Chicago Cubs Week-in-Review: April 9-15

Cubs weekly record: 1-4
4/9 vs. Houston Astros L 3-5
4/10 vs. Houston Astros L 2-4
4/11 vs. Houston Astros Postponed (expected to be made up on July 12)
4/13 vs. Cincinnati Reds L 5-6
4/14 vs. Cincinnati Reds W 7-0
4/15 vs. Cincinnati Reds L 0-1

Cubs overall record: 4-7 (6th in NL Central)

Notable Season Stats (as of Monday April 16):

Derrek Lee: .372 AVG 6 R 5 2B 8 RBI
Aramis Ramirez: .406 AVG 5 R 1 2B 1 HR 5 RBI
Alfonso Soriano: .234 AVG 5 R 6 2B 1 RBI
Cliff Floyd: .276 AVG 29 AB 4 R 2 2B 2 RBI

Rich Hill: 2 GS 2-0 0.64 ERA 14 IP 4 BB 11 K
Ted Lilly: 3 GS 1-1 2.37 ERA 19 IP 3 BB 24 K
Carlos Zambrano: 3 GS 1-2 7.88 ERA 16 IP 11 BB 10 K
Ryan Dempster: 5 GP 0-0 0.00 ERA 2 SV 5.0 IP 1 BB 8 K

Player of the Week: Rich Hill
1 GS 7 IP 3 H 0 ER 4 BB 5 K

Important Fact of the Week: Cubs are 1-4 at home this season.

Lou Piniella

It was only the 2nd week of the season and Lou is already losing his temper.

Postgame comments by Cubs manager Lou Piniella after the Cubs blew a five run lead and ended up losing 6-5 to the Cincinnati Reds on Friday April 13:

-"This guy (Zambrano) is your ace, you got a 5-0 lead with the eighth and ninth hitters coming up, you feel pretty good about that inning and all of a sudden it turns into a six-run inning."

- "What do I do? I pitch him when it's his turn again. What else can I do?"

-"And then I bring in the reliever (Will Ohman) who's throwing 30-to-40-foot curveballs to boot. I can see. I can start to see some of the ways this team has lost ballgames. I can see it. We've got to correct it obviously. ... This game here is one that got away from us that really shouldn't."

-When asked what's not working:
"What the hell do you think isn't working? You see the damn game."

If Lou is going to be this upset in April, how will he act in July?

Carlos Zambrano

Carlos Zambrano has been struggling. Zambrano has allowed 17 hits and 14 earned runs in 16 innings. Zambrano's WHIP (walks plus hits per inning) is 1.75, which higher than the Cubs' WHIP average of 1.14. Zambrano struggled in April last season.

Zambrano in April 2006:
6 GS 0-2 5.35 ERA 33.2 IP 33 H 20 ER 25 BB 38 K 1.72 WHIP

Hopefully he will improve later in the season.

Rich Hill

Zambrano is still the ace of the Cubs, but not by much. Rich Hill has been pitching great and has a 0.64 ERA after two starts. Hill has a chance at making the NL All-Star team and I predict that he will win at least 16 games this season.

Cubs Lack of Offense

So far the offense has been disappointing. This is an offense that could potentially have three players hitting 40+ home runs this year. The Cubs have scored three runs or less in 5 of their 11 games and have scored four runs or less in 7 of their 11 games. The Cubs lack of hitting is one of the main reasons the Cubs are 4-7.

Chicago Cubs week-in-review: April 2-8

Cubs weekly record:
4/2 L 1-5 @ Cincinnati Reds Box Score
4/4 W 4-1 @ Cincinnati Reds Box Score
4/5 L 2-5 @ Cincinnati Reds Box Score
4/6 W 9-3 @ Milwaukee Brewers Box Score
4/7 W 6-3 @ Milwaukee Brewers Box Score
4/8 L 4-9 @ Milwaukee Brewers Box Score

Cubs overal record: 3-3 (tied for 3rd in the NL central)

Notable Season Stats at the end of the week:

Derrek Lee: .440 AVG 4 R 3 2B 3 RBI
Aramis Ramirez: .440 AVG 4 R 1 HR 4 RBI
Mark DeRosa: .333 AVG 7 R 2 HR 6 RBI
Alfonso Soriano: .214 AVG 2 R 4 2B
Michael Barrett: .158 AVG 1 R 3 RBI

Carlos Zambrano: 1-1 6.00 ERA 12 IP 8 K
Ted Lilly: 1-0 1.29 ERA 7 IP 9 K
Jason Marquis: 0-0 1.50 ERA 6 IP 1 K
Rich Hill: 1-0 1.29 ERA 7 IP 6 K
Wade Miller: 0-1 13.50 ERA 4 IP 0 K
Scott Eyre: 0-0 22.50 ERA 2 GP 2 IP 3 K
Ryan Dempster: 0-0 0.00 ERA 2 GP 2 IP 3 K

Player of the Week: Aramis Ramirez

Important Fact of the Week: Cubs are 3-1 when scoring 4 or more runs

The Cubs started the season with a record of 1-2 after the Cubs' offense only scored seven runs in the first three games. The Cubs had a good shot at winning two out of three against the Reds in the final game of the series, but Bob Howry blew a 2-1 lead in the 7th and Reds eventually won 5-2. Against the Brewers, the Cubs' offense did better and averaged 6.33 runs per game during the three game series. After winning the first two games, Wade Miller had a bad game in the final game of the series allowing six runs in only four innings and the Brewers won 9-4 on Easter Sunday.

Player Notes:

Carlos Zambrano

Zambrano has shown that he can't pitch well on opening day:

Opening Day 2007: 5 IP 6 H 5 ER 5 BB 2 SO 2 HR
Opening Day 2006: 4.2 IP 7 H 5 ER 5 BB 5 SO 2 HR
Opening Day 2005: 4.2 IP 7 H 3 ER 4 BB 8 SO 1 HR

Could it be a fluke that Zambrano pitches bad on opening day? Maybe. However, I think he gets too excited on opening day. It is probably hard to be the first pitcher of the first game of the season. If Zambrano struggles during opening day, how will he do in the playoffs?

Zambrano in the 2003 playoffs:

2 GS 0-1 5.40 ERA 16.7 IP 5 BB 12 SO

Those aren't great stats. If the Cubs reach game 7 of the world series, they might have to consider maybe having someone other than Zambrano start.

Ted Lilly

Great game for Lilly during the Cubs 4-1 win over the Reds on April 4th:

(W) 7 IP 3 H 1 ER 1 BB 9 SO

This is why the Cubs got him and I hope he can be a 15 game winner with a sub-4 ERA.

Rich Hill

In the first five innings of Hill's first start on April 6th, Hill allowed no hits and no walks. Hill pitched seven innings, allowed just one hit which was a home run ending his bid for a perfect game and a shutout, and walked zero batters. If Hill can keep it up, he has a chance at being a NL All-Star this year.

Mark DeRosa

I was hoping he would be good but I didn't expect him to be leading the Cubs in home runs after the first week of the season. So far, he is hitting better than Alfonso Soriano. DeRosa ranks 1st on the Cubs in home runs and RBIs and rank 3rd on the Cubs in batting average. I don't expect him to hit 40 home runs, but he is off to a great start.