Zambrano returns to the mound tonight to face Braden Looper. Edmonds returns to St. Louis in Cubbie blue. This is a pretty big series, as far as July baseball goes, with the Cardinals being much better then expected and the Cubs struggling a bit lately for the first time all year really. Time to see if the Cubs can improve their road woes a bit.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Zambrano will either

1) give up 1 run over 8 innings and show dominance or
2) give up 4 runs in the first two innings and either leave because of
a) reaggravates the shoulder injury
b) hits the umpire with a haymaker

no happy mediums

_________________
"Stay out of courtrooms-but if you must go in be Well Armed and Don't compromise. You are innocent, remember that. They are guilty" -- Dr. Gonzo

the cards have no bullpen, have been thru 11 starters, and Pujols has missed some time, plus they lost Rolen and Edmonds whom were their other offensive good guys...this is a team held together with smoke and mirrors...Cubs should at least take 2 out of 3...

_________________
Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Should....but many times "shoulds" do not happen.

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

I am worried about Zambrano and his emotions. first game in two weeks against a rival on the road, I hope the Cubs defense plays well early, any early error or defensive misplay may cause Zambrano to erupt.

The Cardinals did not lose Rolen. They TRADED him for Troy Glaus, who is batting .297, with 13 Home Runs and 54 RBI. They didnt LOSE Edmonds either. They TRADED him to San Diego for David Freese, a highly touted minor league Third Baseman, who they hope will take over for Glaus in a couple years. The Cardinals have played very well, especially at home. Winning 2 of 3 in St Louis would be outstanding.

_________________
Go Cubs!!!!

Nice start for the Cubs. Fukudome turns on one to put the Cubs up 1-0 and Big Z starts out nice and calm and gets a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout of Puljols.

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

Kinda shows you how good of a manager LaRussa is when sober.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

No doubt LaRussa is one of the best, but it hasnt hurt that he has had one of the best pitching coaches of all time by his side.

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

Nice to see Z only have 76 pitches thru 5 innings.

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

Tough to see Z have to sit down with a shutout going, but it is definitely the right call. Hopefully the bullpen will come thru.

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

Are you fucking high? Rolen and Edmonds were non-factors for the Cards last year...they've each been a shell of their former self for a few years now...trust me, we hardly miss them...

As for Pujols missing time, I'm not sure what that has to do with this series...if he was out now, then it might be a factor, but since he is playing, it's about as stupid as me saying "well, Zambrano has missed some time" when he's tearing it up tonight.

If the Cubs are as good as everyone thinks they are, then yes, they should take 2 out of 3...but I would hardly call the Cardinals a team held together by smoke and mirrors.

We???

Why are you a <gulp> Cardinal fan?

To the point city of fools was making, I think you can make a pretty good argument that the Cardinals pitching staff has been smoke and mirrors, but it is working so far. I mean come on...Lohse...Looper...Pinero...Boggs...Wellemeyer....Def no world beaters in that group.

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

To quote a certain Bond villian, "names is for tombstones, baby!"

Been down this road before...Cards have taken a many rotations full of "smoke and mirrors" and done just fine with it...

No doubt, Duncan and LaRussa like to play with smoke and mirrors and do well with it. We will see how it goes the 2nd half.

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

I just noticed the special hats the Cubs are wearing tonight...very cool...

Both teams are wearing the lids.

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

Well, shows how observant I am...

Len and Bob mentioned it in the broadcast earlier, I think they called them the special Stars and Stripes hats.

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

Nice first win for the Cubs in this series.

I think we got lucky on the calls on Glaus, but he had to know after his little tantrum on the first call that anything close he was done.

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

Well the Cubs grinded out a win, I thought that the missed opportunities the Cubs had could come back to haunt them but Zambrano and the bullpen came through. Of course the best news was that Zambrano looked healthy.

Just need to get Ramirez going and hopefully win one more game in St. louis and end get back home. The cubs are almost thru with this killer stretch of 23 road games out of 32. So far the Cubs are 16-14 in this period.

I dont think it was luck, on those calls to Glaus. The 3-1 pitch was definitely outside. But Glaus blew it, by showing up the umpire and that may well be, what caused him to get rung up on another outside pitch. Umpires do not like getting shown up. In any case, the last pitch was in approximately the same spot as the previous pitch. Since he had called that one a strike, Glaus should have been smart enough to protect on the next pitch there.

It was one of the most important wins of the season. Not because the Cardinals have played far better than most expected and are closer than Cub fans might like. But because Zambrano, coming off the DL, pitched brilliantly. He threw strikes and got ahead of most hitters. Nice to see Fukudome hit a homer on the road too. Hopefully, Lilly can follow big Z and pitch a good game today. It would be nice to win this series and put some distance between the teams. Enigma-you are right, the Cubs really need Ramirez to get back on track. He is taking some terrible swings at pitches in the dirt lately, rather than showing the more disciplined approach he employed earlier in the season.

_________________
Go Cubs!!!!

Yeah, there's no way those two pitches were strikes, but after the first one, you gotta be ready to swing at it...plus, as much as I was cursing the ump for the horrible call, I thought he showed a lot of restraint in not throwing Glaus out, both after the 3-1 pitch and the 3-2 pitch...

Announcers keep saying Lohse isn't a strike out pitcher, but then he K's Lee and Fukudome in the first. Lee once again looking on a pitch down the middle, same for Fukudome.

_________________
Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

Fukudome looks horrid on most of his strikeouts.

_________________

Who cares what he looks like when he strikesout? Does anyone actually look "good" striking out?

Fukudome is a really good hitter/player and I am thrilled he is on our team.

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

Sure. You can battle a pitcher, foul off 3 or 4 pitches, and then get beat with a really good breaking pitch or a well located fastball. There's sometimes Fukudome goes up there, takes 3 terrible swings, and thats that. Thornton made him look absolutely silly last Saturday.

_________________

So far the Cubs have had horrible at bats. Not taking any pitches, making easy outs.

_________________
Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

*sigh* here we go again. Frank, I have watched just about every single inning of the Cubs games this year and I do not remember any at bat where Fukudome has had a strikeout where he had 3 terrible swings and sat down. In fact, he has some of the longest at-bats as anyone in the league.

Now he does have some awkward looking swings at times, but just about every time he battles the pitcher deep in the count.

Please do us all a favor and stop making ignorant comments about the Cubs. You have shown you are clueless when it comes to the north side.

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

Ramirez looks really bad right now. I think Lou should sit him tomorrow, and let him relax for 2 days.

_________________
Fuck Edwards and Zobrist