Boxscore

I’ll admit, I was happy when I saw that 5-spot appear in the sixth inning for the Rockies (9-12). The Cubs (15-6) are the hottest team in baseball right now, and having atrocious pitching for an inning isn’t something that will stop them.

The offense is kicking butt right now. It won’t last; it never does, but they’re unstoppable right now. Once Aramis Ramirez hit the two-run home run in the ninth, there was no doubt that the Cubs would win. Even when Kerry Wood (1-0) blew the save. He was obviously angling for the vulture win. And to show the world that Carlos Marmol (S 2) is way better at that closing thing than him anyway.

Can Jason Marquis keep the awesomeness going? He starts today for the Cubs, going against Aaron Cook at 3:05pm EDT.

Boxscore

On the day that speculation is raised about the Cubs possibly throwing the 1918 World Series, a year before the South-Siders did so, the Cubs (13-6) responded by hammering the Mets (10-8). Take that, history!

The Big Moose (3-1) was excellent in seven innings, while John Maine (1-2) wasn’t so much.

I imagine the Cubs are hoping for more decades-old scandals to erupt to continue propelling them on their charge into first. Who knows what skeletons Ron Santo has hidden.

The Mets try to stop the Cubs 4-game winning streak when they send Nelson Figueroa out against Ted Lilly at 2:20pm EDT.

If you’ve been paying close attention for the last couple season, you’ve noticed that I’ve answered five questions about the Reds for blogs that follow the opposing teams. This sounds like something I would initiate, but actually, in both cases I was approached by the other blogger. It’s like we’re becoming a big NLC collective consciousness or something.

The first set of questions came from the Cubs blog Goat Rider’s of the Apocolypse, which I think I’ve already linked to. I haven’t mentioned the award that they’ve also bestowed upon Red Hot Mama, the Corey Patterson award – an award given to a blog covering a team with a player who’s failed to meet his potential. Damn that’s a lot of modifiers. And as long as you’re visiting Goat Riders’ discussion of the Reds, you can read this inexplicably passionate decrying of Marty Brennaman’s inexplicably passionate response to the idiot Cub fans inexplicable throwing of balls on the field after an Adam Dunn home run a few games ago.

More recently, the blog Brew Crew Ball posted my answers to some questions on the Reds before the current series. It’s really nice to have an interaction with a Brewer’s blog; we really haven’t had many conversations with Brewers fans around here, so here’s another link. This is where they talk about Ben Sheets getting hurt.

Continuing the theme of other bloggers who have not come to terms with the fact that RHM is no longer a Reds-only blog, I got a message about this proposal for improving the display of retired numbers at Great American Ball Park from BrianBaute.com. I kinda like the idea, and I’d put adding the names of the players high on the priority list for changes as well.

As we work our way down the emails in my inbox, here’s another episode of the MLB Roundup from DoublePlayTV.

And heck, while we’re at it, check out the new sports portal FanBunker.com, where they advertise hand-pick the blogs they pull from to give you the highest quality sports news.

If that trip ’round the blogsphere wasn’t enough for you, finish up with this bizarre song and video from Ryan Parker.

Boxscore

The Cubs (10-6) mastery of the Pirates (7-9) continues, albeit within the regular nine innings this time.

Ian Snell (2-1) had one bad inning where he allowed all the Cubs runs. (It’s never a good thing to start an inning by allowing a lead-off triple, like Snell did to Fukudome.) That was enough for Rich Hill (1-0) and the Cubs bullpen. Kerry Wood (S 4) chimed in with the save.

Nate McLouth continues his hot hitting, extending his streak to 16 games (that’s every game this year, I believe) with a homer in the 8th.

The two play again today with Tom Gorzelanny pitching against Jason Marquis at 1:05pm EDT.

Boxscore

I meant to post this morning, but work got in the way. How dare what gives me the ability to write these meaningless jibber-jabbers in my spare time interfere with my…spare time. Um, anyway.

The Reds (7-9) proved that even Dusty Baker isn’t a perfect loser as they beat the Cubs (9-6) behind another impressive performance from young Edinson Volquez (2-0). Volquez has now allowed two runs. For the year. Not a bad start.

I was concerned when Volquez was hitting for himself in the bottom of the 5th with his pitch count well north of 100. But the bullpen took over in the 6th. Either Baker has learned a lesson from one of his many mistakes in Chicago, or upper management has a tight control on the number of pitches the young guys can throw. Time will tell.

Ted Lilly (0-3) sucked again, continuing to do nothing to make me think that his last year wasn’t a fluke of a career year performance. He needs to turn things around for the Cubs to contend this year.

The Cubs start a series with the Pirates next, while the Reds entertain Milwaukee.