Five in a row

With today's 6-5 debacle, the Cubs have now lost 5 in a row to the Pittsburgh Pirates and have the worst record in the National League. Juan Mateo took the ball and turned in his best strikeout game thus far, striking out seven and walking none. I guess we can take solace in that performance. In fact Cubs' pitching struck out 13 Pirates in nine innings, a season high for the Major League strikeout leaders.

Small ball failed for the Cubs today. They banged out 15 hits and got 4 walks, but only 3 of the hits went for extra bases. They also swiped four bags, but Juan Pierre was thrown out in a tied game in the 8th inning. Scott Moore pinch hit in the fourth, getting a walk. He stayed in the game due Aramis Ramirez getting ejected for tossing his helmet on the ground. Moore stayed in to strike out once and ground out to second. Derrek Lee got three singles and stole two bases, he's starting to get back. Ryan Theriot had a couple of walks and a triple. Matt Murton knocked three singles and walked once, his batting average is back up to .295. It'll be nice to see him get that to .300 before the season is over. Even little Ronnie Cedeno had two knocks. 19 base runners and five runs. Terrible.

Both bullpens pitched well in relief of poor starting performances. The Cubs gave up one run, and guess whose it was. Ryan Dempster took the loss in the ninth in another dreadful performance. Dempster has now allowed runs in five straight outings and six of his last seven. Can someone else close? Carlos Marmol threw a couple scoreless innings. He's going to be one hell of a closer in time. Scott Eyre and Roberto Novoa threw scoreless innings. Novoa has not given up runs in five consecutive outings and Eyre has given up 1 run in 2.2 innings scattered over three outings since coming off the DL earlier this month.

Jason Bay continued to torch Cub pitching knocking two bombs off Mateo. He had four RBI and walked in another plate appearance, I can't wait until 2010 when he's no longer under contract for the Pirates. Freddy Sanchez got two more knocks and got his average up to .347. Several years ago I said Sanchez would develop into a .300 hitter in the majors, he's making me look bad in the opposite direction expected.

Tonight's attendance of 31,494 was the lowest home game attendance of the season. Quite frankly it's about time the Cubs notice some sort of dropoff because of their play. Living away from Chicago I would expect that most schools started today.

Roster Moves

As expected, the Cubs recalled catcher Jose Reyes and pitcher Jae-kuk Ryu. The Cubs also announced that pitcher Jerome Williams has been claimed off waivers by Oakland and that they acquired pitcher Adam Harben from Minnesota to complete last week's Phil Nevin trade. Harben has to be placed on the forty man roster, which is why Williams was waived off the forty man. In case you're keeping score at home:

Pitchers:
1. David Aardsma
2. Ryan Dempster
3. Scott Eyre
4. Angel Guzman
5. Adam Harben
6. Rich Hill
7. Bob Howry
8. Carlos Marmol
9. Sean Marshall
10. Juan Mateo
11. Wade Miller
12. Roberto Novoa
13. Ryan O'Malley*
14. Will Ohman
15. Mark Prior*
16. Glendon Rusch
17. Jae-kuk Ryu
18. Les Walrond
19. Michael Wuertz
20. Carlos Zambrano

Catchers:
21. Michael Barrett*
22. Henry Blanco
23. Jose Reyes
24. Geovany Soto

Infielders:
25. Ronny Cedeno
26. Brian Dopirak
27. Cesar Izturis*
28. Derrek Lee
29. Scott Moore
30. Aramis Ramirez
31. Ryan Theriot

Outfielders:
32. Freddie Bynum
33. Buck Coats
34. Jacque Jones
35. John Mabry
36. Matt Murton
37. Miguel Negron
38. Angel Pagan
39. Felix Pie
40. Juan Pierre

60 Day DL:
41. Kerry Wood*

Not on active roster
Could be a free agent at the end of the season
* on the DL

Adam Harben was originally drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 38th round of the 2001 draft. He was viewed as a raw right hander who could be something in a couple years. Harben chose not to sign and went to a community college, making him eligible for the 2002 draft. Going into the draft Harben was ranked as the number 4 prospect in Arkansas, and could go in the top 10 rounds. The Twins took him in the 15th round and he signed. Harben debuted as a 19 year old in the Gulf Coast League, striking out 27 walking 8 in 25.1 innings.

The next season Harben was sent out Quad Cities in the Mid West League. He made 15 starts going 77:35 in 87.1 IP with a 4.33 ERA. The Twins kept him there in 2004, as a 21 year old. He had superb numbers striking out 171 batters in 142.2 innings with a 3.09 ERA. Harben's succes culminated with a #10 ranking in the League's top 20 in 2004 ahead of notables Howie Kendrick, Billy Petrick and Adam Jones.

In 2005 the Twins finally promoted Harben to the Florida State League. He continued his newfound success in High A. He went 10-5 with a 2.66 ERA and a 119:62 K:BB in 135.1 innings of work. He was named the league's #16 prospect ahead of our very own Brian Dopirak. He was also named the Twins' #11 prospect.

2006 has been a little rough on the righty. His Double A transition has not gone well. He's seen a drastic drop in his strikeout rate. His K:BB this season was only 74:67 in 122.2 innings. He did improve on this in the second half. His first half K:BB was 33:45 in 71.1 innings. His second half K:BB was 41:22 in 51.1 innings. Not great, but it's a marked improvement.

Harben stands 6'5" weighing 210 and has a great pure arm. His fastball routinely clocks 89-95 touching 96 this year and 97 in the past. He also hides the ball well on his fastball making it seem faster. He's secondary pitches, a slider and a changeup, aren't great pitches but have developed into average offerenings. The Cubs have shown an ability to develop good offspeed pitches for guys, but they get hurt too. Anyways, Harben has had an issue with command in the past but it's not Carlos Marmol problems. He's also shown a good ability to get the ball on the ground at a good rate, which is refreshing with Rich Hill and Donald Veal coming through the system.

I like this pickup. He's not an elite prospect, but he's got a good arm and could develop into a middle of the rotation starter, or we could throw him in the bullpen where he could be an excellent reliever. All and all he's a very good pickup. I am not sure where he ranks in the Cubs' system, probably 10-15 right now. That says as much about him as it does the Cubs' system. He could find himself in the back end of the Southern League top 20, though I haven't really looked at who all has played there this summer.

Harben was one of the Twins' picks for the Arizonal Fall League. He was actually supposed to pitch with the Cubs' prospects on the Mesa Solar Sox. I'm assuming the Cubs might have a different plan with him. The Iowa Cubs' season is over, as is the Diamond Jaxx. So his Cubs debut will have to wait.

Top 20 Arizona Summer League Prospects

Here's my rough AZL Top 20, this isn't final yet and expect some bios and a lot of revision throughout it.

1. Jeremy Jeffress, RHP - AZL Brewers
2. Hank Conger, C - AZL Angels
3. Cedric Hunter, OF - AZL Padres
4. Kyler Burke, OF - AZL Padres
5. Brent Fisher, LHP - AZL Royals
6. Jose Ceda, RHP - AZL Cubs
7. Rolando Pascual, RHP - AZL Brewers
8. Marcus Lemon, SS - AZL Rangers
9. Gerardo Avila, 1B - AZL Mariners
10. Chris Huseby, RHP - AZL Cubs
11. Jake Brigham, RHP - AZL Rangers
12. Alex Liddy, 3B - AZL Mariners
13. Brent Brewer, SS - AZL Brewers
14. Doug Salinas, RHP - AZL Mariners
15. Matt Sweeney, 3B - AZL Angels
16. Henry Rodriguez, RHP - AZL Athletics
17. Clay Fuller, OF - AZL Angels
18. Drew Rundle, OF - AZL Cubs
19. Carlos Peguero, IF - AZL Mariners
20. Rafael Dolis, RHP - AZL Cubs

Going for Five.

Yep, the Cubs are going for five consecutive losses against the Pittsburgh Pirates. This loss would actually place the Cubs as the doormat of the National League should they lose it. The Cubs are sending Juan Mateo to the mound. Mateo has a nice cosmetic 4.15 earned run average in his young career, but his WHIP is 1.69 and as allowed 33 hits in 26 innings of work. I can't expect much here, but should I? Mateo gave up three runs in two innings of work before being removed against the Pirates last time out. I am expecting more of the same from the rookie today.

The Pirates are countering with Victor Santos who is facing the Cubs for the fourth time this season. The Cubs have touched him for 12 runs in 17 innings, a comendable performance. Santos is sporting a nifty 5.54 ERA so the Cubs ought to have a chance to put some runs up on the board. Santos has only made four starts since the All-Star break. He's flipped between the rotation and the pen the last month or so. He's got an ERA over 7.00 over that span. All signs point to the Cubs' offense putting up a good performance tomorrow. I still wouldn't bet on it.

Earlier today Jim Hendry announced that the Cubs would recall Jae-kuk Ryu and a catcher tomorrow. The Cubs already have 30 men on the active roster, so what difference is 32 going to make at the team meals? With Ryu on his way up, the only pitcher on the 40 man roster who isn't injured and isn't on the active roster is Jerome Williams. Who knows if he's ever going to get his fat ass recalled.

The catcher that'll be recalled will certainly be Jose Reyes. Reyes is one of the best defensive catchers in the system, much like Geovanny Soto in that respect. He has split time between West Tenn (AA) and Iowa (AAA) this season hitting .229 and .260 respectively. Reyes actually has a .676 OPS in 104 AB for Iowa, but he's most of the time his OPS has a 5 as the first digit when he gets a significant number of at-bats. I guess there is an outside shot that the Cubs call up Jake Fox. Fox hasn't caught this much this season, but he could moonlight at 1B and get some nice time. The Cubs would need to add him to the forty man roster to do this of course. In fact, the more i think about it Fox is a better callup given the situation as a third catcher who can play other positions and has a bat.

Today's loss was another profitable one for the Cubs in the race for the first pick of the draft. In draft news for the day, Justin Jackson, a SS from TC Roberson HS (Va) committed to Arizona State. This school is one of the more well known hard sign schools. Jackson looks like he is shaping up to be a tough sign. First he was rumored to be in talks with Scott Boras and now this. Jackson is a toolsy SS with flashy defense and an above average bat. He's currently viewed as a top 15 talent in the draft, and possibly the top prep position talent. He's a guy the Cubs could go for because of the tools, but I think the Cubs need someone who isn't as raw as him. Anyways, updating the standings that really matter:

1. 88 Kansas City Royals
2. 83 Tampa Bay Devil Rays
2. 83 Pittsburgh Pirates
4. 82 Chicago Cubs
5. 77 Washington Nationals

The Devil Rays, Cubs and Pirates all have 55 wins so the Cubs are a 1/2 game out of second place. Go figure. The Pirates and Cubs have three more games this week. The Cubs have three rookies going. I like our chances of moving up. The Royals are playing the Yankees, so don't know how much ground we pick up there. They've been playing like they want to hang on to their lead.

Stat of the Day: Top 47 National League Hitters in BB

1. 105 Barry Bonds, LF - San Francisco Giants
2. 96 Nick Johnson, 1B - Washington Nationals
3. 93 Adam Dunn, LF - Cincinnati Reds
4. 92 Brian Giles, LF - San Diego Padres
5. 91 Bobby Abreu, RF - Philadelphia Phillies
5. 91 Morgan Ensberg, 3B - Houston Astros
7. 86 Jason Bay, LF - Pittsburgh Pirates
8. 82 Lance Berkman, 1B - Houston Astros
9. 81 Pat Burrell, LF - Philadelphia Phillies
10. 79 Todd Helton, 1B - Colorado Rockies
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47. 45 Aramis Ramirez, 3B - Chicago Cubs

Yes, Aramis Ramirez is the first Cub on the list. Yes, that's Bobby Abreu's total through July 31st. He's got 22 more since joining the Bronx Bombers. It should come as no surprise as to why the Cubs offense is terrible. They simply don't know what a walk is.

Scott Moore

Today Scott Moore was called up for the Cubs. Scott Moore was originally drafted by the Detroit Tigers with the 8th pick in the 2002 draft as a SS. Going into the draft, Scott Moore was ranked the 12th best prospect and the third best position prospect (behind BJ Upton and John Mayberry Jr). Going into the draft Baseball America compared him to Eric Chavez with 20-25 HR pop and solid defense at 3B. The Tigers quickly nabbed him up at the eigth pick as other guys became unsignable.

Moore had a solid professional debut in 2002 hitting .293/.349/.459 in 40 games in the Gulf Coast League. Moore knocked 4 homers, but struck out 31 times in 133 ABs, just walking 10 times - something that has plagued him his entire career. However, after the 2002 season he Baseball America ranked him as the 8th best prospect in the Tiger farm system. Their scouting report included his a good stroke and good power. His range was lacking for shortstop and a move to third base seemed probable. His arm and hands were certainly good enough for the hot corner.

In his first full-season the Tigers sent Moore to West Michigan of the Midwest League and asked him to move to third. He was a total bust as he hit an anemic .239/.325/.363 with 110 strikeouts in 371 at-bats. However he did hit 6 home runs and walk 41 times. Still, Moore showed enough to be ranked their 7th best prosect at the end of 2003. Baseball America's scouting report said he had good arm strength and hands at 3B, but called him a one dimensional player whose bat will have to carry him. They also said that his strikeouts were a byproduct of an inconsistent approach, not his swing. I guess should have meant good things for his future.

The Tigers continued to progress Moore, this time sending him to High A Lakeland in the Florida State League. Moore practically duplicated his previous year's performance hitting .223/.322/.384 with 125 strikeouts in 391 AB. He did experience an increased power output of 14 home runs and continued to draw walks with 49 of them. Baseball America had enough of ranking Scott Moore in their top 10 Tiger list, however he was still given the leagues top hitter for power designation. A few weeks later Scott Moore was traded with relief pitcher Roberto Novoa and outfielder Bo Flowers to the Cubs for relief pitcher Kyle Farnsworth.

The Cubs sent Moore back to the Florida State league as a member of the Daytona Cubs, and he the best season of his minor league career. He hit .281/.358/.485 with 20 HRs and 22 stolen bases. However he did strike out 134 times, but drew 55 walks. Moore's discipline remanined the same, but his power continued to develop and his bat produced more line drives. Of course he was repeating a level so the usual caveats apply. Still the former first rounder had shown signs of life. Baseball America jumped back on ship with him, ranking him the 15th best prospect in the Florida State League. Baseball America said that Moore improved his approach at the plate and stopped being pullhappy. However, his defense suffered committing 30 errors. His footwork was a work in progress.

The Cubs felt they had found a gem in Moore, and sent him to West Tenn to start this season. He continued his newfound success as a Cub and hit a .276/.360/.479 with 22 HRs and 12 steals for the Diamond Jaxx until his promotion last week to Triple A, where he doubled in his one game. Moore's defense at third base has seemingly improved as he was voted the leagues best defensive 3B. Moore will amost certainly find himself in the Cubs Top 10 in November and in the Southern League Top 20 later this month.

Kerry Zambrano

Oh well, it was bound to happen. It looks like Carlos Zambrano might just go to the DL for the first time in his career. Today he did not have anything at all, and the last few outings it looked to me like his velocity has been inconsistent. I wonder how long this will actually bother him. Big Z had the quickest outing of his career allowing five more runs in while retiring just four batters. Ugh. Looks like the Cubs will have to go with a five man rookie rotation for awhile.

On the other hand, the bullpen was excellent today allowing the Cubs to stay in the game. David Aardsma had one of the best outings of his career as he struck out five in three scoreless innings. Michael Wuertz bounced back from his terrible outing yesterday. Even our boys Glendon Rusch and Roberto Novoa had good outings. Offensively Ryan Theriot, Angel Pagan and Juan Pierre had solid games, but other than that it was a forgettable day for the Cubs who have now lost four in a row to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Scott Moore was recalled from Triple A Iowa today. He came in as a pinch hitter in the second inning, pulling an Adam Greenberg and getting plunked. More on Moore later.

Paul Maholm had a rocky start to his outing and the Cubs could not sniff the Pirates' bullpen. Freddy Sanchez, Chris Duffy and Xavier Nady had multiple hit games for the Pirates, and Chris Duffy reached four times. Oh well I am sick of this game.

Kruk's Cy Young

John Kruk picked Carlos Zambrano at the beginning of the season to win the National Cy Young Award, and he's sticking to his guns. Carlos Zambrano faces a team that he's dominated over the course of his career entering this season. However the Pirates have proved to be a worthy opponent for Z. He allowed five runs - three earned - against them last time out, and five earned the start against them before. This afternoon he looks to return to dominance. To do this he's going to have to solve Jason Bay's .308/.419/.769/1.189 career line against him. The rest of the Pirates haven't done much.

The Pirates are countering with lefty Paul Maholm. The Cubs touched Maholm up for four runs last time out. Maholm has given up 17 runs his last three outings, and the Pirates need a big boost from him. The Cubs need a bigger boost from Z, as they'll send out three rookies against the Pirates the next three days.

This is a pivotal series in the Reverse Pennant Race. The Pirates swept the Cubs last week hurting their chances to end up with a high pick. Sunday turned out to be a profitable day for the Cubs, gaining a game on the Royals and the Devil Rays. Both teams are very close going into Monday's action:

1. 87 Kansas City Royals
2. 83 Pittsburgh Pirates
3. 82 Tampa Bay Devil Rays
4. 81 Chicago Cubs
5. 77 Washington Nationals

Elsewhere in the Major Leagues it was home runs galore for Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard as each knocked three home runs. The Florida Marlins have reached .500, in a season where they were 20 games under at one point. Is Miguel Cabrera a legit candidate for National League MVP? Will voters factor in his small run environment? Probably not.

Stat of the Day: Top Five NL Pitchers in Composite VORP:

1. 60.4 Chris Carpenter, RHP - St. Louis Cardinals
2. 57.8 Brandon Webb, RHP - Arizona Diamondbacks
3. 54.5 Roy Oswalt, RHP - Houston Astros
4. 54.4 Carlos Zambrano, RHP - Chicago Cubs
5. 52.8 John Smoltz, RHP - Atlanta Braves

A few weeks ago Carlos Zambrano was leading this statistic, yeah Kruk he's come on of late giving up five runs to the Pirates. He's going to have to have one hell of a finish if he's going to win the award.

An Angel Came Down

For the second start this season Angel Guzman was removed early with forearm cramps. The last time he was, he came back on normal rest and threw the ball fine. Given the Cubs sketchy at best history of medical reports, I am a bit worried about him. He has had a lot of arm problems in the past, and a forearm injury allegedly kept him out of most of last season. Before his removal, Guzman had a very good start going. He had allowed 1 ER in the 4.2 innings of work, then Michael Wuertz threw all my good words from last night down the toilet. The rest of the bullpen did a solid job, with the exception of non-bullpen member Les Walrond and Ryan Dempster. Dempster has now allowed runs in his last four outings, and five of six. He's been dreadful of late, but I did not need to tell you that.

Ryan Theriot got the start today and went hitless. He did the unthinkable and walked, that should be good for two consecutive starts by Fast Freddie Bynum. Juan Pierre got four knocks, and where was this earlier in the season? Maybe he's a good stopgap next season. Matt Murton got an extra base hit today and did walked. Now we'll get our Angel Pagan sighting! Though with a guy like Jason Schmidt on the mound, this is one of the few occasions Pagan should be playing. Get with the program Dusty.

Cubs pitching insists on making Barry Bonds look like 2000-2004 Bonds. Two homers in two starts. Hey Dusty, go look at Steve Finley. He walked three times for the Giants at leadoff, scored two runs and went hitless. Damn clogging bases leading to runs. Omar Vizquel had a three hit game, gotta love the All-90s team. Jason Schmidt didn't have his usual dominance against the Cubbies today, only seven innings with three runs. Maybe next time we'll have a lineup. We're shit without Derrek Lee, we're merely poop with him.

In other Cubs news, Michael Barrett will miss 2-3 weeks after getting surgery. I'll leave the article to discussing what was wrong: "Barrett went to the emergency room and an ultrasound showed bleeding inside his scrotum." That hurts just reading it. I can't see him coming back at the end of the season. Might as well hit the golf courses early. Hopefully this doesn't hamper a run at the Silver Slugger.

Mismatch

Later today we've got Angel Guzman facing off against Jason Schmidt. This one does not look good on paper, but it's Angel Guzman. Angel's coming off one of his worst starts of his career, where he allowed 10 hits in 3 innings against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. I have confidence in Guzman, and as with Rich Hill I think it's only time before he harnesses his stuff. Guzman's been hit or miss each start this season. He's either been very good or very bad. The last month or so he's incorporating his plus changeup into his repetoire more and more. He's got great stuff, everyone knows that. Just rookie inconsistency. He can still catch lightning in a bottle and the light might just turn on for him, as it seemingly as for Rich Hill.

Jason Schmidt is coming off two terrible starts back-to-back where he allowed a 14 runs to the Diamondbacks and the Braves combined. He's been pretty forgettable since the All-Star Break, going 4-3 with a 4.72 ERA. I need not remind you, but Jason Schmidt has been a Cub killer the last few years. He threw a complete game against us earlier this season and has a 1.15 ERA against us since the start of the 2003 season in 47 innings. The way the Cubs are swinging the bats I would not expect any except the same this time out. Looks like it will be another loss for the Cubs tomorrow. Is that really a bad thing?

1. 87 Kansas City
2. 82 Pittsburgh
2. 82 Tampa Bay
4. 80 Chicago

The Cubs are within striking distance with the number two slot in the draft. About the draft. Vanderbilt's David Price was named Baseball America's Summer Player of the Year. He has to be the number one prospect in the draft right now, with ease. The second is probably NC State right-hander Andrew Brackman. The 6'10" righty armed with a 99 MPH fastball has yet to decide whether or not he'll shoot hoops this fall. If he does not, he's the second best prospect. The third college player in the elite trio is Georgia Tech catcher Matt Wieters. His plus bat could intrigue the Cubs, but if Price is there they'd be stupid to pass him up. A potential Veal, Pawelek, Price lefty rotation makes me salavate.

Some random stuff from yesterday's games. Tampa Bay turned a triple play, it's the second time one has been turned on Seattle this season. That wasn't the rarest thing, Phillies' right-hander Scott Mathieson faced one batter, struck him out. The batter reached on a passball and Mathieson was taken out with an injury. Final line: 0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 BF, 1 ER. Go figure.

Stat of the Day: Top 10 Position Players in PrOPS:

1. 1.125 Travis Hafner, DH - Cleveland Indians
2. 1.102 Jason Giambi, 1B - New York Yankees
3. 1.097 Albert Pujols, 1B - St. Louis Cardinals
4. 1.088 David Ortiz, DH - Boston Red Sox
5. 1.075 Manny Ramirez, DH - Boston Red Sox
6. 1.073 Ryan Howard, 1B - Philadelphia Phillies
7. 1.055 Jim Thome, 1B - Chicago White Sox
8. 1.045 Lance Berkman, 1B - Houston Astros
9. 1.032 Frank Thomas, DH - Oakland A's
10. 1.032 Adam Dunn, LF - Cincinnati Reds

Note the positions. All of them first basemen with the exception of the DH playing left field and the first baseman playing left field. Chris Dial posted his defensive ratings at the end of last month, Adam Dunn was at -13/150 and Manny Ramirez was at -41/150.

Return to Marshall Law?

Well that was the plan at least. Sean Marshall had a nice return to the Cubs, but ran out of gas in the sixth inning as he was tagged for two home runs. Matt Cain was too much for the Cubs to handle. It seems as if a guy has a good fastball he can beat the Cubs. Check that, it seems as if a guy has an arm he can beat the Cubs, and today was no exception as the Giants took the game 4-2. I am trying to be an optimist with the Cubs' offense, and I found something! The Cubs' on-base percentage sits at .318, which is amazingly in second to last place. Even more shockingly, the team at the bottom of the barrel is in the AL - Tampa Bay.

Sean Marshall's quick start today had an easy strategy borrowed from Chien-Ming Wang. He threw the ball over the place and hoped they hit at someone. He only had one strikeout on the day, to go with two walks. The three home runs are a bit of a surprise with the wind blowing in at 10 MPH and Marshall's sinker looking pretty good. Oh well, no big concern there.

Can somoene make Mike Wuertz the closer already? He had another good outing, bringing up his line since being recalled to: 24 IP, 22 H, 26 SO, 8 BB and a nifty 1.50 ERA. Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA had his number one comparison as Brad Lidge going into the season. Wierd. The bullpen was solid as usual today - by usual I mean excluding Ryan Dempster of course. That's one spot Jim Hendry won't have to jack around with in the offseason.

Derrek Lee homered off Armando Benitez and is now 9 for 20 since coming back. It's nice to see him fully healthy again. Michael Barrett and Angel Pagan continued to struggle, no surprise there. Barrett's going to be out tomorrow with the foul tip injury. Ryan Theriot sat over Freddie Bynum, no surprise there. Why does Dusty insist on Freddie Bynum batting second? Is it because he looks like a baseball player? Is it because he looks fast?

The all old-timers decided to take shots on Marshall. Barry Bonds hit his 20th home run of the season, and guess what? He's hit .333 in August. The first time this season he's done well in the average category, of course his walks have been off the charts all season long. Ray Durham (future Cub?) and Moises Alou (former Cub) homered off Marshall in the sixth. That was all Matt Cain needed in his 7 innings, 1 unearned run with 7 K's. Only 2 walks of course, we're the Cubs.