Poor Tom was chased again before completing the 3rd inning. Today’s pitch count:

Pitch f/x says he threw some cut-fastballs today, but overall it looks like he was throwing his curve and change-up harder than his last Cubs outing. The obvious effect being that throwing your off-speed pitches harder don’t let them have the designed effect, and change-ups thrown too hard end up being batting practice fastballs.

ESPN 1000’s Bruce Levine reported today on his show Talkin’ Baseball that the Cubs are actively scouting San Francisco’s RF Randy Winn and Boston’s CF Coco Crisp. Winn can play all three positions, though, he’s just playing RF since they picked up White Sox folk hero Aaron Rowand in the offseason.

Many things bother me about this report. 1) it means Soriano’s leg may be worse than it seems, 2) the Cubs (and/or Piniella) have all but given up on Felix Pie, and 3) hot-handed Reed Johnson may not be in the picture to continue starting.

I know Johnson appears to be a journeyman at first glance, but I don’t see how Winn or Crisp are much of an upgrade, especially right now as Reed is white hot. Of course DeRosa can’t continue to play LF because that means Fontenot or Cedeno will be at second base (an offensive liability, not defensive).

It’s a shame that Pie is getting shut down so soon, but I think that since the turn of the century, the Cubs commitment to winning forces prospects to perform much more quickly than in the 80s or 90s. The Cubs’ deep pockets make the timetables for player development much shorter, and this is not necessarily a bad thing. I’d much rather trade a prospect for a proven player, under the premise that I can afford him due to operating in a market where I can healthily manage a payroll north of $100 million.

Cubs roughed up Tom Gorzelanny on the 7th of this month, knocking him out in the 3rd inning. They’re back at it again today, with 3 runs in the first two innings (D-Lee’s 7th HR with Theriot on and a DeRosa scoring Soto double).

Here’s a brief summary of Tommy G’s pitches last outing against the Cubs:

I got caught up in work this week, putting in over 70+ hours, so I wasn’t able to post much since the Pirate sweep last week. Since then the Cubs nearly got swept in Philadelphia and nearly swept the Reds at home. I was in the bleachers for Tuesday’s win and listen to some of the most unoriginal, fingernails-on-the-chalkboard heckling of Ken Griffey Jr., to which he responded with a HR to center, and the following day another bomb. My brother-in-law just sat and appreciated being so close to one of the most remarkable players to ever don a uniform, noticing that he looks in even better shape this year than in previous, more stocky years.

One of the entertaining moments came during a pitching change late in the game, a time when the outfielders generally gather in center field to chat and look at the fans. Watching the Reds OF convene was a classic meeting of the Three Bears: giant Adam Dunn (Papa Bear), solidly-sized Griffey Jr. (Mama Bear), and diminutive Corey Patterson (Baby Bear). Patterson received constant heckling and boos throughout the night in response to his poor tenure with the Cubs. So during this pitching change meeting of the outfields minds, Dunn hilariously took Patterson’s arm and waved to the crowd. This of course elicited even more jeers and boos, much to the visible chagrin of Dunn and Griffey Jr. Patterson just shook his head and turned away from the crowd. All in all, very entertaining and showed that the players always know the score with the fans, regardless of what cliches they give in the paper about ignoring it.

I’ve made more progress on my “Pitch f/x data”-wielding Google Engine Application (still waiting for that invite, fellows…move forward past Beta please!) and will post some more information on that soon.

Here’s to hoping that Lou feels the same way I do about early season series. I recognize that when you go up 2-0 in a series, you might want to allow some key everyday players rest. However, this early in the season, with 8 games and 2 off-days in the books, there is no good reason not to go after this third win with a full lineup.

I’m a firm believer in the fact that April games count just as much as September games, and this year the Cubs end the season on the road @ NYM for four and @ MIL for three. Stocking up on April wins against the like of PIT is akin to a squirrel saving nuts for a harsh winter; Jose Reyes and David Wright, Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder serving as the Cubs’ cruel winters-to-come.

The Cubs and Pirates are giving the fans a lot of free baseball this week. If the first two games of the series give us a pattern (12 and then 15 innings), then we should be prepared to answer the call of Mr. Cub, and ‘Let’s play two’ in tonight’s final game.

Dempster was white hot, allowing just 3 base runners in 7 1/3 innings. For the second consecutive game the Cubs had to empty their bullpen after Wood blew the save in the 9th and Hart again in the 14th. Newly called up Sean Marshall ended up with the save.

Aramis Ramirez hit a potential game-winning HR in the top of the 14th, which was blown by Hart. Felix Pie made his first impact on the 2008 season with a bases loaded, two out, two-run single to left center.

Just heard on ESPN 1000 that the Cubs brought up Sean Marshall and demoted Carmen Pignatiello. Piggy made two appearances this year and both were dubious, including Monday’s 8-pitch, two walk debacle where the 2nd walk forced in a run. Breaking camp, Marshall was a victim of his surroundings, as the Cubs already had two solid lefties in the rotation and had two remaining spots to offer the cast of Dempster, Marquis, Lieber and Marshall. In a perfect world, Marshall is your 5th starter and gets 30 starts to show whether he’s part of the long-term rotation or not. But there’s just a glut of mediocre-to-poor starting pitching collecting millions of dollars in front of him.

Hopefully he’ll adapt well to the ‘pen and be solid contributor in the early going. Marquis is also on a short leash, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Marshall cracks the rotation again in mid- to late-May

With yesterday’s tilt requiring extra innings and the services of six of the Cubs’ seven relief pitchers (Woody was given the day off after consecutive outings over the weekend), today’s empty schedule is going to help.

Of course an off day has opened the door for wandering journalistic minds to peck at the Cubs early season returns from Kosuke Fukudome. I’m not sure why you would even remotely entertain the idea of moving Kosuke right now. Right now teams are pitching around Ramirez to get to Fukudome to see what he’s made of, and their finding he’s made of snips and snails, solid contact and a patient eye. Once Ramirez realizes that he’s not going to see a good pitch until every team in the league believes that Fukudome is indeed a significant offensive threat, he’ll start to drive the ball to RF and continue to take walks.

Cubs begin their initial road trip in Pittsburgh and if you love LHP, look no further. Game 1 starts with a match-up of southpaws in Ted Lily and Tom Gorzelanny, Game 2 features RHP Ryan Dempster against LHP Zach Duke, and Game 3 caps the series with LHP Rich Hill and RHP Matt Morris. I still can’t believe the former ace of the Cardinals is now a Pirate. I’m trying to locate the exact point in time when he changed from Cubs nemesis to Cubs pinata …it’s hard to tell, but I’m sure that’s part of what caused his initial move to San Francisco.

I expect the Cubs to have an average day against Gorezlanny, a tough day against Duke, and shell Morris in the 3rd game. Here are the three hottest and three coldest hitters (among qualifying regulars) going into the series for each team:

As much as I’d like to see Soriano break out of his slump, PNC Park just isn’t the place to do it. The stadium ranked 20th in runs scored and 26th in HR hit in 2007 (source ESPN). Expect low scoring games in Games 1 and 2, and then hopefully the Cubs will continue to master Matt Morris and go for a first- or second-inning crooked number.

Today we see Ronny Cedeno in for Ryan Theriot and Reed Johnson in for Felix Pie for the third straight day. Both responded early; Johnson drew two walks in his first two PAs hitting out of the 2nd spot in the order, and Cedeno put a dagger in Gorzelanny’s coffin with a 3-run double to center in the top of the 3rd.

Hopefully this game evolves into a blowout and some work for the lower echelon relievers and an early curtain for Lee and Fukudome. I’d like to see Soriano and Ramirez play the whole game because they need at bats to get out of their slumps.

Updated Post-Game: Wow. Errors, walks, and poor execution against the Pirates hottest hitters (McLouth and Doumit) turned this game from a Cubs cruise to a rapidly sinking ship. Lily was shaky again and the Cubs infield gave bush league defense a bad name.

Cubs win 10-8 in the 12th when the Pirates return the favor of bases-on-balls, errors, and tomfoolery.