Chicago Cubs

Its being reported by ESPN Deportes that the Chicago Cubs have called up top prospect short stop Starlin Castro. I heard the Score just report this on the Danny Mac show.

If it does get confirmed as truth it is a very odd move as current shortstop Ryan Theriot is playing well, and the fact he's not here already was widely believed to save his service time. There's only about three weeks left till his service time eligibility isn't a factor. Stay tuned.

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Look, it’s early but then again it’s not that early. We’re into May and the slash line from Aramis Ramirez looks like a pitcher's (not named Zambrano): .149/.214/.267/.482.

Perhaps as troubling as his struggles at the plate is the word going around that Rami isn’t seeking help from Rudy Jaramillo. He apparently feels he is a professional hitter who can figure things out for himself.

There's a saying that goes you should "strike while the iron is hot." Well right now, Alfonso Soriano is incendiary, and I say this is the best time to explore trade options for the Cubs mercurial left fielder.

In his last three games, Soriano has slammed four homers and driven in 10 runs.

On the season, he's batting .325 with 6 HR, 17 RBI, and (for you stats geeks out there) an incredible .1057 OPS.

It sounds a little sappy, but I believe that I was meant to write “Public Bonehead, Private Hero: The Real Legacy of Baseball’s Fred Merkle,” which is available at:  www.sportingchancepress.com

To this day, many baseball fans still call Fred Merkle a “bonehead.”  I won’t rest until that stops. 

The Cubs begin May 3 with an average—at best—record of 13-13 and find themselves 4.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals (17-8) in the National League Central.

Starting pitching remains the team’s strong suit. But if you haven’t noticed, the Cubs—outside of Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez—are starting to hit.

In case you missed it, Lou Piniella had a little back-and-forth jabber with a reporter after yesterday’s 3-2 loss to the Washington Nationals.

It’s good to see that Sweet Lou still has a little baseball life left in him. I was beginning to think he had lost all of his passion, kind of like the Cubs’ offense against the Nasty Nats pitching staff.

"What kind of baseball do you play?" That question was addressed to George Castle by Cub manager Lou Piniella yesterday when Castle questioned his strategy in the eighth inning of a Cubs loss to the Washington Nationals.

The question asked was why with a man on second and nobody out and Mike Fontenot at the plate and the Cubs trailing by a run that Piniella didn't have him bunt him over to third.

This is not simply a reaction to the post by Bruce Levine, who is wrong more often than he is right. There seems to be legitimate buzz around the Cubs organization about bringing up young stud Starlin Castro.

But it doesn't necessarily mean the end of Ryan Theriot as a Cub, for they may simply move The Riot to second base and play Castro at short.

Regardless of what they do with Theriot, one thing for sure is that they won't bring up Castro to sit on the bench. He will not come up until manager Lou Piniella can guarantee him regular playing time.

For the fourth time this season, Livan Hernandez put the Nationals on his back and carried them late into the game.

By doing that, he gave them a chance to earn a victory.

With early run support, Washington was able to do just that as they defeated the Cubs 3-1 and nipped a one game losing streak in the bud.

Throughout baseball, the aces of pitching staff's are called stoppers.

They are the pitchers who managers, general managers and fans feel comfortable putting in every fifth day to make sure that no losing streak gets out of control.