Earlier today, I wrote sort of a goodbye-Shea-Stadium-see-you-in-hell post at The Cub Reporter. Also this evening, the Tribune's Paul Sullivan offers a short history of Cub misery at Shea Stadium, invoking names like Turk Wendell and LaTroy Hawkins.

All of this grisly reminiscence was at odds with what wound up being a pretty satisfying Cub victory tonight. Carlos Zambrano (4 2/3 IP, 5 R, 4 BB, and one grand slam allowed to Carlos Delgado) pitched like a guy who should be grateful to get a starting turn in the playoffs, let alone the Game One assignment, but the Cub bullpen, despite some bumpy going, limited the home team to just one run over the last five innings. The Cub offense recovered from a 5-1 deficit and eventually seized a 6-5 lead. After the Mets tied the game in the eighth inning, then failed to capitalize on a golden scoring opportunity in the bottom of the ninth against Bob Howry, Derrek Lee drove home Ryan Theriot with the game-winner in the top of the tenth and Aramis Ramirez ripped a two-run homer to seal the 9-6 win.

In all, the Mets scored one run despite having a man on third with nobody out in each of the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.

The Mets remain 1 1/2 games behind the Phillies in the NL East. The Brewers, who beat the Pirates behind C.C. Sabathia on Wednesday night, are now tied with the Mets for the Wild Card.

If the three teams end the season in a tie, the Mets and Phillies will play Monday in Philadelphia to determine the NL East winner. The losing team will then travel to Milwaukee to settle the Wild Card. And the Cubs will be watching all the while.

Rich Harden walks the first two Milwaukee hitters, though he is then able to limit the Brewers to one first-inning run. Unfortunately, he has to throw 38 pitches to retire the side.

Stage 1: Mild Irritation


In the Cubs' half of the second inning, Jim Edmonds smacks a game-tying home run off Milwaukee's David Bush. In the fourth inning, another solo shot, this one by Aramis Ramirez, puts the Cubs ahead, 2-1.

Stage 2: Optimism


A Mark DeRosa error, Jeff Samardzija's lack of control, and some opportunely placed Brewers hits allow the visitors to score four runs in their half of the sixth inning to go in front, 5-2. In the bottom of the inning, Alfonso Soriano is on first when Derrek Lee hits into an inning-ending double play.

Stage 3: Depression


Still trailing 5-2 and having accumulated only three hits—two of them the solo homers by Edmonds and Ramirez—the Cubs get a potentially game-changing break in their half of the seventh inning: Milwaukee manager Dale Sveum hands the ball to Eric Gagne (6.25 ERA). But Gagne retires Ramirez, Edmonds, and Mark DeRosa on four pitches.

Stage 4: Anger


Despite running the bases like nervous Little Leaguers, the Brewers pad their lead to 6-2 in the top of the ninth. In the bottom of the inning, Salomon Torres retires the first two hitters.

Stage 5: Resignation


Double, single, single, homer. Tied game.

Stage 6: Delirium


After Marmol keeps the Brewers off the board in the top of the 10th, Wood is brilliant in the top of the 11th, the Cubs threaten but don't score in the bottom of the 11th, and Wood wriggles out of a seemingly desperate situation in the top of the 12th, Derrek Lee bats in the bottom of the 12th and scores pinch-runner Jason Marquis with a solid, two-out, game-winning single to center field.

The magic number is two.

Stage 7: Peace

The Cubs have been one of the National League's best defensive teams all year long and even with some breakdowns during their recent losing streak, the team continues to lead the NL in Defensive Efficiency Rating (percentage of batted balls converted into outs).

The display of glovework in the late innings of Thursday's 3-2 win at St. Louis was exceptional by any standards, however. Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez all turned in outstanding plays that proved essential to preserving the Cubs' one-run margin and making a winner of Rich Harden, returning to the rotation after 12 days of rest.

The defensive play also masked the fact that both Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood were hit hard and that the Cub offense continued to look inept. Lee, who struck out with runners at first and third and none out in the first inning—at least he avoided hitting into a double play—looks like he could use a rest.

Ike is apparently going to ensure that he gets it.

With a division lead of 5 games, a record that now stands a dizzying 31 games above .500, a .614 winning percentage that's higher than the season-ending number for any Cub team since 1945, and a 98.89% chance of making the playoffs (according to Baseball Prospectus's Playoff Odds Report), the Cubs are making me feel...do I dare use the word?...hopeful.

On the other hand, consider this thought which crossed my mind as I was watching tonight's rout:

If the Brewers had simply managed a split of their big four-game series with the Cubs several weeks ago in Milwaukee instead of spitting the bit in all four contests, the Cubs' record would be 79-52, the Brewers' record would be just one game worse at 78-53, and everyone in the Cub-loving universe would be even more obsessed with the moment-by-moment reports from MLB.com Gameday than we already are.

No spine-tingling drama coming out of Pittsburgh tonight, however, as Ted Lilly shut down the Pirates while Lee, Edmonds, and Fukudome—two of whom, Edmonds and Fukudome, have been non-contributors this month while Lee has been so-so at best—conspired to bash the Pirates' brains in. The trio went a combined 9-for-13 with four doubles, a triple, 4 runs scored, and 6 RBI. Lilly, meanwhile, is now 13-7, has won 6 of his last 7, and has delivered Quality Starts in 9 of his last 11 outings.

And if you're wondering how the late, great Harry Caray might have reacted to all this, you don't have to wonder—just hear what he has to say following every Cub game the rest of the season at 1908worldchampions.com.

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.

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.

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.”

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.)

Declaring that "this is not a year that we’ll tinker much" with the lineup, Lou Piniella let it be known on Friday that he's considering hitting Fukudome-Lee-Ramirez in the 3-4-5 positions.

Lou's logic is that letting Fukudome bat third, as he did for the Chunichi Dragons, will help with his adjustment to life and baseball in the U.S. As for A-Ram and D-Lee...

"I know Ramirez feels very comfortable in the five hole. I'm sure Derrek will do what's best for the team. The fourth spot won't be a problem for him."

Over the course of his career, Ramirez has hit fourth more than in any other lineup position (43% of his career plate appearances). Based on OPS numbers, however, he has actually been most productive in the third hole: hitting 3rd, 903 OPS; hitting 4th, 841; hitting 5th, 865; hitting 6th, 901.

Derrek Lee has actually spent more of his time in the 6-hole (36% of his career PA's) than anywhere else, but his sweet spot has been in the third position: hitting 3rd, 955 OPS; 4th, 807; 5th, 853; and 6th, 870.

...an occasional series wherein I raid my kids' baseball card collections or my own and profile a one-time Chicago Cub.

Today’s guest Paper Cub is no less than a cousin of former big leaguer Ellis Burks.

Who: Roosevelt Brown, outfielder, 1999-2002

How The Cubs Got Him: Plucked him out of the Florida Marlins’ system in the December, 1997 Rule V Draft.

What He Did While They Had Him: Mostly tore up the Pacific Coast League—playing at Class AAA Iowa from ’99-’01, he hit .358, .309, and .346, with big HR and RBI numbers to match.

He played for the Major League Cubs in those same seasons plus 2002, and the results were much less remarkable. In ’02, for example, when he spent the entire season on the Chicago roster, he played 111 games—about half in the outfield, the other half as a pinch-hitter—and hit a meager .211/.299/.314, with a dismal OPS+ of 63.

Worse yet, he struggled defensively, and his base-running caught the attention of Cubs manager Don Baylor…and not in a good way. Said Baylor after a game against the Reds in June of '02, when Brown got himself tagged out going from first to second on what would have been a sacrifice fly, “There’s no excuse for that, and it almost cost us a ballgame.”

Overall, Brown collected 442 at-bats in 228 games as a Cub, hitting .251/.311/.407, with 11 HR, 69 RBI and an OPS+ of 87. (Truth be told, over the years, players with lesser numbers than Brown's have seen much more playing time in a Cub uniform.)

How The Cubs Got Rid Of Him: Released him on November 12, 2002. Brown, 26 years old at the time, felt the Cubs never gave him the full shot he deserved to show what he was capable of. He left for Japan, where he played two seasons for the Pacific League’s Orix Blue Wave. Brown hit .307 and .269 in his two years overseas.

Coincidentally, Brown’s manager in Japan, Leon Lee, was the Cubs’ Pacific Rim scouting coordinator from ’98-’02 and, even more coincidentally, is the father of current Cub star Derrek Lee.

Brown returned to the States, signing in January of '05 with Atlanta, the team that had originally drafted him as an amateur. The Braves gave Brown a quick look, then released him in March, at which point he caught on with the White Sox. He played the '05 campaign with the Sox' Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte and was released, once and for all, after the season.

Something Positive Someone Once Said About Him: "Rosey has worked very hard. He came to me and said he wanted to play center field. He's done everything we've asked him to do." (From Don Baylor, speaking during Spring Training, 2002, right before Rosey came north with the team and started dropping fly balls and making bad baserunning decisions that cost Baylor’s team critical runs.)

Box Score To Remember: BROWN 4 2 2 7 (Pirates @ Cubs, 10/6/01)

The Cub first baseman Derrek Lee received the third Rawlings Gold Glove of his career in voting announced by Major League Baseball on Tuesday. As Rob G. recounted here at The Cub Reporter, Lee's award came despite the fact that he finished well behind several other NL first basemen, according to various measurements of defensive proficiency.

But that's often the way with the Gold Glove awards. Originally the brainchild of a Rawlings public relations/sales exec named Elmer Blasco, the Gold Gloves were first handed out in 1957. A committee selected by The Sporting News chose the winners, one at each position in each league, until 1964. At that point, the vote was turned over to MLB managers and coaches, who cast ballots within their respective leagues but may not choose any of their own players.

Human nature and manager & coach nature being what they are, the choices often appear to result from player reputation and voters' habits more than actual observation or reflection. As Baseball Library points out:

Perhaps the most egregious example (of irresponsible voting) was the Gold Glove awarded in 1999 to the Rangers' Rafael Palmeiro, who had played just 28 games at first base and had just been named the league's outstanding DH.

On the other hand (no pun intended), Derrek Lee has certainly distinguished himself as a glove man during his National League career--successfully fielding about 30% more balls than the average NL first baseman in the last ten years--and unlike the aforementioned Palmeiro, Lee is an indisputably good guy.

So, congratulations, D-Lee. Cub fans are happy to have you at first base. And we're very glad you're not Rafael Palmeiro.