The 1987 Cubs also started 26-16. Unfortunately, it was their high water mark and they went 50-69 the rest of the way to finish last. That sucked. Update: I see that Another Cubs Blog has something more extensive on the history of 26-16 starts. Whatever.

Filed under: Chicago , Cubs , NL Central , MLB Video I don't know who you are, internet Youtube Cubs fan dudes, but -- and I say this as a Cubs fan that giggled at every single imitation -- you just won for best internet video ever. Seriously....

It's not often that I'm going to sit back and tell you that one player won or lost a game for the Pirates. There's so many factors in baseball that affect the outcome of each game that it's almost always impossible to pin a win or loss on one player...

DJ asked in the comments of the previous thread when the last time the Cubs got off to a start as good this season (26-16).  I had actually already done the research (what little there was) this morning in case they did win today.  The...

Alfonso Soriano is using the Cubs’ latest homestand to show that he’s ready to contribute to the majors’ best offense. Soriano belted 2 homers to help rookie Sean Gallagher earn his 1st big league win as Chicago beat Pittsburgh...

RHP Robert Hernandez, serving a 50-game prohibited substance suspension, threw four shutout innings (70 pitches, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K), but RHP Harol Tolentino surrendered a game-winning three-run walk-off HR in the bottom of the 9th, as the EXST A's...

Tom Gorzelanny vs. Sean Gallagher at Wrigley. Sorry for the late game thread -- the Friday afternoon game took me by surprise. This one starts now, at 2:20.  Here's the box.

Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview SP *Tom Gorzelanny SP Sean Gallagher   3-3, 5.97, 21 K, 29 BB, 34.2 IP 0-0, 6.48, 7 K, 4 BB, 8.1 IP     .

Meet the next "can't miss" prospect . "a man amongst boys" "his catch and release was ... a textbook example" "blazing fast" "his arm, ... is also clearly big league" "better tools at his age than (Derek) Jeter did back in the early 90s" ...

Jacque Jones cleared waivers yesterday after being released by the Tigers. Former can't miss prospect Mark Prior is having his shoulder re-examined and will probably miss the Padres target return date of June 1. Addition by subtraction.

Next Game Pittsburgh Pirates @ Chicago Cubs Friday, May 16, 2008, 1:20 PM CDT Wrigley Field Tom Gorzelanny vs Sean Gallagher Complete Coverage > ...

B-REF PREVIEW | GAMEDAY | WEATHER | ACB CHAT ROOM Tom Gorzellany vs. Cubs hitters :  .326/.404/.516 in 95 at-bats Sean Gallagher vs. Pirates hitters :  1-6, 2B, 2 BB, K 1:20 pm on WGN.  Low to mid 60s, sunny, wind blowing...

After an excellent 3 games against Arizona and a good four game series against the Padres the Cubs finish this homestand with three against our favorite opponents, the Pittsburgh Pirates (or as the fans call them the best farm team in baseball) ...

Did anyone catch my press conference before Wednesday’s game? It was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. Someone asked me if I thought the signing of Jim Edmonds was a low-risk, possibly high-reward transaction. I laughed and said,...

The Pirates draw Chicago for six of the next nine games. The Bucs are 0-for-6 against the Cubs this year, so now would be a good time to figure them out. Today they will play the second of four consecutive day game. The starting pitchers will be...

That's 6 of the last 7, folks. Home is where the wins are, I suppose.

Friendly Confines | 2:20 | Gorzelanny vs. Sean Gallagher | Box Pre-Game Thoughts The Pirates are once again threatening to reach .500. A win today would do it. As unfamiliar as that would be, the opponent in today’s contest is also...

Pirates (20-21) at Cubs (25-16) 2:20--Wrigley Field, Chicago Tom Gorzelanny (3-3, 5.97) vs. Sean Gallagher (0-0, 6.48) [ GameTrax ] Well, this will certainly be a test. It's a good thing the Pirates are hot. The Bucs have failed in both tries to...

Meeting in Milwaukee, the quarterly owners meetings will commence today, with one thing certain: ratification of the newly adjusted Joint Drug Agreement will be forthcoming. The new agreement dissolves the Health Policy Advisory Committee (comprised...

These two things happened last night:

Like most baseball fans, half my time thinking about baseball is fantasizing about Things Yet To Come.  With the recent addition of Jim "Aw, God, Why?" Edmonds, the ideal Cubs lineups may look something like the following: 2B Mark DeRosa...

It's been hard to think clearly about Jim Edmonds, what with the sound of the collective gnashing of teeth roiling through the city. The constant rumbling of it, as if IDOT had decided to simultaneously repave all of the pothole-ridden roads in town,...

Filed under: Chicago , Cubs , Cardinals , NL Central , MLB Fans , MLB Video , St. Louis Sure, the Cardinals-Cubs rivalry is dead to the rest of the country. But those charming Midwesterners still think that their hatred of each other is endearing...

When [Edmonds] ran onto the field in the first inning, he was cheered for being in Cub blue. When he struck out with the bases loaded in the fifth inning, he was booed as if he were still in Cardinal red. Has he ever had an ovation in Chicago...

The Chicago Cubs have signed Jim Edmonds to a contract for the remainder of the '08 season. Edmonds, who was released by the Padres last Friday , will make about $284K, the prorated league minimum. To make room on the roster, the Cubs demoted...

Jim Edmonds signed with the Cubs Wednesday: "Hopefully Jimmy still has something left and it was just a bad start," general manager Jim Hendry said. Sure, three straight years of declining numbers are meaningless. Felix Pie joins the list of...

This showed up in my inbox today: Cubs sign Edmonds instead of dog sh-t by Mike Byrne The Cubs signed former Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds to a contract for the pro-rated MLB minimum for 2008 after a similar offer was refused by a...

Filed under: Chicago , Cubs , NL Central , MLB Transactions That's really the only excuse for the debacle that is Jim Edmonds -in-pinstripes. When the signing was finalized, the only thing any reasonable observer could say was, well, apparently no...

Augh ... man, the Cubs really did sign Jim Edmonds . Other than Pujols or Willie McGee signing with those guys, we can't imagine our brains hurting more than they do to see this. And we're sure Cubs fans don't feel any better about it. Proceed with...

Bernie, Miklasz, Saddam Hussein, Jim Edmonds and Will Leitch...it’s a damn qualudfecta! And if this tryout lasts, we’ll see Edmonds at Busch Stadium on July 4, when the Cubs open a three-game series in St. Louis. What will Cardinals fans do? I...

Short of OJ Simpson, I'm not sure Jim Hendry could have signed anyone less popular with Cubs fans than Jim Edmonds . But Edmonds is going to have to work very, very hard to be the least popular player to play for the Cubs. That title belongs solely...

Congratulations, Jim Edmonds! You haven’t played a single game as a Chicago Cub. You haven’t pissed and moaned about a single called third strike in blue pinstripes. You haven’t taken a circuitous route and a completely unnecessary...

Looking at the live box score of today's Padres/Cubs game , I was struck by how many elements in it looked completely preposterous. Play along, and decide which of the following is the freakiest of all, because I can't: Ryan Theriot hitting over...

Cubs starter Ryan Dempster stole the show today in a matchup against former teammate & mentor Greg Maddux, who made possibly his final Wrigley Field appearence on Thursday afternoon. Dempster outpitched the future Hall-of-Famer, as he struck...

I’ve already expressed my distaste for the Cubs forming a formal relationship with Jim Edmonds and it still happened anyway. So instead of throwing a fit about it, I’m going to sit back and watch this train wreck dissolve until it finally results in.

Three of four would be REAL nice, wouldn't it?

Greg Maddux may have pitched for the last time in Wrigley Field and it started out like you’d expect--4 pitches in the 1st inning.  It got tougher after that, but he managed to keep the Cubs scoreless through 4 inning and then the Cubs put...

B-REF PREVIEW | GAMEDAY | WEATHER | ACB CHAT ROOM Greg Maddux vs. Cubs hitters :  .212/.244/.326 in 184 at-bats Ryan Dempster vs. Padres hitters :  .280/.341/.476 in 82 at-bats 60s, wind blowing in at 11 mph towards the Cubs...

Nice job, but stay away from my record. Ryan Dempster struck out 12 batters today in the Cubs 4-0 win over the Ruschless and Edmondsless (btw--we're calling him "Butters" Padres. That's like, 8 strikeouts away from being Kerry. What would any...

The Cubs' 7-4 win over the Pirates Friday afternoon was their seventh without a loss this season and tenth consecutive win against the Bucs dating back to '07. A cynic could argue that the Cubs' 27-17 record would be a much less impressive 20-17...

Yesterday, I sat watching a taut pitcher's duel, huddled up in sweatshirt and balaclava over my head. Today, in the sunshine, with the wind blowing out to RF and the temperature in the 70's (officially 67 at game time, but when I got back to my...

No Jolly Roger to greet you today. Instead, the Cubs' blue "W" flag waves yet again. -- [ Recap ] --------- Basically, there are two problems here. 1. We can't beat the Cubs. 2. Tom Gorzelanny. ---- We're now 0-7 against these Cubbies and still...

While there is certainly a coolness factor to having a player who can regularly hit leadoff homeruns, I still believe that Alfonso belongs further on down the lineup.  However, right now the Cubs are hot, Soriano's bat is like lightning, and Lou...

Another win, please.

Good morning and welcome to another insightful edition of Around The Blogs. After a sweep of the Diamondbacks and their limited blog world and taking three of four from the Padres and their more active blogs, let's turn our attention to the Cub feeder...

Alfonso Soriano homers in the first and second innings of this afternoon's game to drive in four of the Cubs six runs as they take an early 6-0 lead on the Pirates. Soriano now has 21 hits in May with...

One of my most respected colleagues in my fantasy baseball league just did the unthinkable......he traded Alfonso Soriano. When I got the email notifying me of the trade I just winced and wished I had been the one trading for Fonzi. Year after year...

Apologies for the very belated recap.  Five years ago, the Chicago Cubs had a handful of young and exciting pitchers.  These guys had not only a tremendous amount of talent, but specifically they had the ability to completely own a team for 9...

A veteran duel ensued on the mound yesterday at Wrigley which the Cubs caught the best of it. Ryan Dempster pushed the Padres to the limit, recording a career high 12 strikeouts. After pitching 8 innings of shutout baseball giving up just 6 hits...

Padres 15-27, 5th (-11.5) Cubs 25-16, 1st (+1.5) POTG: SP Ryan Dempster (8.1 IP, 0R, 6 H, BB, 12 K, W [5/64], QS [7]; H, R, RBI, SH) Runner Up: 3B A Ram (3 H, 2B), 1B D Lee (2 H, 2 RBI), LF Soriano (2 H, R), RF Fukudome (2 BB, H) I don't...

Son of a - I almost forgot there was a game today.  I like this line up a little bit better. Maddux vs. Dempster Go Padres!   Lineup San Diego Padres @ Chicago Cubs 05/15/08 11:20 AM PDT San Diego Padres ...

Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview SP Greg Maddux SP Ryan Dempster   3-3, 3.60, 26 K, 8 BB, 50 IP 4-1, 2.76, 36 K, 23 BB, 49 IP   ...

Cubs 24-16, 1st (+1.0) Padres 15-26, 5th (-10.5) POTG: C Soto (HR, 2H, 3RBI) Runner Up: LF Soriano (HR, 2H, 3RBI), SS The Riot (2 H, R), 3B A Ram (2B, 2H, R, RBI), 2B DeRosa (2 H, R), RP Marmol (2 IP, 3 K, 0 BB, 0 H, 0 R) Baseball is weird. I...

B-REF PREVIEW | GAMEDAY | WEATHER | ACB CHAT ROOM Greg Maddux vs. Cubs hitters :  .212/.244/.326 in 184 at-bats Ryan Dempster vs. Padres hitters :  .280/.341/.476 in 82 at-bats 60s, wind blowing in at 11 mph towards the Cubs...

Memories... Ok, so I'm not getting much more into the Edmonds thing. He's here, apparently he's starting, barf. Everyone knows how everyone feels and any further commentary would be "Eight Bellesing." (As an aside, isn't it interesting that...

Padres (15-26) @ Cubs (24-16) Greg Maddux vs Ryan Dempster 11:20 a.m. PT no television AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 183 MLB , B-R The Padres showed some good fight at the end of Wednesday evening’s game. Unfortunately they spent much of the...

Alfonso Soriano went 2-for-5 with a solo homer and three RBI to help power the Cubs to an 8-5 win over the Padres at Wrigley Field. Geovany Soto also homered and knocked in three for Chicago, which has won five of its last six games. Kosuke...

Something has happened to Ted Lilly.  I don't know what it is, but he's been a different pitcher since his ridiculously disheartening start to the season.  Since Lilly flipped the switch, he's gone 3-1 with an ERA of 2.83, and he's had 36...

Yes, there are fifteen of them (I made sure to count). Cubs pitchers brought their strikeout shoes to the ballpark Wednesday night; Ted Lilly, Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood combined for a season-high 15 strikeouts and the Cubs beat the Padres...