Padres 15-27, 5th (-11.5)
Cubs 25-16, 1st (+1.5)

POTG: SP Ryan Dempster (8.1 IP, 0R, 6 H, BB, 12 K, W [5/64], QS [7]; H, R, RBI, SH)
Runner Up: 3B A Ram (3 H, 2B), 1B D Lee (2 H, 2 RBI), LF Soriano (2 H, R), RF Fukudome (2 BB, H)

I don't believe in the Jim Edmonds signing. Time comes for everyone, and it sure looked like time came from Edmonds late last year and early this year. I find it very peculiar he could hit 175/265/233 while declining in the field and everyone in the Cubs is all "he looks like fine to me! :)" Lou noting he hasn't seen Edmonds is pretty telling.

However, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. The Cubs had a seemingly irrational faith Ryan Dempster would make a good starter this season, and I don't think any outside of the team thought he'd be any better than mediocre (and no one was really confident about even that.) Dempster's been a top 20 starter this season, and this was as good a start as you're going to get.

I think there are two things going on here

1) sometimes the team may know things other people do not
2) not everyone marches exactly on the improve/decline bell curve. There are detours along the way

The Cubs are playing well enough to take a chance to give a centerfielder some time to see if he's got anything to contribute. I just still wish they gave that time to Felix instead of Edmonds, but they've earned the right by going 25-16.

Really not a lot of offense in this game, but a little was enough. San Diego has some really good bullpen days. 11 Hits in 4 1/3 innings seems to indicate Greg Maddux needs to fix something or it's about over for him - all the Padres talk about flipping him for prospects if things go downhill might be moot if he can't contribute a little more.

PIRATES. I'm bored with facing the Pirates, especially the same starters.

FRI: Gorzelanny vs Gallagher - I dunno
SAT: Duke vs Z!!! - this looks good
SUN: Dumatrait vs Marquis - I dunno either

Cubs 24-16, 1st (+1.0)
Padres 15-26, 5th (-10.5)

POTG: C Soto (HR, 2H, 3RBI)
Runner Up: LF Soriano (HR, 2H, 3RBI), SS The Riot (2 H, R), 3B A Ram (2B, 2H, R, RBI), 2B DeRosa (2 H, R), RP Marmol (2 IP, 3 K, 0 BB, 0 H, 0 R)

Baseball is weird. I think everyone figured the Cubs would probably split the last two games. No one thought the Cubs would do it by pounding Peavy and getting shut down by Estes. I'd like to have a great reason why this happens, but I have no idea. Just weird.

I don't know if Lilly actually had a good start or not. He sure did strike out a lot of people (11!), but he also got hit decently hard the second time thru the lineup. I wasn't paying close enough to decide, but maybe both teams very high strikeout totals might have been umpire related.

If you projected Soto's stats for 162 teams games, he'd have .321, 28 HR, and 117 RBIs in the stats the writers actually pay attention to, plus high marks behind the plate. I don't know that it's possible for him to keep it up but as long as he does, he's soared past going for the ROTY and All Star awards to getting MVP consideration. Just average production from the catching spot would be a big boost off what the Cubs got there last year, but Soto is far above and beyond that.

AVG/OBP/SLG
2007 CHC C: 239/304/369
2007 ML C: 256/318/394

2008 CHC C: 322/420/564
2008 ML C: 270/339/398

Why you use your closer while up by 4: Wood gets incentives for Games Finished, not saves. Doesn't really matter how bad he was, he still gets GF #14. He starts getting bonuses at #20. (Last year, Dempster got 58, despite only 28 saves.)

No point in talking about the awfulness of signing Jim Edmonds - everyone not employed by the club (and Z) seem to think this is a dumb way to go, but the people employed with the clubs get to decide these things. I found it especially amusing that they announced a new fan interaction e-mail address just last night; someone must've set up an Edmonds filter this morning.

Cubs 23-16, 1st (+1.0)
Padres 15-25, 5th (-9.5)

POTG: RP Michael Wuertz (3 IP, 1 H, 1 K - best performance of the year)
Runner Up: LF Soriano (2 H, HR), CF Reed Johnson (2B, 2 RBI)

I didn't see that one coming.

I didn't think they'd get the game in. I was watching trees bend in the breeze outside my window around 6pm, with the sky half very dark clouds and half really bright. It wasn't the greenish skies of really bad Illinois weather, but it looked very ominous. The rain hit hard out here around game time. It was rarely drizzling, mostly always a deluge and the most lightning we've had all year. I guess the new field is how Wrigley kept playable, but I was sure there had to be a delay at some point. The umpires just had them play all the way thru.

I didn't think Estes would do as well as he did. He really didn't do great - 5.1 and 7 hits isn't going to work out well most days - but he managed not walk his way into trouble. The real difference make was the Padres bullpen. After everyone coming out of it on Monday seemed to get shelled, the three pitchers today gave up no hits and 1 walk in 3.2 innings. Estes gets the win, but the Cubs of recent days usually score something late and it's a credit to the Padres that it didn't happen this time.

It didn't occur to me until this game that the reason the Cubs are working so hard to figure out a fifth starter and giving so many different people chances is not because they think they're just one starter away. I think the people with decision making power realize Jason Marquis can't stay around if he's going to pitch the way he has, and they're going to ultimately need two starters. You can always go back to Jon Lieber for the last spot, but I think they're trying to figure out if Marshall or Gallagher or a returning Rich Hill can consistently give them something better than Marquis. Plenty of teams have been swallowing salaries like Marquis' this season.

To be fair, Marquis only had one bad inning. But it was enough to get the loss.

Wuertz should get credit for keeping the Cubs in the game and lasting three innings. Eyre's probably got one batter in him if the Cubs need him tonight, but otherwise everyone else is rested and ready to go, which you wouldn't have figured when the Cubs had 3 innings to fill.

There are no words to describe Simon Le Bon's performance. That was quite something.

Cubs 23-14
Padres 14-25

POTG: LF Soriano (2 H, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R)
Runner Up: SS The Riot (2 H, 3 R, 2 BB), 1B D Lee (2B, SB, 2H, R, RBI), 3B Ram (H, BB, 2 R, RBI), RF Fukudome (3 BB, RBI, 2 R), C Soto (2 RBI, H, BB), 2B/3B DeRosa (2 H, 2 RBI, BB, R), SP Z!!!! (2B, 2H, R; 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K, W [6/88], QS [7])

0) I bought the tickets for the game myself. There comes a sad point in life where it just starts making more sense to be buying gifts from you to you. There's little better in life than someone getting you something you needed (without even knowing you needed it), but more often, if you want to something done right, you've got to do it yourself.

So way back on single ticket sales day, I got on to the ticket system as fast as I can, hurried to this game, and got the best tickets I possibly could. I think I've been to all the home guys on my birthday for the last few years, and I'm going to keep it up as long as I can afford it.

The rest of my birthday celebration involved having a meal at one house with people who didn't bother to get out of their pajamas for it, and later going to someone else's house so they could all spend time together while I sat bored, eating a tiny cake. Fun times!

1) I was super prepared for everything, after much past troubles. I had directions and a GPS unit, I had cold weather gear, I had a spot arranged to meet someone there to give them their ticket. I got to Jim's house to pick him up in pretty fast time, knowing that we need as much time as possible to get thru interstate traffic

And then Jim's drive to his house started late, and went longer. Something like an hour longer than usual. Oops.

We ended up leaving at about 6 for a 7:05 start, and the drive usually takes 90 minutes. Things worked out really well - outside of one gapers delay and despite the GPS goofing up, traffic was light for rush hour and we were able to take 15 minutes off the top This might have involved me pushing the car north of 80 for stretches, but don't tell anyone.

2) We got to our seats in the bottom of the 1st, just before D Lee stole third. Not that any of can figure out what the deal is with everyone stealing third this year.

I had section 9, row 11 seats. There's really only 10 rows in section 9. At some point in the last few years, when they've been trying to find ways to add more seats and stop people from strolling around the seating area, someone must've decided to add another row of seats on what's used to be the walkway between the sections. The row is fenced off from the rest of the walkway, and you've got to get waved by an usher every time in and out. It's not quite big enough for two rows, so you've got one row with tons of foot room and not much for viewing angles - you're seeing a lot off the back of heads if you're looking at the plate and not seated just right.

On the other hand, you're in the 11th row. Which is cool.

3) I thought Z had an outside chance of getting a no-hitter today. Well, everyone's chance of getting a no-hitter is pretty outside, but just watching the Padres batting averages come up as they got up was eye opening about how bad their offense is this year. Lots of guys who can only hope they get 250.

Jim disagreed, pointing out Z's low strikeout rate this year, and he was right. A ball was bound to get thru, and did to start the third. The stirkeout thing is still worrisome, but it's working with this defense. Hopefully he can get the Ks when he needs them later on.

4) We had no idea what as up with the trainer's visit in that inning until after the game, except it had something to do with his forearm and perhaps bananamania was involved. I decided to to run for food rather than see the ace pitcher walk off the mound hurt (he didn't), and Jim happened to come with me (which was good because I didn't know yet that I had left my wallet in the car.)

Jim caught up to me in the hallway, and we had a conversation that went approximentaly like this

Jim: "Did you see who you just walked passed?"
Me: "No, who?"
Jim: "That restruant chick"
me: "What?"
Jim: "The restruant woman from PBS 11. I spotted a celebrity."
me: "The indian girl? She doesn't count as a celebrity.

I eventually came up with Check, Please!, but neither of us could actually remember Alapana Singh's name, so I think I win that one. Mike had no idea who were talking about when we finally got back to the seats, which is also fair.

I bummed $10 off Jim, got pizza and wanted hot chocolate, but they didn't have what it where I was stuck and I didn't want to wander around looking for it, so I made the poor decision to get a cold Mountain Dew.

Jim, who can not leave his house without running into some random person he knew at one point, could not make it back to his seat without running into the husband of someone he worked with. 5 million people in the metro area, only 39,000 in this building, and it was an absolutely certainty he'd get roped into some conversation with someone he barely knew.

5) It was COLD. Unbelievably cold for this late in season, irrationally cold compared to early in the day. When I started my winding trip to the ballpark around 4pm off in the suburbs, it was 70 degrees and warmer than that in my car. When I left Jim's around 6, it was 65. At 7pm, in the city, the offical game time temp was 41 and the wind blowing in to make it colder. Lake or no lake, this was quite ridicouls. I should not be seeing my breath and wishing for gloves on May 12th.

I felt bad for the people who got the ice cream concessions today. I wish I had my wallet to unload it on the people selling hot chocolate (which they ran out of it in some of the concession stands, because who keeps that much around in mad.) I was amused by the people who were selling tiny thin blankets for $20, the biggest rip off in a stadium full of jacked up prices.

6) Jody Gerut coming back to hit a home run and put the Padres ahead was one of the least predictable things every. Perhaps they made a smart move calling him up? Z was so ticked going to the dugout after that inning and that home run, it was funny to watch

7) Z! and me and most of the stadium thought his hit in the bottom of the 5th was going out. It just missed, maybe two feet more and it's in the basket. I think he may have taken a slow trot to first anticipating it going out, but he got the double anyhow.

Soriano's ball was kind of the same way, except it was hit higher and hit harder to escape the wind. It just barely cleared the wall itself.

I don't understand why the Padres didn't get someone up at this point. They waited until about after Ram to finally do it, but that meant the inning (and the game) would probably be decided one way or another before the reliever was ready to come.

8) There was really no big hero in this game. Soriano's home run was huge, but the game was blown out via lots of walks and lots of singles getting past guys. IF the infield was about a step quicker, maybe things wouldn't have gotten out of control.

9) After the walk in the 8th, I decided someone's got to track "most walks with the bases loaded", because Kosuke is clearly going to run away with it if they keep bating him fifth. You can not make him swing at a bad pitch in that situation, and he's very content in scoring a run without putting the ball in play if the pitcher wants to do it.

10) Kevin Kouzmanoff had a decent shot at beating Ram to third, but Ram just got off to a great jump on the 3-2 count and beat him. That part wasn't really much his fault, but that throw he made to first was atrocious. It didn't help that Adrian Gonzalez had fallen asleep. The ball was so far away, Gonzalez seemed to decide he might as well just let it fly into the crowd and give up the base. Which it didn't, which cost them an extra run.

I think that should've been a fielders choice and an error, but I'm fine with DeRosa getting a free hit.

11) We were debating if Z could go 8 during the middle innings. I was thinking so, others were doubting. It looked really good when he only needed 9 pitches to go thru the heart of the Padres order in the 6th, but the long Jody Gerut at bat doomed him even more than 9 run lead. I think Lou might have given him a shot with under 95 pitches, but the walk ended it.

12) We took off after the bottom of the 8th. There probably are times where I still stick around for 9 run blowouts, but when it's getting on 10pm, people have to get up early, and you're freezing while Howry and Eyre conspiracy to pitch as slowly as possible, it's time to go. I wanted to stick around long enough to see Henry Blanco bat and, seeing as he never took the bat off his shoulder, I'm not sure he actually did.

Really fun to see a blowout, a Z win, and a Cubs win to push them 1 full game in first place. It is getting a bit concerning to see the offense go thru these binge/purge cycles - Baseball Musings pointed out the Cubs have yet to score just 4 or just 5 runs in a game. I hope it it'll even out, but it seems like right now that the some opponents of the Cubs have figured them out and some have no clue, and it's not clear if everyone will eventually figure it out or if the Cubs will just adjust.

Cubs 22-15, 1st (tie)
Diamonbacks 23-15, 1st (+3.5)

POTG: LF-CF Reed Johnson (2R HR)
Runner Up: RF Fukudome (2 H, R), PH Daryle Ward (2B, 2 RBI), RP Michael Wuertz (4 pitches, 3 outs!)

Whoever decided to play "Rubber Band Man" for Marmol deserves a bonus.

This was a total success. Gallagher didn't pitch great, but kept the Cubs in it and you might as well see what he does in a start he actually knows is coming. Chad Fox was pretty bad coming in with runners on base but at least turned in a solid inning. Michael Wuertz was effective, oddly enough. Marmol was dominate and Kerry continued towards his goal of leading the league in HBP for a third time despite being a reliever.

It does say something about Alfonso Soriano's superstar status that Pinella made the (wise!) move of using him as a IBB decoy to set up Ward. I don't think Pujols would be used to set up Ward. More to the point, I think Lou would have Ward bat first and take the walk rather than Lee or Ram. Maybe it's was just the injury or the conditions, but there did seem to be some hidden honesty in that moment.

That situation never happens if Reed Johnson doesn't hit the two run home run the inning before. Juan Cruz sure did not have his best stuff Sunday afternoon, but a game tying home run is a game tying home run regardless of how it comes. I've been down on Reed lately, because he's really cooled off and resembled the player the Blue Jays let go of in March - even with this hit, he's dropped 70 points of his batting average since April 27 and his slugging number was Neifi Perez like before this home run. What he does have is great timing, getting the big hits just enough to be fondly remembered.

Wish someone asked what the deal was with Ram's delayed steal. I still can't quite believe it worked.

The really big success story here is the Cubs got a win, and a series sweep, without using Carlos Zambrano. Sure, it was a fair battle after Arizona pulled the Big Unit too, but what I'm really happy about is that means Z starts tonight. Tonight, when I've got tickets in row 11. This weekend could not have worked out any better.

Cubs 21-15, 2nd (-1.0)
Diamondbacks 23-14, (+3.5)

POTG: LF Soriano (4 H, 2 R, RBI, 2B)
Runner Up: SS The Riot (2 H, HBP, R, RBI tho' another CS), 3B A Ram (2 H, 2B, R, RBI), RF Kosuke (2R HR), SP Ryan Dempster (6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 7 K, W [4/63], QS [6])

Maybe not so much for that vaunted Arizona Diamonbacks attack. I know I may be tempting something, saying that before the last game of the series, but I have faith in Z in making me look right and a backup plan of the game just being rained out. It is painful outside right now and may not be any better the rest of the day. IF they do get the Sunday afternoon game in, it will a hard game to play.

Back to Saturday first. Dempster had another very solid outing. His walks will forever get him into trouble, but that's just the guy he is. His BB/9 and K/BB ratios are no different than they've been in the rest of his time with the Cubs. Dempster's just giving up less hits than normal and half as many homeruns per game. The best part is looks to be possibly sustainable:

fangraphs.com/a>

Diamondbacks 23-13
Cubs 20-15

POTG: SP Ted Lilly (7 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, 10 K, W [3/77], QS [4]; H, RBI)
Runner Up: 2B Mark DeRosa (2B, 2 H, R, BB)

Don't have much time to write about this game, but this was as much a Ted Lilly game as Carlos' start have been his. It doesn't end happy if DeRosa doesn't break out of his slump, and Carlos and Kerry were plenty effective and efficient in the late innings, enough that both should be ready today if Dempster gives them a chance.

Dan Haren deserved better from that start, and I'm not sure if the Cubs can hold the Diamondbacks to one run again. It's good to get the first win out of the way, to stop the trend from the playoffs before it becomes any strong, and to stem the tide of recent performances.

Yay for 'only' 12 pitchers. Yay for the Kerry Wood's first appearance of a new pitch coming exactly ten years after the first appearance of another pitch that worked pretty okay.

Cubs 19-15, -2.5 (2nd)
Reds 14-21, -8.0 (6th)

POTG: walking three times is neat, but I can't quite give it to Fontenot - no one
Runner Up: no one

This was awful. I hope this is rock bottom because I can't imagine it getting worse.

Nice that after Lieber got lit up, the two guys who might replace him get touched as well.

Leaving Volquez to throw 118 pitches in a 9-0 game is so Dusty.

That's all I got.

Cubs 19-14, -2.5 (2nd)
Reds 13-21, -9.0 (6th)

POTG: SP Z!!! (8 UP, 3 H, 3BB, 3 K, 0 R, QS [6], W [5/87]; H)
Runner Up: LF Soriano (2 H, 2B), SS Ryan Theriot (2 H, R, SB), 2B Cedeno (H, 2 RBI)

Z was dominant tonight. Again, there wasn't a big strikeout numbers, but the Reds barely got anything going all game. Taking away two runners - Soto easily throwing Griffey out on the failed hit and run and picking Votto off second base - gave Z two easy outs, and the Reds were giving multiple easy at bats by the end

1: 13 (1-5-7)
2: 24 (9-1-6-8)
3: 21 (5-4-6-6)
4: 16 (2-3-9-2)
5: 15 (3-6-2-4) [89 pitches, so a decent effort ends Z after this inning]
6: 10 (2-1-3-4) [99 pitches]
7: 6 (1-3-2) [105 pitches]
8: 8 (5-1-2) [113 pitches]

No wonder Z wanted to go back in the 9th - he could've brought it home under 120 if things kept up. (It only took Wood 13 pitches to close it out.) It didn't occur to me until I mapped that out, but a great way to stop run scoring is to never let more than four people bat in the inning. The Reds were completely held down here.

Quick turn around = good excuse for some guys to take a day off. Kosuke looks like he could use one, and I wonder if they'd give A Ram at least the start of the game off to not over extend him. This'll be Lieber's first start of the season, but the Reds are very beatable and it'd be nice to win the last game of a series which they haven't managed since the Mets.

Cubs 18-14, -2.5 (2nd)
Reds 13-20, -8.0 (5th)

POTG: C Geovany Soto (HR, 2B, 3 H, BB)
Runner Up: SS Ryan Theriot (2H, 2B, BB, R, RBI)
I dunno: SP Ryan Dempster (6 IP, 0 ER but 5 R)

All I can think is if Mike Fontenot doesn't go home, Theriot walks him home, and Lee ties it up with the ground out. And if Fontenot turns a makable double play in the 3rd, 2 runs come off the board. I'm sure he knew all of this last night and felt horrible, but so does everyone else. He was the best player the last two game and continued his hit streak here, and the way the loss happened still over shadows all of that.

Quick thoughts
- At least Dempster pitched well
- DeRosa's really scuffling
- sending down Pie for another pitcher would be so dumb
- the short bench really could've hurt last night, but Pie got on.
- if Marshall needs to be stretched out, why not send him to Iowa, where he can actually start
- Soto is awesome

Cubs really need Z! to be a stopper here.

Last 16 POTG
3 Z!
3 Fontenot
2 Marquis
2 Soto
1 The Riot
1 Cedeno
1 A Ram
1 Reed Johnson
1 Lilly
1 Lieber

Season Total
5 Z!
4 D Lee
4 Soto
2 Fukudome
2 Fontenot
2 Marquis
1 Lieber
1 Dempster
1 1 A Ram
1 Hart
1 1 Johnson
1 Hill
1 The Riot
1 Cedeno
1 Lilly
1 Lieber

Cubs 18-13, -1.5 (2nd)
Cardinals 20-12, +1.5 (1st)

POTG: 2B Mike Fontenot (2 BB, 2B, H, R)
Runner Up: RP Sean Gallagher (2 IP, H, 0 R)

Sean Gallagher can pitch two inning! Shocking. All considered, I'd think even Lou would've rather use him on Saturday and have Marmol ready on Sunday.

Jason Marquis was not good, but just as I noted last start, he's not going to be good some days and you need to be prepared to do something. The Cubs were lacking for hits in this game, or at least hits at the right time. It was really Marquis wildness which was most annoying. Marquis actually threw a lot of strikes, but he self destructed in the 1st.

5 pitch walk to Kennedy
5 pitch walk to Ankiel
4 pitch walk to Glaus

3rd inning
4 pitch walk to Duncan
5 pitch walk to Kennedy

If a batter battles and you give up a walk, you can shrug it off. Here, Marquis wasn't even battling, wasn't throwing strikes to the guy right before Pujlos. That's disasterous.

I hope Ram is back on Monday, but Fontenot has been hitting fine in his place. It wasn't that spot that was costing the team runs. DeRosa had one hit on the weekend, Lee only had 2, and everyone knows about Sorain's weekend.

I had to call someone during the game just to scream about the ESPN announcers. I think it's out of my system for the moment, but I hope ESPN doesn't pick up another Sunday night game for the rest of the season.

Cubs 18-12, -0.5 (2nd)
Cardinals 19-12, +0.5 (1st)

POTG: 2B Mike Fontenot (HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB)
Runner Up: LF Soriano (2B, H, R, RBI, BB, SB, no Chances), 1B D Lee (H, BB, 2 R), RF Fukudome (3 H, 2 2B, R, 2 RBI), C Soto (H, R, 2 BB, 2 RBI), SP Ted Lilly (7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, BB, 4 K, W [2/76], QS [3]); 2B, SH), RP Carlos Marmol (2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 R, K)

Makes sense that after sorta look at the positive things that came out of a tough loss, I (and many others) are looking at the downside out of a blowout win. There's absolutely no reason for Carlos Marmol to pitch in this game, and there's (impossibly) even less reason for him to pitch two innings. Marshall could've pitched after barely doing so yesterday, and Gallagher might as well get used to the Major League mound again. Instead, Lou pushed Marmol out there one more time, for an extended period, in a situation where he couldn't have made much of a difference. What happens when Marmol goes down with an injury due to overuse and there's a grand total of zero people in the bullpen Lou trusts with a lead?

Coincidentally, Juan Mateo was let go yesterday. He'd been dropped off the 40 man when the Cubs added Chad Fox, had already been dropped from AAA and AA and was going to be sent down all the way to single A in Datyona. Mateo apparently considered retirement, but then opted just to ask for his release. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago when there really wasn't much difference between Juan Mateo and Carlos Marmol. Both were 23 year olds who made too early jumps to the major leagues in 2006 when the Cubs were in desperate need of starters, and neither seemed to have the endurance to make it even five innings against a major league lineup. Marmol was lucky, didn't get lost in his bad play, and found a spot in the bullpen. Mateo was not. Suffered a right shoulder injury, and has never been the same.

All it can take is one bad injury to wreck a young pitcher's career. He may have a relatively low amount of inning in his shoulder before everything goes to heck, there's no way of telling. Why waste some of those in completely meaningless situations?

This is a million times more infuriating Soriano's spot in the batting order.

Besides that, which will hopefully be two utterly meaningless innings before long, this was all great. Kyle Lohse returned to being Kyle Lohse after early season success. The offense was back being effective thru walks and stirkeouts, and Ted Lilly is not only righted, but he's making long starts when the clubs needs them.

Cubs 17-12, -1.5 (2nd)
Cardinals 19-11, +1.5 (1st)

POTG: RP Jon Lieber (3.2 IP, 5 H, K)
Runner Up: RP Bobby Howry (2 IP, 2 H, UER, 0 BB, 2 K), C Soto (2 H, 2B, R), 1B D Lee (H, 2 BB, SB)
I dunno: LF Soriano (gives them away then takes them back)

Does Soriano hitting the game tying home run excuse his miserable performance in the field? Not totally, I can't think so. It's a testament to how bad he was in the 7th that we even have to bring this up. Soriano was brutal, bad enough they really should've given errors on plays they never give errors. He should've gone to the minors to get some practice, he shouldn't have been let play out in left if he wasn't ready and he's not the super star the Cubs and Lou thinks he is.

And he's here until 2014. YAY.

I thought Lou messed up with Hill. There's been plenty of blowouts in the last nine days where Hill could've gotten in some work (though I didn't think of it either), which couldn't have hurt. I also think he should've given Hill some rope to work out of his jam. Here again, it worked out for Lou - if Hill has disaster inning, the Cubs might never had a chance - but the long term goal has to be straightening out Hill. Now it seems like that'll require a trip to Iowa, because Lou's not going to let it happen here.

Cubs can at least take good performances from the relievers - Wuertz and Howry gave up runs, but they were much improved from recent performances. Lieber was great and deserves the rotation spot if it's open. I'd send Marshall down to let him stretch out rather than bump him up to the rotation make room for Eyre. It ended badly for Chad Fox, but I'm not quite ready to give up on him yet and I think it's unfair to expect him to do any more than pitch one inning. It was just a really tough way to get him back in.

They really need Lilly to put up some innings this afternoon. Marmol should be okay and Wood didn't pitch so much, so they can get make this work if Lilly can give them at least seven.

Brewers 16-12, -1.5 (3rd)
Cubs 17-11, -0.5 (2nd)

POTG: SP Z!!!! (HR [1/13]; 6.1 IP, 7 J, R, 2 BB, 3 K)
Runner Up: SS Ryan Theriot (3 H), RF Fukudome (4 H, CS, 2A)

Yes, there was a dumb move with a guy recovering from injury in this game. It wasn't Soriano: Gallardo has torn ACL.

The Cubs are going to have games were defenders make bad plays, pitchers don't get the jobs done, and people get out running the bases. What I hope never happens is the Cubs have a game where the pitcher suffers a knee injury so bad they're balled up on the ground in pain and the manager allows them to continue to pitch. That was many times worse than the loss of one game.

I think, when Gallardo went down, every Cubs fan with any sort of memory flash backed to their favorite freak Mark Prior injury. Maybe it was the time he got hit by a batted ball for you, but I think most went with the Marcus Gilles collision game. Even though none of his major arm injury he's had has definitely been linked with that incident, I don't know of a Cubs fan who would've let him go back out on the mound if it happened today. Dusty let him pitch three more innings, and we all live to regret this. When Yost let Gallarado go back on the mound, history was repeating itself.

Given the Brewers bullpen, Gallardo probably needed to be in as long as possible to get the Brewers the win on this one day, but there are times as a manager you must look at the big picture. How much more damage was done to the knee and how many future games did Yost cost his team by letting a prize pitching prospect play hurt? It wasn't the World Series, it wasn't the last days of the season, it was just game 28 of 162. Yost lost his perspective.

The cold math is the Brewers won the game, but everyone will now project them for 2 or 3 less wins on the season without Gallardo. And that may be the difference, but as a fan of baseball, I'm disappointed.

Cubs fans have to keep this game in perspective as well. It feels like the first game the Cubs lost that they really should've won, but at least they got to May 1st before taking one of those. There are real concerns about Kerry Wood, but Marmol being the closer may have meant Wood just blows the game an inning or two earlier. Soriano probably should've been double switched out of the game, but sometimes you've just got to learn those lessons the hard way, and it's better to learn those lessons in Game 28.

Buried in all of this was Z being awesome yet again. I was really hoping for a 1-0 victory, but I guess you don't always get what you want. On ESPN after the game, Buster Onley credited Z's good start to an improved K rate. His Ks are down on the season, I have no idea what he meant. Walks are down which is how Z makes it work, at least for now.

Regardless of how he was used, Marmol was his usual untouchable self. That's good.

Also buried was the hitting. Even though they were in position at the end, the hitters didn't do all they could've. When Ronny Cedeno comes off the bench for half the team's walks (2) and Z has half the XBH (2), something's a bit off.

The Chicago Cubs and the Peoria Chiefs have announced that the Chiefs will play a regular season game at Chicago's famous Wrigley Field when they host the Kane County Cougars on Tuesday, July 29th at 7:05 pm. This will be the first time in the Chiefs' 26-year franchise history that they will play in a Major League facility, and it is believed to be the first minor league contest to take place at Wrigley in the ballpark's 94-year history.

Yes. I'm pretty sure someone sat down, thought about what I specfically would like to see, and invented this game. That's the only reasonable explanation.

Though the idea that I might be rooting against a Cubs team while sitting in Wrigley is a bit hard to grasp. I think I'll just root for the GAME OF BASEBALL

I actually think they'll draw 30,000, just because of the low ticket prices and the sure to be nice July night. Though I guess it depends on how many tickets they put on sale - either they're not putting them all, or the VIP season ticket people are getting theirs already. I'd be fine if it was just me and five other people if it meant I could get tickets easily tomorrow morning.

This probably should be an annual thing, though I could see them rotating with Iowa (and I'd go see that too.)