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The Cubs have as many pitchers left as pinch-hitters. The bench is not an issue today. I'm thankful for the 13 man staff today (although it's pretty silly)..otherwise the game would be done a lot sooner than all those pinch-hitters could be used.

The radio says that Wood is not in the bullpen at all, and Marshall is warming up.

Every reliever should be available tomorrow anyway. Howry will be the only one who pitched 2 consecutive days. I'd rather not kill Marmols arm though. Last year he pitched in 59 games and 69.1 innings. This year he has already pitched in 48 games and 51.1 innings. I understand. Remember though that Marmol also had 41 innings starting for Iowa last year. Those 69.1 innings with the Cubs were only from the beginning of June on.

A little of both. He allowed the first 2 batters to reach base, then Lou stuck with him for the next batter. Harden struck him out and Lou pulled him at the 96 pitch mark to a standing ovation.

Every reliever should be available tomorrow anyway. Howry will be the only one who pitched 2 consecutive days.

Really tough question. I'll disqualify Marmol, Soriano, and Theriot immediately. Marmol's been great, but he'd have to be dominant all year to really win the MVP of the team, and his slump has destroyed that chance. Soriano has been very productive when he's been out there, but he's also missed a decent part of the year. Theriot is a wonderful surprise, but isn't close to the engine behind this huge offense. Next I'll have to disqualify Wood and Dempster. Great job for both this year, but just a little less than some of the others. I could make serious cases for Lee, Zambrano, Ramirez, Soto, and DeRosa. If I had to pick one, I'd probably go with Ramirez, but it's really, really close, and I wouldn't blame anyone for picking any 1 of the 5.

See? This is what I'm talking about. Harden pitches lights out in his debut, but the national media can't help themselves but to paint it with storm clouds looming overhead. Suck it losers. They really didn't know what his debut would be like when they posted that. Most of that front page was up hours before the game started.

Hill gave up 2 hits in the first inning, but that's it. No runs, no walks, no strikeouts.

Because the Cubs had 4 different relievers go 20 pitches or more on Thursday, including 2 of their long men. The great likelihood is that Hart won't see the field this weekend. But if Marquis had gone 2 yesterday, they probably would have had to use pitchers like Marmol and Wood in a blowout loss just to get all the innings in. Hart being up insures they wouldn't have to do that. Then you add in that he came up at the expense of a pitcher who they weren't going to use in any close games this weekend and was unavailable yesterday. It was a small potential reward move with no risk.

Funny how you dont mention what lefties are hitting against Wuertz. And if it was a nagging injury then put him on the DL, you dont send him to AAA to continue pitching. And why would Hart being able to throw more innings mean anything? We already have 3 long men in the bullpen. Wuertz is and has been a better option than Kevin Hart. I would agree that Wuertz is a better option overall, but neither one was going to pitch this weekend unless an emergency happened, and Hart is a fresher option for such an emergency. He'll be sent right back down over the break for Eyre. It will be interesting what the Cubs plan to do about this pitching situation though. They want Harden to get the extra day as much as possible, and even skip some of his starts. So I imagine they'll want Marshall to take a turn or two in the rotation occasionally in order to push Harden back. Do they keep Marshall on the major league roster for that purpose? Do they play the shuttle with him and two relievers? Since each reliever has to stay down for 10 days, they would need at least 2 to do the shuttle correctly. They could bring Marshall up and send reliever 1 down. Then after that game, they send Marshall right back down and bring reliever 2 up. 10 days later, Marshall comes back and starts again, replacing reliever 2. Then after the game, reliever 1 comes back and replaces Marshall. I don't think they know yet what they're planning to do though. Harts fresher than Wuertz? Wuertz just had 7 days off going into Thursdays home run derby, Im not sure how Hart is fresher than Wuertz when Hart has been starting and throwing alot more pitches. Also Wuertz is alot more acclimated to pitching out of the pen than Kevin Hart. Like you said though, it will be interesting to see how they handle the pitching situation. Personally I want Marshall back at AAA when Eyre comes back so he can stay stretched out in case of an injury, or a Marquis implosion. 7 days off before Thursday doesn't mean as much for the next 3 days. Wuertz threw 39 pitches on Thursday. That means he was likely unavailable yesterday. Today, he could possibly go 1-2 innings. Hart, meanwhile, hasn't pitched since Sunday. He could have gone 3-4 innings yesterday if the Cubs needed him to, or he could do the same today. Hart definitely gives you more innings in an emergency this weekend than Wuertz could have.

Nothing yet. Could be any second, or possibly another 20-25 minutes.

Funny how you dont mention what lefties are hitting against Wuertz. And if it was a nagging injury then put him on the DL, you dont send him to AAA to continue pitching. And why would Hart being able to throw more innings mean anything? We already have 3 long men in the bullpen. Wuertz is and has been a better option than Kevin Hart. I would agree that Wuertz is a better option overall, but neither one was going to pitch this weekend unless an emergency happened, and Hart is a fresher option for such an emergency. He'll be sent right back down over the break for Eyre. It will be interesting what the Cubs plan to do about this pitching situation though. They want Harden to get the extra day as much as possible, and even skip some of his starts. So I imagine they'll want Marshall to take a turn or two in the rotation occasionally in order to push Harden back. Do they keep Marshall on the major league roster for that purpose? Do they play the shuttle with him and two relievers? Since each reliever has to stay down for 10 days, they would need at least 2 to do the shuttle correctly. They could bring Marshall up and send reliever 1 down. Then after that game, they send Marshall right back down and bring reliever 2 up. 10 days later, Marshall comes back and starts again, replacing reliever 2. Then after the game, reliever 1 comes back and replaces Marshall. I don't think they know yet what they're planning to do though.

Mesa has its game at 1:30 Eastern, 12:30 Central. All games in the minor league forum are listed by what time the game starts in the time zone they are playing in.

Isn't AAA filled with retreads and guys wanting to be a coach or manager some day? I mean isn't there more talent in AA (albeit younger)? That's at least the going wisdom that there are more prospects in AA than AAA at any given time, and it's most likely true. AAA lineups are still harder to pitch to though. You do still have some prospects at AAA, plus the overall quality of the lineup around those prospects is better. For example, on the Iowa squad-Jason Dubois, Micah Hoffpauir, Andres Torres, Bobby Scales, Josh Kroeger. None of them are true prospects, but they're all at Iowa because they hit AAA pitching well for a living. You're not going to find many of those guys at AA, and those type of guys really form the meat of the AAA lineup and make it tough for a pitcher. In this case though, what may be even more important than that is what type of leagues they are. The Southern League (AA) has an average OPS this season of around 736. The Pacific Coast League (AAA) has an average OPS of .785. To contrast, the average OPS in major league baseball this season is 740. So it's really pretty strange that Jeff can go from a slight pitchers league to an extreme hitters league and improve his numbers like he has. Edit: I guess after a phone call I should check to see if somebody beat me to what I was going to post. Sorry about that CubinNY, I didn't mean to belabor the point.

Chumley's, Joe's on 86th St., Ale Emporium, Fox and Hound or Champps should all have the game tomorrow in the Indy area. I'd prefer not to make that drive although I do like Chumley's...I know Joe's and Bubbaz over in Camby will be playing it. They always have the Cubs games on. Its not like Indy has another baseball team to root for. I was talking about a house party, and while I will be going to one later that night looks like I'll be all my lonesome unless I wanna watch it with non Cubs fans. Not a big deal. No Pirates fans with their AAA team there? I know that their minor league system isn't very good, but I just assumed the Pirates might have atleast a little bit of a following in Indy. Their parent team changes so often that it's hard to ever really get a following for a major league team based on the Indians. The Reds, Brewers, and Pirates have all had Indy as their AAA affiliate in the last 10 years.

Agreed, and I've been a Marquis defender. I don't think Marquis's contract is all that unreasonable overall compared to other salaries and production around the league. However, the Cubs currently have 3 starters locked in for next year (Zambrano, Lilly, Hardin), a decision to make on Dempster, and then a few possibilities waiting in the wings beyond that (Hill, Marshall, Gaudin, etc.). With that much pitching stability already in the rotation, Marquis becomes less necessary, and getting out of his 9 million dollars in 09 should be a high priority. If the Cubs can find a way to make a deal now without paying more than 1 million dollars, the entire Marquis era in Chicago will be a pretty good one. If you let him get into his largest contract year, it might turn sour on you.

Some of them have been, like the David Ross one just now. A couple others of the Reds were hit well, but they also were hit very high, so it's certainly possible the wind was the thing that took them out of the ballpark. Let's just say if this game goes the full amount of innings, there's still plenty of potential for runs in this ballpark today.

5th highest OPS on the team...over .850 after that at-bat.

Soto's started the last 22 games straight now. Although that's overstating it. 3 of those were DH starts, and the Cubs have also had 3 off days during that time. Plus with the All-Star Break coming up in a few days, I can see why he's riding him a little bit.

And he doesn't seem to get hurt by promotion. If anything, the better defense at the next level helps him. His strikeout rate is also slowly rising as he goes along, but so is his HR rate. I have no idea what to make of him. I have to think he'll make a decent major league reliever at some point with the way he's been going. Beyond that and at what point he could come up, I have absolutely no clue. I think he could end up a starter, but he continues to send such mixed signals. Some days he has the sinker working. At other times he has great control. Others his strikeout rate is up. Rarely do you see it in the same game like he did tonight, and rarely is it the same from start to start.

Well, wore down a little bit at the end there, but still a very encouraging outing for Samardzija. He had his sinker working once again for most of the night and didn't walk anybody.

Gaudin was warming in the pen. He looks like any other pitcher, really. Harden in the dugout yet? Yes. The Reds broadcast showed him a couple times in the dugout.

Yeah, how dare he expect Marmol to throw 35 pitches in the last week! His arm is going to fall off throwing so many pitches!!! It will because he'll have to pitch every game the rest of the year when Wuertz and Lieber wind up on milk cartons from trying to find their way to the mound. Exactly. I'm not upset about this outing because of any overuse of Marmol. What it does do though is take him out tomorrow for absolutely no good reason, and it also takes an inning away from pitchers who really could use it. That's the big problem with what just happened out there.

Zambrano with 80 pitches through 6. Cueto with 81 through 5.

I agreed to a point. If Harden shows he will be healthy, in the next 3 weeks, then another stater won't be necessarily (and I would be confident that Marquis/Marshall/Lieber/Geaux Dan would get the job done as #5), but if Harden shows a little wear and tear (which is possible), then you could see the Cubs make a trade for another starter. I still say try to see what Colorado wants for Aaron Cook. There don't seem to be nearly as many questions surrounding his durability as there would be with Burnett or Bedard, and he isn't as crappy as Wolf or Maddux. Colorado has flat out said they aren't trading Cook. He just signed an extension this past offseason, and they consider him a major part of their future.