Posts from the Cubs Category at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

For a good part of this season, hearing people talk about the Cubs winning the National League Central is like hearing them talk about whether the sun will come up in the east. It's strange because there are two teams (Cardinals and Brewers) within five games of the Cubbies on the Fourth of July. The Cubs are good, but this thing isn't over by a long shot.

Right now, the Cubs are in a bit of a slide with seven losses in the ten games since their sweep of the White Sox. That makes tonight's return of Carlos Zambrano particularly timely. The Big Z hasn't pitched since June 18th due to shoulder problems. The Cubs have held their ground without him, but the Brewers are charging hard and the Cardinals don't seem to be going away.

If Zambrano's healthy, this is the perfect series for him to be back in because the Cubs are playing the Cards and have a chance to create some space in the division. Now that we're in the second half of the season, series like these start to matter just a little bit more.

While Cubs manager Lou Piniella isn't as fiery as he used to be (he's been ejected from a game 61 times), he still will get tossed from a ball game from time to time. Of course, ever since Lou came to Chicago, he's lived up to his nickname as he's only been ejected from a game twice. The first time came back on June 2nd, 2007 when Sweet Lou gave us a classic performance that resulted in getting himself suspended for four games.

It also happened to coincide with the Cubs turning their season around, as they went 35-18 over their next 53 games to dig out of an early season rut (they were 22-31 before the ejection) and went on to win the division. Lou's second ejection came this past Sunday, and it also comes at a time when the Cubs are struggling, as they've lost four in a row for the first time all season.

Though if the Cubs win 10 of their next 11, Lou's performance probably shouldn't get the credit, as he never intended to put one on. No, according to Lou, he was ambushed as he went out to argue a checked swing by Joe Crede.

"I was talking to the first-base umpire about the checked swing, and I got ambushed from behind," Piniella said. "Well, then I got my money's worth ... I think. Probably not."

The Cubs offense has been pretty phenomenal this season. They lead the bigs in runs scored (443), batting average (.284), on-base percentage (.361), and slugging percentage (.444). Really, if there's an offensive category that's important, the Cubs are either at the top of the National League, or very close to it.

While everybody in the lineup has performed well, the straw that stirs the drink is, and always has been, Aramis Ramirez. That's why it's no surprise that the Cubs were swept by the White Sox this weekend after Ramirez went 0-for-13 in the series, a week after he nearly swept the Sox on his own. It turns out he may have had an excuse the last few days, though, as Aramis has some personal issues back at home in the Dominican Republic that have been weighing on his mind.

Which is why he'll be leaving the Cubs for the next three days to attend to them.

This isn't very good timing for the Cubs, as they're already without Alfonso Soriano in the lineup, and they've lost five of their last six games. Ramirez originally asked the team for four days off, but was only granted three and is supposed to be back by Thursday's finale against the San Francisco Giants.

While he's gone the team will use a platoon of Mark DeRosa and Ronny Cedeno at third.

Via 100 Percent Injury Rate comes this relatively terrific video of Cubs fans and White Sox fans putting aside their rabid differences and settling on something everyone can agree with: That annoying fan two rows behind you better shut up, or he is going down. From the videographer:

The Sox fan near the pole was talking trash from the beginning, so in the 4th inning he started talking about the guy in the Thome Jersey's "family"...then an old guy stepped up and off they went... A good minute goes by with no security, the guy gets owned by a bunch of cubs and sox fans. he still fights the security...continues struggling, as his eye is black and swelling shut, they handcuff him throw his shirt over his head and get him out of there.

Ah, unity. It's a beautiful thing.

During yesterday's Cubs-White Sox duel, the Fox cameras caught Kerry Wood in a pretty candid moment while he sat in the bullpen. Thanks to Hugging Harold Reynolds for the video.

We're lucky that there was a Yankees-Mets game yesterday, otherwise we would have been subjected to the unreasonably offended Joe Buck's thoughts on Wood responding to something out in the pen. Instead we get a nicely understated Thom Brennaman. "There you get a look at Kerry Wood," indeed.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

L.A. Angels of Anaheim (48-33) at L.A. Dodgers of L.A. (38-42) - 4:10 PM ET

The final day of interleague play, or as ESPN has needlessly re-branded it: "AL/NL SHOWDOWN!" (like it's a western gunfight or something) will feature a good pitching matchup between John Lackey (5-1, 1.65) and Derek Lowe (5-7, 4.05). Of course, it can't be better than the one between Chad Billingsley and Jered Weaver last night, where Weaver combined with Jose Arredondo for eight innings of no-hit baseball, but lost. After coming back from an early season injury, Lackey really hasn't had a bad outing all season. So if anyone can continue the no-hit parade for the Dodgers, it's Lackey.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

Chicago Cubs (49-30) vs. Chicago White Sox (43-35) - 4:05 PM ET

The final weekend of interleague play for the season kicks off in the Bronx at 2 but the most meaningful game is in Chicago. The two Chicago clubs are in first, just as they were last week, but the White Sox can't afford another sweep at the hands of their crosstown rivals. The Twins are hard on their tail, a half-game back as play begins today, and there's that whole bragging rights thing to worry about too.

They'll need to do a better job against Ryan Dempster (9-2, 2.63) this time around. He held the Sox to one run in eight innings to win Sunday's finale at Wrigley Field. Dempster's won his last four decisions in what's turned out to be a very successful conversion from bullpen to rotation. They'll also need a better outing from their own starter. Jose Contreras (6-6, 3.96) got thrashed for 10 hits and nine runs in three and a third innings.

Wednesday night, a crime against Wrigley Field, and humanity, occurred. Sullying one of the great reputations in baseball, ESPN journalists personalities Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic threw out the first pitch and sang the seventh-inning stretch in the Cubs' 7-4 win over the Orioles. OK, so it wasn't that bad. But it was slightly dubious -- just what business do ESPN employees have screaming "Let's get some runs!" at a Chicago Cubs game?

As a cure -- a cure for all the bad versions of the song, the slow celebrities, the sketchy selections -- Goatriders make a simple proposal: have Ron Santo sing every anthem.

It makes sense. Santo, for all his faults, is in many ways the spiritual successor to Harry Caray -- the bumbling, silly, lovable man in the (radio) booth. Give him the microphone, and make the insanity stop. No more of this. For the love of God.

When Willie Randolph got fired as manager of the Mets, it created an opening on Clint Hurdle's coaching staff for next month's All-Star Game. The New York Post reports that he'll do so with a move that kills two birds with one stone. Lou Piniella, skipper of the NL-best Chicago Cubs will get the call.

Not only does Piniella deserve it based on his record this season, he also replaces Randolph as a NL manager with close ties to Yankee Stadium. The two men were teammates with the Yankees from 1976-1984 and Piniella managed Randolph for two seasons and change after that. The Post reports that MLB is trying to find a role that enables Randolph to still play a role in the festivities. Pitching batting practice has been suggested but I wouldn't spend too much time trying to figure out a spot for Randolph.

Sure, he's a Yankee notable but so are dozens of other former players who won't play any part in the Midsummer Classic. He wasn't going to be there because of his Yankee ties, he was going to be there as manager of the Mets. Even that seemed a courtesy extended to the other New York manager given the way the Mets were performing under his tutelage. It's too bad that he won't get to take part but, well, so it goes sometimes. If not for the way he lost his job, I doubt there'd even be much hand-wringing about Randolph's absence.

(H/T Metsblog)

Ron Santo is one of the Hall of Fame's most glaring omissions. He's the kind of guy who's been overlooked thanks to his position, his success in non-traditional areas, and the curse of being stuck on some truly terrible 1960's Cubs teams. Santo should be in, and it's a shame he's had to wait 20 years for it.

That might be happening soon. According to the Chicago Sun-Times (via BBTF) the Hall of Fame voting will be different this year -- instead of selecting 10 names from 20-25 and shooting for 75 percent, voters will vote both in the initial vote and then again for the top ten names. Because Santo has been the leading non-Hall vote getter for years, his chances of making it in a smaller field sound pretty good.

What's ironic about this is the man leading the charge: Joe Morgan. Joe knows Santo's case is partially based in his OBP and slugging percentage, right? But those are funny acronyms! OPS? Pshhhh!