Lee: 'I'll be in the lineup'
D-Lee says there's no story and that he'll be ready to go for tomorrow's doubleheader. He came out of the game after the fifth, when he doubled to left-center and scored a run. It was a recurrence of the neck spasms that have bothered him for the last couple of years.
He suffered neck spasms April 26 at St. Louis forcing him from the game, and he missed 2 starts right after that. He also missed 5 starts from May 6-10 with the spasms, which are caused by a bulging disc. An MRI May 10 confirmed the diagnosis.
"I'm good; I'll be in the lineup tomorrow," he said. "There's no story. I'm good. Just a tweak. I got out as a precaution."
Lee has a batting line of .281/.356/.514. He leads the Cubs in homers with 17 and RBI with 56.
Other tidbits from today's 5-2 win over the Cards:
--Ryan Theriot has hit safely in 25 of his last 27 home games. He enjoyed his 31st multihit game of the season. That leads the team. His OBP is up to .353.
--Ted Lilly recorded win No. 100 of his career. He has a home ERA of 1.86. He also has a team-high 14 quality starts.
--Jeff Baker went 2-for-3, driving in his first 2 runs as a Cub with a bases-looaded single in the first inning.
so is Lou going to platoon Marshall and soriano in left? i didn't see the replay on Reed's play but someone said it was trapped......still a good play.....
And hey, Marshall can hit a little bit.
good game
It was all that. Enjoy the break.
defense and pitching win, maybe not this game, but shows you Soriano never would have made that play......only Reed and Fuld
i hope he's been praticing in left...
Lou has called that bunt in the first inning with a runner on 2nd and no outs at least 5 times this year and I've mentioned it on here each time, so i wondered what if anything the TV guys would say, they all questioned the move.....
the 2nd hitter for the most part can hit to right and if he's a lefty it still serves the purpose...hit to right with a speed guy at 2nd and he'll score 99 % of the time, if the ball is hit on the ground for an out it still advances the runner.....so why give up an out to move him to 3rd?
Fuld just got another hit so Lou and Hendry will be sending him back down after the game..
Theriot just got a hit to right which is what i mean about the first inning.....
again bad game call by Lou....Fuld is on 2nd with no outs and theriot up, you swing to right for a hit and at worse you advance Fuld.....theriot is a right filed hitter hitting 299....to give up an out to advance him in the first inning is silly......Lee just knocked him in but that's not the point.....
I couldn't agree more ruhtra....that was a Dusty-like move plain pure and simple. It set the tone for the game. Instead of having a chance of a big inning to answer back to the pair of runs St.Louis had already scored, the got one lousy run after the leadoff double. I don't even like the sac bunt in the first inning with the baserunner at 1B, let alone 2B. He's already in scoring position for crying out loud. And like you said, Theriot was hitting just under .300 and excels at going to RF. Save the sac bunt until late in the game when you are playing for the tie or the win with the next run scored.
Giving up outs is never good. Outs are more valuable than bases. Read the SI story about Earl Weaver. He understood this way before sabermetrics talk became fashionable.
he's hitting a weak 300, bloop singles, he's turning into the Lee of 2008.......
and Lee is hitting the homers expected from Soriano......could Soriano bounce back in 2nd half?.....not sure.....would it help? big time.....
Bradley is not doing what Edmonds did last year.....could he rebound in 2nd half?....maybe
Fontenot is not hitting like DeRosa.....no
basically we've lost the Soto of 2008....maybe in 2nd half
to many question marks for a team that dreams of the WS
Hey Bruce, I really think that Hendry needs to shore up the bullpen as well as improve the lineup at least to some extent. They may make the playoffs with what they have now, but it will kill them in the postseason. They need a lefty (Sherrill would be the best option and probably will be available since he's 32 and in the final year of his contract) but they also need another addition of either a closer or reliable setup man with Marmol struggling so much with his control. The best that aren't too young and inexpensive for their present teams to be very willing to trade them would have to be George Sherrill.
Do you suppose they would bring back Kerry Wood? I know he hasn't been nearly as good this year but the Indians are looking to cut payroll the rest of the way and for next year. As I understand, Wood is making $10M this year so he'd be owed a bit shy of $5 prorated, plus $10.5M for 2010 and an option that kicks in for 2011 if he finishes 55 games either this year or next. Hendry said the reason he let Wood go elsewhere was because he deserved a longer contract, and Marmol was ready. But after Wood signed with the Indians, he swung the deal for Gregg in short order. If the Indians were willing to eat maybe half his salary, do you think Hendry would consider bringing him back? Considering that he hasn't fared that well this year (most likely different surroundings and changing leagues), the price in young prospects would probably be minimal. Then he could work something out with his old friend Andy for Sherrill and maybe include Aubrey Huff in the deal to backup 1B and RF or platoon RF with Bradley since Milton has had such a tough time from the left side. Huff would be owed about $4M the rest of the way. So that's a right around $10 prorated the rest of this year for Wood, Sherrill and Huff, and I would think the Indians would eat half of Wood's salary. Make that $10M combined for a prorated share of Wood, Sherrill and Huff's salaries, less a couple million of Wood's salary for a total of around $8. Those additions should finally make the Cubs a strong contender in the playoffs. If they were willing and able to deal Fukudome and use Fuld and Johnson in CF, that could cover most of the added payroll even with the Cubs eating some of Fukudomes contact. What do you think? Is it feasible? Would Hendry bring Wood back and deal with Baltimore or does he really think the Cubs are championship calibar right now if they just start to play better?
The Cubs are not in the market for a closer. They're happy with Gregg, who is 16-for-19 in saves. The Wood ship has sailed. He's not coming back here. Until the ownerships situation is settled, the Cubs are limited in how much money they can take on.
Fukudome has no-trade protection, and the Cubs are not of a mind to trade him.
As for Baltimore, the Cubs can get the lower-level (Rich Hill, Felix Pie) deals done with MacPhail, but the bigger deals are another story. Remember Brian Roberts? It would be the same with Sherrill, and the Cubs aren't that high on Huff. MacPhail will start by demanding Vitters, and then he'll want Marshall and a couple of prospects thrown in.
The Cubs are looking for a bullpen arm, but I don't see Sherrill in the picture unless MacPhail lowers what his demands might be.
I sure do remember the Brian Roberts rumors, and from what I read, the holdup was the Cubs being unwilling to part with Pie. Was that true Bruce? If so, what a huge mistake that was. Hard to see even MacPhail wanting Vitters for Sherrill...definitely too high of a price for a RP. I'm glad to hear though, that they are looking to shore up the pen. Marmol was terrible once again today. I'm curious, was there more to the Wood departure than Hendry and the Cubs let on? They made it sound like he'd be welcomed back with open arms.
recently he said he still held out hopes of making the all star team.........in spring or early he said cubs had made up their minds on the closer/gregg......is he a team man or "i" guy?.....i wouldn't give up on him just yet.......
any idea when the PTBNL will be announced? Rich is doing a little better than expected with Baltimore so will the prospect coming back to the Cubs be any good? I hear they have a 24 yr old lefthanded "5-tool-can't miss" outfielder out of options they might have to give away...
kidding you....
Haven't heard on the player to be named. But I will ask. I think the Cubs will pass on that outfielder.
was he talking about Pie? LOL
yeah, Pie is out of options and wasting away on Baltimore's bench. Been there, done that no need to bring him back. Another one of those "can't miss" everyone said would be the future. Guys like Soto, Wells, Theriot, etc etc fly under the radar and contribute and the top rated guys fall by the wayside.
When is Lou gonna stick to a lineup?, these guys who are not hitting need to sit.Soriano until he finds his power stroke needs to sit.And by sitting I mean get in the batting cage and find that power stroke, the same for Bradley, we are paying these guys to drive the ball hit homers not bloop singles and 1 double a week. They have had plenty of lineup time to find their stroke, yes their egos will be hurt, but these guys are terrible. And now their fielding is starting to suffer both of these guys have made some big mistakes. Put Reed Johnson out there with Fox and Fuld now that he has come back up to Chicago. They bring energy and we we know they can hit with power and Fuld has some speed. We are throwing away great starting pitching on these guys who can not seem to hit this year. Give these other 3 a chance, we led the league in quality starts, we have got to start hitting.
You have a point, but they aren't about to sit Soriano and Bradley on the bench when they are making so much money. I advocated benching him for about a week after he lazily returned to 1B after the ball ws caught at the wall and got doubled off base. But Soriano had hit over .300 since being dropped down in the batting order. He's also hit .393 in 28 AB's off Lohse. He needs to play the first game today and rest in the nightcap.
Hopefully Lee will be in the lineup against Lohse....he's killed Lohse (.389)...let the Hoff start game 2 vs Wainwright. Soriano has killed Lohse too and struggled against Wainwright. Rami has hit them both hard and Theriot has also murdered Lohse to the tune of .526. I'd go with a defensive lineup vs Wainwright (Johnson, Fuld, Fuk) and (Rami, Blanco, Baker, Hoff) with Fox behind the plate if Rami can go both games. Against Lohse, I'd go with Fuk, Theriot, Lee, Rami, Sori, Bradley, Font and Hill....that should produce some serious run support for big Z and get him one of those elusive wins. Let's see what Lou comes up with.
Just like I said, Lou was a genius in starting the Hoff in game one...he knew he was going to hit that three run bomb:)