We honor the great Harry Caray today with a statue rededication at the corner of Waveland and Sheffield, right at the entrance of the Bud Light Bleachers. Harry was always a man of the people and I think it's a great spot for the statue, which will greet fans walking into the bleachers from now on. We always enjoy doing a broadcast from the bleachers like Harry used to on occasion.
I always enjoy hearing Harry stories from my partner, from members of the traveling party who knew him well, and of course, from fans who watched and listened every day while he was here on the North Side. If you have a favorite Harry story, let us know about it and maybe we will talk about it on the air today. As always, keep it clean!!
*Pittsburgh is 10-4 against the Cubs in 2010 and has beaten Chicago 10 times in a single season for the first time since 1992 (10-8).
*The Cubs have had at least a .500 record in the month of September in six of the last seven seasons and are 108-83 in that time.
*Starlin Castro, currently fifth in the National League with a .315 batting average, could become the first NL rookie to finish in the top five in batting in over 35 years. Bill Madlock hit .313 to finish 5th in 1974 while Greg Gross hit .314 and was 4th.
*Geovany Soto is a career .379 hitter vs. the Bucs.
I'm the Interactive News Producer at WGN-TV and maintain the wgntv.com website and our blogs. GO CUBS.
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* The Pirates have won nine of their first 12 meetings against the Cubs this season. Another victory on Monday would represent the first time since 1992 that Pittsburgh has won at least 10 games in the season series.
* The Pirates were swept by the Brewers this weekend, extending Pittsburgh's road losing streak to 13 games. No other team sports an active road skid longer than three games.
* Despite dropping two of three games at Cincinnati this weekend, the Cubs went 4-2 on their road trip. But Chicago has lost 12 of its last 14 games at Wrigley Field.
* Paul Maholm is 3-0 against the Cubs this season, as opposed to 4-12 versus everyone else. In his career, Maholm is 7-1 versus Chicago despite a 5.70 ERA, thanks in large part to an average of 6.34 runs of support per nine innings.
* Carlos Zambrano is coming off one of his best starts of 2010, striking out eight and allowing just one run over 7.1 innings while beating Washington last Tuesday.
* Kosuke Fukudome homered in each of his last two games to establish a career high (in MLB) with 12 home runs this season. He's batting .476 (10-for-21) over his last seven games.
I thought Saturday night's game was fantastic from the Cubs perspective. Two guys who have had up and down years came up with big home runs (Xavier Nady and Kosuke Fukudome), Randy Wells (on his 28th birthday) out-pitched Bronson Arroyo to snap a personal 5-game losing streak, Carlos Marmol worked a quick 1-2-3 9th and most importantly, rookies James Russell and Andrew Cashner were stellar, setting up the bridge from starter to closer against the best offense in the league and in front of a hostile, sell-out crowd.
Those are the kinds of games that allow you to evaluate what you have for next year. It's disappointing that 3-2 win didn't mean more this season, but as we've said over and over again lately, it's all about the future at this point and I thought several guys took a big step up against a first-place club.
Big weekend here in Cincinnati as the first-place Reds try to increase their 4-game lead in the NL Central. The Cubs have been reduced to playing spoiler and they sure would like to make life a little more difficult for both the Reds and Cardinals in particular.
I've been asked what it will take for Mike Quade to become the front-runner for the Cubs managerial job over the winter and my answer is this--strategically, I think the Cubs will be watching his in-game moves to see not only how they work out, but that they show foresight and creativity. Q has managed over 2,300 games in his career, without a bench coach at that, so the actual job of managing won't be intimidating to him. In fact, based on my experience being around him, I think that will be a big strength. Secondly, I think the clubhouse atmosphere will be watched as well--will the players play hard down the stretch, even though there's not much riding on it for this year? If there are lapses in hustle, how will Quade respond? And wins and losses have to matter too. If you take a team that was 23 games under .500 and have it play at least .500 ball the rest of the year, that won't hurt.
The bottom line for me is this--I think Mike will be an excellent candidate. It will likely come down to whether or not Jim Hendry likes another candidate more as opposed to Jim deciding Mike isn't the guy. Who knows, maybe Jim has already decided whom he wants and this whole exercise is futile. But my guess is that the GM is open-minded to sticking with the guy in charge of the dugout over the final month-plus.
* The Reds have won eight of their last nine games against the Cubs, outscoring them 67-20 over the stretch.
* The Cubs have won five consecutive games away from home - their longest road winning streak since also winning five straight from July 1-19, 2009.
* Bronson Arroyo has won five straight decisions against the Cubs, and has allowed a total of just three earned runs over his last five starts against them.
* Over the last three seasons, Joey Votto has hit more home runs against the Cubs (15) than any other player. His 16 career homers against the Cubs are his most against any opponent.
* Alfonso Soriano has homered in back-to-back games for the first time since May 22-23. Earlier this season, Soriano homered in four consecutive games (April 30 - May 4).
The Mike Quade era got off to a winning start last night as the Cubs won a laugher 9-1 over Washington. Casey Coleman got his first major league win and the offense made Livan Hernandez's night miserable.
I've known Mike for a long time and he is very deserving of this opportunity. He won't be caught off-guard in any in-game situations--he's managed over 2,300 games in the minor leagues. He's been on the staff since 2007 so he intimately knows the roster. I think it's great that an organizational guy is getting this great opportunity. Too often minor league managers and big league coaches who are considered behind-the-scenes grinders are overlooked and I give the Cubs credit for giving Q this chance. He grew up in the Chicago area, which makes this even more special. He understands the culture and the fans and the city.
I'll conclude this way--if the players in that clubhouse want him to be the full-time manager next year, they will dramatically improve their play over these final 6 weeks. No better way for a roster to tell the GM, "We want this guy" than by playing solid ball the rest of the way.
There will be no shortage of good candidates once the season ends and I think Mike Quade is very much in that mix.
