Win Some, Lose Some

The Cubs won 3 more in a row after my last post to get to 15-6. That start is the best since 1907 or something like that for the Cubs. Along the way they also had a streak of winning 4 games in a row by 6 runs or more, which is the first time they've done that since 18-something (can't even remember what year it was according to Len Kasper). So dropping the next two to the Rockies and Nationals in close games certainly is not cause for panic, but wow, have they been frustrating nonetheless. Both games saw the Cubs strand a ton of runners. They didn't ground into many double plays or strike out a lot, they just didn't seem to get the timely hit as they have so often early on. Last night the Nationals won in walkoff fashion on a home-run by catcher Will Nieves off of Bob Howry. It was Nieves's first career home run on a ball that he reached way out of the zone to get and pulled it down the right field line. I have no idea what's going on with Howry. He's not looking comfortable at all right now. Howry's performance is one thing that worries me at the moment, as I don't think Wuertz or Hart could really excel in a set-up role, and I really don't want Carlos Marmol's arm to fall off from throwing 30 pitches a night. As I said though, it's only a 2 game skid at the moment, and with Carlos Zambrano facing a fairly awful Nationals offense tonight, you would certainly figure the odds to be in the Cubs' favor.

White Flag Time

Things have been going pretty well for the Cubs. They're currently sitting pretty at 12-6 after sweeping the Pirates for the second time this year, and are now in 1st place in the NL Central and a half game ahead of the Cardinals. This marks a huge shift from the way the Cubs started last year, when they were a mere 7-11 after their first 18 games and didn't get to 12 wins until May 2nd. They've also scored 28 more runs, drawn 31 more walks, and hit 7 more home runs in the first 18 games of this season as compared to last season. All of that is good enough for 1st in the NL in both average and OBP (all this is according to baseball-reference.com, as usual) The last couple of series against the Reds and Pirates have been particularly good for the Cubs' offense, as they've scored 9+ runs in 4 of the 6 games, despite Alphonso Soriano being played on the DL after the first game against the Reds.

Some people might be quick to dismiss the early success, because it's been mostly against bad teams (the Cubs have played the Brewers and Phillies, but are just 2-4 against them), but Cubs sweeps have been pretty rare in recent years against any team, and already sweeping the Pirates twice this year is extremely encouraging to me.

I was in attendance for the game on Wednesday against the Reds. I didn't get there until the game was already in the 3rd inning because I didn't leave until 6:00 and I-88 was packed and Josh Fogg was already being pulled from the game. Cubs ended up winning 12-3 on a gorgeous night. It was good times.

Update (4/22 ~2:00ish)

The Cubs kept the winning streak going last night, beating the Mets 7-1, getting 5 of their runs in the 8th inning, capitalizing off of a Jose Reyes error which began the inning. After loading the bases with no outs, Mark DeRosa struck out, and Geovany Soto popped out, seemingly setting up a huge wasted opportunity that were oh so common during the Dusty Baker era. But, lo and behond, Ronny Cedeno worked an at-bat that was something like 9 or 10 pitches before finally punching a single up the middle, then Felix Pie hit a 3-run pinch-hit home run. When things are going right, they're going right. Cedeno and Pie were two guys who weren't even guaranteed to be on the roster at the start of the year. Right now as I'm posting the Cubs are wrapping up the brief 2-game set with an afternoon game. Ted Lilly retired the first 9 guys in order, but has run into trouble in the 4th. It might end up being a repeat of his last start, where he looked much improved from the outset but then got roughed up the second time through the order. Let's hope not. 0-0 score for now...

Let's not play two, but play a really long one

I was visiting people I know who are still at college last weekend, so again I've left this idle for a few days. Basically, the Cubs swept the Pirates in an odd series that had 36 innings in 3 games, and then narrowly avoided a sweep at the hands of the Phillies, putting them at 7-5. Their hitting has still be fairly good, with Derrek Lee mostly notably on a tear, but the pitching has been very inconsistent. Ted Lilly has yet to last 5 innings in a start and doesn't look like the same guy as in 2007 thus far. The bullpen has struggled as well, especially Bob Howry. It doesn't help that, as I alluded to, they've had to pitch a ton of innings. 4 of the Cubs' first 12 games have gone into extra innings. Random fact of the day (courtesy of the super cool Play Index feature at Baseball Reference): the most extra inning games the Cubs have played in a season is 23 in 1992. Right now they're on pace for 54. A lot of the games thus far have had some very bizarre moments, and a lot o them-- certainly the 4 extra inning games-- could've had a different result with the change of only one or two plays. As such, it's hard to really get a read on the team thus far.

One thing I will say thus far that I think could potentially get the Cubs in a lot of trouble is Lou Pinella's penchant for announcing a batter, knowing the opposing manager will change pitchers to make it lefty-lefty or righty-righty, then pulling him back and announcing another batter who hits with the opposite hand. This effectively wastes the first batter in said sequence, since you're technically "in the game" as soon as you're announced. With the extra innings games early on, this has led to the Cubs running out of position players on more than one occasion, and as such, the likes of Carlos Zambrano have been batting in key situations. A notable example was Sunday, where in the 10th inning against the Phillies, there were runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out with Zambrano hitting because the bench was already empty. Zambrano grounded to short, and it should have been an inning ending double-play, but Chase Utley made a horrible throw to first and the go-ahead run ended up scoring. While the Cubs ended up getting a break in that case, in about 99 out of 100 times, that play is going to be a double play, and while Zambrano is certainly a good hitter by pitcher standards, he's not who you want batting in a tie game late.

I get the mentality Lou is using: if you have your best hitter batting in the 7th or 8th, or whenever it is, there's a better chance that he can give you lead and you can close the game out in 9 innings and not have to worry about anything coming afterward. I feel however, that its more worth it to keep a hitter in the batter's box in a lefty-lefty or righty-righty situation-- even though he may be hitting like .250 vs. leftys as opposed to .280 vs. righties or vice vera-- than have a pitcher taking goofy looking hacks at the ball later on. There's probably a way to prove or disprove this statistically, but I'm not going to exert the effort to try and find out.

Cubs play the Reds (reunion with Dusty!) later on tonight at Wrigley.

Back to .500

Game 4: Astros 4, Cubs 3
Game 5: Cubs 9, Astros 7
Game 6: Cubs 3, Astros 2

Well, it didn't take long for me to lag behind on this, not that that should surprise me. Basically, long story short, the Cubs looked a little bit more like the team they should be (and I can legitimately say "looked" because I was actually able to watch some of the Saturday and Sunday games), taking 2 of 3 from the Astros. The Cubs, who hit a surprisingly few number of homers last year up until the stretch run in September, have wasted no time going deep this year, hitting 8 in their first 6 games. Derrek Lee leads the way with 3, and seems to have put his quiet spring behind him. Carlos Zambrano got his first win yesterday, lasting 7 cramp-free innings giving up just two runs. Meanwhile, Kerry Wood picked up his 3rd save and hasn't allowed a run since he got lit up in his first outing. The Cubs haven't been striking out much at all thus far, and managed to get through a Roy Oswalt start in which they scored 5 runs off of him without striking out at all. This is an encouraging sign and is certainly a sharp departure from the days of Dusty Baker.

A couple of continued causes for concern, though, are Bob Howry, who looked bad again on Saturday pitching in the 8th, and had to be taken down in favor of Carlos Marmol, who seems to be headed towards another year where he pitches a ton of innings out of the pen. Also, Alphonso Soriano continues to struggle, hitting just 2-for-26 thus far, although he hit a solo home run yesterday.

Friday: W - W. Wright (1-0) L - Lieber (0-1) S - Valverde (1)
Saturday: W - Hart (1-0) L - Oswalt (0-2) S - Wood (2)
Sunday: W - Zambrano (0-1) L - Villarreal (0-2) S - Wood (3)

Next up: Cubs go on their first road trip of the year, as they face the Pirates in their home opener Monday.

One in the win column

Game 3: Cubs 6, Brewers 3

The Cubs prevented an opening series sweep yesterday, as they jumped all over Dave Bush, who was kind of all over the place for the Brewers. Ryan Dempster made his first start since 2005, and had a rocky start but improved as he went along, getting the win and giving up 2 runs over 6 IP with only one of them earned. The unearned run came from a bad throw from Kosuke Fukudome trying to made a throw home and completely missing Geovany Soto. Hard to be angry at Fukudome for this though, as he had another very good day at the plate, picking up his 2nd double of the year and drawing 2 more walks. It seems to see a lot of pitches in every plate appearance, and thus far it looks like he's worth every bit of the money the Cubs threw at him. The Cubs start a weekend series with the Astros later today. Kerry Wood came on and recovered from his awful outing in the opener, getting his first save of the year. I'll be much more worried if the Cubs drop two of three to the Astros than the Brewers.

W - Dempster (1-0) L - Bush (0-1) S - Wood (1)

Try not to panic

Game 2: Brewers 8, Cubs 2

For whatever reason, a lot of people got really worked up, partly because of what was being said on TV and in the papers, about the fact that this is the 100th year since Cubs last won the World Series, as if the arbitrary milestone somehow increases their chances of winning this year. These people are probably on a ledge right now after the Cubs dropped to 0-2 in another mediocre game on offense. Two games does not a season make, however. Alphonso Soriano is not going to remain 0-for-the-season for much longer, nor is Aramis Ramirez. Losing the first two games to the team that will likely be your only serious rival for first place in the division is frustrating, but things will most certainly balance themselves out in the near future. Jeff Suppan held the Cubs to two runs over 6 1/3 innings, but only had 2 strikeouts along the way, so it's not like the Cubs couldn't make contact.

The Cubs got some baserunners today, finishing with 8 hits and 3 walks, but again couldn't get any home except by way of the home run (this time it was solo home runs by Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto). They made some gaffes along the way, namely a botched hit and run with Aramis Ramirez that wound up being a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play. That's something that has been a problem in recent years and hopefully will get corrected. Ted Lilly's line looked pretty ugly, being charged with 4 runs in 4 2/3 innings, but wasn't really that bad. He allowed 5 hits and hit a batter, but didn't walk anyone. He only threw 70-some pitches so was apparently on a very short leash. Tomorrow will be another afternoon game (and thus another game I can't watch, rrrrrr...) with Ryan Dempster's return to the rotation.

W - Suppan (1-0) L - Lilly (0-1)