Cubby-Blue

Randy Wells obviously wants to remain a starter.

He's kinda been, I don't know, relegated to the back burner.
Sort of not reliable or consistent or whatever.
Recently I've read Randy Wells may go to the bullpen next year, and it seemed like the tone of whatever I read was like, ho hum, la dee da, Randy Wells is just an afterthought...

I think Randy mighta read that stuff too, because he played like a man who intends to keep that corner office in the Chicago Cubs pitching staff.

I didn't get out of my office til close to 8 or so, and when I turned on the radio Randy had just hit a single with guys on base and got his second RBI off of Adam Wainwright? Implying that he'd already gotten a hit that scored a run?

That's crazy talk.

I turned the dial around to make sure I wasn't on the Sox-loving Score listening to a Sox joke.

But no, the Cubs were beating the St. Louis Cardinals 4-zip in the 4th inning.

And then he proceeded to go 4 more innings giving up only one run on a hit by Matt Holliday and the Cubs beat the Cardinals in St. Louis 7-2. That would be 2 days in a row of the Cubs taking playoff heartbeats away from the Cards. 

And I feel awesome.

But not as awesome how THIS made me feel:

Last Friday I'm in the elevator with another guy leaving late. Other guy has a giant vase of flowers. I go to the Other Guy, "Those are really pretty." Other guy goes, "It's our anniversary." And I go, "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD IT'S OUR ANNIVERSARY THIS WEEKEND TOO!".

My wife tests me on Important Dates all year long, she never says anything and I'm supposed to remember, right? 

It's like a game of Chutes and Ladders, only I could actually die.

"So, honey, I was thinkin'... what do you wanna do Sunday night?"

She'd obviously had a hectic day too because she blows hair out of her eyes but keeps reading the paper and says, "Nothin'."

A trap.

"You don't want to even go to dinner or anything?" I ask.

"Nah." 

Hey wait a min...

I can barely contain my excitement as I nervously half-whisper, "Uhh, do you know what Sunday is?"

Finally she looks up and goes, "What?"

Oh man.

"IT'S OUR ANNIVERSARY! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WHO'S THE MAN? WHO IS YOUR DEE AYY DEE DEE WHY? I cannot BELIEVE it isn't ME who forGOT! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

I ripped my shirt off and did that thing soccer guys do when they score, falling on my knees and waving the shirt around.

No idea why a soccer thing, I guess I was pretty excited.

But anyway, I've shared the story around. Most guys say I've got a lifetime pass for Forgetting Important Dates, and I have to agree. 

And I am STILL in a good mood over that one.

Now, how about a Cardinal SWEEP for the cherry on top?

 

 

 

Cubs beat Cardinals, Tyler Colvin's funny bone takes a hit.

The noise.

That hideous crack of hardball on elbow bone.

Yadier Molina tried to convince the ump that the ball had actually hit Tyler Colvin's bat, that's how loud and gross that sound must have been.

I fell off the couch and rolled on the floor even before they showed a replay - I CANNOT IMAGINE A WORSE PLACE TO GET HIT BY A BASEBALL.

If you missed it, Card pitcher Jaime Garcia threw a pitch just under lefty Colvin's right elbow, and it sailed across the front of his chest and then SMACKED right into the inside of his left elbow. There's a knotty bone back there, and if you've ever hit it you know what I'm talking about.

Then, he stayed in the game.

Came out awhile later, but I'da called for an ambulance immediately.

Anyway, the Cubs got to Garcia early and while it wasn't a total cruise this was a pretty solid outing by jeff Samardjiza. I feel a little bit of optimism there.

Later in the game, youngster Andrew Cashner struck out Albert Pujols with a fabulous slider that had Albert completely bamboozled. I love that word, and more importantly I think the kid is learning...

So Cubs 5 Cards 1 in game 1.

Pretty awesome.

Only, I hope Colvin's arm is okay.

ps: I cannot remember or tell jokes. Never been able to. But when I was little, somebody told a joke with the punchline, "...and the polar bear says, "HEY, gimme back my fish!"
And I've used it my whole life.
Try it some time in a bar when people are telling jokes. Just blurt out that line and laugh like a hyena.

Okay maybe nobody ever laughs, but in my head it's funny as hell. 

 

Cubs vs Cardinals rivalry. I found some old photos.

I found some old photos in a box.

Crappy, from an old point and shoot in the pre-digital days.

I asked Oif if he thought that was crazy Mitch Williams on the mound, he said he thought it was Rod Beck.

Made me crazy. I simply had to find out.

I scanned 'em at high resolution and you know what? Fuzzy shots scanned at high resolution still look fuzzy.  
But #25? That's Mark McGwire.

And of course this one is of Sammy Sosa.

That narrowed it down alot.

Then, I blew a shot of the scoreboard waaay up, and you can see the starting pitchers both were number 30.

Again online, I deduced that that would be Geremi Gonzalez and Todd Stottlmyre, and these photos are from May 1, 1998, when Sammy and McGwire were in the process of that Great Home Run Race. Back when players doing evil black magic stuff in the locker rooms with needles.

But anyway, forget that stuff for a minute and look at this photo.

It's Wrigley Field back in a far more innocent time. Seats nowhere near filled, Torco sign, cigarette smoking Mark Grace at first, and that WAS Rod Beck throwing the ball for the Cubs. They won 6-5.

This was the year Harry Caray died - in fact just a couple months before these photos. On Opening Day my brother and I sat in the front windows at Bernie's (which was still a pleasant old man bar) thinking we'd watch it there. Then we took a chance and ran across the street just before the game and got tickets at the will call window for face right down the 3rd base line about 20 rows up and watched a thousand black balloons fly into the sky in honor of Harry and pretended we didn't notice each other wiping our eyes.

That was just 12 years ago, and the photos look like they're from another time completely.

Lineups:

Cubs
Brant Brown cf
Mickey Morandini 2b
Sammy Sosa rf
Mark Grace 1b
Henry Rodriguez lf
Jeff Blauser ss
Tyler Houston c
Kevin Orie 3rd
Geremi Gonzalez p

Cardinals
Royce Clayton ss
Delino DeShields 2b
Mark McGwire 1b
Ray Lankford cf
Willie McGee lf
Gary Gaitti 3b 
John Mabry rf
Eli Marrero c
Todd Stottlemyre p

You can go to Baseball Almanac to see the actual box score.

Anyway, I don't remember this at all, but I guess I got to see a McGwire homer, Grace and McGee double, about 20 guys steal on Tyler Houston, and Rod Beck get the 9th save of his 51-save season.

By the way if there is a heaven, I hope to have a couple beers with Rod at some point in the future.

And couple months after these photos were taken the Cards would dump Gary Gaetti, the Cubs would pick him up, and in a 2-month span he'd hit .320 and slug .594 with 8 homers and 27 RBIs.
I also liked Brant Brown. We all thought he was gonna be a star, but of course later this season he'd make his famous "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" (that's Santo, of course) Error.

The Cubs would win the wild card in a 1-game playoff vs. the Giants and go on to... get swept by the Braves in round one of the NLDS?

SWEPT?!

That's CRAZY!

Must be a common Cubs theme or something.

Anyway, hope you like the photos, and I hope the Cubs help the Cardinals continue their 2010 plummet.

Now, the Bears.

Of course I'm happy they won, and I guess they did. They beat the HELL out of the Lions with stats. 

You know that saying about a tie? That it's like kissing your sister?

That's exactly what I felt like at the end of the game.

So far, I think I understand that that rule is in it's second season, and with this play I hope it's the last.

If that happened to the Bears, you'd be really really pissed.

I'm gonna hold my tongue about the play calling and coaching, and just, I guess, be grateful for the win.

And tonight we'll see the return of Jeff Samardzija, since Odd Job got an elbow strain or something. 

Cubs/Cards. 

My favorite rivalry in sports.

 

100 Ws for Ryan Dempster.

One hundred wins.

Ryan Dempster isn't in the top 500 on the all-time list yet, but some time next year he ought to pass Steve Stone at 107 career Ws and 8 wins'll tie him with Cub legend Orval Overall.

Orval won 2 games for the Cubs in the 1908 World Series.

Oh, that.

Anyway, a nice day to reflect on a great pitcher and a great guy on and off the field who will be here hopefully thru 2012, his option year.

And his 100th W came against the Brewers, a team that can never seem to beat him. He went 7 innings, gave up 3 dinky hits (none to Fielder or Braun) and a run total of zeeeero. Xavier Nady hit one out off Randy Wolf for the only run and the Cubs win 1 - nothin'.

Nice.

And before that game Notre Dame lost to Michigan, who's qb ran and passed for FIVE HUNDRED AND TWO YARDS and scored 3 TDs. Remember the name Denard Robinson.

I'm sure you're all interested to know that the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks suffered their annual massacre vs. Arizona State, losing 20 - 41. 

Meanwhile across town the Sox story gets worse as they lose to the Royals at the same time Jim Thome hits a heroic 12th inning homer for the Twins, who pull to 6 games in front of the Sox. 

A fisherman named Steve Wozniak caught his 1000th species of fish. How in the world would a guy have the time and cash to travel literally everywhere to accomplish a feat like that?
Maybe because Wozniak co-founded a company called Apple with Steve Jobs and helped change the world. 

Hmm, what else?

Oh.

Welcome to NFL Sunday, folks. 

It'll be channel-flipping time when the Bears start at noon vs Detroit, and the Cubs vs Brewers at 1:10.

Go Chicago!

 

 

Cubs' Jim Hendry pranked in Milwaukee, Zambrano doing too well.

 

Well, what did you expect?

A nice post about Carlos Zambrano's excellent outing in Milwaukee last night?

I first read about this prank thing last night, and saw the tweet photo from Paul Sullivan.

Since it happened in the Milwaukee Brewer press box, some Milwaukee Brewer suit (turned out to be a guy named Tyler Barnes) had to give an official statement regarding the... fake press release about a fake book titled "How to Finish Near Last Place with the Highest Payroll in the League, by Jim Hendry, Chicago Cubs' GM" complete with fake chapters in it like, "Why I signed Milton Bradley" and "Why I signed players to long-term contracts with limited trade options!"

If you're Tyler Barnes, how in the world do you keep a straight face?

This prank is right out of high school, all the meaner and funnier because it's true.

I would love to know who did this, and my bet would be it's a Cub Fan.

Dirty politics right out of Stephen King's excellent high school horror, "Carrie".

Of course Jim's hanging around, and maybe like Carrie he'll get even with whoever the culprit is by... winning a freaking World Series.

Jesus.

Did I just print that?

Oh well, back to the game.

This latest Carlos Zambrano - the post-Lou Piniella one - is insane. Carlos is hitting like crazy and pitching out of his mind.

And it's got to be making Jim Hendry cuckoo.

We all hoped he'd pitch well enough to attract the attention of other general managers and get picked up by another team. But now he's pitching SO well Jim Hendry has to be thinking, "If I get rid of him and he becomes somebody else's ace, I'll get skewered. If I keep him and he reverts to Crazy Carlos, I'll get skewered."

Sometimes I think if I were Tom Ricketts, I'd can the guy just out of kindness. Keep him from a nervous breakdown. 

Where was I?

Carlos pitched 8.2 innings last night and shut out the Brewers 4 - zip. He only gave up 3 hits too.

AND he got 2 singles, driving in 2 runs.

AND he scored a run on Starlin Castro's sacrifice fly.

AND he's 5-0 since the Big Time Out. 

Somewhere Lou Piniella is saying, "If that ain't a Cubby Occurrence, I don't know what is..."

Lastly, I have no idea who Tyler Barnes is or what he looks like and my depiction of him above, while based on quotes of his, is just something I made up. Tyler, if you read this I hope you get a laugh.