Sarcastic

After that performance and Marmol's recent hot streak, I'm ready for Marmol to become the new interim closer.

We are talking about the Pirates here, we shouldn't be surprised to see the Brewers pound them.

Is the Pirate bullpen usually this bad, or is this just a fluke? 6-3 Brewers, still top of the 7th.

Brewers ahead 5-3 in the top of the 7th.

That's the end of the no hit bid. I'm not surprised that Lilly couldn't do it, but he's still pitched a decent game. Only a few balls have been hit hard and he has fooled a lot of the Nats' hitters.

We all know Lilly can't take what he is doing into the late innings. He'll be pulled.

That's what I am hoping for-let's get over half their bullpen in the game tonight, and then they won't have as many available when Redding pitches tomorrow. That was just 37 pitches by Traber in the last inning-he can't last much longer if at all. I'm also hoping for a complete game from Lilly. That would give everyone in our pen except Marmol two days of rest. Lilly has thrown 60+ pitches today in 3.2 innings. He'll need to be much more efficient in order to go deep into the seventh inning, much less throw a complete game.

because he sucked. I thought they would have been used to that by now.

Why did the Nats starter have to leave the game? I missed the start of the inning.

Hah, infield hit for Cliff Floyd.

Lily looks like crap today. 3 out of the 4 starts with meltdowns in the first? This would not be good.

(insert joke about Marshall being high)

It's not about the fans, it's about the team. Every series is big becuase they suked ass so bad for most of the first half. If they go into the ASB less than .500 we shouldn't expect much for the rest of the year. Their play for 7 games should not determine our predictions for them for the rest of the season, since there will still be 75 more games to be played. It will, since sports fans tend to have a what have you done lately mindset, but it shouldn't. This stretch is no bigger than any other. They ought to win both series, but I fail to see how this series matters more than any others. It does matter, we can agree, but it won't determine the Cubs place in the final standings, just how some fans feel about them over the break.

Every series is a big series for one reason or another. Obviously we'd like them to win these games, but we'd like them to win every game.

One good start doesn't make everyday player material. Considering Theriot's overall line and his minor league career, he should remain a bench player, where he can contribute to the team instead of eating ABs.

I hadn't seen that. Hopefully this is the case but I also recall hearing there was no way the Cubs could add someone like Griffey so I suppose we'll habe to wait and see. I'm not optimistic that the Cubs will make a trade for any elite players, but that would be more of our ability to pay the cost in players in the trade, rather than our ability to pay for the player.

Levine has little credibility. It wouldn't surprise me if he was simply playing up conjecture as fact.

I'll believe this when I hear it from a source with an ounce of credibility.

I doubt Jones would still be on the Cubs if they had payroll flexibility. They can prob. add pieces here and there, but any significant move would likely have to go thru a winding road of approvals. Miles specifically said that Jones was not traded because Hendry decided it wasn't worth it to pay his whole salary, not because of a salary cap. But if you'd rather trust a hunch than a beat reporter, go ahead.

I'm not sure why everyone has decided that the Cubs are unable to take on any salary. Bruce Miles has said that he believes that the Cubs are not working within a hard and fast payroll space. I believe the reliable beat reporter more than a few national reporters reporting their guesses as fact.

Baserunners aren't negligible. When Marquis starts giving up more hits through the infield, he'll start giving up more runs.

The point is that it isn't unrealistic for the Cubs to win the division. It isn't likely, but there is a solid chance it could happen. You assumed things that were likely, but not inevitable.

You probably should pay attention to it, unless sinkerball pitchers are magically exempt from variations in BABIP based on luck. It was already posted that his BABIP was .253. Especially for a goundball pitcher, that should come up. Marquis hasn't been a really awful starter for a back of the rotation starter, but looking at his peripherals, which have already been posted, it seems unlikely that he'll manage to keep his ERA down for the rest of the year. With luck, he'll be a decent back of the rotation starter.

Just win series. If the Cubs win the majority of three game sets the rest of the way they'll be in good shape. They do have to play better at Wrigley Field, though. Hahaha. I'm guessing you forgot to go back and edit this post, right? Brewers play what? 5 more series all year against opponents over .500? The Cubs would need to go on a hellish winning streak, and the Brewers one hell of a losing streak, for us to catch them. Just winning 2/3 in a majority of series? That boat, as they say, sailed long ago. Do the Brewers look poised to start dropping 10/11 or 12/15 any time soon? Best hitting in the division, and it's not close? Pitching right up there with us in the Central -- nobody else in the same zip code? Easy schedule the rest of the way? I don't think so. Did they look poised for a long losing streak when they were 24-10? Who knows how the Brewers will play for the rest of the season? My bet would be on over .500, but it is possible that they will be mediocre or worse the rset of the way. Just playing .500 will probably be enough. They'd likely need to play under .500 for us to even sniff a chance. I gonna assume you know that's not happening. You make two false assumptions here: 1. The Cubs have need the Brewers to play .500 ball to have any chance at the division. This isn't completely true. If the Brewers are slightly over .500 the rest of the way (41-40), the Cubs would need to go 48-34 (.585 ball) to tie them. They would ned to play well, but it isn't out of the question for the Cubs to play that well. In order to secure the division, the Brewers would need to play at something closer to their current pace. This leads to the second assumption: 2. The Brewers are guaranteed to play at least .500 ball for the rest of the season. THhis is absolutely untrue. Baseball is a game of chance, and we have seen the Brewers go stone cold for an entire month this season already. It seems likely at this point that they will continue to play well, but it is entirely possible that they struggle towards the end of the season and play .500 ball, or even somewhat worse. This is mind, the Cubs still have a chance at the division.

I never agreed with trading Barrett for peanuts, but considering the state of the Cubs catchers, they need to take the chance on a guy with a solid numbers in the minors.