Cubby-Blue

Sean Marshall's Turn Signal Curve

Think about where that pitch starts from.

The top of lefty Sean Marshall''s head is 5 inches shorter than 7 feet.

Consider arm length, and then how much he's bent over when he lets go.

I figure that big hook starts about 7 1/2, maybe 8 feet off the ground.

It's going somewhere in the mid 80's, and while velocity's important, it's the insane right hand turn it makes about two thirds of the way to the plate that's just so entertaining or baffling, depending on if you're batting or just watching.

The camera from center field is such a great angle, because you'd swear the ball was heading closer to Sheffield Avenue than the catcher's mitt.

Then, the turn.

If you were a righty and had to swing at that pitch for a week, you'd be doing the kind of serious head jerk-back movement that would cause a permanent double chin even if you were Olive Oyl skinny.

Of course, when I started this post Sean was still pitching and everything was pretty rosy.

Then the bullpen came in and the game went straight to hell.

What must the Chicago Cubs' bullpen ERA be?

Somebody tell me.

I'll guess over 8.

WHATEVER.

I'm gonna keep trying to be positive about this young season.

Just throw me a bone, Cubs.

Fish score 6 in the 10th, and the Cubs lose 2-8.

Sean Marshall deserves better.

Cussing In The Desert.

"The only thing I can do here is change the lineup around and play people who are productive and pitch people who are productive. And that's all. I'll talk to them as individuals, but if I have to give 'rah-rah' speeches in April, it's going to be a long summer, I can tell you that." - Lou.

Okay, so...Micah Hoffpauir and Koyie Hill - they were productive just the day before.

D.Lee, Geo, not so much - 0 for 6 yesterday.

And, maybe Kosuke needed a rest since he's hitting the cover off the ball and currently sits at #5 in the NL with a .358 average.

Anyway, that was a pretty big turd the Cubs left out there with the cacti.

Lets hope the smell doesn't follow.

Tomorrow it'll be young Sean Marshall vs. the also young Chris Volstad, who's 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA in this young season.

The Fish have won 3 of their last 10, having just taken 2 of 3 from the Mets (who just won 3 of their last 10 as well), while the Cubs have won 3 of their last 9, losing the last 3 series and being outscored 36 to 47 over that time.

Just...not great right now.

The "catcuss" is a cat-cactus made of Sculpy and glued into a cigar box painted white and colored with Prismacolor pencil and sprayed with varnish. 

It's on the Damn Wall.

Sometimes Carlos Zambrano is truly "Big" Z

Last night, it was like watching a man play against a bunch of kids.

Carlos Zambrano did everything:

He went 7 innings and gave up 3 runs, and with the bat he went 3 for 4 with a double, homer, and a couple RBIs.

The double was just short of a homer, too.

But I think the coolest thing about last night was how much fun Carlos was having.

I don't think I've seen him smile so much, ever.

At one point, the home plate ump ripped off his mask to glare down at Carlos, who'd obviously said something about the strike zone.

But Carlos' reaction was to sort of laugh it off rather than be all huffy and challenging.

Really fun to watch.

Plus, the bats were fantastic.

Fifteen hits, Soriano and Fontenot with the other homers.

Cubs 11 Dbacks 3.

More like this please.

Swine Flu + Baseball Parks = Bad News, Cub Fans

This Swine Flu thing has got me pretty agitated.

All I can talk about, sorry.

We did a spot in China once - had to go from Hong Kong and into rural China on a bus.

They had a little outbreak of bird flu then, and they do not joke around with these things.

Bus stopped at a "checkpoint", everyone had to get out and it looked to me like we were going through metal detectors.

Everybody's yelling in Chinese, which I do not understand.

When I was next in line, an guy started yelling at me and pointing to my head.

Whatever dude.

I walked thru the metal detector, and now there are about 6 guys yelling at the top of their lungs and pointing at me, and somebody with white rubber gloves grabbed my arm.

Then a man in a white coat calmly walked up to me, pulled off my Cubs hat and put a gun to my head.

Of course, it wasn't really a gun, but I had a freaking heart attack. 

It was a thermometer, and the metal detector was a machine to take your temperature, only if you're a dumbass from Chicago wearing your Cubs hat it won't work.

And if I would have had a temperature, I probably would have gotten a nice long stay in a big room where everybody else a temperature, too.

Anyway, maybe you've seen what is already happening in Mexico, where the soccer matches are being played in empty stadiums - they won't allow fans to come into the game.

Too much chance on spreading disease.

Maybe Swine Flu will just peter out, but if not just use your imagination.

Of course the implications are way more serious than wrecking our favorite game, but there you go.

Tonight the Cubs are playing about 160 miles from Nogales...

Man, what a Captain Bringdown I turned out to be.

Unfortunately, the Cubs aren't going to help lift our spirits today.

If you saw any of the game, Dan Haren singlehandedly, methodically, and thoroughly whooped the Cubs.

He had like 80 pitches thru 7 innings or something.

Ridiculous.

Mike Fontenot had one truly excellent at bat, going down 2 strikes and then fouling off about a hundred pitches before knocking one out of the park.

You can watch it here, but the best part is before he hit it, which of course isn't in the vid.

Didn't really make up for his 2 errors at 3rd though.

Lastly, I put this up yesterday late.

Google is following where the flu is going with their maps.

Go here.

And remember to wash your hands throughout the day, don't shake hands, and even if you're Angelina Jolie, don't even think about giving me a hug.

Cubs 10 Cards 3. How Much Stuff Can Happen In One Game?

Just when I'm about to absolutely wig out, Rich Harden comes in and settles everything down.

This guy, he just knows how to pitch.

All winter, all I heard about was how the Cubs were gonna soooo take the Central.

This Cardinal lineup has a couple holes, but damn sam, bud - you get to the meat of that order and it's seriously good.

Rich kept the meat from ever getting on the fire.

Amazing.

The way the game began, with the Soriano single, the Theriot bunt, the Kosuke single - I kinda already felt better.

D. Lee can't buy a freaking homer - he's always "one more Wheatie" and it woulda gone out.

I ran upstairs for something, came back and Bob and Len were saying D was out and Hoffpauir was in - they didn't know what was wrong (a pinched nerve?).

And then Soriano gets drilled in the back of the head.

Aramis almost caught one up there the other day too - they both knew the whole TURN AWAY FROM THE PITCH thing. 

Which was good or Soriano's face woulda been a mess.

And how weird was it when you looked at the Cubs infield and only Theriot was in his "normal" position.

Fontenot at 3rd, Hoffpauir at 1st, and Miles at second - it's a totally different team.

Kosuke Fukudome was really excellent - he's just soooo much better in right. And he was so comfy he went and hit a homer and knocked in five.

Awesome game.

The Cubs probably are checked into their hotel in Phoenix already.

So glad they're someplace hot, just hope there's no flu there (Google tracking of swine flu here)...

And it's Terrible Ted on the mound for the 8:40 start.

Gonna miss a little sleep this week.

Lets hope they make it worth it.