| I'm fully aware that I'm casting the mother of jinxes on the red-hot Cubs, but I just had to write about them! Going into tonight, they've won 7 in a row and 10 of their last 12. Derrek Lee is far beyond being red hot. He has at least a share of the major league lead in: - batting average (.389)
- RBIs (50)
- home runs (17)
- runs (43)
- total bases (139)
- on-base percentage (.478)*
- slugging percentage (.732)*
- OPS (1.210)*
On top of that, he's only 3 shy of tying Brady Clark and Cesar Izturis for the major league lead in hits (77). Miguel Tejada has 33 extra-base hits, only 2 more than Lee. The most frightening stat to me: he's successfully reached base each of his last 10 plate appearances, going 8-8 (7 singles and 1 home run) with 2 walks. His batting average in the month of June is a staggering 1.000.Frankly though, the most important stat of all is his batting average against the Cardinals, .625 (5-8). Makes Albert Pujols' .375 batting average against the Cubs look pretty pathetic, doesn't it? Heh heh heh... All that joyous news comes with very tempered optimism. The Cubs are still in a series against the red-hot San Diego Padres. Tonight, Sergio Mitre, the San Diego University grad, goes for his first decision (hopefully a win!), putting his 5.84 ERA on the line in front of family and friends against Adam Eaton, who's 7-1 with a 3.58 ERA. Gulp. I'm prepared to witness the start of the annual June swoon. Hey! I really am a Cubs fan! (* - of the players with more than 25 games played. OPS is the on-base plus slugging percentage) |
