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.

I was bored

This is what happens when Cubs games go 15 innings. I love this guy.

BP (May 4th, 2007)

It's been a hectic week, and I started to think that the team's recent success was somehow attributed my lack of presence on this blog. But screw it.

• What is the deal with Izturis? Does Lou absolutely adore him? That's gotta be the case when this once gold-glover owns nearly half of the Cub errors this spring, yet he's still seeing plenty of time. Not to mention, his average is hovering around the .200 range. (Then again, who am I to argue when we're winning?)
• No, I'm going to argue. I'm going to make a case for Ryan Theriot to play short. I've said it before, this guy needs to be in the lineup everyday. I don't care that we already have 2 everyday shortstops on the roster (who can't hit). Heck, it really doesn't matter where he's playing, but he's shown that he deserves more than one pinch-hitting bat a game. This kid should be permanently squeezed in the 2-hole between Soriano and Lee.
• Besides that, I'm not terribly offended with how Lou is handling the outfield dilemma. It's working, and we're winning. But the Cubs are sure making him work for his paycheck. I'm curious to see what's going to happen once we get off the four man pitching rotation next week (Thank God Wade Miller is done).
  
• What happened to Michael Barrett this week? His offense disappeared. I've got him tagged for one hit in the five games, 1 for 21 to be more precise. Here's hoping he gets his swing back soon. (1 for 21 ?! I thought that's what we pay Blanco for...)
• And finally, the Annual DeRosa-Bonds Rivalry is turning out to be more of a massacre right now. DeRo is stuck on 4 while Bonds is way out in front with 9 at publication.

Go cubs. -rfs

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?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Right now the game is under rain delay (God's way of saving the Cubs from a humiliating sweep). If we ever play ball today, Ryan "the riot" Theriot will be starting at short. This has the potential to be a genius move by Lou, if Ryan can efficiently play the position.

Announcing that last night's starting lineup would be pretty much the constant for the next few weeks, Pinella immediately changed it this afternoon after a lethargic offensive showing. This possibly be due to the fact that the number 3 hitter on the team hasn't been getting enough cuts at the plate as of late.

Ryan has yet to give the Cubs a reason to keep him out of the starting lineup, so let's all pray that he can handle short. He is an offensive spark, and after last night, we need that bad. There's no reason why this team can't score 4-5 runs a game without breaking a sweat.

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.

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.
  

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.