Derrek Lee grounded into two double-plays in Friday's 10-3 loss to the White Sox, one in the first inning, the other, a real back-breaker, in the third inning with one out and the bases loaded against a struggling Jose Contreras.

Just half-way through the season, Lee has already set a career high in GIDP with 19, which is also good enough (or bad enough) to give him the GIDP lead in the NL.

Lee, as quoted in the Tribune:

"I have double-playitis this year. I don't know what's going on with the double play, but bases loaded, runner on third and [one] out, I tried to get it in the air. I just got over the top of it and rolled over."

The National League record for GIDP, which Lee is on pace to break, is 30, a mark co-held by two catchers, Ernie Lombardi of the Reds in 1938 and Brad Ausmus of the Astros in 2002. The MLB record is 36, set by Boston's Jim Rice in 1984.

Even if Lee doesn't shatter any records, but does wind up leading the NL in hitting into double plays, he'll be placing himself in some pretty respectable company, as evidenced by this Arcane Cubs List of the Week:

National League GIDP leaders since 1998:

1998 Jeff Cirillo, MILW 26
1999 Mike Piazza, NYM 27
2000 Moises Alou HOU 21
2001 Vladimir Guerrero MON 24
2002 Brad Ausmus HOU 30
2003 Jay Payton COL 27
2004 A.J. Pierzynski SF 27
2005 Sean Casey CIN 27
2006 Garrett Atkins COL & Adrian Gonzalez SD 24
2007 Albert Pujols STL & Carlos Lee HOU 27

Obviously those Houston boys are fond of hitting into the old twin killing. And a special shout out to Msrs. Pierzynski, Casey, and Gonzalez, who didn't let the fact that they're lefthanded hitters with a supposed advantage in getting down the line stand in the way of their leading the league in rapping into double plays.

Finally, this Cub-related GIDP note: the all-time Cubs team mark is 27, amassed by the great Ron Santo in 1973. In 1961, Santo hit into 25 double plays, which is the second-highest single-season total in Cubs history, an honor he shares with current Cub Aramis Ramirez (2004) and Mark Grace (1993). Santo also shares the 7th, 8th, and 10th highest single-season GIDP numbers in Cubs history.

In other words, if Derrek Lee wants to commiserate with anybody about hitting into double-plays, he would have a hard time finding more well-versed company than Mr. Santo.

The next few days are important not just for our beloved Cubs and the reviled White Sox, who will play three games on the South Side, but also for several other teams with natural rivals. These pairings so enrich the experience of watching Major League Baseball that they justify enduring the less enriching matchups, like the Braves vs. the Blue Jays or the Angels vs. the Nationals. Don't believe me? Ask Bud Selig.

In addition to the Cubs/Sox showdown this weekend, the Cardinals will travel to Kansas City, the Giants will visit Oakland, the Angels will play the Dodgers in Chavez Ravine, the Orioles will meet the Nationals in D.C., and the Mets will host the Yankees (after the Yanks host the first half of a two-stadium day/night doubleheader on Friday afternoon; why does everything have to be so complicated in New York?).

Whenever this "natural rival" aspect of interleague play comes up, my stomach turns, because it's the very reason the Cubs are matched up every season in two series against the generally respectable White Sox, while the Cubs' most bitter in-division rival, the Cardinals, are annually pitted against the never-respectable Royals.

How much of an advantage has that been for the Cardinals over the Cubs? Since interleague play began in 1997, it has been an advantage for Saint Loo...but not nearly as much as I would have thought.

Here is a look at how NL teams have fared against their natural AL rivals, with team wins in parens. (Sorry, though the Padres and Mariners have forged some sort of interleague relationship, I do not consider it "natural." Baseball's version of an arranged marriage, if you will. Also, the Orioles and Nationals would qualify as natural rivals...if I recognized the Nationals as an actual Major League franchise, which I do not.)

Cubs (33) vs. White Sox (30)
Reds (25) vs. Indians (29)
Marlins (35) vs. Rays (26)
Astros (25) vs. Rangers (23)
Dodgers (28) vs. Angels (37)
Brewers (22) vs. Twins (27)
Mets (27) vs. Yankees (35)
Giants (28) vs. Athletics (37)
Cardinals (26) vs. Royals (22)

Heading into this year's interleague derby, things were a little more skewed between the Cubs and Cards, since the all-time series between the Cubs and White Sox was tied at 30-30, while the Cardinals held a 7-win advantage in their all-time series with the Royals. The Cubs' sweep and the fact that the Cards were swept by K.C. in mid-June have managed to level the difference a bit.

No.

The Cubs meet the Orioles shortly in the finale of their three-game series and of the six-game homestand. With a victory, the Cubs will take two-of-three from Baltimore and finish with a 5-1 mark on the homestand.

We're getting used to that sort of thing around here. The Cubs' home mark is currently a dazzling 33-9 (.786).

Here are the team's records in the six homestands preceding the current one:

March 31—April 6: 3-3
April 15—April 22: 7-1
April 29—May 1: 1-2
May 9—May 18: 8-2
May 26—June 1: 7-0
June 10—June 12: 3-0

With a win today, the Cubs' record at home since May 9 will stand at 23-3.

The Cubs sent 17 men to the plate in the first two innings of Wednesday night's game against the Orioles at Wrigley Field and scored six times en route to a 7-4 win.

Absent a pair of gopher balls to Jay Payton and winning pitcher Ted Lilly would have had quite a flashy box score line. As it was, Lilly lasted 7 innings, allowed 5 hits and 4 earned runs (all coming on Payton's two longballs), struck out 4 and walked 2. While his season record improved to 8-5—the lefty was won 7 of his last 8 decisions—the Cubs' mark in games Lilly has started is even better, 11-6.

Through Wednesday, here are the Cubs' records in games started by...

• Ryan Dempster, 12-4
• Carlos Zambrano, 10-6
• Jason Marquis, 9-5
• Sean Gallagher, 4-4
• Everybody else, 3-4

The Cubs Tuesday night lost their first home game since May 17th, falling 7-5 to the Orioles in a game they trailed 7-1 as late as the home half of the 7th inning.

The bottom of the ninth was hard to take. The Cubs loaded the bases with none out against O's closer George Sherrill, but then Sherrill fanned Ronny Cedeño, Kosuke Fukudome, and pinch-hitter Henry Blanco in three especially ugly at-bats. The Cubs' historic home winning streak, their longest since July of 1936, was history.

The Cubs aren't the first team that Sherrill has shut down. The lefty now has 26 saves and opponents are hitting just .194 against him.

Sherrill is also not the first pitcher against whom Ronny Cedeño has looked feeble. After getting off to such a good start in 2008—through April, Cedeño was hitting .378/.451/.578 with 17 hits in 45 at-bats—Cedeño has looked overmatched and is hitting .203/.271/.219 with just 13 hits in his last 64 AB's.

Ted Lilly (7-5, 4.71) starts Wednesday night as the Cubs try to begin a new home winning streak against Baltimore's Brian Burres (6-5, 5.24).

6
Number of consecutive games the Cubs have won against the White Sox

33
Total number of games Cubs have won in the all-time series with the Sox (63 games played)

.889
Lou Piniella's winning percentage as Cub manager in games against the White Sox (Piniella's record is 8-1)

4
Number of home runs Aramis Ramirez hit in this past weekend's series

4
Number of home runs Aramis Ramirez hit in the 28 games leading up to this past weekend's series

82.6
Percentage likelihood that the Cubs will win the NL Central, according to Baseball Prospectus's "Playoff Odds Report"

11.2
Percentage likelihood that the Cubs will not win the division, but will instead capture the Wild Card, according to Baseball Prospectus's "Playoff Odds Report"

93.8
Percentage likelihood that the Cubs will reach the post-season, according to Baseball Prospectus's "Playoff Odds Report"

3
Cubs' ranking in the latest Hardball Times' "Dartboard Ranking" (Red Sox and Tampa Bay are #1 and #2; the White Sox are just behind the Cubs at #4)

2
Cubs' ranking among all Major League teams in the latest Sporting News "Power Poll" (Angels are #1)

1
Number of people who will be in attendance at Tuesday night's Orioles/Cubs game and still focusing on the Brian Roberts-to-Cubs trade that never happened this spring (I'm thinking Brian Roberts will take one look at those 41,000 seats occupied by delirious Cub fans and he'll definitely be focusing on it)

(Illustration courtesy of AHNY reader DJ, of Cubbie Curmudgeon fame

...are posted over at The Cub Reporter. I expect to have more to offer on the weekend sweep of the White Sox this evening.

Before today's game at Wrigley Field, the White Sox bullpen had the lowest ERA (2.62) in the American League—nearly a half-run per game lower than the next best AL relief crew, the Athletics (3.04). In addition, Sox relievers had served up just 11 HRs in 188 2/3 IP or 1 HR for every 17 innings pitched. That's just one of the reasons Friday's Cub comeback was so marvelous.

Here are a few more: Aramis Ramirez, who smashed the game-winning longball, had been stone cold in the Tampa series (1-for-12), hadn't enjoyed a multi-HR game so far this season, and had hit only one HR over his last 21 games (91 plate appearances).

A mental snapshot I will carry from this day: the shot at the opening of the Comcast Sportsnet post-game show featuring anchorman Pat Boyle, Cubs analyst Dan Plesac, and Sox analyst Bill Melton, moments after Ramirez had sealed the win. Boyle was flashing the standard anchorman's grin, Plesac was smiling from one ear to the other, and Melton looked he just been rear-ended on the Eisenhower.

Hoping for more of the same—a lot more of the same—over the weekend.

The White Sox GM, quoted in Thursday's Sun-Times by Joe Cowley, offers a distraction from tonight's ugly loss in Tampa and a delightful reminder of why the White Sox can go to hell:

"The unfortunate thing for me is it's a shame that a certain segment of Chicago refused to enjoy a baseball championship being brought to their city. The only thing I can say is, 'Happy anniversary.'"

Williams was referring, of course, to the 2005 World Series trophy prominently displayed at 333 W. 35th St., and the Cubs' 100 years of futility across town.

He wasn't done there.

Early in his career as GM, talks of budget constraints would creep up. So hours before the Sox played the Pittsburgh Pirates, Williams was asked -- if the opportunity presented itself -- if he could imagine ever being GM of the deep-pocketed, throw-money-at-every-hole Cubs.

"That would be a betrayal," Williams said before a long pause. "God, I would really, really have to need the job. Oh, wow, really need the job."

As I wrote when Ozzie Guillen answered a similar question from WSCR's Mike Murphy a couple months ago in a similarly smart-ass manner, I don't think Kenny will ever actually have to consider a job offer from the Cubs.

We'd have to really, really need a new general manager.

Six and two-thirds innings into Wednesday night's 5-4 Cub loss at Tampa, Carlos Zambrano left with "shoulder discomfort," which is causing profound unease in Cub-lovers everywhere.

Here is a stat line you're going to read so many times in the next few days, you'll lose count (I'm hoping this is the first time you're coming across it):

Since Carlos's 130-pitch outing against L.A. back on May 28th, he has gone 1-2, fanned 13, walked 12, served up 33 hits, allowed a .317 batting average against and been worked over for 16 earned runs in 25 1/3 IP (5.68 ERA).

We'll presumably hear some medically meaningful translation of "shoulder discomfort" tomorrow. The fact is, assuming that Zambrano doesn't have a serious problem requiring a visit to the DL, the Cubs need Carlos back in the rotation, and they need him to recover whatever zip he may have lost in that marathon outing three weeks ago versus the Dodgers.

Is it reasonable to reduce a three-hour, thirty-minute ballgame to a pair of ground balls that, combined, consumed all of 20 or 25 seconds of the evening?

Of course not, but here goes:

The telling moments for me in Tuesday night's 3-2 Cub defeat at Tampa were Neil Cotts's seventh-inning throwing error on a ball hit by Akinori Iwamura, which set up the Rays' ultimately critical insurance run, and of course, the play that Evan Longoria and Willy Aybar made on Reed Johnson's bunt with two outs and the tying run just ninety feet away in the top of the ninth.

It really is true that the same kinds of mistakes that can easily be overcome against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals of the world can be backbreakers against a good team like the Red Sox or the Angels or the Phillies or, hard as it is to believe, the Tampa Bay Rays.

— Gary Shelton, writing in the St. Petersburg Times, explains that while Lou Piniella was, is, and will presumably continue to be a much beloved figured in the Tampa/St. Pete area, current Rays manager Joe Maddon is "a better fit for the Rays" because of "the patience the past three years have required."

Following Piniella's departure after the '05 season, when the Rays finished 67-95, Tampa Bay slipped to 61-101 in Maddon's first season running the club. Last year, they improved by five games to 66-96. Currently, buoyed by young super-talents like B.J. Upton, Scott Kazmir, and rookie Evan Longoria, Maddon's team is 40-29 (.580), which means they could go 27-66 (.290) the rest of the way and still better last year's mark.

— Tampa Bay Rays trivia question of the post (also from the St. Pete Times): Who are the five active Tampa players left over from the Piniella regime?

Tampa Bay Rays Trivia Question Answer of the Post: Carl Crawford, Jonny Gomes, Scott Kazmir, Trever Miller and B.J. Upton.

— A non-Rays NL Central-related note: Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus reports that the Cardinals' rehabbing starter, Chris Carpenter, is experiencing ulnar neuritis (swelling of a nerve in his pitching arm) that will either set back his return to St. Louis by a month, to August, if the prescription is rest, or until Spring Training 2009, if more surgery is required. Somebody needs to tell the Cardinals, who just took two-of-three from the Phillies without Albert Pujols in the lineup and remain but 3 1/2 games in back of the Cubs, that they're not supposed to be playing .592 ball with all of their injuries.

— It was widely reported that the Cubs were less than enthusiastic about having to give up a day off before beginning the Tampa series Tuesday night so they could fly to Albany, then take a long bus ride to Cooperstown to play in the last-ever Hall of Fame Game Monday afternoon against the Padres. I wonder if the team was less surly or more surly when the game was rained out and the Cubs' involvement in the day was limited to riding in "vintage trolleys" during a parade down Cooperstown's Main Street.

Len Kasper is rightfully being singled out all over the Chicago sports media for his call of Jim Edmond's game-tying homer Thursday afternoon. In case you missed it, the entire WGN broadcast was a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the first Cubs game the station covered.

In true Jack Brickhouse fashion, Kasper described the Edmonds homer thusly:

"That's deep to left...back, back, back...HEY, HEY!!!...he did it!...attaboy, Jimmy!!!...WHEEEEEEE!"

The impersonation was splendid and all the more impressive because it came at such an elevated point in the game, when one could certainly have forgiven Kasper if he had forgotten to channel Brickhouse and deliver the signature call.

What I found even more impressive was Kasper's use of another Brickhouse-ism—"...any old kind of a run"—during the immediate aftermath of Reed Johnson's walk-off HBP. If you grew up a Cubs fan within WGN's broadcast area during the Brickhouse days, you heard him utter that phrase a million times ("Any old kind of a run wins it..."). As far as I know, Kasper grew up in Michigan and I believe is too young besides to have heard Brickhouse calling Cubs games.

In other words, the guy did his homework for Thursday's game and deserves the high grades he has been getting since.

Yesterday at The Cub Reporter I wrote about the Nasty Boys-level excellence of the '08 Cubs relief trio of Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol, and Bob Howry...and Howry promptly went out and allowed the Braves 4 hits and 2 runs in just 2/3 of an inning.

Today I wrote about the recent flurry of injuries that had settled over St. Louis, requested that the Fates continue to smile on the eminently healthy Chicago Cubs...and Atlanta's Jeff Bennett sends Alfonso Soriano on a 6-week vacation.

I think I've done quite enough for today, don't you?

Oops, one thing: a correction to yesterday's post, in which I noted that Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood got the night off. In fact, Marmol slipped into the game in the top of the seventh, retired the only hitter he faced, and preserved the lead which Bob Howry then nearly coughed up in the next inning.

Earlier today, I posted a piece at The Cub Reporter comparing the 1990 Cincinnati Reds' "Nasty Boys"—Randy Myers, Rob Dibble, and Norm Charlton—to the 2008 Cubs relief trio of Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol, and Bob Howry. (That Reds team, too, was managed by Lou Piniella.)

Doing the research reminded me how devastating Myers and Dibble were that season. It also underscored for me how much Wood, Marmol, and Howry are pitching. Through Sunday's game at Los Angeles, Wood and Marmol are on pace to throw in 84 games; Howry is on pace for 76.

If Wood and Marmol match the 84-game projections, they will tie the Cubs' all-time single season record, a mark currently held by Dick Tidrow (1983), Ted Abernathy (1965), and—did you see this one coming?—Bob Howry (2006).

If the 34-year-old Howry maintains his 76-game pace, his three-season career with the Cubs would include the 1st, 5th, and 7th-highest single-season appearance totals by a Cubs hurler.

I was glad to see the Cubs rally for four runs in the last of the eighth inning Tuesday night to turn a one-run game against the Braves into a five-run game. That meant both Marmol and Wood got a night off, though Wood was poised to enter the game in the middle of the ninth inning before Jon Lieber induced Jeff Francoeur to hit into a game-ending double play with two men on base.

All of this is somewhat beside the point, of course. As this site, flagged by The Hardball Times, makes crystal clear, we already know who is going to triumph in the 2008 World Series—I can't believe it's finally going to happen!—and who is going to crumble in defeat. (Tough luck, Ozzie!)

This past weekend, the Texas Rangers released their #3 starter, much-traveled and much-troubled veteran pitcher Sidney Ponson. While declining to get too specific about the reasons for the move, Rangers GM Jon Daniels said the team's action was triggered by Ponson's...

"...disrespectful and adverse reactions to situations that were unbecoming of a teammate. We want guys who want to be here. We're trying to put together a team here, and based on some comments and reactions, he didn't want to be part of that. That's not something we're going to tolerate."

Evan Grant's story in Saturday's Dallas News cites multiple sources in reporting that Ponson, who was a more than respectable 4-1, 3.88 (108 ERA+) for the Rangers this year, was hacked off over "a disagreement in (his) pitching schedule."

After pitching on three days' rest last Wednesday, Ponson was told he would have to go five days before his next outing so Kevin Millwood could go on his normal four days' rest. Ponson then challenged the Rangers to release him.

Grant writes:

According to the sources, however, problems began to fester more than a week ago when the Rangers were in Tampa Bay.

The night before his start against the Rays, according to the sources, Ponson was seen late in the evening in the hotel bar. The next day, he lasted only five innings and allowed 12 hits in a 7-3 loss.

Club officials spoke with Ponson, 31, about comportment after the incident and reiterated the "one-strike" stance they took when they signed him in March. In essence, the club said it would cut ties if he had one behavioral issue.

Sound like a short leash? Well, only if you're not up on your Sidney Ponson history:

Three years ago, Ponson was cut by the Orioles after two alcohol-related arrests in the space of nine months. The year before, he spent 11 days in jail in his native Aruba for assaulting a judge.

The question isn't whether or not someone will give Ponson yet another chance; it's who will be first in line.

The loose connection between the Ponson story and the Cubs' adventures this past weekend was Carlos Zambrano's own meltdown Saturday afternoon at Dodger Stadium. The incident was triggered by Zambrano's frustration with himself after he allowed the Dodgers 7 runs and 13 hits over 6 2/3 innings. Since it happened a couple days ago, I won't recount the details, but last I heard, neither of the Gatorade coolers assaulted by the Cubs ace are planning to press charges.

Finally there is the case of Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis, who got into a dugout brawl with Manny Ramirez last Thursday during a game in Tampa.

Per Enrique Rojas, writing for ESPNdeportes.com:

A Red Sox source told ESPNdeportes.com that the cause of the dugout disagreement was Youkilis' temper following a poor at-bat.

"It all happened because Manny complained about Youkilis' habit of throwing bats, helmets and other objects in the dugout when he has a bad at-bat, something that has become a constant practice," the source said.

"Other players have told Youkilis in the past about the situation, which makes him look selfish and that he is more worried about each at-bat than about the team. If Boston is winning easily, there's no reason to throw objects all over the dugout because of a bad at-bat.

"There was a meeting where the team let Youkilis know that many of his teammates were tired of his explosive reactions for each bad plate appearance. It became very bothersome … more so when the team is winning and it's in first place. There's not much room for individualistic attitudes."

I mention the latter case, because Zambrano's eruption struck me much as Youkilis's explosions apparently were perceived by his fellow Sox, as a self-centered and unnecessary distraction from the game at hand. The good news is, Carlos has performed so well this season, he has had little reason to think about going berserk. I hope that continues to be the case.

And I hope Sidney Ponson's next Major League paycheck is signed by someone other than Crane Kenney.

In the top of the ninth inning Thursday night, with nobody out and Ryan Theriot, the potential lead run, at second base, Derrek Lee struck out on three pitches. It capped a game in which Lee went o-for-4 with two strikeouts and saw his batting average fall to .283. That's the lowest it has been since April 4th, when the season was just four games old.

A couple of hitters later, after Kosuke Fukudome had plated Theriot with a single to give the Cubs a 5-4 lead, Geovany Soto had a chance to bring home an insurance run. He, too, struck out, one of three times Soto fanned Thursday night as his season average also fell to .283, its lowest point since April 16th.

From the beginning of the just ended nine-game winning streak through Thursday's matchup with the Dodgers, Lee has batted .190 (8-for-42) with 12 strikeouts; Soto has hit .171 (6-for-35) with 11 whiffs.

The Cubs have won 10 of their last 11 games, including the 5-4 win over L.A., with virtually no offensive contributions from their first baseman or their catcher.

In its own way, that's pretty impressive.

After Ted Lilly allowed Padres lead-off man Scott Hairston to launch a pitch over the leftfield wall last night, it looked like the Cubs might be destined for yet another comeback win in which the starting pitcher was, at best, a benign influence in the final result.

But as you probably know by now, Lilly kept San Diego off the scoreboard until the eighth inning, when he served up a leadoff double to Brian Giles and one out later, after Lilly had parted in favor of Carlos Marmol, Giles scored on a sacrifice fly, a run that proved the difference in the Padres' 2-1 win.

The winning streak ended and so, too, did another streak: the Cubs had gone six games previous to Wednesday without getting a Quality Start (at least 6 IP with 3 runs or fewer allowed).

Needless to say, it's victories and not Quality Starts that cause teams to be crowned division champions, pennant winners, and World Series champs. Given the strain that has been borne by the Cub bullpen, however, even through the recent winning streak, it's easy to foresee at least one of Wood, Marmol, or Howry breaking down if the starters don't start delivering as Ted Lilly did, though in defeat, Wednesday night.

In the big picture, the Cubs on Tuesday night won their ninth game in a row and improved their Major League-best record to 38-21. The streak marks the team's longest since 2001, when Don Baylor's club won 12 in a row at this very time of year.

Before the game, the Cubs sent Micah Hoffpauir and his .421 batting average (8-for-19, including 3 doubles and an RBI) down to Iowa, making room for a 13th pitcher, Kevin Hart.

Lou Piniella explained the move thusly:

"I would think before we get to the American League schedule, we'll bring up a hitter, whether it's [Daryle] Ward or Hoffpauir," Piniella said. "We're going to need a DH. We'll see how the pitching goes."

The need for 13 pitchers was underscored in Tuesday's victory. Despite building a 9-3 lead, the Cub bullpen let the Padres bring the tying run to the plate in the 8th inning, once the home team had drawn to within three runs. Before it was all over, Kerry Wood had to come in to secure the win in the 9th inning. (Hart helped facilitate the Padres' comeback by allowing two hits, two walks, and three runs in one-third of an inning.)

What the Cubs need is for guys like Jason Marquis, Tuesday night's undeserving winning pitcher, Ted Lilly, and Sean Gallagher to begin delivering six- and seven-inning starts.

Again, Lou Piniella, this time as quoted by Paul Sullivan in Wednesday's Tribune:

"We talked about being so deep [in starters] when we left spring training, and all of a sudden two of our left-handers (Rich Hill and Sean Marshall) have encountered problems and are both down in the minors," Piniella said. "Lieber, in his only start, was ineffective. And here we have a rookie ( Sean Gallagher) that really wasn't in the picture, in the rotation already.

"So we better be careful with our starting pitchers. It's easier to rotate a reliever from the minors back and forth than it is to go find a starter that can pitch six or seven innings for you.

"We're thinner than people think we are."

Updating a post from a couple weeks ago...

Jim Edmonds went 26 at-bats before collecting his first RBI as a member of the Cubs, when he homered in the sixth inning of Friday's spectacular comeback against the Rockies, one of his three hits and three RBI that day.

As I write this in the sixth inning of the Cubs' game at San Diego, Edmonds is 2-for-4 tonight, including a pair of doubles and a long fly out to left field, and frankly, finally, seems to be finding some level of competence at the plate. Overall, Edmonds, who has widened his stance in the last few days according to Bob Brenly on tonight's telecast, has now gone 10-for-35 (.286) as a Cub, with the one home run and 7 RBI.

Reed Johnson, who has basically platooned with Edmonds since the veteran joined the Cubs, is hitting .261/.345/.359 with an OPS+ of just 83.

In total, Cub centerfielders this season (Johnson, Edmonds, Felix Pie, and Kosuke Fukudome, in his 4 AB's while playing CF) are hitting .263/.342/.366 with an OPS of just 708, which makes CF far and away the least productive position offensively on the team. The shortstops, Ryan Theriot and Ronny Cedeño, are the next closest, with an OPS of 783.

As for Pie, he continues to struggle mightily at Iowa, hitting just .174 (12-for-69) with an OBP of .240.

In other words, it's a good thing Edmonds seems to be heating up.