Final Record: 47-64
Games Behind First: 16.5 GB
There is in fact something to play for at this time in the season, a lost season at that. Whatever there is to play for wasn't accomplished on this homestand, that's for sure. Milwaukee, the team the Cubs have had the most success against in the division and in baseball overall, came and demolished the Cubs and beat them badly in the series. Cincinnati then came in and, having already beaten the Cubs in three of four on July 4th weekend, swept Chicago.
The first game of the series with the Brewers was quite historic. In the fact that the Brewers blew out the Cubs 18-1, one of the worst margins of defeat for the Cubs at Wrigley Field ever. Randy Wells allowed six in four innings, but the Brew Crew feasted even hungrier on the bullpen. Casey Coleman, in his major league debut, gave up six in two and a third innings. Brian Schlitter gave up two earned and Justin Berg gave up three unearned. The only run for the Cubs was from an unspectacular Aramis Ramirez RBI groundout. Thomas Diamond, called up from AAA, made his major league debut starting on Tuesday night. Amazingly, he struck out ten in six innings and allowed three runs. Not that the Cubs won, though. The Brewers scrapped together four runs including two RBI from Casey McGehee and that was all they needed, as a late Kosuke Fukudome homer couldn't finish the comeback from an effective start from the ineffective starter Chris Narveson. The series wasn't all lost, however, when the Cubs rebounded with a blowout of their own. A fun afternoon at Wrigley Field was had by all, the first in a while, thanks to 15 runs and homers by Tyler Colvin, Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto, and Blake DeWitt, his first as a Cub. Ryan Dempster got a win to improve to 9-8 and Manny Parra, who threw just 54 strikes to 40 balls, took the loss.
The first place Reds came to town on Friday amped up about their divisional standing and the outstanding team chemistry that they have. Bronson Arroyo took that energy to shut down the Cubs and hand in over to the bullpen, namely Francisco Cordero who got the save in the 3-0 win. Tom Gorzelanny's biggest mistake was a two-run homer to Ryan Hanigan in the second and that was all they would need. Saturday's game was the story of the Cubs' season: missed opportunities. Drew Stubbs, who had a three homer game earlier in the year at Wrigley Field, hit one this time for a solo homer and later an RBI single contributing to the Reds' 4-1 lead heading to the ninth. A wild ninth inning saw the Cubs score one on a Starlin Castro hit by pitch to score the first run, that being with the bases loaded. Nick Masset, former White Sox, then came on in an emergency save situation. He struck out Marlon Byrd still with the bases loaded for the second out, then walked Aramis Ramirez to put the tying run on third base, with the bases loaded again, then struck out Derrek Lee. Game over. A devastating loss with such a wild ninth inning. But the fact is the Cubs are 13-29 now in one-run games, the worst in baseball by far. Thomas Diamond struggled in his second career outing, giving up five in three innings. But the Reds weren't stopped there, tacking on six more before all was said and done. Two RBI each for Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Ryan Hanigan, and Juan Francisco helped get the job done in the 11-4 win. Miguel Cairo, playing for his ninth different team in a 15 year major league career, tripled in a run in the ninth.
Like I said before, there wasn't much to take away from this homestand. There are a few kids to watch though, like Starlin Castro and Tyler Colvin. Castro's batting average keeps climbing and climbing to the point where he will be one of the league's top hitters once he can qualify for the leaderboard which he will be able to very soon. Colvin keeps blasting homers, with 17 as of the end of the homestand and hitting the 18th into McCovey Cove in San Francisco this week. Both are making a convincing argument for Rookie of the Year despite the overrated yet talented Stephen Strasburg. Darwin Barney was just called up from AAA, a middle infielder with a good batting average and decent speed, and he made his debut Thursday against the Giants. His first at-bat was a flyout to Matt Holliday of the Cardinals the next night. Look for more kids to be called up as the roster expands and people head to the DL.
Note: Mike Fontenot was traded to the Giants through waivers while the Cubs were playing the Giants in San Francisco, so he made the long trek from clubhouse to clubhouse to switch teams. In exchange the Cubs received Evan Crawford, an outfielder in A+ ball right now. I applaud Jim Hendry for this trade, it might be his best of the year. Fontenot has no potential and is no longer young and had worn out his welcome here. Crawford has 24 steals already this season and is the kind of good athletic outfielder the Cubs need.
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