Bruiser Chong

Only the Cubs could give up two runs on a wild pitch. Prior really labored in the sixth, as he has his last two starts, but he got out of the inning. He'll probably drop to 0-4, but if that might not be the case if the offense ever backed him up. Eight more runners stranded today.

It's risk/reward. You either go after the Wade Millers, or pay 3 years/$18 million or so for proven averageness. Burn. I always thought he was overrated.

I think Francisco Liriano, Joe Nathan and Boof Bonser for A.J. Pierzynski was a worse trade.

Like I said earlier in the thread, these are always fun to look back at, considering how off some predictions are. Bless some people who had the Cubs taking the WC. From the first half, I'd have to say the Indians, Brewers and Cubs are the most disappointing teams, while the Tigers, Marlins, and Reds have been the most surprising.

Seems like A-Rod only has his big weeks when he's "against" me in my fantasy league.

Wow, no Travis Hafner?

Neifi Perez hits a three-run bomb, to make it a six-run game. That's 10 earned runs for Buerhle. Let's see if Z can settle down now.

And suddenly, it's a game. Cubs are in trouble if they don't tack on some more runs, because Zambrano won't be in the game much longer.

I said the same thing elsewhere. I'm so used to his pleas getting answered that it's funny to see it not pan out. The funny thing about this he only threw 24 pitches in the inning. Hopefully this doesn't turn out like the White Sox/Twins game earlier this year. I'm hoping Zambrano can just attack the zone with a five-run lead.

Hey, how about teaching Dirk to make an important clutch freethrow and not choking the series away, then come back and critique my posts. Czech knows Dirk?

And don't think look at veggies as foods you should eat, but don't really want to. There are plenty of great recipes and combinations out there to turn plain veggies into an appetizing portion of your diet. Focus on the leafy greens, but don't bother with iceberg.

It's already happening. The Jon Garland contract inked during the off-season is looking worse with each passing start; Javier Vazquez is only being bailed out of potential losses by great Sox comebacks, and Contreras probably should've lost at least two or three starts in the month of June, but again, the offense bailed him out. The Sox are touted for their great pitching, but their team ERA is fifth in the AL and 10th overall. Again, they've got enough guys who will give them six or seven innings, although the backend of the rotation is more likely to give up more than a few runs in the process. It's the offense that's getting the job done. The Sox are first in the bigs in runs scored and RBI and near the top for hits, homers, batting average and slugging. Naturally, I couldn't help but look at some team stats for the Cubs. They and the Royals are the only teams without a complete game on the season. They're also last in runs, doubles, RBI, OBP, and slugging. These factors considered, this cross-town showdown should be a bunch of blowouts.

I like how when he finally decides to use punctuation, it's in the wrong spot. I'll cut the kid a break on not getting the inside joke about the power trip. But I don't see any "good points" or "intelligent statements" from him in this thread. People are throwing down facts, while he's just responding with his opinion. He hasn't made anyone's argument look weak, because he hasn't brought any factual information himself.

And Aaron Fultz will get a start tomorrow!

It still seems likely the Cards are just in a bad stretch that may or may not be related to playing the AL. We'll see how things go when they're back to playing their own league.

The Cards aren't overrated. I haven't heard anyone say they're WS material this year. But they're still better than the other teams in the Central and when push comes to shove, I'd say they're probably better than any NL team, sans the Mets.

This is unreal. When the Cards had them at the corners and no outs, I was sure it was over. I've never seen the St. Louis fans this hostile so regularly. I guess when you're not used to this kind of baseball, it jolts you, but they're booing when pitchers get close to walking a batter.

They would've been out of the inning had Inge taken the double-play instead of trying to go home with it. Seeing the three errors in a row was surreal for this year's Tigers.

My god, the Royals run the bases worse than the Cubs. I've never seen so many cases of "run 'till you score or someone throws you out."

Ooo, I like Eric Wedge's killer instinct. He PH's for his weak-hitting right fielder with the bases loaded in the fifth and brings Hafner into the game. Hafner, naturally, hits a grandslam.

Ortiz is one of those pitchers that always walked the tightrope. His success never was because he was dominating, but rather, his ability to fall into a ground ball when he needed to turn two. Royals have added another one against Ponson, who's thrown 66 pitches in two innings.

Cards already down 4-0 in the first. Ponson's starting to look like the pitcher of 2004 and 2005. If there was one dominant team in this division, there wouldn't be much of a race at this point.

I feel for him, since he's one of the few guys on the team who seems like he's always trying, but he's been absolutely atrocious the last month or two. I hear Dusty's still saying we'll get back to .500. HA!

And now the fans have buried the outfield with trash. Not classy, but I can understand the frustration. They gave Jenks more time to warm up, though. Oh well. I guess Aramis gets to go for the cycle now.

AJ hits a three-run, go-ahead BOMB off Dempster. That's probably the worst case scenario. If he finishes off ROSS GLOAD, this doesn't happen.