So I pull up the Official Site today to tune in to Gameday Audio, and I see Carrie Muskat's daily Notes column. Headline: "DH gives Cubs extra hitter". You know, as if this is somehow an advantage.

I thought, the Cubs don't have an extra hitter that they could possibly want in the lineup. True enough, it turns out that the "extra hitter" today is ... Michael Barrett, while Henry Blanco catches. Sheesh.

You know what the worst part is? That's probably the best decision Dusty could make, given the situation.

In other line-up news, Dusty finally decided to sit Jacque Jones against a lefty, electing instead to send Jerry Hairston up against Mark Buehrle. This is only moderately helpful, since Hairston actually has a reverse split over the past few years, but he's still better against lefties than Jones.

-- Continuing on, we learn from Muskat that "Baker made a point of asking Kerry Wood how he felt on Friday."

Good to know that Dusty is so on top of things.

-- Baker again: Tony Womack is "more of an insurance guy." No, Ned Ryerson is an insurance guy.

At any rate, the question left unanswered is, insurance against what? In case Jerry Hairston, Neifi Perez, Ryan Theriot, Freddie Bynum, Mike Fontenot and Augie Ojeda all get hurt? Am I missing something here, or is "mediocre backup middle infielders" pretty much the last position that the Cubs need "insurance" for?