Power Pros Forum

What does it say?

You asked for it
"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Do you know how many balls flew over my head [in right field]? It was infuriating! D*** you, Utley!"
Cubs July in Review
Well, it's time to look at July. The trading deadline recently passed, meaning there were plenty of last-minute trades around the league. The Reds and Brewers are only 3 games behind the division-leading Cubs, and they both made a few upgrades at the deadline. Milwaukee swapped Mike Cameron with Gary Matthews Jr. to add to their offense. Meanwhile, Cincinnatti traded for Tim Lincecum to improve their pitching. The Cubs themselves didn't make many big moves. The Marquis-for-Baker deal was the only real notable one. Baker has struggled a bit so far in Chicago, but he's young and has plenty of potential, so the Cubs won't give up on him yet.

As mentioned, the Cubs have a 3-game lead in the NL Central over the Brewers and Reds. This is largely thanks to a very dominant July. The North-Siders went 18-6 in the month, allowing them to rocket straight into first. They still have to watch out for Milwuakee and Cincy, but the White Sox, Cardinals and Astros are pretty much out of the race by now (unless a miracle happens for the Sox). We will take a look at standings around the league later on.

The Cubs cleaned up when it came to monthly awards. Soriano took home the Player of the Month Award. Throughout the month of July, he batted .424 with 9 homers and 25 RBIs. Fukudome went .396/4/17 and got the Rookie of the Month. Ryan Dempster became Pitcher of the Month after getting 4 wins with a 1.26 ERA and 38 strikeouts in the month.

Finances... hmm... Let's just wrap this up quick by saying the Cubs lost around $6 mil.

All in all, it was a pretty good month for the Cubs. A great record helped them get to first in the NL Central, but they can't rest yet! The Brewers and Reds are breathing down their necks, and there's still 2 months of baseball left to go! Here's to the month of August! Let's go Cubs!

Let's take a look at standings around the MLB! (I'm not using logos because they would take up too much space. Also, the HTML got screwed up on the Mets.)
AL East
1. Red Sox 74-32 .698 ---
1. Yankees 74-32 .698 0
3. Rays 48-58 .453 26
4. Blue Jays 45-61 .425 29
4. Pirates 45-61 .425 29
6. Orioles 43-63 .406 31

AL Central
1. Tigers 64-42 .604 ---
2. Indians 58-48 .547 6
3. Royals 46-60 .434 18
3. Navy 46-60 .434 18
5. Twins 44-62 .415 20

AL West
1. Angels 65-41 .613 ---
2. Orcas 52-54 .491 13
3. Rangers 51-55 .481 14
4. Athletics 50-56 .472 15
5. Mariners 49-57 .462 16

AL Wildcard
1. Indians 58-48 .547 ---
2. Orcas 52-54 .491 6
3. Rangers 51-55 .481 7
4. Athletics 50-56 .472 8
5. Mariners 49-57 .462 9
6. Rays 48-58 .453 10

NL East
1. [color=#0000BF]Mets 63-43 .594 ---
2. Braves 57-49 .538 6
3. Phillies 55-51 .519 8
4. Nationals 51-55 .481 12
4. Marlins 51-55 .481 12

NL Central
1. Cubs 64-42 .604 ---
2. Brewers 61-45 .575 3
2. Reds 61-45 .575 3
4. White Sox 55-51 9
5. Cardinals 50-56
6. Astros 39-68 .368 25

NL West
1. Dodgers 50-56 .472 ---
2. Rockies 48-58 .453 2
2. Padres 48-58 .453 2
4. Diamondbacks 47-59 .443 3
5. Giants 42-64 .396 8

NL Wildcard
1. Brewers 61-45 .575 ---
1. Reds 61-45 .575 0
3. Braves 57-49 .538 4
4. Phillies 55-51 .519 6
4. White Sox 55-51 .519 6
6. Nationals 51-55 .481 10

Orcas? Navy? Who're they?

Arrange teams. Tacoma Orcas and New Orleans Navy

August 7
Cubs Keep Reds Down
The Reds are starting to slowly fall back in the standings, and the Cubs have to make sure they stay back. Geovany Soto was the biggest contributor today with 3 homers. Ramirez and Lee had a homers too, and so did... Reed Johnson? Well, that's what happens when you leave a fastball hanging RIGHT over the middle of the plate. Ted Lilly lasted 5 innings before the Reds started to ralley, but Eric O'Flaherety and Kerry Wood shut them down. Michael Wuertz ran into trouble, but Bob Howry managed to hang on to the lead.

10 8

August 13th
Soto Falls Short of Cycle; Cubs Win Anyway
The Astros: They're 26 games behind us and we've already dropped the first to games of the series to them. Great. Time to save the team's dignity! Things didn't look too good when Carlos Lee belted a 2-run homer off Ted Lilly in only the first inning. That didn't last long. In the 3rd inning, Geo launched a longball over the railroad tracks at Minute Maid Park and sparked a ralley: A 6-run ralley. The Cubs' total of 13 runs in the game was greatly inflated thanks to Soto's homer as well as a triple and a double, but in his last to ABs, Soto grounded out both times. He helped the team, alright.

13 3

Yay! This game is on my birthday! (Not real life, the game date)
8/20
Powerful Throws and Hitting Woes
That was the story for most of the Cubs' game against the D'backs. Both teams matched each other hit for hit, but Ryan Dempster and Doug Davis didn't let a run across the plate for 5 innings. The one major difference was that the Diamondbacks were taking plenty of pitches while the Cubs were swinging away. This became noticable when Dempster was taken out after 5 innings, so the Cubs' batters decided to employ patience as well. Patience paid off: Geovany Soto singled in the 6th to start a ralley. After 2 outs, Ryan Theriot singled him over to third. Derrek Lee grounded back to the pitcher, but the throw went to home and Soto scuttled back to third. Aramis Ramirez batted him in, then Alfonso Soriano belted a grand slam to pull the Cubs way ahead and get his 40th homer of the year. The bullpen zoned in and shut the D'backs down for a combined shutout. Though Eric O'Flaherety was given the win, he said that in his mind, Dempster was the winner. Dempster responded by shoving a pie in O'Flaherety's face.

6 0

8/27
Deja Vu
Oh, look! Another game against the Diamondbacks! And it's Doug Daves vs Ryan Dempster again. Brilliant. The whole "working the count" thing was in effect, too, but luckily the Cubs caught on a bit earlier this time. Dempster lasted 5 innings again, but Davis only went 4.1. After that, Great Ortiz didn't do very well against the now-patient Cubs. He gave up... wait, is this right? FIVE WALKS?!?!?!????? In other news, Eric Patterson (filling in for the injured Mark DeRosa*) got his first major league at bat in the top of the ninth. He hit a single and was later batted in by Derrek Lee's GRAND SALAMI!!! *ahem* Yeah, the D'backs got creamed... again.

10 1

*He got injured while I was simming, so I don't know how long he'll be out.
EDIT: He was out for 5 days

8/31
Postseason Cutoffs and Crosstown Rivalry
Ah, what better way to end the month of August than the finale of a 4-game series against the Sox? How about 2 of their best pitchers, Lilly and Contreras, facing off? The Cubs struck first with an RBI single by Aramis Ramirez in the first, but Joe Crede tied it up with a sac fly. Luckily, Geo solved that with a solo homer, sparking a rally that led to 3 Cubs runs. Jose Contreras then fell apart while Ted Lilly held his ground. Then the Cubs ran into bullpen trouble.Luckily, it wasn't enough to cost the Cubs the lead and a quick ralley in the 8th got them some insurance. Then Piniella had the biggest cranial flatulation EVER and FORGOT TO TAKE FONTENOT OUT FOR A PITCHER!!!!!!!!!!! Wait, hasn't this happened before? Why, yes it has! Lou, you're an idiot.Fontenot then went on to actually get 3 outs and not give up a single hit!

12 5

Chicago Cubs Playoff Cutoff Roster
SP Carlos Zambrano
SP Ted Lilly
SP Scott Baker
SP Ryan Dempster
SP Sean Marshall
SP Rich Hill
RP Kiko Calero
RP Eric O'Flaherety
RP Carlos Marmol
RP Kerry Wood
RP Bob Howry
RP Michael Wuertz
C Geovany Soto
C Brayan Pena
1B Derrek Lee
2B/3B Mike Fontenot
2B/SS Ronny Cedeno
2B/3B/RF Mark DeRosa
3B Aramis Ramirez
SS/2B Ryan Theriot
LF Alfonso Soriano
LF Matt Murton
LF/CF Reed Johnson
CF Sam Fuld
RF/CF Kosuke Fukudome

September Call-Ups
SP Randy Wells
SP Jose Melo
RP Kevin Hart
RP Carmen Pignatiello
1B Great Weeks
3B George Whiteman
LF Eric Patterson
CF Felix Pie

I didn't know Mike Fontenot spoke in smilies.

We're all rooting for ya. Though if the Cubs win, the site will crash in an apocalyptical server crash.

Cubs August in Review
Hard to believe August has already passed. All in all, a decent month for the team. They had a 16-11 record and Derrek Lee took home the Player of the Month award, and Alfonso Soriano is atop the home run race with over 43 longballs. With the Brewers still only 4 games back, the Cubs will need Lee, Soriano, and all their players to keep contributing. Money-wise, this month wasn't bad compared to the ohters of this year. The Cubs raked in the ticket sales this month, softening up the loss to only $2.85 mil. Well, now that trades and free agent signings are done for the year, there wasn't much else to talk about here lulz, that rhymed. The postseason cutoff roster and september call-ups are listed above. The new help from the rookies should help the Cubs retain that lead on the division. Let's go Cubs!

1. Cubs 81-53 .604 ---
2. Brewers 77-57 .575 4.0
3. Reds 71-63 .530 10.0
4. Cardinals 68-66 .507 13.0
5. White Sox 66-68 .493 15.0
6. Astros 56-78 .418 25.0

9/1
Send in the Rookies!
Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Reed Johnson, and Geovany Soto enjoyed a day off today with the rookies filling in to get experience. The Cubs' first run came from back-to-back doubles by none other than Felix Pie and Eric Patterson filling in for Johnson and Soriano, respectively. Great Weeks, filling in for Derrek Lee, didn't have that much luck. He went 0-for-4 before he was replaced by Lee, who pinch hit in the 7th. Though he only gave up one run, fatigue caught up to Ryan Dempster when he had to leave after 4 innings with elbow pain. The Cubs needed a long reliever, and thus Jose Melo got his Major League Debut. He went a solid 3 innings with 1 earned run. The Cubs' 2nd-round draft pick seems to be living up to expectations. Michael Wuertz ran into a little trouble in the 9th, so Kevin Hart came in and finished the last 2/3 innings for his first save. With this, the Cubs have clinched a winning record for the year.

7 4

9/11
Cubs Honor Victims with Victory over Cardinals
9/11... Talking about it would be too depressing, so I'll just skip right to the game. Scott Baker had a perfect game... through 3 innings. Thanks to Aaron Miles, it was reduced to a shutout... that lasted 1 more inning. Then, even with a low pitch count, Baker had to get taken out in the 6th. Weird world, huh? Also, the ever-ridiculously-amazing Albert Pujols somehow managed to go the entire game without a single hit. Even with a hitting line of .370/42/130+, Pujols has competition for the MVP Award. Derrek Lee had 3 home runs, bringing his total to 45. He is now tied with Alfonso Soriano for the league lead. Lee also has a .376 average and 160 RBIs. *clears throat* DLEE4MVP!!!!! So.. yeah, the Cubs won and their Magic Number is now 13.

7 1