Top of the seventh, 2 outs, a 1-2 count to Cubs catcher Michael Barrett. Barrett fouls one off, keeping himself alive. The Cubs are down 4-1, and a single here would score two. Here comes the pitch...Michael Barrett connects, sends it deeeeep to center, and its over the wall! Grand slam!The Cubs are up 5-4 on a Michael Barrett grand slam to straightaway center! All the Cubs have to do now is hold on for 3 more innings and they will have stolen one from the Pirates.

And you would have thought that they could have held on for just a few more innings, with star reliever LaTroy Hawkins and closer Joe Borowski, who hasn't blown a save since last year, waiting in the bullpen. Instead, Borowski gives up five in the 9th, including a walkoff grand slam from third baseman Rob Mackowiak, to lose the game in spectacular fashion. Hawkins got through the eighth just fine, but came back for game 2 of the doubleheader to blow another Cubs lead, giving up a game-tying home run in the 9th before letting Francis Beltran give up another walkoff home run in the 10th to lose the second game 5-4.

I'll be honest here: I got back just in time to watch Borowski blow it in the bottom of the 9th of game 1, and it left me livid. Needless to say, I didn't even bother with game 2, but I was completely surprised that they blew another late game lead to lose the game. What the hell happened here? You can't really blame these losses on the many injuries the Cubs have suffered; they played well and went into the 9th with the lead in both games. Yet Borowski and Hawkins, the most reliable relievers in the bullpen this year, had terrible outings and cost the Cubs what should have been a doubleheader sweep. I'm just as mad as anyone else about Borowski's and Hawkin's forays into the art of choking, but in all honesty, the Cubs didn't play that poorly, so there's not a lot of cause for alarm. They have lost a season-high 4 in a row now, but there's no reason to think that it will continue. If the Cubs come out and play hard today, they can counter the incredible momentum the Pirates have right now and take a few from them.

- posted by Mike J. @ 12:02 PM
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I couldn't have said it better myself: the Cubbies looked pretty terrible in this 2-game series, and no one is that deserving of the Series Star award. However, it seems to go against my nature not to award it (unless I'm out of town for the weekend, that is), so after some careful consideration, I've decided to give the Series Star to Houston Astro Mark Ensberg. His error in the first inning loaded the bases for the Cubs, who didn't even get a hit that inning, and gave them the opportunity to get a jump on the Astros. Unfortunately, the Cubs couldn't capitalize on his graciousness, but then again they couldn't do much of anything right.

On a side note, Zambrano hasn't had his best stuff lately, and I've been considering changing the Cubs' Ace. Then it occurs to me the next best choice is probably Glendon Rusch, who did pitch a great game against the Cardinals on Saturday, striking out 9 over 7 2/3 innings, but I don't think I'll be doing that just yet. Onto the prediction.

Series Prediction

The Cubs are squaring off against the last place team in the NL Central with a double-header today and two more games Saturday and Sunday. Of course, this last place team is 20-21, because apparently the NL Central is the best division in baseball from top to bottom. The Pirates have given up exactly as many runs as they have knocked in (193) and have won 7 of their last 10, meaning they're in pretty good shape to take a game or two from the injury-prone Cubs. However, the Pirates are 6-13 at home this year, meaning that the Cubs don't have to worry about home-field advantage all that much. The Cubs will have to scrape together some offense in their battered state, and lately they've been showing they're spotty at best. Given that they took 2 of 3 from the Cardinals (who are in 5th place with a 23-22 record, somehow), there's a pretty good chance they can regain their form, especially with Matt Clement and the mighty Glendon Rusch starting this series. I'll say 2 of 4, as the Cubs hold onto 3rd place in the NL Central.

- posted by Mike J. @ 8:56 AM
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Unfortunately my partner and I have not had much time to post lately which would explain the lack of steady posts. However, we're now back on track and ready to update more frequently. Moving on to the Cubs, this two game series was not particularly good as the Cubs ran into the buzz saw that is the Houston Astros. The Cubs were swept in the two game series losing the first 5-0 and dropping tonight's game 7-3. Overall, the Cubs played some bad baseball, not pitching very well and failing to hit like a winning team. Neither starter for the Cubs had their best stuff these past two days which is never good when a team has trouble hitting like the Cubs did. Thankfully it was a only a two game series and the Cubs can move on and play a four game series against the Pirates this weekend. Anyway, on to the series notes:

• The Cubs have now been shutout a NL leading five times which is not a good sign. As much as I wish I could deny it the Cubs have and probably will continue to live and die by the long ball. With the exception of isolated games here and there the Cubs seem unable to produce a good amount of runs without a homer. Tonight's game was a perfect example. In the top of the first the Cubs were able to coax two walks and error to load the bases with two outs. However, instead of producing a clutch hit to start the game off right, Todd Hollandsworth grounded to the second baseman. Then in the fourth the Cubs had first and third with only one out and instead of producing a clutch hit, Ramon Martinez was made to look silly on a pitch low and inside and Greg Maddux weakly flied out. If the Cubs don't quickly learn to produce some runs without hitting it into the stands they are going to continue to suffer from this feast or famine offense. Hopefully some Pirate pitching will be just the cure the Cubs need.



• For the third game in a row a Cub's starter went out to the mound with less than his best stuff. On Sunday Matt Clement didn't have his killer stuff but thanks to the big first inning was able to survive and get the win. The Cubs were not as lucky against Houston as neither Zambrano nor Maddux had great stuff. Maddux was consistently serving up pitches on a silver platter leaving them high and in the zone and the Astros had a field day with him. Somehow Maddux escaped giving up only five runs as there were many hard hit balls tonight. I never thought Cub pitching would be the answer for a slumping Houston team but apparently Maddux and Zambrano were to their liking. Normally I wouldn't hold out much hope for a reversal with Glendon Rusch taking the mound Friday but Glendon has been extremely impressive in his two starts and hopefully can continue his solid work.



• Every day seems to bring another injury as the Cubs are looking to put both Todd Wellemeyer and Tom Goodwin on the already overcrowded disabled list. Todd has been an invaluable member of the bullpen and it will hurt to lose him for any period of time though the return of Mike Remlinger is very much appreciated. The Cubs can ill afford to lose many more players especially with a good portion coming back in the next couple of weeks. While it is a testament to these Cubs that they have continued to play well despite the mounting injuries they cannot afford to lose another big player. Thankfully Prior will be back in the next couple of weeks and can give a shot of life to this hurt Cub team.

I don't really have much else to say about this frustrating series. I couldn't come up with a series star this time because honestly I couldn't think of any player who was worth it. Obviously this two game series is not the end of the world and the Cubs are still very much fine but it would be nice to see them play with a little more life against their division rival. With a nice four game trip to Pittsburgh on the agenda the Cub bats should reawaken and hopefully the Cubs can take three of four.

- posted by Mike R. @ 11:48 PM
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Unfortunately, the series against the Giants made for some good baseball games instead of the whompings I was hoping for, and the Cubs ended up dropping the last game of the series today in extra innings. It was a tight game and Joe Borowski lost another, but still, he keeps his streak of saves intact.

The Cubs are getting pounded by injury after injury, with Kerry Wood and Sammy Sosa both on the 15-day DL, Wood for his right triceps and Sosa for his back. This means that Mark Prior's got a good shot of getting back onto the field before Woody does, and that the Cubs' offense is missing a key component.

One piece of the offense the Cubs can't afford to lose right now is Moises Alou, the new Series Star. He only garnered 3 hits out of 11 tries, along with a walk, but two of those hits were huge home runs, one a walkoff in the 10th in game 2, the other a 2-run shot to tie the game at 3-3 earlier today. In low-offense series, Alou nearly won two games for the Cubs, but the Cubs couldn't find enough to take the last game from the Giants. Still, one can't really ask Alou to do much more than he did.

Series Prediction

Let's consider my last two predictions before we move onto the Cardinals series: against San Diego, a second place team, my faith in the Cubs faltered and I said they'd win 1 of 3, and against the Giants, a struggling team (coming in, at least), I brashly predicted a sweep. In a sense, I was dead on with my predictions, if not a little off.

Now, in a 3-game series, there are only 4 possible outcomes, which means just by guessing I should be able to correctly predict the outcome at least once. The law of averages is on my side, thankfully, because I'm 1 for 6 since starting this site up, so I can still cling to some sort of respectability. Using whatever respectability I have, I'll go ahead and make my prediction.

The St. Louis Cardinals are riding a 2-game winning streak into the Friendly Confines to meet a Cubs team that has been hamstrung in the last week by a couple of high-profile injuries. The Cubs were patiently awaiting for the return of Mark Prior and doing well without him, but losing Wood and Sosa might be too much for an extended period of time. Now they must face off against a team that has a better-than-expected starting rotation with two questionable starters in Sergio Mitre and Glendon Rusch. The two haven't done terrible in their outings, but they're certainly no Prior and Wood, and unless the Cubs solve the Cardinals' pitchers, this could be a rough series in Wrigley.

I hate to say it, but the Cubs are in a pretty good position to lose another series. The crowd will be behind the Cubbies all three games (myself included on Saturday), but realistically, I think they'll take 1 of 3 this time around with the Cards. Let's hope my poor track record continues, though.

- posted by Mike J. @ 7:17 PM
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On a night when the best pitching performance was a perfect game by Randy Johnson the Cubs had the good fortune of running into the second best pitching performance of the evening, dropping game one 1-0 last night. Giants' starter Jason Schmidt dominated the Cubs, allowing only one hit and three men on base while striking out 13. Unfortunately Matt Clement was not quite as good, giving up one run and scattering five hits in eight innings of work. Clement was given the loss despite lowering his ERA by a third of a point. There wasn't much the Cubs could do last night but tip their caps against the overpowering Schmidt. Anyway, on to the game notes:

• After having some time to think about last night's game I cannot help but conclude that the Cubs just flat out got outpitched. The Cubs could not have done much more else short of hitting to make Jason Schmidt's night harder. The Cubs consistently went deep in the count and had several great at bats, including long at bats by both Michael Barrett and Todd Walker. I have complained almost constantly about the Cubs' aggressiveness and poor pitch choice but last night I had little to complain about as the Cubs forced Schmidt to throw 144 pitches in a complete game. Every time I felt that the Cubs were primed for a hit such as after a 10 pitch at bat someone would harmlessly popout. What makes it even more frustrating is that Schmidt wasn't in control but still managed to be dominating. He had a lot of trouble finding the plate but when he did the Cubs didn't stand much of a chance. On a night like last night it's better to just hang your head and get ready for the next game.



• Speaking of Schmidt's high pitch count I must say that Felipe Alou made a gutsy call in the ninth inning with his pitchers. I like to see pitchers complete games as much as the next guy but letting your starter finish already over 130 pitches is an interesting call. If the game had been 2 or even 3-0 I might understand because he could go to the bullpen at any sign of danger but in a one run game with the top of the Cub order coming up I do not understand leaving him in. While he might have dominated the Cubs in the first eight inning all it took was one bad pitch to cost him the win and with the pitch count over 130, the possibility of a bad pitch was high. If that had been Dusty Baker leaving Kerry Wood or anyone else in after 130 pitches in a one run game I would not have been pleased. Either way it worked out for Alou as Schmidt finished the inning with not even a sliver of trouble and got the complete game.



• With the announcement that Sammy Sosa will be put on DL the Cubs injury woes have intensified. The Cubs need Sammy to be the centerpiece of the offense just as they need their number one and two starters. The Cubs are obviously a much different team without Sammy batting third and this injury could be trouble for an offense that has already proven to be feast or famine. On the one side it is good news that despite all these injuries the Cubs remain only a game back of Houston in the NL central but at the same time the Cubs can ill afford to continue losing big players. The plan has always been to hold together the team and try to keep in contention until the injuries have healed and so far it has been a success. Let's just hope the Cubs can make it to that day.



• I have noticed this year so far that some of the Cubs' starters seem to have a second gear when in a jam that was absent last year. Wood, Zambrano, and especially Clement all seem to turn it up a notch when they are facing trouble, something they did a lot less often last year. I have seen so many instances that last year would have resulted in 3 or 4 runs given up and this year turn into no runs. Take for instance the Giant third when Clement faced first and third with one out. Last year Clement would have most likely given up one or two in this situation before getting out of it, but last night Clement induced a huge popout and then after walking Snow, got Marquis Grissom to ground out to end the inning. I do not know if this new found poise is a result of the normal maturation process for these young pitchers or the result of having an older mentor like Greg Maddux around but either way I like what I am seeing.

I don't really have much else to say about last night's game as overall it was a frustrating outing. While on the one hand I hate that the Cubs can only put up one hit on the other hand I must give credit to Jason Schmidt who threw a gem. Hopefully the Cub bats will wake up for this second game of the series and the Cubs will be able to take one from Kirk Reuter.

- posted by Mike R. @ 11:06 PM
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Here we are, with a little less than a quarter of the season already done, and the Cubs are in a good position at 7 games above .500 and tied for 1st with the Astros, a much improved team from last year with the addition of Andy Pettite and Roger Clemens, who would be 8-0 right now if not for a late home run by Mike Piazza. The early season jitters are gone for Greg Maddux, and it appears that the Cubs offense has found its footing, once again. This isn't exactly a turning point in the season, but its never too early to look at what the Cubs are doing right and wrong, and already some trends are developing. Bear with me as I throw numbers your way...

• Right now the Cubs are 22-15, having scored 186 runs and allowed 143. For the sake of comparison, the Astros have scored 201 and allowed 147 and have the same record.


• In the Cubs' 22 wins, they scored 153 runs of their 186 and allowed 56 of their 143. In their 15 losses, they were outscored 89-33 by their opponents.


• Of their 22 wins, exactly half have been victories by 4 or more runs, 10 were save situations and won by 3 or less, and only one of those games was won in the 9th inning, a thriller of a game against the Reds on April 18th where Sosa and Alou hit solo shots to win the game 11-10.


• Of their 15 losses, the Cubs scored more than 3 runs in exactly 1 game, an 11-10 loss to the Reds in 10 innings that they almost came back from, but fell 1 run short. 9 games where the Cubs scored 3 or less were lost by 3 or less (4 of those shutouts), and the other 5 losses were by 4 runs or more. 2 of those 4 runs or more losses came at the hands of the Diamondbacks, aka Cub-killers, and the other was a hideous start by Maddux where the Cubs lost 13-2 to Pittsburg.


• In 4 of those losses, the Cubs blew a lead, but never a big one (only 1 or 2 runs) to lose the game. 2 of those lead changes came in the early innings under a starter, the other two were given away by one Andy Pratt and a shaky Kyle Farnsworth.

So what does all of that mean? In the win column, the Cubs are equally adept at blowing out their opponent as winning close games. They've blown a few close games, but you can chalk those up to a crummy bullpen or early inning losses. For the most part, our good relievers, i.e. Borowski and LaTroy Hawkins, are pretty reliable.

In the loss column, there are obviously problems abound. Let's forget about their 3 awful losses (13-2 to the Pirates, 9-0 and 10-1 to the D-Backs) for a second: besides thoughs, the Cubs aren't losing by much in these games. Disregarding those 3 games, their runs allowed drops to 57 in their losses, so compared to their 33 runs scored, that means they're losing most games by an average of less than 2 runs, which could be accurately described as frustrating as hell, since they aren't scoring more than 3 runs in those games anyway. Its not like they're blowing the lead either, as I've already pointed out- the Cubs offense simply takes days off here and there.

Let's throw something else in while we're at it: the Cubs are second in the entire MLB in home runs right now with 54. This certainly isn't a bad thing, but there's a prime example of why home runs aren't everything. On May 8th, 3 different Cubs - Sosa, Alou, and Walker - all hit solo shots off the Rockies pitcher, yet they still lost, 4-3. With a lot of their runs coming from home runs, the Cubs don't produce as much without them, and in a tight game where you're getting dominated by a pitcher and held under 3 runs, you're not going to blast a game-winning home run. There's a better chance of getting some runs by string hits together rather than swinging for the fences.

If the Cubs batters can get it through their heads that a pitcher isn't going to give up home runs, therefore taking away a potent weapon of the Cubs, they've got to get it in their heads that that's not what they should be swinging for. I don't think anyone prefers playing small ball over hitting dingers, but everyone prefers wins over losses. Right now it seems like the Cubs' artillery is one piece short, and if the Cubs can add it to their arsenal, (note to Corey Patterson: learn to bunt) they've got a great chance to have even more winning streaks like 4-gamer that they've got going now and start to build a solid lead in arguably the best division from top to bottom in baseball right now.

- posted by Mike J. @ 1:35 PM
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The only way to describe how I feel about the Padres series is pleasantly surprised. I knew the Cubs had that kind of offense capability, but I had no idea that they would be able to produce like that on the road considering their recent track record. The sluggers on the team produced big numbers this series, with Sammy Sosa, Moises Alou, Aramis Ramirez, and even Corey Patterson (note: not a "slugger") all hitting home runs in supposedly pitcher-friendly Petco stadium (after watching the Cubs scatter homeruns, though, I'm more inclined to think that the only thing pitcher-friendly about Petco is the Padres' offense. Zing!). If Sosa hadn't fallen prey to a couple of sneezes that sent his back spasming before game three, he might have hit another on Sunday and easily earned the Series Star, but that award isn't going to a regular starter this series.

With Sammy debilitated by sneezery, the standout against the Padres has to be Jose Macias, who went 8 for 15 with 2 triples, 4 RBI, and a go-ahead solo shot on Sunday. Although the home run won the game for the Cubbies on Sunday, I'm more impressed by the two triples on Friday; you can't trot around the bases, you've got to hustle. In a series where the Cubs' bench saw a lot of field time, Macias was the most impressive, and if you're a Cubs fan, its got to make you feel really good that your bench can step up and help sweep a 2nd place team on the road.

Series Prediction

Now that the Cubs are back in Chicago for a series against the floundering Giants, who struggle even with Barry Bonds in the lineup, they find themselves in a very good position to match their 6-game winning streak earlier this season and perhaps find themselves alone in first place, if the Astros drop a game or two.

San Fran's lost 4 in a row and are 8 games below .500, while the Cubs find themselves on a 4-game winning streak and 7 games above .500. The Giants have given up more runs than anyone in the league except Colorado with 214 runs allowed, which says something about their pitching, to say the least. The Cubs, however, have got three strong starters coming up for this series in Matt Clement, Carlos Zambrano, and Greg Maddux, and if the Cubs can win with Sergio Mitre and Glendon Rusch starting, surely they can muster a few wins out of these guys.

Last series I distrusted the offensive potential the Cubs showed in their win against the Dodgers and said they would only win 1 of 3 against the Padres. I've got to say, it feels good being proven wrong here. Will I go ahead and say that the Cubs, arguably in a great position to sweep the Giants, will do so? Or will I set my sights low so I avoid disappointment when the offense doesn't show up at Wrigley or Barry Bonds, coming back from whatever's wrong with him this time, knocks one onto Waveland to win the game?

Decisions, decisions.

After being wrong last time, I think I should say the Cubs will take 2 of 3 this series. Then again, its not like I win anything for being right, and I'll be even more glad that I'm right if I call a sweep and the Cubs provide. So there it is. Since I'll be at the game on Tuesday, I'm expecting a win for Clement. Since Zambrano's the current Cubs Ace, he's virtually a lock. Since Maddux is coming off a great game, I expect he'll retain the control that's he found. Since the Cubs offense has regained its potency, the starters should all breeze to victory, while maybe walking Barry Bonds if they have to, to make it two sweeps in a row and a 7-game winning streak.

- posted by Mike J. @ 1:03 PM
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I am starting to really like Petco Park. What has been hailed a traditional pitcher's park has been exactly what the Cubs' bats have needed as they have christened the stadium with 13 runs and 5 home runs in 2 games. After a poor offensive output for the most part in the LA series, the Cubs bats have woken up in San Diego. With a solid start from Sergio Mitre, the Cubs won their third in a row last night, dispatching the Padres 7-5. While the Cubs may have done everything to hand the game back to the Padres, they managed to escape with the victory and guarantee a series win going into the final game. I wasn’t able to see all of the game but here’s what I thought:

• I am finding much to frequently that I have no idea what is going through Dusty Baker's head anymore. I hate to harp on little things when the Cubs won and when it ended up having no effect on the inning but sometimes his decisions leave me baffled. Take for instance the 4th inning when Aramis Ramirez was caught stealing with Patterson at the plate. If it was a hit and run as Chip Caray and Steve Stone believed then Dusty apparently forgot who was in the batter's box. Patterson is probably the worst contact hitter on this team and the last batter on this roster I would use in a hit and run, especially with Ramirez at first. Sure enough Corey shied away from an inside fastball and left Ramirez out to dry as he was easily thrown out at second. I don't necessarily fault Corey for something everyone knows he just isn't adept at doing. Dusty apparently needs a litle voice in the back of his head reminding him that no, a hit and run with Corey Patterson is in fact not a good idea.



• The bullpen was extremely generous last night as my two favorite relievers tried their hardest to blow the game. Kent Mercker came in to handle the seventh and proceeded to give up a leadoff single before getting two outs on extremely well hit balls. The most surefire way to turn an relief appearance into disaster is to not get the leadoff man out. Sure enough despite getting the next two outs, Burroughs' leadoff single came back to hurt the Cubs as Kyle Farnsworth gave up a walk and a single. It took a fantastic grab by Farnsworth on a rocket ball up the middle to end what looked to be a terrible inning. Then in the eighth with the Cubs only up 3 runs Farnsworth forgot where the strike zone was as he walked the leadoff man and then two outs later gave up a rbi double to Burroughs. Thankfully, Dusty finally went to Latroy Hawkins to end the inning and he did, getting Mark Loretta to fly out.



• Congratulations to Sammy Sosa who moved into ninth place all time on the home run list last night with a monster shot for home run number 549. Sammy passed Mike Schmidt for ninth all time and now needs fourteen more homers to catch Reggie Jackson for eighth all time.

Despite a lackluster effort by the Cub's bullpen, the Cubs still won and have now won 3 in a row and will look for the sweep tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow's game should be interesting with Glendon Rusch getting the start for the Cubs in place of the injured Kerry Wood. Hopefully Rusch can give the Cubs a solid outing and the with the help of the bats the Cubs can sweep the Padres. Either way with Rusch on the mound it should be interesting.

- posted by Mike R. @ 2:59 PM
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Before we get to the new feature, I should mention something about yesterday's game. I don't really have much on it that you couldn't find on ESPN or elsewhere, but I will say that Maddux looked spectacular, throwing only 88 pitches to get through 8 innings. He looked especially good in the field as well, at one point snagging a grounder that was to the right of the mound, looking at 2nd and 3rd to hold the runners in place, and then firing to first to get the out. He should teach the other Cubs' starters to come out of their delivery ready to make the play. Also, Corey Patterson hit a home run! Let's hope it doesn't go to his head and he starts swinging for the fences every time again.

Anyway, onto the new feature. With the Cubs' starting rotation, its hard to say which pitcher is better than the others on paper, simply because they all (when I say all, I don't mean Mitre) have the ability to shut down their opponents in dominating fashion every time they step onto the field. Sure, if you asked me to name the Cubs' ace regardless of current performances, I'd say Kerry Wood without hesitating, until Prior is back at least, but its not so simple. That's why we've now devoted sidebar space to the best starting pitcher at the moment in the Cubs rotation, as you can see on the left.

Does this have any real bearing on the Cubs as a team? Probably not, considering their wins seem to depend more on whether the offense shows up or not lately, but its still fun. Plus, whenever the current Cubs' Ace is pitching, I'll guarantee a win for that game. This will undoubtedly come back to haunt me.

One more thing- The Ace changes when it changes. Its completely subjective, so if you don't like it, too bad, you don't have a say! Well, except for the, uh, comment option. Which I'll read. And consider. Which makes you have a say, I suppose.

Anyway, the first Cubs' Ace pick is Mr. Carlos Zambrano. After getting whomped by the D-Backs for 7 ER on April 26th, he's since baffled batters, giving up one unearned run in 24 innings. Since that ugly game in Arizona, his ERA has dropped from 3.55 to 1.82, and now leads the NL in the category. His best game was against the Rockies on May 7th, where he threw the complete game shutout using only 97 pitches. For a while there, Matt Clement was certainly the Ace, winning 5 straight, but after giving 4 ER to the Dodgers on May 12th, he's lost the top rank in the rotation. Right now no Cubs' pitcher is hotter than Zambrano.

- posted by Mike J. @ 4:18 PM
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This one's pretty obvious: he's the guy that has been on fire lately, and can practically win the game by himself when he wants to, and he's been wanting to his past three games. The Series Star is none other than Tom Goodwin. Wait. I mean Carlos Zambrano.

It says something when the guys on your bench do better than your starters in a series, and there's absolutely no way I'm giving Series Star to someone besides Zambrano here. Dusty might have earned it with his managerial decisions (making Patterson bat 7th, letting Goodwin and Todd Hollandsworth start in Game 3), but you can't deny that Big Z is on a roll. 24 innings and only an unearned run to show for it, and somehow he isn't 3-0 during this stretch (stupid Cardinals). He even got a hit and an RBI yesterday. Hopefully this momentum will carry over to PETCO stadium.

Series Prediction
Cubs' victories seem to depend less and less on the pitchers; if the offense shows up, the starters will provide. The Padres are doing well this year so far, with a 21-14 record and only 2 games behind the Dodgers. Of course, the weak NL West is making things a little easier for them, but they're still a good ballclub, and are 13-6 at home.

Let's be honest- the Cubs need to take 2 of 3 here to stay near the top of the NL Central. The Astros are 2 games ahead, the Brewers are a game behind the Cubbies, and the Cardinals are a half-game behind the Brewers. It is only May, but they've got to stay near the top the entire season, because you know the Astros will. The way the Cubs have been whimpering lately, though, 1 of 3 wouldn't surprise me, and that's my prediction.

I still hope I'm wrong though.

- posted by Mike J. @ 10:40 AM
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If there's one thing Carlos Zambrano did right yesterday, besides pitching allowing one unearned run over eight innings, it was probably hitting Alex Cora in the elbow in the second. Best to avoid any more of those 18-pitch at-bats that result in a home run. Anyway, lets start the notes.

• This might the most unintimidating lineup the Cubs have had in a long while. Tom Goodwin and Jose Macias batted one-two, Todd Hollandsworth started in right instead of Sammy, and Paul Bako, aka Mister .194 batting average started behind the plate. Still, Dusty Baker ended up looking like a goddamn genius, because the subs, Hollandsworth especially, were sparkling.



• Hollandsworth, besides batting .333 with 4 HR, 6 RBI, and a 1.226 OPS in all of 30 at-bats as a backup this year, made a hell of a play in the top of the 4th, faking out the runner on first when a pop fly came to right. He acted like he was going to catch it, even though he couldn't make it, and picked it up after one bounce and fired a missle to second base to get the force. Somehow I feel like Sammy would have just let it drop. Maybe Hollandsworth can learn to play shortstop so we can keep this guy in the lineup.



• More on Hollandsworth: The Dodgers turned about 200 double plays this series, but in the 9th Hollandsworth broke one up and hustled down the line to get to first. Looks like he's still got some speed to me.



• Goodwin, in the 2 spot, impressed me more than Corey Patterson has lately, especially in the top of the 4th where he swung at a high inside ball, like Corey would, except that he smacked it into right for a single. Hope you're taking notes, Patterson.



• If Aramis Ramirez has been looking awful this series at 3B, its because he has been. Three errors this entire season for him, and two of them came this series. Good thing he went 3 for 5 yesterday.



• Let's talk about Zambrano again. In his last 24 innings, he's given up 1 unearned run. It seems like the title of Cubs' ace changes every week.



• Joe Borowski. 2/3 inning pitched, 3 hits, 2 ER, 1 walk. Is he no longer closer material? I think he just hasn't pitched in a while; he's gotta lose one before you let Hawkins take that role.

Once again the Cubs salvaged a series by not getting swept; hopefully their stay in San Diego won't be as disheartening as Los Angeles was.

- posted by Mike J. @ 10:29 AM
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After Tuesday's game, I thought the Cubs would be hard-pressed to look more pathetic than they did. Sure, when your ace gets pulled after 2 innings for reasons unknown, its apt to make one nervous - God knows I was. Fortunately, its looking like its just tightness in the right triceps, and while he may miss his next start, he could just get pushed to the back of the rotation as well, and won't be placed on the DL. Um, take your suspension now? Oh yeah, I had a dash up there - but come on, you're in the freakin' major leagues here. Suck it up and don't make stupid errors at least. Aramis Ramirez and Todd Walker looked like they were playing triple A ball all of a sudden, Todd Walker especially with that heinous flip to second base in the 3rd. Wood only let up 3, a lead which is clearly surmountable, since the Cubs scored 3 in the game. However, the Cubs basically beat themselves and handed the Dodgers the victory, although you can't say they didn't deserve it. They made Wood pay when he was off, and that's just what you expect a good team to do.

Speaking of making someone pay when they make mistakes, let's talk about Wednesday's game. It looked like a pitcher's duel was in the works up until the third, where I witnessed one of the most pathetic displays of infield defense I've ever seen. With one man on base, the Dodgers hit four balls in the infield to score two runs. The Cubs looked helpless: Matt Clement threw a rainbow from his knees, which of course Milton Bradley beat to first, Ramirez got thumped on the chest by a shot to 3rd base and couldn't hold onto it, getting the error, and it was only until Clement realized the absurdity of the situation while pitching to Juan Encarnacion and just struck the guy out.

If we had managed to score a few runs and make up for this egregious defensive display, it wouldn't have been so bad. The Dodgers and Alex Cora put the nail in the coffin in the bottom of the seventh, though, when Cora fouled off thirteen pitches in a row before hitting a 2-run shot over the right field wall. This was one of the best at-bats I've seen in a long time, and it brought back nightmares of Julio Franco doubling to score two runs after thirteen pitches back on April 10th against the Braves. After that, it was pretty much over. The Cubs' anemic offense left seven men on base and scored no runs, and in the 9th when I was readying the rally cap, they flashed a shot of Eric Gagne warming up in the bullpen and I tossed it across the room instead. There's no way this Cubs team is breaking Gagne's streak.

Despite this poor performance, there is a silver lining. I almost fell off the couch when they showed the batting order for the Cubs and Corey Patterson was batting seventh! Let it be known that Old Style Cubs told you so (see yesterday's post). And while he put up about the same numbers he always does, consider this: he took 14 pitches in 3 at-bats, about 5 more than usual, and actually tried to bunt in his first at-bat. Of course, he bunted at an unhittable pitch, showing that just because he's bunting doesn't mean he won't stop chasing stuff outside the strike zone, but its a big step in the right direction. Instead of swinging for the fences, he smacked a nice single to right on his one hit, and if he could do that every time, I'd be happy.

With one more game to go, its looking pretty unlikely that the Cubs will get their act together and provide any sort of run support or defense for their pitchers, and they've got a pretty good chance of getting swept by these Dodgers, who have now won 6 in a row. The Cubs better get their act together soon, because the Cardinals are finally winning games in a row and are only .5 behind the 2nd place Cubbies.

- posted by Mike J. @ 8:32 AM
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Blah. Tonight's game went about as badly as it could have gone for the Cubs. Kerry Wood left after the second inning after giving up only 2 earned and still ended up with the loss. The Cub's offense continued to look anemic, and failed again to produce a clutch hit or a big inning. Even worse, the Cubs defense regressed tonight as both Ramirez and Walker made errors and another play could have been easily been scored an error. The Cubs seem unable to string together a winning streak as they win 2 in a row then lose 1 or 2 then win 2 more and with Houston's win tonight have dropped to three games back in the NL central. Overall, this was a poorly played game that featured lapses in all aspects. On to the game notes.

• I am seriously doubting Corey Patterson's ability as a number two hitter for the Cubs. His game winning RBI single aside, Patterson has shown almost a complete ignorance of the strike zone as he has already struck out 29 times, second on the team to Sammy Sosa. Unfortunately Corey has shown nothing this season that would indicate he can produce the numbers Sammy can and as a number two hitter his strikeouts are troublesome. Corey has also shown the tendency to jump on first pitches even if they aren't the best pitches to hit. Patterson is averaging 3.1 pitches per plate appearance which ranks 101st in the NL. While I accept that Corey can be a great first pitch fastball hitter, right now he isn't hitting them but rather harmlessly popping them up. In tonight's game Patterson had popped out twice in his first two at bats seeing only a total of 3 pitches. Maybe a move down in the lineup would help Corey learn some patience and give him the chance to remember the strike zone.



• I sincerely hope that Kerry Woods tricep soreness is nothing serious and only, as the reports say, a precautionary move. This team needs Kerry Wood almost as much as it needs Mark Prior and the playoff race would be made extremely more difficult if Kerry is forced to miss any significant amount of time. Kerry had not gone extraordinarily long in his last two starts, going no more than 115 pitches, and so it seems unlikely that this soreness is from overwork. I hope that this is just a cautionary move and that Kerry will be ok because this team cannot afford to have its two top starters be absent for the rest of May.



• Defensively the Cubs had a sub-par effort tonight. Aramis made a couple bad throws that reminded Cubs fans why they were worried about his defense at third. While one of the throws probably should have been dug out by Lee, no one wants to see Aramis revert back to the error-prone fielder that he was in Pittsburgh. Todd Walker also showed why people worry about his defense as he took what seemed to be an easy flip to second base and sent it sailing past Martinez who was covering the base. Walker and Ramirez have still preformed much better defensively than expected and so we can only hope this was just a fluke.



• Paul Lo Duca's 2 RBI single and Milton Bradley's RBI fielder's choice immediately afterwards showed me something that the Cubs seem unable to do consistently this season and that is break a game open with a clutch hit. The Cubs have not been able to break many games open this season and have settled all too often for one run leads or ties. Take for instance the last game of the Colorado series when Tom Goodwin had just drove in the tying run seconds before the rain delay. The bases were loaded for Corey Patterson who was in a perfect position to nail a single and drive in 2 runs and keep the inning alive for Sammy Sosa. Instead Patterson struck out and the Cubs were forced to settle for only a tying run. This example illustrates how the Cubs have been unable to consistently break games open and get the clutch hit. In the case of the Dodgers, the Cubs were only down 3-1 at the time and even though Kerry Wood had been taken down the Cubs were still very much in the game. However, after the two singles the Cubs faced a 6-1 deficit and it suddenly was a very different ballgame.

Well that's all I have tonight after a frustrating, poorly played game. I hope that Kerry Wood's pain is nothing serious and that he will be fine and able to pitch his next start. Hopefully, the Cubs can come out tomorrow night on the back of red hot Matt Clement and even the series at one game a piece.

- posted by Mike R. @ 11:50 PM
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The Cubs played a great series of baseball with the Rockies, and despite Corey Patterson whiffing on the third strike in Game 2 to end the game, he came up big in the others. He notched 4 RBIs in the Cubs' 11-0 victory thanks to a bases clearing double in the 2nd and drove in the winning run on a two-out single in the bottom of the 13th on Sunday, redeeming himself from Saturday's missed opportunities. Patterson isn't having the greatest year so far, batting only .262, 3 HR, and 15 RBI, but perhaps some of the momentum from this series will carry over to the next, because the Cubs are going to need it against the Dodgers.

Series Prediction

The Dodgers are one of the best teams in baseball right now, sitting atop the NL West with a 20-10 record. Coming off a four-game winning streak and a sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Dodgers don't look like they'll be slowing down anytime soon.

That is, until they run up against three of the best pitchers in baseball right now, coming in the form of Kerry Wood, Matt Clement, and Carlos Zambrano. Wood has the highest ERA of the three with 2.53, but I suppose you can forgive him since he's second in the NL in strikeouts (50). He'll be facing Jeff Weaver, who hasn't had much luck so far this year and with some solid batting the Cubs could take advantage of him, but then again, as the Cardinals and D-Backs showed us, his poor record is no indication of how the Cubs will fare against him.

For the second game, Matt Clement will be facing off against Kazuhisa Ishii, who has already thrown a complete game this year. Clement isn't exactly a slouch though; this should be a very good game.

In the last game of the series, Hideo Nomo squares off with Carlos Zambrano, who had one of the best games of his career on Friday against the Rockies, throwing a complete game, two-hit shutout.

Unfortunately, all three games are up in the air. The Cubs' offense has been spotty since their 6-game winning streak earlier in the season, and its doubtful the Dodgers will let them get away with much. If they hang onto late-game leads though, perhaps Joe Borowski will get a chance to prove his worth in the House of Gagne. Ever the eternal optimist, I'll say that the Cubs will take two of three this series; this pitching rotation is too good to doubt. Two wins or one, these games should make for some great baseball.

- posted by Mike J. @ 4:15 PM
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A tale of two teams: Team A scored 11 runs against the Colorado Rockies without a single homer. Team A was patient at the plate drawing six free passes and hit for singles, not for homers, combining for 12 hits. Team A didn't waste at bats swinging for the fences but rather generated runs by stringing together singles and walks. Team A won 11-0.
Team B scored only 3 runs against the same Colorado team, scoring all three runs on homers while getting only 2 non-homerun hits. Team B was not praticulary patient at the plate, frequently swinging at the first pitch and striking out eight times including three strikeouts by the offensive centerpiece. Team B consistently failed to drive in runners in scoring position and finished the game with two straight strikeouts with a man on third. Team B lost 4-3.
Obviously both teams are the Cubs who lost today to the Rockies 4-3. The Cubs managed only 5 hits today despite 3 homers which all left the ballpark. Despite hitting Jason Jennings on almost every pitch in the early innings the Cubs were unable to capitalize and dropped game two of the series. Cubs starter Greg Maddux did not have his greatest stuff, going seven innings and giving up 4 runs on seven hits. Maddux appeared dazzling at times but made some mistakes, the biggest a 2 run homer to Jennings, the Colorado starting pitcher, that tied the game at 3. However, despite Maddux's less than stellar start it was the lack of clutch hitting that eventually doomed the Cubs. Here's what I thought watching the game:

• Sammy Sosa had quite a bittersweet day today hitting homerun number 547 to move one homer behind Mike Schmidt for ninth on the all time list while at the same time becoming one of three players in MLB history to strikeout 2000 times. Sammy is now second all time in career strikeouts with 2002 after striking out 3 times this afternoon including once with Corey Patterson standing on second.



• I swear every time a Cub batter hits an early home run it sets the rest of the Cubs hitters back for the rest of the game. The Cub hitters must just sit on the bench wide-eyed, waiting for their chance to go out there and hit a homer of their own because it seems that every time the Cubs hit an early homer everyone swings for the fences. It frustrates me to no end that the same team that con produce 11 runs without a single home run can the very next day manage only 3 homeruns and 2 other hits. The Cub hitters seem to forget that they can drive the ball to the opposite field or find a hole when they watch one of their teammates hit it out to Waveland. I sure hope that they realize soon that they all aren't Sammy Sosa and they start to hit what they are good at.



• In retrospect I realize that I probably jinxed the Cubs in the ninth inning today when I saw Todd Walker step up to the plate with a man on third and one out. I had foolishly penciled in the run in the back of my mind seeing arguably the Cubs best and most patient hitter up in this situation. I figured Walker would find a way to drive in the base runner and depending on the next couple batters the Cubs would either be going to the tenth or already be winners. Unfortunately that was not the case as Walker struck out leaving the ninth inning rally up to arguably the Cubs most aggressive, inconsistent hitter Corey Patterson. True to form, Corey swung at a terrible first pitch, putting himself in a hole he was not able to get out of. While I expected this from Patterson it is too bad that Walker was not able to make some kind of contact and maybe drive in the tying run.



• Greg Maddux pitched a pretty good game today with his only real mistake being the pitch that Jennings hit for a homer to tie the game. At one point Maddux had retired 12 straight batters and fared much better than his opponent with the wind blowing out early. I hate to see pitchers get lazy with the opposing pitcher as Maddux grooved Jennings a pitch that once it was hit left little doubt. While it wasn't Maddux's best start, it probably wasn't a start he deserved to lose but did due to the lack of run support. On most days a 2 or 3 run lead is enough for our starters but unfortunately today was not one of those days.



• Despite the loss today it is nice to see that it seems the bullpen is coming around from its earlier slump. The bullpen combined for 2 innings of scoreless work today and has looked solid in the past couple starts it has appeared in. While the Cubs will not likely lean heavily on the bullpen this season with how deep the starters usually go, a solid bullpen is still essential to hold down those 1 or 2 run leads on days when the Cubs just aren't providing the insurance runs.

Overall it was a frustrating game as the Cubs were not able to capitalize on several golden opportunities and seem to continue having trouble getting the clutch hit in close games. While it is somewhat troublesome that this club lately cannot string together 4 wins every so often I know they will turn it around coming into this tough stretch of baseball. Hopefully Sergio Mitre can turn it around after a couple of bad starts and get the Cubs the series win tomorrow.

- posted by Mike R. @ 2:02 AM
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Carlos Zambrano is good.

Complete game shutout. Two hits. No walks. Ninety-seven pitches.

And yet the Cubs offense makes me more excited. Think about it: in his last start, Zambrano pitched for seven innings and got almost identical results. The only difference was run support, and the Cubs offense came in and made us all glad we ditched Shawn Estes last year, who gave up 9 in 2 2/3 innings. This was overkill, too, although I'm not complaining.

If they keep connecting, the Cubs can gain some ground on the Astros, who are two games ahead right now. Even Sergio Mitre can win with the type of showing the Cubs had today.

- posted by Mike J. @ 4:53 PM
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The Cubs offense was dormant until Thursday afternoon, when hungry and tired, it finally woke up and mauled the Diamondbacks pitching, scoring 11 runs. The Arizona defense whetted its appetite though by giving up 4 errors and costing themselves some runs, but that doesn't take away from the Cubs solid offensive performance. Leading the charge was this Series' Star, Derrek Lee, who went 5 for 5 with a 3-run homer and 5 RBIs. In an otherwise dismal series for offense, with the exception of Sosa's late-game homer in Game 1, Lee shined on the best day for the Cubs, and perhaps is finally shaking off that slow start of his. Let's hope he stays hot for the Colorado series.

Series Prediction - Rockies at Cubs

The Cubs seem to be falling into a habit of getting my hopes up by winning the last game of the series only to come back and whimper at the plate the next day. BUT, the Rockies aren't that great on the road so far this year, they have a losing record, and I would like nothing better than to see the Cubs rough up Shawn Estes today and then pound the other pitchers as well. I'll go ahead and say the Cubs will take 2 of 3, with Mitre continuing his streak of sub-par pitching performances.

- posted by Mike J. @ 11:27 AM
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I made an rather impromptu trip to the Friendly Confines last night and had the good fortune of watching the Cubs turn in another lackluster, poor hitting game. The Cubs dropped game two of the series 2-0 making Casey Daigle look like a Cy Young winner as opposed to Casey Daigle. Despite another solid outing by Kerry Wood who went seven innings giving up only 2 runs on 3 hits the Cubs could not score runs and giving Wood his second loss of the year. The Cubs continued their aggressive ways but showed a little patience in some instances giving me hope that this team can realize the advantage of hitting out of a 2-1, 3-1 count. All in all it was a frustrating game and it put the Cubs in danger of their first sweep in a long time. On to the game notes:

• I have complained almost every game about the Cubs lack of patience at the plate and how it has hurt our offense and last night was no different. Facing one of Arizona's less quality starters the Cubs jumped on pitches early in the count to the tune of no runs. At one point Casey Daigle had thrown roughly 40 pitches in the 5th. That kind of stat is unacceptable. It was no surprise that when the Cubs decided to put the bats on their shoulder and take some pitches, they got on base, drawing some walks and getting singles. Unfortunately the Cubs were unable to convert any of these chances into runs and continued to give Wood poor run support.


• While on the subject of Kerry Wood, he did not have his best stuff last night. He seemed to have an inability to finish off batters as he wasted several 0-2 counts and just seemed to not be his usual stuff. Wood was still able to go seven and struckout eight but without any run support he fell to 3-2 on the season. While the first run was technically his fault, the broken double play as a result of Ramirez's poor throw was the real reason for that first run. Hopefully, Wood can rebound in his next start and pickup his fourth win of the season.

Anyway, that's all I have from last night's game. Sorry for the slim game notes but overall it was a frustrating game that the Cubs easily could have won. Hopefully, with Clement taking the mound today the Cubs can take game 3 from the Diamondbacks and avoid the sweep.

- posted by Mike R. @ 3:14 PM
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Well after a hard fought, great series against the Cardinals the Cubs took a step back tonight with a 6-3 loss to the Diamondbacks at Wrigley. For some reason the Cubs are one of the few teams that has been unable to figure out these Diamondbacks as they have now dropped 3 of 4 to them and turned in a rather lackluster effort all around. The offense sputtered, the pitching was sub par and the defense for the most part was not there. Sergio Mitre did not have his best stuff today and the Cubs were pretty baffled by the knuckleballer Steve Sparks. On to the game notes:

• Corey Patterson has been playing a really bad stretch of baseball lately. Corey has looked lost at the plate, played some poor defense, and all around has just looked disinterested. Corey has been unbelievably aggressive at the plate recently, swinging at almost every first pitch. I feel that as this point if a pitcher tried to intentionally walk him he would still swing at one of the pitches just say he took a swing. On the defensive side today, Corey misplayed a line drive hit that got past him and ended up costing the Cubs a leadoff triple and eventually a run. While I applaud his effort on the ball I didn't think he stood a chance on that ball and thought he should have held up and conceded the single. A leadoff single is much less dangerous than a double or triple, which is what happened. I am a big Corey Patterson fan so I hope he can shake this off but so far he hasn't looked great.



• I liked when Dusty Baker sent Lee running in the 2nd even though he was called out on what appeared to be a bad call. However, I continue to be baffled by Dusty's decisions concerning bunting and stealing. It seems that even Dusty himself has no idea when he wants to play smallball and when he wants to play moneyball. One inning Baker would send Lee running and then other times it would seem he was content to go for the home run. I think that Dusty needs to play a little more small ball and teach these hitters how to string together 5 or 6 hits. I don't remember the last time the Cubs scored runs by stringing together hits versus getting a man or two on and then hitting a homerun. The homers will come but not as frequently as they are needed and so if the Cubs want to rejuvenate this offense they need to learn to swing for hits and create a big inning. A little patience at the plate would help this greatly as well.



• In about the 3rd inning I realized that a knuckleballer is probably the worst possible pitcher for the Cubs to face. I'm sure the Cub hitters were salivating watching those 60 mph knuckleballs float to the plate and then looked stupid or had to take emergency swings when the pitch would suddenly take a dive. Those juicy diving knuckleballs must have looked like batting practice pitches until the end, making this already impatient team think they could hit it out to Waveland on every pitch. Let's just hope that the experience of hitting the knuckleballer doesn't mess up the Cubs for a couple more games because these upcoming pitchers are exactly the Arizona pitchers the Cubs want to see.



• The man I least want to be is Dusty Baker when Mark Grudzielanek is finally healthy and ready to return to the lineup. I would not want to make the decision about who gets to start at 2nd for the Cubs. I can't imagine a better start for Todd Walker who has looked amazing at the plate so far, becoming probably the Cubs' most patient hitter. The worries about Walker's defense have so far been unfounded as he has preformed fine defensively However, Grudzielanek is a still a great contact hitter and a fantastic defensive 2nd baseman. At this point in the season I don't see how Baker can bench Walker with how great he has done so far but we shall see how this unfolds.



• I have given up trying to defend the Cubs' bullpen to my non-Cub fan friends. All through the offseason I tried to explain to people that the bullpen was the most improved aspect of the Cubs this season but in this stretch I am being proven horribly wrong. The bullpen for the most part did not perform well at all in the St. Louis series but it only came back to hurt us in two of the games because the starters were able to go deep into all four games. However, in a game like tonight in which Mitre was only able to go four innings the bullpen weakness showed. When Glendon Rusch came in the Cubs were still very much in the game only down 4-0 but after giving up 2 runs, 1 on a balk, the Cubs were in a much different situation. Hopefully the bullpen can figure this out and get control back or else the starters are going to have to go nine innings a game.

All in all it was not a well played game as the Cubs were unable to solve the knuckleballer Steve Sparks and Sergio Mitre did not make his best start. The Cubs have caught a break not having to face Randy Johnson or Brandon Webb so let's hope the Cubs can capitalize and take the next two from Arizona. Tomorrow the Cubs have Kerry Wood going against Casey Daigle who the Cubs were able to take advantage of in his last start against us. The Cubs are a better hitting team than they have shown lately so let's hope they can show it and have a huge day against the Diamondbacks tomorrow night.

- posted by Mike R. @ 12:05 AM
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After getting beaten up on by the D-Backs in Arizona, the Cubs are looking to put on a more respectable performance in the Friendly Confines. Let's break down each of the games and the pitching matchups

May 4: Steve Sparks (1-1, 4.56) vs. Sergio Mitre (1-1, 4.43)
Mitre lasted only 3 and 2/3 innings against the Diamondbacks in his last start, giving up a quick 5 runs. Sparks has gone back and forth from starter to reliever, and his last two starts have been good outings, giving up only 3 runs in those two games but still getting the no-decision. Neither one has much of an advantage on paper: the two have nearly identical stat lines.

Arizona's dropped 3 of their last 4 coming into this series, and they have considerably less luck on offense than they did against the Cubs last week. Richie Sexson, who's still tied for second in HR's with 9 despite being out for a week, is sorely missed by this ballclub, and will have to look elsewhere to get something going. If Mitre fares better than he did in Arizona - which is entirely possible at home - the Cubs will probably wake up with the crowd roaring behind them and take this one from the Diamondbacks.

May 5: Casey Daigle (0-1, 8.55) vs. Kerry Wood (3-1, 2.52)
Daigle started the game that the Cubs won 4-3 last week, giving up 3 to the Cubs. He's calmed down considerably since the beginning of the season, so his ERA isn't much of a reflection of his current ability. However, he's going up against a Cub who hasn't had a bad start yet this season in Kerry Wood, who doesn't seem satisfied unless the Cubs are winning every game. Kerry's second in the league in strikeouts with 42, and this should be an easy one to call.

However, I thought so last series too, and the Cubs proved me wrong by keeping their offense conspicuously quiet. If the Cubs can muster even a few runs and hang on once Kerry leaves the game, they can notch another win.

May 6: Elmer Dessens (1-3, 7.66) vs. Matt Clement (4-1, 1.95)
Dessens isn't off to a good start this year, and he's going up against arguably the hottest Cubs starter (although its slicing hairs to say which one's the hottest) in Clement, who pitched 8 great innings in pouring rain at Busch stadium and threw 13 K's the start before that against the Mets. The way the Cubs get going when they see this guy pitch, I'd guarantee a win here.


The tables have turned in the second half of the Cubs vs. D-Backs series: now that they're back in Wrigley, the Cubs have homefield advantage and their two best pitchers starting in Wood and Clement. Randy Johnson and Brandon Webb, who befuddled the Cubs offense last week, will be sitting on the bench for this series, and that's always good news. I was wrong last series when I said the Cubs would take 3 of 4 from the Cardinals, although they did split, which was the least I expected. I'm tempted to say the Cubs will sweep this one, but I'm not entirely confident in their offense just yet, so expect them to take 2 of 3 from the Diamondbacks this week at Wrigley Field.

- posted by Mike J. @ 4:22 PM
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There's no way to pick one star for this series; every Cubs starter pitched games worth a win, but only two came away with one. Take a look at the numbers-

Kerry Wood - 8 innings, 2 earned runs
Matt Clement - 8 innings, 1 earned run
Carlos Zambrano - 7 innings, 0 earned runs
Greg Maddux - 7 innings, 2 earned runs

That's a whopping combined 30 innings pitched while letting in only 5 earned runs, and it shows that the Cubs pitching rotation is as good as people expected it to be. While the Cubs offense floundered in every game except Game 4 (and even then Maddux helped out, scoring twice, getting a hit, and stealing a base), the starting staff kept each game close until the last few innings, where the game was literally given away by the relievers. Because of this, the Series Stars this time around are the Cubs' starters: Wood, Clement, Zambrano, and Maddux. Every single one of them is dangerous, and if the offense starts clicking again the Cubs can easily win another 6 or more straight.

While its hard to single out one pitcher who did better than the rest in this series, its pretty easy to find one that did worse than all the others:

Series Bum - Kyle Farnsworth

Farnsworth fell apart in both appearances this series, pitching for 1/3 of an inning across both games, walking 4 batters, and throwing 18 of 24 pitches as balls. He got the earned runs and the losses in both games, and I admit to being slightly confused as to why Baker left him in to flounder in Game 3. Farnsworth appeared to have no control over the ball, and the disciplined Cardinals batters simply waited for him to throw something hittable before Scott Rolen finished him off.

The good news is that Farnsworth's troubles could be limited to the St. Louis Cardinals. In the five outings previous to these he didn't give up a single run, so let's hope that he gets a handle on things and returns to form. These shaky performances undermine the work of a decent bullpen, and unfortunately they came during close games that ended up costing the Cubs.

- posted by Mike J. @ 10:07 AM
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Carlos Zambrano remained winless against St. Louis on Sunday as the Cubs fell to the Cardinals 1-0. Despite seven solid innings from Big Z and a redeeming performance by LaTroy Hawkins, Kyle Farnsworth lost his second game of the series, pitching the Cubs into trouble by walking more batters.

Not much to say about this game in general- the Cubs' offense was silent and the defense played well. In fact, you can't fault any of the Cubs performances much, because Matt Morris pitched a great game, and its unfortunate for him that he wasn't credited with the win: nine innings of shutout ball deserves a little more than a no-decision. The difference maker in this game, of course, was Mr. Farnsworth, who gave up three walks and a sacrifice fly to load the bases in the 10th before giving up the winning run on a Scott Rolen single to left. He looked more like Andy Pratt than a decent reliever out there; out of 20 pitches, Farnsworth threw only 6 strikes. We'll have more on his spectacularly bad performance later on.

The one thing you can get after the Cubs for is not making Morris work hard enough. In nine innings, he threw only 112 pitches, ten less than Zambrano threw in seven. It seemed like every time a batter got up there he'd hack away at the first pitch, and on days when the opposing pitcher is shutting your team down, you have to know you're not going to get lucky and knock one out of the park. Wear him down and have them earn the out rather than fly out to right field (Sosa, I'm looking in your direction). If you can't solve a pitcher, don't make it any easier for him.

Speaking of swinging early in the count, The Big Red C, another Cubs weblog, features a running record of this stat (pitches per plate appearance) on the front page in addition to good analysis as well. If you haven't already, you should check it out.

- posted by Mike J. @ 4:34 PM
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If the Cubs and Cardinals continue to play games like these it's going to be a long, heart-hurting season series. The Cubs got a big win last night on the back of Matt Clement and Aramis Ramirez. Matt continued his string of great starts with a fantastic eight inning effort in which he struck out eight and gave up only one run. While Clement was not quite as dominating as he was in his last start against the Mets he was efficient and he got the job done against the tough Cardinal lineup. On the offensive side the Cubs continued their aggressive behavior at the plate putting several first pitches into play, some for hits, some for weak popouts. Hopefully the Cubs will see a few more pitches today against the Cardinals best pitcher, Matt Morris. On to the game notes:

• The first pitch has been a cruel mistress to the Cubs this season. It seems that every time I throw my hat down in disgust as Corey Patterson weakly pops out the first pitch the next hitter rips the first pitch for a base hit or better. I know that the Cubs are aggressive hitters and when they do make good frist pitch contact they can kill the ball as evidenced by Ramirez's 3 run homer but it would be nice to see some of these Cubs go deeper in the count. Patterson saw slightly more than 10 pitches in 4 at bats and did not get on base. On the flip side, Alou hit the ball well on a couple of first pitches and then of course there was Ramirez's homer also on a first pitch. Regardless, the Cubs are better hitters when they are facing hitters' counts and so it is to their advantage to sit back and work the count more than they have been doing lately.



• Derrek Lee has been looking much better at the plate this series as he went 2 for 3 last night with a walk and 1 for 3 with a walk in the series opener. Hopefully, this is a sign of a more patient, better hitting Lee. Lee is a career .228 hitter in April and has always been a notoriously slow starter. Unfortunately, he is a career .223 hitter in May which does not bode well for a resurgence. I don't doubt that Lee will start hitting well and get back to form, let's just hope he does it sooner rather then later.



• It is nice to see Clement shake off the spring training worries and his rough first start to go on a nice four game tear. Clement has looked unhittable in his last 4 starts and has given up only 3 runs in that stretch. Everyone loves to have your fourth of fifth best starter produce like Clement is producing now. Matt didn't strike out as many as last time but got the key outs, including several clutch double plays none bigger than the double play Tony Womack grounded into in the eighth. Thankfully, Clement got his first career win against the Cardinals as I hope Zambrano can today.



• I'm sure Cubs fan cringed in the 8th when Dusty decided to leave Clement in to face the two lefties Marlon Anderson and Womack. Clement has struggled this season against the left