May 2007 Archives

The air was fresh and crisp, the mood was light and cheerful, and the future was bright and clear: Jim Hendry had just announced the hiring of "Sweet" Lou Piniella as the fine new manager of the Chicago Cubs. Jim Hendry had swapped his "Trader Jim" cap for his shiny new "Jim Spendry" cap, and was sparing no expense in building an awesome roster for his new manager. For his part, Lou Piniella was bringing the energy and accountability that the Cubs Faithful had so eagerly desired after enduring the painful years of the Dusty Era.

So it was truly a perfect storm! We saw a mix of high-priced free agents (Soriano & Lilly), retention of our top players (Ramirez and Zambrano), and a manager that was bringing a winning attitude to the North Side. So clearly when I open my paper (ok....when I look online) and see the current baseball standings, our beloved Cubbies should be several games above .500, and well on their way to a division title, right? Unfortunately....you know better.

Game Fifty-One - Cubs 0 Marlins 9
WP - Randy Messenger (1-1) LP - Ted Lilly (4-3) Save - None

Is this rock bottom for Lou Piniella's crew? When the word spread that the Cubs had a players only meeting before Wednesday night's game and that is was Derrek Lee's idea, it gave hope for this group of players to once and for all gel into a team....well that was not the case. If Piniella thought Tuesday's game was the worst of the season, what will he say about this one? Nothing, absolutely nothing went the Cubs way....bad pitching, no hitting and poor defense, what is the line from Bull Durham again? And to add insult to injury, the Marlins hit 4 home runs and the Cubs high-powered offense managed just 5 singles.

The Cubs were shutout for the second time this season, the Marlins swept a 3-game series at Wrigley for the first time and with the loss the Cubs fell to a season low 7 games under .500. There are 111 games left in the 2007 season, how much longer can Lou Piniella and Jim Hendry just allow this to continue?

Game Fifty-One: Cubs (22-28) vs. Marlins (25-27)
Game Time - 7:05pm C.T. WGN TV, WGN Radio, XM Radio Channel 185
Location - Wrigley Field, Chicago

Ted Lilly (4-2, 3.20/1.02) vs. Sergio Mitre (2-2, 1.89/1.11)

The Cubs will look to salvage the last game of the series tonight behind Ted Lilly. Lilly has pitched very well for the Cubs this season. He has produced 8 quality starts in 10 outings and he finds his team in a must win situation. The Cubs enter play tonight 6 games under .500 with a 12-14 record in the month of May having lost 4 of their last 5 games.

"Sometimes you just have to tip your cap."

As a Cubs' fan I recall hearing Harry's grandson utter this phrase way too often in reference to another dominating performance from the opposition's starting pitcher. Two full seasons have gone by and the only change is that these words are now coming out of Len Kasper's mouth. I even heard Derrek Lee say it a few weeks ago. My problem is that this phrase is not being used to describe Roy Oswalt, Pedro Martinez, Chris Carpenter, John Smoltz, Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt, Tom Glavine or Ben Sheets. No, it has been used in the past few seasons to describe Ryan Vogelsong, Doug Davis and Kyle Lohse. More recently it was used in honor of Nick Masset, B.K. Kim and Jorge Sosa.

Game Fifty - Cubs 4 Marlins 9
WP - Dontrelle Willis (7-3) LP - Jason Marquis (5-2) Save - Kevin Gregg (6)

Ron Santo summed up the Cubs' season very well, "They're to anxious." The Cubs built an early lead against Dontrelle Willis just to see it evaporate midway through the game due in large part to poor defense and bad base running. Jason Marquis could not recover from a 40-pitch 4th inning and ineffectiveness led to his departure after the 5th inning. Ryan Theriot's pinch hit 2-run home run in 7th cut the Marlins lead to one but Michael Wuertz could not throw strikes in the 8th and the Marlins scored four more times to put the game out of reach.

The Cubs attempted another 9th inning comeback but after loading the bases with 1-out, Marlins' closer, Kevin Gregg, struck out Cliff Floyd and Derrek Lee to end the game.

Game Fifty: Cubs (22-27) vs. Marlins (24-27)
Game Time - 7:05pm C.T. Comcast Sports Net, WGN Radio, XM Radio Channel 185
Location - Wrigley Field, Chicago

Jason Marquis (5-1, 2.60/1.02) vs. Dontrelle Willis (6-3, 4.80/1.54)

The Cubs will look to get back in the win column tonight against Marlins' ace, Dontrelle Willis. Lou Piniella's team has struggled to score runs and he says the offense will eventually come around and start putting up runs on a consistent basis. While baseball is a team effort, several players are performing well below their expectations and must step up soon to avoid becoming the 2007 version of Juan Pierre. Jason Marquis has been one of the bright spots for the Cubs and needs to give his team another solid outing and put them in position to win the game.

The Cubs recent play has most of the Faithful frustrated, me included. If we have a runner on third base with less than two outs do we have faith we can score? If we have a lead late in the game do you have faith we can keep it? If we hear the score and it is 2-1 or even 10-9 most fans will know we are on the losing end. Why do we get so frustrated? After all, we are Cubs fans. We haven't won a World Series since before my grandmother was born. This is part of being a Cubs fan, dealing with frustration like this.

After all the recent problems I thought I would take a look at this year's team compared to the 2003 team, the first year for Dusty Baker. Below are some selected stats from both teams. The noticeable difference is in ERA.

• 2003 Cubs (48 games) - 238 Runs, .257 Avg, 49 HR's, .344 OBP, 3.38 ERA
• 2007 Cubs (48 games) - 224 Runs, .269 Avg, 42 HR's, .329 OBP, 3.93 ERA

The Cubs starters have pitched pretty well this year except for a few poor outings but the bullpen has been awful. Rich Hill is in his first full season, Angel Guzman has pitched well and Sean Marshall has come up from Iowa and has also pitched well. Ryan Theriot has been a pleasant surprise on offense so the Cubs farm system has been paying off for them this year. If we can get the bullpen figured out and do some timely hitting we can turn this year around. After all, as bad as we have been playing, we are still only five games out of first. This season is still wide open. I just hope we either get hot or get some more help up from Iowa to add a spark. Here are the first updates of the week from the farm....

Wade Miller's days in the Cubs organization could be coming to an end according to a report late Monday night from the Chicago Tribune. Dave van Dyck mentioned, "With Wade Miller's minor-league rehab at an end, it appears his days with the Cubs could be numbered."

The report goes on to mention Jim Hendry will meet with Wade Miller in the next few days to figure out what is next for him and the Cubs.

Game Forty-Nine - Cubs 3 Marlins 5
WP - Byung-Hyun Kim (3-2) LP - Sean Marshall (0-2) Save - Kevin Gregg (5)

The Cubs offense was a non-factor early in the game against the Marlins' pitching staff and the rally in the 9th was a case of too little too late. They managed just 8 hits on the afternoon to go along with 5 walks and could not come up with the clutch 2-out hits they needed with runners in scoring position. Byung-Hyun Kim threw 6 shutout innings, gave up 3 hits, walked 3, struck out 5 and recorded his first career victory against the Cubs.

Sean Marshall was not as sharp as his first outing of the season but pitched well enough to keep his team in the ballgame. As has been the case in many of Marshall's Major League starts, he did not receive any run support and deserved a better outcome....even with the loss, Marshall's ERA on the season stands at 2.70. Ryan Theriot made several fine defensive plays at shortstop and continues to outshine Cesar Izturis in the field and at the plate. The Cubs continue to waste very good outings by their starting pitching.

Game Forty-Nine: Cubs (22-26) vs. Marlins (23-27)
Game Time - 1:20pm C.T. Comcast Sports Net, WGN Radio, XM Radio Channel 185
Location - Wrigley Field, Chicago

Sean Marshall (0-1, 2.57/0.86) vs. Byung-Hyun Kim (2-2, 7.02/1.88)

Happy Memorial Day from everyone here at the CCO.... The Cubs start a 6-game homestand today against the Florida Marlins that concludes on Sunday afternoon against the Atlanta Braves. The Cubs play 12 of their next 19 games at Wrigley Field with stops at Miller Park and Turner Field in between two 6-game homestands. Lou Piniella recently stated his team has played better than their record indicates and while his statement is true, the Cubs must start putting wins on the board because at the end the day the win/loss record is the only stat that is counted.