Reflections on Colorado

Baseball players from DENVER Complain about our cold.
It was really freakin' cold on opening day
4 pound pretzels are really hard to find, especially when nobody knows they have them.
Cubs fans will boo anyone who is no longer a Cub, including those who left involuntarily and those who almost died.
Lilly was a sleeper all the years before he became a Cub and is a lot better than anyone gives him credit for.
Reed is an average player who has milliseconds of greatness at JUST the right time.
Marquis wasn't as bad as everyone thought - today he was better.
Fontenot can play 3rd base, but don't quit your day job.
It's ridiculously hard to keep track of who's who when everyone wears the same number and no names on their backs. Except Reed - He looks like Scott Ian...

Something brewing....?

So it seems Mark DeRosa and Jason Marquis have left the building...I'd be remiss if I didn't express my opinion here. Aaron Miles is a bargain basement Mark DeRosa. Sadly asd in most things, you tend to get what you paid for. WEill Miles be a switch hitting DeRosa? No. He won't be bad, but he won't be DeRosa.

De-Ro is coming off a career year, and actually his numbers have only gotten better since getting here. But he is also in the lkast year of his contract, and Hendry would not be resigning him for more than he already signed for, so DeRosa was gone at the end of the year anyway. May as well get something for him now. Milers offers less field flexibility for more plate flexibility, which is where the Cubs failed 3 months ago.

Marquis was a good 5th starter. In many rotations he's a decent 3rd starter. So's Sean Marshall. We can totally live without him.

All of this though, just reeks of something bigger. Some maneuvering that will send 5 players to San Diego. Something like a Cendeno, Pie, two of the 3 prospects we just picked up and maybe a Rich Hill.

It's possbile. And it's also the only thing that will make this DeRosa crap not suck.

Same result, different reasons

So, I don't expect much from Jason Marquis starts. Haven't all year. Maybe that's not the most fair statement, especially recently, but hey...
With Sheets going to the mound, I gave it about a 30% chance the Cubs would win the game. Turns out I was right, but not for the reason I thought.

Sheets leaves - again - early because of shoulder stiffness. I call it "I'd rather not get slapped around like the little Bee-otch that I am" Stiffness, but you know - po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe. So one of the bottom 3 bullpens in the majors takes over for 7.1 innings, and we can't touch them. Argh. This is pretty much par for the course with how my day was going, so not entirely surprising.

Bottom line, the Boo-hoo Crew needed that game a lot more that the Cubs did. No biggie. We'll just spank Bush tomorrow and clinch over the weekend. Can't argue with that :).

Sheets pitched for about a minute right?

Marquis was on...

So yesterday, Marquis pitched a great solid game. Which is a pleasant surprise. I've said before, I don't expect much from a Jason Marquis outing. I still don't. He pitched a great game - as did Zach Duke, surprisingly. I'm not all of a sudden on the Marquis bandwagon though. In my mind he still doesn't make the post-season roster. But he gets a full share and full credit for anything that happens there. He's a #5 starter, which is funny because he'd be a #3 or 4 on a lot of other teams. But he's basically done what a five starter should do. Eat innings and win half of the games.

Now Philly comes in. Howard looks like he's starting to wake up. Rollins is rolling, and hello Jayson Werth. Happy learned how to hit. uh-oh. The Cubs have won 9 straight series, and now to win this one, they'll need 3. That kinda sucks, because as of now, I don't expect that to happen. I'm thinking it'll probably be a split. But you never know...

Let's show this prehistoric minute how we do things downtown...

Twin killing...

I knew Atlanta was pretty bad this year but sheesh! The only thing more brutal than the beating the Cubs gave the Brave - on the road no less - was the tongue lashing I got from my wife for watching two - yes two - games in one day. Since I have to yield the rest of my TV priveledges for the rest of tonight, I figure I'll write up a post.

Marquis threw halfway decent. got himself out of a couple of jams today. Good defensive play getting to first on a shot hit past Lee and almost past DeRosa. Harden looked kinda human today. Certainly not the dominating performance we got the first four starts. But he gets the W, so all's well.

The big story today/tonight was the bats. Up and down the lineup, just hit after hit after hit. Great to see. Maybe these guys have figured out how to hit on the road. Against rookies yes, but I've mentioned in previous posts, rookie seem to give the Cubs trouble.

Overall a pretty happy day, except the Brewers are currently beating the bejesus out of the Padres, so we only gain 1/2 game...considering we lost 1/2 game yesterday, that's not all that encouraging.

One more tomorrow, and that's the way the minute crumbles...

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!

Hey Chicago what do you say?

The Cubs are gonna lose to a minor league team...

That was painful. But it was a Marquis start. Since he is officially #5, (though one could argue that in a different context, he's #2) any wins he gives us are a bonus. It wasn't a bad start, just no clutch hitting. Second and third, bases loaded, no hits. Sad, especially after the pasting we gave to Milwaukee.

No Bay, No Nady, No Sanchez, No Marte...

Why do the kids always make us look so bad?

Go Braves, Go Phillies...

umm, yeah..

Eh end of the day Marquis was ok. Not fantastic, but just ok. The story here was run production - lack thereof. The "Hart" experiment needs to be shelved for a few months, if not for the rest of the season.

Marquis gave up 3 in 6IP. Can't really complain about that.

Ward hit a meaningless home run. Whoopee. Maybe he can get his swing back and, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah, Produce.

Well have to see what tomorrow brings as Lilly makes his triumphant return...Sigh....

At least some of the commercials were funny...

There's a minute.

Marquis performance

Man, Marquis was dealing today...think the writing might be on the wall for him. If it is, it probably says something like this - "You pitch the way you did in the second half of last year, don't unpack after the break..."

Marquis actually did kinda suck at the beginning of the year, so maybe he got it out of his system. Time (August) will tell...meantime, assuming Harden isn't a DL trip waiting to happen, he'll do just fine as a number 5.

On a cuter note, Ryan Theriot's 3 year old son Houston (Houston? seriously? You were a CUB when you named him...) sang his rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" on Sportsnite tonight. Very cute.

56-37. Hopefully we return to 20 games over before the All Star Break. Brewers lost. Eat it Brew Crew.

P.S. No looking at magic numbers until the All Star Break. I've resisted thus far - so can you...

That's my minute...