CubColtPacer

We have a box score update, and it's not pretty: Hill: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 0 K That's when he was replaced. It looks like the pitcher who replaced him gave up 1 more inherited runner before he got out of the inning, so Hill's final line is edited above.

I think it just goes to show you how incredibly balanced the lineup is. There isn't a single player above a .900 OPS in our lineup. Compare that to the other top 5 offenses: Texas: 1 above 1.000, 2 above .900 Boston: 2 above .900 Philadelpia: 2 above .900 White Sox: 2 above 900 The Cubs are still a top offense even without that superstar offensive player because of their balance. Even their worst offensive starter has a .392 OBP right now. There are no parts of the lineup you fear, but there's nobody that you can really say is an easy out or a hole either. When Soriano comes back, you'll have a lineup with 7 guys above .800 (I'm counting the platoon as being above .800, which I think is appropriate right now considering the numbers of Edmonds against right-handers, his numbers with the Cubs, and Johnson's numbers against left-handers), and 1 guy above .750 with a great OBP. Then when you go down to the bench, the top 3 are all above average for their roles (Ward, Fontenot, Johnson/Edmonds), Cedeno is a better hitter than a lot of defensive middle infielders around the league, and Blanco is pretty decent at hitting when compared to other backup catchers in the league. There's not a single spot in the lineup or bench where you can point and say "He's below league average for his role on the team". That's a rare treat.

.303/.373/.528/.901 without this past weekend. He wanted it without the series at Wrigley, not the series at the Cell. It looks like it was .236/.306/.315. Ouch. 3 small stretches really killed him. 1 at the beginning of the month where he was 0 for 13, one in the middle of the month where he was 1 for 12, and finishing the month on an 0 for 14. He was incredibly streaky all month long.

July 19th. Ted Lilly was the starting pitcher that day against the Giants, and the Cubs scored 9 runs that day as well. Of course, it wasn't completely the same. The Giants scored 8 last year.

He'll be fine for tomorrow. That many pitches pretty much rules out 3 days in a row though, so hopefully we can win another blowout one of those 2 days.

I take back what I said a minute ago. I think Lilly will be able to convince Lou to let him go for the complete game. Taking a look back, it looks like Lilly hasn't had one since 2004. I'm sure he would absolutely love to break that streak, and with him being under 100 pitches, Lou will give him a chance.

That was a 42 pitch inning. DeRo had slipped back near his numbers from the last two years. Now he has a comfortable cushion on that once again. I bet we'll see Wood in the 9th in a staying sharp outing. I think EPatt will be the one sent down now on Thursday. If they don't trust him to play LF at all, he's pretty useless to the team.

I don't think there's any question. Up 5 runs and he's at 76 pitches. Let him pitch another couple and save the bullpen.

Not me...I always feel it's a luxury if you can add a piece at the deadline. You're just never sure if the right person for your team is out there, if they're available, if the other team wants your prospects, if the other team is out of the race, and if the price is right. That's so many ifs that have to be dealt with that I'm just thankful any year that some piece is able to be added.

I would agree to bring somebody up for 2-3 days (I thought Reed got back on Thursday, but I may be wrong on that) but it doesn't look like they're going to according to Cubs.com:

Which is basically what I said (well, I left it open with the "almost" part). The coaches should be emboldened to pick Aramis to start because he's better (this year). It will be close. Wright may get it because the game is in NY, even if it's not at Shea. Look at their stats (I'm listing several stats that will be looked at by the people picking, even if they don't matter very much, so be forewarned): Wright: 312 AB's, 48 R, 89 H, 19 2B, 1 3B, 15 HR, 64 RBI, 8 SB, 4 CS, 55 K/48 BB, .285/.378/.497, 11 E Aramis: 291 AB's, 54 R, 84 H, 20 2B, 0 3B, 14 HR, 55 RBI, 1 SB, 1 CS, 53 K/42 BB, .289/.390/.502, 7 E That's about as close as you can get across the board. less than 10 runs and RBI, 1 double off, 1 triple off, 1 home run off, walk and strikeout totals that are very close. Wright's SB's will give him a slight edge, as his CS will mostly be ignored. Aramis's error totals will help him slightly. The only difference in their OBP comes from the fact that Wright has hit 6 sacrifice flies compared to Aramis's 1, and Aramis has been hit 7 times compared to only 2 for Wright. The only difference in their slugging is the slight difference in batting average. With the stats that close, I think it will come down to more of perception than anything else. Wright has the better reputation in the past. Aramis has been in the headlines more because of the Cubs success. Like I said in the beginning, I think the tiebreaker might be the NY factor and Wright will be the starter, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Aramis got it instead.

Fukudome helps the NL team more than Braun because he's a possible CF. Right now, if Braun passes Fukudome and Soriano comes back in time for the game, the NL is going to line up as Braun in LF, Soriano in CF, Griffey in RF. That's just a putrid defensive outfield. Fukudome in CF and Soriano in left is going to be enough of a defensive upgrade in both places to be worth the extra 1 at-bat. Plus, it's not like Braun is much better than Fukudome offensively anyway.

Doesn't Cedeno still have his insane reverse splits? I'd play him all 4 games (or however long ARam is out). I still wish they'd put the real SS at SS when he's in the game and let Theriot play 2B. Yes, but there honestly isn't really anyone else to put at 2B tonight, and since I know Lou will put Cedeno there I just stuck him in that slot. Honestly, Fontenot or Patterson would probably be better options against a finesse left-hander with a good breaking ball like Zito than Cedeno, but hopefully Cedeno can lay off. But yes, Cedeno has an .811 OPS against right-handers and a .602 against left-handers so far this year. I put Fontenot in that slot for the other 2 days because I believe he is a better hitter than Cedeno is overall. He's been a tick better than Cedeno against right-handers this year, and he's been a lot better than Cedeno in both May and June so far. If they put Cedeno at SS and Theriot at 2nd, I might feel a little differently since that upgrades the defense aspect of Cedeno. But if I'm choosing between one of Cedeno or Fontenot at 2nd, I think Fontenot has to be the guy right now, and I'm curious to why you would put Cedeno out there instead. b/c I'd put him at SS Ok, but that option seems to be clearly out the window. Would you still play Cedeno at 2nd until Aramis comes back? Just asking since your first post seems to indicate that you know that they won't put him at SS, but that you want him to play anyway.

Doesn't Cedeno still have his insane reverse splits? I'd play him all 4 games (or however long ARam is out). I still wish they'd put the real SS at SS when he's in the game and let Theriot play 2B. Yes, but there honestly isn't really anyone else to put at 2B tonight, and since I know Lou will put Cedeno there I just stuck him in that slot. Honestly, Fontenot or Patterson would probably be better options against a finesse left-hander with a good breaking ball like Zito than Cedeno, but hopefully Cedeno can lay off. But yes, Cedeno has an .811 OPS against right-handers and a .602 against left-handers so far this year. I put Fontenot in that slot for the other 2 days because I believe he is a better hitter than Cedeno is overall. He's been a tick better than Cedeno against right-handers this year, and he's been a lot better than Cedeno in both May and June so far. If they put Cedeno at SS and Theriot at 2nd, I might feel a little differently since that upgrades the defense aspect of Cedeno. But if I'm choosing between one of Cedeno or Fontenot at 2nd, I think Fontenot has to be the guy right now, and I'm curious to why you would put Cedeno out there instead.

I think the Cubs can sweep this series if they let the Giants pitchers pitch themselves out of the game. If the team is patient at the plate, they should win all 4 games. Lincecum and Cain don't really have a tendency to do this. I think we'll have to be damn aggressive against those two. They both have high walk rates, but they also have high strikeout rates. You have to be patient and lay off the good breaking balls and let them walk their 2-4 they likely will during the game, but at the same time if they throw you a first pitch strike, it would probably be good to jump on it (especially with Lincecum). If Lincecum gets a first pitch strike, opponents are hitting a sparkling .469 OPS on him after that.

This would certainly fill in some of the weird inconsistencies from earlier in the season (why publicly they said that Pie was working really hard on his swing and was very coachable, but then there were whispers coming out that his commitment wasn't very good). That always confused me because I couldn't figure out a way for both to be true. If this report is at least somewhat accurate, that would explain the dichotomy. It also serves to at least partially explain the strange usage pattern for Pie. I'm guessing Pie doesn't last another month with this club. The Cubs will let him come back to Iowa in another week, he'll hit the ball well for 2-3 weeks, then they'll trade him.

Hopefully everything turns out ok for Aramis and whatever family matter he has turns for the better over the next few days. This is the wrong ballpark to be missing another player, but the Cubs will survive. They need to do a little gambling defensively now. Tonight, it should be Murton, Edmonds, Fukudome across the outfield DeRosa, Theriot, Cedeno, Lee across the infield for the next 2 games I would say to do Ward, Edmonds, Fukudome across the outfield with DeRosa, Theriot, Fontenot, and Lee across the infield.

And Chirinos commits an error at 3rd to end the game. 3-2 Lakeland in 20 innings.

Boise rallies to win 5-4. Ridling had another double to start the 9th. Mota has lost it out there as expected. Hit the first batter, walked the 2nd batter, 3rd batter hits a deep fly to right that is caught (on a 2-0 count), runner tags up to 3rd. 1st and 3rd, 1 out.

22 walks combined in this game. 2 of them have come around to score.

What do I know? Mota sets them down 1-2-3. Groundout to 2nd, strikeout, groundout to 3rd. On the strikeout, he touched 92 with his fastball and threw 2 beautiful breaking balls to their 3rd hitter. Remember that he made it to 92 on his fastball with absolutely no warmup in the bullpen. He had made the last out at the plate in the top of the 19th, then went straight to the mound. They're in the 20th now.

Uh oh. Now it's not enough that Mota was 0 for 8 with a walk at 3B tonight. Now he's pitching for Daytona in the bottom of the 19th.

Lakeland's bottom of the 18th: 4 pitch walk grounder to 3rd, potential double play ball, instead went right between Mota's legs for an error. 1st and 2nd. next, they fake the bunt, and when Daytona is running the wheel play they swing and hit a grounder to SS. Barney on his way to 3rd fields the ball, manages to tag the runner going to 3rd, and then fire the ball over to first for a great double play. walk strikeout to a guy who has had 1 hit and 5 walks tonight. It's on to the 19th.

Daytona is still going. In the 18th inning now.

To be fair, it changed well before the run scored. It was only about a minute after it flashed up as a double that the announcers said it had been changed to an error after a look at the replay. I agree with someone that I don't understand what DeRosa was doing there in the 9th. It's not even a situation where he feels he has to hurry to score. In that situation, his first move should be back towards second base no matter what is hit because it doesn't matter much if he advances 1 base or 2. His run doesn't matter unless the guys behind him also cross the plate, so all he has to do is make sure he isn't doubled off, and he didn't do that. Oh well. A really tough series, but hopefully they can at least battle on the road the next 7, try to play around .500 ball, and wait to get their stars back.