26-39

Carlos Zambrano’s eighth excellent start in his last nine went for naught as the Cubs could only put two runs on the board.  A poor throw by Walker in the eighth inning gave the Astros an extra out and they took advantage.  One thing that hasn’t been mentoned much since Lee went down is the impact the loss of his glove has had.  Walker has been adequate (Fred McGriff he certainly isn’t), but Lee’s splendid defense will be welcomed back with open arms.

It’s from a few days ago, but John Sickels has an interesting take on the Tyler Colvin selection.  Basically, he thinks the Cubs were going with a super-safe pick who should move up the minor league ladder rapidly, knowing that they wouldn’t be active again until the fifth round.  He also reminds readers that Colvin was a “young” junior, and that fact, combined with his vastly improved junior season numbers, are encouraging signs. 

With the news that Freddie “Boom Boom” Bynum is set to get more playing time in LF, yesterday’s prediction of a hard charge at team-wide base on balls futility looks better than ever.  Is it too early to get a “Free Mike Restovich” campaign up and running?

Could John Mabry be any more useless?

Finally, I was looking at Aramis Ramirez’s numbers and trying to pinpoint anything that would indicate why he has had such a disappointing season to this point.  Surprisingly, his power and walk numbers are right in line with what he has done the past two years.  The only thing really different about this season is his strikeout numbers - he’s making contact a lot.  Over 2004-05, Ramirez struck out in a little over 12% of his ABs.  This season, that number has dropped to 8%.  He has only struck out 19 times.  The pitches he sees per plate appearance are down a bit as well (3.55 versus 3.62 over ‘04-’05), but not significantly.  It is hard to say what these numbers indicate, although it certainly seems as if Aramis isn’t hitting the ball with as much authority this season.