Bruiser Chong

sfa's got a good point there. Glendon was great today, but he's not starter material. At least, not in comparison to what the Cubs could have when everyone's healthy. Wood / Prior / Maddux / Zambrano / Clement is a great rotation and Mitre and Rusch would best be served in the pen, as both can be effective, but not for more than a couple of innings. I really can't wait until Wood and Prior are back, because for the first time in a while, most aspects of Cubs pitching are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Maybe if the Rangers were horrible it'd be okay to be disgusted / depressed, but as it is, they've been doing this kind of thing all year.

I find it hard to get against Dontrelle, as well. Even last year during the postseason, as much as I hated the Marlins, I couldn't help but feel bad for him when he performed poorly. That includes him getting rattled by the Cubs in Game 4 of the NLCS. There's just so few players today that seem to genuinely love the game as much as he does, that you can't help but side with him.

June 23?! Good god, you guys go to school late. Anyway, since I graduated high school last year, I'm entering that middle ground where I'm quite far removed from both high school and college graduation. My high school commencement was extremely boring, but I solved the problem by making smartass comments during many of the higher-than-thou student speakers, which got my row and the row in front and in back of me chuckling, so that was pretty fun. The feeling once it's over is fun, though. Even though I didn't view graduating high school as some big achievement, there was that sense that something big had just happened. Congrats to those of you graduating high school, though. Life gets a whole lot better as soon as you toss those caps in the air.

The Merker thing's a bummer, but they're going back to May 16 with the DL stint, I believe, meaning he could be back around the same time Wood is.

Glendon Rusch pitches a brilliant game, striking out nine and going 7 2/3 innings. Farns and Hawkins do their jobs and shut down the Cards. The Cubs struck early and that's all they needed, although I would've figured the game would've been longer and more high scoring with the wind blowing out like it was.

Unless he were a Yankee, at which point, you'd proclaim your love for him. Except for when he got out, that is.

Good to see, too, since the Rangers have come back with their bats and now are leading the Yanks. And thank god the Reds finally cashed in on some of those scoring chances. They had a chance to crack the game open early and when they didn't capitalized, I figured the Stros were in pretty good shape. Gotta question walking to GET TO Griffey, I don't care how hot the hitter ahead of him is.

Eh, I wasn't getting my hopes up, even after Alou hit the homer. Figure he's been the only real consistent source for their offense lately and there you go. While it hurts that they lost, it's better that they stuck with it and eventually got back into the game. Mitre was really the reason they lost today, but he's still young, so that sort of thing is bound to happen. I'm not happy they lost, but I'm more content that it wasn't a complete blowout.

When Sergio Mitre pitches, yes.

Egads, Mitre is embarrassingly bad sometimes. A lot of that is just inexperience, but it still hurts. No way the Cards should've had four runs in that inning. One or two maybe, but they were helped greatly by Mitre not holding the runner at second, letting them steal third and two wild pitches.

Colon's always been a big boy, but he's definitely put on some lbs. in recent years. Even Sportscenter noted it by showing three pictures of Colon in chronological order from the beginning of his career to now. There was quite the difference.

Nothing quite like Moises Alou getting the walk-off extra inning homer against his old man's squad. Things were pretty tight all the way and there were a few points where it seemed it wasn't the Cubbies' night, but they put it together and grabbed this one.

I came back downstairs just in time to see the replay. I had a feeling the Jays would blow it, which was fine by me, since it meant a save for Nathan. As for Schmidt's game last night, it wasn't on WGN or FSN, so I didn't see any of it, but when a guy's on like Schmidt clearly was, there's not a whole lot you can do. And Sammy's really heading for the DL? Man, how embarrassing must that be since it's a result of a sneeze. Clearly the injury was there before and the sneeze was just the straw that broke the camel's back, but embarrassing, all the same.

Over the past two days, I've picked up: - Monster Legacy Collection Gift Set - Uncle Buck - Major League - Major League II - Simpsons Treehouse of Horror - American Beauty - The Testament of Dr. Mabuse Criterion Collection (found this at Borders, even though its street date is 5/18)

Exactly. The announcers even noted what a cool customer he usually is. He was actually still pretty calm while he continued to challenge the strike zone of the home plate ump. Once he got tossed, he just strolled back over and kept saying stuff, never really erupting or anything, but he was clearly pissed. Everytime he gets out, he's got this pissed off slow stride he does, while remaining cool and collected (most of the time). The expression on his face everytime is like he's just been screwed over big time. I love it. Of course, regardless of how often he's calm, there have been those times where he wears his emotions on his sleeve. I remember one game against the D-Backs last year where he struck out and just turned around and slammed his bat into the ground with an overhand chop. Awesome stuff. Agreed. That isn't to take anything away from the Stros, but they've been playing a lot of the teams that the Cubs were playing and having the same results. I expect more of the same when the lock up with the Mets this weekend. Anyway, I think we'll get a better prespective of the two teams after they play each other approximately 83 times in the next month and a half. Speaking of the Cubs upcoming schedule, it's gonna be tough, especially June. From here until July, they don't see many teams outside of the Cards, Stros, Angels and A's. Thankfully they'll be catching the A's before the second half of the season and the A's while they're still a pretty depleted squad, themselves. I don't want to wish misfortunes on anyone, but that wouldn't hurt the Cubs (or the Central) if this neck thing were a relapse of last season's injury. You gotta figure that every team is going to have their fair share of injuries throughout the year, so it's not unlikely. Speaking of injuries, is Pettite's elbow back to normal or is there a chance that he'll have another problem down the stretch?

Ya jinxed it. I was out grabbing some grub with some buddies of mine and since there were few people around, we had the TV to ourselves, so of course, I turned it on ESPN2. Clement looked pretty strong from what I saw, but I knew it was gonna be all downhill once they scored. The Cubs offense is just crap right now, but to their credit, they're playing one of the hottest, if not the hottest team in baseball right now, which has great pitching all around and a potent lineup. As an aside, Alou had every right to complain before he got tossed. That sinker was well below his knees once it reached the plate. I always enjoy seeing Alou get all pissy for some reason, so at least that was enjoyable. I may be avoiding reality, but I think things will begin to settle down a bit once the Cubs get back home and it's the Stros turn to face these Dodgers and Padres. And thankfully, it looks like Wood is only going to miss his next start.

I'm going to wait until there's confirmation on how serious Wood's arm problem is (if at all) before I panic. Oh, and I don't think they'd ever move Farnsworth into the #5 spot. Ever.

So let's recap: - Cubs lose - Every other NL Central team has one, with the Pirates still battling it out in extra innings - Yankees win after blowing the lead and then tying it up - Pistons lose - Lakers win - Kerry Wood leaves the game hurt Yup, worst sports day ever.

C'mon, man, White Sox fan or not, no need to take joy in a player getting injured. But the word is a sore tricep and he'll be looked at tomorrow. *crosses fingers*

If it's serious, the Cubs are seriously fucked. They're just barely staying afloat while this great offense we supposedly have is trying to kick it into gear. Trading away Juan Cruz is looking pretty stupid right about now. Meanwhile, I think this game's over, as the Cubs are down five and with the Dodgers being as hot as they are right now, I don't see things changing. Boy, this night fell apart in a hurry.

If it's serious then I think I'm done watching for a while. That's too much to take, especially considering the road trip was gonna be tough enough even with him.

Which is a shame, since I just picked him up for my fantasy squad (Penny, that is). And after jumping up 1-0, the Kerry Wood gives up two homers, putting himself down 3-1. Despite his heroics on Sunday, Patterson continues to unimpress me, as I don't think he's had a game this year where he didn't get out on the first pitch at least once. Not a good trait for the number two hitter. Perhaps it's time to move him down in the order and put someone like Martinez in the slot. I just went back to the TV to see that Glendon Rusch is already in there. What the hell? Did they say why Wood's out?

Wow, way to go Marlins. I finally want you fuckers to win and you fall apart like that. And it's funny how Cabrera can make a diving catch, but completely misses scooping up a routine base hit.

The Five Star edition is, but all of the others have since gone OOP.