"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, June 19, 2004 ::

Two Hours And Thirty-Two Minutes Of Boredom...

... and then six minutes of incredible excitement.

Mike had just got finished telling me about Chad Bradford, the A's temporary closer with Arthur Rhodes away on personal leave for a few days, who had tied the Cubs in knots yesterday: "Either he's unhittable or totally hittable. He doesn't have great stuff, but if you can figure out his motion, you can hit him."

Oh, and Mike? You also asked me, since you've been reading these posts, rhetorically, "Is this man ever happy?"

Yes, I'm happy today, with the Cubs' heart-pounding, quickly decisive 4-3 win over the A's at Wrigley Field this afternoon. Guess the Cubs figured out Bradford's motion!

It was unseasonably chilly today -- game time temperature of 60, nearly 20 degrees below normal for today. Jeff told me that he and Krista had bet each other that I would show up in jeans and with a jacket. I did wear jeans, but figured in the bright sunshine I'd be OK in a T-shirt, and it was OK, despite a stiff wind blowing straight in, which did prevent a few high fly balls for both teams from leaving the yard today.

We tried everything to get the Cub offense untracked today. The official "tomato inning" -- I did the ceremony myself today -- was the first... and the second, since the tomato splashed itself across two different squares, the second of which was Sammy Sosa's leadoff double in the 2nd, a ball that would have easily been a home run on another day. The Cubs could have scored more than one run in that inning, except for a weird play when Oakland LF Eric Byrnes trapped a ball that went for a base hit for Ramon Martinez, with Aramis Ramirez on third and Derrek Lee on first. The bases should have been loaded, but Ramirez held up and Lee scampered most of the way to third. Confused, he went back to second, and if he'd gone a little faster he'd have been safe, because the A's thought the ball had been caught, and they simply threw to second for what they thought was a force. Lee stood there thinking he was out, but 2B umpire Mike Everitt didn't call him out till he was tagged.

Anyway, the game slogged on, with Mark Prior pitching pretty well until the fourth, when he got into trouble by walking his old catcher Damian Miller with two out, and then after a single, .180-hitting Esteban German (Mike said he should wear #9, and that puzzled us till we realized he was talking "GERMAN" rather than "her-MAN", which is the way he pronounces his name. A very long way for a bad pun.) tripled in the gap.

Mark Mulder kept it close even though the Cubs got a run back in the 7th. It didn't seem like a one-run game, and then Bradford gave up three straight hits, two to pinch-hitters (Thank the Marlins for Todd Hollandsworth!) and then Barrett's game-winner. I heard Barrett on the radio post-game show say that he feeds off the energy of the crowd. Things like this can really work when a player has talent, I think, if it gives them extra adrenaline to get that one hit that you need in a situation, as Barrett did today. He surely didn't get that kind of feeling in the cavernous empty stadium in Montreal.

We gave up two of the seats we didn't need today to a nice couple -- before noticing that they were wearing A's caps. Well, it turned out OK as we talked baseball with them; they were knowledgeable and friendly and since the Cubs won, that's way OK with me!

Dusty Baker was also interviewed on the radio postgame show and said it was the biggest win of the year. That's an understatement. It was so not only for the swift way it was won, but the Cubs have had a poor record in one-run games this year, and this was a good way to make a dent in that, and show themselves that they can come back and rally.

With Carlos Zambrano, the most consistent pitcher on the staff, going tomorrow against Barry Zito, who's not been his usual self this year (incidentally, this game will be only the third matchup in major league history between pitchers whose last name begins with "Z", and no, that's not my research, it was in today's paper. Last time it happened was last year, Zito against the "other" Zambrano, Victor of Tampa Bay), there's a very good chance of winning this series against a very good team, before the big series at St. Louis this week.

:: posted by Al at 4:43 PM [+] ::
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A Gloomy Day

... in more ways than one.

First of all, let me tell you that I understand much more completely today, exactly why Dusty Baker and so many other Cub managers have railed against schedulers who have scheduled the Cubs to play a night game on the road and a day game at home the next day.

Last night's game ended at about 9:30 pm. Twelve hours later I was on a plane home from Houston and went to the ballpark for today's listless 2-1 loss to the Athletics at Wrigley Field.

I was tired. And I at least got some sleep at a reasonable hour; the Cubs didn't fly in this morning, they must have come in at 2 am, then had to rush out to the ballpark to be there by around 11 or so (no, they didn't take batting practice).

And then, they are expected to put together a first-rate baseball performance?

MLB's schedule-makers should have mandated that the Astros change yesterday's game to a day game. It's my understanding that MLB only does this if the flight home is more than a certain length of time, and my flight was only a little over two hours (it was longer going down there), so I guess it didn't qualify.

The A's also had to come in from a night game, but they were in St. Louis, a little closer, and they did hit today.

Neither team hit much during the game; Mark Kotsay was pretty much a one-man show, driving in both Oakland runs with a homer and a double and making a fine running catch on what should have been a Ramon Martinez double to lead off the bottom of the 8th.

Sammy Sosa's ballyhooed return from the DL -- and he was greeted with several standing ovations -- was a bust. He struck out twice, had a terrible at-bat in the fourth (flying out on the second pitch) and ended the game with an easy grounder to short. Jason Dubois was sent back to Iowa, which he needs -- he must have nearly rusted sitting on the bench, having only one at-bat in the last ten days (a pinch-hit strikeout in the 12-3 win over the Cardinals last week). Tomorrow, Jon Leicester will be sent down to make room for Mark Grudzielanek, as the Cubs for the first time all year get down to 11 pitchers. Given what has happened in the last week, since the 15-inning game on Sunday, that's all they should need for the time being.

Meanwhile, Matt Clement deserved better; when you throw eight innings of two-run, no-walk, eight-strikeout ball, you ought to win.

The gloom of the baseball was made worse when it started raining lightly in the 8th inning; that only darkened the mood a bit more. During the pre-game music and advertising, the PA was not working in the bleachers, which frankly, Jeff and I didn't mind a bit. They did manage to fix it before gametime, and for some reason, Wayne Messmer, who normally does PA for weekday games, was not there -- night/weekend announcer Paul Friedman filled in.

Ex-Cubs Damian Miller (who started) and Eric Karros (who didn't, and who is hitting .170) both got warm ovations. Apparently these two have spent as much time as they can telling their new teammates about the 2003 season. I guess the A's are getting the message, as they too have survived injuries to starting players (Mark Ellis, Eric Chavez) and are in first place. Incidentally, with this game, the Cubs have now played every current AL team in interleague play -- except for the Red Sox. An omen?

To honor the long A's-Cubs spring training tradition, both teams wore their dark-colored tops today (Blue for the Cubs, Green for the A's), and I think you know how I feel about that. Traditionalist that I am, I think home teams should wear white (or pinstripes, as the Cubs do) and visiting teams all gray. That, however, doesn't sell as many "authentic game jerseys". This is the primary reason you see teams with five or six "official" jerseys, the Diamondbacks being the worst offenders. It is all about money.

Anyway, I did enjoy my visit to Houston, despite the fact that it really is a fairly boring city without a lot of touristy things to do, and that the ballpark is a melange of quirks looking for a theme. I have written about my kids here often, and I know they miss me (well, maybe, or maybe they just run wild and don't!) while I'm gone, and my wife is the one who keeps things running smoothly in the house and with them, while I enjoy the passion of baseball.

:: posted by Al at 7:38 PM [+] ::
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Sweep!

HOUSTON -- Let's get the stat stuff out of the way first.

This is the first four-game Cub sweep in Houston since ... well, since ever. The Cubs swept the Astros at Wrigley Field on June 23-25, 1967, but had never done so in Houston.

Until tonight.

Today's 5-4 Cub win, which was made more exciting than it had to be by LaTroy Hawkins allowing a surprise two-run homer to Jason Lane with two out and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth, was the Cubs' sixth win in a row, matching their longest of the year, and showing how this team really is starting to click on all cylinders.

More on this later. First, today, I drove down to the Johnson Space Center, about 25 miles southeast of town, where the astronauts undergo various forms of training and they build new things for the space program, which after the Columbia disaster is limited to missions to the International Space Station.

The "Level Nine" tour included lunch in the employee cafeteria, where the tour guide pointed out several astronauts eating lunch. You also get to see a giant (40 foot deep) pool where the astronauts do training for space, and both the current mission control room and the historic control room where missions like Apollo 11 were controlled from. That one, they took the group down and we actually got to look at the places where the famous phrase, "Houston, we have a problem" was said from the Apollo 13 crew, which was eventually brought safely back to Earth.

Back on Earth and at the ballpark, I wound up in dead center field in the second deck tonight, in front of about 6 screaming teenage girls who were Astros fans, and despite the screeching, they couldn't help their team solve Glendon Rusch, who got himself into trouble with walks in the second inning, when the Astros countered the Cubs' first-inning run, and the only other blemish to Rusch was Lance Berkman's homer, tying the game at two in the sixth. For a while I thought we might be looking at extra innings, but with two out in the top of the seventh, the bats came alive, with four hits in a row, and it would have been more runs except for a nice relay by Roy Oswalt on Derrek Lee's single, which when Berkman's throw got away, Todd Hollandsworth tried to score and was thrown out.

As it turned out, the extra run scored on Corey Patterson's third extra-base hit of the night(I'm beginning to think that maybe he doesn't suck that much any more, except he must have heard the screeching teenage girls, because he kept turning around to look at them), a ninth-inning triple, and a single up the middle by Moises Alou, was important, after Lane's homer.

All, however, is well that ends well, with this amazing sweep, though with the St. Louis and Cincinnati wins tonight, the Cubs remain tied for second, two games out, coming home to play the A's tomorrow afternoon, and the A's ought to be good and mad after being swept in St. Louis.

A couple things I forgot the past two days: the food selection at the Juice Box is mediocre. No, they don't serve orange juice, but that might be an improvement. There are hot dogs, and more hot dogs, and then there's the footlong hot dog. No chicken sandwiches or other selections, except in the Mexican restaurant that was just below my section, where they were serving nice-looking steaks and ice cream desserts as big as your head, though only about half the people were even watching the game.

There was a vocal minority of Cub fans in attendance for all three games I attended, and I heard them on TV on Monday -- I'd estimate maybe 7,000 or so. We are everywhere.

Finally, I had searched all around the Juice Box for an All-Star cap the first day. Nope, sold out. Huh? A month before the game? They said they might have some by Friday, which didn't help me at all.

So where did I find one? At the Houston Downtown Aquarium, where I spent part of Wednesday afternoon when it was raining. Incidentally, don't bother if you are here. The exhibits are small and kind of tacky, with weird sound effects playing throughout. Not really worth the $7.50 price of admission, though I did get to touch a stingray, which they keep in a small tank near the exit. No, they're not dangerous, despite the name.

:: posted by Al at 9:55 PM [+] ::
...

Why, I Oughta...

HOUSTON -- So I get to the Juice Box and find that my Crawford Box seat isn't exactly on top of the scoreboard, but instead is behind the foul pole, which obstructs the view of half the infield.

I went to the "Fan Assistance" window to exchange this ticket. What a fiasco. First I got stuck behind two people who were exchanging tickets -- for games in August. That took about 20 minutes.

When I got to the front of the line they found me a nice seat 38 rows behind third base. But due to their computer system, they had to charge me for the new ticket and credit the old one, instead of just charging the difference. Well, their internet line was down -- no credits. Could I just have the cash? Well, no, they don't have enough cash.

Unbelievable. I've never seen this in 1600+ games attended, and they seemed really disinterested in helping. Finally a box office supervisor managed to get the credit through.

I did not, however, let this ruin my enjoyment of the Cubs' come-from-behind 4-1 win over the Astros, their fifth win in a row, all on the road, and now they have a chance to sweep a four-game series in Houston, something pretty much unheard-of for the Cubs, or nearly any other team, tomorrow with Glendon Rusch on the mound.

A couple of stupid things I forgot from yesterday: there's something called the Coca-Cola Patrol which runs around the stands between innings playing annoying games with little hoops, and spews out streamers, and basically just gets in the way. They attempt to shoot T-shirts into the stands too, but generally fail; they had to throw the T-shirts a couple of times instead of using the shooter. I hate to say this, but Minute Maid Park combines the charm of the old Candlestick Park with the mindless advertising, etc. of the 21st Century style ballpark. It ranks very low on my list of parks to attend. The concrete walls that you see in the outfield, evoking the old train station? They look pretty substantial, right? Go behind them and you'll see they're nothing more than facades. Oh, and there are some seats next to columns that are even worse than the one I had.

Oh yes, and the concession prices are too high.

Enough. At least they had the roof open for the entire game, and it was really a lovely evening.

Greg Maddux had some trouble in the first, then settled down and prevented three hits himself with his defense, snagging two grounders and a line drive. Even at 38, he plays his position better than just about anyone. Finally running out of gas in the 7th (must have been the humidity, it was only 85 pitches), Francis Beltran, Mike Remlinger and LaTroy Hawkins finished up easily, saving Maddux' 295th career win. I was a little surprised that Dusty didn't bat for Remlinger with a man on third and two out in the 8th, leaving him in to face the tough righties of the Astros lineup, but maybe someone actually pointed out to Dusty that Remlinger is tougher on righties than lefties. Anyway, it worked.

Meanwhile, the offense clicked at the right time, with two triples in the eighth, from Todd Hollandsworth and Corey Patterson, and Patterson made a nice running catch on a Morgan Ensberg drive deep to center in the bottom of the 8th. Of course, the fans behind the plate think any deep fly is a home run, but Ensberg hit the ball to the deepest part of the park, right next to the hill, where Craig Biggio again misplayed a ball after running up the hill. Bet the Astros wish they'd never put it in there.

You should see the press here -- they are calling the Astros "slow and old", ripping the Billy Wagner trade, and one columnist called for Houston to tank the season and start bringing up their young players. Surprising for a club that was expected in many corners to win the division.

With the Reds and Cardinals both winning tonight, the Cubs remain tied with the Reds for second, two games out. Wasn't it just two days ago that I was saying that Oakland was 18-0 against the NL Central? Darn Cardinals, now it's 18-2.

We remain hopeful for tomorrow, going for the sweep.

:: posted by Al at 10:03 PM [+] ::
...

It Was Forty Years Ago Today

HOUSTON -- Well, yesterday, actually, but I'm writing about the events of June 15.

On June 15, 1964, the worst trade in Cub history happened -- the Brock-for-Broglio deal. We don't have to go into details of that, you all know what that did to the history of both the Cubs and the Cardinals.

Yesterday, June 15, 2004, could become one of the most significant days in recent Cub history, because their fourth straight win, 4-2 over the Astros, was one gutted out over Octavio Dotel, one of baseball's best closers, in a ninth inning when it seemed sure that another loss would drop the Cubs out of second place.

But wait, I'm starting at the end.

My flight to Houston was delayed, because of thunderstorms in the area, we had to fly nearly 200 miles west, nearly to San Antonio, and then back, so I landed an hour late, but still made it to downtown Houston in plenty of time for the game.

And downtown Houston is... well, what's the word I'm looking for? Ennui? Boring? Dull? It reminded me of a slightly nicer Detroit. As I've heard many times, there are no zoning laws in Houston, so there are small frame houses intersprinkled with the office towers, none of which have any real distinction. I bought an All-Star T-shirt which features the skyline, and it could be Atlanta, Denver, or any one of a number of cities.

The Juice Box is located in a really nondescript neighborhood, though there is a hotel called "Inn at the Ballpark" right across the street. That, and a steakhouse, are about the only activity right around the park. After the game, people seem to stream right out of the stadium to their cars, or to hotels quite a distance away.

The first thing you notice on entering the ballpark is how darn cold they keep it! It wasn't that hot or humid outside yesterday, but it was freezing inside. You do get used to it eventually, but it was almost too cold. In the sixth inning the roof opened and it felt more like a real ballpark, though I don't think they ever turned the air conditioning off.

The ballpark is OK, but the overwhelming feeling I get is that of "planned quirkiness" -- unlike Wrigley Field with ivy and bricks, or Fenway with the Green Monster, or even the new ballpark in San Diego which had an historic building included in its design -- what they seem to have done here is say, "Let's figure out how cute we can make this park." The hill in CF, which is supposed to evoke the old incline at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, is plunked down in the middle of nowhere. The train is just silly.

Watched BP for a while; Greg Maddux, who isn't pitching till tomorrow, spent quite a bit of time in the cage working on his bunting. That's the mark of the professional that he is.

My seat was in the RF outfield seats, not too far from the Astros bullpen, which if I remember correctly was added there as an afterthought after the stadium was finished. The angle was just about the same as where I sit in the RF bleachers at home. The seat was OK, but since it is directly under the upper deck, you cannot see the scoreboard or video screen at all, limiting the amount of information you can get. The PA announcer was too loud and boomed his lineups out in a disk jockey-style voice, and the music hype they played before the lineup announcement seemed to last forever.

The section had quite a few Cub fans, but let me tell you about a couple of goofy Astros fans who were sitting a few rows in front of me. I was in the tenth row and if you are in about the fifth row or so, you are in front of the overhang of the upper deck. There were apparently some people in the upper deck throwing stuff down on these people, who got so upset they called security over. But when they really got upset, one of them looked up and yelled loudly, "QUIDDIT!" in a true Texas drawl.

Then there was the woman who was getting really upset during the Cubs' ninth-inning rally, and said indignantly, "They put all these Cub people in MY section!" Then she left before the Astros even batted in the bottom of the ninth.

About the game, this game should prove to Dusty Baker once and for all that Rey Ordonez should never again disgrace a Cub starting lineup. Ramon Martinez, who started again last night, had two hits, including a homer, and the key hit on a 3-2 count in the ninth, driving in the third and fourth runs. Carlos Zambrano labored through six innings, throwing 102 pitches and issuing four walks, but the bullpen kept the Astros in check, despite issuing extra-base hits leading off both the 8th (Jason Lane) and 9th (Jose Vizcaino).

It was nice to see the Cubs finally get to Dotel, who had not allowed a run to them this year, even though they needed the break of Lance Berkman's error on Tom Goodwin's fly ball leading off the ninth, which I thought was a tough error; it could have easily been ruled a double. This hometown scoring decision made all three runs off Dotel unearned.

Tonight, I will be in the "Crawford Boxes", the seats you see on TV above the LF scoreboard, which are named after the street that runs behind them. Actually, they're "Landry's" Crawford Boxes, sponsored, of course. I guess I should feel fortunate that I couldn't see the video board last night; it at least prevented me from being bombarded with more advertising.

:: posted by Al at 9:53 AM [+] ::
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Just What The Doctor Ordered

Chip Caray, believe it or not, said it best, in the eighth inning: "Maybe the Cubs should get in to the next stop on the road at 2 am."

They'll have a chance, actually, to do that on Thursday night, though they're coming home to play instead of another road stop, as the schedule-maker has for the second and last time this year, provided for a night game on the road and a day game at home.

If that's what it takes, keep these guys up till all hours of the night more often, because they came out with their hitting shoes on in Houston tonight, smacking twelve hits, including four homers, two by Todd Walker, and beat the Astros easily 7-2.

In fact, Walker would have given back the second homer, as two pitches before he hit it, he'd smoked a pitch down the right field line that was about two inches foul. Why is this important? Because he had a triple, single and homer in his other three at-bats, and a double would have made him the first Cub to hit for the cycle since Mark Grace in 1993. Walker kicked the dirt in mock disgust nearing first base, but it was a night for happiness in the Cub dugout.

Mark Prior threw 92 effective pitches, struck out eight and walked only one, in picking up his first win of the 2004 season. He ran out of gas in the sixth and Dusty wisely (yes, wisely!) pulled him after he allowed a double to Lance Berkman.

Jimmy Anderson, who used to give the Cubs fits when he was with Pittsburgh, came in and threw three terrific innings of relief. Unfortunately, Anderson actually pitched four innings in this game, and by the time the Astros saw him the second time around, they got three hits and two runs, which didn't do much for his stat line. Anderson, who had been mostly a starter in his years with the Pirates and last year with the Reds, got his first major league save, and more importantly, saved the rest of the bullpen, which got a real workout yesterday in Anaheim.

As good as Roger Clemens was in shutting off the Cub offense twelve days ago at Wrigley Field, that's how easily the Cubs solved him today, getting ten hits, including one of Walker's homers and one by Aramis Ramirez. So, the Cubs now are 2-1 lifetime against Clemens, having also beaten him in the famous interleague game at Wrigley Field against the Yankees on June 7, 2003.

I'm going to rev up the cliche meter a little bit, if you don't mind... the Cub offense seems to be warming up just as the weather in Chicago turns warm and beautiful, as it was today (after some pretty nasty-looking thunderstorms roared through the area early this morning), and the third win in a row moved the Cubs past the Astros into sole possession of third place in the NL Central (pending the result of tonight's rain-delayed Reds-Phillies game, the Cubs could be tied for second with Cincinnati).

That sets the stage for Al's first road trip of the season. Tomorrow morning I'll fly to Houston and see the last three games of the series at the Juice Box, a ballpark I've never visited before. I'll report on tomorrow night's game from there, either late tomorrow night, or more likely, Wednesday morning.

:: posted by Al at 9:51 PM [+] ::
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So, Just How Much Is A Hollands Worth?

One ballgame, at the very least.

Todd Hollandsworth made an amazing, running-into-the-wall catch to possibly save the game in the 12th inning, and he may be, of all the Cubs' off-season moves, the most important pickup, because I cannot imagine where this team would be if Tom Goodwin, say, had had to play right field the last month while Sammy Sosa was out.

(The consensus, incidentally, in the Cubs newsgroup, was that Sammy would never have made that play. I agree. If the Cubs do let Moises Alou go in the offseason and seek a free agent outfielder, it ought to be a right fielder. It's time for Sammy to move to left, just as Billy Williams did late in his career.

Speaking of Sosa, he began a three-day rehab assignment at Double-A West Tenn yesterday, his first since 1992, with an RBI single and a walk, serving as the Diamond Jaxx' DH. Unlike Mark Prior's ballyhooed appearances at Lansing and Iowa, Sosa's appearance yesterday resulted in a less-than-sellout crowd of 5509. The Jaxx won 2-1, and perhaps more important than Sosa's appearance were the five scoreless, no-walk innings thrown by 2002 #1 draft choice Bobby Brownlie, who could earn a promotion to Triple-A sometime later this year. Sosa said afterwards he felt fine, and his return is still on target for Friday at Wrigley Field.

Everyone contributed to the Cubs' second 15-inning win of the year, 6-5 over the Angels in Anaheim yesterday.

And I mean everyone. In the bottom of the 15th, after Dusty had used up all seven of his relievers, finally justifying the 12-man pitching staff I've been railing against for weeks, Greg Maddux was warming up.

Fortunately, Jon Leicester shut the Angels down after Todd Walker had singled in the eventual winning run in the top of the inning, and the Cubs had their win, over a team that was just about as evenly matched with the Cubs as any they've faced this year, and that includes the fact that the Angels have been just about as decimated with injuries as the Cubs have.

After Brian & Kristy's wedding Saturday night I was pretty tired so I spent the first half of Sunday afternoon taking a nap.

Yeah, I know, what an exciting life I lead.

Then I kept waiting for the game to end so I could -- hold your excitement here -- go out and put gas in the car.

I guess maybe I can take some credit here. It was nearly 8:00 and I figured I had to go to sleep again to get up for work, so I went out and put the game on the radio in the car. Naturally, that's when the winning run scored. Had I known this, I'd have gone out two hours earlier. During the short time I had the radio on in the car, Dave Otto actually made a cogent remark, something which had eluded him during his two years doing TV color commentary while Steve Stone was away.

He noted that the longer a game like this goes, the larger the psychological factor of winning such a game is. And I agree with him, even though the last two times the Cubs won a game this long (May 15, 2003, 17 innings in Milwaukee, and April 9, 2004, 15 innings in Atlanta), they promptly lost the next day, and in 2003, began one of their worst stretches of the season (losing 11 of their next 19). This year, after losing the next day in Atlanta, they won the following day, lost the day after that (the home opener), then won nine of the next eleven.

I still believe that a game won in this fashion, gives the team a lift that cannot be immediately measured statistically. Today, Mark Prior faces Roger Clemens in Houston, in a game ESPN has tagged for national broadcast, and it has to be better facing this coming off a win, than off a loss.

More heroes from yesterday: Derrek Lee had the best offensive day of his season, going 5-for-5 with two walks, a homer and a stolen base, again showing that perhaps he has read the calendar, since June has historically been his best month. Corey Patterson had three hits and scored the winning run. Leicester, in only his second major league appearance, got the win and threw three very effective innings. In fact, apart from Kyle Farnsworth and LaTroy Hawkins, both of whom wound up with blown saves, the entire pitching staff, from Matt Clement (who lowered his ERA to 3.15) to Francis Beltran (showing no ill effects from being hit in his pitching hand) to Jimmy Anderson (for whom I have no parenthetical comment), threw well.

Anti-heroes: Jose Macias struck out and looked really bad doing it after running the count to 2-0 in the ninth. Macias was 0-for-7 and now has batted 95 times this year without drawing a single walk. Macias has never walked much in his career (82 times in 1275 at-bats), but this is a bit extreme. I do not know what the record is for most times batted in a season without walking, but former Atletic, Brewer and Angel Rob Picciolo must be Macias' hero -- he walked only 25 times in 1628 career at-bats and did have a season, 1984, when he walked zero times in 119 at-bats.

Why Dusty Baker thinks a guy like this is a good player to have on your team, I have no idea. One of the reasons the Cubs won yesterday was the seven walks they drew.

Stat corner: The win kept the Cubs 2.5 games behind the Cardinals; in fact, the top 12 teams in the National League are all within 5.5 games of each other, which means the league hasn't sorted itself out yet. In a real anomaly, the Cardinals'win at Texas yesterday gave them a 23-12 road record, with only a 13-15 home record. They are the only major league team with an overall winning record, to have a losing record at home.

There are one hundred games left. I believe this team could win sixty of them, which would give them 93 wins, and that ought to be enough to win the competitive NL Central.

So, this week, while the Cubs are playing the only NL series of the week, St. Louis comes home to play Oakland, who the Cubs will also face at home next weekend. The A's are 18-0 against the NL Central in interleague play. Let us hope that streak continues for three more days, and only three more days.

:: posted by Al at 2:21 AM [+] ::
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Brian & Kristy's Wedding

I have known Brian's dad Dave for 25 years.

Yesterday, for the first time, I saw him with a tear or two in his eye, and for a man who is generally completely stoic, it was nice to see the emotions flow, at the wedding of his oldest son.

I've seen Brian and his brothers grow up in the bleachers, because Dave has brought them out there since they weren't even as tall as a bleacher bench. Mike and I joke that if Brian's brother Kevin, who plays for the Rockford Riverhawks, ever does realize his dream of playing in the majors, that he'll be the only major league player whose diaper was changed on our bench.

There must be a new tradition for weddings these days -- have the ceremony several hours before the reception. The afternoon ceremony lasted about half an hour, then the reception wasn't till early evening. The ceremony was on the campus of Elmhurst College (where Kristy went to school), in the Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel. Everyone in love should have such a lovely place to take their vows.

At the reception, Kevin and Brian's other brother Jake, co-best men, gave nice speeches, and then both of them were absolute maniacs on the dance floor.

Meanwhile, just as I did last summer when Carole and Ernie got married, I was looking for updates on the game via my web cellphone.

The theory apparently works. Whenever one of our group gets married, the Cubs win. (We were trying to convince Phil that he should be next, even sending him up there to catch the garter, but Kevin caught it.) It worked last August and worked again last night, as the Cubs tried really hard to blow a 6-1 lead, but the offense was too strong, and they blew out the Angels 10-5, including home runs from the Todds, Hollandsworth and Walker, and Aramis Ramirez.

In addition to the webphone, we were getting updates from Jeff's friend Mark, who lives in northern California but went down to Anaheim for the games last night and today.

I also got this e-mail from Helen Simmins-McMillin, a Hollywood music composer and loyal Cub fan in southern California, who is also a devoted reader of this blog, so since I didn't see any of last night's game, I thought I'd pass along this first-hand report from Anaheim this morning:

Glad you could hear us cheering on the Cubs via TV. I think we did a better job tonight (Saturday), though I was sitting in the top deck this time, so I might be able to hear more than I could last night under the first deck. But the Cubs fans tonight definitely took every opportunity to cheer, having more to cheer about, and I even managed to get a "Let's Go Cubs!" chant started once. (They kept cheering "Let's Go Cub-bies!" which seemed a little useless to me, since rhythmically it matches the "Let's Go An-gels!" that the home fans are so familiar with. I figured the more unique cheer would be recognizable to our guys on the field.) Anyway, cheering seems the only way I can help, so I try to do my best on the few occasions each year when I get to see 'em live.

Friday I got to the park very early and was able to catch all of batting practice. I was standing about 15 rows up from the Cubs dugout when Mark Prior and Larry Rothschild came out and headed out into the outfield. I noticed Prior was carrying a towel, and I'd heard of the towel drills (but have never seen them) so I made the trip around to the other side of the stadium and got a great place leaning on the rail over the Cubs bullpen to watch his bullpen session. I was standing maybe 25 feet away from him for the whole thing. Aside from finding the towel drill interesting (and being glad that's not my gloved hand he kept hitting) I thought he looked good, and though he and Rothschild obviously worked on a mechanical detail, they both seemed pleased with the session. After the towel drills were over he threw a regular bullpen session (with the catcher holding the glove right over the plate, as opposed to the regular game catching position) then Rothschild took the ball Prior used and tossed it to an adorable little girl who had been yelling "Go Cubs!" about 6 feet farther down the rail from me. Prior signed the ball as he left the bullpen. (All in all he ignored the fans, I thought to focus on his work, but I think signing the ball for the little girl was a nice touch.)

It was also fun to watch the pitchers shag balls during BP. Z seems to really get into it - he even robbed Moises (I think it was Alou) of a "home run" over the right field fence.

Let's hope Matt can pitch one run better than Escobar - and go deep into the game - tomorrow. These teams are pretty evenly matched, which makes me feel good since I think the Angels are one of the best teams in baseball right now, but the Angels in late innings are a real force to be reckoned with.

She's right. A series win on the road against the Angels, who even though they are decimated by injuries, still are one of the best teams in baseball, would not only be a statement, but could bring the Cubs within a game and a half of first place going into the key series in Houston this week.

Escobar gave the Cubs fits last June 13 in Toronto, one of the games I saw there, when he gave the Cubs 12 hits but only one run in a 5-1 Toronto win.

Most of that lineup is either hurt or no longer with the ballclub. It's time to produce. Yesterday was a good beginning.

:: posted by Al at 7:45 AM [+] ::
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