Friday, May 25, 2007

Cubs Salvage One in San Diego

The Cubs salvaged a win last night in the final game of their three game series in San Diego. Jason Marquis pitched a gem, giving up just one run and five hits in seven innings, but he ended up taking a no decision due to a lack of offensive production by the Cubs.

In the sixth inning, the Cubs had a terrific scoring opportunity when Alfonso Soriano led off the inning with a triple. However, the next three batters – Mark DeRosa, Derrick Lee, and Aramis Ramirez – each struck out. It seems like this has happened over and over again this year. I was shocked to learn this morning that the Cubs have the second highest BA in the NL with RISP (the Mets are first) and the highest BA in the NL with RISP and two outs. How is this possible? Thankfully, the Cubs came through with two runs in the ninth to win the game.

The Cubs are now 21-24, in second place in the NL Central, six games behind the Brewers. They open a three game series tonight against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Ted Lilly (4-2, 2.69 ERA) takes on the Dodgers’ Derek Lowe (4-5, 3.84 ERA).

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I mentioned in an earlier post that the Cubs should think about trading Carlos Zambrano in order to add some pieces to the team that will help them win this year and into the future. I still feel that is a good idea, but I may have been off base suggesting that the Cubs could use Andruw Jones.

Jayson Stark has written a new book entitled “The Stark Truth: The most overrated and underrated players in baseball history.” ESPN.com has published an excerpt from the book where Stark makes the case that Andruw Jones is the most overrated center fielder in the history of the game. His argument is convincing and I am no longer campaigning for Jones to patrol CF for the Cubs. The article makes for interesting reading.

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