our rotation will have to be lined up for october, knock on wood. I’m not ready to declare who should open a series, pitch second, etc. yet.I think there are a lot of games to win and Lou will not get careless with rest and skippped starts until things start to open up more. As I’ve said many times, we need to go into the playoffs sharp, focused and tenacious. Anything less in a short series we could be done.

If the Cubs are still up by five or more games after the September 16-18 Brewers series, limiting the starters (other than Harden) to no more than 100 pitches per start and limiting Harden to 90 pitches per start would be the way to go. We could give extra innings in the bullpen to Wuertz, Guzman, and Lieber. The Cubs have a lot of work to do to maintain the lead over the Brewers before they can worry about lessening the work load of the starting pitchers.

1) I would be less inclined to give DLee rest for Hoffpauir than to use Fontenot at 2B and DeRosa at 1B. Unless I’m mistaken about DeRosa’s defense at 1B, that ends up being defensively stronger (and therefore goes along with resting our pitchers by making them get less outs). It also puts in play a bat that will be useful in the playoffs. Finally, Fontenot deserves an extended shot to see if he will have a larger role on future Cub teams.
2) Fukudome – the time to rest him was earlier in the season. Lou failed to do that. Now we have a difficult line to walk with resting him and re-energizing his bat. At this point, it’s more important to do the latter, although the two tasks may not be mutually exclusive.
3) Reed in RF – whomever Lou is likely to play in RF more often in the playoffs does indeed need time out there. If it’s just going to be Dome every inning of every game, this isn’t a big deal. In fact, that’s probably the way to go. But thinking about the playoff roster, the player who adds the most if you gain a spot from a pitcher not making the roster, is Felix Pie, given his speed. Lou needs to decide now who will get innings in RF if he sits Dome – will it be Pie, Reed, or Edmonds? Whomever it is needs time to learn Wrigley’s RF now.

and put setting up the pitching as a higher priority than home field advantage?

Otherwise, I think you’re about 3 weeks early with this question..

That said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lou slip Marshall in once during the closing stretch of playing 13 days in a row, Sept. 16-28. Offhand, I’d look at the Sunday game against the Cardinals, 9/21 – they typically seem to have problems with lefties..

Then if circumstances permit, you could spot start someone at the end of the season in Milwaukee.. but there’s enough off days that the starters can get some extra rest, provided you keep Marquis in his spot. (And that’s a whole different discussion) ; )

Give me a break. He’s shown signs of pulling out of his hitting slump. So what if he doesn’t handle every crap throw he gets from Theriot and occasionally Ramirez…it was a bad hop that ate him up a bit. You want to bench Lee for Ramirez’s bad throw? Questionable.

I also think Kosuke needs playing time to find a new rhythm, especially since he is apparently toying with some minor mechanics. Benching him more might hurt him in the long run.

Agree with Memphis on shorter pitch counts…maybe not even 100 every time. Use Marshall as the long man a few times a week and ideally the starters can stay sharp without wearing out their arms.

Also, DGU made a good point about DeRo at first. I’d rather keep the players we will use this postseason in the rotation.

With the way the Cubs dominate at home winning the division is really an important thing.

We play scrubs like the Astros (sans Carlos Lee, yay!) and the Reds a combined 9 times…but then look who we face:

—St. Louis 6 times
—Mets in New York 4 times
—Brewers 6 times

Not to mention we have a 4 game series with the surging Phillies this weekend. That would require us to get a big lead on the Brewers in the next few weeks before we face the Cardinals (who we know are gonna bring their A game even if they are outta contention), the Mets (who look hopeless right now), and the Brewers, fighting for a playoff spot.

If we wanna rest starters, I say these next two weeks are the time to do it…or we get a lead of 8-10 games…which would be quite a feat.

Dan

Anyone know how to look at probables for a few weeks out? I wanna see who’s scheduled the weekend of the 19-21, when I’ll be at Wrigley…

I need to wear glasses because I read that as Resisting the Rotation in September.

You can’t resist them. We are in their power.

From John Perotto, behind the BP subscriber wall:

“There is still a lot of season left, and we’ve got a lot of difficult games ahead of us,” Piniella said. “The last thing we need to be doing is thinking about who we’re going to be playing in the playoffs, or trying to figure out our playoff rotation. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing all season. If we do that, we’ll be fine. If we start trying to look beyond that, we’re just asking for trouble.”

What I find interesting is the 180 Lou has done from last season where he was criticized for “playing for Game 4” in the playoffs in Game 1. 2007’s Lou played baseball like it was a marathon – in 2008, Lou will do whatever it takes to win the game ahead of him, admittedl taking his eyes very much off of the ultimate goal.

… the Cubs aren’t the champions … YET.

Keep that in mind, as well as far too much of that storied history in the past Bad Century this team has had .. Let’s not let the chickens be counted before they hatch.

Nobody is to be taken for granted. The destruction of the Pirates this year did not come without some serious ball play (24 hours ago, we were 2 hours into a nearly 4 hour brawl that expended almost all the bullpen). Remember what the ad print says:

26 of the Cubs’ last 29 games are against clubs currently at or over .500

And the Cubs have a worthy adversary starting tommorrow … a 4 game head on collision with the Phillies and with the Brewers refusing to drop out of the rear view mirror only 5 games behind. Folk, this is going to be a BIG weekend as we turn the corner and head into September baseball.

Yes, we are playing barnstoming ball, but our Boys in Blue will have to stand and deliver against the rest of the division this last month. There are 9 more lonnnng series ahead and I don’t see Lou or the Cubs, after the Horror of 2007 in Arizona, forgetting that. At some point, Lou will recognize the hump and probably see the opportunity for “resting” the bullpen.

But need we remember how pretty rested last year the Cubs got .. and remember what happened. The Invasion Of The Baseball Snatchers occurred and the same team that left Cincy for Arizona was NOT the same one that arrived at the NLDS. Let the memories of that very, very BAD taste percolate in your minds, gang. I am certain the Cubs sure haven’t forgotten and so they won’t let up this short now .. they simply can’t afford to and Lou is absolutely right when he says what he has about “Thinking About Who We’re Going To Be Playing In The Playoffs.” We aint there yet.

As has been said, ask this question three weeks from now, and I think it will be a lot more concrete as to who’s going to be “on” and who’s going to be “rested” .. etc.

And I just keep thinking the series with the Phils and the Mets will be the critical … anything can happen and there’s plenty of spoiling left in the rest of this division (for further details, watch the game from last night).

Fact is that outside of Carlos Zambrano this is a staff of 6 inning pitchers. Pray that everybody stays healthy, keep to the current 5 man rotation and use the last week of the season (assuming of course a division title is clinched) in getting your playoff rotation aligned. To me it is a no-brainer how the rotation should be structured for the playoffs….

1. Harden (he is one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball and the guy you want pitching in “the” game)

2. Dempster (performance speaks for itself, plus he is excellent contrast sandwiched between Harden and Zambrano)

3. Zambrano (the horse will have a fine playoffs I am sure)

4. Lilly (slots in beautifully following the top threesome….a VERY underrated pitcher on this staff)

Bullpen??

1. Wood
2. Marmol
3. Gaudin
4. Jeff Spellcheck (he’s earned a spot)
5. Cotts
6. Marshall
7. Marquis (though he has never relieved, he can be handled to warm up a few innings in advance and come in and start an inning…though lets be honest, his use will likely mean our starter got shelled)