Start TheRiot

Much has been made of the French Connection, Ryan Theriot and Mike Fontenot teaming up for double plays just like they did back at LSU. Today though, it was the Theriot-Lee combination in the lineup that did it for the Cubs. Theriot had 3 doubles and 3 runs, and each time he got a hit DLee followed up with one of his own. Lee scored the other 2 runs for the Cubs as they rebounded from yesterday's tough loss to take the series from the Brewers with a 5-1 win. Marquis pitched 7 solid innings while only giving up one solo homer, and Carlos Marmol continued his blistering pace by pitching 2 scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 1.13. Everything just seems to be clicking for this team right now, as we've won 8 of our last 9 games, and 6 of those games were at home where the team has not played well in the past. But most importantly, the team got back to .500 and we're just about halfway through the season. Did anyone expect that two weeks ago? Not me.

I knew this would happen.

Sosa just hit 600 off us. I called it.

The craziest part of all this is that he hit it off Marq, who now wears the 21 that Sammy made famous.

I hate to say it, but congrats...you stupid motherf***er.

...We better win this game.

Koyie Hill? Really?

The Cubs just lost in the 13th inning. This doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is that Lou used Koyie Hill as a pinch hitter with the bases loaded and the game on the line. I understand that it was a long game and we had already gone through 19 players, but this was a poor decision. We still had Sean Marshall, Ted Lilly, Scott Eyre, Michael Wuertz, and Jason Marquis available to hit. Of those 5, Lilly is batting .115 and Marquis is hitting an impressive .188. You may not think that is impressive, but you will once you consider that Koyie Hill was batting .067 before today. Now it's down to .063. Lou, come on, using your grandma would be a better choice than using Koyie. Marquis would have gotten the job done.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.
  

Decisions, Decisions...

The Cubs game starts in about 40 minutes, and since it features Jason Marquis with vengeance burning in his eyes, you would think I would want to watch it. To be honest, I do. However, there is also a Bulls playoff game on at 7. Normally I would pick the Cubs over the Bulls, but if the Bulls can win tonight they'll be up 3-0 and almost assured a spot in the second round. So I have a conundrum. Revenge against the Cardinals, or victory against the Heat? I can always flip between the two when one is at commercial, but at times I will have to make a decision. I'm still not sure which way I'll go. Picture in picture would be a nice thing to have right now.

On a side note, I've been a faithful reader of Deadspin for a couple of months now, ever since I discovered KSK through the F--- it, I'm Going Deep post. Reading these blogs is part of what finally got me to get up off my butt and start one of my own. We've been at it for almost a month now, and things have been kind of slow, so I decided to step out on a limb. I wrote a petition about how Wade Miller should never pitch to the Cubs again, and since I knew Will at Deadspin would never read it unless someone told him about it, and because I had basically no readers, I wrote him a lengthy e-mail last night practically begging him to give it a chance. I expected to be shunned for my blatant display of self-promotion. So you can imagine my surprised and ecstatic behavior when I found out that we had been linked to at the most influential sports blog in the world.

Some may consider getting so excited about all this to be unprofessional. Well I am the furthest thing from a professional that you will find, so I'm okay with that. My blog is hosted on Blogger, what did you expect? So to all you Deadspinners who visited, thank you for making my day. Even if you only come here once because you're not a Cubs fan, (and lets face it those are the only people we cater to), for one day I was on top of the sports blogging world. Hopefully some day I shall return to that peak. Until then, RFS and myself will have to step it up and try to deliver what we think is high quality blogging. You may disagree, but I don't really care about what you think. It's my party, I can write boring crap if I want to. As long as you keep coming back to read it.

Game summary, as always, coming later tonight. SITI out.

Season in Review: the 7/54ths Mark (Pitching)

As you probably don't know, cause there's a good chance you've never read this blog before, this was supposed to be a 1/9th season in review. That would have been after 18 games. However, I went to two Cubs games this week and didn't have time to do anything. So it's only fitting that the day when I finally have free time is the day that the Cubs have off, so it's not like there's anything else to write about anyways. I guess I could write about how my old high school principal is terrible, completely overreacts to everything, and does not deserve a job, but that wouldn't be very baseball oriented would it?

So far this year, the theme of the Cubs pitching staff has been...unpredictability. Good pitchers have been bad. Mediocre pitchers have been amazing. And bad pitchers, well they're still pretty bad. Here's a rundown of the way things have been.

Carlos Zambrano

• Current Stats: 1-2 W-L, 6.91 ERA, 27.1 IP, 23 K
  
• Projected Stats: 8-15 W-L, 6.91 ERA, 211 IP, 177 K
  
• Thoughts: It is a well documented fact that Carlos is like a freight train, he takes a little time to get going. After a very rough opening day he's settled down a bit. In his last game he left with the lead, but he left early enough that the relievers were doomed to fall apart. His numbers will improve as the season goes on. More wins, lower ERA, more IP, and definitely more strikeouts. Nowhere to go from here but up.

Ted Lilly

• Current Stats: 2-2 W-L, 2.18 ERA, 33 IP, 33 K
  
• Projected Stats: 15-15 W-L, 2.18 ERA, 255 K, 255 IP
  
• Thoughts: Lilly has been a pleasant surprise. An impressive ERA combined with a lot of strikeouts means that right now he is making a push to be the ace of the team. He has strict competition though, and right now he sits 3rd of the bunch. He probably won't keep up that frantic ERA pace, but I can see his wins staying around 15, especially if the Cubs can produce some run support.

Jason Marquis

• Current Stats: 2-1 W-L, 1.88 ERA, 24 IP, 14 K
  
• Projected Stats: 15-8 W-L, 1.88 ERA, 185 IP, 108 K
  
• Thoughts: While Marquis is posting a ridiculously low ERA, his innings pitched are low as well. He needs to go longer if this bullpen is ever going to get a break. He has been another surprise for the team, even performing well against his former team, the Cardinals. Let's hope he can keep that up tomorrow.

Rich Hill

• Current Stats: 3-1 W-L, 1.57 ERA, 28.2 IP, 23 K
• Projected Stats: 23-8 W-L, 1.57 ERA, 221 IP, 177 K
  
• Thoughts: Rich Hill is the undisputed ace of the staff at the moment. And it's no fluke, I said before the season began that he was going to be great. I'm not sure if I thought he was going to be this great, but I should have. Continuing where he left off at the end of last year, Hill has decimated the opposition in every game but one. The Brewers game was a fluke, he'll be back on track next week. On a side note, if I had done this 3 days ago like I was supposed to, I would have given Hill projected stats of a 27-0 W-L and a 0.41 ERA. Just goes to show how inaccurate these will be.

Wade Miller

• Current Stats: 0-1 W-L, 10.54 ERA, 13.2 IP, 6 K
• Projected Stats: 0-1 W-L, 10.54 ERA, 13.2 IP, 6 K
• Thoughts: Wade Miller will not pitch a game for the Cubs again. I'm in the process of writing a petition to see to that. Expect that to be up later today or sometime tomorrow.

The Relievers:

• Bob Howry: Has returned to almost last years form, posting a decent 3.65 ERA. Has already compiled 2 losses though, which means his talent is coming in spurts. Needs to regain some of that consistency and he'll be fine.
• Scott Eyre: Has pitched 7 innings, given up 10 runs, and posted a whopping 12.86 ERA. Worse than Wade Miller. We know he has talent though, but if he doesn't find it soon I don't know how much longer we can let him pitch.
• Michael Wuertz: The best reliever on this staff, has given up only one run in 12 innings of work. I call him the janitor cause he cleans up other people's crap. I don't see why he isn't the closer, or at least the setup man.
• Ryan Dempster: Hasn't blown any saves yet, which is promising. Keeping things calm with a 2.45 ERA, but I still cringe whenever he comes into a close game.
• Neal Cotts: Has been flawless so far with no runs given up in 8.2 innings pitched. I don't know why we haven't used him more often. Have him and Wuertz teaming up as the setup men and we're golden.
• Angel Guzman: Was doing much better than last year's shoddy performace until he was sent down to the minors to make room for Pie. Now that Pie is staying, and Miller is hopefully off the team, the Cubs need to find a way to bring him up as the fifth starter. I think a trade is in order, but not for any pitchers because Lou demands 12 of them, and 12 he shall have.
• Will Ohman: Another reliever who is struggling this year, Ohman needs to lock it down. The only reason that Cubs fans everywhere aren't crying out against him is that no one has any energy left after complaining about Eyre.
• Rocky Cherry: Brought up a couple days ago after Miller suffered his "back spasms", I'm still not sure what to make of Cherry. He's done fairly well so far, and I'm not even mad at him for losing the game a couple of days ago because I really wanted to go home anyways. Twelve innings is way too many for a baseball game.
  

Sweet, Sweet Revenge

Last year, in case you've been living under a rock, the Cardinals won the World Series. Jason Marquis was a part of this World Series team, part of why I was wary of him at the beginning of the season. You don't just let the enemy come and join your side. I would make a Harry Potter comparison here, but that would make me look like a loser. If you're a Harry Potter fan, you know what I'm getting at. If you're not, let's just say that Snape killed Dumbledore. Geezer had it coming.

What's different about Marquis, however, is that last year he was terrible. God-awful, you might say. After posting a regular season ERA of over 6.00 last year, the Cards wisely decided to not put him on their World Series roster. It must have been a wise choice, considering they won and all.

So today was Jason's day to prove them wrong for letting him go, to prove that last season was just a fluke, and to prove to us Cubs fans that he's the real deal. And the pitcher he was facing? Anthony Reyes, the man who took his spot on the roster for the NLCS and the WS. And as for the game? Let's just say revenge is a dish best served cold. I don't really know how that applies here, but Jason rocked the house. F--- you Cardinals (Jason's words, not mine).

Game Summary for April 21st, 2007

• Score: Cubs whomp on the Cardinals, 6-0.
  
• Player of the Game: Jason Marquis. Got his revenge and pitched a scoreless game through 7 innings. He now has a 1.88 ERA, lagging behind Wonderboy's 0.41 but in front off Lilly's 2.42. Did anyone expect numbers like that from those three?
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: The duo that is Ramirez/Pie. Went a combined 0-for-8, everyone else in the starting lineup had a hit, including Jason Marquis.
  
• Comments: Marquis continued the tradition lately of starting pitcher I expected to be bad tearing things up (see: Ted Lilly). Pitched 7 scoreless innings, and Will Ohman even came in and pitched two scoreless inning to finish it off. Who expected that? Barrett's three run shot in the first put this one away early, and Cedeno added a solo homer later on just to rub it in. Apparently Pie made some quality defensive plays (I didn't watch, can you tell?), but his offense is lacking. Looks like he has a shot of staying in the lineup though, more on that later.
  
• Magic Number:150. The Astros are on a 5 game winning streak. Something is wrong with the world.

Tomorrow is the rubber game with Wade Miller pitching. I'm actually happy I'm going to be working during that, a man can only take so much depression before he snaps.

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.)
  

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 6th, 2007)

RFS here with some extra thoughts in a little post that will from now on be titled Batting Practice.

• Congrats to Marky Mark on being the first Cubs batter to knock one out this season. The DeRosa-Bonds Home Run Race has officially kicked off.
• The Cubs have announced that the team will no longer wear their blue alternate jerseys. Carlos Zambrano, who as the starting pitcher often chooses the blue over the traditional uniform, has stated that he will not sign a new contract until the decision is reversed.
• While other team members used Tuesday's day-off to shame the organization's name, Henry Blanco was in Key West after being subpoenaed in a court case involving one of his agents. We can now add "Fighting Injustice" to Henry's already impressive list of accomplishments (which include "Knocking Up Anna Nicole Smith" and "Sexiest Player on the Team").
• Speaking of Blanco, here's hoping that Lou comes to his senses and gives him a start or two this weekend. Seeing as Barrett is 0 for 11 to start the season (not to mention a passed ball or two), I think it's time to put Henry in the 2-spot and let his career .225 average do the talking.
• And finally, props to Jason Marquis for doing the number 21 proud in his first start. After hearing TigerLilly was shot down by management for asking to wear #31 (Greg Maddux and Fergie Jenkins), Jason decided #21 was a pretty safe choice, considering no Cub-great has ever worn it.

Cruel Irony

So for the second day in a row, the starting pitcher that I fully expected to bomb pitched very well. Except this time our bullpen, which is supposed to be awesome, failed miserably. Disappointing to say the least. That's all I have to say about that, I'm too depressed to elaborate.

Game Summary for April 5th, 2007

• Score: Cubs lose to the Reds, 5-2
• Player of the Game: Jason Marquis, for pitching completely the opposite of what his stats suggested. Runner-up goes to Mark DeRosa for hitting the Cubs' first and only home run of the year thus far.
• Subject of Lou's Wrath: The entire bullpen. Most notably Will Ohman for his horrific display of pitching against Adam Dunn.
• Comments: This game was completely awful from the 7th inning on. Bullpen was terrible and the offense had nothing. We left 14 men on base, completely unacceptable. And our leadoff man that we're paying $17 million for this year alone? One for five. Had a chance to get things going in the ninth, but he struck out. Soriano is the anti-clutch.
• Magic Number: 162. Pittsburgh is 3-0?
  

You want me to wake up before noon? What?

I like a day game as much as the next guy, but today's game starts at 11:35. In the AM. That's just crazy talk.

Todays game features two pitchers who had very interesting years last year. Cincinnati's Kyle Lohse had a 5.83 ERA in 2006, while our pitcher Jason Marquis posted a whopping 6.02 ERA last year. This could be a fun game to watch. I'm predicting many home runs for both teams. Hopefully just our team, but I'm a realist.

Just read the preview on the Cubs' website and I noticed this great piece of writing.

Marquis got to work quickly this offseason. He met with Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild in Florida before the right-hander even signed with the team to go over mechanics. Marquis' former teammate Greg Maddux had encouraged the two to get together.

"I knew I wasn't far off," Marquis said when he signed with the team. "Knowing the knowledge Larry had, they said he would be a good guy to see. It was nothing more than to get my mind right and get in a positive frame of mind."

The problem was mechanics, and Marquis said he wasn't far off. But the tweaks that Rothschild made helped him. If he can get his sinker in sync, Marquis will have success.

Wow. Just stellar writing, Ms. Muskat. Maybe if I repeat myself a couple of times in every article I write someday I'll get to write for the Cubs too.