Playing Out The String
If you've never been to Iowa to see the AAA Cubs don't worry because they are coming to you. Actually they're already here as 4 of the 5 pitchers employed Tuesday night have pitched in Iowa this season. Oh and by the way the Cubs lost to the Brewers 4-3 which runs their losing streak to 7. With a third of the season still to go the Cubs are playing out the string. You'll be seeing more and more players not only from the AAA level but eventually from AA and maybe even the lower rungs.
Thomas Diamond, a rookie but no kid at 27, had his major league debut and was respectable allowing 3 runs in his 6 innings of work. He struck out 10 and became just the 2nd Cub ever to reach double digit strikeouts in his debut. Mark Prior was the other and ironically he made his comeback on this night in an Independent League game as a reliever. Following Diamond to the mound were Justin Berg, James Russell and Andrew Cashner and they all did fairly well but as usual the Cub bats were mostly silent. They did have 11 hits but the big one kept eluding them as they were 1/11 with runners in scoring position.
Lou Piniella looked almost in pain when he talked before the game about how the direction of this team will be mostly kids on the mound. He knows it wasn't good enough when the season started and will be even worse from here on out. These last 55 games for Piniella and the Cubs will be mostly hard to stomach no matter how good the food may be in the clubhouse.
