Archive for July, 2009

There was no doubt the Cubs needed another lefty in the pen, and clearly they didn’t think B.J. Ryan was the answer (he’s only been hitting 87 on the radar gun in his minor league rehab appearances).  Hence the move to acquire John Grabow from the Pirates.  Somewhat surprisingly, the Cubs took on a second lefty in the trade, Tom Gorzelanny, a guy who at one point looked well on his way to becoming an established major league starter, but lost it somewhere, and has spent the last year bouncing back and forth between AAA. Grabow steps right into the [...]

News to make Koyie Hill‘s knees sigh with relief:  The Chicago Tribune says Geovany Soto, out since July 7 with a strained oblique, will start a rehab assignment this weekend and could be back in the Cubs‘ line-up by next week. As indicated already, this is great news for Koyie Hill, who has started 19 straight games behind the plate for the Cubs, the longest such streak since the venerable Damon Berryhill had to do all the catching with Joe Girardi injured back in 1989.  Koyie deserves some kind of special citation for his heroic work.  And the Cubs really [...]

In case you weren’t fired up enough about the Cubs going after John Grabow or Joe Beimel at the trade deadline, here are some more names to get you properly excited: Jeremy Hermida and Mark Teahen. Yes, Jeremy Hermida – again.  The Cubs‘ eternal quest for a left-hand-hitting outfielder has led them back to Florida, where Mr. Hermida is hitting .249 with 11 homers. Mark Teahen, meanwhile, is tearing it up for Kansas City, to the tune of a .290 batting average with 9 homers and 36 RBI. These statistics don’t exactly jump off the page, until you realize that [...]

Wednesday afternoon’s game against the Astros was one of the more satisfying in a long time for the Cubs.  That’s how it usually is when you get up 6-0 on a team in the first inning then go on to thump them 12-0, hitting three homers in the process, and basically looking like the best baseball squad to come along since Abner Doubleday or whoever the hell invented baseball, invented baseball. The game was already pretty much over when Alfonso Soriano jacked a 3-run first inning tater off Mike Hampton, who I honestly thought had retired several years ago.  And [...]

Today the Seattle Mariners shipped a package of major and minor league players, including former Cubs shortstop Ronny Cedeno, to the Pirates for Jack Wilson and Ian Snell.  Yes kids, it’s true – Ronny Cedeno is back in the division.  We look forward to seeing him back at Wrigley Field August 14 when the Pirates come to town. Yeah, that’s sarcasm. As for the Pirates – it’s a disgrace that a major league organization can just surrender like this, despite being only a few years removed from opening a new ballpark.  They should be contracted.  Actually I take that back.  [...]

Ryan Dempster didn’t have it in his first game back from the toe injury.  He got pounded for five earned in five innings…which looked survivable given the six runs the Cubs put up in the 4th and 5th innings.  Unfortunately, the Cubs’ pen was even less effective than Dempster, allowing 5 runs the last three frames and handing the Astros an 11-6 win. It was a bittersweet night for Houston, who won the game but lost ace Roy Oswalt to a back strain in the second.  If Oswalt misses significant time…well, that would just about sound the death knell for [...]

The Cubs are not expected to make any huge Nomar Garciaparra-like deals at the trade deadline, so forget about Adam Dunn or anyone of that caliber joining the team (despite Lou Piniella‘s public statements about the club needing a big lefty bat). So what kind of player can we expect the Cubs to pursue at the deadline?  A lefty reliever, probably Washington‘s Joe Beimel, or maybe Pittsburgh‘s John Grabow. There was a time, before the season started, when most of thought there was a good chance the Cubs would be after Jake Peavy right now.  But Peavy’s health didn’t cooperate, [...]

Former Cubs reliever LaTroy Hawkins was booted from Monday night’s game vs. the Astros after disagreeing vehemently with umpire Mike Everitt about a ball call to Aramis Ramirez in the 8th inning (the game was tied 1-1 at the time).  Now LaTroy has made his situation even worse by suggesting that Everitt has a bias in favor of the Cubs. “Maybe [Everitt] was having a bad day,” Hawkins said when asked about the incident after the game. “I thought he had determined who he wanted to win the game anyway.” Yes, we all know the umpires are in the tank for the Cubs [...]

The Cubs scored all their runs on homers Monday night against the Astros:  a Derrek Lee solo shot in the fourth to tie it 1-1, and a little thing I like to call a walk-off grand slam from Alfonso Soriano in the bottom of the 13th. Alfonso was very psyched about his game-winning salami.  Maybe a little too psyched.  I’m sure he will get ripped for his hot dogging and weird hand gestures as he circled the bases.  He may even experience a little chin music courtesy of Mr. Oswalt.  I’ve slammed Alfonso enough and am not going to do [...]

It turns out Rich Harden isn’t a vampire after all. I was starting to wonder, after Lou Piniella announced that Harden would only be pitching night games from now on.  I wanted to ask Lou if he had also begun hanging garlic from his office door, or whether he had noticed Harden leaving any reflections in mirrors around the clubhouse. Then I realized that the Cubs‘ clubhouse doesn’t have mirrors, just like it doesn’t have air conditioning, drainage or any other amenities invented since the 1930s. But now I don’t have to worry about any of that stuff.  I watched [...]