Cubs Lean on Russell for Emergency Start - Again, and Again, and Again....

Tough break for the Cubs, losing starting pitchers Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner to injuries so early in the season, so they'll have to rely on LOOGY James Russell to make an emergency start tonight against...wait a minute, didn't I write about this before? [Checks old blog posts] Yes, I did - two weeks ago; Russell is actually going to be making his third "emergency" start tonight, after allowing 8 earned runs over 5 2/3 innings in his other two "emergency" starts. You mean to tell me, Jim Hendry and Mike Quade, that you've had all this time to fix this hole in the rotation, and in the entire Cubs organization (to say nothing of the entire world of organized baseball) you can't come up with even one pitcher who can give your team a decent chance at a win?

If Hendry or Quade got a flat tire on their car, they would put on the spare tire and then continue driving hundreds of miles on it as if nothing had happened.

It's Quade!

Congratulations, Mike Quade. You've worked your way up the ladder, and now you're a non-interim major league manager - of a team with no number one starter, no first baseman, no second baseman, no leadoff hitter, no bullpen besides Carlos Marmol and Sean Marshall, and thanks to the boneheaded decisions made by your boss, no money to fix these problems. Best of luck to you in 2011 - you'll need it.

90 Losses? Think Again!

Congratulations are in order for the Chicago Cubs. By virtue of their 1-0 win over the Padres on Thursday, they've proven that it's possible to have the highest payroll in the National League and not lose 90 games.

There is one positive note about the Cubs taking 3 of 4 from the Padres. Mike Quade now has a 22-12 record (15-4 on the road) since assuming the managerial duties. While most of these wins have come by a team not playing for anything at the expense of teams that were not playing for anything, this series was different. Going into San Diego, where the Padres were fighting for their playoff lives, and playing this well is a more impressive feat.

And if you thought the positive note was going to be something about revenge for the 1984 NLCS, let me put it this way. First of all, that was 26 years ago - I'd guess that most of the guys who are playing now (and probably a significant portion of fans) aren't old enough to even remember that series. It would be like saying that the Arizona Cardinals' 2008 NFC Championship Game win over the Philadelphia Eagles was revenge for the Eagles' win over the Chicago Cardinals in the 1948 NFL Championship Game. Second, a fifth-place team pushing the Padres to the brink of elimination doesn't even come close to making up for the 1984 Padres stealing the Cubs' World Series spot. It would only be true revenge if by winning these games, the Cubs took the Padres' playoff spot and then went on to the World Series from there - but it looks like we won't have to worry about that possibility for several years.