Cubby-Blue

Luis Valbuena is The Gift Horse.

I know.
He's like the Rodney Dangerfield on a whole team of them.
He's the guy who gets designated for assignment and optioned to make room and traded for cash considerations.
A baseball nomad.
There's no way he's even remotely in the picture of the 2015 Cubs.
But right now may be the shining moments of Luis Valbuena's career.
If you look at OPS today, on April 26th, 2013, Luis Valbuena is ranked 33rd in the NL. 
That's 3 behind Matt Holliday.
One in front of Buster Posey.
Thirty one in front of Anthony Rizzo.


And last night he hit the dramatic, game winning homer agianst the Miami Marlins in the top of the 9th with 2 out.

When I was little I didn't swear or cuss, but I promise you that the first time I heard someone say "Never look a gift horse in the mouth," I totally thought "what the fuck are you talkin' about?"
It is truly that weird of a saying.
You can judge a horse's age by the length of it's teeth, apparently.
And if someone gives you a horse and you look at it's teeth, that means you're trying to judge the worth of the horse.
And if the guy who gave you the horse is standing right there, well, that's just rude.
So I'm going to try and not think about Luis Valbuena as anything but a gift horse.
The Toronto Blue Jays gave him to us.
And Luis, please feel free to hit game winning homers all year, because I just have the feeling that they'll be mighty... uh... not alot of them.
Thank you.

And speaking of careers, this may be the quote that defines the career of Carlos Marmol...
Marmol came in at the end of this game with a one run lead.
Walked a guy.
Gave up a single.
Juan Pierre tries to bunt but Wellington Castillo gets the guy at third so there's still guys on 1st and 2nd with only one out.
Then Marmol gets a guy to fly out, and finally it ends with a strike out.
After the game Dale Sveum is being asked if Marmol has regained his closer role and Sveum says uh uh.
Instead he says, "He pitches great when he doesn't know he's the closer."

Lordy lord lord, that is one very, very funny line.

Lastly, and I haven't read anything about him, but I am SO EXCITED the Bears drafted an O lineman in the first round, and may this one prove to be...how can I say this? If Kyle Long turns out to be a legit starter, I will defend Phil Emery forever.

Lastly lastly lastly, I apologize if anyone was offended by my unexpected F Bomb.



 

Cubs lose to the Reds by the length of a toothpick.

There are 2 out in the top of the 8th.
The Cubs are down 1 to nothin'.
Pinch runner Travis Wood is standing on 3rd, and the run that would give the Cubs the lead is standing on 2nd.
That would be Luis Valbuena.
Ex-Dodger closer Johathan Broxton is on the mound.
And David DeJesus is up.
The bat connects and the ball goes bouncing right up the middle.
Going hard to his left, Reds SS Zack Cozart fields it on the dirt but throws from right field, falling down in the process.
And it beats DeJesus by a freaking toothpick.
If he's safe, the Cubs take the lead and, not that it's game over but DAMN that's how close the game was.
Jeff Samardzija was pretty outstanding, pitching with a bloody finger, except for one pitch to 3rd baseman Todd Frazier that went, um, really far.
Reds 1 Cubs zeeeero. 

Just another day at the office for Samardzija who has lost by one run in his last 3 starts.

Ow.

Lets see, what else...
Our old buddy Ted Lilly had his first start in 11 months yesterday (after shoulder surgery).
Went 5 innings and gave up only one dinky run and six hits. 
Read about it here.

Finally, I didn't get a chance to say anything yesterday, but I heard Alfonso Soriano stole 2nd and 3rd, and awhile later Darwin Barney hit a home run to win the game in extras.
Of course, I heard that from a unicorn named Billy so I still can't be sure.



 

The new Chicago Cubs Teardrop Logo

Oucheewawa.
13 innings, 4 hours and 35 minutes, 94 at-bats and 404 pitches all for another L.
3-4 Reds.
Heartbreaking.
Tearjerking, in fact.

But what goes down must come back up, and I expect the Cubs to do that at least marginally.
At least in the area of expectation, which is still losing.
Just not this much.
I've heard people who sound like they're beginning to doubt the Theo Plan.
Calm down.
We're too far into it to stop now, and it will pay off.
No time toooo into it today, just...don't go off the deep end, okay?
Gotta run.

Go Cubs
 
 

Cubs deja vu: This is exactly where they were a year ago!

Okay, so it's one day off.
But one year minus a day ago, back when the Cubs were supposed to be terrible, they got swept.
By the Miami Marlins instead of the Milwuakee Brewers, but still - that's some crazy deja vu, right?
In fact, if you look at this blog one year ago, oh my god it's the SAME SCHWEPT ART!
Last year after 17 games, the Cubs were 5-12.
WAIT A MINUTE!
They're 5-12 right now!
WAIT A MINUTE!
They're 5-12 right now!
Deja vu freaks me out, man.
Last year after 17 games, the Cubs had 17 errors.
This year?
Okay only 15, but that's good enough for the lead.

Did I just... that's crazy.
This beer looks EXACTLY like one I had...a little while ago.
Anyway...
Pretty freaky.

 

 

Cubs 4 Brewers 5. Sveum gets tossed, Segura steals first. Wacky!

What do you call this stretch of time in Chicago Cubs' history anyway?
(I'm talking about the team playing in the Major League ballparks, of course.)
Is it The Intermission?
Growing Pains?
The 105th Year Stretch?
Even though most of us kind of shrug through these games, it's nice to see some kind of emotion displayed once in awhile.
Which was why I was so happy to watch an animated Dale Sveum run out of the dugout and argue for his pitcher.
You know, some things can get me off the couch and rattle the house with some yelling - the Rizzo homer that could have hit Murphy's, a Castro crazy-range play at short, and last night a good old fashioned tossing of the manager.
Felt good.
Made me wonder what it'll feel like when the Cubs are contenders.
When a 2-2 pitch to Ryan Braun in an April game may actually ladder up to something more meaningful than an evening's entertainment.
This game started off so rotten even Len said Samardzija musta got up on the wrong side of the bed, but then it got pretty watchable.
The insanity of Jean Segura's stealing second and then (the ump explained) technically stealing first made a definite memory.
And I found myself lost in the game and really caring when suddenly Kevin Gregg came in and, you know...you go oh yeah, this is just a halftime show or something.
But I'll keep watching and painting.
Sveum looks like kind of a bad-ass doesn't he?
You can't argue balls and strikes, Dale, but you can pracitce at it.
And one day maybe you'll LaRussa some ump into giving your team a break when it counts.

So the other night I was afraid the basement would flood.
I have this one giant drawer that contains all the loose paintings I've done over the years, and I yanked it out and put it on a table so it couldn't get wet.
It's about 3' x 3.5' big and has hundreds of illustrations.
One of these days I'll do a show.