Games That Matters: May 9th-May 11th

I have to say that Juan Cruz so far this season has been exactly what I have hoped he would be. He's picked up the long innings when I have needed, got a couple of outs to set up the rest of the bullpen to close out a game and when needed, came in to keep a game close and allow my hitters to maybe come back and snatch a win. That being said, you know that the results of a game can't be too good if you're leading off by talking about a middle reliever. It wasn't all bad, as we lost our first game against the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2, but we didn't muster up much offense besides a solo homer from Sammy Sosa. We did score a run in the 9th off closer Jason Isringhausen, one of the Generation K pitchers I talked about before, but really Matt Morris has his best stuff working against us, giving up only 1 run in 7 innings. And Cruz did what we needed, went 3 innings, only gave up one run and bridged the gap from Shawn Estes, who went 5 to Antonio Alfonseca, who finished the night off. Let's just go back out there and try and get them tomorrow. 

Baseball is a game of numbers and stats to simplify things. You want to know how many wins a certain hitter is responsible for? There's a formula out there for it. You want to know who is more valuable, a .240 slugger with 42 homers, 120 RBI, 65 BB and 175 K's or the hitter with a .315 average, 32 doubles, 3 homers 85 walks and 50 strikeouts, you can figure that out too. But with those numbers come some ridiculous ones too, like the 'Quality Start'. This is one of those worthless stats that exist.  The only thing you need for a quality start is 6 or more innings and 3 or less earned runs. Now, those two numbers would get you a 4.50 ERA. Not exactly ground breaking numbers. For Jason Johnson, a quality start was all he could accomplish against us today as he went up against the pitching buzz saw that is Mark Prior. In his 15 innings of work so far in May, Prior has struck out 25 in those 15 innings, giving up 10 hits and 2 walks along the way. Meanwhile, Johnson only gave up 2 earned runs in 7 innings and was handed a loss. Lenny Harris provided the offense today in a start in place of the slumping Aramis Ramirez, going 3 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI. And another start at 3B tomorrow. 

It's safe to say that when Carlos Zambrano threw the ball over the plate, the Cardinals hammered it hard. And usually when a team hammers the ball hard you hope it's right at someone. Unfortunately for Zambrano, that didn't happen, as he gave up 8 runs on 9 hits in 5 and a third today. The big culprit was Eli Marrero, who hit 2 doubles of Z, including a bases clearing double in the third inning that started that a 5-run inning. Not much else you can say but get em next time, but I'm tired of saying that. We need to put together some quality wins before it's too late. But it's only May and we have a long season ahead of us. 

We've got a 4-game set coming up against the Brewers, who took two out of three from us last week. Hopefully we fare better in their ballpark. Kerry Wood vs Todd Ritchie starts it off, followed by Matt Clement vs Bronson Arroyo, Estes vs Matt Kinney and Prior vs Dave Burba to finish it up. Were sitting 2.5 behind the Reds right now, so a split won't do us much good.

Battle of I-94: May 5th-May 7th

Oh hey, look, a new post! I'm not sure why I haven't posted these posts more, considering all of this is already written out, I just need to edit everything. Sheer laziness? Uneasiness on whether this is interesting to anyone but me? Who knows. Anyway, I hope to be back on a schedule of posting. I thought about opening a facebook "fan page" but I didn't want to be the only member... Anyway... Back to the 2003 Cubs

Four seems to be as long of a winning streak we can muster, however, as Ben Sheets shuts us down and out for a 5-0 victory. There didn't seem much the hitters could do against Sheets as he scatters 6 hits over 9 innings, while striking out 10, including Sammy Sosa with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th. Carlos Zambrano didn't have one of his greater games, giving up 4 earned runs in 6 and a third innings, giving up 10 hits. Hopefully our hitters can rebound and we can take the next 2 for a series win. 

The second game of the series sees us out-hit by the Brewers 6-3, but our hits end up being more timely as we squeak out a 2-1 win. We score both runs in the 2nd, with Kerry Wood contributing a 2-out single to break a 1-1 tie. And Wood has a much better start this time around, only walking 3 while striking out 9 to earn his 3rd victory. Joe Borowski works a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his 7th save and we head into the rubber match of the series needing a win to keep us at least tied for the top spot in the Central. With Matt Clement vs Bronson Arroyo, I certainly like our chances. 

Of course, saying that more than likely means that Arroyo will come out and throw a no-hitter against us. And almost does, giving up only 2 hits in a 7-2 victory for the Brew Crew. The two runs are a bit deceiving as they were scored after Arroyo was noticeably tired, but his manager wanted to keep him out there to pick up the illustrious one-hitter that every pitcher dreams of. With the loss, we fall back to 2nd place, a game out with an off day to lick our wounds before St. Louis comes to town to finish this 9 game  homestand. 

The off day was good for us, as it allows our over worked bullpen a much needed day off and an extra day for all of our starters. Shawn Estes, Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano will close out the homestand, taking on Matt Morris, Matt Morris, Jason Johnson and Brett Tomko from the Cardinals.

Time For Some Home Cookin: May 2nd-May 4th

A relatively easy first game in the series against the Colorado Rockies as Matt Clement goes 7 strong innings, giving up only one run on 6 hits with 2 walks and 8 strikeouts. A 2-run first inning homer from Sammy Sosa is really that was needed as we cruise to a 7-1 victory. That homer by Sosa is his 16th and just to give you an idea of the lack of power my team is showing right now, the rest of the regulars have 18 combined. 

Before game 2 versus the Rockies, I have an email awaiting me from the Yankees GM. It's a trade proposal, in the form of 3B Todd Zeile straight up for Kerry Wood. Trading a 25 year-old pitcher for a 37 year-old third sacker isn't my ideal trade to improve the team. And seeing as how I already have an everyday 3B, it's not going to happen. I resist the urge to just reply with 'lol' and politely decline saying maybe we can revisit before the deadline. Also before game #2 against the Rockies, one of my assistant GMs calls to tell me that the Rockies have picked up 2B Michael Young from the Texas Rangers in exchange for lefty Brian Fuentes. He tells me that Young will be in town for the game, though he was unsure if he would be in the lineup. He is in there and leading off to boot. And usually when someone gets traded, on Sportscenter they almost always make it seem like that day is the day the player will have a great game and constantly be in the highlight reel for the game. Well, today wasn't one of them, as Michael Young goes 0-4 in his Rockies debut. And for the Cubs, it's another 7-1 victory, this time with Shawn Estes picking up the win. Estes only gave up two hits in his 6 innings, but did walk 3 causing his pitch count to reach over a hundred before coming to the mound for the 7th. Another 2-run shot by Sosa put us out to an early lead, but not wanting to be out done, Moises Alou added a 2-run homer and Corey Patterson added a 3-run bomb too. It was Patterson and Alou's 3rd homers of the year. 

To be honest with you, coming into this game against the Rockies, I've been a bit disappointed in Mark Prior. He's got 3 wins and was tied for the team lead in strikeouts, but with an ERA at almost 5 and half, he just hasn't gotten the job done. But something clicked on Sunday vs Colorado as Prior goes 8 innings, gives up 4 hits and walks 1 while striking out 13. Unfortunately, he gets a no-decision as the Cubs don't score a run until two out in the bottom of the ninth to tie it, give up a run in the 10th and then score one more in the 10th to tie it, again. And after all that, we manage to win the game in the bottom of the 13th with a walk-off single by Alou. Pitching was the name of the game for the Cubs in this 3 game set, giving up only 4 runs in 31 innings and striking out 23 Rockies on Sunday alone. Besides Prior and Alou, the other star of the game is 98 year-old Mike Remlinger, who went 3 innings, struck out 6 before asking to be dipped in embalming fluid to get himself ready for the next series. The sweep against Colorado extends our winning streak to 3 games, matching the season high so far. 

Hopefully we can continue the streak against Milwaukee as they come to town 3 games. They're sporting a 13-18 record and will sending out Ben Sheets, Todd Ritchie and Bronson Arroyo against Carlos Zambrano, Kerry Wood and Matt Clement.

Bay Area Bash:April 29th-May 1st

When you go into a series and plan on throwing out your 3 best starters, you have to feel good inside knowing that, while you might not win all 3 games, you should be at least be in the games. Unfortunately, a quick 6 spot in two innings will usually kill that feeling, fast. A quick exit by Mark Prior and I'm left wondering if this is going to be the year he turns into the CY Young candidate that he can be, or if he's still a couple of years away. We don't do much in the 7-1 loss against the Giants and with Jason Schmidt taking the mound for game 2, the hope that we will come away from this road trip .500 is slowly starting to slip away.

The early season battle of the CY Young candidates lives up to it's hype as Carlos Zambrano and Schmidt are locked in a pitcher's duel for most of the game. But when the Giants pull Schmidt in the top of the 8th, Sammy Sosa promptly greets reliever Joe Nathan with a solo homer to tie the game and you just know that once Nathan was out of the game, we would start hitting. Sadly, we didn't and we lose in the bottom of the 10th on a walk-off double by Jose Cruz Jr and suddenly, instead of hoping to finish the road trip at .500, were now hoping to not be swept. Before I go into the results of game 3, let me recap how we did the first month of the regular season.

We finish the month 14-13, sitting in 3rd place, 2 games back of the division lead. Are top hitter for the Month was Mark Grudzielanek, hitting .331 for April. Sammy Sosa led the team in homers and RBI, with 15 and 30, respectively. On the pitchers side of things, Carlos Zambrano and Mark Prior each have 3 wins and you can't help but wonder how many wins Zambrano might have if he didn't miss two weeks. Zambrano sports the lowest ERA of the starters with a 1.61 and him and Matt Clement are the only ones with ERA's under 4.00. Clement, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior are all tied for the team lead in K's with 37, but you have to give the edge to Wood, who has done it in 28 innings. On to game 3.

And with it now being May, I guess the weather is warming up enough for Moises Alou to start coming to games everyday ready to hit, as he sends a 2-2 fastball in the 1st inning over the fence for a 3-run homer. But that wasn't enough as Kerry Wood showed what happens when bad control and patient hitters meet on the playing field, giving up 5 walks in 5 innings to go along with the 4 earned runs. But at least he earned a no-decision out of it as Damian Miller hit a 3-run homer in the 8th inning to help propel the Cubs to an 8-6 victory.

Colorado comes to Chicago for a 3-game set and will throw out Aaron Cook and Nelson Cruz in games 1 and 2, and since Jason Jennings will miss the rest of the season, they will pitch Darren Oliver for game 3. Matt Clement, Shawn Estes and Mark Prior will hope to get this 9-game homestand off to a great start....

Rocky Mountain High: April 25th-April 27th

We had hoped that arriving in Colorado might help us wake up some of the slumping bats on our team, but it seems that the cold weather in Denver only cooled them off more. Despite having 10 hits, we can only manage 2 runs against the Rockies and lose 4-2. Hitting into 3 double plays will surely kill a lot of momentum and did for us this game.

A 7-4 win in game 2 saw Moises Alou hit his first homer of the season and also saw Mark Grudzielanek continue his great start. Besides the walk-off grand slam earlier, I haven't talked much about Grudz and it hasn't been because of him not playing well. That's quite the opposite, in fact. He has the top batting average on my team, has played an error free secondbase so far on the season and is on pace to hit 20 homers. Not bad for a guy hitting in the second spot in the lineup. The other bright spot? Corey Patterson, who hit a solo homer and stole 4 bases during the game, giving him 9 on the season.

Sosa hit his 14th homer of the season during game 3, but that turns out to be the only run we score in a 2-1 loss. Matt Clement got his 4th quality start of the season, going 7 and a third innings and only giving up 2 runs on 3 hits will striking out 7. Even with the win, the news wasn't good for the Rockies as their starter Jason Jennings left the game in the 5th with shoulder trouble. A couple of days later, they revealed that he has a torn Labrum and will be gone for the rest of the season. Kyle Farnsworth got the other two outs and that performance got him a one-way ticket back to minors. Will we see more of him this season? Probably.

After the loss, we head to San Francisco to take on Barry Bonds and the Giants to close out the month of April and then this road trip. At 1-2, were hoping to at least take 2 of 3 to finish the road trip at .500. The Giants are 14-11 and throw Damian Moss, Jason Schmidt (4-1, 1.21 ERA) and Kurt Ainswoth. Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano and Kerry Wood will do the pitching for the Cubs.

Quick Stop In Chicago: April 22nd-April 24th

Now, if you have been following along at home and I hope you have been, you would know that so far in this replay, the Chicago Cubs are 11-8 so far on the season. The real life Cubs were 12-7, so were only a game off their pace. Not a bad start to the season. Now, onto the series with the San Diego Padres.

Before the 2002 season, Matt Clement was just a starter in the majors. Now, saying someone is "just a starter" isn't really as much of an insult as it seems. Only about 150 players or so a season can start and there are many, many more people out there who wish that they were. But something in that 2002 season clicked for Clement as he had his best season as a pro. He reached a career high in strikeouts, a career low in walks, WHIP and opponents average against. And it looks like he may turn 2003 into a better season even still. Clement goes the distance, striking out 12 Padres while cruising to a 9-2 victory. Hee Seop Choi provides some power again, slugging his 5th homer in 6 games and is starting to make me rethink the platoon and whether he should start everyday. I'll continue to trot out Eric Karros vs lefties, but I'm not sure how much longer that will continue.

We come out flat for game 2 and were not in contention the entire game as we lose easily 8-1. We managed only 3 hits off Jake Peavy and the Padres bullpen as Mark Prior falls to 3-2 on the season.

After scoring 6 runs in the first 2 inning during game 3, Wood cruises to a 7 inning win, striking out 12 along the way. He did walk 3, which he will do from time to time, but for the most part, pitched about as well as one would expect him to pitch. So far one of the most disappointing sights on the season is LF Moises Alou. Alou is only hitting .225, with 0 hrs and 11 RBI on the season. Hopefully he can get hot soon and start to hit like we need him to.

With the win, we head into Colorado with a 13-9 record, but in 3rd place, a game behind both Cincinnati and Houston, who are tied for the Division lead. The Rockies are 11-11 coming into this series and with Colorado being the homer paradise that it is, maybe a couple of our bats can wake up during this 3 game set. Sergio Mitre will be starting game 1 and will be sent to the minors after the game as Carlos Zambrano is due back during the San Francisco series. Kyle Farnsworth will come up and take his place till we get to San Fran to give us an additional arm in the bullpen. Shawn Estes will pitch game two and Matt Clement will go in game 3. Colorado counters with Aaron Cook, Nelson Cruz and Jason Jennings.

Repeat Of Last Week? April 18th-April 20th

In game 1 of our series vs the Pittsburgh Pirates, Hee Seop Choi continues his hot hitting, homering in his 3rd straight game, Mosises Alou looks to finally start to break out of the slump that he started the season in with a 3 for 4 evening and Mark Prior gives up only one earned run over 7 innings to grab his 3rd win on the early season with an 8-3 victory. If only all these could be this easy.

The second game of the series isn't that easy, as we fall 7-5. Kerry Wood goes 5 and a third, and leaves with a 4-3 lead. But Dave Veres gives up a 4 spot in the 7th to all about assure us of not getting the win. Wood has now lowered his ERA to 6, a huge improvement from where it was at after 2 starts. Let's hope we can get the third game and at least come away with a series win to try and keep pace with the Astros.

After failing as a pinch-hitter the night before and ending his homer streak, Hee Seop Choi decided to try and start another one, hitting an early 2-run homer to give Sergio Mitre a 4-2 lead. Joe Borowski comes in later to get the final 4 outs to nail down his 4th save of the season and we head into tomorrow's off day on a high note winning 2 of 3 from the Pirates and moving into a first place tie with the Houston Astros.

We head home for a quick 3-game homestand vs the 6-13 San Diego Padres before heading out west on for 6 games against the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants. Matt Clement, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood will be taking on Brian Lawrence, Jake Peavy and Adam Eaton.