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we got a good month out of him at the minor league level; that's already better than we'd have from Bynum. I think Bynum's reputation was worse than he was because he symbolized the Dusty era. He was fast and small, but he was a low OBP power hitter. He did have a 756 OPS for the Cubs last year, so he wasn't a terrible bench option, even if it was because of his SLG. He kind of gets lumped in with Neifi and Macias, and he was quite a bit better than either of them.

Pie will get back in there soon. With the left-hander today, it was pretty obvious that this would not be the day that Lou inserts him back into the lineup. Lou has also hinted that Jones will get a start sometime soon-he's working with Jones on shortening his swing and he still believes Jones can help the club. I'm sure Izturis will get a start eventually if DeRosa doesn't play SS, but he seems the least likely to be in Lou's plans right now.

Lineups: Cubs Soriano-LF Theriot-SS Lee-1B Ramirez-3B DeRosa-RF Pagan-CF Fontenot-2B Bowen-C R. Hill-P Washington Logan-CF Belliard-2B Zimmerman-3B Young-1B Kearns-RF Lopez-SS Fick-LF Flores-C Chico-P

It's a 4 day break. Z can start the last game before the break, and still be on normal rest to start the first game after the break as well. I haven't heard confirmation that Z will start the first game after the break. The last thing I heard is that it will either be Z or Marquis first, then a left-hander, then the other one of Z and Marquis, then the other two left-handers. That will be the order after the break. I certainly hope it will be Z though as the Cubs could use every possible game he can start on normal rest.

Floyd's first option vests at 425 plate appearances. Through 82 games, he is at 177. I can't see him getting the 248 he needs left in the last 80 games-he is still going to lose most to all the at-bats against left-handers to DeRosa or Pagan, and he comes out of games early and sometimes misses a plate appearance in a game because of that as well. The first option would also vest if he starts 100 games. This one is a little bit closer. He has started 40 games so far, so he needs to start 60 out of the last 80. Again, I don't see him getting there-the Cubs have faced 19 left-handers in the first 82 games, and they will already be off to a fast start against left-handers with 3 in the next 5 games. Plus, that assumes that Floyd is healthy enough to play against all right-handers, which may not be the case (and I doubt he'll play both games of any doubleheader the Cubs play). Floyd will get close to that 100 figure, but I think he'll fall a few games short. If he stays perfectly healthy, plays against all right-handers, and the Cubs continue not to face many left-handers (they've faced the lowest number in the majors so far), or if he plays against a few left-handers then Floyd could probably sneak in 4-5 games over 100, but I don't think it's very likely that all those things happen. The other two options-don't even worry about them. Floyd will never even get close to them (500 and 550 plate appearances).

No, for three reasons: 1) Teams like the Giants/Astros/Cardinals are about on par with the Pirates/Nationals. It doesn't make much difference. 2) The number of games could go down when the appeal is heard 3) I'm sure most of you have heard me mention this before, but the Cubs face 3 left-handers in the next 5 games. The dropoff from Lee to Ward against right-handers-not that much. Against left-handers? Massive. The Cubs will be better off having Lee serve his suspension when less of the games are against left-handers, because then Ward will be more of an asset in the lineup. If you had Lee serve his suspension starting today, here is what the starting lineup would look like today, and for 3 of the next 5 games: Soriano Theriot Ramirez DeRosa Fontenot Ward Pagan Bowen/Hill That's not a good lineup when you consider that Ward cannot hit lefties, Bowen/Hill cannot hit anybody right now, and Pagan is struggling. If you had Lee serve his suspension when right-handers are mostly on the mound, here would be the lineup against a right-hander: Soriano Theriot Ward Ramirez Floyd DeRosa/Fontenot Pagan/Pie Bowen/Hill That's a much better lineup. The top 6 all hit right-handers well (or at least Theriot is better against right-handers this year than left-handers).

I went with Soriano. I had to disqualify Ramirez-he isn't head and shoulders above anybody else, and he has missed 20 games already. It's hard to be a teams MVP when you miss 1/4 of the season. Lee, Marquis, and Lilly made sure the Cubs stayed afloat in April and May. Soriano and Z have been the catalysts for this resurgence. I also considered DeRosa. 4th best hitter on the team, and his ability to move around to different positions and play them well has allowed Lou to play the matchups (which makes all his teammates stats look better because they don't have to face pitchers they don't hit well). It also has helped immensely with covering injuries, and if the Cubs hadn't signed a second baseman who can move around Fontenot would never have emerged either. Soriano though has been a touch better. Leadoff homeruns (at least one of which was a game-winner and 1 or 2 others that were the key runs in a low-scoring win), and the outfield assists have really picked up his pitcher at times. It's no coincidence that when Soriano really got going on the 3rd of June, so did the team.

The wildcard update for today: The Dodgers win means that the Cubs stay 5 back of the lead. Both Atlanta and Philadelphia lost though, which moves the Cubs into a tie for 3rd place now with the Braves. Also, San Diego lost, which means that they are tied for the division lead with L.A. If either of them lose today, the Cubs will have a chance to get within 4 of the lead.

Yeah-I have a slight preference for the Cardinals to win (because the Cubs still play them like 10-12 more times in addition to them already being 3 games ahead of the Cardinals-if the Cardinals are ahead of the Cubs at the end of year, the Cubs will have had plenty of chances), but it isn't a strong preference either way.

He better not start posting again any time soon. The Cubs are doing well without. He posted in a thread last night; I don't recall which one. Outside of Social and Polls!? He posted like two weeks ago in baseball discussions breaking down the stats if Soriano should be a leadoff hitter or not.

Well, I was close. Another great Cubs win! Let's go Hill, we need a good bounce back performance by you tomorrow as the Cubs face a not bad left-hander. 5.5 out in the division, and 4.5 out at the moment in the WC!

Howry is the closer until Dempster gets back.

The reason is that it is the correct answer.

Fox an awful June, so that's good. Yeah, Schappert ran into trouble in the 4th though. Bases loaded, nobody out, 1 run already in. The next two batters get out on the infield fly rule. So now there's 2 outs, and 7 more runs come home to score before the inning is over, including a steal of home (and an error by Carlos Rojas in the middle of the rally didn't help).

Not dominant, but quite good. He had one inning where he basically caused the run himself by walking a couple batters and hitting a guy. The 4 hits have been mostly bloops.

Jake Fox with 2 HR and 4 RBI already through 3 innings. Colvin 1-2

Come on Z-one more.

I thought I read today that he is starting tommorow Excellent. Bruce said in another thread that Lou and the coaches are working hard with Felix to get him to improve mechanically before they start giving him regular PT again. Just like they fixed Murton? No, the opposite actually. Murton changed his mechanics over the winter, and the coaching staff wanted him to change back to what he was doing at the end of last year but Murton refused. I don't think that's true but, whatever. Pie's played pretty sporadically during his struggles. I like to call it The Murton Treatment. The Cubs always find a way to do the wrong thing no matter who is in charge. That info is from Murton's own quotes-what reason would he have to lie about that? As for Pie, I guess we'll have to wait to see what kind of adjustment they made to his swing before figuring out if it's good or bad. Bruce said it's some sort of toe tap, which might help him. Thats wrong. Murton said he never changed his mechanics, but Lou is saying he did. Murton said he didn't change his swing or his approach. He said he did change his stance, but denied that it was affecting his hitting at all. http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-070613cubsmoves,1,2566504.story?coll=cs-cubs-headlines

I thought I read today that he is starting tommorow Excellent. Bruce said in another thread that Lou and the coaches are working hard with Felix to get him to improve mechanically before they start giving him regular PT again. Just like they fixed Murton? No, the opposite actually. Murton changed his mechanics over the winter, and the coaching staff wanted him to change back to what he was doing at the end of last year but Murton refused. I don't think that's true but, whatever. Pie's played pretty sporadically during his struggles. I like to call it The Murton Treatment. The Cubs always find a way to do the wrong thing no matter who is in charge. That info is from Murton's own quotes-what reason would he have to lie about that? As for Pie, I guess we'll have to wait to see what kind of adjustment they made to his swing before figuring out if it's good or bad. Bruce said it's some sort of toe tap, which might help him.

I thought I read today that he is starting tommorow Excellent. Bruce said in another thread that Lou and the coaches are working hard with Felix to get him to improve mechanically before they start giving him regular PT again. Just like they fixed Murton? No, the opposite actually. Murton changed his mechanics over the winter, and the coaching staff wanted him to change back to what he was doing at the end of last year but Murton refused.

That or Zambrano running through a stop sign and creating a play at the plate. Believe me, I wouldn't put it past him to bowl over a catcher. That's what I was worrying about-Theriot doesn't get that many extra base hits, and if he did single Z had a good chance of getting himself thrown out somewhere on the bases.

Hopefully Snell can steal another one for the Pirates tomorrow.

Pretty hard to get out of your slump, when you havent started in 4 days. Hes a young kid, and is going to have slumps like this, but that doesnt mean he should be relagated to Lous coffee getter. You make it sound like Lou is punishing him. According to everything out there, Lou is trying to keep Pie's confidence up, and he's having him work on things in batting practice. When asked if Pie was going to be sent down, he said absolutely not because he was so high on what Pie could offer this team. You're trying to do what's best for him, and so is Lou-both of you just have different opinions on what's best for his development. I understand that, but I dont care who you are, if you go from starting every game for 2-3 weeks straight, to not starting in 4 games, your confidence is going to take a hit. My problem with him sitting this much, is when he does get his 1 start or whatever to see if hes "figured it out" its pretty safe to assume hes going to be pressing. Of course if we had a SS or C who gave us even average to a little above average production, Pie's struggles in CF would be no big deal. The one thing I certainly hope is that if Lou is going to give him this time off to clear his head, Pie will get more than 1 consecutive start again when Lou puts him back in. I don't mind the break as much, but then I'd throw him back in there for at least another couple weeks.

If this little breather lasts through the break, then definitely. Lou seems to think the bench time helped Riot - said his bat looked slow so he gave him a few days off. He is probably thinking the same thing will work with Pie. The difference of course is Theriot doesn't really have much of a future, he's either going to stick as a utility guy or not. There's no need to try and get him over slumps by playing. Plus, he never sat 4 days in a row. He had a week where played every other day. Pie is pretty much the 25th man. Theriot didn't start on Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd, Sunday the 24th, Monday 25th, and Tuesday the 26th-so he sat 5 days in a row, and then he started 1 game, and then sat 2 more before starting the last 3 games now (including tonight).

Pretty hard to get out of your slump, when you havent started in 4 days. Hes a young kid, and is going to have slumps like this, but that doesnt mean he should be relagated to Lous coffee getter. You make it sound like Lou is punishing him. According to everything out there, Lou is trying to keep Pie's confidence up, and he's having him work on things in batting practice. When asked if Pie was going to be sent down, he said absolutely not because he was so high on what Pie could offer this team. You're trying to do what's best for him, and so is Lou-both of you just have different opinions on what's best for his development.