Gordon Wittenmyer, the Cubs beat writer for the Sun Times, twittered that Z is heading to the DL at about 10:30 Central Time this morning.  No other detail was out about how Z is doing, but he will be eligible to return July 4 vs. St. Louis.

In the interim, Eric Patterson has reportedly been called up until Monday when Marshall will be called up to make the Tuesday start at Wrigley vs. Baltimore.

From the Twitter page:

• Big Z on DL ... Shoulder strain ... Patterson up till team needs Marshall for Tuesday start. 20 minutes ago

So I guess the answer is, Z misses two starts, and goes back maybe a day in the rotation to start on the 4th?  (wouldn't his next standard turn be the 3rd or so?  I don't have a schedule in front of me)

Somewhat off-topic for here, but as mostly NL fans, I wondered what opinions we had on this issue...personally, I know I speak for a lot of my friends when I say Hank can go crawl under his rock.  AL pitchers should hit just like NL just like all pitchers growing up do.  This idea of not hitting the pitcher is bupkus...

http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/06/16/hank-steinbrenner-thinks-the-national-league-needs-to-grow-up/

Posted Jun 16th 2008 9:00PM by Will Brinson
It is pretty likely that Hank Steinbrenner is frustrated at this point in the season. Just as the Yankees start to heat up and make a run at a David Ortiz-less Boston team, they lose Chien-Ming Wang for the next 10-12 weeks (and that's minimum). Of course, that doesn't mean he has to go and bash the Senior Circuit. But he does anyway.

'My only message is simple. The National League needs to join the 21st century,' Steinbrenner said in Tampa, Fla. 'They need to grow up and join the 21st century.

'Am I (mad) about it? Yes,' Steinbrenner added. 'I've got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. He's going to be out. I don't like that, and it's about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s.'

Who is this guy?? This is something even Big Stein wouldn't say; say what you want about his dad being a nutcase, but at least George had media savvy and never came off like Rod Farva when he got angry.

Sure, depending on what team you like and your thoughts on baseball, you might believe that the DH is either a) good or b) bad. Sometimes you hear people say "Gosh, I'm glad that the American League pitchers don't have to hit" or "Wow. I wish the American League would adhere more to the tradition of baseball and let pitchers hit."

You almost never hear a psychotic rant about the National League, and it's archaic ability to make sure that these ... gasp ... professional athletes are actually, you know, performing to their athletic ability by actually playing the game. I guarantee you if Hank had Micah Owings on his team he wouldn't feel that way either.

Living in Missouri, I get swamped with Cardinals coverage and it's rare that one of these stories brings such a smile to my face, but Sunday's (3/9) St Louis Post-Dispatch sports section contained a cover story titled "Cards' infield defense is plagued by miscues"

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/B63CE72CBF45B7568625740700121700 ?OpenDocument

The print story includes a photo essay which lists the Cards infield error leaders and who is at the top of the list?  Our old buddy Ceszr Izturis with 4 errors (twice as many as the rookie and 2nd year man behind him) following a two-error game on Saturday.

From the article (I couldn't figure out how to get one of those cool quote boxes, so this cut and paste will have to suffice):
Saturday's not-so-good news: Izturis, the Cardinals' projected everyday shortstop after receiving part-time duty from three teams the last two seasons, again absorbed an error after staying back on a ball, this time a soft line drive that short-hopped him. Izturis received a second error when he failed to glove an on-target throw from Ludwick.

La Russa acknowledged some of Izturis' errors "were on balls he should have played," but quickly added, "I'm not too concerned about his defense."

"I watch Izturis move. I see hands. I see arm. I see a good defensive player," the manager said.

Third base and infield coach Jose Oquendo concedes Izturis needs to play more aggressively. However, Oquendo also believes time will change what so far has been Izturis' ill-at-ease look.

"We're still pretty good defensively. You look behind the plate (at catcher Yadier Molina) or at first base (with Albert Pujols) and Izturis has been a Gold Glove winner before. He just hasn't played for the last two years. It's taking him a little time to get ready to play every day."

Izturis, guilty of more than 11 errors in only one of five major-league seasons in which he has appeared in at least 106 games, has been charged with four of the team's 14 miscues in 11 games this spring.

"It's still early," Izturis said. "This is the time of year when that's going to happen. You just want to leave that back in Florida. ... It's just a matter of me doing more of the work I have to do to get going." (end article quote)

Obviously not a tremendous impact on us yet, but I hope LaRussa remains so optimistic about Cesar so our batters can hit wicked hop after wicked hop at him ... elsewhere in the article, the errors were blamed on the rough field....it certainly made me chuckle on a Sunday morning.

I know we've all heard it before - and said it before - and we're hearing and saying it again.

"WAIT 'TIL NEXT YEAR"

For 99 years.  

But I contend that in spite of this week's result, this year's results were ABOVE expectations.  Yes, management spent a lot of money in the off season which paid off - in the end.  Think about those first 60 days when the club was learning what Lou was all about and vice versa.  The North Siders had to fight so hard to come back from that deficit and invest so much emotion into June, July, August, and September that there simply was nothing left for October.

In 2008, the team goes into spring training knowing what Lou is about.  Lou has a pretty good idea what he has to work with, from Sori (in LF, NOT CF but maybe 2B, from some rumors) to The Riot to Soto, Kendall, Blanco, et al...

In theory, this club hits the ground running in 2008.  Further, anyone who knows me offline knows I've been proclaiming for several years that 2008 is the Cubs year - with an even 100 years between titles.

Changes certainly need to be made...a "real" CF who can hit and field (a mesh of Pie, Sori, Jones (did I just type that?) and others...can the team afford to make a run at Andruw Jones?  Can the team afford NOT to make a run at him?  The rotation still needs a little bit more to get over the hump - whether a "psychiatrist on call" for Z or a solid back end starter that can be counted on for 200IP.

I know tonight hurts us all after the promise that September brought.  But the sun will be up tomorrow.  And there's always "next year".

While it doesn't say which team will be assigned to which series, this is via AwfulAnnouncing.com.  If the Cubs make the playoffs, please please please, if there is a God in heaven, keep Chip & Tony off of the Cubs Division Series!!!:

Last week they hired everyone, today they've sorted them into groups. Here's the rundown of TBS Announcing teams, and sorry Cubs fans....Stone and Caray are not getting back together.

Chip Caray / Tony Gwynn
Dick Stockton / Bob Brenly
Ted Robinson / Steve Stone
Don Orsillo / Joe Simpson

Not bad at all and TBS has also brought on a bunch of worth field reporters (kind of an oxymoron I know) as well. Craig Sager, Marc Fein, Jose Mota, and David Aldridge will be the sideliners for the Playoffs and round out a pretty strong collection of broadcasters.

A couple other interesting tidbits....Brenly joins Caray and Gwynn for the NLCS and everyone welcome The Big Hurt to the pregame show. Frank Thomas will be working with Ernie Johnson and Cal Ripken before games.