5/3/08 @ Cardinals; W 9-3; (18-12)

Shall I continue on my rant that the Cubs are better without Soriano? If so, we'll highlight how in the breakout fourth inning, Chicago sent ten batters to the plate and scored six runs. Soriano was the only Cub to hit twice and he made two outs.



On the other hand, in the seventh he doubled home Ted Lilly and in the eighth he drew the rare base on balls. That means after no hits in his first eight at bats off the DL, he is now 2 for 6 with a double, a home run, three rbi and two runs scored. Throw in the walk, and maybe he is getting back on track. With five walks so far this season, he is on pace for his second highest season total. Maybe Sports Illustrated was right and Fuku is rubbing off on the other hitters making them more patient.



At this point I am going to reserve comment on Soriano. I was probably quick to deride his play in two games, and it would be just as presumptuous to jump on the bandwagon so fast. If I do more than comment on his play for the next week, someone please throw an 0-2 pitch at my head and back me off.



The reality of the Cubs situation is they went through a tough streak. Including today's win, they are 3-7 for their last ten. Cub fans across the country have been in hiding lest they be told by the rest of the world that April means nothing and this is the beginning of the end. However, as SHOW pointed out, we are on pace to win 97 games. We have the third best record in the league and we all know the Cards are playing way over their heads. Arizona has the best record, but most of their games have been against their division rivals who all suck. The only team with a winning record is the Dodgers, and that is because of them playing well against the last three teams in the division. As I said in earlier posts, baseball is a game of averages. 9-1 in a ten game stretch was ridiculous. It had to average out and it did. We were playing .600 ball after the first ten games. Throw twenty more games on and were at .600 still. We just lumped all the wins in the first half of that stretch and all the losses in the last half.



Saturday's game was a nice comeback from a tough loss Friday night and the loss of Ramirez for the day. It appears his injury is just some swelling and he'll be back for Sunday night. Props for this game to my favorite LSU Tigers, Theriot and Fontenot. They were the bookends for the big fourth inning with Theriot scoring the first run and Fontenot finishing up with a three run shot.



I have been accused, rightfully so, of praising Theriot without noting his faults. I'll take my lumps for ignoring his faults, but let's look at what he's doing so far this season. On the Cubs he has the fourth best average, fourth most runs scored, and leads the team in stolen bases. He also leads in caught stealing, and his OBP isn't what it should be.

As for shortstops league wide, he is fourth in average, on base percentage, runs scored, and stolen bases. He isn't going to drive in as many runs as some of the premier shortstops, but in this lineup we don't need him to. I for one hope he continues this level of play all year.

Fontentot has come back around. Earlier this year I was fighting for him to get a chance at playing everyday and he promptly got one hit in a nine game stretch. Since then he has turned it around and is working a five game hitting streak. He is six of nine in that stretch, and again is making a case for getting more playing time. The only problem in this lineup is he is fighting everyone else. Soriano is the only everyday starter hitting below .275 and Ronny Cedeno is making a great case to play every day. I think we are going to have to live with Fontenot being a part time player, and a good one at that.

Kosuke had a fine day as well with two doubles, both driving in runs, and adding another hit as well. Geovany Soto had a couple ribbies as well, keeping the race for rookie of the year on one team.

In all this offense, we kind of left out Ted Lilly. Theodore Roosevelt Lilly...seriously, that's his full name... had his longest if not best outing of the year. He scattered six hits and only one walk over seven innings. In striking out four, he surpassed 1,000 career strikeouts. If that wasn't enough, he led off the scoring in the sixth by doubling himself and scoring on Soriano's double. Maybe Big Z and Marquis are encouraging our other pitchers to be more aggressive at the plate.

Tonight we try to win the series on Sunday night baseball. I'll be in front of the big screen watching in HD as I listen to the best broadcast team in baseball, Joe Morgan and Jon Miller.