On to Colorado, where the Cubs will face the improved Colorado Rockies. The Rockies have a good hitting team and have been getting better pitching this year too. Brad Hawpe, Troy Tulowitzski and Todd Helton are all having good seasons, while Jason Marquis is leading their pitching staff with 12 wins already. The pitching match-ups are as follows:
Today-Jimenez vs Zambrano. Jimenez is 8-9 with a 3.76 ERA, While Zambrano is 7-4 with a 3.35 ERA. Zambrano was pulled early from his last start, with back stiffness and is 0-3 in his career at Coors, so this one is not as easy as one might think.

Tomorrow- Dempster vs Marquis. Oh boy, this is one I have been looking forward to. The ex-Cub, shut the Cubs down on just 1 run, in 7 1/3 innings earlier this season. He goes into this one, with a 12-7 mark, sporting a 3.49 ERA. This guy's gonna get paid this winter, if he can maintain this level of performance. I hope he can't....in this game at least. Dempster is 5-5 with a 4.09 ERA. He seems to be fully recovered from the toe now.Will Marquis bite the hand that once fed him yet again? Or will the Cubs get revenge for the last game?

Sunday-Randy Wells vs Jason Hammel. Hammel is 6-6, with a 4.62 ERA. His record at Coors though, is 1-3, with a whopping 7.20 ERA! Wells, who leads all rookies with a sparkling 8-4 record and 2.73 ERA, has won his last 4 straight games and appears to be a front-runner for the NL Rookie of the year. This looks to be the best pairing for the Cubs.

Monday-Tom Gorzellany vs Jorge DeLaRosa. Gorzellany was very good in his start against the Reds, going 7 1/3 innings, giving up just 1 run. De LaRosa is 9-8 with an ERA of 5.00. If Gorzellany can pitch anything like he did vs the Reds, it would be wonderful. But that was the Reds and the Rockies are a better hitting team.

If Zambrano's back is okay and he pitches well, as he had prior to hurting the back, the Cubs can certainly win tonight and that could go a long way towards the Cubs getting better than a split. I love the pairing in Wells' game, but am not sure what to expect from Gorzellany. With the way teams score in that ballpark (not as much since the baseballs found their way to a humidor) the games should be entertaining. I really hope they can beat up on Marquis this time though.

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Go Cubs!!!!

We need 3 of 4 from these clowns to keep pace w/ StL I'm betting plus give us good positioning in the Wild Card. I'm excited to have Soto back. Lou better put one of these two lineups out

Fukudome
Theriot
Lee
Ramirez
Bradley
Soriano
Soto
Fontenot
Pitcher

or, ideally imo...

Fukudome
Bradley
Lee
Ramirez
Soriano
Soto
Theriot
Fontenot
Pitcher

This series worries me.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Bradley needs to get out of the 5 hole. I understand Lou's reasoning, wanting to break up a succession of right handed hitters, but Bradley does nothing with men on base.

He has started a few rallies with walks, but when there are guys on base he fails miserably.

Maybe Soto can be the 5 hitter, if he can get to last years performance level. Then you can leave soriano at 6.

Or we can see a little more of Fox in RF.

I completely agree about needing to move Bradley out of the 5 hole. He is too timid with the bat and is content to walk even when he should be trying to drive a run in. Why not bat Bradley 2nd? Listen I know he sucks but he walks alot and at least he would be on base for Lee/ARam and Soto then. Just a thought.

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The Colorado Rockies start the night 1 game behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League Wildcard, and have been playing good baseball since Jim Tracy replaced the fired Clint Hurdle as manager. The Rockies are a whopping 39-17 since falling 12 games under .500 in early June when the managerial change was made. The Cubs are right there with the Cardinals in the N.L. Central and are third in the N.L. Wildcard derby. Needless to say, this is a big, big series for both teams...

At least we aren't facing Cook.

I think we get to Marquis this time around.

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Does your cat make too much noise? Try KITTEN MITTENS!


Charlie: Oh shit. Look at that door dude. See that door right there? That door marked 'Pirate'? You think a pirate lives in there?
Dennis: I see a door marked 'Private.'

Yeah, the Cubs will see Marquis tomorrow night, while Ryan Dempster toes the rubber for the aging Lou Piniella and the Northsiders, Dave...Tonight, Carlos Zambrano deals with Ubaldo Jimenez come 8p at Coors Field.

Depends on which Z we get - Jimenez throws hard but straightens out if he overthrows. Might be a good combo.

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Does your cat make too much noise? Try KITTEN MITTENS!


Charlie: Oh shit. Look at that door dude. See that door right there? That door marked 'Pirate'? You think a pirate lives in there?
Dennis: I see a door marked 'Private.'

You got that right...Carlos Zambrano has the stuff to stymie the Rockies' offense, but he has the kind of temper that's enough to erupt a volcano.

Zambrano = late scratch. Oy.

Do we know why?

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

Back again.
This is going to be a longggg night my friends.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

Cubs offense has been pathetic again tonight. They have had some opportunities, but no big hits at all.

Good thing we activated Soto, 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. This back stuff with Zambrano always comes up at the end of the year, when he gets fat. This stuff really needs to end.

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Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

I heard Kasper on with Mac and Vandy today and he said Z hurt his back trying to hit HR's in BP a while ago.

And RFDC, every series worries me with this group.

Not only does it suck that Zambrano had to be scratched from the start, because it made it harder to win the game, but because it also taxed the bullpen. Very unfortunate...Yes, Zambrano hurt the back a while back hitting in BP, before his last start, that was then cut short, when it stiffened up on him. Now they get to face Marquis, with a win in this game, looking more important, since Zambrano was unable to help them get one last night. For all those who are so glad to see Soto back...The club was 15-10 in the games Hill caught and Soto did very little this season before his injury. Yes, it's good to have 2 legit catchers again, but I wouldn't expect Soto to do that much better than Hill had been doing. I hope he gets back to playing like he did in his 2008 ROY season, but I'm not counting on it.

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Go Cubs!!!!

Starting Marshall was a stroke of genius - a loopy curveball pitcher in a park where curveballs don't break.

Yeah, I had thought about that too, but without time to get someone from AAA there were not a lot of options.

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Go Cubs!!!!

A couple of slap singles combined with a couple of BAD defensive plays by Theriot and Ramirez: 1 run in, bases loaded no outs.

I have been a little agitated with Theriot's defense lately.

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Brenly is all over Theriot for no t running hard on Bradley's hit off the wall. Call could have very easily gone against the Cubs on that one.

When even Theriot's not hustling, it's bad.

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Wow Spanky, that last post was absolutely perfect and dead on.

Thanks, Spanky, I appreciate it.

How about that HR by Fukudome?????? He's smacking the ball all over the field tonight!!!

Damn dude, you're right. He's on fire!

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Awesome start to a DP by Theriot. That makes up for his near-mistake on the base paths.


I concur.

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Who are you talking to? Is this like Terry Boers' imaginary television set or something?

You know, that trickybeck is alright, especially for being one of the few females on the board.


Really? I'm not so sure. She seems like a flake.

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now you know how I feel in the hockey section

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

Wait, I post in the hockey section. All the time. In fact, I'm a 'regular'. I'm a little pissed at the Hawks right now, off the ice. I've had 1/2 season tix (now called the "Bobby Hull #21" package) for a couple years now. I'm trying to upgrade to a higher package, and they won't call me back. They initially called me about renewing a week ago, but now it's just phone tag, and I seem to be the only one that is "it".



Me too. What he said.

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oh yeah, you were the one giving me shit for my brilliant saint Louis upset pick

good luck with the tickets, tell 'em you know slap shot ed, that should get you front row board tickets

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

Nice to get the win, but gotta hope Ramirez is okay. They say he left with shoulder discomfort. I hope this is not going to be another trip to the DL. They can't afford to lose him again. Zambrano back on the DL again, was bad enough.

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Go Cubs!!!!

A lot of wasted scoring chances today. The Cubs have far more hits, but not when they need them and Randy Wells had an unusually "Rocky" outing. Too bad. It's looking like they will have to hope for a split tomorrow. But in this park, its not over until the 27th out is recorded. But it isn't looking good.

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Go Cubs!!!!