Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Cubs to rest regulars today vs Giants

Cubs Manager, Lou Piniella, said he wanted to give his regulars some rest, and today's line-up is one of the weirder ones I've seen:

1. Joey Gathright, who is hitting .111, and hasn't started a game this season.
2. Aaron Miles, he's been hot lately, but is still only hitting .190.
3. Fukudome
4. Derrek Lee, he too has been swinging a hot bat lately, still only .207.
5. Micah Hoffpauir, but he's playing left-field in place of Alfonso Soriano. This could be ugly.
6. Mike Fontenot, back at Third Base, despite the return of Aramis Ramirez and the call up of...
7. Bobby Scales, who is playing Second Base? I thought he was a Third Baseman?
8. Koyie Hill
9. Sean Marshall, batting .000

Honestly, despite his recent power-surge, Ryan Theriot was overdue for a day off, he had previously started every game at SS for the Cubs this season. I also have no problem with Lou giving Soriano the day off either, we need him rested and healthy for the whole season, and hopefully pennant race. Hill playing for Geovany Soto is fine with me, Soto should be jogging or getting into better shape/ hitting in the cages while not playing today. I also like that Lou is starting Scales, it is nice to see a guy get his chance, especially since he won't likely be around for long. I bet he even gets a hit! Although I have never seen him play nor do I know if he bats left or right. One question I have, where is Milton Bradley? I feel he should be playing today given how many games he's missed recently, he needs the at-bats! I would just assume that the Cubs are being careful with Ramirez's return and are trying not to rush him back, wise move.

Also according to a report on CSN this afternoon, neither Carlos Marmol nor Kevin Gregg are available to pitch today. That leaves Lou with a short bullpen today, especially when they were down a man (Carlos Zambrano) to begin with. Lou better hope Marshall gives them a nice long outing today.

Also, I got into an argument with my roomate yesterday regarding Lee and Bradley. He is a huge fan of Lee. I am not. I am a believer in Bradley. He is not. We were discussing who on the Cubs should bat 3,4,5. He was critical of Bradley and his .130 batting avg. I feel he will get out of this and he still gets on base, with an OBP of .310 to Lee's OBP of .283 (even after being walked 3 times last night!). I just like that even when Bradley is not getting base hits, like now, he still finds a way to get on base. Eventually I think that Lou is going to settle on a middle of the order like: Fukudome, Bradley, Ramirez, and likely move Lee down to the 6-spot, and this is assuming he will keep Theriot in the 2-spot. Does anyone else have any better ideas for the Cubs regular line-up(assuming we ever get healthy)?

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