Best records in the NL over the last four weeks:

Cubs 17-7
Brewers 16-7
Cards 14-10

Fun race.

the Brewers (who find having the third-best record in the NL gets them… third place in the NL Central).

Heh. If the playoffs started today, the teams would be #'s 1, 2, 4, and 6.

I'm not going to say that these guys are at all similar or anything, but I realized today what this season from Dempster reminds me of --

Mike Bielecki, 1989

I'm not sure why, but I think it's because, like Bielecki, Dempster's season is coming totally out of the blue, when many (I in particular) thought he would fail miserably.

####### cost me money today - I thought the White Sox would win for sure. Thank god for the celtics and tiger pay days from last week or I'd be on the street

The Cards nearly swept the Red Sox in Boston without Pujols. That is pretty telling. They will be around all year I think.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!!

THROUGH JUNE!!

Bielecki was a little different situation. He had back issues. This is coming more from 1990 and 1991, when he wasn't physically ok every start. You could tell whether he was on or not in the first inning from how he moved his back in his pitching motion. When he was on, he came stright forward. When he was off, he angled his back slightly to the right. He was just on for every start in 1989, or at least the ones that I saw. I explained this to my wife, who has chronic back problems, and she said it made sense to her that he would move that way if his back was uncomfortable.

Dempster is just fungible bullpen filler to All Star quality starter where did that come from and how do we get some more?

####### cost me money today - I thought the White Sox would win for sure.

Betting against Dempster and the Cub offense at home? Silly man.

Betting against Dempster and the Cub offense at home? Silly man.

yEAH - Had more faith in Javy Vasquez for some reason

Like the Mekons reference, Phil.

Best fluke seasons by a Cubs starting pitcher since 1984, going by ERA+:

1996 Steve Traschel 144
1992 Mike Morgan 142
1995 Frank Castillo 128
1990 Mike Harkey 126
1995 Jaime Navarro 125
1989 Mike Bielecki 121

Harkey really wasn't a fluke. Or, rather, the fluke wasn't the quality, but that his arm held up in reasonable order.

Three keys to Dempster's season:
1. Stronger legs so he doesn't tire as easily
2. Pitching to contact and to the hitter's weaknesses instead of his (generic) strength
3. Split-finger: a new pitch for him that changes his pattern

I'm not saying I expect him to keep this up all year. His conditioning may help more the first half than the second half of the season. Once batters realize he is not pitching for strikeouts, and see him a second or third time, they may hit him harder. His arm may start to hurt from throwing the splitter too much.

But these changes are not just luck. Unless he goes on the DL later this year, he has probably already guaranteed himself a three-year deal from some club.

The Cubs have only lost two series at home all season - both to the Brewers

Yep. The Cubs are 2-4 against the Brewers at home, 30-4 against everyone else.

And both of those series with the Brewers were pretty early in the year. Both teams are better right now, IMO.

Fun series. Not because of the "rivalry" but because the Sox are a good team and the Cubs really took advantage of the Sox's strengths - bullpen and starting pitching.

The Cards nearly swept the Red Sox in Boston without Pujols. That is pretty telling. They will be around all year I think.

And right before that, they were swept at home by the Royals. That is pretty telling. They're finished.

Or, more likely, it's silly to draw conclusions on a couple of games.

aargh

Milwaukee has taken advantage of injuries and complete disasters removing any decisions from management. This isn't an attempt to "crack" on Yost. It's just fact.

If Eric Gagne doesn't go to the DL it is all but certain that until he burst into 1000 pieces he would still be in the mix to finish games. And despite "stuff" that looked solid his control was completely absent. Salomon Torres throws strikes, keeps the ball down and is capable of going more than an inning. He has been a godsend.

Bill Hall's entire game collapsed. Offensively, defensively, running the bases you name it he was a nightmare. Meanwhile, Russell Branyan was slugging .800 at Triple A. If Bill were even passable Branyan would have been left in Nashville. But Bill was SOOO bad the team didn't have a choice.

Same with Turnbow. Derrick was/is the very personification of "train wreck". If he hadn't been so hideous it's a certainty that Yost would have kept using him as Ned was a firm believer in Derrick Turnbow.

Now Yost has also made some obvious changes. He is pushing his starters deeper into games. It's only an inning or so but it's clear this is a concerted effort to have starters pull more of the load. Also, despite Branyan's success he is being kept on a strict platoon. Branyan rarely faces a lefty. Yost is also mixing and matching his bullpen versus a strict regimen previously defined.

These were all things that doomed the 2007 season. Yost had a "plan" for the bullpen and even as it dissolved into dust he stuck with the program. Even as his relievers fell to their knees due to exhaustion by mid-July Ned kept coddling the Jeff Suppans of the world. No more.

Now, there is more than a bit of evidence that this is the influence of Ted Simmons who was specifically hired to "help" Ned on handling the finer points of the game. I am just glad Yost has listened to Simmons.

Though I have pointed out that Yost refuses to give Ted any public credit. Jason Kendall has made astonishing progress in his throwing and everyone in Brewer Country knows it was Simmons who worked with Kendall in spring training on his mechanics. But ask Ned in an interview and all you will hear is "we" or "I". No specific mention of Ted's involvement. That's the petty side of Ned that's so aggravating.

But he's listening. Instead of READING and then being unable to implement Ned is SLOWLY trying different approaches. And generating mostly positive results.

Some of the Brewers turnaround is some guys playing better. But some of it is the manager not adhering to failed policies of the past.

Some of the Brewers turnaround is some guys playing better. But some of it is the manager not adhering to failed policies of the past.

Would you say that they are "surging"?

BTW, for those who were wondering where the hell Rich Hill went, one of the Chicago papers today disclosed that the team sent him to Mesa to work on his delivery and that there is no timetable for him to get back to Iowa.

Or, more likely, it's silly to draw conclusions on a couple of games.

It's Beano. As usual, he's trolling.

Cabbage:

They have won 21 of their last 31 games. Term that what you will.

They have also hit 45 homers in their last 22 games while their starters have an ERA under 3 during the same timeframe. That's a good combo.

Not sustainable. But fun while it lasts........

They have won 21 of their last 31 games. Term that what you will.

I think Cabbage was making a political comment, though perhaps I'm reading too much into it.