dew1679666265

Yeah, Sherrill would be a nice addition, but they're looking for way too much for him. If they really want to deal him, and they should want to deal him, they'll lower those demands to something more reasonable. If they do lower it enough, that'd be great. At that high a starting point, though, I don't know that MacPhail will drop enough.

This is exactly true. If the Cubs don't get any better the rest of the year, it'll likely be a battle down to the final day. But if the Cubs improve at all, the division is ours for the taking. Barring a major trade, the Cards aren't getting much better. The Cubs, however, have quite a bit of upside they haven't reached yet. Whether they do or not will decide the division.

I'd keep Cutler, Forte and Johnson for sure. I'd think about Royal, but I'm not sure how he'll do without Cutler. Probably Jackson as the 4th, though finding capable RBs isn't terribly difficult.

Last I heard he was hurt and hadn't pitched yet this year.

Yeah, Sherrill would be a nice addition, but they're looking for way too much for him.

Well might as well pop the champagne now! But in all seriousness, I'm not sure where you're getting that, they are 9th in the NL in runs scored. They're also 5th in the NL in OPS, 4th in AVG and 2nd in OBP. They've got a good offense.

Not something that people will be talking about, but that is a pretty decent deal for the O's. Meredith hasn't been great in his time in the majors, but he's only 26 so it's worth a shot for the Os.

Our pitching hasnt been a problem, its the offense. Yeah, they pounded the Nats for 26 runs in 4 games, but aside from Lannan, these are awful pitchers. We'll see what happens in Philly vs. decent, but not great starting pitchers. I think he was responding to the comment that the Nationals are just a AAA team. The pitching staff isn't good, but they have a very good offense. I know, and out starters have been holding offenses down all season, its our offense hitting thats been the main issue. The question is, did they get lucky vs. bad pitching, or are they starting to heat up? Either way, its good to build momentum going into a series vs. one of the better offenses in the league. I definitely agree there. If nothing else this series should boost the confidence of the offense - which may be needed more than anything.

The switch from Hamels to Blanton should be a good one for the Cubs. Besides the fact that Hamels has the potential to go out and dominate in any start no matter how poorly he's done throughout the season, Hamels also has much better peripherals this season (especially K:BB ratio) than does Blanton. Both have similar numbers overall, but I feel much more confident about our ability to score off of Blanton than to score off of Hamels.

Our pitching hasnt been a problem, its the offense. Yeah, they pounded the Nats for 26 runs in 4 games, but aside from Lannan, these are awful pitchers. We'll see what happens in Philly vs. decent, but not great starting pitchers. I think he was responding to the comment that the Nationals are just a AAA team. The pitching staff isn't good, but they have a very good offense.

We're actually not facing Hamels, according to Len on the broadcast today. He said Hamels wouldn't pitch and it would, instead, be Joe Blanton getting the start.

The way he's performing this season, you're probably right. But if Brian Cashman laughed at an offer of a guy who's OPSd .911, .897 and .876 the last three seasons and had to give up nothing, I don't suppose the Steinbrenners would approve. Soriano has been a very good player up to this point in his career. Any team would have happily taken his production from 2002 through 2008.

Maybe after half a season of suckage comes half a season of awesomeness Half a season plus a month.

Oh come on. You say it as if I didn't know that. I'm just saying, there's a reason why the Yanks didn't hang onto him. The fact that he came all the way up through their system and reached the majors means they valued his skill set. Otherwise they would have looked to deal him at the first opportunity possible while he was still in the minors. And Vance is right as to why they traded him. They didn't give him up for nothing, they wanted to get ARod. They weren't going to just dump him and there were rumors once Soriano went to Texas that the Red Sox might have an interest in him.

83 Thanks. Hopefully he can make it through the 7th.

Anybody know a pitch count for Hart?

Either way this kind of success should help the Cubs hitters' confidence heading into Philly.

Another hit for Kosuke!

First career hit and RBI for Hart!

I think Fonzie's hit that elusive hot streak. :D

Soriano is beginning to show some signs of warming up recently. Nice RBI bloop by Fonenot!

How about that! We talk up Kosuke and he leads off the game with a double!

It's just 9 games so you have the obvious sample size, but leading off games this season these are his numbers: .375/.444/.750/1.194. Also with the team struggling as a whole in these situations, it's nice to see these numbers from Kosuke with RISP: .278/.417/.463/.880. Hopefully being at the top of the order is helping him. Yeah, the top part of the batting order definitely agrees with Kosuke. (in admittedly small sample sizes.) He does some of his best RBI work up there, too. Fukudome AB R H 2b 3b HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS BABIP P/PA IsoD RBI% batting 1st 33 6 10 2 2 1 3 4 4 0.303 0.368 0.576 0.944 0.321 4.18 0.065 0.333 batting 2nd 70 12 19 6 0 3 9 9 19 0.271 0.358 0.486 0.844 0.333 3.99 0.087 0.200 batting 3rd 112 18 29 6 1 2 13 29 19 0.259 0.413 0.384 0.797 0.297 4.17 0.154 0.262 batting 5th 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0.000 0.500 0.000 0.500 0.000 3.75 0.500 0.000 batting 6th 21 3 7 3 0 1 1 1 5 0.333 0.364 0.619 0.983 0.400 3.86 0.030 0.000 batting 7th 20 0 3 1 1 0 1 1 6 0.150 0.190 0.300 0.490 0.214 3.90 0.040 0.067 batting 8th 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.167 0.286 0.167 0.452 0.200 3.63 0.119 0.000 batting 9th 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.000 0.250 0.000 0.250 0.000 3.75 0.250 0.000 All spots 267 40 69 18 4 7 27 48 55 0.258 0.372 0.434 0.806 0.302 4.06 0.113 0.187 He's taking more pitches there than elsewhere in the lineup too. At this point, I'm all for him leading off the remainder of the season (and probably his entire Cub career).

He came up in the Yankees' system and started for them for three seasons. He was also their leadoff hitter for two of those seasons.

It's just 9 games so you have the obvious sample size, but leading off games this season these are his numbers: .375/.444/.750/1.194. Also with the team struggling as a whole in these situations, it's nice to see these numbers from Kosuke with RISP: .278/.417/.463/.880. Hopefully being at the top of the order is helping him.