Bruiser Chong

This series is going to be ugly. It's bad enough they suck, but these cross-town series tend to be just humiliating some years. It was also pointed out that with the Womack signing and inevitable promotion, the Cubs would be housing seven second-basemen on their roster. SEVEN. It kills me how this organization has completely turned on power, as if that was the cause of their offensive woes these last several years. Pitiful OBP and a bunch of powerless guys (I'm looking at you, Neifi) swinging for the warning track are the causes. But naturally, these things are not viewed as problems by Hendry & Co. We just need more speed.

I didn't see the end of the game, but in the ninth down two with two outs and two on, Neifi...bunts. Probably trying to get on base, but nevertheless, HUH?

Leave it to Juan Pierre to kill a three-run Cubs rally by grounding into a DP to end the inning. Jeez.

Hey, Turnbow preserves a save. Wild.

To be fair, Hamels was responsible for the run that tied the game and gave up the two-run homer in the same inning. Ramon Ortiz looks to be on his way to his first win of the season, as he's been lights out against the Cubs. If that weren't embarrassing enough, Ortiz, who had 13 K's 17 BB's in 40 innings coming into the game, has 3 K's and no BB's through five innings. Only 64 pitches, too. It's okay, because the Cubs are aggressive! They've also pulled Wood after five. I know they want to be conservative, but he'd only thrown 71 pitches and had looked good in his last two innings. The second was his only real shakey one of the day. May I add Will Ohman sucks? He just gave up a homer to MARLON ANDERSON. With the wind blowing in. Ah well. The sooner this team gets back to reality, the less chance Dusty gets his extension.

Wood has an eight-pitch, two strikeout first inning, but the Nats have been teeing off on his fastballs since then. Uh oh. And dear god, the Cubs have signed Tony Womack to a minor league deal. Knowing this organization, that's where he won't stay long. He's got SPEED, after all!

Pirates have blown a 6-0 lead against the Reds.

What's with Hamels walking so many?

Crazy game in Arizona; Padres scored nine in the first, but the D-Backs scored eight in the sixth. Padres tacked on another three in the seventh and currently lead 14-10. Brian Giles has SEVEN RBIs.

I noticed how both of these innings started with...a walk.

It seems like Turnbow blows saves just to have the Brewers pick him up later. Damn.

As a Turnbow owner, DAMN IT!

Aramis Ramirez leaves the game with a strained lower back. Some of the swings he's been taking this season, it's not surprising his back's been tweaked. Still another injury the Cubs could obviously do without.

I've been pumping Kinney for a long time. Not only is easily one of the most knowedgeable anchors, he's a great interviewer. He'll really ask hard-hitting questions, but not in a way that belittles or undermines the guest. His baseball and boxing commentaries are great as well. He introduced me to sabermetrics and I've never looked back. ESPN could use him much better. This can make for some great moments. I'm so used to the questions being lobbed at the guests, as if to not offend them and ensure they'll come back on the show one day. He totally owned Steve Phillips a couple weeks back. Phillips is typically so calm and collected, but he was clearly getting flustered by the logic being thrown down before him. Kenny more or less spent the whole segment pointing out the logic gaps that are ever-so-present during most of the analytical portions of Baseball Tonight.

"It was ME, NYankee, it was ME!" "Oh my bah gawd, they've screwed the Yankees again!"

I thought you were going to blame it on the Cubs AA offense. That doesn't even make sense, but thank you for playing. Yeah, I'm sure he pines - yes, that's right, pines - for Yankees pitching staff. I don't think this guy's AS. AS was a rage-aholic, but his maturity level was higher than a fourth-grader's.

I blame it on the umpires.

I didn't notice five of the eight runs Felix Hernandez has given up tonight were unearned thanks to Adrian Beltre's error. That's seven on the season by the way, just four less than his RBI count. That contract's turning out to be the hitter's version of that five-year deal the Rangers gave Park.

Which raises the question: why was a mop-up man pitching with the game on the line?

Rondell White = rally killer. Why this guy is still starting is beyond me.

11-10 Yankees. Unreal. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why the Rangers' first-place position in the AL West is nothing to put stock into.

Jacque Jones gets doubled off second base on a line drive out AGAIN! Can't blame it on the Arizona air this time. Fuck.

I think Cubs are trying to get Baker fired. They have to be one of the worst hitting teams with RISP. Hernandez was clearly pitching around Mabry, but walks clog up the bases, so Mabry's hacking away at a bad 3-0 pitch. For the record, through two: Zambrano: 38 pitches Hernandez: 18 pitches

But naturally, they only make Hernandez, a guy who's been notoriously bad in the first inning, throw five pitches. Dear Juan Pierre, no one's surprised by you trying to bunt anymore. Please stop.

Oh my, Dusty finally listened. Murton's batting second, Cedeno's batting eighth, and Mabry's in the lineup and nowhere close to the top of it. He must want his job.