FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reports that Kaz Matsui is about to sign a three-year, $15M contract with the Houston Astros, even though the Cubs made him a similar offer. I understand that Matsui is a fine fielder (quite good, in fact, according to Baseball Prospectus' numbers), but a) he had just an 87 OPS+ last year; b) he has a 82 OPS+ for his career; c) he's 32; d) the most games he has played in a season in his four-year MLB career is 114; and e) the Cubs already carry second basemen like Tony LaRussa carries LOOGYs. As Wrigleyville says, the Astros are saving Jim Hendry here.

Meanwhile, a couple of the other division foes are signing Cubs' rejects to multi-million dollar contracts. The Brewers sign the catcher who lost his starting catcher on a playoff team to the guy just getting some filler time in September, for $4.25M no less. And the Cardinals may be smart, but they did just sign Cesar Izturis to be their starting shortstop.

That's what the Florida Marlins are saying right now about the Chicago Cubs. With tonight's 7-4 victory over the Cubs (video highlights), the Marlins moved to 5-0 on the season against the Cubs. Dating back to last season, the Marlins have won nine straight. The Marlins even got Carlos Marmol to do something he hadn't done in over 23 innings: give up a run. Marmol gave up a two-run home run to Miguel Cabrera to put the Marlins up by the final margin. (Side note: Marmol has now allowed just three home runs in 68.1 innings this season after allowing fourteen in 77 innings last year, mostly as a starter.)

Jason Marquis had his second straight bad outing, allowing five runs, four earned in five innings on nine hits and two walks. It wasn't all his fault: a likely double play in the Marlins' 3-run 3rd inning was thrown away by Mark DeRosa. Had the double-play been turned, none of those runs would have scored.

Thankfully, the St. Louis Cardinals came through in a big way tonight, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers 7-4. The Cubs stay two games up with four to play. The Brewers begin their series with the San Diego Padres tomorrow. The Padres remain in the thick of tight NL West and Wild Card races. Unfortunately, Jake Peavy is pitching tonight, so the Brewers will miss him. Unless they really need to win on Sunday, in which case it's hard to imaginez them throwing Brett Tomko over Peavy on short rest.

Cubs lose, Brewers win, leaving us with this with 5 games to go:

Team       W      L       Pct.      GB
Cubs      83      74      .529      --
Brewers   81      76      .516      2

The Cubs fell victim to their one-time farm-hand, Dontrelle Willis. The Cubs managed to get just 2 hits off of Willis in his 8 innings. Willis came into tonight's game having allowed 236 hits in 194.2 innings. He's had a better year at the plate (109 OPS+) than on the mound. Nevertheless, two of his ten wins have come in his two starts against the Cubs.

Meanwhile, 1500 miles to the north, Milwaukee blew out St. Louis. In the first two games of their four game series, the Brewers have outscored the Cardinals 22-6. And they did it against the Cardinals' two winningest pitchers, Adam Wainwright and Braden Looper.

Tomorrow, the Cubs have Jason Marquis going against rookie Daniel Barone. Barone has not pitched more than 5.2 innings in his 5 starts this season. His last start came on September 19, when he allowed 4 runs in 4.1 innings against Atlanta.

In Milwaukee, the Cardinals will throw Joel Pineiro against Carlos Villenueva. Villenueva has allowed just 4 runs in 24 innings since being inserted into the starting rotation on September 4.

UPDATE (9/26/07 4:40pm): It appears the Cardinals will throw Brad Thompson instead of Pineiro tonight.

A month ago I wrote that I was worried about the St. Louis Cardinals. At the time, they were three games behind the Brewers and two games behind the Cubs, in the loss column. I had reason to worry. After play on September 6, the Cardinals had pulled into a tie with the Cubs and Brewers in the loss column. They have since lost 10 of 11. Four of those losses have come against the Cubs. The two teams are now done for the year, and the Cardinals are effectively out of the playoff hunt for the year. They can battle the Cincinnati Reds for third place.

AllCubs.com provides the breakdown of the final two weeks. It should be fun.

Elsewhere, Al Yellon at Bleed Cubbie Blue notes that Geovany Soto is playing himself onto the postseason roster, should there be one. The real question, though, is whether Soto should be the starting catcher from here on out.

Big innings win games, and the Cubs had a big inning in a big game last night.

Rich Hill was, for the most part, excellent, striking out nine and walking none in seven innings. Two of the three runs he allowed came on Corey Hart's bloop single to center. Hill has been the Cubs' best starting pitcher since the All-Star Break.

Alfonso Soriano returned and did nothing at the plate and looked hesitant in the field. Still, I feel better with him in the lineup.

Less than two months ago, Jacque Jones was on his way to Miami. In the unlikliest of turnarounds, he is on pace to being one of the heroes of the season. Going into last night, Jones had hit .326/.372/.479 since Lou Piniella reinserted him into the starting lineup on July 13. He has also played good defense all year, which is especially important given that he has been next to Cliff Floyd many times. See Cub Town for more on Jones.

The fielding error by Scott Linebrink on Ryan Theriot's high chopper to the mound during the fateful 7th inning last night was interesting for one particular reason: it was actually scored an error rather than a hit. That was the correct call; Linebrink should have fielded the ball (though Ron Santo disagreed with me). But Linebrink did have to make a small jump for it and, in today's baseball world, most scorekeepers call anything a hit where the fielder has to make more than a minimal amount of movement. It is one reason why fielding percentage statistics need to be taken for no more than they are worth, which is not much.

With the Cubs' win over the Brewers, and the Cardinals' win over the Astros, the Cardinals now sit in second place. I told you I was worried about them. 1060west is worried, too. ESPN.com's Gene Wojciechowski tries to sort out the NL Central. He also notes something cool that the fans did last night:

After winning four straight games to close out July, then losing five straight to open August, the St. Louis Cardinals have won six of their last eight games, all against winning teams -- the Padres, Dodgers, and Brewers. The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 48-19 in those eight games. Combine that recent success with the Brewers' and Cubs' struggles, and the Cardinals sit just three games out of first place in the loss column, just two in the loss column behind the Cubs. This, despite a losing record and a pretty awful runs scored/runs allowed differential (the Pythagorean records would have the Cubs ten games up in the loss column against the Cardinals).

Count me among the worried. As the AP says, "the Cardinals suddenly are lurking."

And they have a number of good things going for them:

Interesting, it is, that the St. Louis Cardinals -- 13th in the NL in ERA coming into Sunday -- are to the point of using failed a Chicago Cubs relief pitcher as a starting pitcher. They have sent down the 0-8 Anthony Reyes to AAA and are inserting Todd Wellemeyer, whom even the Kansas City Royals released earlier this season, into the starting rotation. Wellemeyer had a memorable debut with the Cubs, but it was all down hill from there. He has a career ERA 19% below league average in 185 innings, all out of the bullpen.

Pujols struggles to adjust during 'really tough year' (Scott Miller, Sportsline.com, 5/17/2007)

The Cardinals' 2006 World Series trophy will be available for viewing today (Thursday, May 17, 2007) at the Capitol in downtown Springfield, IL.

The schedule is as follows:

11:30am Senate Floor

12:00pm Cardinals President Mark Lamping remarks in Senate
Senate schedule for today.

2-4pm Trophy will be available for viewing by public on the first floor of the South Wing of the Capitol.

I don't understand why the Senate is hosting an out of state sports trophy, but I guess someone there is a Cardinals fan.

The Illinois Senate website is at:

http://www.ilga.gov

Our condolences to the family, friends and fans of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock, 29, who was killed in a car accident Sunday morning on I-64 in St. Louis.

Cardinals, baseball mourn passing of pitcher Hancock
http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/mlb/news/tributes/obit_josh_hancock.jsp?c_id=stl

Fox Sports Midwest video regarding Josh Hancock
http://msn.foxsports.com/regional/midwest?workingCategory=277

04/29/2007 6:50 PM ET
Cubs saddened by loss of Hancock
Marquis spoke to former teammate on Saturday

Google news: "Josh Hancock"

According to the Wrigley Field press pass, the Cubs were 8-2 vs the World Series Champion Cardinals at Wrigley Field last year.

It seems to me that what the Cubs need are special sunglasses that make every team look like the Cardinals to them.

BTW, since 1892, the Cubs are 467-412 vs the Cards at Wrigley Field.

Check out this page for some interesting info regarding the home team advantage at Wrigley Field.

http://www.cubsnet.com/node/1457

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Chicago Cubs fans, Wrigley Field request list

TV listings for Cubs fans April - May 2007

Questions center around Cardinals rotation -- Yet, there are obvious questions this season.

Carpenter is the staff ace, winning 15 games last year, but the rest is wide-open. Kip Wells and Anthony Reyes likely will fill out the next two spots. But no one has any idea who'll be the fourth and fifth starters. Jeff Weaver, Jeff Suppan and Jason Marquis are all gone. Mark Mulder isn't expected to return until close to the All-Star break.
[USA Today]

The AP notes that the Chicago Cubs aren't the only NL Central team with starting rotation question marks heading into the 2007 season:

The St. Louis Cardinals have tasted postseason success, and they likely will have to pay for it now.

St. Louis general manager Walt Jocketty's biggest challenge this offseason will be keeping the World Series champions on top while facing budget constraints. Some of his biggest decisions will deal with his starting rotation, beginning with postseason standouts Jeff Weaver and Jeff Suppan - two free agents who could be looking for more money after strong playoff runs.

Of course, even if Weaver and Suppan leave, along with Mark Mulder, the Cardinals still have Chris Carpenter, Anthony Reyes, and Adam Wainwright, who should be moved to the rotation next season.