Sweepin the Sox

Dear fellow Cubs fans,

Wasn’t this weekend great? The Cubbies absolutely dominated those South Side suckers, taking all three games and the Sox’s dignity in the process. On Friday, Big Z was amazing and pitched the way we all thought he would on opening day. On Saturday, Ryan The Riot, who is in one of the worst slumps that a player could go through, laid down the perfect suicide squeeze in the ninth inning to put the Cubs up 2-1. And yesterday Alfonso Soriano won the game, not with his bat (though he did hit a HR in each game of the series), but with his arm, gunning down a runner at the plate when the score was still 0-0. All in all, a great three days at the Cell.
But lets not start feeling too good. These were the White Sox we were facing, the team with the least amount of wins in the American League. Now we have a big series with Colorado followed by a HUGE weekend set with the Brewers. So before we start saying the season is saved, I believe there are still three more things the Cubs need to do.

1-Give Zambrano his contract extension. He has pitched amazing since he declared that his season was starting over on June 5. But if there continues to be trade rumors, the chances are good that he will lose his focus and start slumping again, like he did in part one of his 2007 campaign. I realize the team doesn’t have an owner, so it’s difficult to add salary. And guess what. I don’t care. Give the man his money or else we will end up regretting it for the next decade, like when Greg Maddux left for the Braves in 1992.

2-While Ryan Dempster has been solid; I’m still not convinced he’s the right guy to close out big games. So either the team should trade for Texas closer Eric Gagne or convert Carlos Marmol, who has been damn near un-hittable the last two weeks, into the backend of the bullpen. Dempster can still be a valuable member of the team, because who knows if either of those two can stay healthy. But make the move now before its too late.

3-Get rid of Jacque Jones. I don’t care what we get back. A bag of batting practice baseballs. An old lawnmower. A single-A shortstop. Whatever. Just get rid of the guy. Jones was a solid player a year ago, probably the Cubs most consistent hitter of ’06.But this season he has been awful. If we have 25 guys on the team, I want all 25 to be able to contribute something. And if Jacque Jones’ name is on the roster, then that is impossible. So just get rid of him.


Obviously there are other things the Cubs could do to improve, but these three are the biggest I would say. Who knows if the team will do any of this. But I think if they do, more weekend sweeps will be going our way.

Sincerely,
The Hot Dog Guy