Cubs take Two from Brew Crew
Every time somebody asked me about the Cubs dwindling lead last week, I basically replied that I wasn't really worried. Every team goes into slumps, and every Cub hitter not named "Mike Fontenot" had been struggling since the all-star break. All it takes to start winning again is the big three to heat up, I was saying. Since then, Soriano, Aramis, and D-Lee supplied the heat, and whaddya know the Cubs have started winning again. And with the "as critical as a series in July can be" series with Milwaukee half-way over, it couldn't come at a better time.
Tonight, behind Carlos Zambrano and Aramis Ramirez, the Cubs easily dispatched the Brewers by a score of 7-1 just one night after winning a nail-biter in what might have been "the most intense mid-season game of the year." Beating Sabathia and Sheets on consecutive nights in Milwaukee cuts the Brewers deep. They were so looking forward to this series, to have it start like this has got to be devastating for the Brewers fan base. But there's a lot of baseball left to be played so there's no time for sucking each other's popsicles just yet.
I've got a lot more thoughts on the Cubs lately, so here goes.
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Soriano is at full speed, and I love it. That broken hand didn't do much for the Cubs in the standings, but Soriano's legs are finally 100% healthy and he's no longer running like a man with a rock in his shoe.
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Aramis had four hits tonight and his post-all-star break batting average is finally better than Ted Lilly's. He was awful the last few weeks, but now he's starting to pound the ball. Lee's looking a lot better lately, too, though that "botched double play ball" really saved him. He's been hitting into mad DPs this season, and Reed Johnson's slide into second quite possibly saved the Cubs last night and Lee in particular. All hail the scrappy Reed, who himself has been hitting the ball hard lately.
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How about Jeff Samardzija? I was at his debut on Friday versus the Marlins and let me tell ya, the dude throws fire. Filthy fire. A lot of people are throwing around K-Rod comparisons on how The Shark might be able to do what Francisco Rodriguez did for the Angels in 2002. I'd love for it to happen, but please...let's not put all our eggs in that basket. Let some tape of him get around the league and let the batters adjust before we start etching his likeness into the Cubs Walk of Fame. Until he's got 20 innings under his belt, lets pretend his name is Kevin Hart and go on with our lives.
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Just kidding about the Kevin Hart thing. Samardzija is awesome, even if his name is impossible to spell. It's also impossible to root against the guy. I mean, he must really be a special talent to be considered first round material in two sports. (I know he wasn't first round for the Cubs, but that was only because people thought he'd choose football. On pure stuff, he was a first rounder.)
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Harden's going Thursday, and you wanna talk about special talent, the line forms behind Rich Harden. Three starts, 30 strikeouts, unfortunately no wins. It'd be nice to see him go a little deeper in games but really, who in their right mind would complain. They should keep Marshall fresh in the pen to close out Harden's starts on a weekly basis. Collectively you're looking at a sub 3.00 ERA and theoretically a lot of wins. Doesn't hurt to try.
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Bob Howry, you're officially on swiffer duty. When he came in the tie game in the ninth on Friday, I just sat back and said, "go ahead: give up your run, get three outs and let us proceed to the bottom of the ninth so we have a chance to score." Of course Hermida hit a 500 foot homer to ultimately win the game. Then last night, Cubs scratch out a 4-3 lead and he near immediately gives up another 500 footer. Howry was a good signing that for the first two years of his deal performed about as well as could be expected. But this year he's turned into Mike Remlinger over night. Disturbing.
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Marmol looks better, but he's still shaky. And who knows when Wood's blister will heal. That injury is pretty infuriating. I mean, can't they just pop the sonofabitch, put a band-aid on it, and have him pitch in two days? I don't get it. So with all that going on, Hendry would be best served in finding another arm for the pen. I like Gaudin and The Shark, but can you really count on these guys? Marmol's showed signs of snapping out of it, but they're still short one arm.
And that's about it. Two more against the Brewers before "home sweet home" August kicks in for the Cubs. Time to really build up that lead, because as everybody knows, September is almost sure to suck. Till next time...