the 312 hole

After stating the obvious yesterday, Carlos Zambrano decided to speak his mind – rationally and under control. No anger. No cursing. And frankly, Carlos was right about everything he said. After six losses in a row, the Cubs are miserable. Someone needs to get fired up and get this team in line.

Chicago media jumped on the opportunity to call out Big Z – demanding a suspension, fine or even a trade. They are all idiots. This is the message I suspect Big Z would like to deliver to these media members:

I would like to think that the Cubs may have one of the best 7th-8th-9th inning combos in the league with the trio of Marshall, Wood and Marmol. The main kink in this plan becomes apparent when any one of these guys needs a day off, which means we get introduced to some rookies and a mediocre wide receiver turned horrible pitcher. Undoubtedly, these days off will happen a lot given Wood’s bionic arm and Marmol’s occasional moonlighting as “Wild Thing” Vaughn. Regardless, Marshall and Marmol had extremely solid seasons last year (Wood can still bring it, too), and if they can produce similarly again in 2011, we may not have to be so nervous every time Zambrano cramps up in the 6th inning. The first week of the season has not been all too kind to Marmol and Wood though, but let’s hope it gets turned around sooner than later.

Thank goodness Soriano is actually hitting the ball this April. In 2010, he didn’t hit his 3rd homerun until April 30th – 22 games into the season. This year, he’s at 3 homers after only 6 games. He gets booed enough for all of the other shenanigans he pulls, and at least when he’s hitting homeruns he can catch a break from the boos. He still can’t catch a ball, but at least he can hit.

Here are a few photos from the Cubs’ opening weekend against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Spirits were high and seats were empty. Now, just 5 days into the season, spirits are low and seats will be even more empty. The Cubs have lost 2/5 of their starting rotation to the DL – and hopefully the short-kind of DL, not the Dr. Andrews-kind of DL.

Anyway, here are a few shots from the game on Saturday. More photos to come later.

Click here to see a few more photos.

‘Next year’ came and went… again. Another season of baseball is in the books, with the Giants bringing home their first championship to the city of San Francisco. While it isn’t as bad as anything that has happened or would happen in Oakland and LA under the same circumstances, the fans took to the streets last night and really threw one heck of a riot. Up until now, it hasn’t been covered very widely in the media. Here is a great Flickr gallery of some photos from the madness. Let’s hope Prop 19 passes, and the next celebration will surely be a bit more subdued.

All of this, of course, is great news for Cubs fans. We are now tied for first place in the NL Central – and it will stay that way for several more months. It’s officially the off-season, so that means its time to start up the rumor mill and be irrational. And what better news to start this off with than Kerry Wood’s release from the New York Yankees? Desipio gets right to the point on this one.

Pitchers, by rule, are going to get hurt. So it’s rough to sign a guy who you know without a doubt is going to get hurt. Hard to build bullpen continuity when your eighth inning guy is going to spend two months with a blister the size of a silver dollar (if you’re lucky) or in a sling (if you’re not.)

I’d love for the Cubs to bring him back and for it to work.

Unfortunately, I think only half of that is going to happen.

I would love to see Kerry be a healthy contributor to next year’s bullpen, but only at the right price given the risk of another serious injury. Can you imagine the uproar from diehard fans when the Cubs, in one single offseason, choose to pass on two of the all-time favorite / greatest Cubs – Sandberg and Wood?

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