RED SOX TRADE HILLENBRAND: Forget about the Cubs trading for third baseman Shea Hillenbrand. The Red Sox traded him to Arizona for pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim.
FUTURE MARIOTTI COLUMN PREDICTION: Look for Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times to soon write a column about the Cubs' inability to land Hillebrand that goes like this.
Once again Andy McFail and his hand picked GM Jim Hendry failed to think big. Hendry is so in love with his beloved farm system he would not give up a few prospects to acquire Shea Hillenbrand. The reason of course is money. The Tribsters are cheap. So cheap they are willing to throw away a pennant just to hang onto kids who may never do anything in the bigs. You would think with Hillenbrand's low salary the Tribsters would have bit but they did not. The Cubs would now have to look to Florida's Mike Lowell if they were serious about winning but we know they are not because the Tribsters are cheap. Gosh, writing like Jay Mariotti is sooooooo easy.
posted by Thomas at 12:25 PM
WEDNESDAY'S GAME VS. PITTSBURGH: Good performance by Mark Prior in the Cubs 5-4 win over Pittsburgh.
posted by Thomas at 12:11 PM
SORRY: Sorry I did not update for the rest of the road trip. The Cubs went 1-3 in St. Louis. Split two in Pittsburgh. Then took two out of three in Houston. Overall 8-5, with one rainout in Pittsburgh, and all without Sammy Sosa. The Cubs came back to Chicago in first place by 2 1/2 games.
MONDAY'S GAME VS. PITTSBURGH: The Pirates and Cubs had a great pitchers duel for the first seven innings yesterday between Josh Fogg and Kerry Wood. Fogg pitched seven innings giving up only three hits and no runs. Wood pitched seven innings giving up only one hit and one run which scored on a wild pitch. Then the Cubs bullpen took over and each reliever did his best to get a Mel Rojas Award. The Cubs bullpen gave up nine runs to the Pirates in the eighth inning to give the Pirates a 10-0 lead which was the final.
MEL ROJAS AWARD 1: The Mel Rojas Award for bad relief pitching to Phil Norton. Norton faced two batters (Pirates pitcher Josh Fogg and centerfielder Kenny Lofton), walked Fogg and Lofton singled. Both later scored.
MEL ROJAS AWARD 2: The Mel Rojas Award for bad relief pitching to Juan Cruz. Cruz's line: 0 IP, 1 hit, 2 walks, 4 earned runs.
MEL ROJAS AWARD 3: The Mel Rojas Award for bad relief pitching to Antonio Alfonseca. Alfonseca's line: 1 IP, 4 hits, 1 walk, 3 earned runs.
posted by Thomas at 3:57 PM
