Bruiser Chong

I shouldn't have read that before trying to go to sleep. That's some bullshit I'll address tomorrow/later today.

And at least we know of one former Chicago catcher who didn't suddenly learn how to throw out baserunners after leaving town. I think they stole more bases tonight than they did in all of May.

Jason Marquis is such a meathead of a pitcher. In one of the stranger sequences I've seen this season, Wilfredo Ledezma (yes, the pitcher) scored the first run of the game by getting walked, moving to second on a balk, tagging to third on a flyout, and scoring on a botched pickoff attempt.

Tha Carter III has leaked. I'm about to start listening to it. I'll try to set my bias aside, but I just can't imagine this living up to the hype. Wayne's got some cute rhymes, but I don't know where all this "best rapper alive" bullshit started carrying some validity with so many people.

No kidding. This shit even made Yahoo's main page last week.

The Cubs actually won a road game, but I'm becoming concerned with Lou's use of Marmol. He's clearly the best arm in the pen, yes, but that doesn't mean Lou can use him in every single close game. He freaks out too quickly and goes to Marmol. Even though it's usually a good move in the context of that single game, Marmol's racking up the innings and he's given up homers in back-to-back games. Tonight's was a three-run shot that made it a one-run game and thus, required a Kerry Wood appearance. That homer, by the way, meant that Edmonds wound up having the game-winning RBI.

You knew it was over the second they called the high sticking.

David Ortiz out for at least a month.

Wait. What the hell are you doing in my city?

I have all these hopes and plans at the outset of each summer and things rarely pan out the way I envision them. No big plans this time around. Just working for my uncle a few days a week, working for myself the other days, and enjoying the extra time to hit the gym, cook, shoot the bull with friends, and all that shit. I was about to type that I won't be going on any trips, but then I remembered I need to go to North Carolina in August for my brother's wedding, so scratch that. So long as my bank account gets fat, I put the finishing touches on my apartment (even though I've lived here for a year and a half), and I get to catch up stuff that doesn't get my attention during school, I'm content.

You can chalk his success on Friday up to the wind, but his hits the last couple days have been legit. I still don't like the idea of him blocking the way of any long-term solution for the Cubs in center, but if he can contribute, I suppose I can deal. The next month is going to tell us pretty quickly about whether Edmonds is cooked or not. Playing in some hitter unfriendly parks without the benefit of winds will let us see if this weekend was a turning point or not. Regardless, he probably bought himself at least another few weeks because of this series.

Ozzie Guillen is requesting, nay, demanding changes from Kenny Williams by Tuesday. I can smell it now: Hawk Harrelson, manager extraordinaire.

I've been messing around with last year's incarnation of The Show the past two or three weeks in an attempt to finish my first franchise season in a baseball game since MVP '04. I had to finally give the guess pitch feature a rest once I realized four or five of my hitters were batting .400+ in late May and Aramis Ramirez is on pace to hit 120 homers and knock in 330 RBI. I allow myself the guess pitch feature once per at-bat, if that. Though this is akin to discussing fantasy sports, I'd like to share a couple tidbits from today's "action": - I was up on the Brewers 6-2 in the 8th. I'll fast-forward sometimes for various reasons. I figured with a four-run lead, I was safe to fast forward at that point. Big mistake. I skipped to the next inning, expecting to see the final and player of the game. Instead, I have Mark god damn Prior coming up to bat in a game that's now 10-6. Though I was only on my first relief pitcher in the 8th, the Brewers had managed to wipe out my entire pen while plating eight runs in the 9th. - In a game against the Nats, I had two with no outs and a 2-0 count on Ronny Cedeno. I popped up the third pitch and tossed my controller to the side in frustration. In a lesson of "don't abuse your controller," the toss sent my runners in motion, resulting in a triple play.

Gallardo went down and it seemed like most people just went, "There goes their number two pitcher and Ben Sheets will have a hurt kneecap any day now, so the Brewers are done." I still think they'll finish ahead of the Astros, if not the Cards. Not much to complain about on the North Side of Chi-Town these days. The Cubs are a 14-2 over their last two homestands and both of those losses were one-run affairs. They play something like all but six of their games from here until early July on the road, so we'll have a much better indicator of where this team's going after that run.

Mark Prior is going to have season-ending surgery on his shoulder. Which cliche should we go with? The sun rising or death and taxes?

Yeah, they really should've sat on their hands after witnessing something so pedestrian as a guy clubbing his 500th career homer.

Ah cats. I've yet to hear a piece of evidence that justifies having them as pets. Less mess than dogs, yeah, but infinitely more useless.

Is it safe to assume we're in for some pretty significant changes in Detroit this summer?

I don't care who wins, but I won't mind seeing the Lakers take it. I despised them during the Shaq era, but it's difficult to dislike them now since it's such a different cast of characters. I've never been anti-Kobe, so that isn't an issue. I'd rather see a rapist get another ring than Posey.

I sense this thing with my neighbor will be a recurring theme throughout the summer. I just came home and he's sitting outside shirtless with the neighbor's cat. He gives that damn thing more attention than its owner does. I was getting ready to leave yesterday while he was playing with it yesterday before telling it that he had to go to work.

I watched this at a restaurant slash bar. It was so lively when I got there after halftime, but just totally DIED on the table minutes into the fourth. Most of the place had shifted their attention to the Tigers/Mariners game before this one was over.

Marvin must be spinning in his grave.

Bot 7th: Chi Cubs - H. Blanco homered to deep center, M. Fontenot scored - J. Edmonds doubled to deep center, M. Hoffpauir and K. Fukudome scored - M. DeRosa homered to deep center, J. Edmonds scored I wholeheartedly accept this close game. I believe this is the biggest Cubs comeback in almost 20 years.

And he's a defensive wiz, too! Seriously, Edmonds better not be in San Diego next week, unless it's as part of the paying crowd.

You should have specified which team you wanted to do this. Jim Edmonds and his inability to hit a ball, regardless of who throws it, with any hint of authority continues to amaze me. But he gives us a gritty lefty bat with pop!