Aramis Ramirez and Milton Bradley both homered for the Cubs.  Bradley also drew three walks in the game.  For all of his other faults, Bradley can draw a walk.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals won in Los Angeles, so the Cubs remain 6.0 games behind St. Louis.  The Cubs are 5.o games behind Colorado in the Wildcard race.  The Giants, Marlins and Braves are also ahead of the Cubs in the Wildcard.

The Cubs travel up the Pacific Coast to start a four game series with the Dodgers tonight.  Lefty Tom Gorzelanny (5-2) goes up against Jeff Weaver (5-4).

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As you probably know, Bud Selig is a big fan of this blog and he has jumped on the bandwagon I started the other day to institute a worldwide draft.  Dave Shenin writes in the Washington Post that Selig wants to make an “aggressive” push with the players union to implement a worldwide draft and a hard slotting system when the two sides get together to discuss the 2011 collective bargaining agreement. 

At least in theory, I like the idea of a salary cap tied to revenues as well.  I don’t know if this idea will get any traction, but I don’t think you can continue to have one team outspending another team by a factor of five or six and expect the game to remain healthy.  Of course, as I’ve said in the past, any salary cap must also have a salary floor so that teams don’t take undue advantage of the agreement.  I know a salary cap is a long shot, but I thought I’d throw it out there to give Bud something else to think about.

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Is Lou Piniella going to quit after this season?  Scott Miller at CBSSports.com thinks he might.  Although I enjoyed Miller’s article, be warned, it’s just an opinion piece.  Miller is suggesting that Piniella might walk away after this season.  Piniella doesn’t say that.

What I liked best about the article is the way that Miller detailed all of the things that have gone wrong for the Cubs this year.  I tend to forget all of the diasters and near-disasters that have plagued the Cubs this year.  Things really haven’t broken the Cubs way very often this season.

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Bill Hall has left the building.  Yesterday, I suggested that the Cubs look at adding the former Brewer to their roster to be the utility man for 2010.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), the Mariners beat the Cubs to the punch and traded for Hall.   The Mariners traded a low level pitching prospect for Hall and a lot of money.  Milwaukee will be paying Hall’s salary for the rest of 2009 and a good chuck of his $9.5 million contract next year.

Lossing out on Hall isn’t a big deal, but it does bother me that the Cubs seem to constantly rely on weak hitting backup infielders as bench players each year.  The one exception to that rule over the past several years was acquiring Mark DeRosa, but of course we all know how that ended.  Bill Hall wouldn’t have been the team savior, but he would have been an upgrade.

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Some in Collier County, Florida would like to make a push to bring the Cubs there for Spring Training.  However, the residents and officials in the county don’t seem to be very united. 

According to a report on NBC2.com in Naples, Murray Hendel, a member of the county’s Tourist Development Council, is leading the charge to bring the Cubs to southwest Florida.  But before he can convince the Cubs, he first has to convince the county’s tourism director, Jack Wert.  Wert says that bringing the Cubs or any team to Collier County just isn’t a priority.

“We just aren’t really that same kind of destination.  We’re much more of a resort and beach, and golf destination,” Wert said.

In case you don’t know, Naples likes to think of itself as a posh, upscale community.  There are several spa and golf resorts in the area, along with a lot of overpriced homes on the Gulf of Mexico.  Don’t get me wrong.  Naples is very nice.  In fact, I like it.  But how can a man that makes his living attracting tourist dollars to an area not get behind a movement to attract an MLB ball club?  That just doesn’t make sense to me.

Earlier this year, a group in Vero Beach announced that they would like to attract the Cubs to the empty Dodgertown.  Unlike Naples, Vero Beach and Indian River County would bend over backwards to get the Cubs to move there.  And the history of the Cubs coupled with the history of Dodgertown would be a great match.  I haven’t heard anything about this recently, but I like the idea.

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On his blog, former Dodger GM Fred Claire has a nice piece on Mark Prior.  It’s a bit of a puff piece.  No breaking news here.  But it still gives a good insight into Prior’s outlook on life and baseball.  I’ve always liked Prior.  I was never one of those who bashed him for being soft and not playing through his injuries.  It would be great to see him come back next year healthy and back on top of his game.

You would think that a team in the Cubs’ position would rally-up (a new term coined by me) and play better at this time of the year, especially against sub-.500 teams.  Instead, they continue to plod along like there’s no urgency to the situation.  It’s maddening to watch this group of overpaid underachievers just go through the motions every game.  Is it time to give up on this sorry team?  I don’t know yet.  Ask me tomorrow.

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According to Joe Strauss at the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Cardinals are set to sign John Smoltz to be their fifth starter.  An announcement and press conference will likely happen later today.

I personally don’t think Smoltz has the stuff to be a starter on a contending team, but the Cardinals obviously disagree.  There was talk about Smoltz becoming the set-up man for Ryan Franklin, but for now he’s being brought in to start.

Let’s face it, Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan have a way of making moves like this work.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Duncan spends a few days with Smoltz only to have Smoltz regain the prowess he showed in Atlanta.  That might be asking a little much, but you have to admit that Duncan is good, no matter how much you hate the fact.

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The other day, I commented that it doesn’t seem like Walt Jocketty and the Cincinnati Reds have any sort of plan for the future.  So John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer completely stole my idea and wrote an article about it.  That’s okay.  I don’t mind.  I’m just here to give.

Anyway, Fay obviously feels the same way I do, but because he has access to Walt Jocketty, he asked Jocketty what his plans are.  Here’s a little of what he said:

“The plan is . . . we have a plan, let’s put it at that. . . The plan is to try and develop quality young players and build a foundation for the organization for the long-term, not just the short-term.”

So how does that explain the acquisition of Scott Rolen?

“We’re also trying to be fair to our fans and be competitive as much as we could this year. I think we were until we were hit with a lot of injuries in the middle of July. We didn’t have the depth to compensate for it.”

The only problem with that is that the Reds got Rolen after the team was hit with injuries.  So Jocketty knew he didn’t have the depth to compete, but he got Rolen and his $10 million/year price tag any way.

It seems to me like Jocketty and the Reds really don’t have a plan.

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Jayson Stark at ESPN.com wrote a great piece about how the MLB draft is broken and how he proposes to fix it.  It really is a good article, but there’s one part that I’d like to focus on.

Most of the arguments being put forward for a revamped draft are presented from the owners perspective.  Teams are paying more for draft picks than ever before and the argument is that the owners need some new rules to save them from themselves.  There’s obvious truth to the argument, but I think the players union should be right there with the owners calling for change.

Too often, we think of the players union as nothing more than a foil for the desires of the owners.  But at least in this case, the interests of the owners and the players are aligned.  Think about it, the owners just spent millions upon millions of dollars to sign players that 1) have never played professional baseball, and 2) are not yet members of the union.  If I’m part of the union, I want that money (or a good chunk of it) being paid to my members, not some high school or college kid.

The players union should be breaking down Bud Selig’s door demanding change.  The draft, as currently structured, doesn’t work to the benefit of the players, the majority of the owners, or the game itself.  Changes should be made immediately.  There’s no need to wait until the next collective bargaining agreement.  If everyone involved in the CBA wants the change now, who’s left to complain?

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Bill Hall and his $9.5 million contract for 2010 were DFA’d earlier this week and the Brewers have until Friday to trade or release him.  I’m not suggesting that Bill Hall is the answer to the Cubs woes, but I do think he is a decent utility ball player.  The Brewers paid him like he’s a top-of-the-line starting player, but that’s not his fault.

The Cubs have trotted out the likes of  Aaron Miles, Ryan Freel, and Joey Gathright this year.  Hall is a better player than any of these suspects and the Cubs would have the added benefit of having Milwaukee pay the bulk of Hall’s salary in 2010. 

Hall can play a serviceable third base, shortstop, second, and outfield.  He’s the poor man’s Mark DeRosa.  Wouldn’t the Cubs be better off having Hall as a backup and bench player rather than Aaron Miles?  I think so.