Granted, I like Mark Prior in general, I think he's a swell guy... but at this point in the 2006 season for the Cubs, I'm not expecting him to come back and save the team from themselves. If Mark Prior comes in and pitches well, more power to him... but the Cubs have another problem.

They can't hit.

When they get a "duck" or two on the "pond", they leave them there. There's an occasional dinger to be seen... but as far as giving decent run support goes, forget it. I mean (and don't get me wrong, y'all know that he gives me special feelings in my pants) Doggie is more reliable than the great majority of players when it comes to RBI's. What the hell does that say?

On top of all of this, we're still waiting to hear the verdict on Barrett's suspension (it's certain he'll get it, we just don't know how long it will be for) and Barrett is hitting fairly well at the moment, at least when he isn't punching that inflatable clown that has AJ Pierzynski's face on it. (I know it was really wrong to do, I know he has to be punished, but damn, was it funny at the time!! It's hard to explain to those of you who aren't part of the Cubs vs Sox fray, but it rocked!!)  

What I'm saying is that good pitching will help this team, no doubt, but it's not going to be enough to give us wins. In baseball, one has to expect that the other team will get a hold of the ball a few times, and if one's team can't return a few runs and give proper run support, forget it.

BTW, check out the NHL finals if you can... it's pretty damn good, and that's coming from a girl who's proud to say she's an American (just don't get me started about Bush)...

Check out Schwartzy's blog (under "My Favorite Blogs" on the right) and add your name to the list of people who want Gary Bettman out as the NHL commish: whether you're a fan of the NHL or not, the sport is in dire need of your help (they've got a twit running the show, guys), and just as you'd want non-fans of your team to support actions to save your sport, we need to help out the NHL fans!

As Bono of U2 said, "The world could use more Canada"!!