Category: NL Central
... the Pirates are not going to be great in 2008. "I said I think it's pretty obvious that this group of guys is not going to get it done," said Mr. Bay, who, after winning the Rookie of the Year in 2004 and being an All-Star in 2005 and 2006, hit all of .247/.327/.418 last year (worse than the strangely maligned Matt Murton).
FOXSports.com's Dayn Perry lists the Dusty Baker-led Cincinnati Reds on top of his teams that could surprise in 2008. (Hat tip: Wrigleyville23.) It seems like people have the Reds as possible contenders every year, usually referencing their supposedly powerful offense. That offense finished 10th in the NL in runs scored in 2006 and 7th last year. True, the Reds finished first in runs scored in 2005, but they also finished 16 games under .500 that year. How are they better this year?
Cubnut at The Cub Reporter is worried about the Milwaukee Brewers' signing of Mike Cameron:
This is bad news for the Cubs in a couple respects. First, Cameron is a talented player. Second, his signing will allow the Brewers to move the big hitting but defensively inferior Bill Hall back to the infield, where he will take over for Ryan Braun at third. Braun, a defensively inferior third baseman–25 errors and a fielding percentage of .895(!!!) in ‘07–will then be able to move to left.
Baseball Musings makes the same point about the Brewers' improved defense. While true enough, Cameron is also now 35 and is coming off a year in which he hit .242 / .328 / .431, while playing average defense in centerfield, according to Baseball Prospectus. Plus, Cameron must serve a 25 game suspension to start the year under baseball's drug-testing program.
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.
After Trevor Hoffman struck out the side in the 9th inning of the San Diego Padres' 6-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers tonight, radio play-by-play man Bob Uecker went to break with, "This one is over."
When the Brewers defeated the Chicago Cubs on June 30, they moved to 7.5 games ahead of the Cubs, the second place team. With the Cubs' 6-0 win tonight over the Cincinnati Reds and the Brewers' loss, the Cubs have clinched the NL Central divisional crown with two games to spare. It is not exactly a 1969 Cubs-style collapse for the Brewers, or even a 2007 Mets-style collapse, but it is a collapse. The Cubs needed help after their slow start and they got it when Milwaukee went 20-34 in July and August.
Carlos Zambrano came up huge tonight, throwing 7 shutout innings. He moved his season record to 18-13 and he is lined up to start Game 1 of the NLDS. Zambrano had decisions in 31 of his 34 starts this season. Zambrano's 31 decisions are the most by a Cubs' pitcher since Greg Maddux went 20-11 in 1992.
Alfonso Soriano also had a big game, leading it off with a home run, doubling, and throwing (another) runner out at the plate. The Cubs have not had a strong-armed outfielder with as an accurate an arm as Soriano since Andre Dawson.
Either Chip Caray or Steve Stone may be broadcasting the Cubs' playoff series.
Here's the plan: get swept by the worst team in the National League, but only lose one game to the Brewers because Milwaukee is going to go make five errors in one game anyway.
Thankfully, there are just three games left. The Cubs need to win just one, or have the Brewers lose just one, to assure themselves of a tie for the division. And they have their three best pitchers lined up for the Cincinnati Reds: Zambrano, Hill, and then Lilly on Sunday, if needed. The Reds, meanwhile, will give the Cubs two of their best, with Bronson Arroyo on Friday and Aaron Harang on Saturday. It would be best if the Cubs just won on Friday and Saturday and concluded the matter.
Meanwhile, the acquisition of Steve Trachsel has been a disaster. If it is any consolation (it's not), Rocky Cherry has been even worse for the Baltimore Orioles.
Speaking of the Orioles, they are 68-91 on the year. They have given 813 plate appearances to Corey Patterson, Paul Bako, Freddie Bynum, and Scott Moore and 199 innings pitched to Trachsel, Jon Leicester, Cherry, and Scott Williamson. Glad to see the Cubs could be of service.
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.
. . . at least tonight. After he defeated the Milwaukee Brewers by throwing 5.2 innings of 1-run ball in his first career start and first big league action since he pitched out of Milwaukee's bullpen in 2004. Bennett's performance did not come out of left field: He had a 1.04 ERA in the three postseason starts he made for triple-A Richmond. The Brewers move to a game-and-a-half behind the Cubs.
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:
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