It’s nice seeing the Cubs back in action. Even though its only been a 5 day all-star break, I couldn’t wait to see the Cubs return to action. They started the second half in a fine fashion, Carlos Zambrano pitched lights out giving up only 3 hits and 3 BB in order to shut out the Astro’s 6-0. The club has picked up exactly where they left off in the first half, winning games. The Cubs are finally .500 at home!
Off the field, there has been a lot media attention on the Cubs lately. We have the bidders for the Franchise coming out of the woodwork, with the spotlight shining on Mark Cuban. Theres been positive talk of the Cubs resigning Big Z and even though the team is being sold, McDonough assured Cubs fans he can still write checks, big ones.
Wouldn’t it be nice to see Mark Cuban sitting right behind home plate screaming at an umpire, well I sure would. Cuban loves sports and could do no wrong for this team. Chicago is a huge city and they like big signings during the off-season, big trades during the season, and basically just love seeing the Cubs spend money. But the choice of the next owner is not up to Chicago, or the Cubs fans. It is up to Bud Selig (awwww crap). That means Chicago will probably not see Cuban, unless he slips Selig a convincing gift. Selig wants local ownership and I can’t imagine him wanting to be the next in line to get ridiculed and called out by Cuban, just as David Stern has. Selig seems to be a grouch to me, I can’t see him letting a young, hip owner like Cuban come into the MLB scene to stir up some controversy. But I guess we will have to wait and see. Cuban I know all Cubs fans hope to see you in Chicago next year!
Next year can be a sorry year for the Cubs if they don’t sign Big Z. As we all can see, Zambrano has come alive since his proclaimed “new start” on June 2nd. He has really been incredible since then, going 6-2, currently leading the NL in wins. We all know Zambrano is our ace. Through the Wood and Prior years, he has always been healthy and winning games. We need to keep him as the foundation of our pitching staff. You can’t have Rich Hill, Jason Marquis, or Ted Lilly being your number 1 guy. All the Cubs starting pitchers, except Big Z and Marshall, have been a little shaky lately. When Z steps on the mound (this time of the season) you expect him to give u AT LEAST 6 innings and maybe giving up 1 or 2 runs. It’s not only the fans that feel this, it’s also the players. They know when Big Z is there they have a better chance to win. That is how your number 1 pitcher should make you feel, and that is why we need to keep him.
There has been a lot of talk about the Cubs not homering in 10 games. Personally, I think it’s great. Seeing the team win without the long ball really shows that we can find other ways to win. Last year and the year before the Cubs relied heavily on the long ball and look what happened, no playoffs. Now we have a team who hasn’t been able to hit a home run, yet they are still making a strong push at the NL central lead (and yes we are going to take it!!!!). The home runs will come, theres no way with Soriano, Ramirez, and Lee we will not see some long balls. A lot of the talk is about Lee not being able to homer. But do you ever hear anybody talk about how no one will pitch Derrick Lee inside! NO ONE! Every pitcher who faces him throws to the outside part of the plate and I can’t remember the last time I saw a pitch he should have crushed. So let every pitcher forget about how good Lee is and let them challenge him with a heater inside, then we will see him crush some out of the park! And don’t forget he is batting .330 with a .415 OBP.