Geovany Soto's ascension to National League Rookie of the Year on Monday was virtually uncontested, with the Cubs catcher garnering all but one of the 32 possible first-place votes. (The Reds' Joey Votto got the other one.) Not since Albert Pujols collected all 32 first-place votes in winning the '01 ROY award had a National League player come so close to running the table. Ironically, Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria, coronated Monday as A.L. Rookie of the Year, was also a unanimous first-place pick.

Soto's HR and RBI numbers—23 and 86, respectively—were the highest for a Cubs rookie since Billy Williams had 25 HR and 86 RBI in 1961, when Williams became the first Cub to win rookie honors. (The award didn't exist until 1947.)

As he has often done this season, Soto credited teammate Henry Blanco for aiding his maturation as a catcher and a big leaguer, saying that Blanco was...

"in my corner, like a big brother. I owe him a lot of my success. It was huge having him on my side."

The Cubs bought out Blanco's option for $300,000 at the end of October, though the team is expected to re-sign him. Gordon Wittenmyer of the Sun-Times has even alluded to the possibility that the Cubs and Blanco might already have had a "handshake agreement" in place regarding a new deal.

Speaking of new deals, former Cub Scott Eyre signed a one-year, $2MM contract extension with the World Series champion Phillies on Monday.

After being waived by the Cubs and hooking up with the Phils on August 7th, the 36-year-old Eyre pitched in 19 games, going 3-0, 1.88. He appeared in five post-season games for the Phillies this year, allowing one run and three hits in three innings.

From the official Philadelphia Phillies press release announcing the acquisition of reliever Scott Eyre from the Cubs in exchange for minor league righty Brian Schlitter:

Eyre, 36, had appeared in only 19 games for the Cubs this season due to two separate stints on the disabled list for left elbow inflammation and a strained left groin. He was 2-0 with a 7.15 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 11.1 innings (11.1 SO/9.0 IP). His first 14 appearances of the season were scoreless (9.0 IP). Against the National League this season, Eyre is 2-0 with a 3.24 ERA in 14 games. Six of the nine earned runs he has allowed this year have come against American League teams.

So now you know.

With Wednesday's one-sided loss at Cincinnati, the Cubs have dropped 9 of 13 games and have now failed to win any one of their last five series.

The dark time began two weeks ago, during the second of two games in Colorado. In the last of the eighth inning, an error by Ryan Theriot opened the door to a two-run Rockies rally, a 4-2 Cub defeat, and a split of the teams' two-game set. Since then, the Cubs have dropped two of three each to the Nationals, Brewers, Cardinals, and Reds.

As for today's mess, Jon Lieber became only the second Cub pitcher ever to serve up four home run balls in one inning. (Phil Norton was the other, back in 2000.) That's bad enough, but the fact that two of the longballs were hit by former Cubs Paul Bako and Jerry Hairston, Jr.—Bako's was a 400-foot-plus shot—really underscores how weak Lieber's performance was.

Lou Piniella was non-commital after the game regarding Lieber's possible future in the starting rotation.

"We don't need to make a decision right now. We'll think about it and see what we can do."

With Scott Eyre coming off the DL this weekend, my guess is that Sean Marshall will get the ball the next time the fifth spot in the rotation rolls around.

And speaking of fifth starters, the Cubs' third-starter-turned-fifth-starter-turned-Iowa-Cubs-starter, Rich Hill, had his first minor league outing Tuesday night. As Mike Wellman reports at The Cub Reporter, it wasn't great.