FanHouse Ted Lily

The NL Central spent most of the first half of the season as a joke. At one point the division went almost a whole week without beating a team from out of the division. Things are different now. The Brewers have heated up and the Cubs have followed right behind them, closing the division gap to 4.5 games and creating a compelling race in the second half. So let's look at the competitors.

First things first, the BP Adjusted Standings, which account for lots of math-y things have the teams actually two games closer than their current four and a half. This doesn't mean a lot now, but it's an indication that the Brewers record may dip while the Cubs may raise without an actual change in level of play. But let's go beyond the sabermetric crowd to break this one down even further, after the jump.

After the first start it was mildly amusing. Braden Looper... effective starter? How ludicrous. But then it happened again. And again. And again. And it's still only April and great starters are certainly not made in one month, but suddenly Braden Looper is 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA in four starts. Win number three came this afternoon against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in which Looper and the Cards beat the Cubs 2-1 on Looper's seven one-run innings.

Lost in Looper's gem was Ted Lily, who might have "Hard Luck Loser" attached to his name by the end of the month. Lily's only misstep today was giving up a two-run homer to Preston Wilson in the seventh inning, which more or less negated his seven strong innings in which he struck out six and only allowed four hits. This loss comes on the heel of a ten strikeout performance in which he lost to Kyle Lohse. Lily would kindly like pitchers that are supposed to suck to go back to sucking, if you please.

This is kind of a tough break for the Cubs, they got Aramis Ramirez back and he's hitting (he doubled in the Cubs only run today), but now they're waiting on Alfonso Soriano to return. Lucky for them, Soriano's return seems to be right around the corner. However soon it is, it probably won't be soon enough, though.

Previously at the Fanhouse
This Is Not a Typo: Kyle Lohse Dominates Cubs

"Hmm, that's odd," I thought to myself as I checked out the major league scoreboard, "Reds beat the Cubs 1-0? At Wrigley? Who pitched for the Reds? Arroyo? No. He pitched yesterday. And if he pitched yesterday, Harang pitched the day before. So then who did pitch?" I clicked the box score, "Kyle Lohse? Eight shutout innings? Four hits? TWELVE strikeouts? Damn."

Okay, maybe I should be a bit easier on Lohse. He's actually been pretty good this year through three starts. Still, the actual truth is that he was probably only the second best pitcher at Wrigley Field today. Ted Lily struck out ten Reds in his six innings of two hit ball. He only walked one batter, but unfortunately for him his walk of Brandon Phillips coupled with Phillips stolen base and Jeff Conine's single lead to a run scoring and that provided the margin of victory for the Reds, making Lily the hard luck loser.

Lost in the shuffle of this one will be Ryan Theriot's big day for the Cubs. He stroked three of their four hits off of Lohse (all singles) but never even advanced past second base as the heart of the Cubs lineup, Jacque Jones, Derek Lee, and Michael Barrett, went 0-for-10 with five strikeouts. The absence of Aramis Ramirez, who sat out his second straight game with lingering wrist problems, was a little more than conspicuous. Of course, had Ramirez been playing Theriot would have been on the bench, so maybe I'm a bit off base here.

Here's a predictable story for you: the Houston Astros took a two run lead into the ninth inning this afternoon and with Dan Wheeler taking over for Brad Lidge as closer they actually held on to it. Wheeler retired the Cubs in order in the ninth tonight to pick up his first save of the season and preserve the Astros' 5-3 win over the Cubs.

Of course, as much of a relief as it was for Astros' fans to see Wheeler nail down the ninth, Cubs' fans again had to suffer through a bullpen meltdown. After falling behind 3-0 through five innings the Cubs fought back to tie the game at 3 going into the eighth, only to watch Bob Howry surrender a two run homer to noted home run hitter Adam Everett (six in 566 PAs last year) and give the Astros their margin of victory. That's the second time in the past seven days that Howry has been part of a Cubby bullpen failing, if you're counting at home.

Let's see, what else happened here... Ted Lily pitched pretty OK in his second start as a Cub (six innings, six hits, three runs, five Ks, one walk), but wasn't nearly as dominant as he was in his first start. Woody Williams was much improved over his first start for the 'Stros, but he was pretty awful in his first start so pretty much that just means he was OK. Craig Biggio had two doubles and scored twice for Houston. That gives him eight hits on the year and puts him 62 shy of 3,000. I would ask if you could feel the excitement, but this whole thing kind of feels like the steamroller scene in Austin Powers to me.

Previously at the Fanhouse
Phil Garner Pulls the Plug on Brad Lidge
Maybe the Cubs Should've Spent Some Cash on Their Bullpen

The Cubs and GM Jim Hendry received a ton of ridicule this off-season for their ginormous spending spree. Chief amongst the complaints was the money spent on pitchers Ted Lily (4 years/$40 million) and Jason Marquis (3 years/$21 million). The two guys certainly provide an upgrade over what the Cubs had in their rotation last year, but the price tag paid by Hendry is certainly steep.

After one series, the two new pitchers have acquitted themselves quite well. Ted Lily was flat out brilliant yesterday, tossing seven innings and allowing only one run on three hits to go with nine strikeouts to lead the Cubs to their first win of the year. Today was Jason Marquis' turn and he gave the Cubs another good performance, going six innings and only giving up one run on four hits. Unfortunately for Marquis, the 2-1 lead he had staked them out to didn't last very long as the Reds scored four runs off of the only part of the team the Cubs didn't spend an arm and a leg on this off-season, the bullpen, to gain the 5-2 win and take the season opening series from the Cubbies.

Scott Hatteberg lead the offensive charge for the Reds today scoring twice and ripping a two run homer in the eighth inning to give the Cubs enough insurance to pull away. Edwin Encarnacion also knocked in a run and scored a run and Kyle Lohse managed to only allow 2 runs in 6 and 1/3 innings despite allowing 10 hits over his outing. The biggest enemy to the Cubs, however, was themselves as the Reds' go ahead 7th inning rally was keyed by two walks and a wild pitch.

From here the Reds stay home to host the division leading (?!) Pirates (assuming the snow can hold off) while the Cubs go to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers.