This Might Be the Cubs Big Break

July 31st, 2007

Cubs; CSN Chicago; August 1st, 8:05 PM ET; vs. Phillies; Moyer, 9-8, 4.75 ERA vs. Hill, 6-6, 3.59 ERA

It is July 31st, the day of the deadline deals, and the free-agents-to-be being traded. In 2007 some big deals were Mark Teixeira going to the Braves, Eric Gagne to the Red Sox, and, surprisngly, Matt Morris went to the Pirates.

Jim Hendry lay silent until 4 PM ET yesterday, the date and time that the trade deadline passed. The fact the Carlos Zambrano remains a Cub still tells me 2 things: a) They are going to try to re-sign him come the offseason, and b) He will help the Cubs come October, and he's been the biggest help to this point as it is.

Carlos has done a phenomonal job this year, not counting the season before June 3rd. Imagine that he had played as well then as he is now. Give the Cubs 4 or 5 more wins, lower his ERA to about 2.20, and Give him a 17-4 record instead of 14-7. I think his chance of a Cy Young are still good, with a 3.47 ERA and leading a playoff contending team to the playoffs with the most wins in the Major Leagues. He is ahead of 6 players who have 13 wins, none of whom start tomorrow, and none won today. His next start is Friday, August 3rd, against the New York Mets' Orlando Hernandez. Then, Ted Lilly faces off against John Maine, and Jason Marquis faces what is presumed to be Tom Glavine on Sunday.

The Cubs won today, 7-3, Marquis got the win as the Cubs scored 3 in the bottom of the inning he gave up his 3rd run, to give the Cubs a 5-3 lead, which was unanswered. Carlos Marmol-ade went the 7th and 8th, and Bobby Howry went the 9th to close it out, a non-save situation.

Tommy G. (Glavine) was shutting down his opponents in Milwaukee, 2 hits, 1 run. Unfortunately, no more, as Guillermo Mota blew the game in the bottom of the 8th, 2-2. The game is now going in to extras, and if the Brewers lose, the Cubs are (tied) in first place. Let's go Mets!! Well, until Friday that is, when the y come over to Chicago.

Thanks,

Ryan

The Cardinals Really Do Suck

July 26th, 2007

Cubs; CSN Chicago; 8:10 PM ET; vs. Cardinals; Marquis, 7-5, 3.92 ERA vs. Looper, 7-8, 5.09 ERA

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Tonight Jason Marquis, having a fair year, faces off against the Cardinals 2nd best starter? Compared to last year's Carpenter's, and Mulder's, and Suppan's, their Looper's, Reyes's, and K. Wells's suck. Their hitters aren't the best in the world either.

Not to say they can't beat Marquis. Afterall, he is the Cubs worst starting pitcher, Marshall being arguably the best, next to the flaming Carlos Zambrano, the streaking Ted Lilly and the tall Rich Hill.

Well, fans, I also have encouraging news. Yesterday the Padres lost, the Brewers, lost and, heck, throw one more loss on the pile for the Brew Crew today and you have the Cubs 1.5 back in the Central, 0.5 back in the Wildcard.

Enjoy the game and I'll post tomorrow.

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

Big Second Inning

July 15th, 2007

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

Today the Cubs completed a 3 game sweep of the Astros, although I hardly think they deserved it. Jason Marquis pitched a horrific game in which the Cubs won by the grace of God. In the first 3 innings of the game he gave up 6 runs. It wasn't just 1 bad inning, either. He had a flurry of bad innings. His final inning was the 4th, the only inning he didn't give up a run.

Any other day and I think the Cubs lose the game. The reason they didn't, in case you didn't hear, was a 6 run 2nd inning. The Cubs then scored the eventual game winning run in the 4th inning, creating a 3 game winning streak that puts them 3.5 games back of the Brewers.

Good things did happen today despite the fact that Jason Marquis decided to bring his F game to the ball park today. Derrek Lee hit his 1st homerun since June 3rd today. That is his 7th of the year. In other news, Alfonso Soriano hit 5th today. He went 0-4, while Ryan Theriot who led off today went 2-5 with a dinger. Overall I believe it was a well played game and look forward to any more good baseball the Cubs want to play.

Tomorrow Rich Hill starts against San Fransisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum. There are a few good things about this game.

1. The offense is red hot again, and it looks like D-Lee may have his power stick back.





2. The game is on ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports.





3. Barry Bonds is stirring thing up by coming to town.

We shall see, my friends and readers, we shall see. I hope all goes well in this upcoming series vs. the Giants so the Cubs can remain contenders in the NL Central.

Thanks,

Ryan