Too Bad Cubs Can't Play Pittsburgh Every Day
The Cubs have completely owned the Pirates this year; or PWNED them if you're an online gaming aficionado (which I'm not). Two series, two sweeps. They scored 26 runs in the last two games alone. It doesn't get much more definitive than that. Some things I like, other than the obvious:
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Starting pitching is slowly improving. Hill, Marquis and Dempster all won games this series. Even though two of those guys only pitched five innings (and the other guy threw six), five innings and a win is a hell of a lot better than 3 or 4 innings and a loss or no decision in the hands of the pen.
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Ronnie Cedeno has been tremendous. Great hitting, patience at the plate, and great baserunning of all things. He's like a totally different guy, and he's playing like the guy we always heard about that hit .360 in AAA. It'll be tough to bench him when Soriano gets back and DeRosa heads back to second. The good news is he can play 2nd, 3rd or short in case of injury. (Theriot has been on fire as well) I even recall Cedeno playing some Center this spring, though I don't know how good he was in the field. That's always an option for keeping him in the lineup as well.
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Aramis Ramirez is heating up. Four hits today. His average will be back up to normal within a week.
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Mark DeRosa has shed the anti-clutch label, too. Sweet. And Lee of course is pounding the ball like 2005.
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Nice to see the Cubs correct their mistake and recall Murton. Not that he's done much yet, but it's still nice to see Orange Guy back and in the lineup while Soriano is out.
What's not to like? Not much. Just need to get Lilly going and stretch out the other starters a bit and everything will be hunky dory in Cubland. Oh, and Soriano back, but honestly the team hasn't missed him at all.
Now the Mets come to town and this is a real test for the Cubs. They've had problems with good teams the last year and a half (like San Diego and the Phillies) while crushing the sisters of the poor (Pittsburgh). Gotta start beating teams that might actually make the postseason. Starting tonight.
EAMUS CATULI