Bleed Cubbie Blue

Z warming up before Wednesday's game at Tempe. Photo by Al

TEMPE, Arizona -- This post would have been up a while ago except for the Tempe police.

No, I'm not in trouble. But the police directing traffic out of the parking lots at Tempe Diablo Stadium have their share of it. They cannot figure out how to direct traffic so as not to create a traffic jam. Example: if you are familiar with Tempe Diablo, the largest lot is east of the park, beyond right field (you can see that lot on TV). I was parked in that lot. I was going north when leaving, which normally would mean a right turn out of the lot, then another right on 48th St.

Nope. Got forced to go left (south), into a line of cars that was just... not... moving. Finally turned around, got forced south again, and eventually turned back north, and had to take a shortcut through a parking lot to get back on the main drag.

This took 25 minutes, and it should have taken about three.

It ALSO should have been up two hours ago, but something happened when I posted it -- NOW I hope you can see it!

End rant.

Now, on to today's 7-5 come-from-behind Cubs win over the Angels, in which Ronny Cedeno deserves some props. He singled twice, the latter of which drove in two runs and gave the Cubs the lead in their five-run sixth inning -- all five runs charged to K-Rod, Francisco Rodriguez, the Angels' fine closer, although Cedeno's hit came after K-Rod had left the game in favor of Angels career minor leaguer Von Stertzbach.

The Angels' scoreboard operator had a bit of trouble when the Cubs took the lead:

Photo by Al

Yes, according to them, 1 + 5 = 8. On zero hits. They played around with it for a while, switching it to 9, 8 and 7, finally sticking with 8 -- at least till the Cubs scored a run in the top of the 9th, at which time it correctly read "7".

Felix Pie also had three hits today, and two stolen bases, and made a fine running catch in center field. This raised his spring average to .356. Yes, I know spring numbers don't mean that much, but he's looking better as he finally must be feeling better after the -- well, you know, surgery he had earlier this month. Pie batted second today as Lou tinkered around with his lineup for various reasons, including a late scratch of Mark DeRosa due to sinusitis. We also learned today that Kosuke Fukudome may lead off vs. LHP. To which I say -- excellent idea. Dome had a double, a walk and a sac fly and threw out Robb Quinlan trying to stretch a single into a double in the Angels' three-run fourth.

Which was a good thing, because Z was off that inning. He hit a batter (Kendry Morales) and issued a walk -- and according to Ken, who was sitting behind 1B today, Z was muttering to himself after the walk to Jeff Mathis, mad at himself for giving it up. One batter later, he grooved one to Dee Brown. All told, Z wasn't horrible today, giving up only four hits and striking out five. He batted for himself -- twice -- and made good contact both times. After that, the Cubs reverted to the DH rule that is allowed in AL parks, and Matt Murton, who is clearly on the roster bubble now, came in, walked and scored, and later grounded out.

Cubs relief today was good-to-excellent. I'm still a little worried about Carlos Marmol, who walked two and allowed the Angels' last run to score. Kerry Wood then came in, to a large ovation from the Cubs fans in attendance, and slammed the door, striking out two, and today extending himself by going more than one inning.

Bob Howry and Carmen Pignatiello -- the latter, I really hope Lou likes well enough to put him on the roster -- threw uneventful innings. Piggy doesn't have an overwhelming fastball but he keeps the ball down, and perhaps could be used as a situational lefty, inducing DP balls.

BCB reader lemon20pie stopped by later in the game to say hi and we discussed various roster possibilities, including Piggy, and although one Cubs fan seated next to us kept mentioning... one certain AL East player, it's now nearly certain that TTTSNBN will not happen. Right, MPH73?

The Cubs evened-up their spring record at 14-14-1 today -- and in the games I've seen, they're 9-2-1. I've seen quite a bit of good baseball and not so much bad. We hope this carries over starting Monday.

A number of minor leaguers made the trip over (presumably they didn't get caught in traffic!), though none of them got into the game -- I spotted Jeff Samardzija (who signed a ton of autographs before the game), Jose Ceda (who is one big dude!) and Josh Donaldson in the bullpen during the game. Tim Lahey was warming up, but didn't get into the game. This article suggests that the trade scenario for Lahey ("returning" him and then getting him back as the PTBNL in the Craig Monroe deal) is still possible.

Finally, former Cubs manager Preston Gomez is in critical condition in California following a freak accident at a gas station. Thoughts and prayers to his family.