rawaction

Veal went a perfect 8th inning too. Believe that's the longest outing in the Cubs minors this year. He struck out another in the 8th.

He has already started hitting. Here's my "to the moment" list. 1 Vitters 2 Gallagher 3 Colvin 4 Hernandez 5 Ceda 6 Veal 7 Rhee 8 Donaldson 9 Thomas 10 Russell

Gotta get a couple more runs, as to rest Marmol and Wood. Would like to see some combo of Cotts, Eyre, Howry finish this out.

Lots of lefties. I woulda gone with Eyre over Cotts though.

For someone who apparently can't hit in RBI situations, Soriano sure does have a crapload of RBIs. He'd be leading the team had he not missed 2 weeks.

Good inning. Need 2 more like that.

Woulda been nice to get 1 more hit that inning.

68 pitches thru 3 for Dempster. 4 walks and a HBP. He really needs to turn it up and get thru 6. Cubs need to keep scoring to give Dempster some more wiggle room.

Yes, Cubs are behind! Plan set in place!

If the Cubs win today, I'd expect Lee and Soto to get full days off tomorrow.

Lofton can't really play CF anymore. Though, he'd probably be alright at Wrigley, being that it's a small OF and Kosuke covers a lot of ground in the RCF gap.

Cook would be an interesting, possibly cheap addition. I'd imagine he would be available. The Rockies have some decent young arms in Francis, Jimenez, Morales, and Reynolds. Corpas is still their long-term closer. That's the makings of a pretty good pitching staff. I'd imagine they could use a couple more arms. They're constantly looking for a CF, so Pie could be of interest to them, though I don't know that I would trade him for anything less than a huge upgrade elsewhere. Wonder if they would be interested in a Patterson, Ceda, Veal package for Cook and Fuentes. I'd do my best to hold on to Pie and Gallagher, in case a legit #2 like Burnett becomes available. To me, Cook is a similar version of Ryan Dempster. Would stabilize the rotation, but probably no better than a 3-4 starter. Patterson gives them a potential future CF/leadoff hitter, and can compete with the huge logjam at 2B where they are trying to find someone to stick. Ceda and Veal gives them a couple more arms.

Unless he makes the adjustment to speed his bat back up to the speed it was in Old Busch, then his stance doesn't matter.

Normally, this would have all the makings of a letdown game. Big comeback expending a lot of energy. But the Cubs 3 best hitters (Lee, Ramirez, Soto) should be well rested, along with Theriot and Johnson, and be ready to swing the bats today. And the Rockies are a mess right now. They are injured and trying to piece together a lineup and rotation. Glendon Rusch is on the mound for the Rockies today. He spent the first 5-6 weeks of the season in the San Diego bullpen, and has just 2 minor league starts this year. Stamina (due to lack of starts not weight) and the fact that he's not very good, should be key factors today. Not a good scenario for a team that probably doesn't have Corpas (darn!) or Buchholz available today. Dempster should have every chance to go deep into this game today. Rocks probably stack the lineup w/ LHs today, but the names Smith, Podsednik, Stewart, and Quintanilla don't exactly strike fear into opponents, though admittedly Smith kills RHPs and Stewart looks like a good hitter. If Dempster can keep the ball on the ground as usual, the Rockies lineup today should look at lot like the Dodgers team he just beat in his last start. The Cubs probably don't have Marmol or Wood available today. Though, Carlos has thrown just 23 pitches and Wood 31. Hopefully, they won't need them anyway.

Awesome.

I don't remember exactly when the McMichael game was, but Henry Blanco played in games 1, 4, 5 and 6. He was on the DL for the Cubs for last year's game. Obviously, Todd Helton has played in each game.

I went with Soto. He's been the most productive offensive player, but Aramis will eventually pass him and be this team's MVP. Never thought I'd say this, but if Derrek Lee was more patient this year, it might be him in a runaway. He's the 6th most patient Cub of the 9 everyday players (Reed Johnson qualifies). If he was at his typical BB/PA, his OPS would be the team's best. Zambrano also makes a strong case. Marmol doesn't play as much as the others on this list, but his time on the field has been as important than anyone else's, and more productive.

Marmol and Wood pitched like they haven't bathed in days. Pure filth.

Great Ab by Derosa. Great job by Lou to go with the pinch runner/better defender. I actually like the sac bunt call with Reed against a RHP and up 1 going into the 9th.

Is it wrong that I expect so much more out of Geo with the bases loaded? Tying and go-ahead sac flies, and I feel he shoulda cleared the bases both times.

It's 3 hours before game time. Probably got about 2 more to wait.

If Dawson played his whole career on grass, he'd be Willie Mays, without the walks. Dawson for the Expos was one of the top 3 defensive OFs in the game. He was still pretty good as a Cub too.

He has, but Ascanio has looked great ever since he has been up here. If it's not broke, don't fix it. 5 IP, 4 hits, 3 walks 3 strikeouts. Only 1 ER, but his numbers don't scream MUST KEEP! Agreed. He's shown flashes of excellence, but then will give up a hard hit ball. This move is nothing major, I'd rather keep the guy with the upside, but nobody else could be sent down.

Man, what a stupid move.

Last night, I invented the "Rally Channel". I watched the entire game on WGN, until I decided to watch the bottom of the 9th on ESPN2. The rest is history. It's just too bad I didn't think of this during the Pittsburgh series. Of course, the Cubs probably won't have games simultaneously aired anymore this year. ** I'm also the inventor of the "Rally Gamecast", which was used in the 1st Colorado game this year. Switched gamecasts with the Cubs down one in the 9th, then Aramis gave the Cubs the lead and Theriot won it in the 10th.**