Josh does such a good job I thought he needed some help and with a little prodding by Al, I wanted to contribute some "minor" news.

I attended a great day at Principal Park today with friends, but more specifically to see why Pie wasn't able to hit his hat for the Iowa Cubs. Whether it's my luck, his luck or nothing of the such, Pie came out of his AAA slump with two hits today.

First inning Patterson got a hit, balked to second and Pie, batting second is up. I give him a careful look to see why the guy is struggling and he lines one up the middle for a base hit. Steals second. I'm thinking even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while....and I wait.  2nd inning flies out. He can't hit. 4th inning a gapper to the base of the wall in right center. 7th inning ground out. 2 for 4 and he raised his average to .114. Nothing good, but better than I expected.

I don't know how he will ever make it back to Chicago without more games like today. He didn't show any power but in his case just getting a hit was important. He was 3-40 until today.

Patterson and Murton each had two hits but probably the player I was most impressed with was Neal Cotts. In an inning and two-thirds, three K's and one hit with his ERA now at 2.00. His 27 innings and 33 K's look great but 23 hits and 10 walks don't. I still thought he looked good, sharp and in control. Maybe he does have it together and could be a call up, at least be a September call-up.

If you get a chance, a AAA game in Des Moines is good fun. We support our team well. It's a great park with a lot of friendly people. A lot of family fun. The right field deck is a lot of fun.....the closest I can get to my usual seat in the bleachers at Wrigley or the berm in Mesa. Still, you can't beat  day at the ball yard. I had Pat and Ron on the locla radio brodacast keeping up with the big boys. And, the last thought on Pie.....he's not ready to come back to Chicago until he can dominate AAA pitching, which he has not done. The jury is still out, we'll have wait for a lot more another day. We may wait a long time too.