When Jessica returned from one of her many sojourns through Wrigley Field, she reported that she overheard someone saying, "I don't know how I feel about cheering for Jim Edmonds. It's just weird."

That's exactly right. It's just weird, and Edmonds got both booed and cheered today -- a mix of sorts when introduced, and when coming out to the field for the first time; cheers when he singled in the second inning, and then booed when he hit into a double play in the fourth and struck out with the bases loaded in the seventh.

That's what today's 4-0 Cubs win over the Padres was -- many ovations, and some booing, for several different players and situations. (And if you are of "a certain age", you will remember the title of today's post as coming from the song "It's A Beautiful Day For A Ballgame", the song that is heard at the ballpark before each game, and used to be the game intro song on WGN radio.)

Ryan Dempster was the recipient of two loud ovations; first, when he came up to bat in the bottom of the eighth after throwing eight shutout innings and it was clear that Lou was going to let him at least start the ninth. Dempster was outstanding today, scattering those four hits through 8, walking only one and striking out twelve (a new career high for him). When he ran into trouble in the 9th -- Brian Giles, who has his number, having three of the six eventual hits off Dempster, doubled and Kevin Kouzmanoff singled (Larry Rothschild got booed when he quickly ran out to talk to Dempster before Kouzmanoff's AB), Lou didn't hesitate to go to Kerry Wood, as Dempster had thrown 115 pitches (77 strikes, very impressive). Dempster left the field to a huge ovation.

Wood, who looked shaky yesterday, dispatched Khalil Greene and pinch-hitter Josh Bard on strikes, and the game ended with another ovation.

Meanwhile, former Cub Greg Maddux gave up hits left and right to the Cubs over the first four innings -- six of them through four -- but escaped any scoring; once in the fourth on the Edmonds DP ball, but before that after throwing a pitch to the bricks behind the plate with Aramis Ramirez on third. The ball bounced so quickly off the wall back to catcher Luke Carlin that Ramirez, who had broken quickly enough, was still out by about 20 feet. Too bad, because Edmonds, who was batting at the time, singled, and so did Ronny Cedeno, and the Cubs could have had a big inning. Maddux gave up hits to the first four batters in the fifth, and that plus a sac fly chased him.

Whereupon he left to loud cheers that I can only describe as "wistful" -- it was a "thank you for the memories" cheer, and perhaps also a "please come back for one last hurrah if you can" cheer. Maddux, from what I hear, has told friends this may be his last season, and, with the Padres mired in last place, he was asked if he thought this would be his last appearance in Wrigley Field, and he refused to answer.

I'm not predicting anything, and frankly, if Maddux pitches like he did today (his shortest outing of the year), maybe the Cubs would have second thoughts about bringing him back. Sentimentally, sure, it'd be great. But Jim Hendry & Co., if they are even considering this, would have to first decide if he's got enough left in the tank.

Same thing with Jim Edmonds, and I have received emails today from people saying they would never, ever root for him, and I just don't understand that. Did I want him here? No. Do I think he has anything lef? No. But if he does produce, and helps the Cubs win, I'm all for it. We were trying, in the bleachers today, to think of any player, anyone, who was as hated as Edmonds is by Cubs fans, who eventually became a Cub, and really couldn't come up with anyone. Howard Johnson was about as close as we could come; he played half a season for the 1995 Cubs and was just about as done as I think Edmonds is now. But Johnson wasn't really hated by Cubs fans; he was only disliked because he was a Met. Having Edmonds is like what it would have been to get Lenny Dykstra, long after he was done.

Enough about that -- I want to rave about Dempster again; this was his best game as a Cub and probably his best since July 3, 2001, when he threw a four-hit shutout against the Expos in Montreal, when still a Florida Marlin. And he only struck out two that day. It's too bad he didn't finish... the complete game has really become a thing of the past. There have been only six CG thrown in the National League so far this year, and only two CG shutouts -- one by Tim Hudson, one by Ben Sheets.

Kudos also today to Ronny Cedeno, who had two hits, drew a walk and again had good AB every time up. Please, Lou: more playing time for Ronny. And, also to Derrek Lee, who had two hits and two RBI and looked better at the plate than he has all week.

In addition to Jessica, BCB reader Tex (who doesn't post much but is in town visiting from Texas) stopped by to say hi, as did BCB reader calicubfan (Rob, visiting from California; hey -- thanks for the beer!) and we were also joined by former Cubs publications director Jim McArdle, who is spending this summer working on a book about the 2008 season. Hey, Jim: nice talking to you about the Cubs and this site and enjoying a big win.

Big win indeed: six-and-one on this homestand, 17-7 overall at home, and now two games in first place after the Pirates destroyed the Cardinals' bullpen today and won 11-5. Things are good. Onward to beat the Pirates (geez, we're playing them again?) this weekend.

Final note: I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to call your attention, in case you missed it, to this article in today's Tribune about the "Way Out In Left Field Society", which has lobbied and finally won the right to put an historical marker on the site of West Side Grounds at 912 S. Polk in Chicago, the site where the Cubs won their only two World Series. To which I say, "About time!"

Click here for my scorecard

While the Cubs have the day off today, let's both have some fun -- check out BCB reader gary varsho's FanPost about great performances you have personally witnessed -- and also discuss something that I've been thinking about writing for some time, this post regarding the ongoing debate between those who are more of a statistical bent regarding baseball analysis, and those who, well, aren't.

Before you get all bristly and defensive, no matter which "side" you prefer, please read this entire post.

Most of you know I'm not a statistical analyst. That doesn't mean I don't know what the advanced metrics are or what they mean. I am well acquainted with them and I am glad that the Cubs seem, at the very least, to be paying more attention to more than just what we might call the "TV stats" -- BA, HR, RBI. We can see the results already on the field with the Cubs' more patient approach. They are this morning leading the major leagues in walks, and not coincidentally, leading the major leagues in runs scored. Granted, a fair portion of that lead in runs is due to the nineteen runs scored against the Brewers (10% of the season total of 195) -- but I believe this represents something real, not illusory, and as long as Cub hitters continue to take more pitches and draw walks, they'll score lots of runs, and, the recent road trip notwithstanding, win more games. The Cubs had a recent streak, stopped yesterday, in which they had had the bases loaded at least once in sixteen consecutive games -- a streak that equalled the longest in the major leagues since 1974, by the 2002 Mariners, and is likely the longest by the Cubs since at least 1956.

Six Cubs have drawn sixteen or more walks -- that's about 0.5 per game or more, or 80+ for a season -- and that includes Ryan Theriot, and Mr. Theriot is, at least in part, going to be the focus of this post.

Ryan Theriot has been, for better or worse, the focus of the wrath of statistically-oriented people for most of the last year and a half. I am not here to argue that the "scrappy" Theriot is a great player or that he doesn't need to be replaced as a starter. At this moment, Theriot's "triple-slash stats" are .331/.406/.425, which likely represent about as good as he is ever going to get. Can he sustain this over a full season? Maybe, but I doubt it. I also have observed this about Theriot: he doesn't really have the range to be a starting shortstop in the major leagues, nor does he have the arm.

The statistical analysts will say, "Hey! We can measure that!", and they'd be right. I don't have all the advanced metrics handy, but using a basic measure of range, his range factor is below major league average and has been since he started playing SS on a regular basis.

This is one place where we the observers and those who look strictly at numbers agree: Ryan Theriot is probably best suited, at the major league level, to be a utility infielder. Last year, the Cubs didn't have a suitable player to start in his place, so he played every day. In 2008, they do have such a suitable player -- Ronny Cedeno, whose triple-slash stats are even better than Theriot's (.345/.429/.509), and who seems to have "turned it around" this season, thus earning the blogosphere nickname "ONEDEC". I would argue that ONEDEC has earned at the very least more playing time, and probably should supplant Theriot as the starting SS.

What I've taken issue with here at times is this: statistical analysts simply quoting rafts of numbers and saying "such-and-such is a bad baseball player" and claiming that if you simply plug in a player with better numbers, the team will improve. In many cases, this is true. However, let's take the example of another baseball player. Let's call him Barry Bonds, who has put up amazing on-base and power numbers over the last few seasons.

This has caused some people to suggest that this player would be a good addition to the Cubs, or to other teams, and they wonder why this player is sitting home rather than playing.

But now come the other factors: first, Bonds is nearly 44 years old and really can't play the outfield on a regular basis any more. He's under clouds of suspicion and an actual federal indictment. By all accounts the teams on which he played were fractured, because there was one set of rules for him and one set for the other 24 players.

Now, as a major league manager managing human beings, not reams of statistics, would you want that player on your team, knowing the upheaval he could cause? I wouldn't.

Do I want a team comprised of 25 "scrappy" Theriots, either? No, I don't, because obviously "scrappiness" in and of itself doesn't win games. Hustling and playing hard and having the right attitude are important factors in playing any sport. But in the end, you have to have consistent ability. What a Theriot can bring to your team can be exemplified by this real-life example involving a player Theriot is often compared to (in playing style, at least), David Eckstein. A little over a year ago, on April 20, 2007, in a game the Cubs were losing 2-1 to the Cardinals at Wrigley Field in the last of the ninth, Mark DeRosa singled with one out. The aforementioned Ronny Cedeno (not yet ONEDEC) was sent in to run for him. With a 3-2 count on the next hitter, Jacque Jones, Cedeno took off for second base. The pitch was ball four, and Cedeno slid into second and then off second as the throw came to Eckstein.

99% of major league shortstops would have taken the ball and thrown it back to the pitcher, and the runner would have dusted himself off and stood on second base, the tying run in scoring position with one out. But Eckstein thought fast and tagged Cedeno, knowing he had overrun the base. Cedeno was out, and with two out, the Cubs' rally had just about died. Matt Murton popped up to end the game.

You can indeed measure this play. It is recorded as a putout. But what cannot be measured is the heads-up play, a split-second thought, that helped his team win. Is this a reason to play a Theriot every day? No, because obviously, plays like this happen once a year, if that. But it is a reason to have a guy like this on your team and play him in important situations.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that neither statistics nor "scrappiness" is the be-all and end-all of winning baseball. Should major league managers pay more attention to modern statistics? Of course they should, and in fact, I believe that more and more managers are doing so, and so are some players, like the Royals' Brian Bannister. All I'd like to see is an acknowledgement from both "sides" (if there are even "sides" in this discussion, because the bottom line is, everyone here wants the same result -- for the Cubs to win) that there is, for lack of a better term, room for both "nature and nurture" in winning baseball, and that there are external factors not measurable on a stat sheet that can win -- or lose -- games for you.

For example, in 2006 Ryan Dempster had a miserable year closing games, after doing well in that role in 2005. Why did this happen? Did Dempster suddenly forget how to pitch? Was his velocity down (observations of this said "no")? What I heard was that he was having some personal troubles. Now, it's generally important for anyone -- not just major league ballplayers -- to not let their personal problems affect their work. But that's not an easy thing to do, and sometimes it happens. You can measure the bad performance on a stat sheet. But you can't necessarily measure the cause of the bad performance unless it's related to physical troubles such as an arm injury, for example, for a pitcher.

If this is starting to sound like a "Can't we all just get along?" plea, that's exactly what it is. There is room for all kinds of opinion and analysis on this site, and in fact, one regular poster here -- cwyers -- does excellent statistical analysis. All I'd ask is that everyone respect each other's opinions -- for that is what we express here, our opinions -- and know that we're all rooting for the same goal, a Cubs World Championship.

And somewhere along the line, both a Kosuke Fukudome -- who is fundamentally sound and also an on-base machine -- and a Ryan Theriot, who might win a game with a heads-up play -- will contribute.

Enjoy the rest of this off-day. Go Cubs.

Through yesterday's games, only five complete games had been pitched in the National League in 2008 -- the CG may, at some point, become a thing of the past. (In 2007, three teams -- Washington, Texas, and Florida -- had zero CG, the first time any team had gone through a whole season without one.)

You know that Carlos Zambrano wanted to finish tonight's 3-0 Cub shutout of the Reds -- their second shutout of the year -- but it was left to Kerry Wood, who registered his fifth save of the year, and in easier fashion than many of his previous outings, including a real nasty slider to strike out Edwin Encarnacion for the second out of the 9th. And so, ten years to the day after Kid K's 20-K game, Kerry strikes out two of three in the 9th inning to get a save. Who'da thunk it?

I was out for a while tonight and while listening to the game on WGN radio, Pat and Ron (well, mostly Pat, since Ron had a cold and could barely talk) were commenting that Z didn't have very good velocity, had "hardly thrown a good fastball yet", Pat said in the third inning.

No matter. Z threw 113 pitches, 69 for strikes, and allowed only three harmless singles and three walks, and was never in serious trouble in this fairly swift game that ran only two hours and thirty minutes. In so doing he became the first Cub pitcher this season to go eight innings.

Meanwhile, ONEDEC, who finally managed to get off the bench and into the starting lineup (I'd give BCB credit, since we've been lobbying for this for several days now, but that would be pretty presumptuous. Let's just say Lou made the right call, and gave Mark DeRosa a day off to clear his head), drove in two runs with a single and played good defense. I think we'd all like to see him get more consistent playing time, and the same for Felix Pie, who had a single in four AB, his average creeping up to .232.

If I were making the lineup decision, I'd start ONEDEC again tomorrow, and give DeRo another day off, which would let him rest till Friday. Or, maybe tomorrow would be a good day to give Kosuke Fukudome a day off, since he went 0-for-3 today (and didn't look real good doing it), and let DeRo play RF.

While the Cubs haven't quite righted the ship yet (they're still only 4-8 since hitting the high-water mark for the year at 15-6), it is significant to note that they haven't lost more than two in a row yet this year, and this despite having less than consistent starting pitching. What this tells us, I think, is that they've been able to use multiple weapons to win games. Sometimes they do get good starting pitching. Other times the bullpen holds the opposition down till the offense gets going. Still other times, the offense bludgeons the other side. And sometimes they just get lucky.

All of those things are elements of building a championship team. The Cubs, clearly, are not yet there, and they probably need to change or add some parts, depending on how certain players perform over the next couple of months. But at 19-14, win tomorrow afternoon and they'll have a .500 road trip (yet another mantra of winning: win 2/3 of your games at home, play .500 on the road, and you'll win your division easily), and come home Friday to what shapes up as a terrific matchup with the hottest team in baseball, the Diamondbacks.

Last night BCB reader Unique challenged me to write a recap in the evening if the Cubs came back to win. They didn't, so I didn't. But with the quick win tonight, and a day game tomorrow, I figured I'd take care of this one while it was still fresh. Nicely done, men in blue. See you all tomorrow.

Well, did she make you cry
Make you break down
Shatter your illusions of love
And is it over now
Do you know how to pick up the pieces and go home?

-- Fleetwood Mac, "Gold Dust Woman"

David Kaplan of WGN radio put it best, I think, in his postgame comments, as I heard them while driving home from the toughest Cub loss of this young season, 4-3 to the Brewers this afternoon, a game that seemed "hard fought and won", as that old saw goes.

Kaplan said that instead of slotting Felix Pie in the game for Reed Johnson, Lou Piniella should have put Pie in CF and moved Johnson to LF, replacing Alfonso Soriano... because Johnson probably would have caught Gabe Kapler's long drive to left that Soriano misread and misplayed.

And he's right. I know Soriano is maddening at times and today was one of his worst days as a Cub, making that bad play and going 0-for-4 at the plate, grounding out three times and popping up in the 7th after Mike Fontenot had singled.

It was shades of Opening Day. Kerry Wood, who's been quite good in the closing role this year, hit Craig Counsell with the first pitch he threw today, just as he hit Rickie Weeks with his first pitch of the 2008 season on March 31... and the result was the same, a disastrous three-run inning highlighted by Kapler's double that should have been an out. After Jason Kendall singled in the second run, the Cubs still had the lead at 3-2, but then Ryan Braun (who Dave calls the best right-handed hitter in the NL after Albert Pujols, and he's likely correct) smacked a double that the wind took away from a frantically reaching Fukudome, scoring the tying and lead runs. Wood got Prince Fielder to ground out to end the inning with the Cubs only down by one.

Now what would you have done after Ronny Cedeno walked? Would you have had Geovany Soto bunt? Dave said he would. I wouldn't have, but Eric Gagne threw offspeed stuff to Soto (unlike the fastballs Soto hammered last night) and got Soto on a called third strike on a pitch that you can't, simply cannot, look at. Pie then hit into a double play to end it. Should Cedeno have been running? Had he been running on Soto's at-bat, he'd at least have stayed out of the DP. And we all know how bad Jason Kendall is at throwing out runners (though, he has been better so far this year, throwing out nine of 22 runners trying to steal).

All of this on a day we should have been celebrating. Carlos Zambrano launched a ball into the left-field bleachers (opposite field, hitting left-handed, no less) for his 13th career HR, tying Fergie Jenkins for the most career HR by a Cubs pitcher -- and Fergie had 893 AB as a Cub, Z has accomplished this in fewer than half as many AB, 430 after today. Z also threw a good, if a little pitch-heavy (111), six and a third innings, lowering his ERA to 2.11 by allowing only one run -- a HR to Braun that tied the game in the sixth. An error on a miscommunication between Johnson and Fukudome on the next batter, Fielder, threatened to untie the game, but Z got Corey Hart to strike out and then Fukudome nailed Fielder at the plate on a perfect throw (I think we could feel the ground move underneath us as the 260-pound Fielder crashed into the 230-pound Soto at the plate, Soto hanging on to the ball for the out).

Tougher losses you will not find. It's especially bad when:

a) the game seemed well in hand, and

b) the opponent is one of your biggest divisional rivals.

The loss drops the Cubs 1/2 game behind the idle Cardinals into second place, and the Cubs are only a game ahead of the third-place Brewers, who won four of the first six meetings between the teams -- but remember this. Two of the games, today and Opening Day, were tough games that could have gone either way. These two teams won't meet again until the last week of July, nearly three months from now, and by then the divisional race should be taking shape much more clearly than it is today. I don't expect the Cardinals, off to a good start, to be able to maintain their pace -- but Milwaukee is a good club (even if their defense and bullpen are a little shaky) and will stay there.

There were a lot of Brewer fans in Wrigley Field for this entire series, unusual for a time when schools are still in session and the weather can be iffy (though it was pleasant today, no rain and a game-time temperature of 70); I'd say perhaps 5,000 to 7,000 fans chanted "Let's Go Brewers!" through that 9th inning rally. Unlike past days there didn't seem to be any Brewer/Cub fan incidents, and those really are unfortunate. I think part of it stems from the fact that over the last few years, Cub fans have taken over Miller Park during Cub/Brewer series and Milwaukee fans have developed a bit of a chip on their shoulders as a result.

Maybe I'm off base, but that's how I see it. It doesn't have to be this way. These were hard-fought games and there's a nascent rivalry that might, in time, be close to the Cub/Cardinal rivalry for proximity and team competition. To any Brewer fans out there -- I respect your team and how it's been built. Let's have a GOOD rivalry, not the Yankee/Red Sox kind where the fans genuinely despise each other.

And for those of you who suffered here at BCB (a couple of BCB readers, Bartlett Bob and zambranofan, joined us in the bleachers today)... I guess all I can say is, it's early, apart from today the team has played consistently well. As Z said himself in his postgame comments, they just have to pick up and play tomorrow in St. Louis and get back to winning.

Speaking of the next Cub/Brewer series, it is during that series that Wrigley Field will host their Midwest League affiliate Peoria Chiefs taking on the Kane County Cougars, at 7:05 pm on Tuesday, July 29, and for people who can't get Cub tickets because they are either unavailable or unaffordable, this is a chance to see the Cubs' future at a reasonable price:

Tickets will be available tomorrow at 9 a.m. on www.cubs.com and will range from $10 for Terrace Reserved seats, Upper Deck Reserved seats and the general admission bleachers; $12 for terrace box seats; and $15 for club and field box seats, bleacher box seats and upper deck box seats. A total of 280 designated premium seats, priced from $25-$30, will also be available as part of tomorrow's on-sale event.

Also note that:

If the Cubs sell more than 10,000 tickets for the game, it will count as one of the team's night games.

There's no preference given to Cub season ticket holders for this event, so I intend to be online tomorrow at 9 am (CDT) along with the rest of you, because I want to be part of this event, too. Besides seeing Cub prospects, it will mark the return of Ryne Sandberg to Wrigley Field in a baseball uniform for the first time since 1997, as the Chiefs' manager:

"It's an opportunity for everybody involved," Sandberg said Thursday at Wrigley. "It's a chance of a lifetime for some of these players to come here and play a game at Wrigley Field. I'm excited about it, and I know the fans will have some fun with the game."

Fleetwood Mac sang the lyrics at the top of this post. The Cubs will have to pick up the pieces and instead of going home, go on the road and win, starting tomorrow. I have faith in this team that they can do it. Till then.

Raise your hand if you still think there's something wrong with Geovany Soto.

Just as I thought -- no hands raised. Soto smashed two home runs last night. But look at this photo for people raising their hands for Soto for the right reason -- here's what our section looked like after the first one landed just a few rows below us (yes, that's us in the top row, me bundled against the cold in a blue coat, behind BCB reader ballstitch, in a burgundy Florida State sweatshirt, arm raised):

Soto's two HR and six RBI, both career highs, led a 17-hit, nine-walk attack (eight of the nine walks coming from the fifth through the eighth inning) and the Cubs demolished the Brewers 19-5, the most runs the Cubs have scored in almost exactly seven years, since May 5, 2001, when the Cubs took a garden-variety 4-1 lead into the seventh and then scored eight runs in consecutive innings and smashed the Dodgers 20-1.

Balls were really jumping out of the yard during batting practice, many sailing over our heads. So since my friend Sue showed up last night, and she likes to organize Home Run Derby in our section, we played. BCB reader ballstitch sat with us along with a friend of his, and the friend had Soto in the pool. He was in the men's room when Soto hit his second HR in the fourth, and when he returned we didn't say a word until he asked, "Did Soto hit another HR?" First, I said, "You have to be present to win", and then we all paid up.

It was that kind of fun night both for fans and players. The game was pretty much over in the first inning, when the Cubs sent ten men to the plate and scored six runs, smacking singles and doubles all over the place -- you don't have to hit only three-run homers to score tons of runs -- and Ryan Dempster, who had a single himself in that six-run first, threw well enough to win with that kind of offensive onslaught, although he labored in later innings, throwing 108 pitches in six innings and issuing five walks. His command and control are going to have to get better to continue to win, because obviously, the Cubs aren't going to score this many runs every day.

It's fun when they do, though, isn't it? Leading 13-5 in the 8th, the Cubs piled on Brewers reliever Derrick Turnbow, who had absolutely nothing last night -- he gave up four hits and four walks, and was charged with six runs, making his ERA an unsightly 15.63 (Jeff Suppan, the Brewer starter, allowed eight earned runs; his ERA, 3.48 at gametime, jumped to 5.19). Ryan Theriot got a RBI with a bases-loaded walk, and then Ronny Cedeno came up with the chance to hit his second grand slam of the month. (Read that again; would you have believed a phrase like that a year ago?)

He nearly got it, too; his bases-clearing double hit off the right-center field wall. It got so bad that Ned Yost, who had clearly wanted to save his 2,756 relievers for another day and wanted Turnbow to finish the inning, had to yank him after 43 (!) pitches and finish the inning with lefty Mitch Stetter.

Discordant note: Bob Howry, put in the game with a 13-3 lead to work out some of his early-season troubles, instead raised his own ERA to 8.10 by allowing a two-run HR to Brewers backup catcher Mike Rivera, who came into the game at 1B after Yost cleared his bench. Lou Piniella did so too, wisely giving Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome and Soto some rest and giving all five of his bench position players some playing time. In the 8th inning, pinch-hitter Mike Fontenot nearly got to bat a second time.

So the Cubs finish April with a 17-10 record; the 17 wins is the most ever for a Cub team in the month of April, though that record is a bit misleading -- teams play so many more games now in April than they did years ago. The previous record, 16, set in 1969, was posted in 23 games (16-7). The 27 games played since March 31 is exactly one-sixth of the season; match the 17-10 record, not an unreasonable thing to do, five more times and you will wind up 102-60. I'm not saying the Cubs will do this, or that it would be easy to do this, only that it is possible.

Derrek Lee tied the team record for HR in April, eight, originally set by Lee Walls in 1958. The 1958 Cubs played only 13 games in April -- and Walls hit his eight in an eight-day, seven-game stretch, as follows:

4/23: 1
4/24: 3
4/25: 0
4/26: 1
4/27: 0
4/28: off day
4/29: 2
4/30: 1

And for the kicker: all eight were hit on the road, in the new major league cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Walls hit 24 HR in 1958, never more than 11 in any other season, sort of the Tuffy Rhodes of his era.

Enjoy these -- they don't come around very often. We spotted "Friggin' Hot Dog Vendor" again last night and this time decided to buy some from him -- they were friggin' good. Also thanks to BCB reader cubsonWGN4ever, who stopped by to say hi last night. With Carlos Zambrano going this afternoon, the Cubs are in good position to win the series -- and then say goodbye to the Brewers for almost three months, because they won't meet them until the last week of July at Miller Park, and not again at Wrigley until mid-September. Today's game thread will be up at 11 am CDT.

More photos from last night:

Derrek Lee slides into second on his first-inning double

This Felix Pie AB resulted in a foul ball... but look at Prince Fielder's reaction.

Matt Murton, Felix Pie and Reed Johnson celebrate last night's win. Click on photos to open a larger version in a new browser window. All photos by David Sameshima

The Cubs were shut out by the Nationals 2-0 this afternoon -- the first time they have been shut out this year.

That took 25 games. For perspective, here's a list of the first game in which the Cubs were shut out in the twelve seasons before 2008:

2007: game 11
2006: game 23
2005: game 7
2004: game 19
2003: game 21
2002: game 21
2001: game 23
2000: game 27
1999: game 17
1998: game 13
1997: game 6
1996: game 23

So in all but one season -- and that happened to be a pretty bad year, actually, 2000 -- the Cubs were shut out earlier than the 25 games it took in 2008. This offense is pretty good -- it just got shut down today.

This was posted by BCB reader cwyers in the comments in the overflow thread, and in case you haven't seen that, and even if you have, it bears repeating:

The spread in talent between major league ballclubs is pretty small when you take a step back and look at it from a distance; the Nationals only look like a really bad ballclub when you compare them to other major league teams. And even then, we tend to exaggerate the difference in quality between two teams.

Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. The good teams tend to win more and the bad teams tend to lose more, but that’s over a 162 game season. In ONE game, any team in the majors, even the Giants, has enough talent to win.

It’s not a problem about "being in their heads," or being tired, or being mentally weak, or whatever character defects the armchair shrinks like to ascribe to sheer random chance. This happens, and it happens all the time. The difference between the best and worst record in baseball last season was only sixty games of 162.

What you do is you tip your cap to the other team, and you move on to play the next game.

Couldn't have said it better, although I will quibble a bit with one assertion that Colin made: I think the Cubs are tired after playing 13 games in three time zones over the last 13 days. Four different times in that 13-day stretch, they played a night game after a day game, and that can really screw up your body clock, especially considering that the first seven games of this season were all day games, and that's after playing a month of day games in Arizona (there was one split-squad night game during spring training).

(Also, wasn't the difference between best and worst in 2007 thirty games, not sixty?)

This isn't to offer excuses, and you might say, "How can they be tired after not even one month?" But given the cross-country travel of this bizarre "if it's Wednesday, this must be Denver" road trip, switching game times and time zones, I can see how the Cubs would have come out a little bit flat this afternoon.

So, give credit to John Lannan, who kept the Cubs off balance all day, and to Jon Rauch, who had Daryle Ward swinging at a pitch to end the game as if Ward were saying, "Enough of this game, let's go home." The Cubs had two big chances to chase Lannan and put the game away -- in the fifth when they caught a break on Nick Johnson's error and loaded the bases with one out, only to have Ryan Theriot hit into a soul-sucking double play, and again in the sixth when they again had runners on second and third with one out. Groundouts from Mark DeRosa and Ronny Cedeno took care of that.

Too bad, because for the second straight start, Ted Lilly threw pretty well. A pair of two-out singles in the second inning scored the only runs the Nationals got all day. The Nats had only four singles, and the two walks Lilly issued (neither of which were involved in the scoring). Michael Wuertz and Kerry Wood also threw well today, as did Sean Marshall, getting out of the 7th inning after walking pinch-hitter Aaron Boone.

So, as Colin said: tip your cap to the other guys (who the Cubs, under this year's pick 'em schedule, won't see again for almost four months, till late August at Wrigley Field), enjoy the day of rest -- actually, closer to two days off with the next game not being till Tuesday night -- and get ready for another series with the Brewers.

Two series with the Brewers at home in April and none in Milwaukee till July? That's a topic for another day.

What can I say?

What can any of us say after the Cubs completed the most dominant homestand in recent memory -- 7 wins in 8 games, scoring 67 runs (average: more than eight per game) -- and thoroughly dominating both bad teams and good. The Mets are ... well, supposedly they're a good team, but the holes in their rotation, their bullpen and their offense after Jose Reyes and David Wright were glaringly obvious last night and this afternoon. This is why a lot of us who study and follow baseball closely have dismissed the opinions of the so-called experts; this year, after the Mets acquired Johan Santana, the national media (and some of the Chicago columnists, too) anointed the Mets NL champions, implying Santana would win every game he started.

Baseball doesn't work that way, and from what I saw the last two days, the Mets have one dominant starter (who we didn't see), a good closer (who we didn't see either), and a ton of holes in the rest of their pitching staff. Reyes and Wright were non-factors in this miniseries; Carlos Beltran didn't do much, either, and I think Carlos Delgado is in decline.

All of this is just background; the Cubs blew out the Mets again today, 8-1, and once again Ronny Cedeno -- yes, RONNY CEDENO, the guy we made fun of for more than two years, who made enough boneheaded plays to make the Blooper Hall of Fame, suddenly seems to have come of baseball age.

Today, he drove in the first run of the game with a double, hustling to second base as Mets RF Angel Pagan knocked the ball around in the corner, and Kosuke Fukudome streaked home. Then, ONEDEC (Cedeno spelled backwards because he's "turned it around") hit a grand slam in the 8th inning, landing on the street just behind us where a very happy guy wearing an orange T-shirt caught it, just inside the foul pole.

A grand slam -- his first. A double. Five RBI. Playing SS with confidence. This is the guy I've seen in consecutive spring trainings playing this way. Has he finally "gotten it"? It's probably too early to make that judgment off a couple of games. However, I'd say Ronny has earned more playing time; maybe, as the Cubs shouldn't rush Alfonso Soriano back from the DL, they don't have to rush Ryan Theriot back from his back spasms. This is a good problem to have -- too many players getting hot at the same time. You could play Theriot at 2B, Cedeno at SS, and Mark DeRosa in LF, with Reed Johnson in CF -- all of those are hitting well. But then what of Felix Pie? Felix had two more hits today and reminded us of his defensive value with a couple of nice running catches.

Kosuke Fukudome deserves his own paragraph today -- he had three hits and reached base all five times up. He had two walks -- the team drew eight more walks today, which means we're going to have to get used to longer games, with more pitches taken. Win 'em and I'll sit there all night watching the bases get clogged with Cubs.

Not only is the baseball all being played well on the North Side of Chicago, the weather -- which we all feared after seeing 16 games on the schedule in the month of April -- has cooperated. Apart from rain on Opening Day and a little drizzle last Saturday, it's been sunny most days, including today, when it was supposed to rain, and the temperature soared into the mid-70's, with a nice breeze. It's really only been brutally cold a couple of days.

This raised the question in my mind, so I asked Dave: "What comes first? Team chemistry and a team you 'like', or does winning breed that?" He didn't really have an answer and neither do I. It's the old "chicken and the egg" question. We like this team because it's winning, and we're learning to like new players like Johnson, and new-to-good-play guys like Cedeno. I think this breeds good team chemistry -- it's got to be more fun to come to work every day for these guys when they are winning. Dave did say that the way this team is playing reminds him a little of the 2005 White Sox -- getting every break, a little luck, timely hitting and good pitching. It's a little too soon, I think, to make such comparisons. As for me, I'm enjoying the ride, and I'm sure you are too.

Ted Lilly threw very well today -- he had one shaky inning in which the Mets scored their only run, and another in which he walked the bases loaded and got out of it with a couple of popups. The 107-pitch outing (64 strikes) got his ERA "down" to 7.30, and that first win is always nice to have. Now, he needs to build on this for his next start.

I sat with BCB reader Damen Jackson today; always nice to see Damen and talk baseball. He took quite a few photos which he'll either post himself or email to me. One of them will be of the Mets broadcast booth, which had a large sign reading "ALOU" on it before the game, later moved inside. This puzzled us, as Moises Alou isn't even traveling with the team while he's on the DL. If any Mets (or Alou) fan knows why that was there, enlighten us, please. BCB reader southsidecubsfan also stopped by to say hello this afternoon.

So the Cubs go on the road the hottest team in the NL -- since the 0-2 start, that's 14 wins in 18 games, and 7 of 8, one of the best April starts in recent team history. Yes, there is a long way to go -- and I was reminded of that in checking the future schedule; this two-game series is the only time we'll see the Mets at Wrigley this year (barring a postseason meeting), and it will be exactly five months from today -- September 22 -- when the two clubs will meet again, in the penultimate series at Shea Stadium.

Finally, a couple of notes: thanks to BCB reader northsider who posted the overflow game thread, since I forgot to do so this morning... and I also heard today that there may be concerts at Wrigley again this summer, sometime after the All-Star break. No, I don't know who yet. Now, take it easy, savor this wonderful just-completed homestand, and relax till tomorrow night's game in Denver.

Click here for my scorecard

Right after Felix Pie hit his improbable three-run homer, putting tonight's 7-1 Cub win over the Mets into a "memory bouquet", Mike said to me, "When have the Cubs ever had an April like this?"

My first instinct was to say, "2004", but that isn't quite right. In nineteen games this Cub team has won games that previous Cub teams would have lost. They've won blowout games. They've won games with good pitching; they've won games with good and timely hitting. The literal answer to the question is: "1985", because that's the last time a Cub team started 13-6. That team, as most of you know, the defending NL East champs, started out 35-19 and had a four-game lead on June 11, before a disastrous 13-game losing streak and having all five starters spend time on the disabled list caused a collapse to a 77-84 finish. But that's not the right answer either, because the 2008 Cubs are winning games that most Cub teams in my lifetime would have found ways to lose.

So let's not dwell on losing. Instead, let's celebrate yet another solidly played victory, even on a night when the hot-hitting Ryan Theriot wasn't available due to back spasms. Mike Fontenot started in his place, with Ronny Cedeno moving from 2B to SS on this early-starting game (for ESPN purposes). Fontenot walked, but Cedeno had a stellar day. More on that later.

Carlos Zambrano came out as he has in every start so far this year -- aggressive (so said Lou in his postgame press conference), throwing strikes (61 of 101 pitches), and handling the Mets easily. Even in the one inning where they scored their only run of the game, Z survived a mistake by Geovany Soto. Endy Chavez led off the sixth with a double, and pitcher John Maine, up next, squared to bunt. He laid down a good bunt, and Soto tried to get Chavez at third -- something he had absolutely no chance to do. Fortunately, Z didn't let this get to him -- as he might have in the past. Instead, he bore down on Jose Reyes, getting him to hit into a double play, scoring Chavez. Chavez might have scored anyway, had Soto made the right play (going to first to get Maine).

Maine and Z had matched up very well through six; Maine's only mistake was a fastball that Aramis Ramirez hit into the LF bleachers for a two-run homer. That, and the above-mentioned Mets run, were the only runs through seven, and the tight game had Carlos Marmol replacing Z and throwing an excellent nine-pitch inning, finishing off with a flourish of a strikeout of Mets catcher Raul Casanova on one of Marmol's patented sliders -- the ones that no one can hit.

The eighth inning was one of the best innings I've seen the Cubs have in recent years. The normally-solid Reyes bobbled Derrek Lee's leadoff grounder and then Ramirez got hit on the arm with a pitch (said Lou in his postgame conference: "He's OK"). Kosuke Fukudome had yet another terrific at-bat -- does this guy ever have a bad one? -- working the count full and fouling off three pitches before he got the one he wanted, singling up the middle. Lee prudently was held at third with nobody out, and the crowd groaned as Mark DeRosa struck out and Soto popped up.

That brought up Cedeno, the guy we have loved to bash for almost three years. Kudos to whoever here came up with the tag "ONEDEC" for him, because it does appear he really IS "turning things around". Ronny also had an excellent AB against Mets reliever Aaron Heilman before lining a two-run single up the middle, giving the Cubs some breathing room, and then, after Willie Randolph pulled Heilman for Jorge Sosa, Felix Pie slammed a pitch into the RF bleachers for his first HR of the season (and first career HR at Wrigley Field).

Kerry Wood, who had been warming up in anticipation of having to save a tight game, instead came in with a six-run lead. We all know many closers have trouble at times with this sort of situation, but Wood not only finished off the Mets, but did so by throwing only six pitches, thus keeping him available tomorrow if necessary.

So the Cubs make a statement against one of the "good" teams in the National League, win their fourth in a row, and oh yes -- for those of you who didn't believe me when I said the Pirates are a really bad team: they gave up ten runs for the third game in a row, tonight losing to the Marlins 10-4. The Pirates ARE a really bad team.

That's not really important, though the Cubs can look forward to playing the Pirates again in less than four weeks, as this year's wacky schedule continues. In the meantime, what a nice way to celebrate the milestone of my 2000th Cub game (and thanks, ballhawk and others who stopped by to offer congratulations). There was a juggler outside on Waveland tossing four balls up in the air from time to time all evening. Let's keep that festive, winning atmosphere going tomorrow. At this writing, the Giants are leading the Diamondbacks 2-1. If that score holds up, the Cubs and D'backs will be tied for the NL's best record. Onward and upward.

At 12:30 this afternoon, I sat down to watch today's game, enjoying watching the sunshine in Pittsburgh and figuring that by 3:00 or so, I'd be able to go run the errands and do the rest of the things I needed to do today.

Four hours and forty-seven minutes later, I finally went out to quickly drop some mail off. That was OK, because... I really didn't have anything to do today.

Oh, wait. Yes, I did.

The Cubs beat the Pirates 10-8 in 12 innings in a game that perhaps is best not described at all, because both teams crammed enough bad baseball into this afternoon to last at least a month.

There were errors. Of omission and commission. There were walks. There were stolen bases (four by the Cubs). There were walks. Did I mention there were walks? Eighteen of the freakin' things, for heaven's sake.

And finally, it was walks that undid Pirates rookie pitcher Evan Meek, and as bad as Carmen Pignatiello threw in his brief appearance in the sixth inning (when the Pirates tied the game at seven, and Piggy threw eight pitches, none of them near the strike zone), Meek's appearance cost the Pirates the game. In order: walk, stolen base, walk, wild pitch, groundout, intentional walk, sacrifice fly, wild pitch, intentional walk, walk with the bases loaded, two runs on NO hits.

Man, that's bad. Fortunately, that all was FOR the Cubs.

However, before all that, we got a BCB exclusive. After all the photos you've seen of the first homestand, we got this exclusive photo of Ronny Cedeno's bases-clearing double in the third inning that gave the Cubs a 7-0 lead:

Today was WGN-TV's first road HD telecast, and it was pretty much a TV disaster. First, the audio wasn't synced with the picture; for most of a sporting event that doesn't matter because the faces speaking aren't on TV. But Len and Bob looked odd in the pregame show, lip-flapping their way through the game intro. Then they lost audio altogether and had them on a phone line... and then they lost the picture. Inertia took over; I could have switched to Pat & Ron on WGN radio, but left the phone-line quality audio (it sounded like the basketball games I used to call for my college radio station 30 years ago) up and that image on the screen.

Almost to the minute when the video feed returned, the Pirates started knocking the ball around PNC Park. Ted Lilly got knocked out and Kevin Hart wasn't much better. It took the Pirates till the 7th inning, off Michael Wuertz, to tie the game -- mostly as a result of a Mark DeRosa error.

And on it went into the late-afternoon shadows in Pittsburgh. The Cubs left RISP in the 10th and 11th innings before basically letting Evan Meek give them the game in the 12th.

Kudos -- BIG ones -- to Jon Lieber, who came in the game in the 9th inning and slammed the door shut. He threw three innings and gave up two harmless doubles and two walks (both intentional). He threw an efficient 35 pitches (23 strikes) and probably could have thrown five more innings if the Cubs had needed him to (and thank heavens they didn't, because I still wouldn't have run my errands!). Carlos Marmol finished up, and looked the best I've seen him all year, including the spring. That's good news, too.

There will be calls for Lieber to go into the rotation, and I can see this. But in some ways, he's more valuable to the team as a long-man like this; even though he threw three innings today, I'll bet he could do it again on Wednesday night, he throws so effortlessly. In 1998, the Cubs had Terry Mulholland fill a role like this -- check out his gamelogs from that year; he started six games but relieved in 64 others, often throwing two innings. That's a very valuable guy to have in your bullpen. Obviously, if one of the current rotation really starts throwing bad on a consistent basis, you'd have to think about putting Lieber in the rotation. But I'd give it at least four times through the rotation before even thinking about doing this.

I finally went out to run my errands when the Cubs scored the two runs in the 12th, and listened to the rest of the game on the radio. Pat Hughes said, "The best thing to do after a game like this, after you win, is to completely forget about it."

Sound advice, I think. It was ugly. The Cubs won. They've got tomorrow off, and most of Wednesday till the night game. Be happy.

Z warming up before Wednesday's game at Tempe. Photo by Al

TEMPE, Arizona -- This post would have been up a while ago except for the Tempe police.

No, I'm not in trouble. But the police directing traffic out of the parking lots at Tempe Diablo Stadium have their share of it. They cannot figure out how to direct traffic so as not to create a traffic jam. Example: if you are familiar with Tempe Diablo, the largest lot is east of the park, beyond right field (you can see that lot on TV). I was parked in that lot. I was going north when leaving, which normally would mean a right turn out of the lot, then another right on 48th St.

Nope. Got forced to go left (south), into a line of cars that was just... not... moving. Finally turned around, got forced south again, and eventually turned back north, and had to take a shortcut through a parking lot to get back on the main drag.

This took 25 minutes, and it should have taken about three.

It ALSO should have been up two hours ago, but something happened when I posted it -- NOW I hope you can see it!

End rant.

Now, on to today's 7-5 come-from-behind Cubs win over the Angels, in which Ronny Cedeno deserves some props. He singled twice, the latter of which drove in two runs and gave the Cubs the lead in their five-run sixth inning -- all five runs charged to K-Rod, Francisco Rodriguez, the Angels' fine closer, although Cedeno's hit came after K-Rod had left the game in favor of Angels career minor leaguer Von Stertzbach.

The Angels' scoreboard operator had a bit of trouble when the Cubs took the lead:

Photo by Al

Yes, according to them, 1 + 5 = 8. On zero hits. They played around with it for a while, switching it to 9, 8 and 7, finally sticking with 8 -- at least till the Cubs scored a run in the top of the 9th, at which time it correctly read "7".

Felix Pie also had three hits today, and two stolen bases, and made a fine running catch in center field. This raised his spring average to .356. Yes, I know spring numbers don't mean that much, but he's looking better as he finally must be feeling better after the -- well, you know, surgery he had earlier this month. Pie batted second today as Lou tinkered around with his lineup for various reasons, including a late scratch of Mark DeRosa due to sinusitis. We also learned today that Kosuke Fukudome may lead off vs. LHP. To which I say -- excellent idea. Dome had a double, a walk and a sac fly and threw out Robb Quinlan trying to stretch a single into a double in the Angels' three-run fourth.

Which was a good thing, because Z was off that inning. He hit a batter (Kendry Morales) and issued a walk -- and according to Ken, who was sitting behind 1B today, Z was muttering to himself after the walk to Jeff Mathis, mad at himself for giving it up. One batter later, he grooved one to Dee Brown. All told, Z wasn't horrible today, giving up only four hits and striking out five. He batted for himself -- twice -- and made good contact both times. After that, the Cubs reverted to the DH rule that is allowed in AL parks, and Matt Murton, who is clearly on the roster bubble now, came in, walked and scored, and later grounded out.

Cubs relief today was good-to-excellent. I'm still a little worried about Carlos Marmol, who walked two and allowed the Angels' last run to score. Kerry Wood then came in, to a large ovation from the Cubs fans in attendance, and slammed the door, striking out two, and today extending himself by going more than one inning.

Bob Howry and Carmen Pignatiello -- the latter, I really hope Lou likes well enough to put him on the roster -- threw uneventful innings. Piggy doesn't have an overwhelming fastball but he keeps the ball down, and perhaps could be used as a situational lefty, inducing DP balls.

BCB reader lemon20pie stopped by later in the game to say hi and we discussed various roster possibilities, including Piggy, and although one Cubs fan seated next to us kept mentioning... one certain AL East player, it's now nearly certain that TTTSNBN will not happen. Right, MPH73?

The Cubs evened-up their spring record at 14-14-1 today -- and in the games I've seen, they're 9-2-1. I've seen quite a bit of good baseball and not so much bad. We hope this carries over starting Monday.

A number of minor leaguers made the trip over (presumably they didn't get caught in traffic!), though none of them got into the game -- I spotted Jeff Samardzija (who signed a ton of autographs before the game), Jose Ceda (who is one big dude!) and Josh Donaldson in the bullpen during the game. Tim Lahey was warming up, but didn't get into the game. This article suggests that the trade scenario for Lahey ("returning" him and then getting him back as the PTBNL in the Craig Monroe deal) is still possible.

Finally, former Cubs manager Preston Gomez is in critical condition in California following a freak accident at a gas station. Thoughts and prayers to his family.

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