Car Crash, as Described by a Bunch of Phillies Fans Who Got Creamed

From reader comments during Thursday night's stirring 6-4 Cubs victory, the Cubs' 50th home victory of the season, as they appeared at The Good Phight, an excellent Phillies fans blog:

Oh Baby, Cole is on tonight. 7:19 pm

Good work Cole. He’s on tonight. 7:35 pm

Cole is going good so far tonight. 9:07 pm

Oh crap, get Madson out of there. 9:26 pm

We’re heading for another 8th inning meltdown! 9:29 pm

How many times recently has the bullpen crapped the bed? 9:31 pm

Bases loaded no outs. Wow. 9:33 pm

Were fucked. 9:33 pm

And a fucking Grand Slam…Charlie you should of just left Cole in... 9:35 pm

Utley never comes through in the clutch. 9:51 pm

man, phils could use somebody like kerry wood…throws strikes! 9:53 pm

they let that one get away. that was a win. they blew that one. damn it. 9:58 pm

Sarcastic Kiss-Off Memos Don't Get Much Better Than This

A quick timeout from the Cubs to consider other news on the Chicago sports scene...

Longtime sourpuss columnist Jay Mariotti announced on Wednesday that he had resigned his position at the Chicago Sun-Times, a development which occasioned a pointed reaction from Sun-Times editor Michael Cooke. Per Phil Rosenthal in the Tribune:

Cooke issued a decidedly unsentimental statement concerning Mariotti's exit..."We wish Jay well and will miss him--not personally, of course--but in the sense of noticing he is no longer here, at least for a few days."

The irony of all this is twofold.

First, the Sun-Times agreed with Mariotti on a contract extension until 2011 less than three months ago.

Second, Cooke's brief statement is more memorable than anything Mariotti has written in the past 17 years.

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With Wednesday's 2-0 win at Pittsburgh, the Cubs finished the fleshy underbelly part of their late-season schedule—a sequence of three series and nine games against the Reds, Nationals, and Pirates—with seven wins and two losses and a six-game lead over the Brewers in the NL Central. Now the Cubs have to get back to work.

On Thursday, the team will open a four-game set against the Phillies at Wrigley Field. Though the Phils lost to the Mets Wednesday to fall a half-game behind New York in the N.L. East race, they will come to Chicago still able to lay claim to a distinction unique so far this year in the National League:

The Phillies are the only team to enjoy an edge in their season series with the Cubs. (Charlie Manuel's team took two of three from Lou Piniella's boys at Citizens Bank Park back in mid-April.)

Tuesday Night: A Great Night for the Cubs...Except for the Parts That Were Abominable

Tuesday's 14-9 Cub win at Pittsburgh may go down as the game that cemented Geovany Soto's selection as 2008 National League Rookie of the Year. Geo had a pair of three-run doubles, a solo homer, and 7 RBI overall. Soto has now hit more home runs than any rookie catcher in Cub history and his batting line, which currently stands at .280 AVG/20 HR/78 RBI, will wind up as one of the best ever by a Cub catcher, rookie or otherwise.

Also positive—Kosuke Fukudome's throw from rightfield to nail rookie Brandon Moss on his way to third base; Carlos Zambrano continuing to hit like a sonofagun (eighth consecutive start in which he has driven in a run); Mike Fonenot, who entered the game in the bottom of the fifth, going 2-for-2 and also making a fine, diving play in the field.

On the negative side of Tuesday's fun, however, we have:

Zambrano pitching like hell: 8 hits, 6 ER in just 4 1/3 innings. Not the first time our supposed ace has turned in game like this. In fact, it's the third time in Zambrano's last four starts that he has pitched quite poorly.

Alfonso Soriano bunny-hopping his way to another embarrassing error on a routine fly ball. The only thing worse then giving the opposition an extra out and a free run, which Fonzie did with his flub in the sixth inning, is injuring yourself in the process, which, as we all know, Soriano has also done this season. For the love of God and Lou Piniella...NO...MORE...HOPPING!

Ben Sheets pitching like Ben Sheets. The Milwaukee righty helped the Brewers vanquish the Cardinals, 12-0, at Busch Stadium to stay within five games of the first-place Cubs. It's a tad frustrating that the Cubs have played as well as they have lately and still, the Brewers are within haling distance of first place. For their part, the Brewers have won 14 out of 18 and not gained a game or even a half game on the Cubs. There is some consolation for the Milwaukees, however:

By shutting out the Cards Tuesday, the Brewers now have a 4 1/2 game lead in the Wild Card race.

Cubs Edge Further into Unfamiliar Territory

With a division lead of 5 games, a record that now stands a dizzying 31 games above .500, a .614 winning percentage that's higher than the season-ending number for any Cub team since 1945, and a 98.89% chance of making the playoffs (according to Baseball Prospectus's Playoff Odds Report), the Cubs are making me feel...do I dare use the word?...hopeful.

On the other hand, consider this thought which crossed my mind as I was watching tonight's rout:

If the Brewers had simply managed a split of their big four-game series with the Cubs several weeks ago in Milwaukee instead of spitting the bit in all four contests, the Cubs' record would be 79-52, the Brewers' record would be just one game worse at 78-53, and everyone in the Cub-loving universe would be even more obsessed with the moment-by-moment reports from MLB.com Gameday than we already are.

No spine-tingling drama coming out of Pittsburgh tonight, however, as Ted Lilly shut down the Pirates while Lee, Edmonds, and Fukudome—two of whom, Edmonds and Fukudome, have been non-contributors this month while Lee has been so-so at best—conspired to bash the Pirates' brains in. The trio went a combined 9-for-13 with four doubles, a triple, 4 runs scored, and 6 RBI. Lilly, meanwhile, is now 13-7, has won 6 of his last 7, and has delivered Quality Starts in 9 of his last 11 outings.

And if you're wondering how the late, great Harry Caray might have reacted to all this, you don't have to wonder—just hear what he has to say following every Cub game the rest of the season at 1908worldchampions.com.

"I'm No Carlos Zambrano"—Arcane Cubs List Of The Week

On Thursday, Carlos Zambrano hit his 16th career home run, and it was a good thing that he did: the Cub offense, which sputtered in the three-game series with Cincinnati, only produced two other runs against Josh Fogg, et al, and the Cubs needed Zambrano's blast to prevail, 3-2, and take the series, 2 games to 1.

With 16 bombs, Zambrano has hit more home runs than any other Cub pitcher in history. (Fergie Jenkins is second with 13, and I thought this was surprising—Kerry Wood is the only other recent player near the top. He stands in seventh place with 7 career homers.)

But why focus on the positive when the negative numbers are so easily captured by BaseballReference.com? Here, then, is a list of the non-pitchers who had the most career at-bats as a Chicago Cub since 1961 and still hit fewer home runs than a pitcher with a mere 483 at-bats, Carlos Zambrano. (Players are listed in order of career AB's as a Cub.)

1. Don Kessinger 11 HR, 6355 AB
2. Ivan DeJesus 14 HR, 2900 AB
3. Rey Sanchez 6 HR, 1835 AB
4. Joe Girardi 13 HR, 1719 AB
5. Larry Bowa 2 HR, 1584 AB
6. Ken Hubbs 14 HR, 1255 AB
7. Dick Bertell 10 HR, 1247 AB
8. Eric Young 12 HR, 1210 AB
9. Jerome Walton 12 HR, 1192 AB
10. Ryan Theriot 7 HR, 1144 AB

You Heard It First (From Ron Santo): Tough to Score at Wrigley Wednesday

On the WGN pre-game show before Wednesday night's Cubs-Reds broadcast, Ron Santo mentioned that the wind was blowing in off the lake, which is atypical for a late summer game at Wrigley Field but was a repeat of the conditions for Tuesday night's game. Santo's prediction of a low-scoring game proved correct, as the Reds totaled just four hits and the Cubs three, with the visitors ultimately winning 2-1.

Lou Piniella was clearly peeved afterward at the loss and the Cubs' failure to cash in on scoring opportunities like the one they faced in the fourth inning. Then Kosuke Fukudome came up with men at first and third and none out and couldn't even produce a double-play ball that would have plated a run. Instead, he blooped a fly ball to short center that produced nothing more than the first out of the inning, after which Geovany Soto rapped into a rally-killing double play.

It's hard to blame Soto, who has been so productive this year, but impossible not to blame Fukudome, who has been less than feeble for a very long time. Piniella's warning last week that Fukudome had to start hitting or expect to see his playing time curtailed could well get repeated in coming days if the Cub rightfielder's bat doesn't wake up.

Fukudome's OPS by Month:
March/April 915
May 792
June 789
July 688
August 455

Fukudome's batting average, which didn't dip below .300 until May 26th of this season, is now at a season low .266, and his average for the month of August is around .170.

All in all, Wednesday night's game was a turd, especially for Ted Lilly, who carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and was masterful overall. He deserved better than Fukudome and his mates gave him.

About Harden, C.C. Sabathia, and Rick Sutcliffe

In light of the seven shutout innings the Cubs got from their newest starting pitcher Tuesday night and the complete-game win the Brewers got from their former American Leaguer Monday night—C.C. Sabathia's eighth without a defeat for Milwaukee—I have a post up at The Cub Reporter. It compares recent numbers from the Cubs' Rich Harden, Sabathia and relevant, 24-year-old numbers for Rick Sutcliffe, who made such a big difference in the NL East race back in 1984.

One other item of interest related to Harden:

In the post-game lockerroom chatter, Ryan Theriot was marveling at Harden's performance considering "he is only throwing two pitches." I presume that means fastball and change-up, which was not the company line from Cubs Assistant G.M. Randy Bush right after the trade that landed the righthander and Chad Gaudin from the Athletics, when Bush said Harden has still throwing his full repertoire of pitches, breaking ball included.

But maybe that's quibbling, and I should just be thrilled with a guy who, injury-prone or not, has a 1.50 ERA and a better than four-to-one K/BB ratio in his first seven National League starts.

Consider me thrilled.