Consistency is Not Our Strongest Area

Rich Hill got the May monkey off his back and finally pitched a good game in this, the most dismal of months. He went 6 innings yesterday, giving up zero runs and returning to April form. But of course the Cubs relievers couldn't hold the Dodgers scoreless in their three innings of work, so a solo home run was given up in 8th inning to Andre Ethier after the Cubs scored a run of their own. This brought the game to the 11th inning, where we kept the Dodgers hitless, but gave up three walks and then beaned Juan Pierre in the leg. Great way to give away a ball game.

I just have a few questions.

• Why was Rich Hill taken out after 66 pitches Lou? I know he's not one of your ever so loved veterans, but come on! The kid finishes off the 6th inning with no runs and only 66 pitches, and the first thought that comes to your mind is 'Let's go to the bullpen'??
• Scott Eyre? He hasn't pitched since May 20th, and there's a good reason for that. So why do you put him in during a tie game? And Lou, why didn't you punch him in the face once he got back to the dugout?
• And finally, why do the Cubs always suck just enough to lose? Even Derrek Lee knows what I'm talking about.

"We need to be more consistent. It seems like every day, when we score eight runs, we give up nine, or when we score one, we give up two. We have to find a way to get over the hump. I don't have the answers. It's odd almost. We just come up short every day. We have to find a way to be the ones coming out on top."

My thoughts exactly Mr. Lee.

At the moment the Cubs are on their way to losing to the Florida Marlins, for whom it's been only about 3 years since they've completed dismantled and rebuilt their team. Here's some advice: completely forget the Cubs are even playing today, and go enjoy your Memorial Day. You'll thank me later.

See? It's Not Just Us.

Much has been made of the repeated failures of the Cubs bullpen this year. Scott Eyre, Will Ohman, Bob Howry, and all the rest of them have been utter disappointments, with a few exceptions. But last night's game showed that we're not the only team with issues in that area, as the Dodgers bullpen gave up 7 runs in 7 innings. This allowed the Cubs to storm to a, 8-5 lead, which lasted for all of an inning. The Cubs would not be shown up, however, as the Howry-Ohman-Guzman trifecta handed the Dodgers 4 runs and the victory in the 9th. Howry and Ohman were responsible for all 4 of those runs will getting no outs. All those kids in AAA Iowa better start packing their bags for the bigs.

Today was a much better day. Carlos Zambrano decided to leave as little as possible to the bullpen, going 7 and 2/3's innings before Lou decided enough was enough. Ohman came in at that point and got the last out, leaving Dempster to pick up the easy save in the 9th. Cubs win 4-2. Also, Ramirez and DeRosa got the Cubs their first Back-to-Back Jacks of the season, which I'm sure made Ron Santo a happy man.

Tomorrow is the rubber game, with the struggling Rich Hill facing off against Randy Wolf, who would have an awesome and terrifying name if his first name wasn't Randy. That being said, I like our chances.

You Stay Classy, San Diego

San Diego is a pretty good team. Much better than we are at this point. This is why we dropped two out of three against them, which wasn't much of a surprise. On Wednesday night, Sean Marshall was absolutely stellar. Pitched 6 scoreless innings, and had one bad pitch in the 7th for a two run homer. Sadly, that was all the Padres needed as the Cubs decided that Marshall apparently doesn't deserve any run support. After all, that's the way it has always been, right? Len mentioned a statistic late in the game that I can't remember exactly, but I think it was that in Marshall's 10 major league losses, he has only received 10 runs of support from the offense. If he can hold the Padres to only two runs, we should win this game. No question.

Jason Marquis on Thursday gave up one run over 7 innings and still didn't get a win, though at least the Cubs did. This was due to a 9th inning rally that was started by DLee, and ended with the Cubs scoring 2 runs. Which is more than they scored all of the previous game. Sad. Howry was credited with the win in that one and Dempster received his 10th save of the season.

Tonight is a late late game, starting at 9:40 PM Central Time against the Dodgers. Ted Lilly is taking the mound for the Cubs, so we should have a decent shot at this. Just one question for everyone on the West Coast. Is it this bad for you when we have a 12:20 PM day game against a team like the Dodgers? Do you realize how hard it is to stay up until almost 1 in the AM to watch a baseball game. This one had better be exciting.

This is Not How Things Were Supposed to Go Down

I've been saying for a while now that Ryan Dempster is bad. We all know that, we saw how he pitched at the end of last year. But this year he had been decent, so when Angel Guzman pitches a great game, giving up only one run in 5 innings of work, Lou of course thought let's put in the closer to make sure Guzman gets his first win. Big. Mistake.

Dempster loaded the bases, walked in a run, and gave up a single for another run. This put the score at 5-3, still a decent lead. So Lou finally wised up and brought in Scott Eyre to try for the save with only one out. Scott always seems to fail to live up to expectations, and this time was no different as he allowed all three runners on base to score, bringing the score to 5-6 and losing a thoroughly embarrassing game for the Cubs. I think Lou was right on the money when he discussed calling up people from Iowa, which is where Eyre and Dempster need to go.

Game Summary for May 16th, 2007

• Score: Cubs lose an embarrassing game to the Mets again, 6-5.
  
• Player of the Game: Angel Guzman. The kid only gave up one run in five innings of pitching and deserved the win.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: The abomination that is Ryan Dempster/Scott Eyre. Combined to give up 5 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks in the 9th inning, while only getting one out. They are not going to have a happy flight home.
  
• Comments: All you need to know about this game is what happened in the 9th inning. That huge display of sucking wiped out the great inning the Cubs had in the 6th, when Pagan and Ramirez both had 2 run homers to left field.
  
• Magic Number: Still 130. Milwaukee finally won a game today.

This weekend is going to be insane. I'm going to all three of the Cubs-Sox games. That's right, I'll be there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So posting will be sporadic, and I might get into some fights, but after it's all said and done I will try to recount what it was like. It may very well be that words will not be able to describe it, but I'll try. The first game is tomorrow at 1:20, with Ted Lilly pitching against Mark Buehrle. Let the madness begin.

Zambrano's Hips Don't Lie

The big news before today's game was that Carlos Zambrano had been working on his mechanics. Apparently he was doing something wrong with his hips during his delivery, and that's what caused him to look like a fifth starter. Right. Well whatever it was that Zambrano fixed (maybe just using the computer less?), it worked extremely well. Big Z was in late 2006 form, pitching a full 8 innings while only giving up one run. He even went up to bat in the 9th inning, as if to tell the bullpen "That's right, we don't trust you, even with a 9 run lead". Lou did bring in Scott Eyre to finish off the game, however, and soon discovered that Scott Eyre is only good when he is given an enourmous lead. Who knew?

Game Summary for May 15th, 2007

• Score: Cubs destroy the Mets, 10-1.
  
• Player of the Game: Big Z. Great performance at the perfect time, giving our bullpen a chance to relax and not get blamed for a loss.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Rocky Cherry. Don't know what he did wrong, but for some dumb reason he was just optioned back to Iowa for a middle infielder, albeit an impressive one. I just don't understand how a 2.89 ERA isn't good enough for the majors Lou. Send Ohman down to the minors, see how he likes it.
  
• Comments: Zambrano got his groove back with a stellar outing, and the Cubs bats exploded against a young pitcher who though he was something. There can only be one Rich Hill kid, and I think your name is Maine or something. Tough luck. The grand slam by Aramis Ramirez in the 6-run sixth inning capped off an easy night for the team.
  
• Magic Number: 131. Brewers lost yet again to the Phillies. I'm thinking east coast teams may be their kryptonite.

Rich Hill tries to dismantle the Mets tomorrow night, facing off against Jorge Sosa in the third game of this strenuous four game series. Let's put together a streak of some kind boys.

Opposite Ends of the Spectrum

The same day that Lou says he is going to go with whoever has been good in the past, he threatens to call up some rookies to try and solve the bullpen's lackluster pitching.

"I'm going to find out if there are some kids down in Triple-A throwing the ball," Piniella said. "Maybe that's the answer -- get some different kids up here who can throw the ball. I don't know what else to say. I've tried everybody out there. You keep hoping it comes around, but we're getting into the middle of May now."

I like the unpredictability Lou, you gotta keep those veterans on their toes. I just don't think this is the right time to pull out that threat though. Today you finally used Neal Cotts, Rocky Cherry, and Michael Wuertz like I've been begging for a while. Between those three, the only mistake that was made was an RBI walk given up by Wuertz, bringing up his ERA to a still incredible 2.08. You don't threaten someone who has a 2.08 ERA after one bad outing. You do it when people like Will Ohman and Bob Howry give up 6 runs right after the Cubs scored six runs. I love the attitude, you just gotta work on the timing.

Also, Ms. Muskat wrote this gem in the game recap:

"They weren't bad pitches -- they could've been better," Wuertz said. "I've just got to pitch better. This is one of those nights I'm going to forget about and I have to move on."

Whether he'll get another chance remains to be seen.

Does she honestly think Lou would send down Wuertz, of all people? That's the most ludicrous thing I've heard today. I think it's time the Cubs got a new beat reporter. Coincidentally, I'm available. Feel free to contact me Mr. McDonough, I have great things in mind for the Cubs website.

Game Summary for May 14th, 2007

• Score: Cubs lose a hard fought battle to the Mets, 5-4.
  
• Player of the Game: Jason Marquis' offense. Went 2-for-3 with a two run single.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Apparently it's Michael Wuertz, because a 2.08 ERA just isn't good enough anymore, especially when we have people like Scott Eyre and his 8.76 ERA who could be pitching instead.
  
• Comments: Jason Marquis showed that he's not invincible, giving up four runs over five innings and raising his ERA to 2.22, still one of the best in the major leagues. Three of the Cubs starting pitchers have an ERA in the 2's, which means there is no reason this team should be under .500. Obviously it's an issue with the bullpen, I just think Lou's frustration was a little misplaced today. Soriano batted in the 3-spot as Derrek Lee is out with neck spasms, and he did fairly well, going 1-for-3 with a run.
  
• Magic Number: 133. The Brewers are on a two game losing streak. I say it's about time.

Zambrano tries to get his stuff together tomorrow against a pitcher named John Maine. I've never heard of him before, but with a 5-0 record and a 1.79 ERA, he makes Rich Hill look like a minor leaguer.

Ted Lilly to the Rescue!

Let's face it, the Cubs have been bad as of late. I mean really, exceptionally bad. Lost three games in a row, two out of three to the Pirates and Phillies successively, and our bullpen was acting like, well, our bullpen. Today was like a little shot in the arm for the Cubs, as Ted Lilly showed us why the only way we'll get to the playoffs at the rate we're going is to only let him and Jason Marquis pitch. No relievers, no Zambrano, no anything. Since that won't happen, we'll have to try and make something else work. Maybe Zambrano will remember he's in a contract year and get off his butt and pitch well. Maybe.

Game Summary for May 13th, 2007

• Score: Cubs avoid the sweep against the Phillies, 4-1.
  
• Player of the Game: Ted Lilly. Eight innings, only one run given up, 3 hits and 4 K's. A beacon of hope in a dark, dark team.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Neck spasms. Derrek Lee was taken out of the game because of them, and when the Yahoo box score said he was out with a neck injury I thought our season was over. Once I found out it was neck spasms I felt better, but any game without Lee is not a good game.
  
• Comments: Lilly continued to pitch extremely well in this game, and Dempster was able to hold down the fort for the save. The offense for the Cubs was decent, especially Thunder Matt Murton who went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Also of note was that Soriano's 20 game hitting streak was broken, as he went 0-for-4.
  
• Magic Number: 134. The Brewers lost two out of three to the Mets, showing that they are in fact human.

Speaking of which, red-hot Jason Marquis pitches tomorrow against the legend Tom Glavine and the Mets. At the same time the Brewers face off against the Phillies. We seem to be trading opponents a fair amount which gives us little to no excuse as to why we can't keep up with them at all.

Rich Hill Does Not Dig the Long Ball

The Cubs continue their recent stretch of failures with today's game against the Phillies. After a very uplifting stretch where the team 8-1, they've now lost three of their last four games and everything is changing. Jason Marquis becomes the ace of the staff, Alfonso Soriano actually hit for power, Felix Pie is sent down for someone whose name is a religious contradiction, and Rich Hill gives up too many home runs en route to a 7-2 loss. Captain Lou needs to right this ship quickly or we are going to have some serious issues.

Game Summary for May 11th, 2007

• Score: Cubs are crushed by the Phillies, 7-2.
  
• Player of the Game: Alfonso Soriano. Went 2-for-5 with a solo home run in the 3rd inning. Looks like he's finally starting to get back into his groove.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Rich Hill. The prodigy is not performing well as of late, and today was no different with 5 earned runs given up in 5 innings. Even with this latest setback, however, he's still sporting an impressive 2.51 ERA.
  
• Comments: Unlike Big Z, Hill actually started off very well in the first three innings. Even afterwards, all of this carnage was due to two bad pitches to Pat Burrell. The Phillies outfielder rocked Hill for two home runs, one with two men on in the 4th and one with 1 man on in the 6th. These two bad pitches accounted for all of the earned runs Hill gave up, so there is still hope. Not much, but just a glimmer.
  
• Magic Number: 136. Apparently all the Brewers needed was some stiff competition, and the Mets gladly obliged.

Tomorrow's game is on FOX at 2:45, so that's pretty exciting. The kid Angel Guzman tries to prove that his 1.80 ERA outing last game wasn't a fluke, and the Cubs prepare to take a bite out of former White Sox pitcher Freddy Garcia. Should be exciting.

Sunburns are Overrated

There is a yearly tradition I adhere to each year when I venture out to a day game in the bleachers. I am genetically fairly pale, Conan O'Brien style. That's what you get for being over half Swedish and 1/16th Irish (I just found that out, so now I have a good reason to celebrate St. Patty's day). So every year I head out to the bleachers and wear a sleeveless Cubs t-shirt, with no sunscreen at all. I like to think that will help me get a tan. And every year I come home with extremely bright red ears, nose, and upper arms. A couple years ago it was severe enough that I think it was medically considered sun poisoning, but that hasn't happened for a while. Therefore, I assume my attempts to get darker are working.

Yesterday was another one of these days. RFS was in town so we decided to get some cheap bleacher seats. It was beautiful out, I sat in the sun for a solid 4 hours, and the Cubs lost the series to the Pittsburgh Pirates. I'm feeling the sunburn right now, and all I can say is I hope it worked this time. If not, I'm sure I'll try it again within a month or so.

Game Summary for May 9th, 2007

• Score: Cubs shutout the Pirates, 1-0.
  
• Player of the Game: Jason Marquis. Pitched a complete game shutout and carried a perfect game into the 6th inning. Best performance of the year thus far.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Don Kelly on the Pirates, who broke up Jason's perfect game. If Lou was Santa, you would be getting a lump of coal this year Mr. Kelly.
  
• Comments: Marquis pitched a beaut of a game, allowing only 3 hits and lowering his ERA to a dominating 1.70 ERA. We needed it too, as the only offense the team could muster was a lead-off home run by Soriano, his first of the year and 34th of his career.
  
• Magic Number: Still 137. The Brewers appear to be unstoppable at the moment.
  

Game Summary for May 10th, 2007

• Score: Cubs of course lose the game I went to against the Pirates, 6-4.
  
• Player of the Game: Michael Barrett. Came in to pinch hit in the 8th and did his job, hitting a two run home run. One of the few people to do his job this game.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Carlos Zambrano. The man just can't get out of a first inning without trouble. If those three runs in the first hadn't happened, the cubs win this game. His ERA has ballooned to a 2006 Jason Marquis-esque 5.83. So much for being the ace of the staff.
  
• Comments: The power came back to the Cubs in this game, as all four runs were scored on homers by Ramirez, Barrett, and Angel Pagan. Speaking of Pagan, he was brought up for this game as Felix Pie was sent back to Iowa. The reasons given in the Tribune article are solid, but I'm still sad to see him go. When he was in the game he gave the team a spark and Cubs fans hope, and that will be sorely missed.
  
• Magic Number: Sitting at 137. Brewers are on a 6 game winning streak, and the Cubs are starting to revert to their old ways. Not a good sign.

The Cubs just lost to the Phillies as Rich Hill completely fell apart. I'll discuss that later, I can only do so many of these in one sitting.

Baseball is a Marathon, Even the Games

The Cubs played in the longest game ever tonight, and they couldn't hold things together against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Errors mounted, pitching fell apart, and the offense couldn't get anything going. A five game winning streak was snapped, and the Milwaukee Brewers once again refuse to lose. This was the kind of game that drives people to drugs and depression. Lou could have at least gotten himself ejected to spice things up a bit.

Game Summary for May 8th, 2007

• Score: Cubs lose a four and a half hour ordeal to the Pirates, 4-3.
  
• Player of the Game: Ryan Theriot. Went 3-for-7 and made an impressive double play to prevent a run from scoring in the earlier innings. It was all a waste though.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Ryan frickin' Dempster. Could have saved us all an hour and a half if he would have just finished the inning like he was supposed to. Or at least have given up another run to end it sooner.
  
• Comments: I'm tired and I don't have much to say about this game. Once again Lou used every position player and every relief pitcher. Jason Marquis being used as a pinch hitter meant that we only had three men left on the bench: Zambrano, Guzman, and Hill. I really don't like this trend.
  
• Magic Number: Still 138. I absolutely hated this game.

Marquis pitches tomorrow against someone with a name I cannot pronounce or spell. I don't care what happens as long as it ends in 9 innings.

Benchwarmers to the Rescue!

Funny thing happened during today's game. As I was relaxed comfortably on the couch, the Cubs were up 2-1 and Scott Eyre was pitching. Shortly thereafter, I woke up from an unintentional nap and we were down 3-2 with Bob Howry on the mound. That is not what you want to wake up to.

The Cubs were not to be kept down however, as a 9th and 10th inning rally served to tie the game, and then win it, respectively. This victory marked the completion of our first three game sweep of a team all season, as the lowly Nationals behaved as expected: rolling over and playing dead. Adding on to our recent list of accomplishments, today's win stretched our winning streak to five games, it is the first one-run game we've won all season, and the team has won 8 of their last 9 games. Impressive indeed.

None of this would have been possible without some risky managing decisions and clutch hitting by our bench. In the 9th, Cliff Floyd came in to pinch hit for Cesar Izturis and he drew a walk. Due to Floyd's ailing back, Jason Marquis reprised his role as an emergency pinch runner and took Floyd's place on first. Daryle Ward then came in to replace the pitcher, Neal Cotts, and he reached on a single to left. Normally he would be taken out here for a pinch runner, because he is the slowest man alive, but Jason Marquis was already busy. Theriot then comes on and pulls off a clutch single to drive in Marquis and tie up the game. Somewhere in that inning Soriano, Ramirez, and Jacque Jones all failed to get hits. If even one of them had the game would have ended right there.

In the 10th inning, Matt Murton, who had earlier replaced Mark DeRosa in right field, led off with a double. Michael Barrett then grounded out, bringing up the intrepid Henry Blanco. Hank hit a bloop single to right that should have scored Murton, but the redhead hesitated at third base. Again, the game should have been over at this point. So up comes Daryle Ward, who would have normally been replaced by a pinch runner already but we ran out of non-slow people in the 9th. About five seconds before the pitch, Bob Brenley mentions that the left fielder is playing way too shallow. So Ward of course lofts a fly ball over his head. Game, set, series.

Notice in all of that two inning rally that won the game for us, the only person who started the game that got a hit was Ryan Theriot. Our bench finally pulled through in the clutch. Awesome.

Game Summary for May 6th, 2007

• Score: Cubs defy all odds to beat the Nationals, 4-3.
  
• Player of the Game: The entire bench. We used the whole thing, and needed every single player that played.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Bob Howry. I fall asleep and the guy gives up two runs, but gets charged with neither of them. Bad form sir.
  
• Comments: Angel Guzman pitched surprisingly well considering his stats in Iowa, giving up one run over five innings. Lou always talks about trying to conserve his bullpen/roster, but did none of that here. In the 7th inning when Washington scored two runs, he used 4 different pitchers to get 3 outs. The number of players used in this game was an astonishing 21, everyone except Zambrano, Lilly, Rich Hill, and Rocky Cherry. I guess I can't complain much when we win a game, but for just a 10 inning game that seems a little ridiculous. Things were so messed up that Soriano ended up playing 2nd base for an inning, a position he hasn't played since 2005.
  
• Magic Number: 138. Cubs just swept the Nationals, and the Brewers just swept the Pirates. Now we're swapping opponents. I don't see us gaining much ground in the next three games.

Cubs have the day off on Monday, then resume their homestand with Ted Lilly facing off against Ian Snell and the Pirates. Snell has very good stats, but come on it's the Pirates. I'm expecting good things. I'll pop in sometime tomorrow with an explanation on why the Cubs should actually have the third best record in baseball.

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.

I Don't Know What We're Yelling About

It's a lot easier to write something that is funny and/or informative when your team is playing miserably. All you have to do is make fun of how terrible someone is doing, and you're set. This is why the last seven games have really been a struggle for me. We've won six of our last seven now and the offense is on a tear, so much so that Big Z can give up 4 runs in the first inning and still coast to an easy win.

Even when the team plays well, however, there is hope for those trying to find a humorous moment. That moment came in the form of Aramis Ramirez and his most recent baserunning gaffe.

Ramirez was watching the play, and crashed into third-base coach Mike Quade as he rounded the bag. Quade was knocked off his feet, while Ramirez scored.

"I was watching what was going on -- we both were watching what was going on, that was the problem," Ramirez said.

"If anybody's hurt," Piniella said, "you hope it's the third-base coach."

It's nothing personal, Mike.

I really need to find a video of that.

Game Summary for May 4th, 2007

• Score: Cubs defeat the lowly Nationals, 6-4.
  
• Player of the Game: Derrek Lee. Went 2-for-3 with a two run homer in the 3rd. Zambrano owes him a nice seafood dinner.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Big Z. He may have pitched well in the 2nd through 5th innings, but that first one was terrible. He needs to get a hold of himself soon. It's not April anymore buddy, that excuse is no longer valid.
  
• Comments: Zambrano's first inning was awful, but the Cubs made up for it with solid offense in the 3rd and 4th. Due to an RBI single in the 8th inning, the Cubs have still not won a one run game this year. The rookie needs to learn to hold back for the good of the team.
  
• Magic Number: 140, pending the Milwaukee-Pittsburgh game tonight. So it'll still be 140 tomorrow then. We're on our 2nd three game win streak in the last 7 games, and tied for second in the Central. Things are looking up.

Tomorrow's game features the until recently invincible Rich Hill against Mr. I've got a 6.44 ERA John Patterson. You're only half the terrible pitcher Wade Miller is, Patterson. Don't get too cocky.

"Let's Play 1 1/2 !"

Today was a great day, other than me being busy for a solid 12 hours and not being able to watch any baseball. But I heard it was awesome. Due to a rule change that was made just this past off-season, the rain did not cause the Cubs to lose the game, instead suspending it until today. So today was almost a double header. Not quite.

Anyways, the Cubs thoroughly trounced the Pirates in every way today, and I'm still getting this feeling that things have finally turned around. Soriano got his first two home runs of the year, the outfield is finally producing, Lee is still amazing, some of the pitchers are doing very well (Ted Lilly, you're on notice), and we've won 5 of our last 6 games. I'm pretty positive that the Independence Day post is what did it.

Game Summary for May 1st - 2nd, 2007

• Score: Cubs win a suspended game against the Pirates, 8-6.
  
• Player of the Game: Cliff Floyd. Soriano had the better game, but Floyd's two run homer in the 7th is the only reason the game was suspended instead of counted as a loss for the Cubs.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Rain. Lou does not enjoy delayed satisfaction.
  
• Comments: Ted Lilly reverted to his former self against the Pirates of all teams. This would have been a rain shortened loss except for the Cubs' explosive 7th in and a crucial rule change that MLB made over the summer

Rule 4.12 (a) states: A game shall become a suspended game that must be completed at a future date if the game is terminated ... (due to) weather, if a regulation game is called while an inning is in progress and before the inning is completed, and the visiting team has scored one or more runs to take the lead.

• Magic Number: 143, after this game at least.

Game Summary for May 2nd, 2007

• Score: Cubs reassert their dominance over the Pirates, 7-1.
  
• Player of the Game: Jason Marquis. Pitched a one run game in 8 innings of work, and has won four in a row. Again, Soriano was runner-up with another 3-for-5 game and another home run. The guy is starting to live up to his contract.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Apparently Ryan Theriot, because Lou had Cesar in for the past two games and he went a combined 1-for-8. Now we know Lou must have seen that coming, so what the heck did Theriot do to piss him off so much.
  
• Comments: Marquis pitched yet another amazing game, Soriano was the Soriano of last year yet again, and the Cubs peat the Pirates with no drama. All is well with the world.
  
• Magic Number: 142. Milwaukee has the best record in baseball at 18-9. That needs to change.

Zambrano vs. the Nationals on Friday. Carlos, their team is 9-18. If you're ever going to break out of your "I suck at life" phase, this is the time to do it.

You Can't Win 'Em All

But you should never lose when Rich Hill is pitching against the Pirates. Didn't really pay attention to the game, so this will be brief.

Game Summary for April 30th, 2007

• Score: Cubs fall to the Pirates, 3-2.
  
• Player of the Game: Gonna go with Rich Hill here. Gave up 2 runs in 7 innings, and if that's not enough to beat the Pirates then there is something seriously wrong with our defense.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Michael Wuertz. Uncharacteristically gave up the game winning home run, his ERA is now at 1.32. I guess you can't really get mad at him for that.
  
• Comments: Rich Hill pitched reasonably well, Cubs could only mount two runs of offense, though. Jason Bay hit a game winning home run in the bottom of the eighth against Wuertz. And thus ends the astounding 3 game winning streak.
  
• Magic Number: 144. That is what we like to call a gross.
  

Hopefully Ted Lilly will have better luck tomorrow. I'm going to bed.

The Turning Point Continues

The Cubs have their first 3 game winning streak ever since 2006. Zambrano was solid, the hits came rolling in, and I don't really have anything to complain about. Except that Lou still hasn't been ejected from a game. I've got faith that will happen soon enough though.

Game Summary for April 28th, 2007

• Score: Cubs manhandle the Cardinals, 8-1.
  
• Player of the Game: Jacque Jones. Great running catch, and a huge three run homer.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Jerks.
  
• Comments: Zambrano was solid for once, Jacque Jones was amazing, all is well with the world. I'm still not sure why Lou keeps starting Jones in center and Floyd in right instead of the Pie-Jones outfield, but as long as we win I'm not going to complain too much.
  
• Magic Number: 145, pending today's Houston-Milwaukee game.

Tomorrow is the series finale and the chance to sweep the Cards in their own house. Rich Hill against some guy named Kip Wells. This oughta be good.

There's a First Time for Everything

Today was a day of firsts:

• First time the Cubs have won a game that was within 2 runs
• First time the Cubs have won back to back games since April 7th against the Brewers
• Felix Pie's first home run as a major leaguer
• First time the Bulls have won an away game in the playoffs since Michael Jordan played
• First time this blog received 100 hits. And 200. And 300. And...let's just go all the way up to 1,000.
• First time the Bulls have advanced to the second round of the playoffs since MJ (I'm assuming this based on the fact that no team has lost a series after going 3-0).

If you watched the Bulls game, good for you. It was exciting. I won't write about it in depth, because that's not what we do here. We're a Cubs blog. So on with the Cubs.

Tonight's game was a lot more tense than it should have been. Marquis had a healthy lead until he gave up a 2 run homer to Yadier Molina, at which point Lou brought in the shaky bullpen to scare everybody watching at home. I plan on sending my medical bills for the near heart attack I suffered directly to Ryan Dempster for being inches away from giving up the game tying home run to Scott Spezio. I still feel that Wednesday was the turning point for this team, but today's performance didn't make me much more confident.

Game Summary for April 27th, 2007

• Score: Cubs defeat the Cardinals, 5-3.
  
• Player of the Game: Felix Pie. Hit a 2 run blast, the first of his major league career. I'm sure there will be many more to come.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Ryan Theriot. Lou shows trust in the kid by putting him in the starting lineup for a second day and he responds by going 0-for-4 and making a dumb play at short that should have resulted in everyone being safe and us not winning this game so easily. Starting The Riot is not supposed to be this stressful.
  
• Comments: Marquis pitched another relatively solid game, at least up until the 7th inning when he gave up that home run. His ERA is still very low at 2.35, but he's starting to look a little shaky. Lock it down Marquis. Pie and Aramis each had a home run, showing that maybe the power is returning to the Cubs. And I swear Soriano is taking batting tips from Sammy Sosa. He swung at two straight pitches that hit the dirt about 5 feet in front of him. He should not be our leadoff man.
  
• Magic Number: 146. Still got a lot of work ahead of us.
  

"We will not go quietly into the night!..."

"...We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!"


It's like the Cubs are the world, see? And Derrek Lee is Will Smith, the hotshot who everyone loves that gets a chance to show he's got what it takes to go into space. And Ryan Theriot is Jeff Goldblum, the guy that no one gave quite enough credit to when he deserved it. Papa Lou is Bill Pullman cause he runs everything, and when you're sucking at protecting your world he'll rally the troops. The aliens are the Brewers, who have been beating the pants off of the Cubs, blowing up their White Houses and Taj Mahals. And then Derrek Lee and Ryan Theriot combine their powers to tag team it up and take out those mo-fos. And Ted Lilly? Ummmmm he's just some overpaid pitcher that's lucky Will Smith is there to save his butt again. He can be Jeff Golblum's dad, the crazy jewish guy. Yeah, that'll work.

Game Summary for April 25th, 2007

• Score: Cubs save some dignity by beating the Brewers, 9-3.
  
• Player of the Game: Will Smith, a.k.a. Derrek Lee. Went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs, 2 Runs, and his first homer of the year. Fitting stats for someone who has saved the earth from aliens at least three times.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Jacque Jones. Went 0-for-4, and made some horrible plays in the outfield. I didn't actually watch the game, but it's Jacque Jones we're talking about, it must be true.
  
• Comments: I honestly believe this game will be a turning point for the team. Today's lineup should be it permanently. Theriot deserves the spot at short, it's not like Cesar's defense has been that good anyways. Derrek Lee finally got that first homer, Pie has 5 hits in the last 3 games, and the Cubs offense did pretty much everything right. Get Soriano back out there in left field and we should be good to go. And I still think Jacque Jones needs to go. He gives me dirty looks.
  
• Magic Number: 147 baby. So close to the division title I can taste it.

Cubs have the day off tomorrow. Friday they start a three game series against the Redbirds, with the comeback kid Jason Marquis looking for a second game of revenge. Do I sense a two game winning streak coming on?

Bill Hall Sucks! Bill Hall Sucks! Bill Hall.....well, you get the idea.

During tonight's game I discovered the true power of the left-center field bleachers. The drunk gentlemen behind me held an impassioned hatred for Bill Hall, and they did everything they could to make this known. They began with "F--- you Bill Hall! Hey Bill, your mother's a @$%*#!", and whatever else they could come up with. After the security guy who doesn't actually get to watch the game told them that profanity and insulting immediate family was not allowed, they reverted to "Bill Hall sucks!", "Hey Bill, you're a moron!", and "Hey Bill, you suck!". They couldn't come up with much else. As it turns out, a couple hundred of drunk bleacher bums chanting that you suck really has an effect on your self esteem. Mr. Hall went 0-for-6, something we reminded him of every time he came back to the outfield.

We are not only a force for evil, however. Jacque Jones spent the majority of the game in center field for some unexplained reason, and once he moved over to right field he did something remarkable. First of all, he made a great diving catch. But more importantly, he threw the ball on the was to 3rd base on one bounce! That was unprecedented.

Once Felix Pie came into the game in center field our attention turned to him, and he churned out two hits in the late innings that ending up not helping our team win at all. It's more than he had been doing lately on offense though.

Some other highlights of the Wrigley experience:

• The college kid sitting two seats over from me caught a ball tossed to him by a Brewer outfielder, and a home run hit during batting practice. I caught nothing.
• Showing up two and a half hours early to a game that wasn't even close to sold out meant that I had a chance to get a good picture of the Harry Caray statue without anyone in the way for once.

• Showing up early also meant that front row in the bleachers was available, which allowed us to partake in the constant heckling of the aforementioned Bill Hall.
• Having beer spilled on my sweatshirt an hour before the game started. That was fun.
• Saw Ronnie Woo Woo again, didn't get a high five this time though. He didn't come down to our part of the bleachers.
• I yelled at Jacque Jones once asking how many outs there were. He flashed me the two sign, which was awesome. About an inning later I told him that he threw like my sister.

So that was my game. A lot of fun, but any 12 inning game where you lose is depressing at the end of it all.

Game Summary for April 23rd, 2007

• Score: Cubs lose to the Brew Crew, 5-4 in 12 innings.
  
• Player of the Game: Aramis Ramirez. Hit his 200th career home run, a solo shot that gave the Cubs a fairly solid lead.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: The umpires. The last out was made on a ridiculous called third strike where the ball nearly landed in the dirt. Lou had some words for them in the tunnel after the game.

Piniella was not available to the media after the game. He and Perry exchanged some words with the umpires as everyone was headed to their respective clubhouses through the same tunnel, and Perry had to be pulled away. None of the words can be made available either. This is a family Web site.

• Comments: Zambrano failed to get a win again, continuing his April struggles. This time it was not his fault, however, as he left the game with a 4-2 lead. Scott Eyre came in and did what he does best, giving up two runs to dissolve the lead. The Cubs had trouble stringing together hits and failed to score after the third inning. Rocky Cherry made his Major League debut, giving up a solo home run to Prince Fielder and picking up the loss.
• Magic Number: 149. Can't gain any ground when you lose to the division leaders.

I will be at the game again tomorrow, and since Rich Hill is pitching I am hoping for a better outcome. On a side note, Wade Miller was placed on the disabled list with 'back spasms', which I believe is medical speak for having a 10.54 ERA. In the meantime I'm going to try and find out exactly what Lou said to those umps.

Roller Coaster Ride of Emotion

This game was ridiculous. A brief synopsis:

• Cubs score 2.
  
• Cards score 2.
  
• Cubs get 2 more.
  
• Cards strike back.
  
• Cards go up by 3.
  
• Aramis!!!
• Howry gives up 2 more.
• Soriano???
• DeRosa!
• Dempster becomes Pujols' plaything.
• Cubs fail.

Wade Miller needs to never pitch again. I'm thinking of starting a petition to this end. Maybe I'll post one up here later.

Game Summary for April 22nd, 2007

• Score: Cubs throw it away against the Cardinals, 12-9, 10 innings.
  
• Player of the Game: Aramis Ramirez. Clutch 3 run homer to put us back even with the Cardinals, only to have us throw it away later. Picking up where he left off last September.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: Wade Miller. Needs to lay in a hole and die. Is going to give Lou an ulcer.
  
• Comments: This game was a slugfest with the wind blowing out. We score, they score, we score again, they score again, they take the lead, we tie it up, they take the lead again, we tie it up again, Dempster gives up a 3 run homer to Pujols. Game, set, match. Somewhere in there we saw the early return of Alfonso Soriano pinch hitting for Pie. He hit a double, showing that he is a better hitter when he's injured. Sad.
  
• Magic Number: 149. Oh thank heaven, we're 7-11. I hate myself for saying that.

Tomorrow will bring sweet relief in the form of the Milwaukee Brewers, the only team we have yet to win a series against. Zambrano is pitching though, which worries me. I should be at the game so I'll recap it late tomorrow night. Gotta love those college discounts.