The Cubs lost to the Cardinals again yesterday 2-1.  It was their third straight loss and their fourth loss in the past five games.  I want to get angry and blame them for not rising to the occasion, but then I see that they are marching Bobby Scales and Micah Hoffpauir out as the starting left and right fielder respectively, and I just sigh. 

Colorado beat Arizona yesterday to increase their Wildcard lead to 8.0 games over the Cubs with 16 games to play.  I know, it’s not happening.

The Cubs will try to salvage one game in their series with St. Louis by sending Carlos Zambrano (8-6) to the mound against Cy Young hopeful Adam Wainwright (18-8).  It doesn’t get any easier, does it?

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In an interview with Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald, Milton Bradley opened up and let everyone know what a complete horse’s ass he really is.  For some of us, it was already clear.  For those last few hold outs, it should be clear now.

Miles apparently asked Bradley several questions regarding his left knee injury and his on-field performance, but Bradley refused to answer.  The only question he would answer was when Miles asked him if he was enjoying his first season in Chicago.

“Not really,” he said. “It’s just not a positive environment. I need a stable, healthy, enjoyable environment. There’s too many people everywhere in your face with a microphone asking the same questions repeatedly. Everything is just bashing you. You go out there and you play harder than anybody on the field and never get credit for it. It’s just negativity.

“And you understand why they haven’t won in 100 years here, because it’s negative. It’s what it is.”

Asked whether he was talking about the fans, the media or even the Cubs organization, he replied: “It’s everything. It’s everybody.”

Of course, it’s everybody but Milton.  The man takes absolutely no responsibility for his own actions or his own crappy performance.  It’s everyone else’s fault.  It’s the fans, it’s the manager, it’s the other players, it’s everyone and everything, but it’s not Milton’s fault.

Let’s break down Milton’s comments:

“It’s just not a positive environment.” — There’s no one more negative associated with the Cubs than Bradley, but he wants to complain about the “negative environment” as if it is totally unrelated to him.  If there is a negative environment either on the field or in the clubhouse, it’s because of Bradley.  Perhaps he should recognize that the dark cloud he complains of follows him wherever he goes.

“I need a stable, healthy, enjoyable environment.” — “That’s all I need, just a stable, healthy, enjoyable environment, this chair, and a $30 million contract.”  Please, this is such a lame excuse.  What is not stable, healthy, or enjoyable about playing for the Cubs.  Others seem to enjoy, even relish, the experience of playing for the Cubs.  Maybe the environment would be more stable, healthy and enjoyable if the overpaid right fielder was doing his job instead of finding new things to complain about every day.

“There’s too many people everywhere in your face with a microphone asking the same questions repeatedly.” — Milton, you’re a professional athlete.  Reporters get paid to ask you questions.  Many of them are jerks, but that comes with the territory.  If you want to be left alone, dig ditches for a living.  Have you noticed that reporters ask other players questions and they don’t act like jackasses?  Maybe you should give it a try.

“Everything is just bashing you.” — Of course everything and everyone is bashing you.  You’re having a horrible season.  Try taking responsibility for your performance and your attitude, and maybe people will cut you a little slack.  By the way, if you take me up on my offer to be a ditch digger and you do a crappy job, people will still bash you for it.  It’s a sad fact of life.

“You go out there and you play harder than anybody on the field and never get credit for it.” — What?  You’ve got to be kidding.  I can’t say that I’ve seen you dog it out on the field, but neither do I recall you ever putting forth more effort than anyone else.  Plus, aren’t you the same guy that said he prays games go no longer than nine innings?  It seems to me that the guy giving the most effort on the team would do it for however long the game goes, not just nine innings.  Sorry Milton, but I’m going to have to throw a big BS flag on you for this ridiculous comment.  Don’t hurt yourself while you’re patting yourself on the back and throwing your teammates under the bus.  If only the rest of the team would play as hard as you.  Puhlease…

“It’s just negativity.” — Refer to the comment above concerning Milton Bradley being the sourse of all negativity.

“And you understand why they haven’t won in 100 years here, because it’s negative. It’s what it is.” — Yeah, that’s it.  The Cubs haven’t won a World Series in more than 100 years because 1) of the environment Milton Bradley deems as negative, and 2) because no one gives Milton Bradley the credit he so richly deserves for being the hardest working player in all of Cubdom.  It’s so clear to me now.

“Asked whether he was talking about the fans, the media or even the Cubs organization, he replied: “It’s everything. It’s everybody.” — Again, it’s everybody’s fault, but Milton’s.

I was not a fan of Milton Bradley’s signing.  From the beginning I thought bringing him to the Cubs was a bad fit.  Naturally, I was somewhat concerned about his inability to stay healthy, but I was even more concerned with his attitude and behavior.  He has done absolutely nothing this year to prove that my concerns about his attitude and behavior were unwarranted.  His one year in Chicago has been a train wreck, not because of anyone else, but because of Bradley himself.  Has the press been tough on him?  Sure.  Does that justify his behavior?  Absolutely not.

The Cubs have to get rid of Bradley at all costs.  Even if they have to pay a good chunk of his salary to move him, it will be better for the team than to keep him in the organization.  And it’s a pretty sad statement about a player to say that the team would be better off paying someone else to take him.

With the loss, the Cubs drop to 7.0 games behind Wildcard leading Colorado with just 18 games to play.  The team travels to St. Louis to start a three game series this evening against the NL Central leading Cardinals.  Ted Lilly (12-8) takes the mound versus John Smoltz (3-6).

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In yesterday’s game, Milton Bradley hit a single in the sixth inning and then pulled up lame at first base.  After a short conversation with first base coach Matt Sinatro, Bradley took himself out of the game.  At first, Lou Piniella seemed to be caught off-guard by the sudden departure of Bradley, and it took some time to get a pinch-runner in the game.  However, Piniella explained after the game that he knew Bradley’s knee was bothering him and it just took a little while for Bobby Scales to get loose in the tunnel before he could take over for Bradley on first base.

For his part, Bradley didn’t do anything to lessen the opinion that he is a whiny, self-centered baby.  This is what Carrie Muskat of MLB.com wrote about Bradley’s post-game pity party:

Bradley did not want to talk about his knee postgame.

“I have knee inflammation,” he said. “I’ve had two knee surgeries. It happens when you have knee surgery, in case you don’t know.”

It’s uncertain whether Bradley will miss Friday’s game in St. Louis. Asked if he was day to day, Bradley snapped.

“What else you got? You got anything significant?” he said. “If you have some baseball questions, I can answer. I’ve got nothing for you.”

The immature, disrespectful display didn’t sit well with Pinella.  The Tribune’s Paul Sullivan wrote this:

A few minutes later, Piniella called reporters into his office. He said Bradley’s mysterious reaction to questions about his injury was uncalled for.

“All he had to say was I talked to (the trainer) in front of the manager, which he did, and he said ‘My patella is bothering me,’” Piniella said. “And when he went over to first base, I motioned to him and he said he couldn’t run, and we just took him out of the ballgame… He was in his perfect rights to come out of the ballgame, and that’s all he needed to say.

“All he’s got to say are the facts. And if he says the facts, nobody is going to dispute anything. That’s all. Just say the facts.”

You don’t have to be a psychic to know that Piniella and Bradley don’t get along.  Think about it.  Piniella is an old school manager who has seen just about every type of player in his career.  He knows who can get the job done and who can’t.  Bradley is a player with a constant massive chip on his shoulder who has created controversy just about everywhere he has gone.  Piniella sees that Bradley is all about Bradley.  He’s not about team and he’s not about winning.  He’s all about doing what he can to increase his precious OBP numbers, often at the expense of doing what is best for the team in a given instance.  Of course they’re going to butt heads.

I have no idea what goes on behind closed doors, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Piniella has told Jim Hendry, if you want me back next year, move Bradley this off-season.  If I were in Piniella’s shoes, there’s no way I would want to put up with another year of Bradley and his drama.

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Bruce Levine of WMVP – AM 1000 in Chicago writes on his ESPN Chicago blog that new Cubs owner-in-waiting Tom Ricketts, team president Crane Kenney, and vice president of business operations Mark McGuire traveled to Mesa, AZ to scope out potential sites for a new Cubs Spring Training home.  The mayor of Mesa, AZ and other Arizona officials met with the Cubs trio to discuss options and to beg the Cubs on bended knee not to move to Florida.

It’s just my opinion, but I think the Cubs should move to Florida.  The Cubs are the biggest draw in Arizona, but they have some of the worst facilities. In the past, Mesa has been somewhat reluctant to commit funds to keep them in town while Florida has been chomping at the bit to spend money to bring the Cubs into the Grapefruit League.  Florida has been losing teams to Arizona over the past several years and they would like to reverse that trend.

Of even more importance is the fact that I often travel to Florida, but rarely get to Arizona.  Whatever other considerations there may be, this one should take precedence.

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I enjoy reading Murray Chass, but I rarely agree with him.  This is primarily due to the fact that Chass writes about baseball, but hasn’t liked anything about the game since Ducky Medwick hung up his uniform for the last time.  Of course I’m exaggerating badly, but you get the idea.  He is the sterotypical curmudgeon of a writer who looks at anything that is new or different as automatically bad.

Anyway, he recently wrote an article about the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team he knows a little bit about.  He doesn’t like what is happening there and makes a good case for why fans of the team shouldn’t like it either.  He writes:

When the Pirates completed their roster cleansing July 30, they had a 43-58 record (.426) and were 11 ½ games from first place. Since then, through Monday’s games, they had a 12-29 record (.293) and had tumbled 28 ½ games from first.

In the interim they set a major league record by insuring their 17^th successive losing season, but they were going to get that record with the players they traded away; it would just have taken them longer. 

If the Pirates incur losses in their last 20 games at the same rate they have lost since July 30, they will finish with a 60-102 record (.370), their worst record in the 17-season stretch and their second worst record since the early 1950s and the days of Vic Janowicz, the O’Brien twins Johnny and Eddie and Joe Garagiola.

On the one hand, the Pirates have been a horribly run organization for the better part of two decades, so I at least applaud them for now having a plan and following it.  On the other hand, trading away Nyjer Morgan, Freddie Sanchez, and maybe Jack Wilson made little sense to me.  I understand that the team is in rebuild mode, but what are they building around?  At their current pace, they are going to develop players over the course of three or four years who, when ready to really contrbute, will be too expensive to keep.  It seems like a viscous cycle to me.

But the part I liked best about Chass’ article is when he talked about the fact that the Pirates current payroll is less than the amount the team receives in revenue sharing.  He writes:

Perhaps the most striking figures are the payroll numbers. The Pirates opened the season with a $48.7 million payroll. They are closing it with a payroll (based on the Aug. 31 roster and disabled list) of $20 million. The players they traded during the season have salaries totaling $31 million.

Now for the kicker. The Pirates, one of the smallest revenue teams in the majors, received approximately $40 million in revenue sharing last year and most likely will get at least that much, despite the economy, for this year. One thing we know for sure. They aren’t spending the money to pay players.

Chass has hit on my pet peeve.  I’ve advocated for a salary cap in the past partly to control spending, but also to force lower revenue teams to spend a minimum amount on player payroll.  The Pirates are a perfect example of how the current system is not working.  The Pirates (and Royals, and Marlins) are not the Washington Generals, the perennial foes of the Harlem Globetrotters.  They are (or should be) a legitimate major league baseball team and it is a travesty that their payroll is less than 1/10th of the team with the highest payroll.

Chass continues:

Under the collective bargaining agreement, teams that receive money have to notify the commissioner’s office each April what they did with the money the previous year. “They’re going to have some explaining to do,” a baseball official said. “It’s going to be difficult for them absent some substantial moves between now and April.”

High-revenue teams don’t appreciate revenue recipients that don’t spend the money to improve themselves but pocket it instead. The commissioner’s office is supposed to monitor the spending to make sure teams use the money as they’re supposed to, but no team has ever been disciplined or even reprimanded for not using it correctly.

The Pirates might be a good place for the commissioner to start. It would be the best win for the fans all year.

Bravo, Murray!  The travesty has been exposed.  Now it is up to Bud Selig and the other owners to take action.

Obviously, I kid.  The move had no real impact and probably won’t for a while, if at all.  It’s hard to put any real blame on Perry for the Cubs hitting woes.  I don’t think any hitting coach could be so inept that he causes the kind of problems the Cubs hitters have had this year.

Having said that, I think there were some problems with Perry.  I noticed that Lou Piniella had to get involved a lot when guys were in extended slumps.  It’s great that Lou has the ability to get involved and make a difference, but if the hitting coach is doing his job, Lou shouldn’t have to.  It seems to me that in too many instances,. Lou had to.

Even so, I don’t think that switching hitting coaches is the cure to the Cubs’ ills.  Von Joshua, no matter how good he is, isn’t going to fix Milton Bradley’s head.  He’s not going to make Lee into a power hitter again.  And he’s not going to make Aramis Ramiez heal faster.

If Joshua wants to know where to start, here’s a list of the guys hitting less than .250:  

• Ryan Freel    .167/.211/.167
• Aaron Miles    .200/.240/.252
• Andreas Blanco  .212/.278/.303
• Geovany Soto    .223/.332/.318
• Milton Bradley    .227/.335/.383
• Alfonso Soriano  .229/.296/.454
• Mike Fontenot    .236/.324/.396
• Bobby Scales  .241/.333/.466
• Koyie Hill  .246/358/.386

After the game, Z announced that he will retire at the end of his current contract.  He said he wants to spend more time with his family and see his daughters grow up.  Z current contract runs through 2012 with a vesting option for 2013.

Zambrano runs so hot and cold, it’s difficult to take him seriously sometimes.  Whether or not he is serious in this case, only time will tell.  My prediction is that he will still be playing baseball after his current contract is up.

The Cubs got more good pitching on Saturday as Ryan Dempster gave up six hits and three runs (zero earned) over six innnigs in the Cubs 4-3 loss to the Reds.  Dempster got a no-decision. 

The Reds won the game in the 11th inning on a fielders choice grounder to third-baseman Mike Fontenot off the bat of Adam Rosales.  Jay Bruce was on third base for the Reds and took off for home on contact.  Fontenot made a high throw to the plate and Bruce slid in under the tag. 

Both Derrick Lee and Reed Johnson contributed two hits apiece to continue their hot hitting.  Bobby Scales and Geovany Soto each hit solo homeruns.

In the third and final game of the series, the Cubs won 6-3 in 14 innings.  It was the Cubs fourth extra inning game in their last five games. 

Randy Wells got the start for the Cubs and gave up seven hits and two earned runs over 6.2 innings.  The strong outing moved Wells ERA to just 1.86.  Jason Waddell got the hold, David Patton earned the victory and Angel Guzman got the save.

The Cubs scored three runs in the top of the 14th inning when Alfonso Soriano led off with his 14th HR of the season.  Mike Fontenot added an RBI single and Reed Johnson and RBI double to cap the victory for the good guys.  Ryan Theriot had a good day at the plate going 3-6 including a first inning HR off the Reds’ Bronson Arroyo.

The Cubs have an off day on Monday before taking on the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park in a three game series starting Tuesday.

The Cubs only run on Thursday came courtesy of a Bobby Scales eighth inning solo HR.  Scales was recalled from Iowa on Thursday after being sent down on Wednesday.

The Cubs returned the favor on Friday beating the Dodgers 2-1 behind Ted Lilly’s seven inning, four hit performance.  Lilly gave up one earned run, while walking three and striking out five.  The Dodgers lone run came on a fifth inning HR by Matt Kemp.

The Cubs will try to continue their winning ways and strong pitching on Saturday as dinged-up Ryan Dempster takes on Lefty Eric Stults in an afternoon affair at Wrigley.

• The Cubs beat the Pirates 5-2.  Zambrano pitched 6.1 innings before being ejected for (barely) bumping the home plate umpire during an argument over a play at the plate.  Carlos Marmol got the victory and Kevin Gregg looked very shaky, giving up two walks in his 1.0 inning of work.
• Zambrano made the most of his ejection.  After (barely) bumping home plate umpire Mark Carlson and getting thrown out of the game, Z motioned to throw the umpire out of the game and then threw the baseball into left field.  With a little help from the wind, the ball may have made it into the left field bleachers.  An impressive throw nonetheless.  He then threw his glove into the dugout, picked up a bat, and beat the Gatorade dispenser senseless.  It was an impressive show of anger, frustration, lack of self-control, and hatred for the Gatorade dispenser.  Z will likely be  suspended 6-10 games and the Gatorade dispenser will likely never be the same.  The video of Z’s tirade can be found here.
• Ryan Theriot went 3-3, Reed Johnson hit his eighth home run, and Milton Bradley added a triple to lead the Cubs offensive attack. 
• The Cubs made lots of roster moves.  My new favorite Cub, Bobby Scales, was sent down to Iowa along with Neil Cotts.  Aaron Miles was placed on the DL with a sore shoulder.  To replace them, the Cubs brought up switch hitting infielder Andreas Blanco and hot hitting C/3B Jake Fox, and LHP Jason Waddell.  Blanco started at second base and went 1-4, thus (barely) avoiding the dreaded sub-.250 list.  Jake Fox was used as a pitch hitter and promptly hit a double and picked up an RBI.  Waddell did not pitch.
• Ryan Freel left the game with a tight (?) hamstring and may be heading to the DL.  If so, Bobby Scales can earn some additional frequent flyer miles by returning to the Cubs.
• Last night was Jake Fox jersey giveaway night at AAA Iowa, but Jake Fox wasn’t there.  How awkward.
• The Dodgers are coming to town for a four game series at Wrigley starting today (Thursday).  Randy Wells (0-1) takes on Randy Wolf (2-1) in the battle to determine the supreme Randy. 
• Today’s sub-.250 hitters include:

1. Ryan Freel    .167/.211/.167
2. Milton Bradley    .200/.328/.390
3. Aaron Miles    .204/.250/.265
4. Geovany Soto    .216/.328/.276
5. Mike Fontenot    .223/.309/.385
6. Reed Johnson    .239/.316/.373
7. Derrick Lee    .242/.313/.406

Sean Marshall pitched five innings, giving up just four hits and two earned runs; both solo home runs to Albert Pujols and Brian Barden.  But considering the Cubs anemic offensive attack, the two runs were enough as the Cardinals went on to win the game 3-1.

At the plate, D Lee went 2-4 to raise his average to .239; not good, but it’s moving in the right direction.  On the other hand, Milton Bradley had an 0-4 night and his average fell to .184.

After the game, Lou Piniella was asked about Mike Fontenot’s struggles at the plate and said that he was thinking of sitting Fontenot for a while.  Fontenot, who is currently hitting just .195 with an OBP of .292, will likely be replaced by my new favorite Cub, Bobby Scales.

The offense should improve tonight as the Cubs take on the Padres.  Carlos Zambrano will be coming off the DL to pitch and hit the Cubs to victory.  However, they’ll be facing future-Cub Jake Peavy, who yesterday turned down a trade to the White Sox.  Turning down the chance to play on the southside was a bit of a slap-in-the-face to the White Sox, but just think of what a slap it will be when Peavy accepts a trade to the Cubs.  That will be fun.

At the moment, the Cubs are in 3rd place in the NL Central, 4.0 games behind the 1st place Brewers (and just.5 games ahead of Dusty Baker’s Reds).  Honestly, I don’t think the Brewers or the Cardinals can keep up their current pace, but if the Cubs don’t start hitting the ball and winning some games, it really won’t matter what the Brewers or Cardinals do.

Going in to the ninth inning, the Cubs had a 4-0 lead over Roy Oswalt and the Houston Astros.  In his second Major League start, Randy Wells pitched six strong (albeit adventurous) innings and had shut-out the Astros to that point.  Micah Hoffpauir led the way offensively with a 2-run home run.  Then closer Kevin Gregg came in to pitch the ninth inning and the bottom fell out.

Lance Berkman was the first batter up in the top of the ninth and quickly hit a home run off of Gregg.  Not to be out done, Carlos Lee then stepped to the plate and hit another gopher ball off of Gregg.  The Cubs closer then gave up back-to-back singles to Miguel Tejada and Hunter Pence, and Manager Lou Piniella had seen enough.   Gregg was done for the day. 

Both runners eventually scored off of Aaron Heilman, who gave up a walk and a single, to tie the game at 4-4.  Piniella then turned to Sean Marshall to get the Cubs out of the inning. 

Bobby Scales started off the bottom of the ninth with a walk off former Cub LaTroy Hawkins.  Aaron Miles bunted Scales over to second and then Alfonso Soriano singled in to right to bring Scales home for the Cubs victory.

I know the bullpen is going to have an off day now and then, but it really bothers me to see the team’s closer have a meltdown like this.  In all fairness, Gregg has converted six-out-of-seven save opportunities, which is what he gets paid for.  But with a record of 0-1 and an ERA of 6.06 after 18 appearances and 16.1 innings pitched, I expected more.  Hopefully this bad outing will be a wake-up call for Gregg.

This would have been a “feel good” story even if Scales had been sent back down to the Minors the next day, but the story has just gotten better.  Just three days after Scales big day, Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez injured his shoulder and was placed on the DL.  Suddenly, Scales went from a career Minor Leaguer to a guy who is seeing almost daily action at the big league level.  And he’s making the most of it.

After collecting his first hit and scoring his first run in his first start, Scales has gone on to collect eight hits in 18 at-bats for a stout .444 batting average.  He’s scored six runs and has driven in five.  His best outing came today when he went 2-for-4, drove in four, and scored two runs in a Cubs victory over San Diego, the club that originally selected Scales in the 14^th round of the 1999 draft.

The thing that makes Scales story so compelling is the kind of guy he is.  Throughout his career, he has been a good teammate and a positive influence in the locker room.  His Minor League managers and teammates have commented on his positive attitude and his willingness to continually work hard, despite the fact that it was beginning to look like he may never get a shot in the big leagues.

On Scales’ first day at Wrigley Field, there was a package waiting for him; a bottle of champagne sent by his former teammate, Brian Sweeney.  Along with the bubbly came a card that read simply, “All the hard work paid off.”  The fact that Scales hadn’t spoken to Sweeney in two or three years, but wasn’t forgotten by his friend on his first day in the bigs says a lot about the kind of person Scales is.  So is the fact that two of his college roommates from the University of Michigan – one living in Philadelphia and the other in Chicago – were sitting in the front row at Wrigley for his first Major League start.

Cubs teammate Micah Hoffpauir was waiting in the dugout for Scales after he scored his first big league run.  Hoffpauir hugged Scales and congratulated him.  As his teammate in triple-A, Hoffpauir knew about all of the hard work and sacrifice it had taken for Scales to make it to the show.  In an interview after the game, Hoffpauir gave credit to Scales for the fact that Hoffpauir himself had gotten called up to the Cubs last year. 

“He’s the reason I got here last year because he got on base for me,” Hoffpauir said in the interview.

In the off-season, Scales works as a substitute teach in Alpharetta, GA.  He teaches physical education and health classes.  If he keeps hitting the way he’s hitting now, he won’t need an off-season job.  Of course, it’s always good to have something to fall back on.