keep up this blistering pace but do you remember how he looked at the end of last year? I think Hill may be the Mark Prior we've been waiting for ever since 2003.

Game Summary for April 14th, 2007

• Score: Cubs defeat the Reds, 7-0.
  
• Player of the Game: Rich Hill. Seven innings pitched, no runs, three hits given up, five strikeouts. Only two innings where two men got on base. Low drama, just how I like my pitchers. I think he might be our new ace.
  
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Nobody. All of the batters in the lineup, other than Hill, had either a run or an RBI. The offense produced, the pitching held up, nothing to be angry about here.
  
• Comments: It figure that the day that I'm not paying any attention to the game at all is the day that everything seems to click. Hill was solid, as was Howry, and surprisingly, Dempster was too. the offense put together a big 5 run inning to put this one away, Lee capping it off with a three run double. Soriano finally got two hits in one game, one of them was based solely on his speed as he beat out the throw, getting an RBI in the process. Also of interest, Theriot was played 3rd base instead of Aramis and did very well. Keep it up boys. Still no home runs.
  
• Magic Number: 155, pending the Milwaukee vs. St. Louis game tonight.

Tomorrow's game pits Ted Lilly against Kyle Lohse. Lilly wasn't too terrible in the home opener, Howry blew that game for him. Last time we faced Lohse he held us to two runs. But that was in the pre-Angry Lou era. I think we've got a solid chance at this game. All I ask is that we hit a home run or two. Come on DLee, I know you're hungry.

FINALLY! Volcano Lou Erupts!

I'm usually a big advocate of the Number 13. It happens to be my favorite number. I think part of the fact that everyone else thinks of it as unlucky attracted me to it. It was like, if it was my favorite number, then it wouldn't be unlucky for me, and that would make me different from everyone else. Yeah, maybe that was it.

Turns out that was a load of BS. Today was Friday the 13th, what should be one of my favorite days of the year, and it was on this day that the Cubs had the greatest collapse of the season thus far. So why, you may be wondering, does the title of this post have excited exclamation points in it?

Because Friday the 13th is the day that Papa Lou finally blew his top.

The Priors and Woods of the world are trembling in fear.

You may remember what Dusty Baker would say after Zambrano and Ohman made blowing a 5 run lead look easy. He would be apologetic and protective of the pitchers, saying these things happen sometime, and he'll get his stuff together. Not Lou Piniella, my friend. He's starting to sound like first base throwing, umpire face spitting, getting ejected from the game, 1990 World Series winning Lou.

"What the [heck] do you think isn't working? You see the [darn] game," he said.

"This guy's your ace," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said of Zambrano. "You've got a 5-0 lead with the eighth and ninth hitters coming up. You feel pretty good about that inning. All of a sudden, it turns into a six-run inning. What do I do? I pitch [Zambrano] when it's his turn again. What else can I do?

"Then I bring in a reliever who's throwing 30-40-foot curveballs to boot," Piniella said of Ohman. "I can start to see some of the ways this team lost ballgames. I can see it. We've got to correct it, obviously."

"Look, when you've got a five-run lead, whether a guy misses a ball, makes an error, or what, you should be able to pitch through it," Piniella said.

Zambrano, however, seems to be channeling his inner Dusty Baker.

"When I came in [to the clubhouse] in the fifth inning, I told someone, 'Man, that happened so quick,'" Zambrano said. "I won't be frustrated. I feel good, I feel I'm throwing the ball the way I want to. I have to mix the pitches more and be more aggressive. That's it."

We'll see what Captain Lou has to say about that, Big Z.

Game Summary for April 13th, 2007

• Score: Cubs lose to the Reds, again, 6-5.
  
• Player of the Game: Michael Wuertz. Came in during the 5th inning to strike out three straight batters and clean up Zambrano's mess. We should call him The Janitor.
  
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Carlos Zambrano / Will Ohman. Zambrano loaded the bases with no outs and gave up 4 runs, Ohman then walked two batters to seal the loss. Lou finally made it obvious that he's sick and tired of managing a crappy team.
  
• Comments: We had this game made until the 5th inning. I actually quit listening after the Reds scored their first run, thinking even Zambrano can't blow this thing. Wasn't too surprised when he did though. On the bright side, the Cubs were decent on offense for a change. Zambrano began his push for the Silver Slugger award early this year with a solo home run. He now has as many homers as Soriano, Lee, and Aramis combined. Sometimes I wish the NL used a DH.
  
• Magic Number: Still 156. Reds are first in the division, this number is going nowhere if we keep losing to them.

Tomorrow's game features the only Cubs pitcher that hasn't had a bad game, Rich Hill, against the only Reds pitcher we've beaten all season, Bronson Arroyo. If we can't win this one, I'm fully expecting Lou to start sacrificing young players, Old Testament style. I nominate Angel Guzman and Ronny Cedeno for the first round.