How far is too far outside the box?

So Gorzelanny pooped his pants on his last bid to stay in the rotation with the second coming of Z. So the decision has to be easy on who to kick out right?
Dempster has been the best starter the Cubs have the last 3 years.
Lilly has been the most consistent start the Cubs have in the last 3 years
Wells is a kid who is on a freakin' roll and you don't want to upset that apple cart
Silva - Yes, that would be Carlos freaking Silva - is 6-0 and you have to be a colossal idiot to screw that up.
The bullpen has been one of the Cubs' greatest weaknesses. So, this is a job for....Dum dum dum....Zambranalanny!
Think about it. Our 5th starter could be Zambranalanny. Zambrano and Gorzy start each 5th game, one pitching the first 5 innings - to get the win, and the other to pitch the last 4 - to get the save. Day off for the bullpen! And they could switch - the first time Z pitches 5, then Gorzy closes, then Gorzy starts. You get the idea. It'd be so much fun to say Zambranalanny every 5th day. Or Gorzambrano depending on which day it is... Good times.

Reflections on Firsties

Things we know
- OUR Xavier can play right unlike some other teams
- The Rangers didn't win that first game so much as the Cubs lost it
- It's far more exciting to strike out a cheating head-inflater than it is to win a ballgame

Thing we suspect
- Losing 8-5 isn't so bad since a month ago they would've lost 8-1
- Maybe this 1-run game thing isn't such a problem after all
- Reed Johnson is no better on another team
- Tylermania! needs more playing time.

The Cubs hit the "tough" part of their schedule with a sledgehammer. The story has predominantly been the pitching, with one notable exception. The Cubs have scored 44 runs over their last 11 games, so they ain't exactly hitting the cover off the ball, but they are also 8-3 during that same stretch. D-Lee is starting to pick it up - a bit - while A-Ram is steadfastly refusing to go on the DL where we all know he belongs. The Cubs made the same mistake with Soriano last year - just give him so time to get better so he can be the ARam we all know and love again.

Next up, the Cardinals. Albert Puljos has been in a bit of slump of late, and by "of late" I mean "May". Should be interesting.

Reflections on Shorties.

2 series. 2 games each. one update.

Things we know

- 2 games is not a sweep
- Technically it is, but don't write home about it
- Zambrano is not long for the bullpen

Things we suspect
- The Cubs might just be starting to get it. Just a bit.
- Bob Howry won't help
- He won't hurt either

With a series sweep vs. the Rockies and a split again the Phillies, we can all begin to see that maybe this team is starting to figure things out a bit. This will certainly not be the dramatic turn around from 2007. But it could be the beginning of a gradual rise. OR it could just be that we missed Urbina and Halladay. Even the loss to the Phillies, down by 1 with runner at first and third with no outs in the 9th vs AARP Contreras and failing to score didn't bring me down because a month ago, they would've lost 5-1, not 5-4.

Reflections on Pittsburgh

Things we know
- We are the Pirates' prison bitches

Things we suspect
- This Zambrano to the bullpen thing just isn't going to work out.

Normally I have more of these "things" but to be honest, when the Cubs are this bad, you can really only say the same thing so many times before everyone realizes you're saying the same thing - the Cubs suck. Well, they managed to salvage one game, so that's something and hopefully a sign of good things to come.

Reflections on Florida

Things we know -
- It's never ever ok to boo anyone under any circumstances ever.
- Well, ok, it's ok sometimes, as long as they're making more money than a small village will ever see in their lifetime.
- Or unless they're from Louisiana
- Ok, Anyone except Castro because he's so cute and cuddly wuddly and if he doesn't work out we'll be stuck with Theriot.

Things we suspect -
- WTFE
- Carlos Silva may turn out to be a bigger coup than Hundley for Karros
- Carlos Silva is so far the only thing keeping Hendry in Chicago
- If Carlos Silva ever ate his weight in baked beans and Chili we'd need FEMA to get Fontenot's uniform out of his locker

Hey OMC, what's with all the Castro and Silva stuff? Well, you see after another pathetic outpouring of runs from our anemic offense, that's all there really was to talk about. Yesterday, only 2 of 8 starting players had a BA below .300 - Derrek Lee and Jeff Baker. And yet, the Cubs were only able to scratch out 4 runs, one on a wild pitch. And that pretty much sums it up there folks. Castro got booed on Monday much to the chagrin of local bloggers and Carlos Silva went 4-0 much to the chagrin of those same bloggers who were calling the trade a "disaster".

Maybe the booing won't turn out so bad either.

Wanted: Babysitters

So there's been a little hooplah on the interwebs this morning about the Wrigley faithful last night booing our new young stud, Starlin. Most of the concern seems to revolve around his age or inexperience.

I wasn't aware that Cubs fans needed to coddle the new guys. When exactly does the grace period end? When can we boo? I only ask because most of the folks chiding us - and yes I mean I'd probably have been a booer had I been at the game last night - would be at the head of the charge against Soriano if he did something similar. Or Aramis (E-Ramis as one gent calls him so often). So when's it ok kids?

When he's 21? How about 22? How about a nice, round 30?

Bad play is bad play. Cadillacing it is cadillacing it. If you can't play hard in the majors, Felix Pie, go back to the PCL where you'll shine and be a perrenial MiLB All Star. If you want to stay, work for it. Don't expect us to cuddle you up in a blankey and kiss your boo-boos. The honeymoon is over. Now Play Ball.

Reflections on Cincinatti

Things we know
- Our offense is capable of scoring less than 3 or more than 11 runs, and nothing in between.
- Starlin Castro can hit bad pitching - just like the rest of the offense
- We once had a rookie strike out 20 players in the beginning of his career. Where's he now?
- I stole that last one from @AdamBuckled.

Things we suspect
- Starlin Castro will not solve our problem
- Castro was a panic move nothing more.
- Bullsh*t taste bad Jim, stop feeding it to us
- This is going to be a long, long summer of bad.

Starlin Castro burst onto the scene with a 6 RBI first game, including a 3 run HR in his first ML At bat - Suck it, Jason Heywood. The much ballyhooed propsect came in, and the Cubs scored 14 runs. Then they lost 5-3 again. How about that? Castro will continue to be ballyhooed until it becomes clear that he is not the saviorof this team in a season that was over before it began. Then he'll be a highlight. Maybe.

Starlin-struck

According to numerous reports today, Starlin Castro will make his Major League Debut. IN a corresponding move, Kevin Millar, oh wait, Chad Tracy, oh wait, who-the-hell ever was sent down to the minors, presumed never to return. I'm sure this has nothing to do with getting swept by the Pirates.

The kid sure did turn heads this spring in the Cactus league, but then so did a number of other prospects cough, cough, Pie, cough, Patterson, cough. This move is predominantly a PR move which may gain the Cubs a useless few wins for when they end up in third in the NL Central at the end of the year. This is another Zambrano-to-the-bullpen move. Nothing more. it's unfortunate,or fortunate depending on how things pan out. If he is the real deal, it unfortunate because it will get him to Free Agency (read: Yankees uniform) sooner. If he's a flash in the jock strap, we get to dump him in free agency one year sooner. My money's on the Yankees.

This is the very definition of a panic move and we can only hope T-Rix realizes how much this is going to cost him long term when looking over Jimmy and Lou's contracts this fall.

Reflections on Pittsburgh - The Ok Seriously Edition

A message for Cubs fans -

Actually it's just a small part of something big and awesome, but for now:

Things we know
- The Pirates can't possibly lose every game they play
- They sure as hell didn't these past 3 days
- The Cubs are better than this
- Not MUCH better, but better.

Things we suspect
- Aramis needs to start hitting
- When he does, a lot of this will go away
- By then it may be too late
- This will not be the last loss to the Pirates this season, but hopefully it will be the most embarrassing.

My previous "Reflections" post pretty much summed up this series. No hitting leads directly to no wining. Do not pass Go. However, what might be more frightening is that this might start getting into the rotation's heads a bit. There is such a thing as trying to be too perfect and when giving up one or two runs means a loss, that's when guys stop just pitching their game and trying to do too much. And that's when bad things start happening, you know like waling the first two batters on 8 pitches.

Reflections on Pittsburgh

Fuck

Reflections on Arizona

This will be a tough one to write. I slept through Saturday and only heard parts of Sunday.

Things we know
- Soriano was f*cked up last year
- When you're already down by 6, another 7 runs really doesn't matter.
- The Cubs can hit the sh*t out of bad pitching.
- No one should be this happy to be at .500

Things we suspect
- The Diamondbacks may actually have a bullpen worse than ours.
- It's ok to stare at a long ball, as long as it lands in the bleachers.

I didn't really get much of a chance to see this series - at all. I was working Thursday and Friday, I hadn't slept on Saturday and I was out with the family on Sunday. Hey. We all gotta take a break some time. So this series' "Reflections" entry will suck (Just this one? - Shut up). I'll catch ya after Pittsburgh.