Things I like to see...

Only nine teams (Red Sox, Orioles, White Sox, Angels, A's, Cardinals, Cubs, Brewers, Diamondbacks) have reached 10 wins so far this season (as of Saturday morning).

Considering...

* a sometimes shaky bullpen
* a sloppy start
* a Soriano injury AND
* Lilly and Hill getting lit up

...I think we have to be VERY happy with the way things have gone for the Cubs.

(Note: I REALLY do think the Diamondbacks are the best team in the NL. And they're going to be very hard to beat come playoff time, with Brandon Webb AND Dan Haren on the bump.)

God bless unbalanced scheduling...

Watching the Cubs blast the Pirates again (it's 7-0 in the 4th inning; I swear if Chicago blows another lead against Pittsburgh, I'll totally go Lee Elia on someone). If they can hold on, it would be the fifth win (against no defeats) against the Pirates.

Great point from Len Kasper just a moment ago. The Cubs will play Pittsburgh 18 times (!) this season. If Chicago is going to beat out Milwaukee (and maybe even St. Louis) for the Central Division, they have to take advantage of their games against the hapless Pirates.

So far, they are.

Surprise, surprise, surprise...

Milwaukee's ace Ben Sheets is hurt. He might miss a start.

In other news, the sun came up this morning.

Welcome, Thunder Red!

Perhaps responding to outrage from here and here, GM Jim Hendry has re-called Matt Murton from AAA Iowa and sent down Eric Patterson.

I like Murton. When he was out here in Arizona this spring, he hit the ball all over the place. Hopefully, he'll be able to keep that going and force Hendry into a tough decision when Alfonso Soriano's ready to play again. If only he had the range to play centerfield.

As for the outrage when Patterson was called up instead of Murton, my only question was this: how many options does Murton have left? I think he's probably about out, meaning the Cubs might lose him entirely if they send him down again soon. Anybody know?

The adventures of Soriano...

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Alfonso Soriano is always just seconds away from injury. Last night, the clock struck midnight.

I think we all knew that 'trademark' hop before catching a flyball was going to come back to bite him. It did.

Now, the Cubs are waiting on results of an MRI to see how long he'll be out.

Anyone else have visions of Bill Gramatica tearing his knee ligament while (moronically) celebrating a field goal?

'Cause I do.

Hide your women, children, and young pitchers...

...Dusty's coming to town.

Ah, a reunion of sorts for the Cubs and Dusty Baker. Baker's Reds get three mid-week games at Wrigley Field, starting on Tuesday.

In honor of that, I'm trying to put together an all-Dusty team, made up of players who Baker seems to like/liked, that otherwise probably wouldn't be on or have been on a major league roster. Here we go:

C Paul Bako

1B

2B

3B

SS Neifi Perez

OF Corey Patterson
OF Jerry Hairston

OF Tom Goodwin

P Shawn Estes

RP Kent Mercker

Yes, you'll notice I have not been able to fill three infield positions. I need help.

Any suggestions? You can also suggest an outfielder and we can move Hairston to second base.

Thoughts?

Why do the Cubs always struggle against certain teams?

One of the great mysteries of the sports world is that some teams, no matter how good they are, seem to not play well against other teams, no matter how bad they are.

For example, the Cubs seem to always (ALWAYS) struggle against Philadelphia (reference this past weekend) and Florida (reference the last week of the 2007 season, when a playoff-bound Cub team couldn't win crucial games against a terrible Marlins' team).

Very strange. Yet, I've found that the Cubs always play the Rockies and some of the other West Coast teams very well. Hard to explain.

It's true of other sports as well. My alma mater, the University of Florida, fields one of the top football programs in the country. Yet, they can't ever seem to beat Auburn and invariably choke against one of the schools from Mississippi. But they've run roughshod over Tennessee and Georgia (usually much stronger programs than Auburn, Ole Miss or Mississippi State) for the last 20 years.

Who knows?