I hate US Cellular Field... but I hate the White Sox more. I know that most of you out there can't understand why we Cubs faithful detest the Sox so much, but we do... and believe you me, it's right back at us. I managed to fall into some bleacher tickets for todays game.  Sporting my Cubbie-Blue t-shirt, I was harassed (albeit in a playful way, so no one got hurt) by no less than three Sox fans, all males. Two of them used their little brooms (since they were hoping for a sweep) in order to needle me, and another told me I was on the wrong side of town. Whatever, blase, blase...

In the stands, I found more of my kindred spirits, and was lucky to sit next to a complete stranger who was a Cubs fan. The majority of the interaction between the Cubs and Sox fans was amiable ribbing... although later in the game, across the park, a huge fight broke out which led to about twenty (no joke) security guards being summoned.

The game went by really fast: Zman was in control once more, except for a minor issue in the 4th inning where he was frustrated and motioned that he would hit a batter in the neck if he could. I love you Zman, and you have great stuff, but please rope it in! No more fights where my Old Man has to rush onto the field in an attempt to break it up...

Speaking of, I was pretty far away, but I was still able to make out my Doggie in the dugout. I was tempted to flash him for a moment, but then decided no, these Sox fans and players don't deserve it! :-) So I just drooled from afar, settled in and watched my boys get a much needed win.

As I left the park, satisfied in one way and totally wishing I had a pass for the Cubs locker-room ("Hey, Mad Dog... You wanna become a member of the 'Do it in every park club'?"), I met many of my kindred Cubs fans. We high-fived one another... I saw a little girl wearing a Doggie jersey and told her it was awesome...

All in all, a good day...

I'm sure that a lot of people think it's easy to be Greg Maddux.

No matter what, he's going into the Hall of Fame. No matter what, he's one of the best pitchers of our generation. No matter what, he's one of, if not the best, cerebral pitchers.

But there's one hell of a downside that has been getting worse in the last few years. The way that umps treat him.

Now, there are plenty of umps who treat him with respect and call his pitches as they are, whether they're good or bad. However, there's also a fairly large contingent of umps who ride Greg's backside so much that he should consider putting in handles...

Granted, Greg was a bit off today in his start against the White Sox, but as I sat and watched the game (which is still in play at the time that I'm writing this) I saw Doggie delivering pitches that clearly were strikes, but they weren't called. It was so bad that Greg "walked" about five hitters- I put "walked" in quotes because Greg has never been one to give those up, so if he truly did "walk" all those people, he has fallen apart. (He hasn't fallen apart, he just couldn't get a break from the umpire).

To make matters worse, the umpire decided to make a mound out of a molehill, no pun intended. Greg is known to lower his head so that his chin is touching his chest, and swear when he feels a need to. Greg goes out of his way to not express himself in a manner that others might find offensive. So, Doggie is up there on the mound, throwing pitches that were right where they should be to get strikes, when he released a ball that he himself wasn't happy with (those of you who know Doggie's style know that he's very hard on himself when he commits an error). Greg lowered his head and yelled at himself: "God DAMN it!!". I can't even tell you how many times I've heard him do that in the past... it's actually quite cute to me: I imagine that you guys out there find it funny. The ump, who has been riding Doggie all game at this point (lucky SOB! ;-) then proceeds to rip off his mask, take a few steps towards the mound, and he starts yelling at Maddux that it was "off the plate!". Mind you, while he's acting like a complete, unprofessional jerk, Doggie is saying, "I'm sorry, man... that wasn't about you. I'm sorry...". I mean, you could clearly read it on his lips. Then Rothschild comes out to check on his pitcher, and the ump doesn't give the crew the normal amount of time to talk, he's immediately on his way to the mound to break it up.

My question is, what the hell was the umps' problem? That wasn't Roger Clemens on the mound, or some other mouthy guy with a big ego. It was Mr. Humble on the mound... but apparently this ump takes issue with a guy who gets frustrated with himself and therefore decides to yell at himself.

This is what Greg Maddux has to deal with a fair share of the time. I know that all pitchers meet with some resistance from time to time, but when it comes to Greg, there seem to be some umps with real axes to grind against him. I've seen games where the umps ride him hard, and I've seen some crazy games where I honestly think that the umps weren't paying attention: where one pitch is a strike, Doggie hits that same spot on the next pitch, it's a ball. There was even a game last year, which I refer to as the "Do you even HAVE a strike zone?!" game, where Doggie lost it and asked the umpire to just let him know what the strike zone was... Now, Doggie blowing up and actually getting on an ump about that is VERY rare, so something must have been happening.

For those of you who don't understand why I take the views that I do about Maddux, you have to realize that I've watched him for years, and a key component to Maddux has always been that he's a gentleman, he very rarely gets so upset as to argue a call or a pitch. Knowing that, and having watched his style for so long, I can tell you that some crazy crap was going on. I've watched him for so long that I'm better at interpreting his body language than most of the broadcasters who comment on him and his games. For example, a REALLY good sign that Doggie is upset about something is that he'll start cracking his neck: he does this both on the mound and in interviews. When you see the neck going, you know that he's irritated.

I didn't see any neck cracking today, but I wouldn't have blamed him for it if he did do it... I can't imagine how frustrating it was for him all around today.

When all is said and done, it's not so easy to be a future Hall of Famer, is it?

Kerry Wood did NOT have a good day today.

I have mixed feelings about it all...

Well, that's being nice. What he did was give up five home runs... As our beloved Cubs broadcasters Len and Bob tried to put it, he was "throwing strikes, but the hitters were getting a hold of them".

Now, that's Len and Bob's decision, and they try to be as PC as they can, which I both understand and agree with in their position (that is, unless some really big crap hits the fan, in which case they should address the issue but not be nasty about it). Len and Bob are a great improvement over Chip Caray and Steve Stone: for all of his baseball knowledge, Stone always sounded to me like he was putting people down with little barbs; Chip seemed to be nothing more than an Ed McMahon type sidekick...

Sorry, back to the matter at hand... Wood. Wood just gave them up today like a rookie. Was he nervous? Probably, but he can't pull the Newbie card at this point in his career. So what was it?

Is it possible that his arm just isn't up to snuff? What do you guys think? Was he just getting back into the swing of things?

At least our hitters are waking up...

For my non-spanish speaking readers (okay, I don't know much spanish, either, but I took six years of French) my title is translated as "Zman woke up! Long live Zman!!"

Carlos Zambrano, the Cubs big, burly (no pun intended after my last post) right-hander, the man pegged as the Ace of the staff, has finally woken up and gotten into his groove. He has won his last two games commandingly after getting a slew of ND's and a few losses. For a while, I was starting to think that Zman had lost his focus. He was pitching with far less than his usual flair and power. Frankly, my Old Man, (known to the rest of you as Greg Maddux) was making him look like a hapless twit in comparison.

But now the Zman is back at full capacity. Last night, he pitched an incredible game and ran the bases in that lumbering manner that is so Carlos: I mean that in a good way. Zman shut out the Nationals with a final score of 4-0! I was bouncing up and down on my couch!

Thankfully, it now looks like we have three butt-kicking pitchers on our staff: Mad Dog (the ultimate), Zman (the big guy), and Marshall (the newbie with potential). 

We're supposed to get Kerry Wood back tomorrow, but he's a "wait and see" in my book. Long ago, I learned a simple but total truth: DTW (Don't Trust Wood). I don't think it would take much for him to get hurt once more... but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We'll see what he has and if he can keep it hot for a few months, enough to help us.

Carlos, babe, it's GREAT to have you back once more! One thing though... please don't get so upset in a game you're pitching that Doggie has to jump up off of the bench and calm you down again... although it was awful cute when he had to do that a few times last year. Okay, I just like watching Doggie get all controlling... ROWRRRR!! ;-)

It all started in June of 2005: Mark Buerhle insinuated that a pitcher on the Chicago Cubs was doctoring baseballs. The initial accusation revolved around alledged spit balls... and although no one was named directly, it was assumed that Buerhle was lobbing this indictment at none other than Greg Maddux.

Others then came forward, some defending Buerhle by stating that he hadn't accused Maddux directly... There were a few sportscasters who agreed with Buerhle's accusation, but the vast majority of experts out there responded just as I did: initially there was laughter because of the assinine assertion, but it quickly dissolved into anger. Of all the people in the world to accuse of cheating... people can disagree with me, but I'll say it anyway: Greg Maddux would rather lose a game than win it by cheating. I've been following Greg for 18 years, and although I don't know the man personally, I've learned quite a bit about him: a win from cheating just wouldn't sit well with him.

Of course there has been cheating in baseball and there will be cheating in baseball... but let me say flat out that Greg Maddux isn't in the middle of anything of the sort. Yes, his abilities are impressive, amazing when you look at his age and his build, but Greg has something that the average pitcher doesn't use nearly enough: Greg uses his intelligence and incredible baseball acumen to psych-out hitters. I'm not saying that other pitchers don't use their brains when they throw... but if they, say, use 50% of their intelligence, Greg is at about 95%. He has the uncanny ability to think ahead, so much so that it can appear as if he can see into the future at times.

Now, back to the issue at hand: Mark Buerhle's accusation. It was a besmirchment on a 20 year career, a hall of fame career. It was uncalled for because we all know that a rumor can be enough to affect someone's career. Greg pretty much laughed it off, which is just one of many things that I love about the guy. People try to rattle him with accusations and asking the ump to check the ball, while Greg just shrugs because he has bigger things to worry about. Buerhle was upset when Maddux responded with "Who's Mark Buerhle?"... initially he tried to apologize, but then he stuck to his statement.

I guess we'll just have to see how Maddy fares this Friday, starting against none other than Mark Buerhle. I have to admit, however, that no matter what happens, Greg is the one that will be remembered as a class act. Mark Buerhle simply comes across as someone who has had a bit of luck and thinks he's the king of the world.

Let's see what you've got after twenty years, Mark.