Category: Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I Love Hearing "Go Cubs Go" With the Cubs in First Place in Late August

August 29, 2007 by cubsnet

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: