Laura

Len Kasper said tonight -- and made clear this was just based on his speculation -- that he assumes that if Prior won't make his next start, he'll be DL'd again. Which is no big surprise, but looks like it's headed in that direction.

Scott Moore's HR in the West Tenn game was his 18th, which puts him in a 3-way tie for 2nd place in the Southern League. What's a sustainable BABIP? Do they have league variances? Moore has been on a nice hitting run so far in August, but I'm just guessing that .391 BABIP wouldn't be considered sustainable over the long term.

In addition to the ongoing velocity issues, he had been shut down a couple of times with a sore shoulder IIRC, which of course cost additional rehab time.

I bet they lead both leagues in sac bunts with RISP and two outs in the ninth.

Fun game. The glogs on sportsline can be pretty funny.

He started tonight for the Diamond Jaxx (AA) and got the win. There are still concerns over his velocity. You can check the minor leagues forum for tonight's minor leagues game thread (link). The minor league box score is here.

It was off the wall in right center and (of course) caromed way past JJones into short right center, where Pierre tracked it down and flipped it to Cedeno. It was a guy trying to score from first. From the game thread:

Len: The Cubs are on the Come-Back Trail!

Figured it had something to do with lovability. Nice sidearm action over to 1B by Hill on that Roxhead play.

In what possible way?

Contreras no-hitting the Tigers through 5.

heh

Prior stayed in Chicago to get checked out. Apparently, they noticed.

Brenly talking about how Pagan (in particular) and Pierre are playing way too deep.

These Caught Stealings are growing tedious.

Wow. Thanks for the update! Ron had said the other night that Cates hurt his hand sliding into home on that play. That's really too bad about Dopirak, but at least he's been checked out. Is there any update on what they found? Hopefully they can get some reinforcements soon.

okeydokey, no more awards, plz.

If the Cubs had a true 4-man rotation, they'd be using the off-days to flip to a 3-man rotation once through whenever possible.

Don't think you're special just because a Cubs pitcher walked you. (obligatory)

For those who were wondering whose decision it was to have Juan Pierre running in the 8th inning:

My thoughts about a minor league assignment (Iowa or West Tenn) were predicated on Prior being healthy and having clearance to continue pitching. Obviously, if there are any lingering doubts about that, shut him down and have him x-ray, MRI'd, dissected, whatever remains to be done. The focus is recovery and -- if that can be achieved -- preparation for next season. The gist I get from the post-game press availability is that Prior doesn't want to be shut down. At this point, I just wonder how much good it does to have him take more lumps at the MLB level, since it seems evident that the problems aren't going to be worked through over the next couple of starts. I don't know how much good it's going to do him or the Cubs to get booed at Wrigley. Maybe it would help to get away from the semi-hysterical media coverage (I'm lumping radio shows and everything else under that umbrella). Given that Rothschild has been present while a lot of things that we complain about and lament (including the '03 NCSL games) played out in front of him, I just don't have much faith in his abilities to assist Prior in working through this. Maybe that's unfair of me, but that's how it is. I really don't know. Just some thoughts. Bruce has the best coverage of the post-game media availability -- almost a transcript.

Coors field isn't near as much of a hitter's park as it once was. Humidor. Curveballs are still affected, though, even if the batted ball isn't traveling as far as it used to go. Good luck to Hill!

UK has been driving the Freel bandwagon for a long time, long enough that it was actually possible to acquire Freel when he was first driving it. The time to grab Freel has come and gone. It's a King's Ransom now, if possible at all.

me, too

I'm sadly waiting for some sort of new diagnosis at some point.