1:05pm CT. Mark Prior v. Roy Oswalt.

Joe Borowski threw a second simulated game today and will go to Iowa to begin a rehab assignment on Tuesday, reports MLB.com. Borowski's arm felt fine after the session today, but he was apparently upset with his location. Borowski was successfuly in 2002 and 2003 because of his control. He lost it last year, and will need to get it back if he is to be successful in the big leagues again.

Nolasco is still really good, and Daytona and Peoria get blown out.

Dusty has caught alot of flak for bringing in Fox with a 7 run lead. Fox pitched the day before. The game was in hand. He is blamed for Fox's injury by Steve Stone. I'm sorry Fox got hurt ( although if he was our closer, we're hurtin. But a relief pitcher in the major leagues should be able to throw almost every day. If you can't do it, you shouldn't be on the roster. Fox was an accident waiting to happen. Dusty is not the most astute handler of pitchers but this is not his faulr.

MOE Thacker

6:05pm CT. Kerry Wood v. Brandon Bracke.

Lost in all the coverage of the fact that the Cubs have no closer is the fact that up until 2 decades ago or so, there was no such thing as a "closer." Nor was there any of this nonsense of relievers specializing in 7th or 8th Inning or Long Relief. Basically, back in the good old days, a reliever came in when the starter was losing his effectiveness and then the reliever would be relieved when he in turn was losing his effectiveness. Back then, the whole idea of having relievers pegged in for certain innings and not to pitch much more than 1 inning a game would have struck any baseball man as insanity. The current way of doing things has lead to a situation where most relief pitchers can't handle the 9th inning whereas in the olden days, just about any reliever could do so.

If Cubs GM Jim Hendry really wants the Cubs to win, what he needs to do is to bring back the old way of handling the bullpen in the minor league system. This way, relief pitchers will be trained right. When they come up to the major league level, they will be able to handle pitching in whatever inning right without any of the current nonsense about "pressure" getting to them.

7:05pm CT. Greg Maddux v. Roger Clemens. Game preview.

McGlinchey gets promoted, then gets shallacked, Frese goes back on DL, West Tenn has 15 hits, and Peoria has just 2.

Valdez and Marshall have excellent outings, Pie continues to hit well, and Sing out with sore groin.

Pratt throws strikes and shuts out Iowa, and Gallagher moves unearned run streak to 23 innings.

The Chicago Cubs optioned Jon Leicester to triple-A Iowa and recalled right-hander Roberto Novoa from Iowa. Novoa had been acquired from the Detroit Tigers in the Kyle Farnsworth trade.

1:20pm CT. Ryan Dempster v. Aaron Harang.

Wellemeyer walks and walks, Hill strikes out 14, Moore hits 5th homer, and Patterson doesn't need no stinkin' working hamstring to dominate low-A pitching.

The Chicago Cubs recalled lefthanded reliever Will Ohman from Iowa and placed Chad Fox on the 15-day disabled list. Fox is awaiting the results of an MRI on his right elbow following his injury last night.

7:05pm CT. Carlos Zambrano v. Eric Milton. Game preview.