FURST I guess

But clearly Ryan Dempster is having a career year in the rotation, not to mention what we’ve received so far from Harden.

Otherwise the other 4 are great, even Lilly has 11 wins, with only 6 losses.

the ball to Theriot in the 2nd inning was a slicer, that hit right on the lip of the outfield grass, it would have been a tough error to hang on him. I doubt he could have thrown him out anyway.

The Angels might lose for once in this season.

losing 8-5 to KC.

Fielder with a HR, 1-1, top of seven.

sounds like it was fun. :)

7 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 8 SO

The chunky one with another HR.

What would this team be if he hadn’t grabbed Johnson and Edmonds from the scrap heap?

The object should be to win series, minimize any losing series, and completely avoid getting swept. If we do that, we won’t need to worry about what Brewers or Cardinals do.

They’re still 4 back though. They’ll lose tomorrow, and the Cubs will win- it’ll be back to 5.

Gonna go see the boss, (he just got out of the hospital), and maybe go see Dark Knight tonight- if he’s feeling well enough. Have a good night everybody, see ya tomorrow for another Cubs win.

Time for that old adage, “the law of averages” to catch up with them. Even if they play .500 road ball for a while that would be impressive.

Of course this makes up for the beat down (2-5) they took at home the last time they were at Miller Park.

The goofiness in a good way officially has begun.

WGN radio has a video of their personalities lip synching to Go Cubs Go on You Tube.

The place is really rocking. you can feel the energy in the place.

took someone to their first game ever today. It’s a friend who happened to be at our house when my brother called to say he couldn’t go at last minute. I said “Jim you want to go?”

He went and had a blast. He’s the friend I mentioned theother day in a game thread who said that he isn’t a baseball fan but is enjoying the joy this season has brought to his Cub loving friends.

I love watching people walk up the ramp and steps to the field and their reaction. All he said was “WOW!”

see if they can’t get a few more off of braden looper

win tomorrow…..who’s up for it?

...with hamstring tightness.

Um. Who saw that one coming?

but I just finished watching “This Old Cub” for the first time. I’m not old enough to have ever seen Ron play but that was a really good movie.

... I’m guessing that dates to 1893, not 1993?

back to a 5-game lead over STL.

because I was helping my sister and brother-in-law move in to their new house in Lake Forest, I wasn’t able to be on the game thread, but w00t! Go Cubs!

Laura’s having another surgery tomorrow at some point, so I don’t know if I’ll be in the thread tomorrow either. Let’s get another win for her.

Was that really DLee? Wasn’t it ONEDEC?

here’s the link

Fine win today. That said I sure wish Jim Hendry was able to find another quality bullpen piece. Thank God for Chad Gaudin at least. Jeff Spellcheck is more lab experiment than something to seriously count upon at this stage. Neal Cotts has generally done the job but I don’t trust him. Sean Marshall has been pretty good, but I’m not confident in his ability to be a reliable day-to-day option. Scott Eyre is terrible and simply counting down the days until he is DFA’d when Kerry Wood returns. Bob Howry is forever a lit match inches away from a gas can. Michael Wuertz lost his slider. Kevin Hart turned back into the pumpkin he was before he had a nice one month stretch in 2007. Jon Lieber has been banished to the DL with phony ailment because the experiment of putting him in the pen didn’t work particularly well.

Then that brings us to Kerry Wood. What can we legitimately expect from Wood when he returns? Is he going to be there and effective when the playoff chase gets magma-hot in a few weeks and in the playoffs should we get there?

Things are going well for the the Cubs, but yeah the bullpen concerns me. A lot actually.

just got done running the gameday computer for the indianapolis indians, so i figured i’d grab some sleep before coming back here tomorrow. talk to you guys then.

I went to the game yesterday. Got there with my two boys early for BP.

There was a middle aged guy there for BP in CF that brought his glove. I always tend to look twice a middle aged guys with gloves at baseball games. He was obviously there to catch HRs. He was standing up the entire time and tracking the balls, but at one point wasn’t paying attention and was talking to the guy next to him when one got hit right at him. He kept talking until the ball hit him SQUARE in the head and bounced back onto the field. Knocked him right onto his butt. He spilled his beer… :)

D-Lee’s DP grounder was in the first.

Cedeno’s DP scored the run.

Knowing the brilliance of Ned Yost, and how weak the Brewers 4 & 5 starters are, don’t be surprised if by the beginning of September, or sooner, they go to a 4 man rotation, IMO. That’s if the Cardinals stick around and the Brewers aren’t pulling away in the Wild Card race. I love Ned Yost, who comes from the Dusty Baker school of arm management.

Today’s NYT sports section ran a story on Mark Cuban’s bid for the Cubs. Can’t say I was too keen to read this:

Imagine what his rivals or the sitting Major League Baseball owners thought when they heard him respond to Patrick’s line of questioning about whether pursuing the Cubs was like chasing the girl who’s "expensive and you may not have a shot at her."

Cuban: "If there’s a hooker you want, it all comes down to price, right? And I think that’s a better analogy."

Patrick: "So the Cubs are your hooker?"

Cuban: "Well, yes, bad choice of words."