Back from the Dark Ages
I'm back to being connected to the Internet world, I'm not sure if that's good or bad. While I certainly do miss whatever brilliant, well-crafted snark is coming from the comments, it was kind of nice to be untethered from the digital world.
As for the weekend, the Cubs pulled out 2 of 3 wins from the New York Mets - and with the Rockies getting swept - sneak to 5.5 back in the Wild Card. Important thing to remember here is they managed to score one run versus Nelson Figueroa and couldn't sweep a team missing David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Johan Santana, Oliver Perez, John Maine, or J.J Putz. Zambrano, who seems to be getting advice from Alfonso Soriano on how to play with injuries and hurt your team, got lit up for 11 hits and 3 earned runs and couldn't make it out of the 4th against the Buffalo Bisons lineup. Color me unimpressed...
The Astros show up tonight and Michael Barrett's favorite ace takes the mound - Roy Oswalt. The Cubs counter with Rich Harden, who along with Aaron Heilman, did not get traded by today's deadline. I didn't really think the Twins would give up anything to grab Harden, they're just not a team to cough up prospects, but why Aaron Heilman is still wasting space is unfathomable.
Theriot, Bradley, Lee, Ramirez, Fukudome, Fox, Baker, Hill go tonight.
Some minor league and roster move info after the jump...
- Minor league post-season All-Star rosters are being announced. The Cubs didn't place anyone in Triple A, 1b Blake Lalli (787 OPS, 5 HR, 51 RBI...shrug) made the Double A Southern League roster, and C Robinson Chirinos (only played a little over half a season in Hi-A) and SS Starlin Castro made the Hi-A Florida State League team.
- The playoff push continues for the minor league affiliates. Iowa is tied for second with Nashville and they both trail Memphis by a half game. Iowa is riding a 5-game win streak and Nashville and Memphis square off for the next 3 games. The season ends next Monday. Tennessee and W. Tennessee remain tied and play the last 5 games of the year against each other (7 left total). Peoria has already clinched a playoff spot in the Midwest League and can clinch the division with a win tonight.
- Muskat says Iowa will have to win without Micah Hoffpauir, Justin Berg, and Andres Blanco, all of whom will get called up tomorrow when rosters expand. David Patton will join the team on Wednesday. Expect another 3-4 more call-ups as well before the month is over.
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