Cubs Win Fourth Straight -- What Was That About The "Dominant" Phillies Again?

and walked over to a guy wearing a Cubs hat after the show. We immediately looked up the final score and shared a high five after learning of the 4-1 victory. Let’s win again today!

My sister is obsessed with videotaping rock concerts on her camera and she got some great video from the Ratt show. If that sort of thing interests you…….LINKY.

Any word yet on how he’s doing?

There has been no official word from the Cubs that Howry has been signed. There is most likely some interest there – the rumor mill was mad last night, but thus far, the only source reporting that he has been signed is the CSN link. Nothing official has been released yet.

And I’m gonna hold on to the hope that it never becomes official like a drowning man clinging to a passing piece of driftwood, too.

Go Cubs!!! 5 of 7? That is the team that I thought the cubs could be at the beginning of the season. Now I am guessing my prediction of a 103 win season is probably out the door but I think this continues the discussion of when is it no longer early? 6 behind 15-22 the world is ending, fire lou, have a firesale and hope that we can contend again in 2013…5 days ago to 19-22 4 behind ok, this team is starting to potentially live up to its potential today. Not saying that because of this 4 game winning streak we are now 100% playoff bound but perhaps the team is turning it around. Only time will tell…thats why they play 162 games and GM’s dont give up on May 20th…even if you are the Pirates.

My son and I are playing hooky from work and school to see our Cubs.

Caught in the pragmatic/superstitious bind, wanting to see a win but realistically, conservatively, expecting a split against a wounded but strong Phillies team.

Eff that. Goin for the sweep today baby! (a 2-game baby sweep, baby!)

Go Demp!

but all in all that was a great game. Glad to hear Gorz didn’t break anything.

was the BIG TIME defensive play made by Castro last night. Lost because he made it look routine and easy. With the tying run on second in the 8th, he got to a ball in the hole that Theriot wouldn’t have been within 3 feet of. Then showed off a CANNON arm to throw out the runner at first.

See it here

to Jamie Moyer. The guy is amazing. He held the Cubs to basically nothing and all you can say about him is he’s going to have the record for most homers allowed?

He’s a class act and I hope he keeps pitching long enough to get to 300 wins. I think if he leaves the Phillies after this season and signs with a team that has a pitcher’s park like San Diego or even a return to the Mariners, he has a good chance to get there with two more years (though, if he makes it that long, I’m sure he’d do all he can to stay and pitch one more year when he’d be 50).

I was watching here in Philly with the TV muted and Pat & Ron on MLB web audio.

I went back and listened to how the Phillies announcers called it and they were suitably impressed. I usually avoid any non-Cubs announcers to avoid the stupidity and trash talking but they were nicely respectful.

That play he made deep in the hole last night was huge… and we haven’t had a guy who could do that in a long, long time.

Hope Gorzo’s OK… dude gets hurt every month.

teams are never as good as they seem nor they are as bad. We’re seeing the good cubs right now but what I saw last weekend was bad. We need to strike a cord somewhere in between where we can be consistently successful. Great pitching like last night won’t stay all season but I did like the fact we’re seeing a little more movement on the bases lately. Castro paid off last night too, that move is looking better every day.

I also think we’re seeing the bullpen issue settle. I would say Marshall after the past few weeks is our 8th inning guy and Grabow our LOOGY or finish the 7th guy. Howry could help if he is the good one we saw in the past.

Much more fun to win than lose!

Was NBF’s Fanpost killed?

more interesting and fun to watch. They can actually run out a pretty good defensive line up when Colvin plays for Sori. Glad to see us win again in spite of more horrid at bats from the heart of our line up. Lee and Ramirez still look lost in the box; they are both taking strikes and swinging at balls- Aram’s at bat w/ men on was especially bad. Hope the two figure it out today vs. Blanton.

After the cubs game I switched over to the Royals at Indians in time to watch Kid K pitch. He’s not a kid any more. He gave up 5 in the 9th and looked a little frustrated after no one covered 1st on a slow roller he got to. He consistently hit 97 MPH and threw one hook that was just an absolute killer. All the time I was watching I was thinking what it would be like to have that fastball back in the 8th inning and then disaster. It was one year after he gave up 4 to the Royals in the 9th.

I think he still has it. I think he is a little disinterested with the losing and random save chances. I do think he could be valuable to a number of teams!

Though he has said the right things, he obviously has not been into his move to the pen.

His best outings have come lately when a return to the rotation has been told to him.

Now we can see what another rotation member can do in the pen. A guy who has been doing the job as a starter, unlike Z was. The bottom line is that the Cubs will make another starter pay for the fact that Z could not hack it in the pen.

So kudos to JH and Lou! They have a plan and we need to get behind them and trust that they know the way!

Also, the Howry move is amazing! JH always one step ahead of the rest of the league!

Not that anyone is watching the standings or anything ;)

Bobby Howry? You are kidding — right?
When Howry last pitched for the Cubs, he was getting torched on a fairly regular basis.
He had lost some velocity in ‘08. Now we are told that his velocity is down in ’10? If in comparsion to ’08, how low has it gone.
From what I remember from ’08, the decrease in velocity led to the increase in HRs allowed because he couldn’t get his breaking ball over the plate. He got behind in the count and then had to throw his very hittable “heater.”
For whatever reason, he had a decent ’09. But we did not see him like SF fans saw him. What were the situations when he entered the game?
Obviously, in ’10, he has returned to his ’08 ways and we are told that his velocity are down.
I realiize just as all of you do that the pen has struggled to say the least. But is this the direction that we need to go? I hate to make a comparsion — are we trying to resurrect a career?
Please look closer in our own house. We have seen some already and the results have not been very good.But what about Thomas Diamond? Can you honestly say that giving him a chance is worse than resigning Howry?
I for one do not want to sit and watch Howry enter a game in which the Cubs still have a chance to comeback but lose that chance when Howry throws a meatball.
Please allow Bobby to retire and watch the games like the rest of us.

On Howry, if his velocity is down then he could be quite the HR machine. I’d rather they move Silva to the pen and if they feel the need for yet another reliever, then stick it out with a AAA guy. I think Lou’s comments previously have indicated that he associates the poor bullpen performance with lack of experience, so Howry is likely a move that Pinella wants more than Hendry but I suspect that they both like him and would give him a shot.

Last night’s strikeout by Covin vs. JC Romero was very similar to his strikeout vs. Matt Belisle on Monday night. Colvin was striking out on low sliders inside and swinging over the top. Last night, strike 3 was in the dirt and Colvin couldn’t hold up his swing. I don’t think he saw a fastball in those four pitches.

So the scouting report on Colvin is out and let’s see if he can adjust and lay off those pitches.

I’ll get excited when/if they get back to .500

I guarantee that the Phillies will be playing meaningful games in September. I do not yet know if the Cubs will be doing that.

Howry? Whatever. His leash better be microscopic.

Seriously, I don’t think I could like any more than I already do.

Dawson said during he did most of the talking, according to the report. He said he started the lesson this way, with Perez at his side: "I’m not going to say a lot, because if you say the wrong the thing to me, then you might wind up on the floor on your rear end.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5204020

Get the win and get the hell outta town, as quick as possible.

JUMP!

…I guess that’s what a couple of Series appearances and a championship will do to promote civility, although in our section of the third deck, I think my wife and I were the only ones standing up for Gorz as he left the field after his brilliant performance and nice recovery on the Ruiz smash.

The only strong booing I heard all game came with Z’s arrival, and that may have been from the scattered Cubs fans in attendance. I did hear some cheering among the groans when Castro showed us an arm.

All-in-all, maybe the best Cubs effort this year – fine plays by Byrd, Theriot, Castro, only five LOB, even Grabow looked good for three batters. Best of all, my recent road record is now 9-1, the only loss coming in the rain at Shea at the end of the “Hoffpauir Game” in ’88.

Boy, can’t remember the last time I saw the Cubs win in Philly. It was a beautiful night, surrounded by drunken idiots (yelling at Jamie Moyer for whiffing in his first AB, “Bum!” etc) but sweet to get a W. Well worth the 3 hr roundtrip drive!

Maybe he can be the Millar of the bullpen, but if he can’t be back it up with performance, he’ll be the next step to the eventual right choice.