I don't think there are any big surprises here; I suspect our balloting will come pretty close to matching the BBWAA awards

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In order for the tables to fit better, you'll have to click "Continue reading this post" to find them. For MVP's, we voted for the top 10 instead of the top 3, and points were allocated as follows: 14 points for first place, then 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for 2nd through 9th.

My ballot: 1) Pujols 2) Wright 3) Beltran 4) Howard 5) A. Ramirez 6) Berkman 7) H. Ramirez 8) Braun 9) Delgado 10) Soto

Mike's ballot: 1) Howard 2) Pujols 3) Wright 4) Berkman 5) Delgado 6) Braun 7) Utley 8) H. Ramirez 9) A. Ramirez 10) Soto

Continue reading this post »

Positive spin. Positive spin. Positive spin.

Oh, the heck with it. There is no positive spin you can put on today's depressing 3-0 Cub shutout loss to the Astros, the first shutout loss since... the last time the Astros were in town a month ago, when they blanked the Cubs and Ryan Dempster on Tornado Siren Night, a game shortened to eight innings by the storms that blew through. Today's sellout crowd, as well as the Cubs bats, were as quiet as those storms were loud.

Today's storm was Houston pitcher Roy Oswalt, who looked like the Oswalt who killed the Cubs back in 2004; Dave, Mike & I agreed that Oswalt's was the best pitching performance we had seen all year. Until he ran out of gas and gave up two hits in the ninth, two bouncy little singles, one by Geovany Soto, one by Ryan Theriot, were all the "offense" the Cubs could muster. They went walkless for the first time since... well, since I can remember, and checking a few boxscores for the last couple of months, I can't remember them going walkless since June.

It felt terrible. It felt depressing. It felt... well, I don't want to go there. Let's look at it this way: with the Mets beating the Brewers 4-2 today, the Cubs don't lose any ground and get another game taken off the schedule. (And though I hate to see anyone injured, if Ben Sheets has to miss any time with the groin injury he suffered today, the Brewers have trouble ahed.) Let's look at it this way: the Phillies, who came in and looked pretty solid all weekend, lost to a really bad Washington team and got no-hit for five innings today. And tomorrow, the Cubs face Brandon Backe, who isn't Roy Oswalt, and Carlos Zambrano will go -- pushed back only two days, so you can take off your tinfoil hat if you're worried about Z and any spin you might have put on the fact that he didn't throw yesterday.

Here's some positive spin: at least the Cubs showed some offensive life in the 9th inning, and had the wind not been blowing in, maybe Derrek Lee's warning-track fly ball would have made the basket (hey! could have been the first use of replay!) and the game would have been tied. Credit, too, to Alfonso Soriano for breaking up what could have been a game-ending DP ball hit by Kosuke Fukudome in that 9th inning with a nice rolling slide, at least giving D-Lee a chance. Soriano also made one catch today without bunny-hopping; instead he did his best imitation of a stork, standing on one leg while catching Darin Erstad's fly ball in the 7th.

And give credit to the Astros, who are 25-10 since July 26, and have done virtually all of that without Carlos Lee, who has been out since August 9.

More positive spin: Jason Marquis did a nice job today, throwing six innings, allowing five hits and striking out eight, the most K's he's had in a game in more than three years, dropping his ERA to 4.46. And although Jeff Samardzija wild-pitched in the third run, he and the just-recalled Michael Wuertz kept the game close.

Speaking of today's recalls, I did not know before reading Koyie Hill had severed most of the fingers on his right hand, his throwing hand, last offseason in a table saw accident. Credit to him for working hard to keep playing and to make it back to the major leagues, even for a September callup, and I think it'd be great if he had even one contribution to the Cubs' playoff run.

Playoff run. Remember that? Do you? It's still going. Even though the Cubs have lost three in a row at home for the first time all season, there is plenty of time left and do not forget that this is a damn good team and they have many more wins left in them, for this month... and next. We'll get 'em tomorrow.

What, you thought that was some kind of sex reference? On this site?

Sixty-nine is, of course, the number of wins the Cubs have after today's outstanding 11-4 Cubs win over the Astros, the last of twenty games in twenty consecutive days following the All-Star break, during which the Cubs went 12-8 and increased their lead in the NL Central by half a game over the Brewers. If you check the "Best Starts Since 1900" box I've been keeping on the right sidebar for a couple of months, you'll see that only twelve Cub teams in the last 108 years have played 115 games with a better record than this year's 69-46 version.

That includes six pennant winners and the ill-fated 1969 team, which had just about reached its highest point right at about this time of the season, the first week of August. The 1908 team and the 1984 team didn't get hot till after the 115th game -- many of you probably remember the four-game sweep of the Mets at Wrigley Field in mid-August 1984, during which Keith Moreland and Ed Lynch got into a bench-clearing brawl after Lynch, then a Mets pitcher, brushed Moreland back.

The 2008 Cubs are creating their own history, of course, and today they just kept on rolling. That sounds clichéd, but it really isn't -- every day, there's a new way of winning, and new heroes, proving today once again that this is a complete team, not just one or two superstars carrying a club (although Alfonso Soriano can certainly do that, and has been leading the charge since he returned from the DL).

Today, after Jason Marquis likely got all the Marquis-haters here riled up after he allowed the Astros four runs after two were out and no one on in the third, capped by a Carlos Lee three-run jack (man, does that guy love hitting in Wrigley or what). The key at-bat in that inning was Hunter Pence drawing a walk after Marquis had him down 0-2. The Lee HR put the Astros up 4-1, and the Cubs looked a bit flat in the first two innings except for the back-to-back doubles by Jim Edmonds and Mark DeRosa that had given the Cubs a brief 1-0 lead.

They followed that top of the third with perhaps their best inning of the year -- scoring eight runs after two were out; with those two out and Ryan Theriot on with a single, Aramis Ramirez and Edmonds drew walks. Whoever posted in the pregame thread that if the Cubs waited Brandon Backe out, that would be the key to winning, had it exactly right. After those two walks, DeRo hit his fourth career grand slam, giving him five RBI for the day and 63 for the season, leaving him only eleven short of his career high set in 2006 with the Rangers. After another double by Kosuke Fukudome, the Astros intentionally walked Geovany Soto, only to have Marquis hit yet another double, driving in a run, and Soriano capped it off with his 21st homer.

Since returning from the DL, Soriano is hitting .348/.375/.697 with 6 HR and 14 RBI, and the Cubs have gone 11-4 in the 15 games.

Carrying a team? I'd say so. But again, Soriano's blow today only put the game away; the Cubs added two more in the next inning by drawing a couple more walks. They had six in all off Backe, who was clearly asked to take one for the team today; he allowed eleven earned runs and threw 99 pitches to get ten outs and his ERA went from 4.72 to 5.35.

Meanwhile, after allowing the Lee HR, Marquis settled down and allowed only two hits; the bases got loaded in the fourth on a strange ground ball where the Cubs IF didn't quite seem to know where to throw the ball -- there were two out and it seemed as if DeRosa forgot that; he could have just thrown to first but tried for a force play that failed. It didn't matter as Hunter Pence flied to center to end the inning. After that Marquis retired seven of the next eight hitters and might have had enough to finish the seventh inning had Aramis Ramirez not pulled Derrek Lee off first base on a ground ball by probably the slowest player on the field, Humberto Quintero. When Marquis left in favor of Sean Marshall he got probably the warmest applause he's had in his year and two-thirds as a Cub.

Say what you want about Marquis -- he does exactly what he's asked to do, eat up innings and keep his team in the game. He has now thrown at least six innings in nine of his last ten starts, and that probably makes him the best fifth starter in the league. That's a bold statement and I don't have time to make statistical comparisons with other NL fifth starters, so if anyone here wants to do that, go right ahead.

Today, BCB reader Rudey was the one who emailed me first and bought my extra tickets. Nice to meet you and hope you enjoyed the game.

The Brewers beat the Reds this afternoon so the Cubs' lead in the Central stays at five games; the Cardinals will play the Dodgers tonight and tomorrow afternoon and after last night's rain-delayed, extra-inning game in St. Louis, the best thing we can hope for is two more games just like that one, so that the Cardinals arrive in Chicago for Friday's game exhausted, while the Cubs enjoy their well-earned off day tomorrow.

You enjoy it too. Onward in this remarkable, wonderful season.

It was 70's night last night at Wrigley Field... "Elvis" was seen in the building, attempting to slide across the tarp during the rain delay.

via chicagosports.chicagotribune.com

Ever since the deluge that washed out the first scheduled night game at Wrigley Field on August 8, 1988, I've ended that story with, "And I don't think I've seen it rain as hard since that day".

Now, four days short of twenty years later, I think I have.

A tremendous thunderstorm which generated tornado warnings in near-in suburbs and forced city officials to sound the tornado sirens on the north side -- something I had never heard before except on their every-Tuesday testing time -- delayed Monday night's game for nearly three hours (and then again for 39 minutes in a second delay after play had resumed, at which time both Astros 1B Lance Berkman and Cubs 1B coach Matt Sinatro were seen on TV ducking out of the way of a massive clap of thunder and bolt of lightning), and forced the Cubs to ask everyone to seek shelter under the stands, including GM Jim Hendry:

Hendry said it was the first time he heard tornado sirens at Wrigley in his 14 years with the Cubs. He experienced the storm among the fans, trapped near a concession stand on the Clark Street side of the park and soaked by horizontal rain coming in.

That the teams were able to retake the field after the first delay was a testament to the new drainage system installed before the season.

"The field is in tremendous shape," Hendry said. "Not only was it built extremely well, but our grounds crew has done a top-notch job."

That may be true, but I still wonder about the decision to resume the game on such a wet field -- Astros pitcher Geoff Geary had to leave the game after slipping off the mound. Probably 90% of the fans had left by the time the game resumed at 10:24 pm -- myself included; I had seen on my phone the radar image of the coming storm and decided to take off right at the first rain delay, thinking they wouldn't resume play. This is a major difference from 20+ years ago -- back then, they'd never have continued, especially since the game was already official at the first delay, going into the top of the sixth. Further, the score was reasonably close at 2-0, risking possible extra innings when there's a day game scheduled the next day. As it was, the players likely didn't get out of there till close to midnight.

The Cubs lost the game 2-0, primarily on two plays: Miguel Tejada taking second base on a deep fly to CF in the first inning, where he scored on a single by Carlos Lee, and Ryan Dempster's bases-loaded walk to Humberto Quintero, Houston's backup catcher, who entered the game hitting .210. In 65 plate appearances... that was the first walk he had drawn in 2008 and only the 11th of a 300+ PA career.

Fortunately for the Cubs, the Brewers also lost last night and Prince Fielder and Manny Parra got into a shoving match in the dugout. Clearly, the Brewers are a frustrated bunch after having lost eight of their last eleven.

Since there's a day game today I'll cut this recap short -- I was happy to stay dry while watching one of the most amazing lightning shows I've ever seen -- and have today's pregame thread posted at 11:30 CT.

Ten BCB points to the first person who can identify the song the title of this post comes from.

If I had told you a week ago that Ted Lilly would give up only one run -- a solo HR to Carlos Lee -- and that Neal Cotts would pitch solidly in relief, you'd have figured the Cubs' first game after the break would be easily put into the win column, right?

Right. But Cubs bats looked sluggish last night; apart from a Jim Edmonds solo HR, they had only three other hits, and when Bob Howry blew up in the 9th, the result was a 2-1 loss to the Astros, who jumped around on the field after Miguel Tejada scored the winning run as if they had just won a playoff series, rather than simply crept to within six games of the .500 mark and 12 games behind the still front-running Cubs. Meanwhile, the Cardinals and Brewers both won, cutting the Cubs' NL Central lead to three games over St. Louis and four over Milwaukee.

What more can you say about this game? Lilly was sharp, which is a very, very good sign for the second half of the season, especially after Ted's last outing was one he'd probably like to forget. Neal Cotts, who may be on the bubble to be sent back to Iowa if and when Scott Eyre (who is traveling with the team) comes back, dispatched the two hitters he faced without incident. About the only thing that we really learned was that Howry simply cannot be trusted in close games. I might even suggest at this point that with less than half a year left on Howry's contract, his status in the bullpen might be in jeopardy. Could it be Howry who might be let go when Jon Lieber, who was placed on the DL yesterday with an injury none of us had seen coming, returns?

Micah Hoffpauir, who didn't get into last night's game, was recalled to replace Lieber on the active roster, but his stay will probably last only the length of the road trip -- Alfonso Soriano took BP and shagged flies last night (you probably saw this if you saw the game on WGN) and is tentatively on target for a return to action Thursday at Wrigley Field:

"Sori is going to hit here for all three days and if that goes well, he'll go with us to Arizona and work out at the [Mesa] complex and possibly get a lot of at-bats in an extended game Monday and then play with the Iowa team on Tuesday and Wednesday in Tucson," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said. "So he can double up on Monday and then come out and work out with us before the game [against the Diamondbacks] after playing in the morning. We'll just see how the next couple of days go -- that's the plan if it goes well."

I hesitate to mention this, because the game result really has nothing to do with where the game is televised, but the Cubs went under .500 in WGN-televised games last night (18-19). They are 32-14 in games shown on CSN. Thus you will be pleased to find out that there are 34 CSN telecasts left and 23 on WGN (the rest of the remaining 66 games: four on WCIU, two on Fox and three Sunday nights yet to be scheduled).

It doesn't matter. Right? Tonight's game is on CSN. Also, although only 18% of the country is getting the Padres/Cardinals game, Chicago is included in that percentage. The number of markets carrying this game is small enough to post here:

Bowling Green KY, Cedar Rapids IA, Champaign IL, Chicago IL, Columbia MO, Columbus MS, Des Moines IA, Evansville IN, Fort Smith AR, Green Bay WI, Greenwood MS, Huntsville AL, Jackson TN, Joplin MO, Kansas City MO, La Crosse WI, Little Rock AR, Louisville KY, Madison WI, Memphis TN, Milwaukee WI, Nashville TN, Oklahoma City OK, Ottumwa IA, Paducah KY, Peoria IL, Phoenix AZ, Quincy IL, Rockford IL, San Diego CA, Sioux City IA, South Bend IN, Springfield IL, Springfield MO, St. Louis MO, Terre Haute IN, Topeka KS Tucson AZ, Tulsa OK, Wichita KS, Yuma AZ

Know your enemy. In less than three weeks, the Cubs and Cardinals will have a showdown at Wrigley. Till then, a win tonight would be a good way to put this ship back in the right direction. (High enough on the cliché meter for you?)

I thought the Cubs were off today, but according to the schedule above, they're playing Indiana Jones. (And the way things have gone the last two days, he'd probably hit a three-run homer off Jose Ascanio.)

Last night, it was the intrepid Carlos (Let's Call Him Indiana Just For The Heck Of It) Lee who sent the Cubs to their second straight loss, 5-3 at the hands of the Astros. As good as the Cubs have looked at home, they've struggled on the road -- haven't won a road series since sweeping their first road series of the year at Pittsburgh.

Thank heavens they're headed back to Pittsburgh this weekend, right?

The game started out well, with Derrek Lee (who was supposed to get the day off, but likely talked his way back into the lineup) hitting a two-run HR in a three-run first inning. In the bottom of the first, Ryan Theriot made a catch of a C. Lee foul popup tumbling into the seats down the LF line to end the inning. Hero, right?

Nope, goat. In the very next half-inning, Theriot singled with two out and promptly got picked off. No big deal, right?

Yes, big deal. The Cubs didn't get another baserunner until Micah Hoffpauir doubled leading off the seventh, and by then Carlos Lee had slammed a three-run homer off Sean Gallagher (on an 0-2 pitch), giving Houston a 4-3 lead, which they extended to 5-3 in the fifth on a sequence that finally got Lou to say, "Enough!" and pull Gallagher... Lance Berkman, who had been 0-for-9 in the series, got hit, and stole second when, apparently, everyone in blue jerseys fell asleep for about five seconds. Temporary narcolepsy? That's the only explanation I can think of, because Berkman has never been known as a speed guy (he's been running more this year; that was his 9th steal of the season, equalling his career high).

Anyway, Geoff Blum then singled him in and Lou yanked Gallagher. The bullpen (Michael Wuertz, Scott Eyre, Jon Lieber and Bob Howry) did a good job of keeping the game within reach, throwing 3.1 scoreless innings with six strikeouts, although Wuertz had some trouble finding the strike zone, loading the bases with two out before striking out Shawn Chacon to finish the inning.

It seems time to revisit the fifth spot in the rotation; Gallagher has now had only one good start out of three, and there are other options without acquiring someone from outside the organization -- Lieber, Sean Marshall or Kevin Hart.

Which brings me to this week's Sports Illustrated, which has, I think, their best cover in years:

Tom Verducci's cover article says, among other things:

The Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks and Minnesota Twins, which according to baseballreference.com are the three youngest teams in baseball when it comes to position players, were a combined 74-57 (.565) through Sunday, with a total payroll cost of $167 million. The three oldest clubs, the Blue Jays, Yankees and Tigers, were a combined 60-74 (.448) at a cost of $445 million.

Teams have embraced a new paradigm: The young player is more important than ever before. The success of every-day players from the 2005 draft (Justin Upton, Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, Jacoby Ellsbury, for example) and pitchers from the '06 draft (Tim Lincecum, Max Scherzer, Joba Chamberlain, Luke Hochevar) has persuaded front offices to give opportunities to their youngsters. And teams now love to dole out multiyear contracts -- as long as they go to young players who tend to stay off the disabled list and have their best years ahead of them.

What this is going to mean, essentially, is that come the trading deadline, there are going to be a lot of teams trying to get rid of older players with deadweight contracts. That means there may be some pitching help available. The question is, do the Cubs want to take on another albatross of a contract, when they already have quite a number of large, backloaded deals? If they can acquire a veteran arm and get the other team to eat the money, sure, why not? But if it's going to cost them too much in terms of either money or prospects or both, I'd just stick with the internal options, as noted above (Lieber, Marshall, Hart, or the almost-forgotten Rich Hill, if he's healthy). Speaking of healthy, there are rumors that Carlos Zambrano has something wrong with his shoulder. Not so, as Bruce Miles tells us:

Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano went so far Wednesday as to invite reporters to watch him throw his next side session.

Zambrano and the Cubs displayed varying degrees of anger -- from red-hot to blue-flame hot -- over a published report that said the ace of the pitching staff had stiffness in his right shoulder and neck area.

The report listed "shoulder" first, and that's what set the Cubs off.

Zambrano and the Cubs' brass said Zambrano has had nothing more than a stiff neck since his start Saturday against the Pirates. They attributed it to the way he slept.

"I'm not hurt," said Zambrano, who later flexed his muscle. "I feel great. Just check out my outing Friday."

So. Stop worrying. The Cubs still have not lost more than two in a row, and going into Pittsburgh, that's not likely to change. Relax and enjoy the day off, and check out BCB reader gary varsho's off-day fun post.