Boxscore

Lou Piniella was ejected for the first time this year, and it did nothing but propel the Cubs to demolish the Giants. That breaks Chicago’s longest losing streak of the season at 4 games, and keeps the winning Cardinals 2.5 games back. Perhaps Lou should have done that earlier.

Or maybe not. It’s hard to lose when Ted Lilly pitched better than he ever has all year, allowing 2 runs over 8-plus innings. Kerry Wood pitched a scoreless ninth to close the game in a non-saving situation. I imagine that after all that losing, Wood just needed a little work. Either that, or wanted to be one appearance closer to injury.

However, things aren’t looking up just yet. Jason Marquis starts for Chicago tonight.

Boxscore

The Cubs lost their first home series in a good long while to the Orioles, of all teams. Of course, considering Jason Marquis was pitching the rubber-match, the blow-out loss isn’t surprising.

Let’s roll that beautiful Marquis line score: 7 runs, all earned, in 4 innings of work. Ouch. Not good for any starter on a team with delusions of world domination, let alone the 4th or 5th.

So now the Cubs have both Marquis and Jim Edmonds on the team, both former Cardinals. Edmonds has been attempting to win over Cubs fans by flashes of competency–including a walk-off hit–but I have to wonder how this will end. You know Cardinals fans are hoping they’ll somehow sabotage Chicago’s season. Me, I don’t think the Cubs need any help screwing up their postseason chances from their oldest rival. They’ve been doing that just fine for a century.

This week on the podcast we run down some of the crazy injuries plaguing the NLC right now:

• The Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano is on the DL for the first time, like, ever
• The Reds can’t keep a shortstop to saves their lives
• The Cardinals might get mentioned in there somewhere
• The injury to Adam Dunn’s pride to find out that the Blue Jays’ GM isn’t attracted to him

The Crack Technical Staff works on his Ed McMahon impression, and you can actually hear me sipping my glass of pinot grigio. Truly, an episode not to be missed.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Watch out, Super Bowl Shuffle.

I sat down to write some quick game wraps today, only to find the same exact results as for the last two days. Everybody lost except the Brewers. C’mon, guys, some variety, please!

Of course, I expect losses from the Reds. They have by far the most promising up and coming players, but that is negated by one of the worst managers in the Majors. Which is why they’re in last place.

Houston’s been in a terrible funk lately, and Pittsburgh and the White Sox apparently substituted their baseball players for football players as both teams scored touchdowns in the second inning.

The Cardinals and the Cubs both lost again, making it look like those premiere offensive players they both recently lost were important to their success, after all. I gotta say, I believe it with Albert Pujols, but I’m surprised that Alfonso Soriano’s absence has so affected the Cubs. Of course, this is Chicago’s first rough spell all season, so one could say they were due, injuries or not.

That brings us to the Brewers, who now sit in 3rd place, just 5.5 games back. Can they keep their winning going? I don’t know, but I sure bet the Reds can continue their losing. They travel to New York to “play” the Yankees today.

If only there were something to distract me from the play on the field, perhaps a General Manager ranting about the worthlessness of a player who’s better than any other player on his team. And preferably, that ire could be directed towards an NL Central player like Adam Dunn. Nah, GMs are professionals. Even Jim Bowden wouldn’t do that.