Did they mention what "elite" means? My eyes generally agree, though. But, elite pitchers are elite pitchers. What are you going to do? I wish Pete Alonzo was playing first base instead of Busch and Alex Bregman was playing third instead of Shaw. 1 homerun from the third base position through 70 games is embarrassing.

Remember the game in San Diego where the bullpen blew it? Both Taillon and Cease left after 5 2/3 innings. Cubs had a 3-2 lead. A few days ago Cease shutout the Dodgers over 7 innings and struck out 11.

I jinxed myself. What a fucking bust.

cooler, wind blowing in...batters uncomfortable. that sums up playoff baseball at wrigley and this club suffers from the swing from your heels bugaboo. doesn't portend well for october, when any playoff opponents top 2 starters may be considered 'aces' or 'elite'.

counsell saw enough of this in late april, after a bad home hitting series with the phillies. moved fansby down the order and grumbled publicly about the poor situational hitting during adverse hitting conditions. phillies scuffling a few times this season against lesser opponents...the cubs are always there in the nick of time for some philly wins and for them to right the ship.

knee-ko is the only starting 2nd baseman in mlb not to have 1 HR. this guy should get a kangaroo court fine whenever he pulls the ball and pounds it into the ground. get comfortable in your own skin and try to hit to center/right. overall, good club - some collective hitting flaws that get exposed in cold weather. is bruce still making excuses for knee-ko's poor slugging?

believe that the next injury to any non-pitcher will see the cubs call up ballesteros and the next time, he may stay up for good.

real encouraging bottom of the 1st..small ball gets 2 runs. walk, stolen base, pca hits to the right side and advances runner to 3rd, suzuki RBI on ground out up the middle, hits to the opposite field by bush and swanson...nico tried to poke one to right. good stuff.

Four one-run games against the Pirates. Could have gone worse but doesn't fill me with hope.

_________________

4 one-run rugged games. Pirates wone 1 and coulda easily won 3.

I am the Steve Stone of this board.

It's baseball. They won 3 out of 4. 18 out of 25 the past month. Be happy.