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The OBP has hit .340 now. I'm not sure they will be able to, but if they could just maintain this OBP for the rest of the season, it will be very, very good. Of course, I wouldn't mind them bumping it up another few points, but that's really just icing on the cake at that point :D

Like the announcers were talking about today, it's a tough balance regarding Pie. Does he add value to the team in 2007 as a part-time player? Definitely-Pie on the bench allows for a great deal of flexibility and there are several ways to use him. Now, which would be best for Pie's development? Probably getting more at-bats in the minors, although the early experience against major league hitters will also be good for him. So-is the difference between his value now to the team and his replacement's value on the bench more than the possible loss to his development? That's very debatable, and it really depends on how good you think this 2007 team is. If you think the 2007 squad has a great chance to contend, then Pie staying in the majors makes sense as a part-time player. If they don't, then he needs to go back to the minors. Right now, I like the value he brings to the team, and I also think the fact that he's getting daily at-bats against major league pitching will help him develop and adjust faster than a larger amount of AAA at-bats would. However, I can understand if others think differently.

Wuertz in the past three years: Lefties - .230/.341/.399/.740 Righties - .216/.292/.332/.624 Ohman in the past three years: Lefties - .165/.274/.286/.559 Righties - .239/.349/.369/.718 The numbers surprised me, but there you go. I think Lou doesn't think of Ohman as a LOOGY. He hasn't seemed to use him as one, really. Anyway, I thought the use of the BP was a bit excessive today, but it should have worked anyway, and we have the day off tomorrow. It wasn't something I thought was *very* bad, just a little excessive. Lou seems to do this more than I was aware of. I guess I haven't paid close enough attention to his past. I'm pretty sure Lou thinks of Ohman as a LOOGY despite his at-bats so far. Lou has put him in situations to either face left-handers, face switch hitters and turn them around, or occasionally a full inning during a blowout game. The only game I can remember where he was asked to pitch a full inning in a close game was the game he had to come in during the 14th because everybody else had already been used.

BOTTOM OF THE 9TH - C. Cordero relieved J. Rauch - C. Floyd hit for C. Izturis - C. Floyd walked - D. Ward hit for N. Cotts - J. Marquis ran for C. Floyd - D. Ward singled to left, J. Marquis to second - A. Soriano flied out to right - R. Theriot singled to right, J. Marquis scored, D. Ward to third - D. Lee intentionally walked, R. Theriot to second - A. Ramirez grounded into fielder's choice, D. Ward out at home, R. Theriot to third, D. Lee to second - J. Jones grounded out to first 1 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors BOTTOM OF THE 10TH - R. Wagner relieved C. Cordero - M. Murton doubled to deep left - M. Barrett grounded out to third - H. Blanco hit for R. Dempster - H. Blanco singled to right, M. Murton to third - D. Ward singled to left, M. Murton scored, H. Blanco to second I know it ended up working out since Marquis scored from second Theriot's single, and I know we're short an offensive player since Cedeno was sent down and Guzman was brought up, but having a starting pitcher pinch run makes no sense. Even when that starting pitcher is faster than several people on the team? Marquis is faster than Ward, Floyd, Aramis, and Blanco and is just as fast as DeRosa, Lee, Barrett, Jones, Izturis, and Murton.

Just like he isn't hitting 410 this year, he isn't going to hit HRs at his current pace. What proves this? I mean, we know he won't hit .400 because his babip is unsustainable, but what is there that says that his power will come around? Is there a precedent for a guy suddenly losing his power completely? I understand he had the wrist injury, but even with coming back early last year, playing a little hurt and his first ABs back from the injury he still hit at 25+ HR pace. The doubles are showing the power is still there. I don't know about precedent, but think about this. Did anyone really expect more than 35 home runs for Lee this season? Let's say that Lee (116 at-bats) gets 500 more. In order to reach 35, he has to hit 33 more, or one every 15 at-bats, something he's done only once ever, in his out-of-this-world 2005 (once every 12.9 at-bats). If he's going to hit 25, something I think we would all consider quite a disappointment, he has to hit one every 21.7 at-bats, a number that doesn't seem too unlikely right now. I would say, best case scenario is 30 home runs. But if he goes another 10 games without hitting one out of the park, that expected number is probably closer to 25. I think he needs to turn the power on soon. I don't expect more than 25-30 home runs, but even if he slows his doubles pace, if he can hit 50 doubles he still will be around a 1.000 OPS player.

The first out was made on a 93 mile per hour fastball.

Lou gives it quite a bit too, and I am never a fan. I wonder how the Cubs are hitting on 3-0 counts this year. They are now 0-3 on the season on 3-0 counts. Lee is 0-2, and Ramirez is 0-1. They have drawn 22 walks on those counts.

Yeah, but can't they get sued if they know there might be an injury but they continue to let him pitch? This doesn't sound...........legal. They could only get sued if they forced him to pitch by threatening his job if he doesn't, and then he gets hurt worse. Even then, it would be a really tough suit to win. It doesn't sound like that right now-if he chooses to pitch, it's his fault if he gets hurt.

What the hell? That doesn't make any sense. I kind of understand the idea of fitting Izturius to theoretically give Guzman some better defense to back him up, but DeRosa in RF instead of Murton or Jacque or Floyd deprives him of some decent offensive support. I hope this isn't actually the lineup. Is Murton in CF? If not I hope that Bruce or another beat writer will give us the real scoop on the situation. Is he hurt? Is he in Lou's doghouse? I highly doubt that Murton will ever start in CF. Floyd's back must still be bothering him if he's not in RF. As far as why no Jacque with Pie in center ... :? Murton has played 1 game in CF so far this season. Edit: Nevermind. That was only 1 inning. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he went to center in the game that Soriano got hurt in. Don't remember exactly why, but he was our best option at the time. It wasn't the game he got hurt in, it was the game he came back in. Soriano pinch-hit for Pie in the 9th down 2 runs to the Cardinals. Jones had already been pinch-hit for earlier in the game, so when Soriano had to come out for the pinch-runner after he doubled there was nobody left but Murton to play CF in the 10th.

What the hell? That doesn't make any sense. I kind of understand the idea of fitting Izturius to theoretically give Guzman some better defense to back him up, but DeRosa in RF instead of Murton or Jacque or Floyd deprives him of some decent offensive support. I hope this isn't actually the lineup. DeRosa eats lefties for breakfast, historically. Even has a better OPS the last two years against lefties than Murton. Yes, the best lineup would be Murton and Derosa both, but someone wants Izturis to play today apparently. Derosa's definitely a better choice than Floyd/Jacque against a generic lefty. Shawn Hill is a right-hander though-unless they have changed pitchers and I haven't seen it. With Cedeno down, this lineup doesn't make much sense to me-you really can't take out Izturis, Theriot, or DeRosa now early because that would leave you 2 IF's and no backup.

For whatever small value Izturis would have as a SS, he would have no value as a second baseman. I can't see this one happening. Plus, it doesn't really help the team-as soon as Izturis leaves Cedeno comes up, which doesn't really help. Also, it would leave the organization incredibly thin on SS's-that would leave Theriot, Cedeno, and Fontenot left (and since Fontenot is worse than Theriot defensively at SS, I doubt the organization would want to bring him up at SS unless there was an absolute emergency). Now-if Izturis can be dumped on another team and then the Cubs acquire a starting SS at the same time-I would definitely support that, but I'm not sure of any SS's the team could realistically get at this point.

No-our closest streak was 7 out of 9, and 11 out of 15 last year in late July/early August.

Lou has been waiting to break up the two left-handers in the rotation ever since they got put together. Plus, they decided that they'd rather let Guzman get his first start out of the way at home against a worse offense than have to face a team like the Phillies at their place for his first start. Heh...then put Hill #1 where he belongs, Z at #2 and Lilly #3. ? The order really means absolutely nothing. Yes and no. In the grand scheme, it means nothing but a superficial form of ranking the quality of your pitchers...but, since Lou does want to seperate the lefties, voila, best of both words. Ultimately, I wanna kinda see Zambrano get some added reminder that he is not this team's ace. It's probably not good for Z and thus ultimately for the Cubs to remind him that he's not the ace. Besides, sticking Z between Hill and Lilly during May doesn't even send that type of statement.

Pie better play. He better not sit on the bench. To be fair, it's not like Pie is rotting on the bench right now. He is getting into games, and he usually is getting into games early enough to get an at-bat or two. Here are his at-bats from the last few days. 5/5-0/1 5/4-1/2 5/2-0/2 5/1-0/0 (played CF the last couple innings) 4/30-1/4 So-only one start the last 5 games, but still plenty of action-he has played multiple innings in every game.

Well, this is a Lou quote about pitching walks-it's quite funny when you think how similar it is to a quote that everyone has heard and yet how different it is. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070505&content_id=1947332&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Tom Gorzelanny, Paul Maholm, Cole Hamels, Tom Glavine, Oliver Perez

A lot of people are understandably excited about the team's last week. I also am, but when looking at the schedule ahead I see one possible problem point-left-handers. The Cubs were terrible against left-handed pitching last year. Can they be better this year? They at least should be, but that has yet to be proven in their major league low 3 games against LHP this year. In fact, those struggles have continued against this limited sample. After Tuesday, the Cubs face LHP 5 out of their next 9 games, and most of those left-handers are quality pitchers. This will be an interesting test for the offense.

Yeah, I found that fascinating. Only 3 Cubs had ever faced either Bergmann or Shawn Hill-2 of those were Ted Lilly and Scott Eyre. Go figure.

Lou has been waiting to break up the two left-handers in the rotation ever since they got put together. Plus, they decided that they'd rather let Guzman get his first start out of the way at home against a worse offense than have to face a team like the Phillies at their place for his first start.

last July and last August. Last 5 game streak would be the 5 games spanning the All Star Break in 2005.

Well, the team is there! 1 day early because of the canceled game. Hopefully the team can figure out a way to win with Guzman pitching tomorrow, and then on to face the Pirates and hopefully get on the other side of .500!

Another fun reliever's ERA stat: Cotts still has a 0.00 ERA on the season.

Your league counts just innings played there and not starts?

Let's see..my guess is that Cherry will pitch the 8th, and if he can get out of that inning scoreless, then Eyre will probably pitch the 9th.

Me like. Pie should either play or be sent down. He needs to get better and he won't by sitting on the bench. I think Pie's on his way back to AAA. I agree-I think they have been playing Jones exclusively the last few days to make sure he can play it-and since he has been pretty good in CF, Pie is probably being sent down after today's game when Guzman comes up. If Jones is playing CF every day, that will definitely help a guy like Murton-his starts should come up to about 50% or so this next month with that OF configuration.