Kellen King's Chicago Cubs fan blog

Cub fans, please say thank you to any Milwaukee Brewers fans you may know. Their team is struggling just as much as the Cubs right now. It could have been disastrous if Milwaukee would have gone on a winning streak this week as the Cubs were skidding against the Phillies and Astros. The Cubs still have a cushion in the NL Central, but they need to try to get Zambrano and Harden healthy before they make this final playoff push. Don't panic, the Cubs will be fine. They have a solid line-up all the way through the batting order, and even if they are sluggish, they will get enough wins to enter the 08 playoffs. Sorry this post is short and I haven't posted in a while, but I have been working on numerous websites. I will try to put the Cubs blog first from now on, and trust me, I will be much more talkative once these Cubbies get closer to the playoffs. 

Continue reading "Thanks Milwaukee"

  Team effort...the reason I love the Cubs.  They are a great group of athletes, but they are also a great group of friends. Every game it's obvious that the players like each other and all understand what they could accomplish this year. I don't see any one man show out there....I see a team. Theriot slapping balls up the middle and to right fields...Lee hitting sac flies...Harden hustling down the first base line for an infield single...Blanco with a clutch game-ending hit. The list goes on. Never before have I seen a Cubs team get along so well. After every hit the player will put his two index fingers up and point to the bench as one of his fellow teammates is standing at the front of the dugout cheering him on. I love to see that. 
Not only is this team unselfish, but they are very deep. The pitching is better than expected this year with the surprising success of Ryan Dempster, the mid-season addition of Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin, and the presence of the long-time Cub, Kerry Wood, closing out the games. In addition, the fielding has been excellent with at least one diving catch per game by the outfielders, no matter who is out there. Everyone is putting their body and heart on the line to try to accomplish something special this year.  

Continue reading "Team Effort"

What a day for Alfonso Soriano. He came up with a huge 3-run home run in the 7th inning with 2 on and 2 out to put the Cubs up 10 to 7 over the Astros. Soriano also had a single and a double to give him 4 RBI on the day. He touched home twice. 

Watch out if Soriano continues to stay hot. He is 6 for his last 14 at-bats and has raised his batting average from .274 on July 26th to .297 on August 5th. This is the highest batting average Soriano has had all year, with the closest coming way back on the 18th of May when he was sitting on .296. He is batting .321 since the All-Star break. 

The Cubs are a dangerous team when Soriano is hitting the ball the way he is right now. It seems as though his performance boosts many of the other players performance as well. They say hitting is contagious, and I believe it. The Cubs were 24-22 when Soriano was on the DL during April, June, and July. When Soriano is off the DL, the Cubs are an impressive 45-23. So, just having him on the field appears to give the Cubs a huge boost. Add a Soriano that is on fire, and the Cubs are even more deadly.

Continue reading "If He Stays Hot..."

(FYI -- All my times are Pacific Time) 

4:02 p.m.

It's Monday, August 4th. The Cubs and Astros are about to face off. The wind is always something to pay attention to at Wrigley....and it looks like it is blowing at around 10-15 mph from right to left field, straight across. Sweet outfits and hair on many of the fans tonight. It's 70s night...

4:07 p.m.

Astros lineup:

2B Kazuo Matsui

SS Miguel Tejada

1B Lance Berkman

LF Carlos Lee

RF Hunter Pence

3B Ty Wiggington

CF Darin Erstad

C Humberto Quintero

P Brian Moehler 

Top 1st Inning ---- As I figured, Edmonds and Ward are playing tonight, considering Edmonds and Ward have great numbers against Moehler. So, Lee has the night off since he has been struggling and the Cubs have a day game tomorrow. Daryle Ward just made a great backhanded snag and toss to Dempster for an out at first. (And I thought Derrek Lee was on the bench?!)

Continue reading "LIVE game talk Cubs-Astros 8/4"

                                                         

(67-45) ||Chicago Cubs|| vs. ||Houston Astros|| (53-57)

 

Monday, August 4th, 6:05 p.m. CT

(TV:  ESPN/WCIU) 

Continue reading "CUBS vs. ASTROS Game Preview -- (Mon. August 4th 6:05 p.m. CT)"

Tribune Co. is selling the Chicago Cubs franchise, along with Wrigley Field, and part of Comcast SportsNet. The Cubs, as well as Wrigley Field, would be the perfect investment for any billionaire; Cubs fans are not going to simply walk away from their favorite team no matter how long it takes for them to win the World Series. True Cubs fans are fans for life....they will continue to fill the seats every single year no matter the outcome of previous seasons. Call it stupid, some critics do, and I don't want to get into all of that right now, especially since I'm one of those "stupid" people that watches the Cubs every day. Anyway, all I'm saying is that Cubs fans are very loyal fans that will provide continually increasing revenue for the new owner.

So, who are these top billionaire bidders for the Cubs? The bidders include the Ricketts family, which are the founders of TD Ameritrade; Sports Acquisition Holding Corp. which includes Hank Aaron and ex-Congressman Jack Kemp; and the other bidder that made the cut to the second round of bidding is Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

Continue reading "CUBan bids how much?!"

Every so often, I will put together a fairly small bio of Cubs players in a blog. If you are like me, I always want to know a little more about my favorite Cubs players. So, I am going to look through some information on the players and give you some of the good stuff. That way you don't have to do as much reading. So, here is some info on Geovany Soto.

GEOVANY SOTO

#18, Catcher

Born: January 20, 1983

Birthplace:  San Juan, Puerto Rico

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 225

Current Stats as of August 1st 2008: .275 batting average, 17 HR, 58 RBI, .351 OBP, .492 SLG

Continue reading "Meet the Cubs..... * Geovany Soto *"

Jim Edmonds had two huge home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday. The home runs just added salt to the Brewers' wounds. The Cubs beat the Brewers in games 1 through 4..... 6-4, 7-1, 7-2, and 11-4. The beating the Brewers received from the Chicago Cubs throughout the 4-game sweep hit a nerve. Frustration was obvious in the 9th inning when Eric Gagne of the Brewers threw behind Jim Edmonds on the fourth pitch of the at-bat. 

It seemed obvious Gagne intentionally threw at Edmonds considering Milwaukee reliever Seth McClung was getting warm in the bullpen as Gagne was pitching. With the score the way it was at that point in the game, teams normally just throw the current pitcher until the inning is over, no matter how much the opposing team scores in the inning. 

Continue reading "Brewers....Salty Finish"