If you didn’t happen to catch the game last night against the Astros, you missed an odd one.  Roy Oswalt got pulled in the 2nd inning due to injury, and Ryan Dempster was  so bad that he should’ve been pulled.  I guess there was a little rust from his toe injury.  At one point with a man on first and third, Dempster fielded a comebacker and instead of getting the man headed for home, he turned and threw to second for the double play.  The only problem is that he chucked the ball into center field.  “Bad baseball” he called it, and I’d have to agree.

With both starters out it turned into a battle of relievers and it was more like a drunken bar fight than a pro boxing match.  Both bullpens were nothing short of horrendous.  There was a really odd play where Fukudome hit a comebacker at Astro’s reliever Jeff Fulchino.  The ball literally disappeared on the play.  Turns out, it ended up inside of Fulchino’s jersey.  I couldn’t find a video of it yet, but it was one of the craziest plays I’ve ever seen.   But the worst offender of the night was Aaron Heilman.  Which leads me into the offer I have for Jim Hendry before the deadline.

Last night Aaron Heilman was called upon with 2 men on.  As a reliever it’s his job to get out of the jam right?  Not a chance.  In 9 pitches, he managed to let the 2 inherited runners score and then added on an earned run of his own to add to his ridiculous ERA.  He did manage to get one out during the span though.  I wouldn’t complain if this were a once in a while deal, but it’s the status quo for Heilman.  If he comes into an inning with nobody on base, he’s a decent pitcher.  But you put any amount of runners on, and you can put ‘em on the board as soon as Lou signals for the righty.

In 47 innings this year he’s given up 46 hits, 30 walks, and has a 4.56 ERA.  As I said before, when he inherits runners, there’s a good possibility they are going to score.  He’s making $1,625,000 this year.  So Jim Hendry, if you’re listening, here’s my offer.  Cut Heilman now.  Sign me for the rest of the season.  The league minimum is somewhere around $400,000 right?  Give me $175,000 for the rest of the year and I’ll come in late in the ball game with runners aboard and let them come in.  Who knows?  Maybe my 70 mph heater, my curve that doesn’t curve, and my slider that doesn’t slide will fool a few hitters.  But it really doesn’t matter does it?   You’ll be saving close to a millions dollars with this deal, and losing nothing as far as talent is concerned.  This offer is obviously only good until Friday night when the deadline hits.  But if you throw in a case of beer and maybe a few autographs, I’m sure my softball team will be willing to deal me.  Let me know……..

After a sweep of the Reds this weekend the Cubbies are finally back in first place in the division.  The Cardinals had some trouble in Philly and the Cubs took advantage.  Starting the week with a half game lead, Chicago will look to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the division.  They have a four game set against the Astros, while the Cards start the week off with 4 against Manny’s Crew, the LA Dodgers.  The line up seems to be coming together for the Cubs of late.  His defense is horrible, but Soriano’s bat is heating up.  He’s hitting .444 since the All-star break while hitting in the 6th spot.  Fukudome has been on a tear in the leadoff hiting .382 since the break.  Bradley still isn’t the power hitting lefty the Cubs expected, but he’s starting to look a lot better as well.  With Aramis getting back in the swing of things and Geovany Soto due back the first week of August, it looks like the North Siders are shaping up to make a run at their 3rd straight division title.  The addition of Matt Holiday in St. Louis was a bold move, and the Cards aren’t going to just give the division away, but if the Cubbies lineup keeps up there runs support, the pitching staff is really what will win the division.  Dempter should be healthy soon after his brilliant toe injury.  Harden looked a million times better this weekend, and Big Z is still Big Z…..with a new hair style, in case you didn’t see it this weekend.  Once Lilly’s should heals up and the rotation of Zambrano, Lilly, Dempster, Harden, and Wells is intact, things will be looking pretty good f0r August and September.  They just have to stay healty, that’s really all there is to it.  I’ll make my prediction now, the Cubs will win the division by 5 games earning their 3rd straight post season trip.  Then, this club can do what it has been built to do……win in the post season.

Due to the fact that Ryan Dempster is Canadian, and therefore not the brightest crayon in the box, (just kidding, eh) Kevin Hart will get the start today in his place.  Dempster hurt his right big toe because he didn’t feel like going around the dugout fence, instead he wanted to test out his hurdling skills which proved once again, that white men can’t jump.  Hart has been pitching well of late at Triple-A Iowa going 3-0 with a 1.41 ERA in his last six starts.  Good luck today in your first big league start Kevin.

With just 5 games left heading into the All-Star break, the Cubs are still looking up at Milwaukee and St. Louis.  Taking 3 of 4 from the Brewers this past weekend helped tremendously, but St. Louis is keeping the pace to hold onto their lead in the Central.  The Cubs have 4 crucial games with the Cards this weekend.  The best case scenario would obviously be a sweep and at least a share of the division lead heading into the break.  Taking 3 out of 4 wouldn’t be bad either.  With Harden, Lilly, Wells, and Zambrano set to go in the series, 3 out of 4 looks do-able.  Lilly will have the toughest matchup, facing Chris Carpenter who has been excellent most of the season.

Since I’m talking about Lilly, now seems like a good time to share a few stories about my week.  If you’ve read my bio, you’d know that I’m in the U.S. Navy.  I’m stationed in Virginia Beach, but got the chance to take some leave this week and head home to the Chicagoland area.  And in my opinion there’s no better way to spend a summer afternoon in Chicago than to take in a game at Wrigley.  My wife and I and some friends got tickets to last Sunday’s contest against the Brewers.  It was a perfect day in the bleachers… Lilly put in a quality start, D-Lee and Jake Fox both homered, and the Cubbies won 8-2.  Bud Light, bleachers, and 40,000 Cubbies faithful bleeding Cubby blue.  That’s my idea of a relaxing Sunday afternoon.  But that was just the beginning of an awesome trip home.

After the game, my wife and I got a hotel room on Delaware Avenue just off Michigan Avenue.  After spending a few minutes in the room recuperating from spending 6 hours in the sun, we decided to head to dinner.  We had dinner at an awesome Vietnamese/Thai place called La Colonial on Rush St.  Excellent food and atmosphere.  If you’re ever there, ask for Laura as your server, she’s the best!  After that we headed to the LuxBar for drinks to cap off the night.  It’s really an awesome place to enjoy a few drinks.  And the manager, John, is a stand-up guy….even though he happens to be a Sox fan.

Now onto the interesting stuff for Cubs fans.  Monday morning brought one of the best experiences of my life.  My wife and I were up early and headed back to Wrigley.  For $25, you can get a guided tour around Wrigley Field.  For $25 I wasn’t expecting much, but to my suprise, it was about a 2 hour tour that covered just about everything you could want to know about Wrigley Field.  We started out in the right field bleachers.  In talking a little about the scoreboard, I learned that no woman has ever worked inside the scoreboard.  The reason is that the only plumbing inside the historic scoreboard is a funnel.  There’s also no air conditioning.  Just a few vents on the sides to let air flow through.  Can you imagine how hot it has to get in there!?!

The tour took us all around, from the press boxes, to the “luxury suites”, to the dugouts, and onto the field.  Sitting in the dugout and standing on the field was too awesome to put into words.  Wrigley Field truly is a historic landmark.  Every great ball player has come through there at one point in time.  The historic plays, from Babe Ruth calling his shot, to Ernie Banks hitting his 500th home run, even Gale Sayers scoring six touchdowns.  Jack
Brickhouse, Harry Carey, Hack Wilson, Phil Cavarretta, Fergie Jenkins, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Mr. Cub, The Hawk, Ryno, Maddux, Sammy, D-Lee, Aramis…… I could go on and on…. but words truly don’t do it justice.  Wrigley is a place that every Cubs fan, and really every baseball fan should experience.  The $25 for the ticket goes to charity, and you get to experience a part of American history like no other.  If you’re ever in Chicago, you   should definitely take in a day at the old ball park.  I’d like to give a big thanks to the best father-

Harry and Molly. The Best Father-Daughter Tour Guide Tandem at Wrigley!!

daughter tour guide tandem at Wrigley, Harry and Molly.  Keep doing what you love, you’re great.  And good luck the rest of the way at IU Molly!

That about wraps it up.  Good luck again to Kevin Hart today.  Here’s hoping the Cubbies finish up strong against Atlanta, then sweep the Cards heading into the break.  This is the year right?  Until next time…. Go Cubs Go!!!

After collapsing in the playoffs the past two years, the 2009 off season was all about building a team that could win in October.  Jim Hendry went out and put the pieces together to win the Cubbies a World Championship.  Cubs fans everywhere had nothing but optimism for this year’s club.   It’s entirely possible that they do have a championship caliber team, built to win in the playoffs.  But there’s one major kink in the hose at the moment.

It’s the middle of June and the Cubbies are looking up at the Cincinnati Reds…. not to mention the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Milwaukee Brewers.  4 games out of first place in the Central.  If the Cubs are going to turn things around, they better start soon.  They have 24 games in the next 24 days leading up to the All-Star Break.  The first two weeks of July will probably be the most crucial of the Cubbies season.  A couple of 4 game series against the Brewers and Cardinals at Wrigley.  It’s sink or swim time.  If the bats can get hot here at the end June heading into those 2 series, all of the talk of disappointment could be erased before the All-Star Break.

With Aramis Ramirez set to return, the Cubs will get a big boost.  For as badly as they have played, 4 games back doesn’t really seem that bad.   The pitching has been solid so far.  And the bats have to come alive at some point.  Alfonso Soriano isn’t going to hit .225 for the season.  Geovany Soto can’t possibly continue to hit .217.  Milton Bradley will creep up around .300 before the season is out.  So the best has to be ahead for the Cubbies, right?

Let’s hope so.  Hendry and Piniella put this club together to win in October, but they have to get there first.

After 11 games this season, the Chicago Cubs are on top of the NL Central with a 7-4 record.  Alfonso Soriano has been the dominant force the Cubs anticipated when they signed him to a huge 8 year $136 million dollar contract. Soriano is currently in the 3rd year with the Cubs and missed 80 games over his first 2 seasons due to various injuries. Soriano has connected for 5 Home Runs this year which is tied for 1st in the National League, in addition he is leading the National League with 13 runs scored. Various media outlets and baseball experts have argued that Soriano hitting leadoff  is not utilizing his talent effectively. However, being on a pace of 191 Runs Scored (I know it is early to project) and his speed (2 stolen bases) seem to make him the best candidate. Ryan Theriot has also been on a torrid pace in these 1st 11 games with a .400 Average.

The Cubs pitching on the other hand has been a little disappointing thus far. Ted Lilly has been the best pitcher by far with a 3.86 ERA and 2 Wins. He also carried a No-Hitter into the 7th inning in his last start against the Colorado Rockies. Ryan Dempster has been inconsistent at best with an ERA thus far right at 5.00. Just like last year’s playoffs, Dempster has suffered from control problems. Dempster has walked 10 batters in 18 innings (5 per 9 innings); he needs to locate his fastball better to get ahead of hitters and then they will be more prone to chase his excellent slider and split-finger fastball that helped him dominate last season.

The bullpen was expected to be the problem spot for the Cubs this season. Kevin Gregg who was slated as the teams closer has basically already lost the job with a 6.00 ERA. Carlos Marmol has been stellar with a 1.35 ERA in 6 2/3 innings thus far. Marmol deserved to be the Closer from day 1 in the 1st place!

The Cubs face the Cincinnati Reds in a 3-game set at Wrigley this week. The Red are 7-5 (1/2 game back of the Cubs and Cardinals) and are coming off a 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros. The Reds have the worst batting average in baseball at .210, and the Cubs will avoid red-hot Bronson Arroyo (3-0) in this series.

Now the Cubbies head to Miller Park to take on the Milwaukee Brewers for a 3-game set. There are some great match-ups in this series; however the greatest match up of all is which group of fans can drink more while watching the games. Both states have a wonderful tradition of going shirtless at sporting events in -20 degree weather (Bears and Packers) fans. This leads me to believe that they are either immune to the cold or heavily intoxicated at the games.  The picture below shows what % of a states adults are considered “Binge Drinkers” defined as drinking more than 5 alcoholic beverages on drinking occasions. As you can see the folks in Wisconsin have the title, however Illinois is not far behind in 9th:

Wisconsin also has the advantage on the legal side as well. Wisconsin permits the consumption of alcohol by minors, provided they are being supervised by parents/guardians/spouses. Therefore, it is fine for a 10-year old to power down an Old Style and watch a ballgame as long as their parents bought it for them.

The Cubs on the other hand, have a steep history of alcoholic consumption. Whether it be the late Rod Beck in 1998, slamming a bottle of champagne while his teammates celebrated by spraying champagne on each other after defeating the San Francisco Giants in the Wild-Card tie breaker game. In addition, Cubs fans have the greatest drinking announcer of all-time: Harry Caray.  He was after-all a Cubs Fan and a Bud Man!!!!!

For me, it is just too hard to decide…so I am going to let the fans battle it out! Please respond to the poll below and I will mention the results in my next Blog.

Who can drink more?

Display Poll Results

The 2nd World Baseball Classic has concluded and once again Japan is the champion. The old saying of if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound applies here. I am a huge MLB fan but it is hard to get pumped up for the WBC when I am still in Spring Training mode. In addition, it is pretty hard to get excited about the USA’s prospects in the tournament when the best we could muster includes Adam Dunn. Why any team would pay for him to be anything more than a Designated Hitter astounds me. His defense was abysmal to the level you would expect in a tee-ball game with 5 year olds.

Anyway, on to the important part of all this for the Chicago Cubs. Kosuke Fukudome whom the Cubs invested 4 years and 48 million dollars in late 2007, was once again part of Team Japan.  In the 2008 season, Fukudome started off well going 3-3 in his first game and then quickly faltered for the rest of the season ending up with a Batting Average of .257 for the season. This is in stark contrast to his 2006 numbers for the Chunichi Dragons in the Nippon league in Japan. Fukudome hit 31 homers104 RBIs and had a .351 Batting Average. Even more paramount is that Fukodome’s On Base Percentage was .430+ in his last 3 seasons in Japan; his On Base Percentage for the Cubs last year? (.359)

In terms of transfers of hitters from Japan to MLB this is actually to be expected. Ichiro Suzuki has really been the only Japanese import to consistently put up numbers similar to that of what he was achieving in Japan. Take Hideki Matsui for example, he has been a solid contributor for the Yankees since 2003 but his Home Run per At Bat rate is no where close to what it was in Japan. In Japan, Matsui would hit a Home Run every 13.77 ABs, in the MLB Matsui connects on the long ball only every 25.51 ABs. The list of complete failures of Japanese hitters is growing rapidly, for every Ichiro Suzuki there is a Tsuyosha Shinjo, Kaz Matsui, So Taguchi and Norihiro Nokamura.

The question then arises is what causes the transition of these Japanese superstars to the MLB to be so difficult. Actually there is numerous factors that make it a tough transition. From a Baseball Field standpoint 7 out of the 12 teams play on Major League sized fields however, the other 5 do play on undersized fields. The Nippon League is split into 2 divisions (Central and Pacific) and only 2 teams in the Central Division have Major League sized fields. Therefore, it is easy to see that statistics from any player coming from this Central Division will have an inflated Home Run total. Hideki Matsui of course is a prime example of this. The pitching as a whole in Japan is widely regarded as a notch above Triple-A and a notch below MLB, therefore once again inflating statistics relative to the MLB. Finally, there is enormous amounts of pressure for these players to be successful. They typically garner huge contracts and are followed by the Japanese media here like rock-stars. Every move they make is watched and analyzed in Japan and the pressure to succeed is enormous. In addition, all of this is happening while trying to bond with teammates and learn the language here. A daunting task for sure!

As Cubs fans, knowing Fukudome is from the Central division in Japan we should have had lowered our expectations for him in general. His statistics in the WBC do not give me any confidence that last year was simply a fluke. In the WBC, Fukudome hit  .200 (4-20) with no Home Runs and no RBIs. The only bright spot was his On Base Percentage (.407) because of 7 walks. Unfortunately, it may be tough for Fukudome to get off the bench this season if Lou Pinella quickly loses his patience with him. Hopefully, Fukudome can prove me wrong!!

The Cubbies started off this spring season in the right way, taking down the Dodgers to kick off this 2009 season.  Not that beating the Manny-less Dodgers in a meaningless game in Arizona is any sort of redemption for being swept in the playoffs last year, but, it does kick off what should be one hell of a season.  With all of the off-season hoopla that went on this winter, let me just recap a few moves, and a few stories that could be big for this year’s squad.

A couple of fan favorites won’t be enjoying the friendly confines this season.  Kerry Wood will get a new start in Cleveland.  I’m sure a lot of people were upset to see him go, but it was definitely in his best interest.  Carlos Marmol has been waiting in the wings and it’s now his time to be the everyday closer.  When he’s on…..his stuff is nasty, so let’s hope he’s on most of the season.  And as for Mark DeRosa…..I’ve never seen such outrage over a utility man being let go by a team.  My sister-in-law actually vowed to quit watching the cubs play now that he’s gone.  Now don’t get me wrong….D-Ro was huge last year.  He was probably our most consistent player and was just an all around ball player.  But after dealing D-Ro, Hendry went out and got some pieces that will most likely make up for what we lost.

Probably the biggest off-season rumor was the deal of all deals to get Jake Peavy.  Talks went on and on all winter, but it’s February and Peavy’s still a Padre.  Could you seriously imagine our rotation if we had Peavy in the mix??  I still hear people saying that eventually a deal will get done, if not this spring, then by the trading deadline, but I just don’t see it happening.

A few new faces will be enjoying the confines this season.  Most notably, Milton Bradley.  I’m not going to get into his past “attitude problems”.  I don’t really care to be honest.  All I really care about is that he comes out and plays the way he’s capable of, and keeps this team winning games.  His on-base percentage alone should make a career year for Aramis Ramirez.  Let’s hope he stays healthy.  The Aaron Miles addition is something else to talk about, but I’ll talk about him here in a minute.  I also love the addition of Joey Gathright. He’s an all out athlete, with ridiculous, I mean, ridiculous speed.  And the dude has crazy hops too.  If you haven’t already checked it out, check out his YouTube video, it’s crazy.

Now I’ve got a few random notes to talk about for a second.  First off,  Rich Hill and Felix Pie are both gone.  Now I know they weren’t crucial parts of the organization, but they were both great prospects that ran out of time in the Cubbies system.  So good luck to both of them, I’m sure they’ll both be fine.  In return for Pie, we got Garrett Olsen, who was supposedly one of the young pitchers the Padres were eyeing in the Peavy deal.  So great, now we’ve got Olsen and can make a move for Peavy right?  Wrong.  Instead we deal Olsen and Ronny Cedeno to the Mariners for the rocket arm of…….Aaron Heilman???  Really?  I’m not sure where Hendry was going with that move, but we’ll see.  It might be the same place he was heading when he signed Paul Bako….who knows?

This note will only take a second.  Dumping Jason Marquis off to the Rockies for Luis Vizcaino was the best move of the off season.  I couldn’t believe the Cubs ever actually offered Marquis that kind of money.

Alright, so now on to a few things that will be big for this season.  I know Kevin Gregg is “competing” for the closer roll with Marmol, but it’s a done deal.  Marmol is as dominant a closer as there is in the league.  Gregg will be the 8th inning guy.  So with Big Z, Dempster, Lilly, Harden, and most likely Marshall in the rotation, with Gregg and Marmol locking up the 8th and 9th, that leaves a plethora of talented bullpen guys to take care of a few middle innings here and there. This pitching staff is going to be the best in the NL by a mile.

With Bradley coming in, Kosuke is gonna have to make the move to center.  He’ll be platooning with Reed Johnson apparently.  I like Reed Johnson in center, but I have a feeling Kosuke is gonna bounce back big this year, and will end up getting most of the playing time out there.  I guess Pinella will play the matchup game with these two, so it’ll work out either way.

Now I can get back to the Aaron Miles acquisition.  He’s a switch hitting utility guy.  Cool.  Everyone seems to have him tagged as the everyday 2nd baseman with D-Ro gone.  Now this is where I have a problem.  Mike Fontenot has been nothing but phenomenal as a Cub.  Mark my words, by June, Fontenot will be the guy at 2nd base, with Miles filling in at 2nd, short, and 3rd when the regulars need a day off.  Huge year for Mike Fontenot….don’t forget you heard it here first.

Alright, that’s about it for now.  I guess we’ll see how spring training plays out.  Mark your calendars, April 3rd and 4th we’ll get a good look at the new Yankee Stadium in two exhibition games vs. the Yanks.  Then the road to the World Series begins with the regular season kicking off on the road against the Astros.  Wrigley’s season opener will go down on the April 13th against the Rockies.  Here’s to hoping the fans hear a whole lot of “Go Cubs Go” at Wrigley this season.

With Pitchers and Catchers reporting to camp this upcoming week, I thought it was time to review the Chicago Cubs depth chart and who to watch out for at Spring Training in Mesa, AZ.

Catcher:

Starter: Geovanny Soto        Backup: Koyie Hill

1st Base:

Starter: Derrek Lee               Backup: Micah Hoffpauir

2nd Base:

Starter: Aaron Miles              Backup: Mike Fontenot

Shortstop:

Starter: Ryan Theriot            Backup: Aaron Miles

3rd Base:

Starter: Aramis Ramirez       Backup: Aaron Miles

Center Field:

Starter: Reed Johnson         Backup: Kosuke Fukudome

Right Field:

Starter: Alfonso Soriano      Backup: Joey Gathright

Left Field:

Starter: Milton Bradley        Backup: Kosuke Fukudome

Starting Pitchers (In Rotational Order)

Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ryan Dempster, Ted  Lily, Sean Marshall

Relievers:

Carlos Marmol (Closer) Kevin Gregg, Jeff Samardzija, Aaron Heilman, Neal Cotts, Chad Gaudin, Luis Vizcaino

People To Watch:

Kosuke Fukudome: Can he justify the Cubs sizable investment in him? He needs to get back to patience at the plate and going the other way with the ball. Defensively he is solid, however he simply could not adjust to Major League pitching. Look for him to adjust and hit in the .280 range this year.

Aaron Miles/Mike Fontenot: Aaron Miles needs to come in and fill the role Mark DeRosa (now on he Indians) filled. Basically, Miles will be a jack of all trades allowing Fontenot’s bat into the lineup on a more consistent basis. Expect some competition in Spring Training though.

Jody Gathright: Just watch how electric fast this guy is. I think he can be valuable as Dave Roberts was for the Red Sox winning their first World Series.

Milton Bradley: How long do we have to wait before he explodes?

More to come once Spring Training gets under way….stay tuned!