Reflections in Houston

What did we learn?

Zambrano CAN actually win an opener of some sort.
Everyone on the Cubs douses their drawers at the intimidating prospect of facing the great and mighty Wandy.
Chicks dig the long ball - and so apparently does Ted Lilly.

In all, the offense did nicely - kinda sputtered a bit in game 2. Lou's still learning the bullpen. Overall, series win - good things.

On to Milwaukee!

Random Thought...

I don't get why Houston was so upset about playing a series in Milwaukee. After all, Mexico got to play in San Diego during the World Baseball Classic..

Reprimand from Lou

"Ted, C'mon in here. Have a seat. So I wanted to talk to you about today's game. You had some good stuff out there. That Loretta thing was kinda a downer though. Now, I know we have you signed for another two years and we really appreciate the fact that you give us your best effort out there every day. But you're gonna have to try to bring down that hit count. I mean, they got as many as you did today, and we'd like to see if maybe we can coax that down a bit.

Other than that you did a passable job, being our 4th starter and all. Have a good rest of the day, and we'll see what we can adjust in the bullpen session on Wed. Thanks Ted."

This minute just got really confused...

ZAMBRA NO-NO!!!

As a friend of mine aptly put it -

"The games been over for a good minute or two....WHERE IS YOUR POST????"

Hey man, I had phone calls to make and txt's to send and a kid to put to bed...

Wow. History. Yes, my 23 month old son stayed up for this. Yes my wife, son and I were glued to the TV. Yes, I watched/listened to the entire game. No, I did not go. But I was very tempted...If I'd known...eh well...

What a game. It's funny. This is not even close to the first time the Cubs and Zambrano flirted with a no-no. This season alone I remember prolly three or four that took it into the 6th, 7th, or 8th. But to go all the way - after being out for almost two weeks with "dead arm"/tendinitis. Ho-ly-frickin'-crap dude. I was shaking by the end. I jumped up at the end. There's only so mush you can say about a game like this. Z was battling the Astros - yes, the Kerry Wood 20 K Astros. He was also battling a crappy home plate umpire. There were MANY missed calls tonight. End of the day, you can't complain.

I think deep down, mostly everyone knew Z would throw a no-no. It seemed to be only a matter of time. So here's the real question - What are you nay-sayers saying now? I'll admit, I was leery. I have an earlier post saying "Harden and Z are out? WTF is going on here??" or something like that. I was nervous, sure.

Tonight was another remarkable accomplishment in a long season of remarkable accomplishments. It's history. I watched it. I'll tell my kids and grandkids about it.Do I think this is the clincher? That the Cubs are going to win the World Series? Do I think they're a lock now? Do I think this is the tipping point? That it's all the way to a ticker tape parade?

Hell Freakin' No.

Still got a lot of work to do boys. But...you get a cookie tonight.

Z - You get two minutes tonight. Now get back to work!!

:D

Astros at Home in Milwaukee??

So a report on cubs.com names Miller Park as a possible location for the3 postponed games over this weekend - [pout]Stupid hurricanes[/pout].

Ok so first of all, if you're going to Miller Park, ya may as well just go to Wrigley. Either fans are drive 90 min to Miller, or fight traffic for 90 min trying to find parking at Wrigley. 6 of one half dozen of the other ya know.

Second, if you're a Milwaukee baseball fan going to the game - who do you root for? The Cubs, thereby pushing the Astros back in the Wildcard, or the Astros, giving the Brewers a boost toward the division title, but closing the gap to the Brewers in the Wildcard race. My vote - root root root for the Cubbies. A division title is becoming less and less likely as the season progresses, but at least if the Stros lose, the Brewers are still safe in the Wildcard. Unless of course they drop their kibble to the Phils, and they take over the wildcard lead...

Team of Destiny

Ok...get the barf bags ready...I'm about the one up Dave Freakin' Kaplan...and if Banks is Mr. Cub - Kapper is Mr Cubs fan...

I think that we could argue that the Cubs have been a "Team of Destiny" as evidenced by their best record in baseball status and their unbeatability at home. Recently well I think you could say they've sucked...actually sucked monkey balls...actually sucked the sweat off of dead monkey balls...here's the thing tho...

The Boo-hoo crew has sucked only just a touch less. During this horrid strech from Philly to Houston to Cincy and now Louie the Cubs have lost EXACTLY one game off of their lead.

A lot of things have to happen during a season to come out on top. One of those things is, your opposition needs to suck at times, and it helps if they suck at the same time as you suck.

If there is ANYTHING positive to take out of these two weeks - holy crap it's been two weeks - that's it.

Maybe later I'll feel up to writing about that train wreck in Louie tonight. For now one minute and one more page off the calendar...

Another one bites the dust...

5 game losing streak. At home. Feels weird doesn't it? And not the good "Voice is starting to crack and getting hair in funny places" weird.

The problem from what I heard tonight was frankly trying to hit the ball out of the park, with the wind howling in. Sheesh. Randy Wolf was just serving 'em up over the plate and daring the hitters to hit it out. Yes Wiggington did hit one out, but it was a line drive, not a power bomb. Remember the good ole' days when the hitters hit into the gap? The opposite way?

Eh well. The Brewers and Cardinals have sucked just as much. Better to suck now than suck in October...

A minute, no more, no less...

D.P. Lee needs a nap.

I'm starting to think maybe Lee should get tucked in for a couple of games and get some sleepy time. Now some would argue that the reason Lee's hitting into so many double plays is because people keep getting on base in front of him. That may be. So try putting the ball in the air in those situations. Of course this is coming the day after he tried that strategy and ended the game, so maybe I don't have a leg to stand on. 1 out, bottom of the 8th and bases loaded - you gotta do something there bud. Just go ahead and curl up with your Teddy bear. We'll wake you when we get to Cincy.

Day two of "The Hoff's" benching. Seriously Daryle Ward?? Have you not been paying attention this season? Last year Soto made the post season roster based solely on the fact that he demonstrated he could play in September. It's the Hoff's turn. Maybe the Hoff gets a crack at first tomorrow? We'll see.

Meantime, D.P. Lee's hitting everything in sight - to the opponents' shortstops. And Ramirez forgot how to catch after the 8th tonight. I hate when that happens. Meanwhile Bomb Howry's been pretty much doing what we expect Howry to do at this point..4 runs without retiring a man...And Z better get his poop together cuz this is just getting silly.

That probably should've been a minute, but it's been ruled an error on Ramirez...

Another page off the calendar...

Ok folks. Step back from the ledge. It's ok. It's going to be ok. It's actually fascinating to listen to post game callers after a win, after a loss. It's like bi-polar city out there. Yeah baby - World series all the way baby. Oh man, are we even gonna make the playoffs? Argh. As Bob Brenly "talks about all the time" at this point - St Louis and Milwaukee both lost. It's another page off the calendar. The Magic Number sinks even further.

I would've liked to see Hoffpauir - who by the way, I'll be referring to as "The Hoff" from now on - come to bat in the ninth pinch for Lee. What pinch-hit for Lee? Yeah. The Hofff has been hitting everything in sight in AAA and he's just young and stupid enough to think he can hit off of Valverde, and that brings A Ram to the plate. Eh well. Still all-in Kapper.


Another minute off the blog, another page off the calendar.

8 run 3rd.

Eight runs with 2 outs??? Wow. Flat out wow. No one saw that coming. This is a great offense, but jeez! Grand slam and a 3 run shot. Marquis' butt was saved, though he did pitch well the rest of the game. Whether that was due to him relaxing a bit after the explosion, or the Astros got deflated, or both, I don't know, but all the same.

Granted Backe ain't no Brandon Webb, but still.

Now we get three games to stomp on the Cardinals' throats like we did to Milwaukee. Going to the game Friday. I've heard Chris Carpenter is pitching. ick.

Anyway - enjoy it cubs fans!

"Bomb" Howry rides again

Jeez Bobby? Seriously? Oh man...

Why oh why Piniella sent him back out with a one-run lead is beyond me...

Oh well, the Cubs won, so that's the good news. Spanked that 'stros bullpen well enough. Gotta love that. It's all about the late come backs. Fukudome is looking better these days, but definitely not back to April-May form.

Lee got 4 hits today, sweet.

Magic number went down a bit in the last couple of days. I'll update that tomorrow. Cubs win again at home. All-abord Plesac's Big Blue Train!

Another minute bites the dust..

Big Johnson

Oh wait.... hehe. Don't get me wrong, it's great that the Cubs won, but why did our bullpen have to piss away another great start by our pitchers...

The big bats came out again late and spanked the Pirates. I dig the fact that Johnson bunts for a base hit yesterday and hits the game winning HR today :).

Samardzija pitched very well after Lou shortened Z up. Gaudin gave up the lead but he's, been a great find from Oakland. Marmol closed it up. Nice job. Would've liked Z to get to 13, but oh well.

Brew Crew lost. Leads back to five. Hope the Cards get b-slapped, but that's secondary right now.

Astros come to town. We shall have to punish them.

One for the minute....two for the show...

Competition is heating up...

Great news Cubs fans. There's news of an impact trae in the NL Central. No it's not the Cubs, Cards, or Brewers getting late inning help.

LaTroy Hawkins was recently acquired by the Houston Astros, further cementing themselves in the basement of the NL Central. Should make that race for last with the Pirates interesting to watch, needless to say.

Sources close to the trade said "Although the Pirates remain the team to beat for dead last in the Divison, the Astros have made a significant leap toward that feat with this trade." Actually, no one said that but me, and I'm not close to the trade, but it's still funny :D

Bada bum bum bum. Another minute bites the dust...

Hey how about that.

Looks like we can actually win on the road....How about that...whoda thunk it?

Good to see Demp get a win on the road...only took 3 1/2 months, but hey. can't argue with 11-4. Here's a funny little anecdote...

MLB.com's gameday (my primary source of baseball when confined to my desk) has a new feature this year - Video clip highlights! Very cool. Apparently the game today was so unremarkable for the Astros, their ONE video clip was Geoff Blum (remember him Sox fans?) make a routine play at third. This 18 second clip was sandwiched between an RBI double for Lee and a Fontenot's shot to right. LOL. Here's your clip Astros fans! Enjoy it.

One last note - Dempster loads the bases nobody out. K - K - 5. Gotta love it.

On to Arizona where we can bi^&* slap those snakes at home...hopefully we'll still remember how to hit after the plane ride...

There's a minute for you...

Last night...

Nothing much to say aobut last night's game. We've just gotta learn how to hit on the road. Lilly pitched a good game, but had no run support. Sucks, but there it is..

Another interesting bit of trivia - The Cubs have not won back-to-back series on the road (oops! Thanks readers!) ONCE this year. Ouch babe. That just isn't going to cut it. I believe there are about 35 or so home games left. That does not bode well.

This is going to be a critical month in the schedule. Most of the games are going to be against Central teams, with I believe 10 or more games between the Brewers and the Cardinals each. I don't' have the numbers, but things can go south real fast.

Pitching hasn't been too much of a concern on the road, but our hitting is just awful...

That's a minute for ya.