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Steven Jackson/Larry Johnson/Chris Johnson/Earnest Graham Andre Johnson/Donald Driver Pick 2 RB's, 1 WR, and 1 from either

I would save Reed for a better spot. I'd either leave Edmonds in, or bring in another pinch-hitter and then bring Pie in on defense. The Brewers are going to do this again in an inning or two in a situation where the Cubs need their best right-handed pinch hitter.

This is a completely different problem than the 1st. In the 1st, his mechanics were off. When they were fixed during the 1st, he had great stuff after that. This inning he was hanging pitches for the first time all night. I'd be very hesitant to bring him out for the 6th, as I'm not sure if his stuff will come back tonight.

Uh oh...Marquis fell off the mound like he did in the 1st on a couple of those pitches to Fielder. It wasn't quite as bad in the 1st, so hopefully it doesn't continue. When he's fluid, his stuff has been really good.

While MLB didn't release the official schedule until later, it has pretty much always followed the tentative schedule to the letter. Most people just follow the tentative schedule release. And for example, last year the Cubs released that schedule on October 11th. I don't see this as very much different then teams releasing their schedules in the middle of the playoffs.

The concern there is that Shouse is waiting in the pen to come in, and Shouse kills lefties. PH with Edmonds, and then you're stuck with Blanco after Shouse comes in, and then who? Zambrano? Ideally you're trying to get that extra run in on 3rd with 1 out in the 8th and then win it. Again, it worked out with Blanco, but it would have been ideal to maximize the attempt to get Aramis in from 3rd with only 1 out. Which way is maximizing your result though? Is it: Blanco and McGehee against Shouse? Or is it Johnson against Villanueva, and then Blanco against Shouse? I would probably argue the second one. I have no faith at all that McGehee is a major league caliber hitter against any type of pitcher. Plus in the 1st scenario, you're sending up your backup catcher in a DP situation. And Shouse is an unbelievably extreme GB pitcher..his GB/FB ratio is 3.27.

And finally that makes sense after reading through it three times. :scratch: Sorry about that. I actually re-wrote parts of it a couple of times to try to make it more comprehensible, but it wasn't coming out very well. On another subject...no matter what happens tomorrow, there's no way I could label it an Estes moment. Anybody going for their 4th quality start in a row is disqualified. While I would be surprised to see Marquis pitch as well as Estes did, it will come nowhere near the utter shock that came with the shutout that Estes threw.

What stops them from clinching Friday? I think he meant that the fact that the lowest the magic number could be without clinching Thursday is 2 (if the Cubs split the next two games) and the Cubs play in the afternoon that day while Milwaukee plays at night. So the Cubs can clinch Friday, but the Cubs cannot clinch due to their win (they'd have to wait until Friday night and clinch if Milwaukee loses), so the fans going to the game have no possibility of watching the Cubs celebrate the division title by winning the game.

Either one of the two in that division would be nice, but I think it's more likely that the Mets keep losing at this point. And since the Mets are now behind the Phillies, it's also the easier scenario to see them dropping behind the Brewers.

I think it's more likely that DeRosa will be the starting RF in the playoffs with Fontenot/Cedeno platooning at 2nd base.

The Brewers are seeing 5.64 pitches per plate appearance tonight. Dempster at 62 pitches through 3.

The magic number can never go up. If the Cubs lose games the next 3 days, that just means the division magic number will stay the same. The playoff magic number would then still have a chance to go down if the Philly/Mets 2nd place team fell behind the Brewers.

One of those would be me..I'm only up 4 now instead of 10. It's going to be nearly impossible for me to win now. As soon as I heard the rule, I knew what was going to happen on the next play. I think it was one of those plays that since the whistle blew before anybody from Dallas bothered to pick it up, it's Philly ball still.

It was really close before the season, but the struggles of Jacksonville and the Colts so far have made the NFC East clearly better right now. The AFC South was better last year, but they aren't the same division so far this year.

In the bullpen and available. But the Cubs haven't exactly needed a lot of middle relief since the last time he pitched. Marmol, Samardzija, and Wood are the only ones who have pitched in the last week. Cotts is the only other pitcher to have pitched since Guzman pitched last (not counting the day after Guzman threw 2 innings when Guzman wasn't available), and he only had 1 outing. Guzman, Wuertz, Howry, and Hart have all had long layoffs.

I don't really see a chance in hell of them not picking up that option, but I suppose we'll see. Agreed. If they truly don't want him, they'll pick up the option and then trade him. You don't let a valuable property get away for nothing if you can get something good for him. This isn't a Prior situation. Harden has even more trade value now than he did in July. The Cubs knew what they were getting into when they traded for him (and their comments right after the trade reflect that). It would be absolutely crazy if they changed their minds and decided it wasn't worth it when Harden has been relatively healthy since the trade. It isn't even a decision on if to pick up the option. You pick up the option, and then decide what to do with him next.

Lineups Cubs Soriano Fontenot Lee Ramirez Hoffpauir Soto Edmonds Cedeno Lilly Astros Abercrombie Loretta Tejada Berkman Pence Castillo Erstad Quintero Moehler

And Arizona just keeps getting the knife twisted in them in worse and worse ways as the days go on. First they blow the save thanks to a sac fly by Corey Patterson in the 9th. Then in the 10th, the Reds have taken the lead. Thanks to who else-a Micah Owings pinch-hit RBI double. As much as I don't want Arizona to make the playoffs, this is just being too cruel.

Didn't Lilly pitch pretty well last time out against the Brewers? Personally I wouldn't want an amped up Z going in his first start back against the Brewers. A nice quiet Monday afternoon game against the Astros in a neutral site seems like a better place for him to keep his emotions from taking over and overthrowing and hurting the shoulder again. He pitched ok. 6 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, 2 home runs. Milwaukee has a huge split between left-handers and right-handers though (.826 vs .738). Houston has a similar split, but much less pronounced (.779 vs .735). If we're setting up Lilly for his best chance to succeed, Monday would be his day. I don't remember how effective vs lucky he was in that game but I think he had 6 shutout innings before tiring and giving up 2 HR's in the 7th. I think if you looks at his splits Lilly actually is kind of reverse what you would expect - very good against RH and mediocre against LH. So maybe the Brewers success against LH pitching would not so much apply to Lilly. You are right (or at least very close). He had 5 shutout innings before giving up 3 in the 6th..probably should have given up more in the 6th but the Brewers made 2 outs on the basepaths that inning. Lilly is a guy who doesn't have consistent splits against right-handers and left-handers. 03 he was better against left-handers. 04 was better against left-handers. 05 was better against right-handers. 06 was better against left-handers. 07 he didn't really have a split. And in 08 he's been better against right-handers. There isn't any discernible pattern in his splits. I don't really think he's immune from Milwaukee's hitting of left-handers because of his splits, and Lilly's numbers against Milwaukee each of the last 2 years reflect that.

4? Cubs/Astros Brewers/Phillies x2 Am I missing something here? Isnt tommorow a double header for us too, or is that Monday? Another thing though, obviously, there will be a lot of Cubs fans, but also, a lot of Brewer fans. It will be interesting to see who they root for. They'll probably be split on it. I was listening to their radio station this afternoon before their game, and the way they sounded, they were all about the wild card, and not even talking about catching the Cubs for the division. They were mainly concerned with the Astros, Phillies, and of course, the Brewers themselves. Neither day for the Cubs is a doubleheader. The third game will be made up at the end of the season if necessary.

Didn't Lilly pitch pretty well last time out against the Brewers? Personally I wouldn't want an amped up Z going in his first start back against the Brewers. A nice quiet Monday afternoon game against the Astros in a neutral site seems like a better place for him to keep his emotions from taking over and overthrowing and hurting the shoulder again. He pitched ok. 6 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, 2 home runs. Milwaukee has a huge split between left-handers and right-handers though (.826 vs .738). Houston has a similar split, but much less pronounced (.779 vs .735). If we're setting up Lilly for his best chance to succeed, Monday would be his day. Zambrano's healtht is way more important than anything that has to do with Lilly. I would agree with that (although I don't necessarily agree with the fact that avoiding the Brewers will be some great help in his health). If they decide though that they really want Z to face the Astros, then throw him out there tomorrow night. Then Lilly can go Monday, Marquis Tuesday, Dempster Wednesday, and Harden Thursday.

Didn't Lilly pitch pretty well last time out against the Brewers? Personally I wouldn't want an amped up Z going in his first start back against the Brewers. A nice quiet Monday afternoon game against the Astros in a neutral site seems like a better place for him to keep his emotions from taking over and overthrowing and hurting the shoulder again. He pitched ok. 6 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, 2 home runs. Milwaukee has a huge split between left-handers and right-handers though (.826 vs .738). Houston has a similar split, but much less pronounced (.779 vs .735). If we're setting up Lilly for his best chance to succeed, Monday would be his day.

This is a very good job done by MLB with this compromise. The 1 game being left back is brilliant. Not only does it help pacify the Astros, it also keeps both teams pitching staffs intact. Now neither team will have to use their 6th starter in a game this week, which will benefit both the Cubs and Astros much more than what city they play in. Then you add in the fact that the extra game has a 70-80 percent chance of not being played and it makes even more sense. It will be interesting to see how Lou changes the rotation. He had of course the entire order written down, and now he can do pretty much anything he wants with it. My guess is that Harden will probably slot in Thursday (pitch against the Brewers while still having 6 days off) but I'm not sure how the rest will go. If you wanted to do the best matchups against teams, you'd probably go Marquis (or Dempster) tomorrow, Lilly Monday, Z Tuesday, Dempster (or Marquis) Wednesday, Harden Thursday. I would definitely pitch Lilly on Monday whichever ways the others go though. He shouldn't be anywhere near the Brewers series with the Cubs having the ability to dictate the rotation like this.

Absolutely..and with Auburn having the ball deep in their own territory with 2 minutes to play, it likely will stay that way..unless they do something stupid like fumble it for the 3rd time in 5 minutes.

Normally I'm yelling go for it when the coach wants to punt. But I have absolutely no idea why Mississippi State decided to go for it on 4th and 15 there. Neither team has moved the ball..how likely are you going to make it on that down and distance? Punt and hope you get the ball back and only have to drive 20-30 yards to kick a game winning field goal. Auburn should drop 5-6 spots after this game, win or lose. This is absolutely pathetic.