Heartbreaking loss today. Zambrano wet his pants, McClouth is officially a cub killer, and Soriano's 5-for-5 day is wasted on a meltdown.

Inexcusable day for Zambrano. 4 innings, 5 runs, walking the pitcher, breaking his bat after a strikeout. Crybaby bullshit that he should know better than to do. The cocktease 9th inning just made this loss all the harder to swallow. I just hope this doesn't send the team into a tailspin. That's a pretty drastic concern, I know, but I just got a really bad feeling after this loss.

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7-2 homestand. 1st place.

seasons are marathons, peaks and valleys. they are looking great right now. zambrano is fine. marmol is fine. it is a beautiful day.

Yeah, I'm not at all worried. Great week.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

With all the Z follies, they were a warning track shot short of winning the game in the 9th. Z is going to do stupid shit like that sometimes. For this season, that was the first that I recall. Stupid, but thankfully infrequent.
Soriano is just out of his fucking mind right now. When he goes on his next craptacular slump, I'll try to remember just how good he was on this homestand. He only drew a pinch hit walk in the first game of the series, so his 15 RBIs are over only seven games. Insane.
I get outta work in time to hear them blow the game. Annoying, but a 7-2 homestand works for me. Get a decent outing out of Marquis, and this offense SHOULD find a way to beat Dumatrait.

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Stupidity irritates the crap outta me... and yes, I irritate myself far too often.

These fucking guys blow. They will be lucky if they win another goddamn game all year.
Just a bunch of sorry ass sods.

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

Man that was a painful game to watch....

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SideshowBob311: "Sadly enough, I think we're the "intelligent" portion of the sports radio fanbase".
"I make fun of whoever sucks, including me"- Harry 11/30/07

Jesus, what is wrong with you.

It wasn't a "hearbreaking loss," it was a good, close game. Zambrano with one of his occasional mental breakdowns he's going to have, and Marmol left one pitch over the plate.

And why would it send them into a "tailspin?" They still played well for the most part today. And they face the Pirates 4 more times in the next week.

Wish Lee would get a clutch hit occassionally in the 9th. Soriano is unbelievable right now. Don't understand why teams throw him strikes or fastballs, especially when hes swinging like this.

Right now Soriano is recognizing pitches, whatever they are, and hammering them. That double in the ninth was a fastball up and out of the zone and he hammered it. But the fact remains that if pitchers want to get people out, they have to throw a strike at some point. So he is going to see some strikes, especially with no one on base, and have the opportunity to hit them real hard.

In regards to Lee yesterday, that last out was the best swing I've seen him put on a ball in a while. He went to the opposite field with power. He should be coming out if his slump here soon.

even i (someone who HATES soriano at the top of the order) have to admit that one major advantage to it is the quality of pitches he will see. they have to throw him strikes, with the guts of the lineup coming right up. pitchers will take their chances with him cracking out a solo shot, because they dont want to walk him and get the ball rolling giving lee, ramirez, fuk, and soto big situations early in the game. and lets not forget theriot. theriot is having a fantastic year in the #2 hole.

necroscope is right, though. soriano isnt just killing "get-me-over" fastballs. he is going down low, reaching up high, just killing everything. he is seeing the ball well.

Because....be-because....*drinks old style*...because I can't read.

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When you have a Hank White, or a Paul Bako typed in the same lineup, Z should hit 8th. Hell, I'd hit Z 8th and Pie 9th. Never say never (unless you are talking about the Cub winning a World Series).

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Pirates 1-7 v Cubs

5 Over .500 v Rest of the league

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

absolutely what i was thinking yesterday. the problem is he usually picks those 0-40 slumps at crucial times, and i could totally see this happening this september...

i'm not a guy who's going to root for someone to fail, but when soriano is doing well, it's maddening because you want to think...okay, it's the right move to keep him in lead off if he's hitting--but it's NOT right because when he ISN'T hitting he's just STRIKING OUT, not taking pitches, not getting on base any other way.

the quote that you used from me was that zambrano should never bat 7th in a big league lineup. i stand by that.

anyone who wants to regularly bat a pitcher other than perhaps micah owings 9th, knock yourself out. im sure it is a good feeling when your team has a little something going in the 2nd and your number 8 hitter comes up with 2 out, a man in scoring position and, super, its my pitcher.

as for zambrano, he does get his knocks, and it is great for him that he does. i love a pitcher who can get good cuts. but for every hit, he looks completely foolish at the plate 3 times. he has 5 walks...IN HIS CAREER. he cant run, so it would be a pleasure watching his double plays batting unnecessarily in the 7th or 8th spot. he has a career .220 BA and .230 OBP. even bako, as bad as he is, easily tops those numbers at .236/.308. please dont mistake carlos zambrano with a big-league caliber hitter.

i think it is funny whenever tony larussa tries to re-invent the wheel moving the pitcher up. a typical pitcher should only bat when he absolutely HAS to, but to each, his own.

Marquis off to a great start again. Hopefully this is his last start, this fucker sucks. Like George and Jesse said this morning, the conditions today are perfect for him to succeed, with the wind blowing in. If he doesn't he has to go.

great job cubs, nice homestand. i give marquis a lot of credit for a gutty outing, when they needed one. to get through his start with a win makes you feel very good about the next 4 days.

the bullpen is looking scary-good with a lead in later innings. howry and weurtz are throwing better, marmol is awesome, and woody looks fucking great recently. throw eyre in the mix - looking good.

it is always nice to win with only 4 hits, but the 7 walks didnt hurt any. hopefully lee and ramirez can snap out of it in houston.

These are the type of games the Cubs would lose in previous seasons. Only four hits, no extra basehits but they scored 4 runs. Two sac flys and a bunch walks and even a double steal.

I think Ramirez and Lee get it going in Houston.

i don't know of another pitcher who gives up as many hits on 1-2 counts as marquis does...

Maybe, but last September he set a Cub record for homers in the month, hit .320 and had 27 RBI while posting his best monthly OBP and OPS. That was pretty crucial. This homestand was important coming off a bad road trip and he carried us while Lee slumped below .300. He's never as bad as he looks when he slumps or as good as he looks when he's hot.

i understand what you are saying, but i disagree with one thing. when he is going bad, it is every bit as horrible as it looks, because he doesnt bring anything else to the table but power. you used to be able to say he brought speed, but he doesnt even bring that anymore. you just have to live with it, and wait for him to get hot, because when he gets hot, like last september and the last 10 days or so, he is torrid, and almost makes you forget how awful he can be. the question is, is the payoff of the hot streaks worth the frustration of the droughts? i say yes, because he has the ability to win games single-handedly with frequency when he is hot, and not a lot of players have that ability. when he is bad, the team still can win games because they have a solid lineup up and down.

He brings the highest MLB OF assist total to the table even when he's slumping. Ha, I couldn't type that without laughing.