Thursday, July 10, 2008

Live Blogging the Cubs Game Part 20

Full count on Geo, Cubs down to their last strike... and he struck out.

Cubs lose.

Oh well, Cubs win the series and I artificially upped my post count.

St Louis lost, but the Brewers won, moving them into second 4 games behind the 1st place Cubbies.

Cubs Game Live Blogging Part 19

Well, the fans in the corner thought it was a fair ball.

But the Cubs are down to their last two outs. A Ram is up after D Lee flied out. Cubs down by 5 and need a big inning here in the 9th.

A Ram strikes out. Geo steps up as the Cubs last hope.

Live Blogging the Cubs Game Part 18

Homerun number 7 by the Reds. Unbelievable. Not a good day at Wrigley. 12-7

Cubs Game Live Blogging Part 17

We can't keep wasting the extra chances that they give us. Headed to the ninth, still down 11-7. Come on Cubbies.

Live Blogging the Cubs Game Part 16

If you're watching the Cubs game on WGN today and don't have MLBtv and therefore didn't watch yesterday's game, the reason they said that the lady spelled Bob Brenly right is because a fan had a shirt that said "Bob Brenley Fan Club" and Brenly was spelled wrong.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Lead off man (Fontenot) on via the error, but Ward is out one on a fly ball.

Cubs Game Live Blogging Part 15

Hey! A three up three down inning and 6 straight retired by Gaudin! All right Cubbies, let's get some runs!

Live Blogging the Cubs Game Part 14

Yeah, I skipped 13 cause it's bad luck, so what. Baseball players are superstitious and so am I.

Apparently it didn't matter though as the Cubs leave 2 on base in the 7th, still down by 4.

Live Blogging the Cubs Game Part 12

Good, no interview. I really hate that part most of the time.

They should have ended with Let's Get Some Runs though cause we really need some.

Cubs Game Live Blogging Part 11

The little girls from American Girls theater are singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame. While this version is probably the best sounding ever at Wrigley, I'm really not looking forward to them being interviewed in the booth in the bottom half of the inning. And I thought yesterday with the Juicy Fruit car driver was bad.

Live Blogging the Cubs Game Part 10

Not a great start. Yet another Reds homer.

Cubs Game Live Blogging Part 9

Chad Gaudin (pronounced Go-Dan) the third Nawlins connection on the team joining The Riot and Fontenot. Let's see how the less heralded part of the Harden deal does today.

Live Blogging the Cubs Game Part 8

I guess it was too much to ask to have him screw it up again.

One run in on the double play though and the Cubs are only down by 3 now in the 6th inning.

Cubs Game Live Blogging Part 7

We needed that. An error on what should have been a double play ball.

Instead of one on and two out, one run in, two on, and no one out.

Live Blogging the Cubs Game Part 6

Gaudin is warming up, should get a chance to make his Cubs debut.

Maybe now that Arroyo is out we can do to the Red bullpen what they did to ours. DeRo starts it out with a hit.

Meanwhile, the WGN viewing audience thinks the White Sox are the best team we've faced so far this season. 45% of them do anyway.

43% think the Rays are the best. I bet White Sox fans are watching and artificially inflated their own numbers. The Rays are clearly way better then the White Sox this year.

Cubs Game Live Blogging Part 5

This is just horrible.

We're supposed to be taking advantage of the wind blowing out, not the Reds.

Live Blogging the Cubs Game Part 4

There goes that plan. The game is now official and the rain isn't falling any harder. I guess we'll just have to come back and win it the old fashioned way. A Jim Edmonds homer there would have gone a long way towards that happening.

Cubs Game Live Blogging Part 3

Maybe the rain will cause them to call it, then we can start all over.

Live Blogging the Cubs Game part 2

I love Mike Fontenot.

Michael Worst

I can't believe that the Cubs haven't dropped him yet.

When Lilly got into trouble early today I thought it was Jon Leiber time, but no, Lou had to go with Wurtz who promptly gives up four runs to turn a close game into a blowout.

Now we have to try and come back.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Rich Harden Is A Cub

Although I'd be surprised if the Cubs are done dealing. They might add a little bit more to the mix as they are clearly looking to end the hundred year drought.

Regardless, this is a good move.

The Cubs staff already has two All Star starting pitchers, as well as Ted Lilly who seems to be back to his usual dominant self. Adding Harden adds a season changer type talent to the front end of the rotation as well as turning one of baseball's deepest staffs into baseball's deepest staff.

The naysayers will argue that Harden has a greater potential then most to get injured, but Sheets (the ace of the Brewers) has an even greater chance to get injured. If Harden gets hurt, the Cubs are still in good shape rotation wise, if Sheets gets hurt, the Brewers only have one strong starter. If Harden stays healthy, no one can match up with the Cubs three or four starters deep, even if Sheets stays healthy.

Add to that the fact that the Cubs didn't really lose much that would have helped them this year. Gallager (the only player traded that had contributed this season) had just lost his starting job to Sean Marshall.

In short, the potential of what they gained far outweighs any possible negitives.

Monday, July 7, 2008

C.C. to the Brewers, Now it's the Cubs move

Sure, this weekend saw us win two out of three against the hated Cards on the road. It saw a franchise record 7 Cubs named to the All Star game, including 3 starters. It saw the return of Ace Carlos Zambrano who shut down the Cards completely.

And yet the big news of the weekend is negative.

C.C. Sabathia, reigning AL Cy Young winner, just got traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for a double A outfielder, not even considered one of the top three prospects in the Brewer orginization.

Surely we could have offered more then that.

Jim Hendry now has to answer this move.

Sheets/Sabathia is a better one two punch then either Zambrano/Lilly or Zambrano/Dempster.

Sure, our rotation after the first two is better, but we need one more front line starter to solidify our spot as the favorite in the National League.

The favorite appears to be Rich Harden from the A's, but Tim Hudson of the Braves is a name that has surfaced recently as a possibility.

Other then the names mentioned in a previous post, the Cubs could also look at Vincent Padilla or Kevin Millwood of the Texas Rangers, although the Rangers have a chance at a respectable finish, which they probably need in order to win back fans, and therefore, despite little possibility of making the playoffs, the top two pitchers in the Rangers rotation probably won't be tradeable.

The recent strong couple of starts by Sean Marshall give the Cubs a little bit of leeway on making the move. They can probably afford to be a little more patient then normal in looking for that last arm to add to the front end of the rotation.

But the Brewers move probably means a Cubs move will be made sooner rather then later.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Troubling Week, but Relief Ahead

Sure the Cubs have been struggling, but despite that, they remain the best team in the National League and only a game and a half behind the Rays for the best record in baseball.

Carlos Zambrano is poised to return from the DL and start on Friday.

Reed Johnson is going to be back on Thursday.

And biggest of all, Alfonso Soriano took fielding practice yesterday, and might be back in time for (or possibly before) the All Star game!

Add to that the fact that it is common knowledge that the Cubbies will be adding a front line starter through a trade, and there is nothing to worry about.

This little streak of losses will be but a blip and barely be remembered when the Championship parade rolls through Chicago.

Don't worry, I'll be there to get pictures and video of this wonderous event!