Carlos Silva was fantastic once again.
8-0
You can say whatever you want, but this guy is our All-Star this year. I don't believe any other player on the team even close to qualifying at this point...except maybe Koyie Hill.
So we head to Milwaukee to face the now Jeff Suppan-less Brewers. Being surrounded by Brewers fans, I can tell you that there was much rejoicing at work today when news of Jeff Suppan's ouster from the Brewers roster reached the masses.
The sad thing for them is that Brewers fans think they are actually a better team now. They are not. While the Cubs may be considered one of the biggest disappointments in baseball, the Brewers aren't far behind. Their pitching has been flat out horrible. They have one starting pitcher even worth mentioning, and their bullpen is a joke....an even bigger joke than the Cubs' pen has been.
Offensively, the Brewers are starting to get a bit better. Prince Fielder is finally starting to hit. Casey McGehee has had a very good year to this point. Ryan Braun has been Ryan Braun. And even Corey Hart has played well as he is tied for the league lead in home runs.
But back to Suppan for a minute...
Earlier this year I talked about how the Suppan contract was such a problem for the Brewers and that his contract was, if fact, much worst than any contract the Cubs had given out to any of their current players.
The Brewers will have to eat the remaining part of the $12.5 million they gave him for this season...and they will also have to pay him $2 million to buy out his contract for next season (they had a $12.75 million option they could have picked up for next year).
Here is something very frightening, though...on the news that Suppan had been cut, Cardinals fans of all types started to come out an say that they should take a chance at signing him and let Dave Duncan work his magic on him.
I say, why not let Larry Rothschild have a stab at him? He's going to be cheep...send him to AAA for a few weeks, see what he has left, and if he's useless, then just let him go again.
On the down side, he is 35 years old, so he obviously has had his best days behind him.
But after the turnaround made by Carlos Silva (to this point), why not take another flying chance on Jeff Suppan?
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The matchups this week:
Tomorrow: Ted Lilly vs. Yovani Gallardo
Gallardo, after starting the season rather shaky, has become the ace that the Brewers have expected for the last couple of years. He has given up 2 or fewer runs in 9 of his last 10 starts. This guy is as good as it gets next to Ubaldo Jimenez right now. This is going to be a tough game.
Lilly has pitching in some tough luck since coming off the DL. He has gotten very little run support, but has continued to look better and better as the shoulder regains strength.
Wednesday: Carlos Zambrano vs. (presumably) Randy Wolf
Zambrano will pitch his traditional 5 innings, throwing 110 pitches and giving up 3 runs. Wolf...blah blah blah...just watch the Blackhawks on Wednesday.
Thursday: Ryan Dempster vs...???? Dave Bush or Chris Capuano
.....Honestly...whatever....
If Zambrano pitches well on Wednesday, the Cubs should win 2 out of 3. Otherwise, this will be another series lost. The Cubs have just hammered the Brewers this year, but this Cubs team is looking rather defeated right now...even after the win today.
