All things considered, I was more enthusiastic about the Cubs' signing of Aaron Miles when I thought he would be replacing Ronny Cedeno as a spare infielder than when I think of him as a replacement for Mark DeRosa.
Aaron Miles (643 Major League games)
.329 OBP / .364 SLG / 693 OPS / 77 OPS+ / 4.1 Runs Created per Game
Ronny Cedeno (329 games)
.289 OBP / .350 SLG / 639 OPS / 62 OPS+ / 3.2 Runs Created per Game
Mark DeRosa (893 games)
.348 OBP / .422 SLG / 780 OPS / 97 OPS+ / 5.2 Runs Created per Game
It has been pointed out that last year DeRosa set career highs for HR (21 vs. previous high of 13), RBI (87 vs. previous high of 74), OBP (.376 vs. previous high of 371), and OPS (857 vs. previous high of 813). It is also true that as DeRo closes in on his 34th birthday, it's likely he will see some regression from those best-ever numbers. But '08 also saw Miles set career highs in several categories, including the ever important on-base percentage, where Miles's .355 mark was well above his previous career best of .329.
Ironically, .329 is also the lifetime on-base percentage of the guy Miles may replace as Cubs leadoff man—Alfonso Soriano.
Tuesday Night: A Great Night for the Cubs...Except for the Parts That Were Abominable
Posted by Cubnut at 8/26/2008Tuesday's 14-9 Cub win at Pittsburgh may go down as the game that cemented Geovany Soto's selection as 2008 National League Rookie of the Year. Geo had a pair of three-run doubles, a solo homer, and 7 RBI overall. Soto has now hit more home runs than any rookie catcher in Cub history and his batting line, which currently stands at .280 AVG/20 HR/78 RBI, will wind up as one of the best ever by a Cub catcher, rookie or otherwise.
Also positive—Kosuke Fukudome's throw from rightfield to nail rookie Brandon Moss on his way to third base; Carlos Zambrano continuing to hit like a sonofagun (eighth consecutive start in which he has driven in a run); Mike Fonenot, who entered the game in the bottom of the fifth, going 2-for-2 and also making a fine, diving play in the field.
On the negative side of Tuesday's fun, however, we have:
Zambrano pitching like hell: 8 hits, 6 ER in just 4 1/3 innings. Not the first time our supposed ace has turned in game like this. In fact, it's the third time in Zambrano's last four starts that he has pitched quite poorly.
Alfonso Soriano bunny-hopping his way to another embarrassing error on a routine fly ball. The only thing worse then giving the opposition an extra out and a free run, which Fonzie did with his flub in the sixth inning, is injuring yourself in the process, which, as we all know, Soriano has also done this season. For the love of God and Lou Piniella...NO...MORE...HOPPING!
Ben Sheets pitching like Ben Sheets. The Milwaukee righty helped the Brewers vanquish the Cardinals, 12-0, at Busch Stadium to stay within five games of the first-place Cubs. It's a tad frustrating that the Cubs have played as well as they have lately and still, the Brewers are within haling distance of first place. For their part, the Brewers have won 14 out of 18 and not gained a game or even a half game on the Cubs. There is some consolation for the Milwaukees, however:
By shutting out the Cards Tuesday, the Brewers now have a 4 1/2 game lead in the Wild Card race.
A hallmark of this Cub season has been the team's prodigious scoring (656 runs scored through 121 games; nearly .5 run more per game than the second-ranking Mets), and a key component of that offense has been the team's ability to take walks and take pitches that leave them in "hitters' counts."
All of that said, The Hardball Times on Thursday linked to a great new baseball stats site called StatCorner created by Matthew Carruth and Graham MacAree. Among the numbers available there are the percentages of pitches seen which individual players swing at.
Here are the Swing Percentages for the 2008 Cubs. (Note: on average, MLB hitters swing at approximately 45% of the pitches thrown their way.)
- Blanco, 49.9%
- Cedeño, 52.2%
- DeRosa, 42%
- Edmonds, 43.6%
- Fontenot, 41.6%
- Fukudome, 40.7%
- Johnson, 45.1%
- Lee, 42.2%
- Ramirez, 45.6%
- Soriano, 52.5%
- Soto, 41.9%
- Theriot, 39.3%
- Ward, 42%
Interestingly, Ramirez's swing percentage is his lowest since joining the Cubs in '03, and Soriano's, while highest on the team, is significantly lower than last year's 57.9%. Not coincidentally, I think, Ramirez's current OBP (.385) would be far and away a career high, and Soriano's .344 would be his second-highest in ten Major League seasons.
With Wednesday afternoon's resounding 11-4 win over the Astros, the Cubs completed the 20-games-in-20-days gauntlet that awaited them following the All-Star break.
Here is how Lou Piniella's team fared in that stretch, which commenced with a Friday night game in Houston back on July 18th:
Won: 12
Lost: 8
Runs Scored: 108 (5.4/game)
Runs Allowed: 71 (3.6/game)
Some impressive individual numbers...
Alfonso Soriano, who didn't even return from the Disabled List until July 23rd and so, only played in 15 of the 20 games, has helped reinvigorate the Cub offense during this span by going 23-for-66 (.348) with 6 HR and 15 RBI. Reed Johnson, who saw extra playing time while Jim Edmonds rested his banged up body, went a scorching 17-for-36 (.472) with 3 HR and 9 RBI.
Newcomer Rich Harden, despite getting cuffed around by the Astros on Tuesday, posted some stunning figures in his four starts, like 37 strikeouts against just 6 walks in 24 2/3 IP with a 669 OPS Against. And Harden's fellow former Oakland Athletic, reliever Chad Gaudin, earned 3 of the Cubs' 12 victories in the 20 games, with 16 strikeouts, 3 walks, and a handsome 1.80 ERA over 10 innings.
Finally, the standings facts...
Cubs' position at beginning of 20 games: 1st, +4.5 games over St. Louis; +5 over Milwaukee
Cubs' position at end of 20 games: 1st, +5 over Milwaukee (12-8 in this period), +5.5 over St. Louis (11-9)
Obviously it would have been swell if the Cubs had been able to separate themselves from their two NL Central rivals over these past 20 games. On the other hand, neither team was able to bite into the Cubs' advantage at the All-Star break and there are now 20 fewer games remaining on the teams' regular season slates, which has a lot to do with this piece of arithmetic:
By the reckoning of ESPN and coolstandings.com, the Cubs currently have an 81.4% probability of winning the division and a 94.6% likelihood of making the post-season.
Seven Pitchers Who Might or Might Not Be Traded...Maybe, Maybe Not to the Cubs
Posted by Cubnut at 7/01/2008I had a busy weekend followed by a busy Monday; so busy, I couldn't watch or listen to a moment of Cubs baseball nor consume any local sports media from the end of Friday's loss to the White Sox to the first pitch of the Cubs/Giants game Monday. I wonder how the Cubs fared this past weekend. I'll bet it was an interesting series.
Tuesday at espn.com (subscription required), Peter Gammons listed seven pitchers whom he considers potential Cubs trade targets. (Thanks to mlbtraderumors.com, which flagged the Gammons piece and summarized it for the benefit of non-ESPN.com subscribers like me.) The pitchers—and the Cubs' relationship to each of them, according to Gammons—are:
- C.C. Sabathia, Indians (unlikely Cubs will have enough talent to trade for him)
- Rich Harden (no specific news of Cubs interest; just a good pitcher who might be available)
- Randy Wolf, Padres (Cubs tried to get him when he was last a free agent)
- A.J. Burnett (Cubs are watching him)
- Aaron Cook (Cubs love him, Rockies said last month he's not going anywhere)
- Bronson Arroyo, Reds (he's on the Cubs' radar)
- Kevin Millwood, Rangers (ditto)
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.
Over the weekend, reacting to Alfonso Soriano's tragicomic play in left field, Bob Brenly said that he could "throw a dart at the Cub dugout" and be sure of hitting someone who would be a better defensive leftfielder than Soriano.
This frank and colorfully expressed appraisal seems to have made Brenly an instant hero to hosts on Chicago's two sportstalk radio stations. In fact, Brenly is scheduled to appear on ESPN1000 Wednesday afternoon between 2pm and 6pm.
I think Brenly is a first-rate analyst, and it's hard to dispute the essence of what he said, but I hope we're not headed for the sort of circus that ensued when Steve Stone blasted the team on-air during the Dusty regime.
It could only be a distraction to a contending team and lead to bad feelings between Brenly and the team he is supposed to be covering.
On his pre-game radio show Monday night, Lou Piniella said he felt the need to start cutting back on the number of appearances by his two ace relievers, Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood, and start finding opportunities to use Jon Lieber and Chad Fox.
As you know if you watched the 7-2 win over the Astros, Lou went 2-for-4:
Wood did get to rest, and Lieber did get to pitch (1 2/3 scoreless IP in relief of starter and winner Ted Lilly). But Fox remained idle, and Marmol was forced into action in the home half of the eighth, and it was nasty duty, at that. The Cubs were up 5-2, the Astros had men at first and third, none out, and Tejada, Berkman, and Lee were due up. A pop out, a strikeout, and a ground out later, the Astros were taking the field, and the lead remained safe (even safer after Aramis Ramirez's two-run homer in the top of the ninth). Another Marmol masterpiece.
Speaking of Ramirez, he and Derrek Lee went a combined 5-for-10 with 3 RBI on Monday night. This was a big turnaround from the weekend series against the Pirates, in which R. and L. went a combined 0-for-22. In fact, over the course of the just concluded homestand, the Cubs' two big sluggers didn't do much slugging at all.
Ramirez hit .257 with no homers and 4 RBI, Lee hit .171 with an OPS of 556, and yet the Cubs won 8 of 10.
Of course, over that same 10-game stretch, Alfonso Soriano hit .524/1.150/1674 (OBP/SLG/OPS) with 7 HR and 16 RBI, and lifted his batting average from .191 to .296. And Mark DeRosa hit .514/.645/1159. Fukudome, Soto, and Theriot, while posting less spectacular numbers, all held their own, so the offensive falloff by Ramirez and Lee didn't pose much of a problem.
Depth. It's good.
Tuesday morning update: So much for Chad Fox helping to shoulder the bullpen load. Fox has been placed on the 15-Day Disabled List after developing elbow tenderness. According to the Tribune...
Fox said trainer Mark O'Neal told him "it could take a week, it could take two weeks, it could take two months. Who knows?"Fox's spot will be taken by Jose Ascanio, whom the Cubs acquired this past off-season from Atlanta in exchange for Will Ohman. Ascanio had a 2.29 ERA and 9 saves in 16 appearances for the I-Cubs.
And speaking of the I-Cubs, they've placed Rich Hill on the 7-Day DL as a result of back spasms that caused him to be pulled from a start last Friday, but Lou Piniella doesn't think the back spasms are serious, or maybe even the real issue at all. Again, from the Tribune...
“I don’t think it’s serious,” Piniella said. “Probably more of a mental break than anything, I’d assume. That’s just my assumption. [The break] may not be bad. It might be the best tonic of all. But I haven’t heard anything wrong of a serious nature, anything fundamentally wrong with his back.”
According to the Win Shares calculations by the good folks at The Hardball Times, Geovany Soto leads all Major League catchers in WS, placing just ahead of the Twins' marvelous Joe Mauer. Dave Studeman also points out that Soto has nailed 38% of the runners attempting to steal against him while making just one error.
As pointed out at cubs.com, Alfonso Soriano has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games. True enough, but in the same 13 games, Fonsie is hitting .250 overall with a .298 OBP, a .423 slugging percentage, and 12 strikeouts in 52 AB.
If Soriano keeps a scrapbook, I'm thinking that none of these past 13 games are likely to find their way onto any of the pages.
9
Number of games the Cubs won during Alfonso Soriano's 14-game stay on the Disabled List
7
Runs per game scored by the Cubs during Soriano's absence
5.2
Runs per game scored by the Cubs before Soriano's absence
2
Number of home runs hit by Alfonso Soriano in 2008
1
Number of home runs hit by Cub leftfielders not named Alfonso Soriano in 2008
30
Number of bases Alfonso Soriano says he is capable of stealing by the end of the season
23
Number of bases Alfonso Soriano will steal in 2008 at his current pace, assuming he plays each of the remaining 137 games
001
Difference so far this season between the cumulative OPS generated by Cub leadoff men (538) and the Cubs' ninth-place hitters (537)
0
Likelihood that Matt Murton will be in the Cub dugout Thursday afternoon instead of on his way back to the Pacific Coast League
— Cubs.com reports that "(Alfonso) Soriano appeared to pass all tests during a strenuous workout on Sunday." Soriano is eligible to come off the Disabled List on Thursday, in time for the conclusion of this week's three-game series against the Brewers at Wrigley.
The Cubs have played 13 games since Soriano went on the DL, winning nine and losing four.
— Former Cub manager Lee Elia is trying to capitalize on the 25th anniversary of his famous Wrigley Field lockerroom rant (see above) to the benefit of Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities. You can read about the commemorative autographed baseball and accompanying audio chip being offered by a Chicago sports memorabilia company here. You can also learn, as I did, that Elia had a longstanding animus for Chicago sportscaster Les Grobstein, who taped Elia's original rant, thus ensuring its place in baseball lore for time immemorial.
— Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times identifies ten Major League teams which "keep hiring the same sort of skipper again and again." Can you guess which franchise's inability to "find good, new managers" causes Jaffe to characterize it as a "compost heap"?
If you can't, you're reading the wrong blog.
— A Paul Reuschel sighting: In "The All-Time Best Whatever," (subscription required), Bill James lists the three best bullpens of the '70s, based on the James-invented statistic, Win Shares.
Tied for first with the 1970 Minnesota Twins trio of Ron Perranoski, Stan Williams, and Tom Hall is the '70 Cubs threesome of Bruce Sutter, Willie Hernandez and Reuschel the Lesser. The same article identifies the '70 and '71 Cubs starting staffs--Jenkins, Hands, Holtzman, Pappas, et al--as the two best overall rotations of the decade.
Reading this article, it's pretty easy to understand how the Cubs won all those championships in the 1970s.
— I haven't even mentioned yet that Geovany Soto will begin the week having whiffed in eight consecutive plate appearances. Having seen the likes of Chris Cannizzaro, George Mitterwald, Dave Rader, and Barry Foote hold down the catcher's position for the Cubs in my lifetime, I think Geo will have to strike out a whole bunch more before I even take serious notice.
32
Combined number of runs by which the Cubs won the last four games of their 7-1 homestand (13-1 and 13-6 vs. the Pirates; 7-1 and 8-1 vs. the Mets).
78
Number of years since the Cubs last won four games in a row by at least 6 runs each.
33
Number of years since the Cubs last went 14-6 in the season's first 20 games.
20
Number of games below .500 the '75 Cubs played following their 14-6 start (finishing 75-87, 5th in the NL East, 17 1/2 games behind the Pirates).
9
Number of days until Alfonso Soriano's expected return to the Cub lineup.
6
Number of games Soriano has missed since straining his right calf muscle.
4
Number of hits by Cub leadoff men since Soriano went on DL (4-for-26, .154).
7
Number of consecutive times Kosuke Fukudome has reached base (5 hits and 2 walks).
0
Number of times Fukudome has hit leadoff this season.
9,999
Number of games the Cubs have won since the inception of the franchise. (Only the New York/San Francisco Giants have won more.)
139
Cubs' magic number to clinch NL Central.
I was going to post over the lunch hour in reaction to the results of Alfonso Soriano's MRI and the Cubs' announced roster move--recall of Matt Murton? Eric Patterson?--assuming Soriano would be placed on the DL. But neither the MRI results nor the roster move have been announced yet. So there.
In the meantime, I will take advantage of this opportunity to celebrate something I saw last night which I deem fully worthy of celebration:
Aramis Ramirez driving the ball deep to left field and hustling out of the batter's box.
Maybe it's because he was positive the ball wouldn't clear the left field wall. Maybe he was trying to look good in front of his former manager. Whatever the reason, it was gratifying to see.
As long as it doesn't cause him to pull a calf muscle.
Update: Soriano goes on the 15-day DL, and Eric Patterson is your newest Chicago Cub. He's not starting tonight, however, as DeRosa continues in left field, and Mike Fontenot holds down second and bats leadoff.
This is a much less poignant post than it would have been if the Cubs hadn't finally defeated the Pirates, 6-4, in tonight's 15-inning game, and if the subject of Ron Santo's commentary, Felix Pie, hadn't eventually driven in the decisive runs, but so it goes.
From the top of the 11th inning, as the Pirates' Tyler Yates completed an intentional pass to Alfonso Soriano:
HUGHES: ...so Soriano walks and that will bring up Felix Pie.
SANTO: (UNDER HIS BREATH) Oh, boy...
On Thursday, the Cubs took their first lead in a game this season and went on to win for the first time, 6-3 over the Brewers.
Alfonso Soriano, in his return to the leadoff spot, had his first hit, first stolen base and first two RBIs.
Aramis Ramirez had his first hit and first home run.
Ryan Dempster won in his first starting assignment since 2005.
After 212 Major League appearances, Kerry Wood earned his first career save.
And on Chicago's WSCR radio, serially unfunny afternoon drive-time host Dan Bernstein managed to say something amusing:
Instead of being nicknamed "The Hebrew Hammer," the Brewers' defensively challenged slugger, Ryan Braun, should be known as "The Kosher Butcher."
The Hardball Times flagged this fascinating story by Alan Schwarz in Tuesday's New York Times, a description of the work of Swarthmore College mathematician and avid Yankees fan Steve Wang.
Employing an analytical method called Chernoff faces, in which data are represented by varying heights, widths, and angles in images of human faces, Wang reflects the strategic tendencies of all 30 Major League managers from the 2007 season.
If I understand the explanation of Wang's analysis, the Piniella Chernoff face suggests Lou's relatively frequent use of pinch runners (the upward swoosh of the hair), the disinclination to use the sacrifice bunt (the slit nose and downward-turned mouth), and his tendency to switch starting lineups (the oval face).
Speaking of the lineup-switching, Old Oval Face announced after today's 8-2 loss to the Brewers that he will be re-installing Alfonso Soriano in the leadoff spot. Soriano has contributed to the Cubs 0-2 start by going hitless in nine at-bats, including three strikeouts, out of the second spot. Ryan Theriot, with whom Soriano will be swapping batting order positions, went 2-for-4 Wednesday after an 0-for-5 in Monday's opener.
Wanting to move Alfonso Soriano out of the leadoff spot, where he might "feel pressured to run" and thereby risk re-aggravating hamstring and quadriceps injuries that troubled him in 2007, Cubs manager Lou Piniella slotted Ryan Theriot in the leadoff spot, had Soriano hitting second, and moved Kosuke Fukudome down to fifth for Thursday's Cactus League game against the Padres.
Theriot was 2-for-4, Soriano was 1-for-3, and Fukudome went 1-for-4 in the Cubs' 3-2 victory. That's a combined 4-for-11 with a walk and a run scored...and a victory. I guess that settles it. It's a good idea. Let's move on.
Seriously, if Alfonso Soriano is miscast as a leadoff man, his long swing and strikeout tendencies would seem to render him at least as much of a miscast in the two-hole.
Here is what Soriano told Carrie Muskat:
"I have to make a small adjustment hitting with somebody on base," Soriano said. "I want to be the same guy. Batting second is more hitting, and not really running so much."The "experiment" is supposed to be temporary–how temporary would seem to be a function of how productive the new-look Cub lineup is.He should get more RBI opportunities.
"I think batting second I can help the club more," he said.
Jason Marquis had his longest outing this Spring on Thursday, throwing four scoreless innings against the Padres.
According to Paul Sullivan in the Tribune, Marquis picked the right time to blank the Padres, since the HoHoKam Park stands were full of other teams' scouts.
One line of thinking is that Marquis could be of interest to the Red Sox, from whom the Cubs might like to pry Coco Crisp. The Red Sox pitching staff has been thinned by Curt Schilling's latest injury and more recently, Josh Beckett's back problems.
It was Schilling's injury, however, that caused the Sox to sign Bartolo Colon as a free agent. Colon also threw on Thursday, allowing one run in two innings but maybe more importantly, hitting 93 on the speed gun.
Maybe the Red Sox will decide they need double insurance and pursue Marquis also.
Zero: the number of home runs Daryle Ward hit for the Cubs in 52 plate appearances as a pinch hitter in 2007. (Ward's pinch home run was a key blow in the Cubs' 6-4 win over Seattle on Friday.)
Zero: the amount of interest that the Cubs showed this winter in free agent centerfielder Torii Hunter. (Hunter told buddy Derrek Lee that if the Cubs had asked, he would have been highly interested.)
Zero: how much Jose Ceda enhanced his chances of getting from Class "A" to the big leagues in one big jump by allowing five hits and four BB in just two innings this Spring. (Ceda was one of nine Cubs sent to the Minor League camp on Friday.)
Zero: the number of at-bats Alfonso Soriano has gotten in the last six days. (Soriano is scheduled to return to the Cubs lineup Saturday, just a week after fracturing his right middle finger during a fielding drill.)
Zero: the number of hits Ichiro has in ten AB so far this spring. (That's five fewer hits than Ichiro's countryman, Cubs rookie Kosuke Fukudome, has collected in Cactus League play.)
Zero: the likelihood that I will EVER set foot in U.S. Cellular Field to see the Chicago Cubs play a "home" game. (Note: every time Crane Kenney opens his mouth, bad things come out.)
– The Chicago Tribune reports that a new investor group has announced its intention to get in on the bidding for the Cubs. Called Robinson-Greenberg and Associates (after Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg), it "would represent the first African-American majority ownership of an MLB franchise."
Principals include: a Lutheran minister named Anthony Williams; real estate investor and catering company owner Marshall Bynum, Jr.; and entrepreneur Harold Davis.
According to the Tribune...
Bynum said the group intends to purchase both the Cubs and Wrigley Field, and is prepared for a price tag of $1 billion dollars or more. Tribune Co. has indicated it prefers to sell the stadium and team separately.The Trib story also quotes a baseball official who questions whether or not this heretofore unknown investor group could possibly be a serious bidder for the club.
– Alright, it's my fault. I dared to think that the Cubs might go through the Cactus League season and the regular schedule without losing a game, and look what happens.
On Friday afternoon in Mesa, Les Walrond was tagged for an eighth-inning grand slam by the Giants' Eddy Martinez-Esteve, as San Francisco turned a 5-4 deficit into an 8-5 lead, eventually dumping the Cubs 8-6. Carlos Zambrano and Rich Hill gave up a combined one earned run over the first four innings. Kosuke Fukudome collected two more walks and scored two of the Cub runs.
Alfonso Soriano, who sat out the Spring Training opener on Thursday, made his debut Friday and went 0-for-2. Aramis Ramirez was absent from the lineup for the second straight day owing to a "tight right shoulder."
The Cubs (Jason Marquis) will visit the Angels (Jered Weaver) in Tempe on Saturday.
– The Cubs have already sold 2.7 million tickets for the upcoming season. That's a franchise record this far out from Opening Day.
Put another way, it's more tickets than the White Sox, Mariners, Rangers, Blue Jays, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Indians, Twins, Orioles, Reds, Nationals, A's, Pirates, Royals, Devil Rays, or Marlins sold in all of 2007.
– The Wrigley Company is not reacting to Sam Zell's reported desire that they pony up for the naming rights to Wrigley Field and, in the words of the Sun-Times, start to "pay for what the chewing gum company has been getting for free," i.e., the promotional value of having their name on one of the world's most famous sports venues.
The Sun-Times says that Zell would prefer to peddle those rights to Wrigley since that would allow him to put many millions of dollars in the Trib's corporate pocket and spare Cub fans the trauma of having to attend games at Boeing Park or McDonald's Field.
Always thinking about the fans--Sam seems to be really great that way.
I'm not surprised that we're reading Cubs Spring Training stories about how good Kerry Wood looks or how Alfonso Soriano is ready to bounce back from that nasty quadriceps injury or how Lou Piniella is feeling pretty doggone good about his ballclub.
But I'll be the first to admit that not until the last couple days did I ever expect to read, "Aramis Ramirez Shuns Cockfighting Questions."
