Deep in Enemy Territory

The Cubs easily took the first game of the series against the White Sox today, winning 5-1 behind a pair of solo home runs, some solid play in the 9th inning, and another great game from Zambrano. Maybe he was being serious about this whole being a new season thing.

Today also marked the triumphant return of Aramis Ramirez, who hit one of those solo shots to send a clear message to anyone who doubts the strength of his left knee. Never mind that almost no running or use of the knees is in any way involved in swinging a bat.

Sean Gallagher was sent back down to Iowa, and most Cubs fans probably won't notice a difference. Sean had a 9+ ERA in 5 and a 1/3 innings this season.

Rich Hill gets the call tomorrow against Javier Vasquez at noon. A month ago, I would have put the easy money on Hill, but nowadays I'm not so sure. Prove me wrong buddy.

What Happened While I Was Away...

In case you've noticed, and the list of people that would is probably very short and only includes the name Jason, I haven't written anything in 5 days. I'd love to be able to come up with an impressive excuse, something like 'I was feeding starving children in Zimbabwe', but the rather less impressive truth is that I started a summer job and can hardly stay awake long enough to write anything. My apologies.

So here's a list of things I missed while I was napping:

• Derrek Lee was handed a 5-game suspension. Personally, this is slightly lower than I thought considering the 10-game one Barrett got last year. On the other hand, directly charging the mound is only 3 games, and Young did approach Lee on the basepath for some reason. Next time he'll stay on the mound if he knows what's good for him. Lee is of course appealing the decision, which should keep him around long enough to hit another grand slam off the Sox.
• A large number of people have been doing a Google search for the phrase Zambrano Belt. Well the truth came out shortly after the fight, his belt was off because he was in the middle of changing in the clubhouse when the fight started, not because he wanted to whip somebody. Sometimes the truth is funnier than fiction.
  
• Lee has not yet apologized for swing at Young's pretty face, which I find interesting. Normally people apologize profusely after a fight to show remorse and try to reduce the coming suspension, but Lee is doing no such thing. Young must have said something along the lines of "Next time I'll get your eye, natch."
• The Cubs lost the series to the Padres, unsurprisingly, and have gone 1-4 ever since Lee flipped out.
• Sammy Sosa took a short break from amassing strikeouts and hit number 600 off of Marquis on Wednesday. There was a big sign in the outfield showing his home run tally, and it had a star in front of the number 600. Looked an awful lot like an asterisk at first glance.
• I won't lie to you, I used to like Sammy Sosa. That feeling faded right around 2000. When you walk out on the team, I will walk out on.....your mom. And then I'll take her out to a nice seafood dinner, and never call her again. Then I will proceed to despise you for the rest of my days.
• We lost the series to the Rangers in boring fashion.
• Barrett got traded, which is probably the biggest news of the week. Some people were unhappy with that, but here's how I see it: A catcher is supposed to catch, and well. Rob Bowen works very well with pitchers, doesn't allow many passed balls, and can throw base-runners out. Barrett...well he doesn't do much of anything well, except hit. But Bowen is hitting better than him this year anyways. As long as someone not named Koyie Hill is the main catcher, I'll be happy.

That was a busy 5 days. The Cubs-Sox series on the dirty side of town starts tomorrow, and this time I won't be going to every game. I won't even be able to make it to one game unless you, our intrepid yet sporadic readers, happen to have some extra tickets. rfs and myself would love to hit up Sunday's game, but I can take Saturday too. Heck I'd probably skip work tomorrow if I got tickets. So if anyone out there would like to sit with a couple of struggling bloggers at the game, or if you just need some extra protection from the rabid White Sox fans, hit us up at the e-mail on the right. I promise not to disappoint.

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.

Peace Buddy

Michael Barrett, we hardly knew ye.

And in This Corner, Weighing in at 245 Pounds...

Today should have been about Carlos Zambrano. The headlines should tell about a heartbreaking loss, where Big Z flirted with a no-hitter but ended up losing while pitching a 2-hit complete game. It should have been about the stellar defensive plays that were made, and how many times the Cubs infield pulled off double plays to get him out of a jam.

But no. Today's game was all about Derrek Lee taking offense at something that Chris Young said, and then taking a swing at the 6'10" behemoth. It was about something that Jake Peavy said yesterday regarding Soriano watching his home run sail over the wall. It was about Peavy, Young, and Lee all getting ejected after the rumble.

And this isn't the end of it. There will be repercussions. There will be suspensions. Greg Maddux is pitching tomorrow, and he's old school enough that I would expect retaliation if it wasn't for the history he has with this Cubs team. Tomorrow's game just got very interesting.

All I have to say right now is that Chris Young must be a huge douchebag to get DLee that riled up. Lee knows what's up, he's a good guy and he doesn't start throwing hands for no good reason. After getting beaned in what was almost the face, Lee said something to Young which I couldn't make out. Young's response looks like it must have been completely out of line as Lee's reaction was instant, stopping dead in his tracks. "What?". And then everything exploded. In the midst of the ensuing fight, somehow Zambrano's belt came off. I like to think he was planning on beating someone with it.

I'll probably be back tonight with more thoughts on the topic. Until then if you need more details, every sports show in the country will have them.

Sosa Watch

Sammy hit home run 499 today for the Rangers. Why do I feel like he is saving 500 for us next week?

Multiple Bartman Sightings In Cubs Win

What a wacky game today. It's hard to believe, but Cubs fans (not the bullpen) almost blew it for the boys today.

With two balls "interfered" with due to leaning over the baskets, I was starting to get nightmarish flashbacks to the Bartman game. After that second one, Floyd pulled an "Alou" and I truly felt like he was going to rip that guy's head off.

Luckily, we didn't bend over after the altercations and got the Win.

Funny thing: I'm almost positive I personally know the guy that messed with D-Lee's double. I think I met him in the bleachers a few weeks back and talked with him -- pretty sure he has nothing more to do with his life than wear camo pants and chase fly balls that leave the field of play. So I obviously had a good laugh when I saw his mug on the TV today.

Cesar Izuseless is....Useful

Picture this scenario. I'm relaxing on the couch watching a Cubs game. We're losing by one run, which is not surprising in the least. So naturally, I dozed off. I awoke to the sounds of my mother yelling at me that the Cubs scored and they were winning. When I opened my eyes I found this to be true. But then she told me that Cesar Izturis hit a two-run double to take the lead. This left me no choice but to call her a bold-faced liar and denounce her as my mother. Oops.

That's right, Izturis came through in the clutch to put the Cubs ahead, and they actually won a series. Against an AL team. With a winning record. I know, I find it hard to believe too.

Also, Koyie Hill got another hit, raising his average up to .182, or 6 points higher than Jason Marquis. At least now I will almost feel comfortable about the Cubs using him as a pinch hitter.

But of course, when the Cubs finally win 2 in a row, so do the Brewers. We're still 5.5 games back.

About this Clay Fella

There isn't much information available on Clay Rapada as far as I can see. I was able to dig up this photo however, and by dig up I mean it was the first thing that came up on Google Image Search:

That's right. He throws sidearm, and he's a lefty. Apparently that's a rare combination. Let's just hope the Mariners aren't used to it tomorrow.

[Image courtesty of a 3 year old article from The State News]

Thunder Matt Gets on the Bus to Iowa

Well, you knew something had to happen soon. The Cubs outfield was way too overcrowded and with the emergence of Felix Pie as the everyday center fielder there was only right field open each game, with four players looking for playing time. They either had to send down Pagan or Murton, and it looks like the fiery redhead chose the short straw.

We were expecting this move to happen once Aramis rejoined the lineup, but with the recent sub-2 inning starts by Lilly and Marquis, it looks like Lou decided he needed another arm in the 'pen, and quickly. So the Cubs called up left-hander Clay Rapada, a reliever that I've never heard of. Hopefully he can help us keep the momentum that the team has had over the past week or so.

So with this development, new questions arise. Does Clay stay when Aramis gets back, or do we just send him right back to Iowa? How hard will it be to dump off Jacque Jones on an unsuspecting team? Any chance we can get Farnsworth back so he can get in a fight with Barrett and put him out of commission? Hopefully we'll get most of these answered soon enough, and if we could manage to trade Jones straight up for Farnsie that would answer all three. Brilliant.

If you wish to pay your respects to the memory of Matt Murton in the Majors, head on over to Thunder Matt's Saloon. They're acting tough about all of this, but I'm sure they could use some comforting.

Today Was a Good Day

Tonight the Cubs won a one-run game, Sean Marshall pitched extremely well, Ryan Dempster didn't blow a save, and Michael Barrett didn't get into a fight with a pitcher. I am pleasantly surprised. Keep it up boys.

More Trade Talk

NOTE: This is pure speculation by the staff here at RTWF.

Today on ESPN's Around the Horn the panel discussed Michael Barrett's place on the current team. A few points against his behalf were brought up.

EDIT: The Pardon the Interruption guys think that there is either a 65% (Tony) or 0% (Wilbon) chance that Barrett will back next season. Hard to believe we're making this much news on a Red Sox/Yankee heavy network.

1) The Zambrano Fight: Both guys claim to have put this behind them, but there is speculation that bad blood still could be lingering. This is fueled by the fact that he hasn't caught Carlos since the altercation.

2) Catching Big Z: Probably the more relevant reason for Barrett's absence when Z is on the mound is the fact that Carlos simply has better stats when Hill or the illustrious Henry Blanco catches him. Much better. I can't determine if this is pure coincidence or deeper than that.

3) Rich Hill: Though small, Barrett and the young Hill had sharp words for each other in last night's game. This begs the question as to what Mikey is doing to piss off all his pitchers? People might argue that the catcher-pitcher relationship is a huge part of the game of baseball, I have no idea...but it makes sense.

4) Terrible Defense: Everyone knows Mike is an offensive catcher, and as long as he is scoring more runs than his terrible defense is giving up, I think no one should give a flying ****. However, right now that is not the case. He is struggling and his defense is staying constant at horrible. I've been screaming for Henry Blanco to get more playing time, hopefully he will get some after he gets back.

So there you go, I'm not sure where I stand on this whole thing right now. I love Mikey, but I love the Cubs more. As much as it hurts me to say it, if he can't do the job, maybe we should move him while he still has some good value. I dunno.

Hit us up with a comment if you've got a view point on this.

Go Cubs.