The Second Half Really Begins

To piggyback on Cubby Blue's guest post, now that the Cubs finished that four game warm-up they can start the second half. And before we get too excited about leapfrogging the Brewers and gaining ground on the Cardinals, a quick look at the schedule shows the Brewers still have eight chances to beat down that Nationals piñata and the Cardinals another four, while the Cubs just have a three-game set versus the league slumpbuster.

Speaking of the schedule, starting on September 11th, this is the Cubs last four weeks of regular season baseball in 2009.

3 at Pittsburgh

3 vs. Cincinnati

4 vs. Milwaukee

3 at St. Louis

3 at Milwaukee

4 at San Francisco

3 vs. Pittsburgh

3 vs. Arizona

Hopefully that last week won't be a big letdown after 14-straight against teams that are very much in the race at the moment.

Back to the task at hand, I certainly don't think the series is do or die against the Phillies, but getting swept by the World Champs sure would take all the fun out of the weekend sweep over the Nationals. Hopefully they can hang with the Phillies and at least take one and hopefully two. The Phillies do have one of the worst starting staffs in the league(4.82 ERA, 13th in the NL) and the Cubs will miss Cole Hamels, so the starting pitching match-ups favor the Cubs, but the Phils have also won eight straight and have taken a pretty commanding lead of the NL East.

Join the fun in Parachat tonight...

Fukudome	Rollins
Theriot	Victorino
Lee	Utley
Ramirez	Howard
Hoffpauir	Ibanez
Soriano	Werth
Fontenot	Feliz
Hill	Ruiz
Lilly	Lopez

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crunch 04/17/2024 - 04:19 pm (view)

he's a low-level cubs star in the modern history of the cubs (c.zambrano, k.wood, r.dempster, etc), but that star has dimmed...and has been dimming since 2021.

2024 has been ugly the whole way and we're only in mid-april. homers aside (even though there's been 7 in 17ip) he gave up 29 hits in 20 spring innings and 31 in 17 regular season innings.

he's pretty much only got 2 pitches at this point in his career and the mix isn't fooling anyone. he threw a noticable amount more curves in his last start to add to the mix and it didn't help his issues. he don't have many moves left to break out.
Eric S 04/17/2024 - 04:40 pm (view)

Definitely needs a 10 day stint for the hangnail - have to nip those things in the bud or suffer the consequences (ie, more opponent home run derby, etc)
Eric S 04/17/2024 - 04:35 pm (view)

Thanks for checking and yeah, that’s a double ouch
Sonicwind75 04/17/2024 - 04:01 pm (view)

Believe you are correct, checked and appears Cubs have a $2.51 million obligation to Barnhart this season per Cot's Contracts. Also paying Trey Mancini $7mil this season. Ouch.
crunch 04/17/2024 - 04:27 pm (view)

m.busch had 0hr and 2 doubles when he was last at wrigley.

we'll probably see a few more of his jerseys in the seats when they return tomorrow.

wonder who will go down for taillon. hey hendricks, you got a hangnail or something?
Eric S 04/17/2024 - 04:15 pm (view)

Nice work by Wesneski with some solid defense behind him and the late tack on runs were welcome. Gladly take a 5-4 West Coast swing, particularly down two key starting pitchers … Now just don’t get swept by the Marlins for Pete’s sake.
crunch 04/17/2024 - 04:13 pm (view)

dansby takes the team lead in SB today after a SB with 2 SB total. the team has 3. madrigal has the other one.

cubs also have 7 triples, 7 players each.
crunch 04/17/2024 - 04:58 pm (view)

sure am ready for p.wisdom and m.masterboney to swap roster spots.
Eric S 04/17/2024 - 04:04 pm (view)

The fifth inning has not been kind to Wicks this season. Giving up leadoff doubles to Tucker Barnhart is also not good for business. IIRC, the Cubs are on the hook for the majority of Barnhart’s salary this season to add insult to injury (could definitely be wrong here).
Cubster 04/17/2024 - 04:11 pm (view)

Kris Bryant to IL with low back strain. He’s keeping the Rockies docs busy.

Cubs MLB Roster

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