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124 pitches by Sheets with a 7 run lead-I'm glad that didn't happen with a Cubs pitcher, the board would be going crazy for a week :D

Yeah, but I think most of us were hoping for wins these first two games before Marquis. Not me I thought Sheets would handle us but we would win the other 2. That's how I felt. The Cubs had the pitching advantage Friday, the Brewers did on Saturday, and Sunday was a tossup.

He's headed to Iowa so it's not all bad from his perspective. I think he'll be back this season as long as he pitches well in AAA. Meh, guess he won't be starting this season then. :( This is the biggest issue IMO. Taking quality starting pitching prospects and turning them into relievers because we went out and signed unspectacular veterans is no way to run an organization. At the very least let them continue to progress as starters to keep their value high. Petrick was not turned as a reliever because of anything that happened at the ML level.

Unfortunately, not really. Only a 10% chance of rain.

The Cubs needed another pitcher for the ballgame, and Petrick both has options and is unavailable today so he became the logical choice to send down.

Actually, he's been slumping since he got traded to the Cubs. He's only hitting .063 as a Cub. Which happens to be the same thing. He's only played 5 games for the Cubs-the first one he played quite well in, and the last 4 he hasn't played well.

They've probably burned up the options of most of the people though. Sending Petrick down and calling Cherry up for example does nothing in the options situation, and I don't see too many other candidates who haven't been up to the majors already this year who will likely be called up. They've used an option on Cherry, Cotts, Petrick, Rapada, and Gallagher-my guess is that they will just try to stick to the first 4 of that group most of that time, so options aren't really as much of a concern anymore.

The Cubs make no sense. Gah. They are just swapping two similar pitchers-one who is fresh and can pitch today for one who would be unavailable to pitch today. It's the unfortunate consequence of being a relief pitcher sometimes-if Hill goes a couple more innings yesterday, Petrick is probably not being sent to the minor leagues today. I get the logic of the move completely, but they want a 12 man staff. They just need to bite the bullet and DFA Izturis or Jones. The next ten days will be important, and I would've liked to have Petrick's arm in the pen for them. The Cubs want Ramirez to get regular rest as he comes back from his injury. They aren't likely going to be dropping to only 1 reserve infielder with that being the case-it's too risky and hurts flexibility on those days that Ramirez sits. As for Jones, well there has been a lot of discussion why the Cubs don't really want to do that, or maybe even aren't allowed to do that.

The Cubs make no sense. Gah. They are just swapping two similar pitchers-one who is fresh and can pitch today for one who would be unavailable to pitch today. It's the unfortunate consequence of being a relief pitcher sometimes-if Hill goes a couple more innings yesterday, Petrick is probably not being sent to the minor leagues today.

No, it's down for me as well. It looks like their whole log-in system might be down right now.

I have no problems with this lineup. Let's make it 8 in a row!

That wouldn't make sense if Lou wants to add a pitcher. It also makes no sense to me to lose Petrick for 10 days just because he may not be able to pitch today. I believe we've seen the last of Jones or Izturis for good, or the last of The Riot for now. The other question becomes-is it 10 days before the person can be recalled, or 10 games? With all this roster juggling and now only 8 days before the break, that could make a difference in the next few days.

Here we go again :D Honestly though, the roster move could be several things. A Jones trade, Theriot being sent down, and Petrick being sent down (since he probably is unavailable to pitch today) are probably the 3 most likely options.

The Cubs moved to only 5.5 back in the WC today. They gained 1 1/2 games on Philly, and 1 game on LA. They are 5.5 back of Arizona (4 back in the loss column) 5 out of LA (4 back in loss column) 2 out of Atlanta (1 back in loss column) 1 out of Philly (tied in loss column) Also, the two teams behind the Cubs fell back another game, so they are now 2 games ahead of Colorado and 3 ahead of Florida. Let's once ahead get closer in the division and WC race today!

Actually a couple weeks ago, when we last had the "Soriano shouldn't be leading off" debate, Jon had some great posts that showed that the stats don't prove anything about whether he should lead off. He's been very up and down throughout his career. i thought the stats showed that, except for one season, his numbers as a leadoff hitter were significantly better than the other spots in the batting order. maybe you're right though. 2001 I don't have figures for No, you're right. 2002 he didn't have enough at-bats in any other slot to really count (I'm counting 35 AB's as a decent sample). 2003 he was much better at leadoff than at 3rd 2004 he was much better at leadoff than batting 3rd or 5th 2005 he was best at 5th, then leadoff, then 4th 2006 he was much better at leadoff than batting 4th 2007 he doesn't have enough of a sample (although he has 28 AB's and was almost 400 points lower at the 3 spot than leadoff, so he would have to be unbelievable at the 3 spot later in the year to possibly catch leadoff). Add to that from 2002-2007, Soriano has had 4 years above an 850 OPS, and 2 years below. The 4 years he had an 850 or above were all batting leadoff primarily, and the 2 years he didn't he batted primarily lower in the order. There are possible other explanations for this (something else in Texas may have caused it, since there isn't a year where Soriano batted leadoff in Texas), but the fact that Texas is a great hitters park and Soriano was batting around great hitters lessens the chance that it was another factor.

Barrett is 1/2 tonight with an RBI. I'm not sure they should let the Chris Young-Barrett combination happen much though. It's simply too easy to take bases from both of them. Look at what has happened tonight: 1st-Pierre singles, steals 2nd base, steals 3rd base, scores on a groundout Russell Martin walks, advances to 2nd on the groundout, and then steals 3rd base. 2nd inning-Dodgers go down 1/2/3 3rd inning-Furcal singles, steals 2nd base, scores on a single Pierre standing on 2nd gets to 3rd because of a balk So 4 stolen bases and a balk already through 3 innings, and two of those were steals of third base. Now-don't get me wrong, Chris Young gets the majority of blame-he was 2nd in the league entering the game with 20 stolen bases given up with 0 caught on the season-so he's allowing 1.25 stolen bases per start. Because Young is so bad though, it's not a good idea to have Barrett be with him, or else teams will simply run at will like they have so far tonight.

Grrrrrrr-I just went to tape tomorrow's game, and what do I get? "Mets vs Phillies". So I went to make sure the listings were correct, and I found that the Cubs-Brewers game is being shown on my Fox Spanish affiliate, so I was happy again. Then I went to that channel and found that I do not have it. So a game I was looking forward to watching is no more.

I agree it's Z's problem. It doesn't look like Z and Barrett were going to be quite comfortable working with one another again though (by Lou's actions of not wanting to put Barrett in there, and some of Z's reactions at the time of the trade). It may be Z's fault that it was that way, but it was still for a problem for the club, and Barrett was the one that was more expendable of the two in order to solve that problem. Note-this is not the only and maybe not even one of the biggest reasons Barrett was traded. It was a problem though, however small it may have been.

Agreed. He's just trying to find that balance. When he came up the first time he was too aggressive. They sent him down to the minors and told him that he needed to work on his patience, and it's obvious that he has done that. Now he just needs to be a little more aggressive and put the two things together and he can really start having success.

beat him up in milwaukee the first week of the year when he came off his opening day shutout of LA and got to him a little bit in Chicago before he tweaked his groin....so i wouldn't be afraid of Sheets...unfortunately i have to work and am goin to tape it (god i miss my DVR) and watch it after work We didn't get to Sheets that game that he got hurt. He threw 3 scoreless against us, hurt himself, and then the reliever came in and we got 6 runs the next inning. Lee's been excellent against Sheets, Floyd has been good, DeRosa has been ok, and Ramirez has been terrible. None of the rest likely to play have many AB's against Sheets (thankfully, no Jones and Izturis tomorrow like earlier in the season. Their career numbers against Sheets are each below a .300 OPS.)

Not necessarily-if Arizona wins over SF today, they will be in the lead of the WC and the Cubs will be 5.5 back at the end of the day. They did move to within a game and a half of the Phillies today as well though. And the most important thing-only 6.5 back of the Brewers! Figure out a way to beat Sheets tomorrow please!

Thats why I said the best spot would be 6th with Derosa behind him Except with Pie's struggles right now that hurts the team to bat him 6th. Putting a guy who is 5 for his last 40 (3 BB's, 10 K's in that span) 6th will mean more failures for the team with runners on base.

Most people like Marmol as a reliever because he has 2 pitches and is prone to control issues. As a reliever, he can be taken out if his control is off, and that option is not available as a starter. Add to that the extra velocity on his fastball as a reliever, and it adds up to the possibility of developing into a good starter while being a very good reliever right now.

People sometimes just skim the game thread-it can be hard for them to figure out what is a joke and what is not. Here is the Cubs lineup: Soriano-LF Fontenot-SS Lee-1B Ramirez-3B Floyd-RF DeRosa-2B Bowen-C Pie-CF R. Hill-P

Cubs lineup is exactly what navigator posted. Brewers Hart-RF Hardy-SS Braun-3B Fielder-1B Hall-CF Estrada-C Mench-LF Weeks-2B Gallardo-P