I haven't done a headline post like this in a while, and when I do, I've usually put them up in the morning. But there are some interesting notes tonight, so I'm getting this one up now, and you can continue discussing during the day.

• A. J. Burnett has opted out of his contract and is a free agent. I am neither arguing for nor against signing him; I simply point out that a lot of people here were in favor of going after him last winter. What say you now?
• The Yankees bought out Damaso Marte's deal. He's a free agent. Some here were in favor of the Cubs going after him last summer. Marte had a good year, and the Cubs could use a lefty reliever. He sometimes walks everyone in sight, and he's 33 years old. Thoughts? (Another note in that link: the Yankees are considering making former Cub Mick Kelleher their first-base coach.)
• More renovations and seat additions are being made to Fenway Park this offseason. Crane Kenney has said more than once that he looks to the Red Sox as a model in many different ways. What the Red Sox are doing to Fenway could be a model of what could be done to fix up Wrigley Field.
• And finally, wild-card and division tiebreakers may be decided by head-to-head records, not coin flips; GM's will discuss this again at the Winter Meetings next month. Perhaps this is a precursor to giving all postseason home fields to the team with the better record.

That ought to give you enough to fill your Thursday night and Friday. Have at it.

When a game starts out like the previous day's, our catchphrase in the bleachers is, "Didn't we see this game yesterday?"

Depressingly, last night's 9-2 Cub loss to Arizona started out like Monday night's -- with the Cubs down 1-0 on a solo HR by a Diamondback hitter; this time, even earlier than Monday (first inning as opposed to fifth), but the ultimate result was the same.

Criticize all you want, but Jason Marquis did his job last night, allowing three runs in six innings. For most teams, that will keep your team in the game, and in fact, when he left for a pinch-hitter, the Cubs were down only 3-1. Even after Sean Marshall allowed two runs, the Cubs came back with one and entered the last of the 8th trailing only 5-2 -- a deficit they've overcome this season more than once.

Much as I like Kevin Hart's arm, the promise he showed last September seems to be gone -- with an ERA up to 7.91, it's time to get some more bullpen help. Perhaps one of the lefties Jim Hendry and the staff are scouting -- Ron Mahay of KC or Damaso Marte of Pittsburgh -- might be on the way before the end of this month.

One thing I was amused by in last night's telecast -- if you didn't see Bob Brenly's pregame interview with Ryan Theriot, Theriot called himself scrappy. Either he's been reading blogs, or... well, I don't know or what. Amusing, though.

But that's really not what I want to talk about here. Last night was another loss due in main part to the offense's failure -- they've scored more than two runs only once since the All-Star break. What I want to discuss is the game threads on this site getting out of control.

First, here's a little more perspective. First of all, Bank Holding Company Field in Phoenix has been a house of horrors for the Cubs ever since it opened. They're now 13-29 there (including the two playoff losses last year). Even Cub playoff teams (1998, 2-4; 2003, 1-2; 2007, 1-2) haven't played well in Arizona. Further, the Cubs still have the best record in the NL and maintain, despite the slide, a one-game lead over Milwaukee. And, if you check the right sidebar box titled "Best Starts By Cub Teams Since 1900" that I update every day, this team is 21st best through 100 games of the 109 Cub teams since 1900. That's pretty good, in my opinion... and it does NOT warrant the profanity and ledge-jumping and nastiness to other posters that I have heard about in the game threads. Most of you know that I'm not in the game threads during home games because I'm at the games, and often not there for later-evening games like last night's because I have to get up at 3:30 am to go to work.

I opened my email at 4 am today to find multiple messages from BCB readers complaining about the tone in the game threads. We are all frustrated at the play of this team right now. I've uttered a choice word or two myself -- to the TV, in the privacy of my home, or at the ballpark, but NOT to other people who feel the same frustration! I remind all of you of the words you saw when you signed up for this site:

When posting at this blog, please follow this one simple rule: Before hitting "post" to post your remarks, ask yourself: "Would I be embarrassed to say this in front of strangers who were physically present in the room with me and could respond to my face?" If the answer is "yes," then don't post. BCB encourages and welcomes all opinions, no matter how strong; however, personal attacks, vulgarity, and other uncivilized forms of expression are not welcome. Thanks.

Please. Keep the profanity down. I once wrote here, "I don't mind the occasional fuck", a statement that provided a large amount of levity, but I think you see the point. And be nice to others. We're all here for the same reason: because we love baseball and the Cubs and want to see them win. If you've followed baseball and this site long enough, you'll remember some other words I've written:

Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.

This will turn around. Alfonso Soriano may be back tonight. Hang in there, everyone. The best is yet to come.

Geovany Soto tagged out by Ronny Paulino in the third inning

Derrek Lee snags Doug Mientkiewicz' line drive and doubles Adam LaRoche off first base in the fifth inning

Damaso Marte dives to throw Mark DeRosa out in the eighth inning

Alfonso Soriano hits his 2nd HR of the day Saturday

Click on photos to open a larger version in a new browser window. All photos by David Sameshima

Hey Z! Next time you're pissed at yourself for striking out, don't break the bat over your knee!!!

Seriously. It was, I suppose, sort of funny at the time and provoked a huge cheer from the sellout crowd of 41,686 (largest of the year so far), but Carlos Zambrano, who didn't have his best stuff in the first four innings, completely lost it in the fifth after he came out following the bat-breaking episode. Three hits and two walks later, Lou had to take him out of the game, and thank heavens for Michael Wuertz, Scott Eyre (who was so anxious to get into the game that he started trotting in from the bullpen at the beginning of the 7th, even though Lou hadn't called for him) and Jon Lieber for throwing four innings of two-hit, five-strikeout relief and keeping the game close.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, as Carlos Marmol was touched for a single that -- once again -- might have been handled by Ronny Cedeno at SS, but Ryan Theriot, despite a great effort, couldn't throw Freddy Sanchez out, and then Nate McLouth hit a two-run HR that was the difference in the Pirates' 7-6 win over the Cubs this afternoon, the first time the Pirates have beaten the Cubs since September 9, 2007 in Pittsburgh, ten straight wins for the Cubs over the Pirates; that's the longest such Cub-over-Pirate streak in 117 years (since 1890-91), on a sunny Saturday when the wind shifted from strong-blowing-out-to-RF, to strong-blowing-in-over-RF, which may have prevented Derrek Lee's fly ball from going out in the last of the 9th.

I told Mike after the Pirates took the lead 5-4 in the fifth that it'd be up to the white-hot-en-fuego-any-superlative-you-can-think-of Alfonso Soriano to win the game, and damned if he didn't nearly do just that. In a homestand where Soriano's hit virtually everything in sight, today was his best game of all -- 5-for-5 with two HR and two doubles (13 total bases); he's now 20-for-37 (.541) with 5 doubles, 7 HR and 15 RBI in the nine games played so far in this longest homestand of the year, raising his average to .295 (coming in off the last road trip, he was hitting .188).

And we know that just as quickly, he could turn around and have a bad stretch, so you ride this streak as long as it lasts. Soriano still seems to be running slowly; his ground-rule double into the ivy in the 9th inning would probably have only been a single if it had exited the ivy and been fielded by McLouth, because he rounded first base very slowly. That would have prevented him from scoring on Ryan Theriot's single, not that it really mattered for the final result. Derrek Lee's fly ball looked, off the bat, as if it might make it for an amazing walkoff win, but Xavier Nady caught it just short of the warning track.

Today -- the Cubs just got beat. There's no shame in being beaten by McLouth, who is one of maybe three decent players on the Pirates and who is off to a torrid start himself (his 36 RBI now rank second in the National League). After Z's meltdown, the Cubs seemed to kind of shrink back and Zach Duke, who had been hashed around pretty good in the first four innings (eight hits, four runs), retired the last eight Cubs he faced. Tyler Yates, his relief, had Soriano as his first opposing hitter and he gave Alfonso his 2nd HR of the day. Soriano's so zoned in that virtually all of his HR have landed right near our section -- one yesterday just to our right, close to the foul pole, that second one today just to our left, to section 303 across the aisle in the last row.

It might have been a bit different, too, had Geovany Soto been safe on Mark DeRosa's double in the third inning. It seemed the right call at the time, leading 3-1, to send Soto, even though he's probably the slowest man in the starting lineup. Replays appeared to confirm that he was out. Had he scored, the score would have neen 4-1 and maybe Duke gets yanked right then and there.

On things like this, ballgames can turn. We'll get 'em tomorrow.

Two final notes: I thought having Kosuke Fukudome bunt in the 8th was the right call, especially since he usually handles the bat so well; this was a situation where you're not bunting strictly to sacrifice, but perhaps to beat it out. Dome had that in mind, as he attempted to push the bunt past Damaso Marte, but didn't quite get it far enough, and Marte was able to throw the lead runner, Aramis Ramirez, out at second, effectively killing the rally.

And conspicuous by his absence was Jim Edmonds. Rather than double-switching in the 9th when Marmol came in with Mike Fontenot, Lou could have used Edmonds to bat for Marmol in the last of the ninth. Instead, Edmonds stayed anchored to the bench today, and likely will be again tomorrow with yet another lefty, Phil Dumatrait (who the Cubs have beaten like the proverbial drum), going.

Finally, I heard today about some things that are happening to the guy who jumped out of the bleachers last Sunday. He was apparently dared by some of his friends (as is the usual thing in these cases, perhaps fueled by alcohol), and was in the Navy. He's being discharged from the Navy (my guess is, not honorably), and has also lost a chance to qualify for the US Olympic team, and may wind up in prison, convicted of a felony.

That's a lesson, kids. Don't do stuff like that. There are consequences for bad choices. The jumper apparently had everything going for him and has lost a lot due to one bad choice.