Cubs Sweep Astros; D-Lee Flips Off the Haters

This game defined how Cubs baseball has been recently. Normally when you go down 5-0 in the 2nd inning to the Astros you start planning ahead for tomorrow's game. Maybe you'll be able to mount a comeback by the time you get to the 8th inning. Not these Cubs. They fought back with a 6 run 2nd inning to take the lead, and took it for good on Ryan Theriot's solo shot in the 4th. I think that was Ryan's personal way of showing his distaste for the 2nd base umpire, who was clearly on the Astro's payroll when he called Hunter Pence safe at 2nd on a stolen base. Or maybe he could just use some bifocals.

And for all the people saying Derrek Lee is doing something wrong because he isn't hitting home runs, how about these numbers today. Lee went 3-for-3 with a 3-run homer in that 2nd inning. The man is batting .335 and people are complaining that he isn't hitting enough home runs? I think he just likes to save up his homers for when the team really needs it, there's no need to embarrass other teams every game when usually a double will suffice.

The Cubs are 25-12 since June 3rd, best record in baseball over that time. I'm predicting we take the division two weeks from today.

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.

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.