What The 'Fuk'?

Right field is becoming an area of concern again for the Chicago Cubs once again.

Sure, Kerry Wood is inching his way to another DL stint and Rich Hill is closer to Rick Ankiel than Rick Vaughn. But it's the slumping stick of Kosuke Fukudome that has the Cubs and their fans puzzled.

Fukudome, who went 3-for-3 with a double and a dramatic game-tying home run off Eric Gagne, is hitting .171 with more strikeouts (14) than games played (11).

It's a drastic turn in the wrong direction for the rookie All-Star, who was expected to give the Cubs a solid left-handed bat in a line-up full of right-handed thump. Fukudome has struggled in the top two spots of the order, hitting .191 in 99 at bats. On the other hand, he has been successful in the No. 5 slot, hitting .316 with a .427 on-base percentage.

So what is it? Is K-Fuk slumping because the dog days are wearing on him? Is it because of the line-up (and sometimes position) movement? Is it because NL pitchers have figured him out?

When Alfonso Soriano returns to the line-up, manager Lou Piniella has some major decisions to make. And none of them involve moving Soriano down in the line-up.

Will he move Fukudome back into the slot he's been most successful in or will he keep Jim Edmonds there because of his success in that slot in a Cubs uniform? Will Fuku bat two, behind Soriano and in front of Derek Lee? Will Lou drop The Dome to the No. 7 position? Will he lose playing time to Mike Fontenot, who has one more homer than Fukudome in 188 less at bats?

You know what, I'll let the manager that earns upwards of $3 million per year make those decisions.

Daily Dosage: Not So Frequent Flier Miles

The St. Louis Cardinals won a baseball game behind the strength of an Aaron Miles walk-off grand slam. You're kidding right? I'm sure that made these girls quite happy. You know what would make me happy? A situation that involves myself, those girls, a bottle of Patron and Barry White's greatest hits.

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before. It looks like Kerry Wood is going to visit the DL for the 12th time in his star-crossed career. The flame throwing closer has been sidelined with blister issues on his right index finger and now it looks like the only thing that can heal it is some time off.

Carlos Marmol, your time has come. Marmol was the popular choice in Spring Training to win the closer's role, and that popularity grew as Marmol man-handled the opposition while Wood struggled early.

Since that time, it's been a bit of a role reversal. Wood has a solid grasp on the job, converting 24 saves this season. Marmol has struggled of late, seeing his ERA balloon past the 4.00 mark.

Expect Marmol to assume his new duties beginning tonight in Arizona against the Diamondbacks...where last we saw him, he was giving up what would turn out to be game-winning home run.

It's A Celebration, Bitches. Congrats go out to one of the greatest hitters in the history of the Chicago White Sox. Harold Baines was honored with a statue at U.S. Cellular Field joining former star players Minnie Minoso, Carlton Fisk, Billy Pierce, Luis Aparicio and Nelly Fox in being immortalized in bronze.

Baines collected 2,866 base hits, posted a career .289 batting averagewith 384 home runs and 1,628 runs batted in during his 22-year career. Those numbers are usually reserved for sure-fire hall of famers, but Baines might be snubbed, seeing that he spent most of his career as a designated hitter.

One must wonder who will be the guy who paves the way for DHs to make the hall? It looks like it's up to an elite hitter such as Edgar Martinez or current greats like Jim Thome, Frank Thomas and David Ortiz to do the job that Harold made famous.


Quality Linkage

• A .322 OBP doesn't go as far as it used to. That's why the Brewers acquired Ray Durham. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• Cat Fight!!! (Deadspin)
• Former Trojan to side with Big Blue? Carson Palmer does not like THE Ohio State University. (Fanhouse)
• Marcus Camby has reached the lowest point of his life. (Boston Globe) I want to hit the lowlight of my life and still make $10 million that year.
  

How The Cubs Will Win The Central

Win or lose, we'll still boobs .. er .. booze -- yeah, that's what I meant! Anyway ... am I the only person thinking that there's a slight chance that the girl pictured has a butterface? And if she did, would it matter? If you mix a Cubs fan, a girl with a nice body and a few Old Styles, you'll get a party. Book it!

The Chicago Cubs are in first place in the NL Central, soak it in. They also have the best record in the NL and are tied for the best record in baseball. Again, soak it in Cubs fans, this hasn't happened since God knows when and it's not guaranteed that it will ever happen again.

The North Siders sent a team-record eight players to the All-Star Game in New York and still were unable to secure the all-important home-field advantage. However, the performances by Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Carlos Marmol against the American League's best provide a glimmer of hope that they can continue their success into the second half.

Yet, one of those stars should be the team's major concern.

While most "experts" will try to tell you that the Cubs' second-half success depends on the golden right arm of one James Richard Harden, the North Side Nine will need reliever Carlos Marmol to be lights out.

Despite a solid 1.03 WHIP and 70 strikeouts in only 52.1 innings pitched, No. 49 has struggled of late. His ERA has ballooned to 4.13 and seemed to lose his confidence before striking two of the three batters he faced in Tuesday/Wednesday's All-Star Game.

How The Cubs Will Overcome. Two things: the starting pitching is going to have to go deep into ballgames to save the overworked 'pen and the Cubs' offense needs to keep it in high gear. If Zambrano, Harden, Dempster, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis and Sean Marshall can eat innings and win ballgames, it can go a long way towards keeping the bullpen fresh.

If the Cubs offense can score at will like it has for most of the year, you're talking about those starters pitching low-stress innings in the dog days of August. A fresh Cubs team in September should win the NL Central easily.

However, the Cubs have the tough task of having to overcome their opponents and their past.

How The ChiSox Will Win The Central?

Step One: Have these girls distract the opponents. Whether it be by sticking them in the bleachers, on the jumbotron or at the visitors hotel...just do it! If that fails, read on...

Surprise, surprise. The Chicago White Sox are leading the AL Central going into the unofficial second half of the season. The Sox have surpassed all expectations, thanks in part to the players acquired by GM Kenny Williams in the past two seasons.

Outfielder Carlos Quentin is leading the team in home runs (22) and runs batted in (70). Infielder Alexei Ramirez is the team's shortstop of the future currently playing Gold Glove-caliber second base. Reliever Scott Linebrink sports a 2.37 ERA. And starters John Danks and Gavin Floyd have combined for 17 wins at the break.

Yet, there is concern in Bridgeport.

The struggles of captain Paul Konerko seem to be holding back the team, according to every Sox fan that calls up sports talk radio. They might have a point, if you take into consideration he has almost as many strikeouts (51) as hits (55).

How Will They Overcome? By attempting to do what they did in '05, and that's out pitch the competition. Danks, Floyd, Mark Buerhle and Javier Vazquez will have to carry the load, and lucky for the Sox, both the latter and the former have the abilities to do so.

Javie is a strikeout machine, punching out 8.7 batters per nine innings and Buerhle is starting to earn that crafty lefty label as he avoids the big inning. If Danks and Floyd can continue and build on their first-half success, they will be able to hold off the Twins and the too-late Tigers.

Daily Dosage: Vacation Days

Say what? More time off?

Yeah, well, I'm preparing for the BIGGEST cookout in the history of the world. It's called Papa Roy's Annual Rib Out where my pops (and a collection of my buddies and pals) cook 27 slabs of ribs among other things.

Is your mouth watering yet? It should be.

Friday you'll get a nice li'l post on how the Cubs are gonna win the NL Central. And then later Friday, so people don't think I'm just a one-sided Cubcentric bastard, I'll show ya how the ChiSox are gonna win a division no one predicted they'd win.

Aren't I such a nice guy?

Until then, enjoy a blast from the past...Lindsay Lohan, before Lil' Wayne used her name in a rap song to um...you can figure it out.

BREAKING: Tony La Russa To Manage The Cubs

Lost in the HR Derby and All-Star Game is the nugget dropped in the celebrity game by ESPN analyst Rick Sutcliffe.

Sutcliffe Cubs
by bsap11

Yay! I've got a new drinkin' buddy!!!!!

Who's Ready For A Mediocre Offense?

The Yahoo! Sports team ranks the Bears as the 32nd best offense.

Wait, what do you mean there are only 32 teams in the NFL?

I guess the signing of Kevin Jones isn't going to bump the Monsters of the Midway up the list.

The Bears could have Moss and Owens split wide, but it wouldn't matter because "Rex is (still) our quarterback." Some Bears fans have the gall to think their team is better off with Kyle Orton's Neck Beard at the helm because he doesn't throw the picks Grossman does.

Stat Check: 12 touchdowns, 15 interceptions in 18 career games.

The running game, which is supposed to be the bread-and-butter of Chicago Bear football, is laughable. They passed on Rashard Mendenhall, a local product who ran wild against the pro team that is the USC Trojans, and drafted a running back who starred in Conference USA. How many Conference USA Pro Bowl running backs are there?

Don't worry I'll wait.

Stat Check: Tulane Football 2007: 4-8 overall, 3-5 in conference play despite Forte's 2127 rushing yards, 5.9 yards per carry and 23 touchdowns.

The aerial attack went from bad to worse when the team's only deep threat and Grossman's favorite target (Bernard Berrian) jumped ship to the Minnesota Vikings party boat. In response, the Bears re-acquired Marty Booker, a possession receiver expected to be a No. 1 and Brandon Lloyd, who hasn't been a No. 1 target since that intramural flag football team he starred on at the University of Illinois.

Stat Check: The Bears best returning receiver is...The Other Adrian Peterson...who caught 51 balls and gained 420 yards.

The only skill position in which the Bears have a plus talent is at the tight end slot. Greg Olson has tremendous upside and a flow Lil' Wayne would be envious of. Unfortunately, Desmond Clark is stunting his growth.

Stat Check: 3. The number of legs Olsen admits to having in the NSFW song.

For now, I'm putting my money on kicker Robbie Gould, All-World return man Devin Hester and a rejuvenated Bears defense to score more points than the offense.

And that's probably not a stretch.

Daily Dosage: All-Star Capper

Poor Dan Uggla. He makes three errors in the All-Star Game after making only three during the first half of the regular season. On top of that, Uggs went 0-for-4 with 3 whiffs while leaving a small village on the base paths.

Did nerves get the best of Mr. Uggla? Or was it the Yankee Stadium ghosts' revenge on the Marlins for clinching their 2003 title at The Stadium.

Maybe an evening with Miss Italy, Claudia Ferraris, would cheer him up. But, until that time comes, I hope this picture is sufficient enough.

Ciao, bella.

On with the Dosage.

Chi-Town Stand Up. The Cubs pitchers who played in the Midsummer Classic did their part to help the NL get the home-field advantage. Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Carlos Marmol combined to strike out 6 batters in their four innings of work.

How about Dempster striking out the side in the bottom of the 9th? Wish that woulda happened more often in the past few years. How about Marmol punching out the Sox' Carlos Quentin? Here's hoping that Carlos shows up in the second half for the North Siders.

His Name Is (Now) Dan Uggly! I hate to rail on the kid, but I kinda feel bad. Especially after Ken Rosenthal said that it was his dream to play at Yankee Stadium in front of his pops. That dream quickly turned into a nightmare.

The Closer, Starring The AL Bullpen. Joe Nathan, Francisco Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Joakim Soria and George Sherrill combined to throw 5+ innings without allowing a stinkin' run. On the NL side, Billy Wagner and Brad Lidge combined for a 40.50 ERA.

Quality Linkage

• Fox Sports signs a mult-million dollar deal with the Florida Gators. (Jacksonville Business Journal) Relief for the budget cuts? Doubt it.
• Is Josh Hamilton The New Rick Ankiel? (The Big Lead) The answer is yes if we can go the rest of the year without The Great Hambino being linked to HGH!
• One of the more entertaining second half prediction blogs I've read. (Sparty & Friends)
• Barry Bonds Is Hated. Jason Giambi Is Loved. Both were BALCO'd Up. What's up with that? (New York Times)
  

How'd That What To Watch For Thing Work Out For Ya?

Edinson Volquez. 1.0 IP 2 H 2 ER 18.00 ERA (BS)

Brad Lidge. 0.2 IP 2 H 1 R 1 BB 13.50 ERA (L)

Jonathan Papelbon. 1.0 IP 1 H 1 R 55,632 Boos

It's 12:44 AM (Central Time) Do You Know Where Your All-Stars Are?

To be totally honest, they're probably saying f-you to the post game press conference and heading on their private jets back to their respective teams after the 15-inning marathon ended with the American League winning 4-3, giving the Boston Red Sox...er...AL representative home-field advantage in the World Series.

Rather than give you a detailed account of the game, I'll just tell you the difference in the game (other than Dan Uggla's boo-boos, of course). The difference lie (or is it lay?) in each team's respective bullpens.

The AL had the better arms and it showed with Joe Nathan, Francisco Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Joakim Soria and George Sherrill all pitched without giving up a run.

That's 141 saves coming at ya. Let's see Murderer's Row hit against that.

On the other hand, Edinson Volquez, Billy Wagner and Brad Lidge combined for an ERA of 58.50.

Ouch!

Too bad most of America was asleep for all of the goodness that was extra-inning baseball for the rights to have home-field advantage in the World Series.