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Lord help the Cubs if they ever get a competent manager and coaching staff. I think as a whole, Lou is pretty competent. I think he left his brain in Chicago for this Marlins series, but on the whole, I think he's competent. On that particular comment, I think he was talking about the Brewers and how good they would be if only they had the right coaching.

This is why I don't think it's that horrible of a decision when Yost takes Braun out of the game, provided it's the 8th or 9th and they are leading. Sure, they miss his bat when his turn in the order comes up and the other team has tied the game, but he also is a candidate to help the other team tie the game everytime he touches the ball. 26 errors now in 3/4 of a season, and how many more would he have had if he wasn't taken out of all those games?

I also would start Pie considering Jones's absolutely awful numbers against Arroyo, but I'm already resigned that it's not going to happen (and I'm not sure it would make that much difference anyway).

The Reds series is one series where Lou seriously has to re-think starting Soto. Let's cast all the other debate about who is better in a normal situation aside for the moment. The thing is, the Reds are missing their 2 biggest power hitters. A team that usually relies on the long ball and less on the stolen base (they are 8th in the NL in stolen bases) suddenly finds itself with most of its power gone and using more of a speed lineup. They will be trying to make things happen on the bases. Now, Z is pretty good at holding runners on, so Kendall is fine with starting tomorrow. If you don't start Soto paired up with Hill and Lilly though, the Reds will run all day long.

I'm convinced he's either injured or has a dead arm. There's no rational explanation for why he and Sean Gallagher haven't pitched this month beyond that. Yeah, I think Marshall's arm is gone. He was pitching shorter and shorter outings (hadn't broken 85 pitches since July) and was starting to lose command in the starts he made. As for Trachsel, I think they'll try to squeeze him one more inning if his spot in the order doesn't come up all the way around this inning.

I think Murton has to have some sort of minor injury today. This doesn't fit Lou's pattern at all, either his left-handed lineup (which Soto is in today, so Murton would be the only change from normal, and remember that Murton has batted ahead of Monroe the last few games they've played together), or the batter-pitcher matchups. Maybe his back is acting up again?

All those teams only have 4 left to play, not 5. I think at least one of the west teams will get to 90 with Arizona and Colorado playing each other this weekend.

Don't cable companies require a minimum service agreement with penalty for early termination? I know cell phone companies do, and so does DirecTV; I assume cable companies do too, but I'm not sure. I think the only way you'd have to sign a service agreement is if you took advantage of a discounted offer. If you paid regular fees, you can have it for as little as one month with no problem.

The Rockies probably have to be considered now for this poll as well. 3 games out of the division lead now, have won 9 straight, and are hosting Arizona the last 3 games of the year.

Marquis was good in April and May. He's been very un-good since. He was very good in April and May, terrible in June and July (and the first start of August) and then slightly above average since then. 4.27 ERA in his last 9 starts.

Whether he starts Tracshel or one of the other pitchers (Hart, Gallagher, Marshall, or Piggy), he should keep a short leash on the pitcher. Tracshel might be okay the first time through the lineup (3 innings) and then bring in Marshall or Gallagher for 3 innings and Hart or Piggy for a couple and then go to the regular end-of-the-game bullpen guys. I guess I am the only one that thinks it would be ridiculous to put the season in the hands of Piggy or Gallagher, both of whom have not seen any action in weeks. Start Hill on his normal rest, problem solved. They are going to have to bite the bullet and go with a 5th starter one of these days, be it Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. So starting Hill only delays the problem, not solves it. I'd rather delay it for the punchless Reds. No? Normally, I would say yes. A main reason why Hill would be a good fit for the Reds series is now gone (Dunn is 2-16 with no home runs against Hill and Griffey is 1-8 with no home runs in his career against Hill). Without those 2 big left-handers in the Reds lineup, I'd rather push my more effective pitcher against the Marlins lineup. At the same time, the Marlins have been better against left-handers than right-handers this year, and the Reds have been much better against right-handers than left-handers. So that gives me pause. I'd probably pitch Hill against the Marlins anyway, as I believe most of the Reds success against right-handers came from guys that won't be in the lineup this weekend.

Whether he starts Tracshel or one of the other pitchers (Hart, Gallagher, Marshall, or Piggy), he should keep a short leash on the pitcher. Tracshel might be okay the first time through the lineup (3 innings) and then bring in Marshall or Gallagher for 3 innings and Hart or Piggy for a couple and then go to the regular end-of-the-game bullpen guys. I guess I am the only one that thinks it would be ridiculous to put the season in the hands of Piggy or Gallagher, both of whom have not seen any action in weeks. Start Hill on his normal rest, problem solved. They are going to have to bite the bullet and go with a 5th starter one of these days, be it Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. So starting Hill only delays the problem, not solves it.

I don't understand the comparison at all. Estes had a 74 ERA+ with the Cubs (lower before his final game) and hadn't had a quality start since August 8th before his great start to end his year. Meanwhile Marquis has a 105 ERA+ and has had 3 quality starts out of 5 in September. There is simply no basis for comparison between the two.

If Sunday is gonna be the deciding game for the WC, they'll throw Peavy. Agree, but they are currently tied for the WC lead. They could easily be out of it by Sunday. They are currently 1 game up in the WC, not tied.

As Rob said, they are going to throw Peavy on Sunday if it's close, and it seems like the only way it wouldn't be close now is if the Padres had already beat the Brewers a couple times and were 2 games up. 2 games down by Sunday is possible for them, but not likely at all. Also, the Cubs don't need a lot from the Padres. They need 1, maybe 2 wins from them. If it were any other time besides the final week, no one would be predicting a Brewers sweep.

John Rodriguez was one of the first players off of the Cardinals bench the last couple years. I believe he is in AAA this year.

That is a very interesting list. I know Bay & Lee are Cub killers, but I didn't know how bad they own Big Z. I am surprised how bad Miggy does against him. How many HR's does Dunn have against Z? Dunn has 6 career home runs against Z.

No kidding! I don't think any other hitter has pwn3d Zambrano as much as Dunn has... but I'm too lazy to actually look at stats, so I hereby make it official! Players who have done the best with at least 15 career at-bats against Z: Jason Bay (34 AB's) .353/.463/.912 John Rodriguez (15 AB's) .400/.471/867 Carlos Lee (41 AB's) .366/.422/.780 Paul Konerko (22 AB's) .318/400/.864 Prince Fielder (21 AB's) .381/.500/.714 Ken Griffey Jr. (30 AB's) .367/.457/.733 Brandon Phillips (21 AB's) .333/.462/.619 Xavier Nady (20 AB's) .400/.409/.650 Vinny Castilla (18 AB's) .444/.500/.500 Edgar Renteria (31 AB's) .387/.500/.484 A.J. Pierzynski (15 AB's) .333/.444/.533 Adam Dunn (49 AB's) .224/.381/.592 Miguel Cabrera (18 AB's) .222/.333/.611 Felipe Lopez (28 AB's) .250/.364/.571 J.D. Drew (15 AB's) .200/.400/.533 Jose Valentin (17 AB's) .274/.400/.529 Craig Biggio (47 AB's) .255/.397/.532 Edwin Encarnacion (25 AB's) .280/.400/.520 Endy Chavez (17 AB's) .294/.333/.588 Chipper Jones (19 AB's) .263/.440/.474 Honorable mention Bobby Abreu (13 AB's, 17 PA's): .538/.647/.923 That's a very interesting list. A few surprises on there, but nothing major. What is interesting is that Dunn is probably not one of the 5 hitters in the division that you would not want Z to face. In fact, he is only the 3rd best hitter on the Reds against Z.

The Brewers wouldn't win the division outright in your scenario. If the Cubs won 3 games and the Brewers won every game for the rest of the year, there would be a 1 game playoff. As far as the Padres faltering, I don't exactly see it. Sure, they got swept by Colorado, but Colorado is the hottest team in the league (won 9 straight games). Before that sweep against Colorado, San Diego had won 7 straight. I know they are without Bradley and Cameron, but their offense has still been fine the last 2 nights. The Padres really aren't playing that badly.

I think the Cubs need to take 3 out of their last 5. Then you only count on the Padres to take 1, and even if they don't you're still in a 1 game playoff.

Truthfully, Peavy on 3 days rest (he gave up 8ER in 4IP when he did it earlier this month), Young (0-3 7.00 ERA in September, 0-2 5.68 ERA in August), and Maddux (fly ball pitcher) don't really excite me in this series. Don't pin your hopes on those guys. If he pitches Wednesday and then doesn't return until Sunday it's 4 days. Wed - Thurs 1 day Thurs - Fri 2 days Fri - Sat 3 days Sat - Sun 4 days I think he could be just fine doing that. I think Mad dog will pitch well with the playoffs on the line. Not sure about Young. Rest isn't counted like that. He is on 3 days rest if he pitches Sunday. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are the only days he doesn't pitch in between starts. Normal rest would mean that his next start would be on Monday.

Hmm, well let's see if I can organize my thoughts on this one. I definitely agree that momentum is an emotion. Sometimes it gives you more confidence that you can do anything you try to do, and sometimes it just increases your energy level. I think momentum is much harder to track in baseball than football or basketball because I believe there are many more negative aspects to momentum in baseball than the other two sports. In basketball, momentum brings some extra energy that lets the team play hard constantly and have the confidence to make jump shots, which is key. In football especially on defense, momentum keeps defenders from being tired and keeps them flying to the football which improves performance. In baseball, the confidence at the plate does help. However, energy level can be amped up to the point that focus is lost at the plate. A guy is more likely to swing at a 3-2 pitch trying to hit a ball hard when the crowd is standing up cheering, even if it's a few inches off of the plate. Momentum can help a team do more than normal, but it can also cause a team to try to do too much in every at-bat. For a pitcher, the effects on Zambrano when he feels all that extra energy is obvious. So there are both positive and negative effects of momentum in a baseball game, and the results of each at-bat are based so much on luck that momentum can be hard to quantify. I think the positive effects of momentum can be seen more from game to game than inside a game itself. That's why teams can be hot for 2 weeks or cold for 2 weeks. That doesn't mean they won't come out for a game and just be horrible even during the middle of a hot streak, but it can mean that overall the team is feeling the effects of momentum, be it positive or negative momentum. So momentum is definitely present, but it often can be so obscured by other factors that it is very difficult to predict and easily mistaken for other things.

DeRosa is a tough one to get a grip on how much value he actually has to the club. One thing that he has provided that has been huge for the club is that his versatility allows the club so much flexibility on lineups and roster moves. If Aramis goes on the DL, you can call up a 3B or a 2B. If an oufielder goes down, you can call up an OF or a 2B. If DeRosa isn't here, Theriot probably doesn't get the chance to become the everyday SS (because they wouldn't be able to lock Theriot down to one position). The Cubs have so many players who have huge platoon splits that moving DeRosa around allows Lou to take advantage of matchups. Factor in an above average bat at second base, very good defense at second (great defense at third, average defense in right and at first), and someone who handles the bat well at the plate (good fundamental guy who is very good at laying down bunts or being a situational hitter, which adds a little bit of value) and DeRosa has been quite the pickup. Does that make him more valuable than Soriano, Lee, or Ramirez? I honestly don't know. DeRosa has helped inflate other people's numbers by his flexibility which helps Lou put the best lineup on the field everyday, but it's really hard to know if that makes up for 100 points of OPS or not.

Yes. If the Cubs clinch, both Z and Lilly will sit. If they somehow clinch before Friday (which I see as possible but not likely) then my guess is that they will likely still give Rich Hill his start so he isn't waiting too long before his start in the playoffs. Personally, I'd probably pitch Z on Friday even if the Cubs clinch and give Hill and Lilly time off. I want Z on as close to regular rest as possible so he doesn't come out too strong, and Hill has thrown a lot of innings for what he's used to this year so he could use the break.

I don't know-the Cubs are on a roll since they started looking at the scoreboard more extensively. I say let them keep doing it! I mean, DeRosa in the Reds comeback game specifically mentioned the scoreboard as a big reason why the comeback happened just to cite one example. I don't quite believe him on that, but it appears from this Cubs team that it doesn't hurt them to do it.