Hot damn!

What a game last night! It was one of those that leaves you giddy - kind of like a roller coaster ride. Which is pretty much exactly what the Cubs are: a horrifyingly unsafe small-town roller coaster, operated by a guy with more fingers than teeth but not many of either. Even if it doesn't kill you, it'll take a couple years off your life thanks to sheer terror.

I've heard a lot lately from a certain blog about how Darwin Barney is not more than a replacement level player. And it's true, his minor league numbers are not exactly astounding: .299/.333/.378 with Iowa last season. Essentially, he doesn't walk, and has no power. But so far this year, he's at a much more respectable .345/.394/.448. It seems that hanging out with Marlon Byrd (they're totally not gay, you guys) and Rudy Jaramillo has done him some good in the slugging department. I've heard that Jaramillo doesn't place much emphasis on walks and tends to create hackers, not patient hitters, but Barney is also walking a lot more than he did last year (3 BB out of 34 PA so far this year; he only had 23 walks in 2010). That's not to mention the fact that Castro and Barney have been tearing it up in the one and two spots. The odds are that neither of them will stay anywhere near this hot, and we'll see them both regress to their respective means; but it seems being in the bigs agrees with Barney, so I'm not ready to write him off based on his minor league numbers. I'm holding out hope that he'll be better than expected. (Also, his current WAR is 0.2. Which puts him ever so slightly above replacement level. So there.)

Yes, I know he dropped a (relatively) routine fly in right last night. But I'm blaming that on Tyler Colvin, who can't seem to do anything good when it actually matters.

Congrats to Big Z on his homer last night. I actually saw him hit a home run at Minute Maid - I can't confirm which year it was, but I think it was his 2005 home run off of Roy Oswalt. I was sitting in the right field bullpen boxes, behind Orlando Palmeiro, and the ball hit the wall below me. Which, now that I think about it, means that it was an opposite field HR, or Z was batting lefty - which would make sense, since Oswalt is a RHP. I dunno, I'm gonna have to do some more checking on this. I'll let you know what I find.

Quade is showing shades of Lou Piniella last season - leaving his starters in just a little too long, until they get roughed up bad. I sincerely hope he picks up on the pattern quickly, and also that he more fully embraces the concept of "long relief." Though, I guess we have to keep the bullpen use to a minimum whenever possible, given that our fifth starter at the moment seems to be... the bullpen.

But still! A big, shiny, dramatic win! Yay!

Mike FonteNotes: Sounds like there was some damn fine baseball in San Francisco last night. The Giants won on a go-ahead home run by our LBR, who also smacked a second-inning RBI double - both off of none other than our very own Terrible Ted Lilly of the Valley of the Shadow of Death (I miss him). Hate to see Teddy boy take the loss, but I'm glad Fontenot got a shot at a start and made good. I'm actually going to a Dodgers@Cubs game on the 26th... cross your fingers and pray to the baseball gods, and maybe I'll get to watch Lilly at Wrigley again.

Go Cubs go!