"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

:: Saturday, July 26, 2003 ::

One Step Forward...

... and one back. The Cubs can't seem to capitalize on strong emotional moments like last night's come-from-behind win, as the offense decided to completely stop hitting in today's boring 3-1 loss to the Astros in Houston, which put the club again 5 1/2 games back. They can still win the series with a strong showing by Shawn Estes tomorrow.

Word is that Estes has been "tipping" pitches -- sometimes you find this when a veteran's been traded to the team, like Kenny Lofton (this info from the Cubs newsgroup). So if the coaching staff has been working on this with Estes, we should see results tomorrow. We had better see results, or I'd think that Estes ought to be released. He's been worse than terrible since the middle of June.

Both Jimy Williams (and why does he have only one "m" in his first name?) and Jeff Kent were ejected for arguing ball-strike counts, and I have to say, Matt Hollowell, the home plate umpire, was equal-opportunity in his poor strike zone calls today, as he rang up a number of Cubs, including Eric Karros, on pitches that looked way outside.

Both Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez, who were acquired to boost the offense, have looked pretty sick since they came over; Ramirez did have two hits today, but that was the entire offensive output, and the lone run scored on a throwing error by Geoff Blum, pulling Jeff Bagwell off first base on a play that replays showed might have been a bad call.

I thought Juan Cruz threw pretty well, giving up only four hits himself, but one of them was an RBI double by Lance Berkman and another a homer by Cub-killer Bagwell, and you can't do that when your team isn't scoring anything.

The best thing about this game was that it was over in a snappy 2:28, which allowed me to see the first hour of my son Mark's park district league playoff game -- they were tied when I had to leave, since we are on our way to a wedding shower for our friends Carole & Ernie, who are getting married next month. If they win today, there will be another playoff game tomorrow; an update in the morning.

:: posted by Al at 4:30 PM [+] ::
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Just When I Thought It Was Time To Give Up

Gosh, this team is much more resilient than I gave it credit for. After two depressing, bad losses at home to the Phillies, the Cubs started out this road trip in poor fashion, giving up three unearned runs in the first inning, after a two-out error by Aramis Ramirez. Well, we were warned.

And Wade Miller was throwing well for Houston. And it appeared the Cubs were going to go 6 1/2 games behind.

But then Dusty Baker decided to let Carlos Zambrano hit for himself in the seventh (see below post for the reasons). And Carlos hit a two-run homer, tying the game. And this was no wimpy Minute Maid Park homer -- it landed well back in the right-field seats. One inning later, ex-Astro Moises Alou gave the Cubs the lead and they hung on for a hard-earned 5-3 win.

Just when it all seemed wrong, everything went right. Even Paul Bako had two hits tonight.

This is a very odd Cub team. Most Cub teams play well at home and in their best years, break even on the road. THIS Cub team has played pretty poorly at home, now three games under at 24-27, but after this win are now 27-24 on the road, and beat a Houston team that was 32-18 at home coming into the game, and is now 3-1 in Houston this year. The club has 60 games left and 30 of them are at home and 30 on the road, so they had better learn how to win at home pretty soon. You'd think this team, with Alou, Sosa and Ramirez now providing some power, would be well-suited to Wrigley Field. Perhaps it's because they have quite a few fly-ball pitchers and have allowed 47 HR with a 4.39 ERA at home, with only a 3.76 ERA on the road (though more HR on the road, 52).

The fact that Troy O'Leary and Hee Seop Choi both sat on the bench while Carlos Zambrano hit a home run tonight, points out the glaring failures of the Cub bench, and the desperate need for another left-handed pinch hitter. I mentioned the Brewers' John Vander Wal and the Pirates' Matt Stairs, both of whom could be had for the right price. There are still six days till the trading deadline, Jim Hendry. Let's get busy.

In other news, Al-Master was busy today attempting to exchange two tickets for Jessica, for a game she had in early August, for a game later in August. Through two complicated transactions, I can report success in this endeavor. Spent part of the day reading more of the Ben Franklin biography, too. At one point the author prints almost a full page of Franklin's famous "maxims" (many of which, he points out, were cribbed from or changed from other, earlier aphorisms).

I think "Diligence is the mother of good luck" applies to the Cubs' situation today. Old Ben knew what he was talking about.

:: posted by Al at 9:41 PM [+] ::
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Here's Why

In case you couldn't guess why Dusty let Carlos Zambrano hit for himself in the 7th inning tonight, this ought to tell you:

           AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  TB BB  SO SB CS  OBP  SLG  AVG 
O'Leary   132  15  29  5  0  3  19  43 11  22  1  0 .274 .326 .220 
Pitchers  195  16  37  9  0  5  19  61  4  75  0  0 .206 .313 .190



(stats not including today's game)

That's pretty scary -- when your pitchers are better hitters (well, except for the strikeouts) than a guy who's supposed to be your power-hitting pinch-hitter.

Yet another reason the club ought to go after John Vander Wal or Matt Stairs, either of whom should be available.

:: posted by Al at 8:57 PM [+] ::
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The Weather Channel Could Have Helped

And yes, they have a national cable weather network in Canada too.

Too bad they didn't consult it last night before the Blue Jays-White Sox game at Skydome, which was forced into a 26-minute rain delay when they couldn't get the roof closed fast enough:

:: posted by Al at 11:46 AM [+] ::
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Can We Start Over?

This was not my day.

First, I did my usual trick of driving up to the park during my break at work, taking the train back, then taking the train to the game. Well, today for some reason the trains were unbelievably crowded so it took much longer than usual to get there. Then in a rush to get to my car and change clothes for the game, somehow I lost my ID card from work which was in one of those plastic pouches on my pants. Reported that and it's taken care of, though.

Then I get to the game and find out that my friend who I asked to save my seats today, since Jeff was in New York visiting Yankee Stadium, overslept. I mean, how can you oversleep when all you have to do is get to the ballpark by 11:20? Worse, is that a bunch of Phillies fans were sitting there.

Oh well. So for the first time in a couple of years, Howard & I (that's all that was there from our group today) sat with Tom, Marv, Howard the blind guy, Norb, Judy and Holly in right-center near the concession stand.

Here's all the good stuff I can say about today: the weather was gorgeous.

It was really two games, the half that Kerry Wood pitched lights-out, and the half-inning where he sucked and Dusty wouldn't come get him till it was too late, and the bullpen decided to spend the last three innings throwing batting practice, as the Phillies blew out the Cubs 14-6.

Sammy Sosa did hit his 21st HR, coming within one of Willie McCovey and Ted Williams for 12th place on the all-time list; I presume he'll pass them this weekend in Houston, where he hits very well. Hee Seop Choi, who didn't start (gee, Dusty, what a great idea, starting Karros vs. a righty -- he hit into a DP and struck out), hit a three-run homer that made it a game for a brief time at 10-6. That's about all that was good in the game today.

Unusual stuff: the infield overshifted so far on Jim Thome in the first, that when Damian Miller threw Marlon Byrd out stealing, the throw was taken by Aramis Ramirez at 2B, a rare 2-5 caught stealing at second.

During the Phillies' long sixth inning, Vicente Padilla attempted to go to the bullpen to warm up. Uh-uh, Vincente, that's illegal. The first-base umpire had to put a stop to this, not that it mattered for the Cubs bats.

I can just hear Kenny Lofton and Ramirez thinking, "Can we go back?" The Pirates haven't lost since the trade and the Cubs haven't won.

They had better start winning this weekend or you can kiss any fading playoff hopes goodbye.

One more stupid note on today's game: Phillies backup catcher Todd Pratt, who is hitting .276, homered to start the Philly scoring. When Pratt was a Cub in 1995, his signature moment occurred on June 14, when he was on third base with one out, when Giants pitcher Steve Mintz uncorked a wild pitch. Did Pratt score? Did the Cubs win? No, he was thrown out, and the Cubs wound up losing 4-3 in 13. That was also the game where Mike Benjamin had six hits. And unbelievably, because at the time I declared Pratt "Worst Cub Of All Time", eight years later he is still playing. Figures.

Oh, here's the thing I blanked out on this morning: the latest issue of The Heckler states on the front page in caps: "FREE - DO NOT BUY FROM STREET PEOPLE". Apparently some of the StreetLife vendors are grabbing copies of the Heckler and trying to sell it for a dollar.

:: posted by Al at 5:03 PM [+] ::
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Notes

1) I was buying scorecards yesterday from my regular supplier when he told me they have run out of media guides to sell.

Now how stupid is this? You have 30 home games left including July & August which are all going to be sellouts and you don't have one of your most popular items to sell?

He asked the woman in charge of such things if they were going to get more and the answer was, "I don't know."

Seriously, sometimes I wonder how they open the place for business every day.

2) There was a second thing I had in my mind to post this morning, but it's gone. I seriously need more sleep!

:: posted by Al at 9:53 AM [+] ::
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Yawn

You want to know how bored we all were tonight?

Carole did her homework from her music class instead of keeping score.

Kathleen read a copy of the New Yorker that I had loaned to Mike to read an article about Bill James, and he had returned it to me tonight.

I read over some documents that needed my attention.

And Mike and I tried to think of suitable punishments for our newest Cubs, but we couldn't think of anything worse than being subjected to tonight's dreadfully dull 3-0 loss to the Phillies. Despite the first inning taking 45 minutes because neither pitcher could throw strikes, the game only ran 2:38, and that was a good thing; with the early start I was able to get home in time to post this report.

Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez both got loud standing ovations when introduced in the starting lineups and when they ran onto the field. Then Lofton got another ovation when he made a strong throw in on Marlon Byrd's leadoff hit in the gap, to hold him to a single, after which he was wiped out on a double play, before Matt Clement walked the bases loaded and got out of the inning. You still awake? We barely were. And apparently, after that, neither was Lofton or Ramirez, because they both went a meek 0-for-4. Then again, hardly anyone on the club except for Mark Grudzielanek, who had three of the four hits, could do anything with Randy Wolf tonight.

If you didn't see the game on ESPN, Lofton is wearing #1 and Ramirez #15. Maybe that latter number needs to get Jose Hernandez' month of bad baseball out of it first. And come to think of it, the last guy to wear #1 was Augie Ojeda... and I'd hate to see Kenny Lofton start hitting like him.

Matt Clement threw a very nice game. Unfortunately, he gave up two home runs, including one to Jim Thome that flew way over our heads across the street -- probably at least 460 feet. Clement did finish seven innings, allowing only three hits.

Hey, sometimes your team just runs into a buzzsaw pitcher and that's what Randy Wolf was tonight.

A few notes: despite being told by several different sources that the ballpark would open at 4:05 for the early start, it opened at 4:35, leaving us cooling our heels waiting in line to get in for an extra half hour. At least it was sunny and fairly warm until the sun went down, when it actually got kind of cool.

Tonight's promotion -- Frank Sinatra, Jr. singing -- was about the most lame thing I could possibly imagine. He sang an off-key duet with Ernie Banks of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and then a very weak version of "My Kind of Town". Whatever they paid him, it was too much.

In the fifth inning, the entire security crew was called over to RCF to carry out on a stretcher, a young woman who apparently had fallen down about ten rows. Bill, the security guard in our section, told us she seemed OK but they didn't want to take any chances. And people were so bored that by the 9th inning they were harassing a guy wearing a Phillies shirt.

Gotta go to sleep now. With a game like this one, I won't have too much trouble falling asleep.

:: posted by Al at 9:29 PM [+] ::
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A Busy Night

The votes are trickling in and so far, they're pretty much unanimous in approval of last night's big Cubs-Pirates trade. Here are a few samples of opinion on the deal... The Cub Reporter says: "Depending on who the PTBNL is, this trade could be very good for the Cubs, or only sort of good. At first glance, though, I like it. It fills the two largest holes on the team..."; The Northside Lounge says: "When I analyzed Lofton and Ramirez a couple weeks ago, I said they would both be substantial upgrades and worth getting if we could get them at a reasonable price. Unless the PTBNL is someone substantially better than Bruback, I think this looks like a very reasonable price."

I'd agree completely with both these analyses. Lofton is a Band-Aid; I don't think Hendry would have felt the urgency to finish the deal right now if Goodwin hadn't been injured last night. Goodwin was playing pretty well and maybe Hendry would have done the deal for Ramirez only. Essentially, then, the Cubs have turned Mark Bellhorn, who was picked up for minor leaguer Adam Morrissey (still in the minors), into Ramirez. Lofton's still a useful player, and as I mentioned last night, there is considerable upside potential for Ramirez. Consider this: the Cubs' former third-base prospect, David Kelton, now moved to the outfield, is only six months younger than Ramirez, and Ramirez is already an established major league regular who's had a 30 HR, 100 RBI season. Finally, Dusty Baker is quite familiar with Lofton, having managed him for half of last season as well in San Francisco. I'd imagine both of them will be charged up to play before full houses and in a pennant race.

They'll be in uniform tonight at Wrigley Field; a reminder that the game is on ESPN for those of you outside Chicago, game time has been moved to 6:05 CDT. Hope someone's reminded Lofton and Ramirez of the game time change! If the game is speedy enough, I may be able to post a report tonight, otherwise tomorrow morning.

In today's Chicago Sun-Times, Hendry is quoted as saying: "It's a strong possibility that Mark [Prior] won't pitch this weekend. We're not going to take any chances. This deal does not stop us from pursuing some other people.'' Other sources say that Todd Wellemeyer will be called up today to take Sergio Mitre's one-day spot on the roster, to help out in the bullpen, and then Juan Cruz will replace Wellemeyer and start in Prior's place either Saturday or Sunday at Houston. I imagine the other roster move will be to put the injured Tom Goodwin on the 15-day DL. The club surely needs 11 pitchers right now, what with only one day off (next Monday) till after the Arizona series.

I'm glad to hear that Hendry may not be done. Clearly the club needs bench help, now that Lenny F. Harris is back on it, and another arm wouldn't hurt either.

Last night's 8-4 loss to the Braves and Greg Maddux could have actually been a closer game; Sergio Mitre didn't throw all that badly, I thought, and actually showed a pretty decent breaking ball. Unfortunately, he hung a couple of them and you just can't do that with a team as experienced as Atlanta is. Before Tom Goodwin got hurt on the bases, he misjudged Chipper Jones' flyball that wound up being an RBI double. If not for that, Mitre might have gotten out of the first inning scoreless and who knows what that would have done for his confidence. In front of family members that WGN (once again, TBS was blacked out in Chicago) insisted on showing over and over again (OK, OK, we get it, his parents are there!), he did single in his first major league at-bat. Despite the poor showing, I do think Mitre has major-league talent and at age 22, I think he'll be back.

:: posted by Al at 7:57 AM [+] ::
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The Trade

I get up at 3:30 am for work every day and so had already shut down the computer for the night; just as I did, the Cubs announced that they had consummated the long-rumored deal with Pittsburgh, so I thought I'd come back with a few initial remarks, with more to come tomorow.

If you have not yet heard -- and this is early enough so that I cannot even give you a web link to click on! -- the Cubs sent Jose Hernandez, triple-A pitcher Matt Bruback (6-8, 3.96 ERA at Iowa), and a PTBNL to the Pirates for Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez.

Well, I like this. I like it a lot, in fact.

First of all, Jose Hernandez and his strikeouts are off the team.

Second, Lofton isn't what he used to be but he still can play CF, run a bit, hit some, he'll draw a walk from time to time, and he helped the Giants make the playoffs last year under similar circumstances. He has been in the postseason seven times and (I know this sounds like a cliche, but I think it's true) knows how to win.

The key to the deal is, of course, Ramirez, who has great potential at age 25. He's not a great defensive third baseman, but if he can begin in the future to replicate the fine offensive season he had in 2001, I think we can live with that. He's expensive -- signed for $6 million for next year -- but could be worth it. His offensive numbers are comparable to Sammy Sosa's at that age -- a free-swinger who could hit really long home runs when he does make contact.

Matt Bruback is 24, a mid-level prospect who could pan out, but I don't think he was on the Cubs' front burner. They made this deal without giving up Juan Cruz, Bobby Hill, or (so far) any one of their really good pitching prospects, such as Bobby Brownlie, Chadd Blasko, Andrew Sisco, Justin Jones, or Jae-Kuk Ryu.

On tonight's telecast Jim Hendry said he hoped they'd both be in uniform at Wrigley Field tomorrow. I hope so too.

Lofton wore #7 for the Pirates; I'd guess unless Ramon Martinez cedes the number, Lofton will wear #1.

Ramirez wore #16 for the Pirates and as that number is available, I'm sure it'll be issued to him.

More on this plus the report on tonight's sad performance, tomorrow morning.

:: posted by Al at 9:26 PM [+] ::
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Notes

1) Just received this note from Christian Ruzich of The Cub Reporter, a blog you should check out if you haven't:

"I did some research at baseball-reference and found that the Cubs have only ever (since 1901) scored 15+ runs in back-to-back games once. Well, actually twice, since they did it three games in a row:

6/1/1930: 16- 4
6/3/1930: 15- 2
6/4/1930: 18-10"

2) Another site you should check out is that of the free satirical paper The Heckler, which has been available outside the ballpark for most of this season, and which has had some truly funny articles and photos.

3) Quote from Angels pitcher Ramon Ortiz after defeating the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 3-1 today: "In baseball you never know. Sometimes you win, win, win. (Sometimes) you lose, lose, lose. You have to stayed focused everytime, win or lose."

I see a bright future for Ortiz as a color commentator after he's done playing.

:: posted by Al at 3:42 PM [+] ::
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Blacked Out

When the Cubs play the Braves in Atlanta, I have in past years liked to watch the games on TBS; this is a way to hear what another team's announcers think of the Cubs, get another perspective on the game. I like the TBS announcers, too; they'll talk baseball instead of the fluffy stuff you often hear from Chip Caray (though of course, Steve Stone is one of the best in the business).

No longer, it seems, can you do that in Chicago, at least when the game is on Fox Sports Net like it was last night. TBS was blacked out on my cable system; I suppose either FSN or MLB accomplished that to prevent exactly what I and a lot of others must have been doing, to "protect" the local advertising on FSN. Well, I defeated that, too, by flipping back & forth between the ESPN2 backup game (Anaheim/Tampa Bay) and the White Sox/Indians game during commercial breaks. So there! It'll be interesting to see if tonight, when the game is on WGN instead of FSN, if TBS is again blacked out.

I did all this to a backdrop of drilling and hammering. I don't do this kind of stuff well, so my wife & sister-in-law spent the evening attempting to hang a couple of new towel rods in the bathroom. Actually, I must admit they did a pretty good job of it.

Even so, I didn't miss any of the Cubs' exciting comeback win, 15-6 over the Braves; I even stayed up till the end of the 3 hour, 35 minute marathon.

It started out like so many of Shawn Estes' other starts -- Sammy Sosa staked him to a 3-0 lead which he promptly blew, and when he was taken out with the bases loaded, no one out and the Cubs losing 5-4 already, it looked disastrous.

And if the Cubs do come back to make the playoffs, here's yet another "turning point" -- Dave Veres' amazing relief pitching, getting out of that jam without allowing a run, and the rest of the bullpen gave up only one hit the rest of the way -- Javy Lopez hit another HR, no shame in that, and the Cubs' bats simply would not stop beating up on Atlanta's bullpen.

The broadcast crew checked with STATS, Inc. to see when was the last time the Cubs had 20 hits in consecutive games. They went back to the beginning of the divisional play era -- 1969 -- and couldn't find one. I can't remember one either, nor can I remember them scoring 15+ runs in back-to-back games, either. Perhaps more research today will answer this question. It was the fourth time this year the Cubs have scored 15 or more in a game, pretty good for a team that's had its offensive struggles.

You can't really compare seasons, but in 1998, a Cub team that was also struggling came into Atlanta for a similar two-game series at almost the exact calendar moment -- July 20. In the first game Kevin Tapani hit a grand slam and the Cubs won 11-4. In the second... well, guess who was pitching for the Braves? The same guy who's throwing tonight, Greg Maddux, only then, he was a dominant pitcher who the Cubs had almost never beaten. And his opponent was a rookie, some kid named Kerry Wood, who struck out 11, and the Cubs won 3-0. Tonight, another rookie throws against Maddux, who isn't the pitcher he was five years ago. Sergio Mitre makes his major league debut, and who knows? After that sweep in Atlanta, the Cubs went to Arizona later that week, and Sammy Sosa hit the first two grand slams of his career, and the Cubs were off and running into what is probably the best wild-card race since the invention of the thing.

Steve & Chip got into an interesting discussion near the end of the telecast about the balanced vs. the unbalanced schedule, with Stone taking the position against the current unbalanced schedule, citing "too many times seeing Abraham Nunez isn't what they had in mind." Maybe not, but also consider the great Cub-Cardinal rivalry, or other divisional rivalries like Dodgers/Giants or Yankees/Red Sox, and I think you see the appeal of more divisional play. The Yankees surely draw better for another series against the Red Sox, than they would if the Tigers came to New York an extra series; same for Cubs/Cardinals as opposed to having San Diego in one more time. I like the unbalanced schedule, despite the supposed "inequities" created when teams going for the same playoff prize play different interleague opponents.

You still have to go out and win the games. And with a three-game winning streak, the Cubs have now picked up a game on the Astros, and after this weekend, we ought to know much more about their prospects for the rest of the season.

:: posted by Al at 7:55 AM [+] ::
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Never Give Up

Tonight's game, currently being led by the Cubs 7-5 in the 6th, is running pretty late, so I'll post more on it tomorrow.

I did want to say something again about the naysayers on the Cubs Usenet newsgroup, who are once again calling for Dusty Baker's head after hearing some pre-game comments that Hee Seop Choi might get sent to Iowa.

Look -- Dusty's job is to win, not develop players. If Choi's in a slump, maybe playing time at Iowa would straighten him out. The White Sox even briefly considered sending Paul Konerko to Triple-A, and he had three solid major league seasons.

The Astros lost to the Pirates tonight 5-3, so the Cubs can gain a game in the standings. There are 65 games remaining. The Cubs' job is still to win the NL Central, which can be done. I'm far from throwing up my hands and giving up and "playing the kids".

So far tonight, the Cubs have shown a lot of heart in first giving up the lead, then getting it back. As I type this, Moises Alou just doubled in two runs for a 9-5 lead.

More in the morning. Never give up.

:: posted by Al at 9:00 PM [+] ::
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Comments Welcomed

Jason Steffens of The Clark & Addison Chronicle gave me some assistance today on changing the font size of my blog. So far, this is about as radical as I want to get. But there may be more design changes in the future. Let me know what you all think.

:: posted by Al at 2:13 PM [+] ::
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Blog Help Wanted!

I'm getting a little tired/bored of my current blog template. Plus, I've received at least one comment that the typeface is kinda hard to read.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I've looked at the templates Blogger provides but there aren't that many of them, plus there doesn't seem to be any way to revert to what you have if you don't like what you get. I also checked out BlogSkins, but I haven't found anything I really like or think is appropriate there. Even if there's a way to just make the typeface of my current blog template larger (without changing the sidebar type size), that would be great.

If any of you have any thoughts/ideas/suggestions, e-mail me. Thanks!

:: posted by Al at 10:29 AM [+] ::
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Poor Dusty's Almanack

And that refers to today's rain delay, during which I started my next summer book, Walter Isaacson's "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life", written by, of all people, a former president of CNN. I got through about 75 pages before the rain stopped in Miami, and I can say that it's a page-turner, a very readable book about perhaps the greatest American who never became President of our young country.

Meanwhile, the Cubs were occupied with reviving their moribund bats, which they did with uncommon vigor (now, was that a phrase Franklin might have turned?) in today's 16-2 blowout of the Marlins in Miami (tying their biggest offensive output of the season, a 16-3 beating of the Reds on April 17), which featured, among other things, three hits from Carlos Zambrano (I saw him get three hits in a spring-training game against the Padres), the Cubs solving Dontrelle Willis, who had nothing after the rain delay, and a monstrous moon-shot home run by Sammy Sosa, the 518th of his career; three more and he'll tie Ted Williams and Willie McCovey on the all-time list. The Cubs also won the season series from the Marlins 4-2 and now have a baby two-game winning streak.

The Cubs also announced that Sergio Mitre, a pitcher not even on the prospect radar screen, would start in place of Mark Prior on Tuesday. Mitre is 22, and has middling stats for the class AA West Tenn Diamond Jaxx.

If you listen to those posting on the Cubs newsgroup today, you'd think Dusty Baker has become an axe murderer by letting Prior continue to pitch after he hurt his shoulder in the collision with Marcus Giles on July 11th. First of all, pitching isn't going to make a bone bruise worse, which is probably what Prior has, and second, consider the competitive nature of Prior, and the fact that he wanted to stay in the game, which speaks volumes about him, and his desire to win. Given the all-star break, and the fact that Prior hasn't pitched since July 11, he'll probably be disabled retroactive to that date, and be eligible to come off the DL on the 27th, which would be his next turn to start anyway. If it were more serious, I'd imagine the Cubs would call up Juan Cruz, but perhaps someone like Mitre, who most likely hasn't even been scouted by the Braves, might be able to handcuff them. Finally, I think it's significant that the Cubs will be in their 99th game of the season before they start someone who wasn't in the original 5-man rotation on Opening Day.

The Cubs will remain 4 1/2 games behind the Astros after today's win because Houston owns the Reds this year. The next month or so is a very tough part of the Cub schedule, but if they can hang in there till after the Cardinal series ends on Sept. 4, the rest of the year after that seems quite easy schedule-wise. Look also at what happened to the Kansas City Royals after their 16-3 start; they then went 12-26, even worse than the Cubs have over the last month. But since June 8 KC is 25-13, and have opened up a huge lead in the AL Central. The Cubs are looking at a deficit, yes. They'll get several cracks at both Houston and St. Louis, starting next weekend in Houston, and the way the pitching staff has looked this weekend (OK, except for "bad" Kyle Farnsworth who showed up on Friday), I am optimistic.

Hey, Ben Franklin never knew baseball, but his entire life was made out of not giving up when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. Cub fans ought to take that lesson and run with it, at least for a while.

:: posted by Al at 4:59 PM [+] ::
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