Zambrano was actually really good yesterday pitching 7 innings giving up 3 earned runs. Neal Cotts got three outs, though he made sure to let Joey Votto hit a homer first. A certain former Notre Dame pitcher came in for the ninth and managed to give up two more runs.
The pitching hasn't been the problem, the hitting has. Soriano has remained pretty consistent from day to day. He had two more doubles yesterday, though he was picked off of second on one of them. For once Alfonso Soriano isn't the early season problem. My two least favorite Cub hitters, Ryan Theriot and Kosuke Fukudome aren't the problem either. Aramis is Aramis. Which makes me wonder, we have four guys hitting really well so what the heck is the problem?
Simple Derrek Lee is a shell of himself, and he has gotten some basehits, they haven't amounted to anything and he continues to struggle at the plate. I keep thinking that Geovany Soto is coming around, but it isn't happening. It would be nice to see him start to get hits. Mike Fontenot has been exposed as a platoon/bench player who is overwhelmed as the everyday starting second baseman. He used to always hit the ball well, and always on a line. Now he is grounding out or striking out seemingly every at-bat. This doesn't mean I want Aaron Miles to play, because he is actually worse.
Then we come to the Milton Bradley situation. I have said multiple times that no matter what he does on the field, Milton Bradley's hilarious attitude about baseball will always make me like him. Naturally Bradley has literally done everything possible to test that patience. He is hitting .043, stopped talking to the media (I don't blame him for that really), hurt for who knows how long, and made me watch more Aaron Miles. I'm still on Bradley's side, his batting average will come up a lot once he comes back. He is under a ton of pressure from the Cubs fans and I think he let that get to his head. This groin injury is essentially a Soriano reminder. He hurt his leg running around and when he first got back he wasn't ready. Lou is taking the proper approach and sitting him for the time being. Odds are we see Milton return Sunday or Monday full time. That is when he will start hitting, and just like Soriano in 2007 and 2008, he will produce in a big way.
The one positive of Milton being hurt? More Reed Mantle which brings a nice big smile to my face.
I have quite the weekend/week of hell coming up in school, so I'm going to preview all the weekend games at once. Hopefully I can get a short recap of all the games up, but there is a good chance that I won't write anything of substance until next Wednesday.
Friday- Ryan Dempster (Dumpster?) v. Adam Wainwright
The best pitching matchup of the weekend, except that I'm not sold on Dempster being good yet. Call me a horrible pessimist (I am) but I don't trust Dempster at all. Wainwright wasn't good against the Cubs last week, but he benefited from the umpires. If his control is bad again then the Cubs need to be PATIENT. Take the walks and then DRIVE THE DAMN RUNS IN. No more of this bases loaded but we either don't score or only score one run crap.
Saturday- Sean Marshall v. Mitchell Boggs
Marshall was pretty good against the Cards last time out, hopefully he can go a bit deeper into the game and hold down Albert Pujols who has awakened in a big way. Mitchell Boggs sucked as a starter last season, not that it matters the way the Cubs have been hitting. Really this is the one game I think the Cubs could win this weekend, except that I'm sure Neal Cotts will pitch at some point and ruin any lead we might be lucky enough to get.
Sunday- Rich Harden v. Todd Wellemeyer
On paper this matchup screams Cubs win, except that Harden was amazing his last start so I'll bet he pitches like crap this time out. Wellemeyer is still getting the job done, though I think a good offense could really whack him around. Unfortunately the Cubs don't have a good offense, so instead we will wait around and pray that Aramis or Alfonso can bail the team out.
Odds are the Cubs get swept away this weekend. A combination of inability to drive runs in and the fact that the Dusty Cubs are back swinging away means we score maybe 5 runs all weekend.
If that happens I'll be back Monday morning with one hell of a rant about this team. Until then Go Cubs! and hopefully the offense can improve.
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