Thoughts on the Chicago Cubs and other topics in baseball. E-mail Tom at: tomsmithcubs@ hotmail.com

 
SATURDAY'S GAME AT ST. LOUIS: Cubs win 7-3. Wood looked good. Hundley with a home run. Bullpen continues to be shaky.

TRADE TALK: With the July 31 trade deadline approaching the rumors are flying about who the Cubs will deal to a contender. Tom "Flash" Gordon, Jeff Fassero, and Jason Bere have been mentioned. Not a big shock. But the guy most teams are interested in is Jon Lieber. GM Jim Hendry says he does not want to trade Lieber and that a trade is unlikely. I really do not want to trade Lieber either but we are not exactly talking about Bob Gibson here. Furthermore Lieber likely had his career year last season and now is returning to usual form of being a better than average pitcher. The Cubs have to prepare for the future and if getting two or three quality prospects for Lieber will make us better in the future then the Cubs have to consider doing it.
posted by Thomas at 5:49 PM

 
FRIDAY'S GAME AT ST. LOUIS: Lieber looked terrible. Chuck Finley shuts down the offense.
posted by Thomas at 5:47 PM

 
THURSDAY'S GAME VS. PHILADELPHIA: Zambrano was good for five innings but started to lose it in the sixth probably because he was over one hundred pitches. Fassero comes in gives up a hit to score a run. Farnsworth awful in the eighth. Alou did not help Farnsworth out when a fly ball hit him in a really bad spot: the glove. Hundley lobs throw to first with runner on third who easily scores because of Hundley's weak throw. Even the official scorer gets an error on that play for originally scoring it a steal of home. Borowski gives up run in ninth. Bats silent most of the day. Rather sad.

MEL ROJAS AWARD NOMINEES: The nominees for the Mel Rojas Award for Worst Performance by a Cubs relief pitcher in Thursday's game are: Jeff Fassero, one batter, one hit, run scored; Kyle Farnsworth, in one inning four runs score; Joe Borowski, one inning, one run.

MEL ROJAS AWARD WINNER: The winner of the Mel Rojas Award for worst performance by a Cubs reliever is Kyle Farnsworth.

PRESTON GOMEZ AWARD: The Preston Gomez Award for stupid managing to Bruce Kimm for bringing in Jeff Fassero, who cannot get left handers out, to face the left handed Travis Lee in the sixth inning with two men on. Lee promptly got a base hit and a run scored.

CHIPMUNK: In the bottom of the fifth inning Chip said, "You have to tip your cap to (Phillies pitcher) Brandon Duckworth. He hasn't given the Cubs anything to hit." Check the scoreboard out Chip. The score at the time was Cubs 2, Phillies 0.

KONG CAME BACK: Great to see Dave Kingman back at Wrigley Field on Thursday to throw out the first pitch and sing Take Me Out To The Ballgame during the seventh inning stretch. I would not have recognized him though if I had passed him on the street.
posted by Thomas at 2:26 AM

 
WEDNESDAY'S GAME VS. PHILADELPHIA: Good pitching match up between Brett Myers and Mark Prior. Tom "Flash" Gordon gets the Mel Rojas Award for poor relief pitching. Sosa hits a home run in the ninth.

CHIPMUNK 1: In the ninth inning with Fred McGriff on first base Moises Alou came to bat for the Cubs. The first three pitches were balls. The next pitch was a strike making the count 3-1. However, Chip told us the count was 3-2 twice and that McGriff would be running on the 3-2 pitch.

CHIPMUNK 2: I am not one hundred percent sure of this but in the ninth inning after Moises Alou singled to put runners on first and second for the Cubs, Corey Patterson came up to bat and I thought I heard Chip call him Dwight Patterson. Unfortunately for the Cubs, Corey Patterson's bat of late has been a lot like Dwight Patterson: dead.

THE ALL ED LYNCH GIVEAWAY MATCH UP: Chances are Cubs fans were paying attention to what was happening at Wrigley Field and not at Comiskey Park this afternoon. The reason why I bring this up is the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox both started former Cubs prospects who Ed Lynch gave away. Kyle Lohse who Ed Lynch gave to Minnesota so we could get Rick Aguilera started for the Twins; while Jon Garland who Ed Lynch gave the White Sox for Matt "Pathetic" Karchner started for the White Sox. If we had kept them, right now Lohse could be a fifth starter for us but most likely he and Garland would be in the Cubs bullpen. Neither one is great, but I would rather have kept them instead of giving them away to get those two turkeys who I never wanted in the first place.
posted by Thomas at 10:27 PM

 
TUESDAY'S GAME VS. PHILADELPHIA: Matt Clement was a little shaky today. McGriff had a good game. Scott Rolen with a three run home run to beat us. Please sign him as a free agent at the end of this season Jim Hendry.

OTTO von BISMARCK: Early in the game Dave Otto was discussing Phillies pitcher Vicente Padilla who in 2000 was traded to the Phillies from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Curt Schilling trade. Otto said of Padilla, "After the trade in 2000 he pitched out of the bullpen and for the Diamondbacks." Huh?

CHIPMUNK 1: In the sixth inning Matt Clement did the old fake to third fake to first move. Chip then said, "Don't laugh folks that move has fooled a lot of people over the years." How I wish Harry was there to say to Chip, "Come on Chip. That went out with high button shoes."

CHIPMUNK 2: In the eight inning Chip let us know that Corey Patterson was at bat despite the fact that Angel Echevarria was at the plate pinch hitting for Patterson.

CHIPMUNK 3: Late in the game Chip said, "The Phillies will be watching the Braves-Marlins game tonight to see how the Marlins do." Yes Chip the battle for 4th place in the National League East is really fascinating.

THE OTHER WOOD: Did we really need to have to listen to Illinois Lt. Governor Corrine Wood during the third inning talking about her pet issue of gun locks? Now I can understand having these hacks in the booth if they can actually do something for the Tribune Company but Wood? A failed politician who in a few months is going to be a former Lt. Governor? As for the interview itself I am not going to criticize Chip for his poor interview of Lt. Gov. Wood by accepting everything she said as truth and not challenging her because she was foisted upon him by some higher up at the Tribune Company nor was it his place to be Tim Russert. Anyway during the interview Lt. Governor Wood said "We are going to large cities around the state like the Quad Cities, Rockford, and Peoria." When you are think big time, you think Moline.

posted by Thomas at 6:25 PM

 
MONDAY'S GAME VS. PHILADELPHIA: A 5-0 lead with Wood on the mound and we blow it trailing 6-5 going into the bottom of the 9th. Yuck. Double Yuck. Then an incredible comeback in the bottom of the ninth to win it 7-6. Cheered like crazy. Larry Bowa did not look real happy. Hee Hee. Cubs Win! Cubs Win!

OTTO: Scott Rolen earlier this year turned down a $140 million contract with Philadelphia and so will be a free agent at the end of this year. But Dave Otto said during the game today that "Rolen will get atleast $1 million." Really Dave? Do you really think he will get that much? Unreal.

CHIPMUNK: When Todd Hundley was on base late in the game Chip talked about the Cubs possibly putting in a pinch runner for Hundley then listed the players on the Cubs bench and named Joe Girardi among those available. Girardi is on the disabled list Chip.
posted by Thomas at 5:15 PM