The Red Hot Chicago Cubs head into Philadelphia to take on the World Champion Phillies. They are dodging a sizeable bullet by missing Cole Hamels who is not only the Phils best pitcher but also always shuts down the Cubs.....

Lilly vs. Lopez
Harden vs. Blanton
Zambrano vs. Moyer

Should be interesting to see how Lilly pitches with his bad knee. The matchups seem to be favorable to the Cubs in this series. I predict (ding) alot of offense but also 2 out of 3 wins from the resurgent Cubs.

In Jake Fox I trust.

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I am curious about Lilly's knee as well. With his poor fielding already an issue, coupled with a bad knee, look for some small ball from the Phils early.

Go Cubs!

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Proud to be UNVERIFIED.

Just a brutal start by Lilly. The homer in the first and second were on horrible pitches. Then you have that dog in left field who dropped another flyball on the warning track. Hopefully game 2 is better than this.

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Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

what about the horrrrrible outfield play by Soriano....again. He is just terrible. That can of corn that dropped between him and Fukodome should of been caught by Soriano but he decided to back up instead. Then in the same inning Soriano botches another one. If the Cubs have the lead at any point in the eight inning on, I believe Reed Johnson should go in as a defensive replacement, even if Soriano is due up in the lineup the next inning.

Well, I doubt it will be worse...

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

im so glad cubs management didnt want ibanez...

Yeah I guess Hendry should of listened to Lou. Well thank god the Astros beat the Cardinals, still only 2 back.

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Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

Those two Soriano plays were a joke. If I was Lou I bench him for Hoffpauir tomorrow and Fox against the lefty Wednesday. So much for the hot streak. What a chump.

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Nice to see Marmol locate his fastball. Nice two inning outing by him.

nice at-bat by Soriano.

Just now getting a chance to settle in for the evening and extra innings are my reward; hopefully, with a Cubs victory to boot. Let's get 'em here in the 11th.

Or not.

Chan Ho Park isn't good, but we've made him look good the last two innings. Yuck.

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

Heilman, however, makes it waaaaay too interesting for my stomach lining and blood pressure. Jesus...

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

i've been reading since the 9th inning...it's like being in some kind of time trap...

How have the Cubs gone 13 innings so far without earning a walk?

i said we'd be lucky to win one game...so far i'm right. and i am tired of being right about the wrong things.

Cubs may not have gotten a walk, but the Phillies did. I'm not hanging the pitching staff out to dry on this one. Gotta get more than 1 run. Get 'em tomorrow. G'night.

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

Wow, what a fucking joke. We have only scored 2 runs, in 22 innings, in that fucking bandbox for a ballpark. That game was embarassing. To not get a run off that shit pitching of the Phillies, is a joke. Chan Ho Park is brutal, but he shut us down for 2 innings. The extra inning at bats we had were horrible, think we were hitless since the 7th inning. What a waste of a great start by Harden, and great relief from Marmol. Also, looks like the Cards will lose again, we could have been tied, if we would of shown up the last 2 nights.

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Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

Early WYC to Ken Rosenthal, when he told Mully and Hanley on Monday that Soriano was starting one of his hot streaks and you can't sit him now. Soriano hasn't done shit since they left D.C on Sunday.

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Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

The best thing that anyone can take away from this game, was the back to back quality starts that Harden has produced. he looks like the Harden of 2008 again. I hope that trend continues. The work marmol did was excellent too. Samardjia on the other hand, looked like he was just throwing a 4 seam fastball. it was straight as an arrow on it path to the plate, as well as it's flight into the left field bleachers, after Werth hit the ball. He has to learn to command a 2 seamer. His ball just has no movement and major league hitters will kill that kind of pitch, even if it's 95mph.

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Go Cubs!!!!

I didn't catch the game, but saw the mlb gamecast of it. It looked like Samardzija was getting pinched in the 13th, any validity to that?

I didnt see it either but...seems he got pwned by Werth...regardless of the strike zone


War SHARKian posts.

Not at all. I believe it was a 1-1 count on the HR and the walk to the batter in front of Werth was deserved. No pitches were borderline and called balls. His command just wasn't very good with anything but that straight as an arrow, 4 seam fastball.

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Go Cubs!!!!

Samar-juh was better at ND...Lots of TD's

Lou says in today's Trib he needs 2 more bats before the trading deadline.
My question,where do they go? 2nd base & ??. I think maybe the Cubs might
move Bradley to LF and platoon him with Soriano. This will open RF for a good
bat. I'm thinking the Cubs missed the boat letting Nate McClouth go to the Braves.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

The most expensive platoon...ever.

they definitely need a starting 2b. fontenot has had an entire half to prove he could be the guy and he just isnt. and jeff baker isnt the answer. he is actually worse.

im also curious how able jake fox is behind the plate. is he only an emergency catcher or can he actually get behind there without problem? because id like to see his bat in the lineup somehow

The Cubs should be giving Jake Fox as much experience as he can get behind the plate. In every blowout win/loss (i.e. Sunday Vs. Nationals or Monday vs. Phillies) he should be substitued when the game gets out of hand. He is the backup catcher who has barely caught anything in the last 3 years, he should get as much playing time in non-critical situations that you can give him.

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Jake Fox is a catcher like Matt Murton was a catcher. He is not a viable catcher backup or otherwise. He is an emergency catcher at the most

per Yahoo:

R. Johnson cf
R. Theriot ss
D. Lee 1b
A. Ramirez 3b
M. Bradley rf
A. Soriano lf
J. Baker 2b
K. Hill c
C. Zambrano p

Im not calling for the guy to start. But this team is only carrying one catcher right now, plus Jake Fox. If Hill goes down, I don't want a guy behind the plate who has only played 2 innings this year and only caught a handful of games in the last 3 years in the minors. If it's a blowout situation I would throw him out there just to get a little experience. It's a no lose situation. If anything it just gives the guy a few extra at bats. I don't want him just rotting away on the bench.

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