There was the theory that Dusty Baker was trying to send a message to Carlos Zambrano by putting him in the fourth spot in the rotation to start the second half of the season. The theory was that the Cubs wanted to do something to refocus Carlos, who, despite having some great efforts in the first half, also had some stinkers.
The reality seems to be that because Carlos and Greg Maddux actually made all of their starts in the first half that the Cubs decided to get both of them a couple extra days rest by moving the overly rested Mark Prior and Kerry Wood to the first two spots.
Did the rest do Carlos any good? Ask the Pirates.
Yesterday it was Carlos Zambrano’s world and everybody else was just living in it. On the mound, at the plate and in the field Carlos was back to full force of nature status. After watching the Cubs string together four straight singles in the third inning, Carlos said, “Screw this” and doubled off the wall. That double was followed by Carlos screaming something unintelligible as he stomped on second base and tore off his elbow guard. WGN had a great shot of it, and in the background you could see Pirates’ second baseman Jose Castillo take a big step backwards as if he were backing away from a ticking package left unattended in the street.
On the mound, Carlos was at his unhittable best. He threw strikes, he worked fast and he allowed only one, unearned, run.
In the field? Well, he didn’t actually make the play, but all anybody remembers now of his afternoon was a uniquely Zambranian effort he made on a Matt Lawton comebacker. Carlos has an annoying habit of trying to knock down batted balls with his bare hand and on this chopper up the middle he did just that. Only the ball started to roll away from him and towards first base. Carlos had spent the night before watching Real Madrid play soccer at Soldier Field. His first instinct was to kick the rolling ball to Derrek Lee at first base. But he had gotten turned around trying to to catch the ball he’d deflected and had his back to Lee, so, Carlos did the next best thing. He made like Olin Kreutz and hiked the ball between his legs to Lee. It bounced once before getting to Derrek. If it hadn’t, Lawton would have been out.
Carlos finished off the play with a backwards somersault and Lee could be seen laughing as the ball was on its way from Carlos to him.
You don’t see that kind of thing every day.
Carlos’ effort capped off four brilliant days of Cubs’ starting pitching. The starters gave up three earned runs in four games and only the Cub lineup’s predictable inability to hit rookie Zach Duke prevented a sweep.
Before we get too excited, we need to remember that the Pirates are bad. So if you have the urge to throw yourselves headlong back onto the bandwagon, you might want to get a hold of yourself. However, eight games ago did we think the Cubs could find teams bad enough to beat six of seven times? So we’re stuck somewhere between cashing in the season and driving the bandwagon.
It’s too early to spend much time gazing at the wild card standings, because they’re even more volatile than usual with this much time left. But the Cubs have, for the moment, pulled into third place, just a game behind second place Philadephia. The only reason this is important is because if you want to win it, the first step is to get the rest of the league out of the way between you and the Wild Card leader. Besides, when you’re in fourth or fifth it’s just too confusing for the fans because they watch the scores of the other games in the league and have no idea who to root for.
It’s sad, really, that the Cubs, for the second straight season have already punted any chance of catching the Cardinals in the division. Given all of the assets the Cubs currently have, in talent, in prospects and in cash, it’s ludicrous that for two straight seasons they haven’t been able to stay within a dozen games of the Cardinals.
But that’s where they find themselves, again.
Baseball responded to last year’s bleatings by Chip Caray and others about how wrong it was that the Cubs and Cardinals didn’t play any games against each other late in the season by shifting the schedule so that they play almost all of their games against each other late in the season.
Guess what? They don’t matter this year, either.
The Cubs need to win them because they need to beat anybody at this point. The Cardinals and their strange little following will be smug no matter what. If the Cubs win they’ll just point at the standings and mock, if the Cardinals win they’ll feel that glowing, throbbing wad of insecurity that pulses out from their insides relax ever so slightly. Then they’ll head back to the barnyard and paint up some witty new signs for the next game.
The Cardinals got some bad news yesterday. Reggie Sanders, who was already nursing a set of bad ribs (caused likely by some rough postgame “horseplay” with Lassie Edmonds), broke his leg. This injury means the Cardinals will need to rely more on Larry Walker and hope he doesn’t suffer any relapses of his own, well-documented brittle bone disease. It also means that The Genius will be in his glory the next four weeks while he makes up ludicrous and unnecessarily creative lineups with Hector Luna playing in the outfield and batting eleventh, or something.
Before the weekend series with the Cardinals, the Cubs are off to Cincinnati where they play four games and will hopefully pick up a stray outfielder. OK, they probably won’t leave with an outfielder, though they’d be wise to talk to the Reds about their minor league, power hitting phenom (Corey Patterson, two homers in three games at Iowa!) in exchange for Austin kEARnS. OK, so everybody knows Corey’s no phenom and that his homers in the minors are likely further proof that his approach to hitting is flawed and unlikely to improve.
OK, now why would the Cubs want kEARnS, who in addition to the pachyderm like protuberances that stick out on each side of his hat, was hitting a whooping .224 in 51 games with the Reds before being sent to AAA?
Jim Hendry has sported wood in talking about kEARnS for quite a while now. And with some good reason. In his rookie year, Austin posted impressive totals of .315 ave, .407 oba, .500 slg with 13 homers and 56 RBI in only 107 games.
Injuries slowed him to .264/.364/.455 with 15 homers and 58 RBI in 82 games in 2003. Last year he missed huge hunks of the season and slumped to .230/.321/.419 with nine homers and 32 RBI in 64 games.
Then he posted his gawdy totals in 2005.
The trend is a bad one. His strikeout ratio has gone up every year, too. So why would you want him?
Because sometimes you know there’s more there than what you’re getting.
Two years ago next week, Hendry made a trade for a guy with just as spotty a track record. He had broken into the big leagues at 19 and struggled and got sent back to the minors for most of the next season. He came back for a half season in 2000 and hit .256/.293/.402 with six homers and 35 RBI, and inspired nobody.
Then, he had a breakout in 2001 with .300/.350/.536 to go with 34 homers and 112 RBI in 158 games.
Only to slump to .234/.279/.387 with 18 homers and 71 RBI in 142 games in 2002. He had a solid, but not exactly inspiring season of .280/.330/.448 with 12 homers and67 RBI going at the time of the trade in July of 2003.
He started the All-Star Game at third base last Tuesday for the National League.
At the time of the trade Cubs’ fans were excited that they’d made a move at all, and at least optimistic that they’d be improved because E-ramis Ramirez was going to replace the great Lenny Harris and Jose Jerkoff at third base and the Cubs had given nothing up.
If Hendry can pull off a trade for kEARnS in the next 13 days, it won’t set off a ticker tape parade in Chicago, but the longterm benefits could be nearly as good.
kEARnS has no business being in AAA right now. He’s been there for 26 games and is hitting .353/.421/.686 with six homer and 19 RBI.
By now you know that I don’t know much. But I know Austin kEARnS is going to be a good player for a long time once a team is smart enough to get him away from the Reds. It’d be nice if the Cubs were the ones smart enough to do that.
All three outfield spots are going to be open in the offseason. What have you got to lose by trying to find one of them right now?
I body slammed Jeremy Affeldt dude, you owe me a Jaeger Bomb now.
“he made like Olin Kreutz”.
To me, that means that Lawton blew by Zambrano, so Carlos dragged him down from behind, and then complained about the holding penalty.
Sorry Kyle. I’ll send some skanks to your room tonight.
I make like Olin Kreutz! I snap ball, then I fall ass over teacup!
I was really hoping for a road report from BC on his way to Cincy. Maybe a description of the chili he had for dinner or an essay on the eastern Indiana scenery?
…or the deer that he and Bo Ryan narrowly missed hitting…
Here we go again, so-and-so dot com, everybody dot com making trades for us. We don’t want to make trades just to make it look like we’re doing something. Making it look like we’re doing something is my job.
That’s an idea for a “buddy road trip” movie. A young college journalist is sent along on a recruiting trip with a college basketball coach for a feature story. Hilarity ensues. It’s part “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”, part “Tommy Boy” and part “Blue Chips.” Judging by the way casting is done in Hollywood these days, Cedric the Entertainer will play Bo Ryan.
“Leading off is about getting on base,” Baker said. “You want your on-base percentage at about .350 or better….”
I didn’t actually say this, right? That’s entirely made up. No way I’d ever say anything like that. Ever. Ever. Ever.
“Jay Gibbons is better than Sosa”
how the mighty have fallen..
“Sosa is hitting .203 (30-108) since May 24”.
These numbers make KPat look like an All-Star…
My fat, useless ass needs to be used for target practice. I am seriously, a pathetic turd.
when the team that narrowly wins the wild card, in either division, wins more playoff games, than the greatest team ever-The Win or Die Trying 2005 White Sox. Oh, and if there is no fantasy land, and they expect greatness like Hood says, that explains why Sox fans hate on Cubs fans and bitch about everything else rather than go to the park.
I am terrible. Absofuckingloutely terrible.
Do Lowell and Pierre HAVE to be a package? Why can’t we get Pierre I Don’t Care? Who has more prospects than we? Who? Can Lowell play second for us? I like Todd real good and all, but I’m willing to bend over backwards for a real leadoff hitting-pain in the ass on the bases.
It’s reel eeezy for me to bend backwards now…don’t even break a sweat. Watch! I’ll do it again! Wheee!
What’s with the Sloth-in-a-landfill postings, and the tired remix of “I’m decaying” poster names? Did I miss something about Sloth finally getting busted with the kiddie porn, kicked out by wife #3, and trolling the streets of Mendota near the old Ben Franklin on the corner?
I’d say I don’t really care, but I guess it’s already too late…
I’m the guy the Cubs should try and acquire, I’d solve your CF and leadoff problems for oh, the next ten years or so. Just like your young players, Lou Piniella is too much of a dope to play me every day, for some reason I’m always in his doghouse. Maybe it’s because I’m not a 12-year veteran.
Trade for me, my friend Austin Kearns, and sign Mr. Brian Giles this coming offseason. You can thank me later.
I got that wiggly feel.
I think Juan ate some mango.
Lowell’s going with me. You want Pierre, you’re on your own.
Ebony and Ivory live together in perfect harmony
Side by side with Felix, we patrol the outfield, gracefully!
Until I run into wall and break neck in a heap
Ivory sharp and pointy not soft like leaf
While driving to the store last night, I heard J Hood making smug comments about how he wasn’t getting any Cub fans calling his show. I wanted to call him and tell him that it’s because nobody listens to his no-talent ass.
You were listening to my no-talent ass, Dave!
From Steve Phillips’ ESPN.com chat, about AJ Burnett:
I like AJ as a kid. We had him with the Mets and traded him for Leiter. He has No. 1 stuff but pitches like a No. 4 starter. He’s 42-44 in his career. If the Red Sox think they are getting a front-end starter, they really are not. Mike Lowell has struggled significantly this year. I’m not sure he would be a great upgrade over what they have. The Red Sox should just play Olerud a little more. Burroughs has struggled to hit for power of any sort and the Padres are so frustrated they are willing to give him up. Arroyo is not a far cy from Burnett. At least in their records. The Marlins are freeing up a lot of payroll in the deal that they could possibly improve themselves this year with some high priced players. The Sox might be looking at this as a solution but the Marlins would still need some bullpen help to make a run in the NL East.
Wait, Steve knows that the Orioles are trading for Burnett, right? No? Oh, well then I’m glad ESPN is moving everybody to their precious Insider thing for $40 a year so you can read out of touch assholes like Steve Phillips.
Rumor is that Sports Guy is headed to insider, too and he’s not happy about it. He’s apparently hoping his book will sell enough copies to make that a viable career for him instead of writing for Page 2 much longer.
Farnworthless is up to being a dumbfuck again. That’s real surprising. Can you believe the Cubs organization put up with this stupid ass for 7 years? That really speaks well for your organization and management team.
If Farns has that much aggression, they should send him over to Iraq where he can try to bodyslam Muhommed al Sheik and the boys. It would be rather interesting how far Kyle can get with those Turbin wearing bastards.
But anyway, the Cubs are up to their old tricks again. Lose eight and win 5 in a row. Just call them the “Teasers.” I have no problem with this team right now after the All-Star break as long as you keep Korey on that traveling bus in AAA. You bring that poor bastard back again to this team and they will start tanking. I’m sorry, but Korey is a Kancer.
I also want to say that Greg Kouch’s article about the Cubs being buyers or sellers was right on. Any big market team in their situation never needs to be sellers. You have that mentality, you obviously don’t want to win. Jim Hendry will pull something off this week if he can. That guy’s cellphone minutes the last month are going over the highest plan, that’s for sure.
We will see somebody new in the Cub pinstripes coming soon to a stadium near you.
Baker Basher
I said: The Marlins are freeing up a lot of payroll in the deal that they could possibly improve themselves this year with some high priced players.
Kind of like how they freed up Derrek Lee’s payroll so they could sign Carlos Delgado the following offseason. You know, like that.
Even Sports Guy, who’s quite full of himself, must know that he’s not worth paying to read.
I’m going pay-per-read.
Pay me and I’ll stay away.
$1 keeps me away for a day. $5 for a week. $20 for the whole month.
ILL TACKLE ALL U ALL WHO DOES HAVE PROBLIM WITH ME
I used to be cool when the patriots and red sox were losers.
Then the patriots won and became the 49 ers, and the red sox won and became
the yankees.
and I didn’t have anything left to complain about.
I used to be really cool before I turned every one of my online columns into a self-congratulatory, 37 megabyte, 10-point Bodoni, single-spaced listing of non sequiturs involving the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, Revolution, Aerosmith, the Dropkick Murphys and going to LA.
And then I did that G-D cartoon. Oy.
Is it jumping the shark to say someone jumped the shark?
Get me some more “The Rick” commercials, stat!
Yo B, I does, who you dink you is anyway? 8 mile is mah sound, Detroit is mah city, you betaa bring yo posse bitch.
Can we pay to have Basher not show up too?
You’re welcome for the sweep of the Astros. The Cubs should have a pretty decent shot at 2nd place in the Central now if you outspend Houston down the stretch.
“If Farns has that much aggression, they should send him over to Iraq where he can try to bodyslam Muhommed al Sheik and the boys. It would be rather interesting how far Kyle can get with those Turbin wearing bastards.”
What a piece of shit.
I’m following a theme here, I jumped off of the ledge about 10 days ago, and I’m NOT Christ on a Bike, I can’t rise from the dead. But I can still get on here and moan about shit, a privilege I take advantage of from time to time.
And I don’t have ANY kid porn. I may have some that rides the ragged edge o’ disaster.
Anyhow, Andy, I know you have no love for Scoop, but I think, whether he meant it or not, he summed up “Sox fandom” pretty well. I tend to lean towards “accidental”, myself, but I learned a little today.
I learned that staying the fuck away from the Godforsaken South Side is a good thing. Rot in fucking hell, Janet.
You can’t compare me to E-Ramis because our peripherals were completely different. I only had a good rookie year because my BABIP was sky high. I’m not as good as you think I am.
Sorry, I meant you can’t compare me to Ass-Ramus…….. I like women.
It seems that Austin Kearns is suffering from multiple personalities. In post 37, he gives a well thought out statistical analysis of his anomalous rookie year. The following post is obviously written by someone with a pea sized brain. It seems that two personalities contribute to his inability to maintain a consistent quality of play as well as staying healthy.
Weee heee…I can just float into girls high school locker rooms un noticed.
What’s this I hear about Juan Pierre? It’s not nice to tease me like that…oh…gotta go..boobies!
Look at the birdies…pwetty birdees…they didn’t have birdies like this in twipple-A…..[thud]
the cubs need me against the reds
We are god-awful.
My buddies J-Bug and Hench were trolling the internet for underage Thai hookers and found this site. It’s great! I’m not ready to quit ESPN because where else am I going to paid to write infrequently and with such astounding un-evenness?
I’m batting 5th tonight, my little bitches!
cubs-reds….mmmh….great memories
I am a half baked joke…
hey I power slammed some dude yesterday just to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke.
And also to prove that the cub uniform is not the source of my superpowers.
later dudes, buddies….whatever
I agree that the Cubs should be buyers, and not sellers..especially with the cash in the Trib’s coffers. At the same time, if the Cubs trade away prospects who DO pan out for the other team, I want to hear ONE EFFING WORD about it 1-3 years later!!!! Get it, you morans!!!!?? We never develop anyone….what about Jon Garland? Boo-hoo….my nether regions hurt……waaahh…
You can’t have it both ways, folks. As for me, I’m tired of the Cubs trying to add “one more piece” to get over the hump. I’d like to see the Cubs develop some young players to go with their veteran core, and have a good team for years to come. No more Gaetti’s, Morandini’s, etc…..if you can get a young veteran, fine..a la D-Lee, E-ram..etc…but no more 1 year wonders..please!!
do not want to hear..
I’m really just an average pitcher who is having a very good year. If you cry over me getting traded in 1998 today, you suck. And as for my friend Dontrelle, same thing, that was a trade that helped your Cubs at the time, no one thought he was gonna be the great 1st half pitcher that he has become.
Make room for Jody, bitches!
Jo-dee!
Jo-dee!
Jo-dee!
And just like the redheaded catching namesake, I’ll be sure to fan any time you chant my name.
Boy, I’ll bet you didn’t see this coming.
no, we didn’t see this coming. Why would we?
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