NEW YORK -- And that's part of the reason; I'm in New York for a meeting of the Eastern Directors Council of the Directors Guild of America, of which I'm a member, tonight.
So, what more is there to say about the Cubs' 8-6 loss to the Braves last night than: they went ahead. They fell behind. They went ahead again. Carlos Zambrano walked too many people (five in six innings, giving him sixteen walks in twenty-two innings this year, way too many), and Cesar Izturis nonchalanted a ground ball right to him hit by a not-so-fast runner that would have ended the three-run eighth inning, and that, as Jack Brickhouse would have said, "opened the floodgates".
The Cubs are 5-9. After fourteen games last year they were 9-5; that fourteenth game was the same game in which Derrek Lee suffered his injury. The team plodded along after that, winning four of their next seven, before the wheels fell off.
It's far too early to say anything definitive about this year's team, and I think we all know that Z isn't going to pitch like this all year -- or at least he'd better not, if he is indeed going to be the staff ace.
Once again tonight, Rich Hill will (hopefully) play the role of "stopper", as he did in his last start.
I said this would be short and it is. I'm going to the Yankees/Indians game this afternoon before my meeting. You think our pitching is bad? How's this for a pitching matchup: Fausto Carmona vs. Darrell Rasner. Ugh.
I'll post a recap of that game along with a game thread when I get back later this afternoon.