Cubs Win again, other thoughts

Last night the Cubs hung in there and defeated the Braves 4-2 against a very tough pitcher, Jair Jurrjens. We were lucky to avoid Jurrjens when we went to Atlanta, he has been one of the best pitchers in the league this season. Last night however was not one of his best days and the Cubs made him pay for it. It seemed as if Jurrjens was having control problems, although you could sense he was not too happy with the home-plate umpire. From what I could tell, the umpire did miss a few calls, but it was even for both teams, he was not calling low pitches for strikes either way. Jurrjens was just a little bit off last night and the Cubs took advantage scoring 4 runs off of him.

Our new lead-off guy, Fukudome got things started last night with a nicely hit single to left, and was then sacrificed over to second base by Ryan Theriot (I loved this play, playing for the one run against a good pitcher is never a bad idea!). Then Derrek Lee hit yet another HR to left field to make 2-0. That was Lee's 5th HR in the last 6 games and his 16th this season, he also has 53 RBIs, both lead the team. Lee is hitting as well as I have seen him hit since his monster season in 2005, no joke, I do not remember the last time Lee looked so confident at the plate, or hit with this kind of power. If Lee keeps this up, 30HR and 100 RBI is within reach, something I never thought he could do before the season started, or even after May. Seriously though, if this team is going to go anywhere this season, Lee needs to hit the baseball.

The Cubs then added two insurance runs in the second inning, all with two outs. Mike Fontenot (who I thought could have been sent down) got the rally started with a single, which was followed by a Randy Wells single. Fontenot would then score on a Fukudome double (a very hard hit ball). Wells would later score on a Theriot infield single to make it 4-0 and that was all the Cubs would need.

Four runs was plenty last night, especially with Randy Wells pitching for the Cubs: 6IP, 2ER, 7H, 4K, BB, just another typical Wells start, he improved to 4-3, 2.48 ERA. Wells probably did not have his best stuff last night, but he battled. He got into a big jam in the 4th after Fontenot could not get to a grounder and a high-line-drive that hit his glove (Andres Blanco makes at least one of those plays if not both). Then Wells himself made a rare error, his first, to load the bases with one out. Wells was able to escape allowing only one run. Wells also allowed a solo-HR to Nate McLouth in the 5th. Wells did his job last night, his team spotted him a few runs early (something they seem to rarely do for Wells), and he gave them a chance to win the ballgame with yet another quality start. Eventually when Wells has enough innings pitched to qualify, he will be among the league leaders in ERA. He is flying so far under the radar it is ridiculous, seriously! This guy should be a lock for N.L. Rookie of the Year, but I am sure he will continue to go unnoticed. Example: Head SI.com Baseball Writer, Jon Heyman (Big-time East Coast Bias) wrote his Mid-Season Awards article yesterday and listed his top-five ROY candidates in each league, and he failed to mention Wells. His list was ridiculous and sad, here it is, with my comments on each player:
1.) Colby Rasmus, St. Louis: .282 avg, 13HR, 32 RBI, not that impressive, not enough run production, despite playing in a hitters park.
2.) Tommy Hanson, Atlanta: 4-0, 2.26 ERA in 6 starts. Very comparable to Wells and has only made six starts, this kid is supposed to be the real deal though.
3.) Casey McGehee, Milwaukee: .343 avg, 6HR, 27 RBI. Seriously Jon? MLB generally does not vote older journeyman rookies as ROY. Also, I would be shocked if McGehee continues to hit, unless he faces Jeff Samardzija every time.
4.) Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh: .295 avg, HR, 20RBI in 31 games. McCutchen was not called up until the Pirates dealt McLouth. He looks pretty good, but I would need to see more, he may not have the numbers at the end of the season, expect the average to fall slightly, plus he plays for the Pirates.
5. Ronald Belisario, Los Angeles: 1-3, 2.42 ERA. Has anyone ever heard of this guy? Has very similar numbers to Angel Guzman (is he still considered a rookie?). When I saw his name, I thought we were talking about Donald P. Bellisario, creator and producer of Magnum P.I. It seems like Heyman was really reaching on this one.

Heyman's list looks like it was lifted from some pre-season list of candidates, based purely on numbers, I do not understand how he could not have included Wells?

Finally back to the Cubs... I really like the roster moves they made yesterday. I had no problem sending down Sam Fuld or Kevin Hart. David Patton going to the DL seems a little fishy to me, I know they can not send him down because he was a Rule-5 pick, but what ever it takes to keep him I guess. It was good to see Aramis Ramirez, who was 0-4 and was the only Cub starter to not reach base, back in action last night, our line-up missed him dearly. I like the Cubs decision to only have 11 pitchers on the staff right now, especially considering how well our rotation has pitched all season, here's to us not playing a bunch of extra-inning games before the All-Star Break! I also really like Lou Piniella's decision to drop Alfonso Soriano in the order and moving Fukudome to lead-off, well played. Soriano was killing this team, let him figure things out lower in the order, and he did get a double last night. Fukudome has looked great leading off, it looks like he is comfortable there, and that his work with Von Joshua has paid off. The only question I have for Lou is who bats lead-off against lefties? Reed Johnson? And lastly, Congrats to Ted Lilly on making the All-Star team! He deserves to go more than any other Cub, well maybe I could argue for Theriot or Wells.

Up Next: The Cubs and Braves play game two of a three game series tonight at 7 pm on WGN. Ryan Dempster (5-5, 4.09 ERA) faces off against Javier Vazquez (5-7, 3.05 ERA). Dempster is coming off of a win over the weekend, although he allowed 5 runs. Vazquez has been solid all season, but is just not getting enough run support, let me get my violin. I would think this game has the makings of another low scoring game, especially considering the Cubs never hit Vazquez all that well, but who knows. Luckily the Braves are not playing very well right now, so there is a chance Dempster can shut them down, not to mention the Cubs are on a roll at home right now. But I am not getting too excited, the Cubs are under .500 this season when playing on WGN. The Cardinals and Brewers are playing each other, lets see if we can make up some ground!