Lilly vs. Wainwright

July 25th, 2007

Cubs; ESPN 2; 8:10 PM ET; vs. Cardinals; Wainwright, 9-7, 4.18 ERA vs. Lilly, 10-4, 3.51 ERA

The Cubs enter play today 3 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the NL Central. They also enter 1.5 games back of the San Diego Padres in the Wildcard. Not too shabby considering how much time the Cubs have to actually overtake these teams in the standings.

There are no teams standing in the way of the Cubs in the Central, and in the Wildcard it appears that only the Braves will make a ripple through the quiet water. Not that I am begging for excitement, far from it, I want this to be as easy as possible.

With yesterday's win, Zambrano ties himself for the major league lead in wins. With 13, he is tied with 3 other pitchers. Tonight Ted Lilly aims for his 11th win, which would put him ahead in the un-official stat 'Most Wins With New Team', which just gauges how he's doing with the Cubs so far wins-wise.

Thanks,

Ryan

Wells vs. Zambrano

July 24th, 2007

Cubs; CSN Chicago; 8:10 PM ET; vs. Cardinals; Zambrano, 12-7, 3.69 ERA vs. Wells, 4-12, 5.75 ERA

Today the Cubs begin a 3-game series against the Cardinals by sending their ace, Carlos Zambrano against an ace-hole, former Pirate, Kip Wells. Last year Kip was traded from the Pirates to the Rangers, where he would spend most of his days in AAA. Over the offseason he was signed by the Pirates as pitching help for their rotation. With Mulder and Carpenter STILL out, and Carpenter not returning until after the start of '08, he's been more key than I thought he would be.

Not to say he has been good, because after his first 3 starts, all quality starts, he would've been better off shoveling coal for a ship sailing away to Norwegian territories. Zambrano, however, has been pitching awfully good this month, a 1.42 ERA, and has just been pitching above amazing since very his 3rd start in June.

The Cubs enter play today with a 1.5 game deficit of the San Diego Padres in the Wildcard, behind the Braves, also, who have play 3 more games than the Cubs. The Brewers, who lost yesterday, hold a 3 game lead against the Cubs entering play this afternoon. There are 2 double-headers today, 1 between the Tigers and White Sox, 1 between Seattle and Texas. Also, Craig Biggio announced his retirement today, making this a sad day for Major League Baseball, and ensuring that in 2013 at the latest, he will be a hall of famer. Enjoy the game.

Thanks,

Ryan

Off Day Topics

July 23rd, 2007

Cubs; CSN Chicago; 8:10 PM ET; vs. Cardinals; Zambrano, 12-7, 3.69 ERA vs. Wells, 4-12, 5.75 ERA

Instead of doing a preview of the Cardinals vs. Cubs series, like I had originally planned, I am going to cover a lot of topics relating to the Cubs.

Carlos Zambrano in July this year is 3-1 with a 1.42 ERA, having 4 quality starts in 4 starts. His loss came against the Pirates and Shane Youman. At night, like tonight, his ERA is 2.38. On the road his ERA is 3.13, and against the Cardinals career he is 6-4 in 115 innings with a 2.43 ERA.

The Cardinals are 5-5 in their last 10, and are 21-22 at home. The Cubs are 7-3 in their last 10, and 24-22 on the road. Versus teams in the Central, the Cardinals are 21-15, the Cubs 20-18. The Cubs are 11th in the league in batting average at .269. This is 5th best in the NL and best in the NL Central. The Cardinals are 15th in the league with a .268 team batting average. The Cubs are also 4th in the MLB in team ERA at 3.86, and 2nd best in the NL, trailing the Padres. The Cardinals are 26th in the league in ERA at 4.80, giving up almost 1 more run than the Cubs a game.

The Cubs haven't faced Kip Wells this season yet. The Cardinals hitters have faced Zambrano once this year, getting 7 hits, 1 run, a homerun by Albert Pujols. Total this year, in 178 at-bats against Cubs pitchers, Cardinals hitters have a .258 batting average, 18 runs, 7 homeruns. The Cubs hitters against Cardinals pitchers this year have 181 at-bats against the Cardinals, hitting .276 with 6 homeruns and scoring 29 times.

The Brewers, who lost to the Reds 2-1 today, carry a 3 game lead into play tomorrow, in which Yovani Gollardo, 2-1, 2.34 ERA, faces off against Matt Belisle, 5-6, 5.13 ERA. The Brewers are hitting .229 with 16 runs against the Reds this year, while the Reds are hitting .297 with 18 runs off of Milwaukee pitchers this season.

Matt Murton is hitting .326 with 5 homeruns and 21 RBI in 36 games with the Iowa Cubs. Neal Cotts is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in 7 games, 6 starts at AAA Iowa, as well. Since returning to AAA following the All-Star Break, Felix Pie is hitting .354 in 48 at-bats. The Iowa Cubs are 57-46 and are 2nd place, as the AA Tennessee Smokies are 14-17 and tied with the Cubs previous AA team, now belonging to the Mariners, the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx.

The Cubs are 2nd in the league in WHIP behind the Padres, with a 1.27 Walks+Hits per Innings Pitched statistic. Cubs pitchers have given up 56 stolen bases, 18th most on the list. The highest is 106 by the San Diego Padres. The Cubs lead the league in batting average against at .238. They are 2nd in the league behind the Dodgers in Ks per 9 innings with 7.51 opposing hitters K'd per game. They have a strikeout to walk ratio of 2.22, which is 9th in the league.

In the series against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cubs have Carlos Zambrano going up against Kip Wells, Ted Lilly against Adam Wainwright, and then Jason Marquis vs. Braden Looper. After finishing the series at Busch Stadium, the Cubs play the Reds, and then return home to play the Phillies. Also, Derrek Lee returns from his 5 games suspension today which he didn't have a chance to appeal, although he did ask to appeal the suspension after a brawl against Padres starting Pitcher Chris Young in June.

The San Diego Padres lost to Colorado yesterday, putting themselves 2 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West, and 1 game ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the Wildcard. The Cubs are 3rd place in the Wildcard at 1.5 games back.

The Cardinals enter play today against the Cubs to begin a 7 game homestand that includes facing the Cubs and Brewers. They then fly to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates. Albert Pujols has heated up lately, hitting .429 in his last 10 games with 6 homeruns.

Thanks,

Ryan

We Lost 2 of 3

July 22nd, 2007

Cubs; CSN Chicago; Tuesday, July 24th; 8:10 PM ET; vs. Cardinals; Zambrano, 12-7, 3.69 ERA vs. Wells, 4-12, 5.75 ERA

Nothing worse could've happened. We beat their ace and then get kicked in the nuts by the other 2 starters. I don't care about the game 2 loss because the Brewers, NL Central leaders, and Padres, Wildcard leaders both lost. The game 3 loss, though, the Brewers won. The Padres are losing 2-0 right now, so we might not lose a game in the Wildcard, but I'd rather win the Central than have to be the underdogs every series.

The good news? Jason Kendall had his first hit as a Cub today. Also, Derrek Lee comes back from his 5 game suspension Tuesday to face the Cards. Honestly, he chose the best time ever to take his suspension. The Brewers lost just as many times as we did, so we are now 3.5 games back again, but hey, it's only 3.5 games. That's all I have to write today, so have a good day and enjoy the 1 day break, as tomorrow I will do an in depth preview of the Cardinals-Cubs series.

Thanks,

Ryan

For One Night, Everything Clicked

July 21st, 2007

Cubs; WGN 9; 1:05 PM ET; vs. Diamondbacks; Owings, 5-5, 4.92 ERA vs. Hill, 6-6, 3.70 ERA

Today I will lay back on my fuzzy couch with my Ernie Banks jersey on, watching the Cubs play on channel 19, Superstation WGN. I will relax, knowing that everything that I had wanted to happen in baseball world happened. Every team that needed to lose to make the Cubs better in the NL Central and the Wildcard lost.

Yesterday, the Cubs won 6-2 after getting down 2-1 on a Chris Young homerun off of Marquis, who had a great start by the way. The Cub game yesterday was at 2:20 PM ET, and there were no other games until 7:05. This gave me plenty of time to check standings, probable starters, stories, and still have time to play with my kitten.

I wanted the Padres or Dodgers to lose. If 1 of them wins, the NL West has 1 sole possessor, and so does the Wildcard. Well, by sheer luck, both of them lost, letting the Cubs be 2 back in the Wildcard. I wanted the Braves to lose also. They lost 4-2 to the Cardinals, a team that hardly matters at all at this point.

Finally, the most important of them all, the Brewers lost, pulling the Cubs to withing 2.5 games of the NL Central lead. The Cubs are 51-44, and have a 3 game win streak, winning 7 of 8 sinc the all-star break. So, back to the title, for one night everything clicked.

Thanks,

Ryan

Bonds vs. Cubs; Webb vs. Marquis

July 20th, 2007

Cubs; WGN 9; vs. Diamondbacks; Webb, 8-7, 3.42 ERA vs. Marquis, 6-5, 4.03 ERA

In Bonds' first and only game against the Cubs in the 4 game series, he sure made it very interesting. In the 2nd inning Bonds connected off of Ted Lilly for a solo shot, his 18th of the year, Giants down 4-1. His next at-bat was in the 3rd inning, when he had a 2 RBI single. Giants down 4-3.

His at-bat after that, he walked, but then in the 7th inning, with Will Ohman on the hill, he went deep again. A 3 run shot in the center field basket. 9-8 Cubs. That was the final. 8 runs for the Giants, he drove in 6. He hit 2 shots, 18 and 19 on the year for him, 752 and 753 on the past 2 decades for him.

How'd the Cubs do in all this mess? No homers. Still won, but oddly enough no homers. Players that did good yesterday include Alfonso Soriano (3-5, 2 R, 1 RBI), Aramis Ramirez (3-5, 2 R, 2 RBI), Mike Fontenot (2-4, RBI), and especially Jacque Jones (4-5, RBI), who I can say is doing OK for the first time since 2006. His numbers aren't great, but 2 weeks and 4 days ago he was hitting .227, now he is hitting .244, which is good seeing as he is getting more playing time now.

The bad news is that Daryle Ward, Lee's replacement, and Cliff Floyd went down yesterday. Ward with a calf injury, Floyd was dizzy. Now Jake Fox will probably take over at first, and Pagan will surely play. The game starts at 2:20. The game is on Superstation WGN.

Thanks,

Ryan

Jim-bert Hendry-stein

July 19th, 2007

Cubs; CSN Chicago; 2:20 PM ET; vs. Giants; Morris, 7-5, 3.86 ERA vs. Lilly, 9-4, 3.51 ERA

The rumors are true, Jim Hendry is a genius. He finally got rid of that son of a short stop Cesar Izturis. The best part, though, is that he went within the division. The Pirates gave up minor league crap that they never used for Izturis, and now their crap that they never used is our crap that we'll never use.

On a serious note, however, this could be what Lou's been waiting for. He can now call up that 12th pitcher he wants. He said he wants 13 hitters and 12 pitchers, and right now it's 14 and 11. Actually, with Izturis gone and Lee suspended, it's 12 and 11. So, Jake Fox was recalled to the majors, probably until D-Lee gets back. Then it will be 13 hitters, and the Cubs can call up that 12th pitcher.

But wait, what do you mean the Cubs have 12 pitchers already? Yes, that's right, Rocky Cherry is off the DL and Dempster will be shortly. But that means that the Cubs will have to option someone. I would hate it to be Gallagher after he wasted those innings for us yesterday, but it has to be him or Petrick, seeing as they are the same type of pitcher, a right-handed long reliever/mop-up pitcher.

Let me tell you something though. If having too many pitchers is a bad thing, then the Cubs are in bad shape, but it isn't. Last year was torture not having enough pitching. We had to call up people that ended up sucking like JKU, well that's how you say it, though it is spelled Jae Kuk Ryu, Juan Mateo, and so on.

Have a nice day and enjoy the game as the Cubs go for 3 out of 4 against the Giants. Bonds is back today and hitting in the 4 slot in the Giants order. Maybe he'll make this game a little more interesting than it already is, as this game is sort of a rubber match, the Cubs trying to win the series in the last game of the series.

Thanks,

Ryan

Well He Really Barretted That Play, Didn't He?

July 18th, 2007

Cubs; WGN 9; 2:20 PM ET; vs. Giants; Cain, 3-10, 3.53 ERA, vs. Zambrano, 11-7, 3.83 ERA

When I say that Kendall Barretted* it, I mean not once, not twice, but 3 times. First, he drops the throw from Soriano that scores a run. Next he goes and drops that pop-up that ended up scoring the game winning run. Finally, a "wild pitch" that he certainly should've gotten to rolls away and lets the Giants have someone in scoring position. On offense he went 0-3.

I'm not so worried about THAT though. I'm worried about Barry Bonds returning to the lineup today. Who am I kidding, it isn't today, it's 7 minutes from now. If the bullpen has the kind of night it had yesterday, we are cruising for a bruising. For the Cubs to keep winning and have a shot at the playoffs, the pen needs to be more consistent and have their bad days when we have huge leads or are already getting killed.

In preview of today's game, Cain doesn't give up many runs, he has an ERA of 3.53. However, he doesn't get many either. With that ERA, your record should be great, but 3-10 it stands. On the flip side, Zambrano has a 3.83 ERA, which I would expect him to then carry a record of about 8-8, but he is 11-7, leading the NL in wins, showing that the Cubs give more than adequate run support. If the stats from 2007 were always correct though, the Cubs may have won more games than they have. Let's hope that Matt Cain gets that slow run support today and that Zambrano gets the goods.

*- When I say "Barretted", I am referring to the sloppy defense that Barrett had shortly before he departed from the Cubs.

Thanks,

Ryan

You say, "Good Buy," I say, "I Know,"

July 17th, 2007

Cubs; CSN Chicago; 8:05 PM ET;vs. Giants; vs. Zito, 6-9, 4.90 ERA, vs. 4-3, 3.48 ERA

My title is speaking of the Jason Kendall and cash for Rob Bowen and minor league trash. Overall, Hendry is having a good year. It goes to show you that 300 million spent is 300 million earned. If you weren't singing it when reading the actual title, it was a take on the Beatles song "You say goodbye, I say hello."

I have some pictures of what Kendall will look like as a Cub, and what Bowen will look like as an Athletic. Here they are.

Today should be a good game as Barry Zito has been pitching like last year's Sean Marshall, and Sean Marshall has been pitching like Cy Young Barry Zito. With the Cubs on a 4 game win streak, let's see how they can do against Zito, in a battle of the southpaws. Also, Bonds returns tonight, as he didn't play yesterday with swollen ankles and knees.

Thanks,

Ryan

Bonds vs. Cubs

July 16th, 2007

Cubs; ESPN; 7:05 PM ET; vs. Giants; Lincecum, 4-2, 4.63 ERA vs. Hill, 5-6, 3.81 ERA

The title, I feel, is fitting, as the Giants have been having an off year to say the least. Barry Bonds may be the only reason people go to Giants games. I don't know, and I don't care. I care about the Cubs and how we may be damaged by Barry. The good news about this 4 game series? 3 lefties start against a slumping lefty. Throw a Zambrano in there and you have yourself a decent chance of a sweep.

From there we go to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who nobody even seems to be giving a chance in the 2nd half. They are 49-45 now, and something that will help them in this series is reigning NL Cy Young winner Brandon Webb. He starts against the Cubs in game 1 against Jason Marquis. Game 2 is a sub-par 5-5, 4.92 ERA Micah Owings. He faces Rich Hill, who starts tonight. That game feels even to me even though Hill has the better stats.

Those are my 2 series previews wedged into a paragraph each. They aren't the best series previews in the world, but we don't have an off day so I can't break out the stat sheets and do my detailed previews just yet.

Thanks,

Ryan