At least the pen has done a nice job since Harden left. Silver lining and all that.

Is this the best start Marquis has had at Wrigley?

July 11 of last year, against the Giants. No runs, 3 hits, 2 walks, 4 K in 7 innings.

5 runs might be enough to win this one.

Never mind.

As of right now, Guzman sucks.

Last year, he had a 7IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 BBs and 4Ks start vs. SF. His best ever was a 2007 CG, 3 hit, no walk, 5K shutout vs. the Pirates.

Glad I didn't devote an afternoon to actually watching this ####.

I can't see the game, but GameCast sure looks like a lack of effort...

Guzman's got great stuff, but I don't wanna see him around if he's gonna pile up the walks.

Hey, some power.

I miss something? Gooz walked one guy.

Nice to see Lee looking good the last couple games.

So he isn't dead?

This would be vastly more interesting if Guzman hadn't allowed that run and this lineup didn't suck.

Now Geo is in perfect position to hit the game tying homer.

fake rally time?

Shockingly still true after the 0-2 count.

Oh now this is just a tease.

Even more shockingly still true with Geo coming to the plate.

How unavailable are Bradley and ARam, exactly?

I wonder if Aramis could PH today if necessary...

Detroit's pen had no need for Grilli last year. Think about that.

What a Theriot-esque move by Fontenot. YOU'RE DOWN BY 3 YOU IDIOT

God damn it.

What a ####### moron.

That's the game. Look who's on deck.

Uh--WTF happened?

Fontenot you ####### tool.

Tell me he didn't try to steal third down 3.

Well, that totally sucked.

Yeah, what happened?

Ball in the dirt and he was gunned down, then Geo DPs.

And if Lou was really going to let Aaron Miles bat as the tying run, I would've lost it. Soriano can play extra innings at 2B if necessary. And Ramirez could have swung a bat.

I know this is the Cubs' division for the taking, but I'm concerned about how ####### STUPID they've been early on.

Geo depriving Miles of the opportunity to make the last out...

Well, that sucked.

Worst game of the year by a long shot. Well, they lost that one by more than their other losses combined, so I suppose we're in decent shape all things considered...

It's just a loss; I'm not sure there's much of a moral. I hope the Cubs win 5 out of 8 games the rest of the way.

Up to the minute:

Aaron Miles: 1-3
Non-Aaron Miles: 4-0

I take that back. #239 illustrates the lesson to be drawn from today's game.

Lee's at .219/.308/.375.

Just in case:

Schumaker
Rasmus
Pujols
Ludwick
Duncan
Molina
Thurston
Barden
Walters

Soriano
Fukudome
Lee
Hoffpauir
Ramirez
Soto
Fontenot
Theriot
Zambrano

Anybody?

Soriano!

Last 7 days:
Mark DeRosa: .318/.400/.591, 2 HR, 6 RBI
Mike Fontentot: .059/.273/.059

2009 Totals:

Mark DeRosa: .205/.286/.364
Mike Fontenot: .229/.372/.371

vs. RHP

Mark Derosa: .188/.278/.281
Mike Fontenot: .286/.444/.464

The Cubs have made improvements the last couple of season to the point where we're getting a bit spoiled. To give some perspective, below is a lineup the Cubs ran out in 2007. The only reason I saw it was that BB-Ref Blog has a list of walk off walks, one of which was Wuertz's game losing walk to Delgado in 2007. Here's the lineup that the Cubs ran out there (vs. Glavine) that day:

1. Theriot
2. Izturis
3. Soriano
4. Ramirez
5. Murton
6. DeRosa
7. Blanco
8. Pagan
9. Marquis

As you can see, things are better now than they were then. Jacque Jones was the starting CF in 2007. Matt Murton was helping the Cubs through Cliff Floyd's injuries (though, to be fair, Matt could hit a little back then). Jason Kendall and Michael Barrett were the starting catchers. Jason Marquis was the 4th starter. Heck, he was the 4th starter last year until the Cubs traded for Harden.

The Cubs appear to me to be at least as good of a team going into 2009 as they were going into 2008. Yeah, it sucks they don't have Derosa. And some of the stuff Hendry did over the offseason hasn't worked out so well so far: Wuertz hasn't given up a run or a walk yet. Wood's struck out 6 in 3 IP. Marquis is in the top 10 or 20 in pitcher VORP. By the same token, so long as we're talking about small samples, Hoffpauir appears to be a capable corner OF fill-in in the case of Soriano / Bradley injuries.

For comparison's sake, below is the 2009 lineup with the top 4 players injured. It's bad, but it's only a bit worse than the actual lineup used above. With the Cubs' pitching, it would give them a chance to win, though the Cubs would probably be more like an 80 win team throwing this out there:

1. Theriot SS
2. Johnson CF
3. Kosuke RF
4. Hoffpauir LF
5. Fox 1B
6. Fontenot 3B
7. Koyie Hill C
8. Aaron Miles 2B
9. Any one of our pitchers

Yes, that lineup probably looks better with DeRosa in the place of Fox at 1B (though Fox is KILLING the ball in AAA to the tune of a 1.644 OPS in 36 ABs). But if Soriano, Lee, Soto and Bradley all get injured, the Cubs probably aren't going to win even if DeRosa's around. On top of that, in some of the individual positional analyses, I think DeRosa would be 3rd on the depth chart. For instance, I'd prefer Hoffpauir starting at LF or 1B to DeRosa in the event of injuries to Lee or Soriano. And if hoffpauir can't hack it defensively in RF, it's not much of a drop off from DeRosa to Reed Johnson. (Unless, of course, you think DeRosa's a 120 OPS+ player now.)

Obviously if Fontenot or Ramirez get injured, the Cubs'll regret not having DeRosa. But, as I've noted in the past, the Cubs guaranteed DeRosa a starting job when they signed him. And while it's possible that DeRosa > Fontenot, that's by no means a sure thing. I think designating Fontenot the starting 2B was a reasonable decision, even if it necessitated a choice between reneging on their promise to DeRosa or shipping him outta town.

Four hours later and DeRosa's batting average is 50 points higher. Here's hopin' Fontenot can go 4-7 with 2 singles, a double, a homer & 6 RBI tomorrow.