Agustin, no problem. I figured you were. Some recaps are easier to do than others, yesterday's was one of those games.

The keyboards are usually safe but the vocabulary is usually shortened...and if they were recorded would probably be full of "beeps".

Agustin - it's not pretty, trust me. The dog and I are smart enough to go for nice loooong walks.

Haven’t missed one neither Neil, lol! I was joking because I imagined that you were working on it at that precise moment.

**Sometimes I wonder how you feel writing a recap when the state of mind is down due to a bad loss, but I guess you just take it out on the keyboard!

Agustin, what? I'm sorry the recap is late. I had a prior commitment tonight that ran long. I haven't missed a game recap since August of 2005....I'm not gonna start now.

I understand Neil....it was a devastating loss.

We'll take it out on the Cardinals and the Brewers will lose to some mediocre team.

Good night guys.

Nice post Jason B. Thank you for reinstilinig sanity to those who want to trade Soriano after his a slow start and a trip to the DL. I also feel the same way about Reed Johnson.

The Cubs went to the playoffs last year, and Soriano played a huge part, both in the 2nd half of the season due to his offense, and because of his strong arm in the OF.

He is a proven commodity.

Reed Johnson is a backup.

Last year, everyone thought Mike Fontenot was the greatest thing in the world...for about 2 months...and then he came back to Earth. Fontenot came back down to Earth because that is his talent level.

Soriano's numbers improved as the season went along last year, because that is his talent level at work. He is a star...a superstar when healthy on the basepaths.

The easiest way to make this point is to pretend you are a GM, and all players make the same salary. You have to choose among Pie, Johnson, and Soriano...who do you pick? Soriano, Soriano, Soriano...every single time. Why? Because he is the better, more proven, major league talent.

I would have liked to have seen Lofton as a backup plan to Pie, but I think we can continue to trot Pie out there in CF, and at least let him play some defense. If his hitting doesn't improve, then Lou should just make him bunt every single time up.

I think the biggest question mark is whether Kerry Wood makes sense as a closer. I think he has the stuff, and I think he has the mindset. However, when Kerry Wood was a starter, I seem to remember he would often have a rocky start, and then settle down. Unfortunately, that is a bad thing to have as a closer, since you don't have the luxury of having a free pass if you get lit up in the first inning.

Since Wood has proven to be healthy...why don't I ask the question that has been on many CCO Readers' minds: why not put Wood back in the rotation?

Zambrano, Lily, Wood, Hill, Dempster. With Marshall and Lieber serving as insurance. Trade Marquis, for a servicable 4th OF or good prospect. Maybe you can package Marquis and Murton (and a prospect) over to Boston. They could use another starter as insurance, and Murton was from their farm system...maybe we can get Coco Crisp back?

If Wood is healthy, and he seems to be, why not put Kid K back where he belongs, in the starting rotation. Perhaps the Cubs face the Padres in the playoffs this year.

Would anyone else like to see a Kerry Wood vs Mark Prior pitching matchup?

Baron,

Couldn't agree more about Hendry, but that one move likely saved his job last year as Soriano carried us in September while we had a terrible bullpen and hardly any power in the lineup.

My belief was that he made a TERRIBLE mistake by having the first pick in the Rule V, and a need for an outfielder, and he trades Hamilton to the Reds---in our own DAMN division nevertheless....once again with him----a fireable offense that he committed.

As I admitted before, I totally whiffed on Pie. We should've traded him in the offseason in a bigger package with the likes of Marquis, Marshall, etc. for more offense and a pitching prospect. Let's face it---we CANNOT develop position talent, and every time one of these guys comes up, we should immediately look to trade them for a proven young guy such as a Miguel Cabrera, Handley Ramirez, etc. (guys that low revenue teams cannot afford to keep). If I were part of Cubs management, I'd be scouting the crap out of the Reds, Nat's, Marlins, Rays, Pirates, A's, Royals, and even the Rangers (because they're stupid), in order to find young talent that they'll likely be unable to afford. I guess you can even throw in Cleveland to the mix.

Specifically, I'd keep an eye on McClouth, DeJesus, Teahan, Sabathia, Crawford, etc.

A few thoughts.....

* When Cedeno got on base in the ninth why didn't he try to steal second base? It's not like Kendall has cannon arm.

* Soriano is soft, that panzie better step it up we will not go to October unless he has a big year.

* Woody has to pitch better or his ass is back to the seventh inning.

* Yeah, I am f'g pissed off about today's game!

Kerry Wood has blown 4 saves.... his stuff is so good, but, the only legitimate reason to leave him in place is ---

Outside of Woody and Marmol, the rest of our bull-pen flat out stinks.... to begin with --- THEIR STUFF IS NOT VERY GOOD....

Wuertz throws a 90-91mph fastball and a nice slider.... woo hoo!!!

Howry throws hard, but has basically 1 effective pitch that EVERYBODY sits on....

Hart has nice stuff, but is inexperienced

thats pretty much it...

As a result, Marmol is being driven into the ground... and this could cause issues later.... He is the Devin Hester of the Cubs and CANNOT be LOST...If Marmol goes, we can all look forward to Golf season.

Jim Hendry is a dunce. $130 million to Soriano who Brian Cashman and the Yanks dumped to develop Robinson Cano..... I truly think that Hendry is amongst the 5 dumbest managers in baseball...

Trevor, you over-reacted like I thought you...or some others might...which is why I put that in my post...LOL....oh, you kill me

Anyhow...........I was simply trying to get a little discussion going on here about the negative impact Soriano has on our lineup....ditto Pie...and any ideas anyone has to possibly make a trade.

Soriano has a no trade clause I believe, and he specifically got that in his contract because he was with the Yanks, Rangers, Nat's, and then the Cubs, all within 5 years, so he wanted some security. Therefore, a trade probably isn't likely, yet, he still doesn't fit well with this team. Understand? Granted Pie hasn't had a wealth of opportunity---only 200+ AB's, yet he has shown that he cannot handle major league pitching, and his swing is as long as Patterson. I love his work ethic, but like Patterson, he's just another miss for our desperate scouting department.

If Pie and Soriano just learn to take more pitches, we'll be far better off. Why is it that the normally impatient Cedeno has managed to change his habits and they haven't.

I couldn't stand Cedeno before and thought he was over-rated and over-valued by management, but guys like that---that know their deficiencies and work hard to be more patient, really make me happy as a fan. Maybe Cedeno can rub off on them, and they'll start to realize they NEED to change for us to have success.

Can someone please put Pittsburgh back on the schedule? Please?!

If Marmol is throwing two innings all the time I dont see why he can't close starting in the 8th. I love Kerry but fair is fair and he has been inconsistent and Marmol craves that job. I'll give Wood the benefit of the doubttwo or three more outings but it was the worst loss of the year so far. I feel closer Dempster is taking the ball everytime starter Wood takes the ball in the 9th. If he blows another one he should go to the rotation and pray to God that he can take it.

I too remember that it took him a couple of innings to settle when he was a starter.

Talking of change. Mark Cuban has been showing up in Wrigley for this and the last game (at least from what I saw on WGN).

Maybe he'll buy the club from Zell. I hope the Commissioner (or the future one coming up) won't block the Cuban way just because he's not directly connected to any current owners.

And I never thought Bud Selig should be a Hall of Famer. Why should any Commissioner be there? especially when people like Selig bought his way up there? (alright, he created the Brewers, so that's bound-to-greatness?)

I appreciate Aaron's passion for the Cubs and after a game like today's, it is cathartic to dream about the kind of changes you would love to see.

The Rangers, a team going nowhere and desperate for pitching, have a center fielder that would be a perfect fit for the Cubs. The left-handed bat of Josh Hamilton. Unfortunately, the Rangers traded for him and he is on fire, so it's unlikely they would part with him. Could the Cubs go the Pirate well again and steal Nate McClouth?

god you people kill me. how can you still be cub fans after all this time. marmol stuff is nasty. period!!!! there is noone else in cubbie blue that could of gotten us out of the jam he got us out of. how many times this year has he done that. that was almost impossible what he did. wood is ok. his stuff is not near what marmol is and we all know this. but looking at the sheer number of innings alone it tells us of the importance of marmol to our team. if it was not for him we prob would not be .500 i think that marmol is in the right place for now considering we have absolutely noone else to bridge the gap. there is not anyone else pitching worth a crap in the bullpen. untill howry, wuertz, hart, and marshall step it up lou has no more options. i just want to make sure lou uses marmol wisely. he only has so many innings in his arm. as for sori, it is his first game back and of course everyone hammers him. i personaly think he should bat 6. but, i am also smart enough to know that lou knows his players a little better than me and he is going to put them where he thinks they help him most.

We lost a game...time to trade away most the team and cut the rest. :)

wow, Cory, you said it best...what a freaking bummer.

After a wonderful performance by Dempster and Soto yesterday---well, really, everyone, except for Howry, and then we go and lay a stinker today. That's a shame. What's even more a shame is that our bullpen has gone to crap, where now, we can only count on Marmol to do the dirty work.

HOWEVER...a couple things I noticed today...wonder if anyone else did:

1) Soriano makes this team worse---when he doesn't get on, usually Lee and ARAM are more apt to expand their zone

2) I'll admit when I'm wrong...and I've been extremely wrong about Pie. I'm watching a re-run of Corey Patterson in front of my eyes, but with little power, and an even worse OBP. But who else do we throw in there. Look, Johnson has been cool and everything for us, but he's going to settle around .270avg, .340 OBP, with very little power. We have nobody in the minors that even remotely resembles an OF prospect, and don't tell me Colvin is, because he's just like Pie and Patterson.

3) As mentioned, Soriano makes this team worse, especially at the top, when it sets the tone for the entire game. Yes, Gallardo had an excellent curveball today, but other than that he was not very good, AND he was playing hurt, and didn't have great command. It's just my opinion, but I think Soriano made everyone else into free swingers. We drew only 2 walks on the day with Gallardo not really pitching with much command, not to mention hurt, and the 2nd walk on the day came with the erratic Gagne on the mound. We had far better patience without him in the lineup, and I didn't miss him one bit

My point is, we need to start looking at replacements for Soriano and Pie, and FAST, before they really start losing value. I was EXTREMELY excited about our newfound patience at the plate, and a lot of our success when he was out of the lineup had to do with that. But every other inning or so you can virtually guarantee an out with him in the lineup. I was never wrong about Soriano. At the time, I thought he was the best on the market. Yet, that doesn't mean he was the right fit. The Yankees recognized that, and many other teams did during his free agency. We can admit a mistake and move on. Lee's power has returned, and we have a new source with Soto. ARAM's will only increase this year, so I think we can afford to trade him.

I know a ton of people will jump on me for those comments, but for the doubters out there...just examine our stats without him in the lineup, and what you saw was an increase in pitches for the opposing pitcher, and a greater patience at the plate that led to our improved record.

That's not the only issue though....as we have Marquis still in the rotation and a suddenly inept bullpen. Here's a genius idea....Use Soriano and Pie to get a LF, CF prospect, and an arm or two for the rotation. Trade Marquis to the highest bidder and insert Gallagher, and I believe we'll have a much improved team.

No, I am not bringing this up just because we lost....I've been meaning to for quite some time actually but have been out of town.

Agustin would probably agree...Hendry's decision to trade Pagan could have serious negative implications for us this year.

Perhaps we could work out a deal with the Mets to get him and Church for Pie and Marquis.

The Dodgers have been in search for power for quite some time as well...perhaps Soriano for Eithier or Kemp, and some pitching prospects might work?

I know they'd never make a trade this early, but his impatience at the plate kills us. One of the reasons the White Sox and Red Sox won their respective titles is because they have had really patient guys in their lineups coupled with pitching staffs that consistently went 6 innings or longer.

I think it's time to turn the page and admit two big mistakes-----Soriano, and holding onto Pie

By the way, Soriano was probably the main reason we even made the playoffs last year, so I'm not saying he's completely worthless. He just doesn't fit with the team as it is constructed right now---

Lee, ARAM, Fukodome, Soto, DeRosa, and Johnson are all very patient players. Even Theriot can be patient. But when you throw in Pie and Soriano in that lineup, they are NEVER patient, which hurts everyone. Soriano has saved a number of games for us with his arm, but could we have found a Carlos Lee type or Dunn, or someone else that'd save us with their bat? I dunno...just saying

Marmol did close the 7th, preserving a two run lead by striking out both hitters with two runners on base. That was huge. Kerry just had to do the job today. Having a closer for your closer is nearly impossible. When you hit the leadoff batter and the next guy hits a catchable ball to left, you have thrown away two possible outs. In a sentence, we gave the game away.

If Wood doesn't get consistently good, I suppose we can hope Wuertz returns to form and can pitch the 7th or 8th with Marmol moving to closer and Wood dropping back. Let's hope the second guessing of Wood's pitching, Soriano's defense and Lou not making any defensive changes doesn't lead to lasting unrest.

I agree it's time for Marmol to close! Enough is enough. This is not an overreaction. A month is in the books and you either have it or you don't and Kerry is inferior to Marmol without question.

Closers don't hit the 1st guy they face and I believe thats the 2nd time Woods has done that already, throw in walking guys, etc...please.

Soriano was exactly what I expected as well, produced nothing at the top and totally butchered that ball Kapler hit in the ninth.

Heading into this weekend to battle the Cards in Busch please Lou just pull the trigger and do the right thing!

Johnson cf

Fukudome rf

Lee 1b

Aram 3b

Soto c

Soriano lf

DeRosa 2b

Theriot ss

Zambrano

Lilly

Dempster

Hill

Lieber

Hart

wuertz

Marquis

Marshal

Howry

Wood

Marmol CLOSER

MAN THAT WAS A FREAKING BUMMER!!!!!

Can anyone explain to me why Pinella did not have anyone warming up while Kerry Wood was blowing the game? I am a huge Kid K fan and everryone is bound to have a bad game but Pinella really blew it this time. Not only that but he lets Pie bat in that position? I think Soriano and Fukudome need to pay attention to the weather... it takes 1 second to look up and see the flags blowing out of Wrigley. (So maybe you should take a few steps back)

Oh well... just frustrated... Tomorrow is another game.

John, I remember that it did take Kerry an inning or two to get into his groove. Hopefully the Cubs will work with him about getting warmed up and into that groove prior to going into the game. Very frustrating to lose this one today but it won't be the last time this season something like this happens. Now it is time to rebound with a vengeance.

Carlos Marmol should be closing period.

Anyone got a sharp knife I can fall on?

The drive over Soriano's head seemed to fool him. The one over Dome's head likely resulted from his playing in a couple of steps to have a play at the plate on a single. Kerry doesn't close. We lose. What a disgusting ending.

Does anyone else think Wood should not be a closer?

I remember him usually taking an inning or two to really get into the groove? DO I remember correctly?

He's blown 3 or 4 saves already. I'm a huge fan of his as a player, but it sucks to see him blow these division games. The odds are in his favor as a closer.

Seriously Kerry.

Kerry flunked his 9th inning test, and now we trail. Let's pick him up in our half.

Does anyone else agree?

Wood is not a closer period.

When he could start he always needed an inning to get into the groove. Now he's blown like 3 or 4 saves.

Am I wrong or do I just not remember right?

Marmol has pitched 19 innings in 1 month now. On pace to throw close to a 100 innings this year!!!

As opposed to Wuertz, Wood, & Howry, none of whom have thrown more than 13....

gotta be careful with the guy..

Thanks JimK I can't watch it and my buddy texted me and said we got screwed but he's a bit of a over reacter when it comes to the Cubs if you know what I mean.

Cory... Upon review and a different angle than th ump's, Dome seemed safe, but you don't get that call when the catcher has the ball well before the runner gets there and does make the tag.

YOU DA MAN, CARLOS!!! TWO K'S TO PRESERVE THE TWO RUN LEAD.

We knew it would be a nail biter. Good job Z. Come on Carlos.

Was Fukudome out at the plate or did the ump blow it?

Fukudome!!!

Way to hold onto it Soto!

I liked that show of respect between the two after that play. No hard feelings.

The ump does seem to be guessing on pitches down in the strike zone and/or just outside the zone. Let's get couple of runs for Z in the bottom of the fourth so the pressure doesn't build on Z.

Scoring update? Just got in?

Hows it goin everyone?

boy, is Z worth his weight in gold or what.

Medium-sized Z!!

Sorry to bitch so early and I am not one to usually complain about the umps but i see this as a very big game and the guy behind the plate has been inconsistent...two pitches to braun were strikes and that outside pitch to Lee was not a strike

I am usually completely opposed to the pitcher batting eight, however, i think lou should consider it when and only when Z and Marquis start cause i do not view them as auto outs like most other pitchers and then let reed or even felix bat ninth...felix could benefit from hitting in front of a good hitter like sori cause they will not pitch around him...what do u guys think?

Today's lineup:

Soriano, LF

Theriot, SS

Lee, 1B

Ramirez, 3B

Fukudome, RF

DeRosa, 2B

Soto, C

Johnson, CF

Zambrano, P

just wondered if someone could help me. i have tickets for my wife and childs first game at wrigley on june 1 is there a way to find out who is singing the stretch. thanks..bb

I think the offense will go as Soriano goes today. Only because all eyes are on him today.

Even though I think that there are better options then to have Soriano in the leadoff spot, I can handle it.

Its kind of like deciding between the 2008 Corvette or the 2007 Corvette. Who cares tis still a Corvette.

But don't be surprised if there isn't as many walks today as there has been. The lineup will follow Soriano's lead. At least today.

How do you have a .64 ERA and not at least have one win. They must not give Gallardo much run support.

Amen, guys. I, also, am very excited for this game. I hope we can get off to a fast start and let Z dominate. Let's go get it today.

Thanks Jim....

You are our "Neil Ticket" to the ultimate game day buffet of Cubs facts, aspirations, inuendos and outuendos, and we thank you, Neil, for our daily bread.

And as Barry may relate, what guys in my infantry unit used to say when we were returning home to significant others after several days in the field, "Man does not live by bread alone--He must have peanut butter!" So in a figurative sense for the Faithful, here's hoping for some more of the wonderful Cubs' peanut butter this afternoon.

And Bo has sized up the meaning of today's game very well. Let's score 4 or more for Z and win again.

i am as excited about this game as much as i have been since opening day. i think this is a very important game in the early part of our season. we have a chance to show the brewers that we are the team to beat in the central. we can establish the potency of our lineup to a young pitcher that we will be seeing for years to come. we really need to continue the quality at bats that we have been having lately. i hope that sori does not try to do too much in his return. we need a dominant start by z (7innings) and put a few runs on the board early. if we can win handily then i think this will go a long way to our success over the brewers this year. lets go cubbies!!