What's wrong with the 2009 Chicago Cubs?

It's June 18th, and the 2009 Chicago Cubs are currently 30-31 and 4 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers and in 4th place behind the Brewers, Cardinals, and Reds. The Cubs are closer to last place (Astros 2 games behind Cubs) than they are closer to first place.

On Sunday, the Cubs fired their hitting coach Gerald Perry in favor of Von Joshua who spent 4 years as hitting coach with the Iowa Cubs and worked with Ryan Theriot, Geovany Soto, Mike Fontenot, and others done there.

Alfonso Soriano's contract is looking worse and worse as the days go by as he is only in his 3rd year of an 8 year contract. Soriano is quickly approaching the Mendoza Line and he has just looked lost at the plate these past two months after his quick start.

Speaking of Mendoza Line, Aaron Miles is hovering around it and his OPS has dropped below 500. I think it's time to end this ill-faded Aaron Miles experiment and just let him go. Either play Jake Fox at 3rd base and move Fontenot to 2nd (he's been awful as well) or just put Blanco back at 2nd. While he can't hit (although he is on par with Aaron Miles in terms of offense and may be a little better) he's a much better fielder than Miles. The only two guys that have impressed me in this lineup over the past week or two is Derrek Lee and Milton Bradley. Lee has been fantastic the past month after his career looked like it was heading down the toilet in April. And Milton Bradley is finally starting to hit the ball with some consistency although his fielding has been shotty to say the least.

It's hard to believe Alfonso Soriano is the Cubs RBI leader with just 28 RBI's. In fact, Northsidebaseball.com poster UMFan83 has this fun (or not so fun) fact:

(The first number is how many hitters have more than 28 RBIs, the second number is how many RBIs the leader has)

ARI - 2, 45
ATL - 3, 35
BAL - 4, 44
BOS - 4, 63
CHW - 3, 41
CIN - 3, 43
CLE - 4, 49
COL - 4, 47
DET - 3, 42
FLA - 5, 43
HOU - 3, 40
KAN - 2, 30
LAA - 4, 51
LAD - 5, 44
MIL - 4, 63
MIN - 5, 55
NYY - 5, 55
NYM - 2, 39
OAK - 3, 38
PHI - 6, 59
PIT - 3, 34
SDG - 2, 43
SFO - 3, 39
SEA - 3, 40
STL - 3, 58
TAM - 5, 59
TEX - 4, 46
TOR - 6, 47
WAS - 4, 46

Some interesting things pulled from that
- Every team has at least 2 guys with more RBIs than the Cubs best RBI guy
- The Phillies and Blue Jays each have 6 GUYS with more RBIs than the Cubs leader. The Jays actually have a 7th hitter, who is tied with Soriano with 28 RBIs. 7/9 hitters have as many or more RBIs than the Cubs best guy
- Every team but 3 in the league has at least one guy with 10 more RBIs than Soriano
- All in all, 107 different players have more RBIs than Soriano's 28. Unbelievable

And remember that horrible 2006 Chicago Cubs team? While the 2009 Chicago Cubs have much better pitching than that horrid team, the 2009 Chicago Cubs are on pace to score less runs over the course of the season than that 2006 Chicago Cubs team did.

Is it time to fire Lou? Not sure if we're at that point yet but I think we're getting very close. Lou just doesn't seem like he has that passion he had in his first two years here. The Colorado Rockies recently went on an 11 game win streak after firing their manager Clint Hurdle replacing him with former Red Sox and Dodgers manager Jim Tracy. The 2003 Florida Marlins fired their manager, Jeff Torborg after 38 games and replaced him with Jack McKeon and they went on to win the World Series. I would not be surprised if Lou retired after this season especially if the Cubs miss the playoffs. Again, I'm not saying the Cubs should fire Lou right this minute but if this team continues to struggle like they are, it's an option worth looking at.

In other Cubs news, the Cubs are apparently scouting Pedro Martinez down in the Dominican Republic and may end up signing him in the next coming weeks. While I would like the Cubs to focus on getting a capable hitter in this lineup, this could mean the Cubs are looking to deal someone currently in the rotation for a position player. Say a Ted Lilly or a Rich Harden. There are a few good options out on the trade market such as Miguel Tejada, Matt Holliday, and Mark DeRosa that the Cubs could be looking at.

And yes, I'm back and blogging hopefully for the rest of the season. Although if this team continues to play like they have, I'll probably have less and less to say each day. This team is that frustrating. I'd argue that this Cubs team is more frustrating than the horrible 2006 Cubs team and more than half of Cubs fans would probably agree with me based on the expectations. Hopefully the Cubs can turn this season around for the better though.

Cubs take another bite out of the Big Apple

Who said the Cubs were only playing good since they were beating easy teams? Many experts (especially the Eastern Seaboard Programming Network) had the Mets representing the National League in this year's World Series.
The Cubs swept a two game series against the Mets with an 8-1 win at Wrigley.

The star of the game had to be Ted Lilly who has struggled out of the gate. His velocity has been down and he hasn't been able to throw strikes but today he was just flat out dominant. It took 4 innings for Lilly to surrender a hit. In that 4th inning, the Mets loaded the bases with 1 out for the struggling Carlos Delgado who popped up to swallow left. The next batter Damien Easily hit a pop fly that looked like it was going to drop down in the gap but Mark DeRosa made a great over the shoulder catch to get Ted Lilly out of trouble.

In the bottom of the 4th, Ronnie Cedeno hit a line drive down the right field line which was bobbled by ex-Cub Angel Pagan allowing Kosuke Fukudome to score all the way from first base. After Henry Blanco was stupidly intentionally walked, Ted Lilly hit a ground ball to the second baseman who picked it up cleanly but the dumbass pitcher did not get over to first base to cover and Ted Lilly beat it out. The next batter Reed Johnson hit a bloop single to left driving in two runs and giving the Cubbies a 3-0 lead in the 4th.

After a 6th inning Mets run, the Cubs got it back in the 7th inning on a Mark DeRosa single to right center. The real fireworks occurred in the 8th inning when Felix Pie and Derrek Lee led off the inning with back-to-back singles. After Aramis flew out to left field, Kosuke Fukudome took a walk loading up the bases for Mark DeRosa with 1 out. DeRosa grounded to Jose Reyes who went home with the ball instead of going for the routine double play and this would prove costly for the Mets. Ronnie Cedeno got the count to 0-1 when he hit a fly ball down the left field line just landing fair for a Grand Slam and busting the game wide open (See video below).

The Cubs go to 14-6 on the year which is their best start since 1975 and the Cubs go for their 6th win in a row tomorrow night at 7:30 PM on Comcast SportsNet Plus against the Colorado Rockies. Franklin Morales takes on Rich Hill

Now Ronnie Cedeno's Grand Slam:

Ronny-Cedeno-Grand-Slam-42208 - Get Video Code

Z!

The Chicago Cubs moved to 13-6 on the year with a 7-1 win over the New York Mets.

It may look like a blowout but the Cubs only led 2-1 going into the 8th inning before Felix Pie and company blew it wide open. Derrek Lee led off the inning hitting a little grounder to shortstop where Jose Reyes bobbled the ball allowing Lee to reach safely at 1st. The next batter, Aramis Ramirez, was hit by a pitch. Kosuke Fukudome had a great 10 pitch at-bat and on the 10th pitch he lined a single through the left side of the infield loading the bases for Mark DeRosa. DeRosa struck out and the next batter Geovany Soto flied out in the infield. Ronny Cedeño got it to a 2-2 count before lining a single up the middle score 2 runs and giving the Cubs a 4-1 lead. After Heilman was taken out for Jorge Sosa, Felix Pie lined a home run into the right field bleachers busting the game wide open and giving the Cubs a 7-1 lead. Good teams take advantage of other teams mistakes and the Cubs took advantage of a Jose Reyes error and scored 5 runs in the 8th inning busting the game wide open.

Kerry Wood came into the game in a non-save situation and sent the top 3 Mets hitters down in order giving the Cubs their 5th straight victory.

Carlos Zambrano had another great outing tonight as he went 7 innings striking out 4 and giving up 5 hits and 1 run. Zamrbano lowers his season ERA to an outstanding 2.67 and he continues to avoid walking hitters something he struggled with last year.

If the Diamondbacks lose tonight to the Giants (Down 2-1) the Cubs tie the Diamondbacks for the best record in baseball. I know it is early, but this is the latest I can remember with the Cubs having a share of the best record in baseball. Another rarity occurring is the fact that both baseball teams in Chicago are in first place in their respective division.

The Cubs play an afternoon game against the Mets tomorrow as the struggling Ted Lilly (0-3) takes on journeyman pitcher Nelson Figueroa (1-0). The game will begin at 1:20 Central and will be seen on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

Mets @ Cubs 4/21/08 6:05 PM ESPN

Mets
Reyes, SS
Castillo, 2B
Wright, 3B
Beltran, CF
Delgado, 1B
Church, RF
Casanova, C
Chavez, LF
Maine, P

Cubs
Johnson, CF
Theriot, SS
Lee, 1B
Ramirez, 3B
Fukudome, RF
DeRosa, LF
Soto, C
Fontenot, 2B
Zambrano, P

Cubs Sweep the Bucs;Cub Nation is back

After a long absence I am finally back to blogging and the Cubs are off to a terrific 12-6 start and are on top of the NL Central. The Cubs continued their winning ways with a 13-6 victory today over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Reed Johnson has fit in very nicely for the injured Alfonso Soriano and has proved to be a great pick-up early on this year. Reed led the game off with a double only to be driven in on a Ryan Theriot base hit.

Ryan Dempster started off the game giving a leadoff base hit to Nate McLouth and a base hit to Freddy Sanchez but after he got Jason Bay to ground into a 5-3 double play he did not let up a base hit until the 5th inning.

Dempster did struggle in the 5th inning though giving up a leadoff single to Xavier Nady. Jose Bautista then hit a double into the ivy sending Nady to 3rd. Dempster hit the next batter loading the bases for Doug Mientkiewicz who singled driving in Nady and trimming the Cubs lead to four. Ryan then walked the next batter Nate McLouth making it a 5-2 Cubs lead. Dempster then got Freddy Sanchez to ground into a force out making it a 5-3 Cubs lead. After a Jason Bay walk to load up the bases again, Lou let Dempster stay in the game to try and get the win. Dempster struck out Adam LaRoche to end the inning and the Cubs poured it on after that putting the game out of reach with a 5 run 5th.

Aramis Ramirez had another big day going 4-5 with a home run and 5 RBI's. Derrek Lee
went 2-4 with 2 RBI's. But the story of the day was Ryan Theriot who went 4-5 with 2 RBI's.

The Cubs go to 6-0 against the Pirates this year and 9-3 against the NL Central. The Cubs continue to dominate left handed pitching something that they had trouble with last year.

One note, Kosuke Fukudome was scratched from this game due to swelling from a cyst above his right eye. The article mentions that it was the first time this year Fukudome was not in the lineup but I think Lou gave him the day off a few days ago. Fukudome should be in the lineup Monday Night against the Mets.

The Mets game will be seen locally on WCIU and nationally on ESPN. Carlos Zambrano (2-1) will face John Maine (1-1) as the Cubs look to win 7 of their last 8 games.

The Cubs faced John Maine twice last year and hit him hard both times:
May 15th, 2007
August 4th, 2007

Cubs Push for the Playoffs

http://www.mediafire.com/?xz4oftwomxb

State of Cub Nation

We won't be around much this offseason but any trade rumors or breaking news will be posted here. Otherwise, we will see you March 31st, 2008 for another great year of Cubs baseball.
GO CUBS!