7/16 Second half
The Cubs are holding a team workout at Nationals Park Thursday, starting five hours before the first pitch of their series against Washington and former Chicago manager Jim Riggleman. Looking ahead, rookie Randy Wells will likely start Sunday in the series finale and Kevin Hart was expected to be recalled for Monday’s game in Philadelphia.
The Cubs are 43-43 at the .500 mark for the 20th time this year. Heading into this season, the team had been at .500 just 10 times between 2007 and ’08 combined. This is the third time in franchise history the Cubs have been at .500 at the All-Star break and first since 2003.
Here are some numbers to digest:
Player: 2008 1st half average, HR, RBI vs. 2009 1st half average, HRs, RBIs
Bradley: .316, 19 HR, 57 RBI vs. .243, 6 HR, 21 RBI
Fontenot: .266, 7 HR, 21 RBI vs. .230, 6 HR, 28 RBI
Fukudome: .279, 7 HR, 36 RBI vs. .251, 7 HR, 27 RBI
Johnson: .268, 3 HR, 32 RBI vs. .254, 4 HR, 16 RBI
Lee: .306, 15 HR, 56 RBI vs. .280, 17 HR, 57 RBI
Miles: .317, 2 HR, 18 RBI vs. .203, 0 HR, 4 RBI
Ramirez: .285, 17 HR, 66 RBI vs. .333, 4 HR, 17 RBI
Soriano: .283, 15 HR, 40 RBI vs. .233, 14 HR, 33 RBI
Soto: .288, 16 HR, 56 RBI vs. .230, 8 HR, 27 RBI
Theriot: .320, 1 HR, 25 RBI vs. .299, 7 HR, 30 RBI
– Carrie Muskat
mlblogsmuskat1
can kevin hart get called up because there is a minimum number of games he must be in AAA before being called up unless someone gets hurt
can kevin hart get called up because there is a minimum number of games he must be in AAA before being called up unless someone gets hurt
can kevin hart get called up because there is a minimum number of games he must be in AAA before being called up unless someone gets hurt
can kevin hart get called up because there is a minimum number of games he must be in AAA before being called up unless someone gets hurt
can kevin hart get called up because there is a minimum number of games he must be in AAA before being called up unless someone gets hurt
Only Theriot, Fontenot, and Lee have more RBIs this season’s first half than lasts. Whats important is that some of those with less RBIs this year compared to last are almost half (Soto, Bradley, Johnson). You would expect that even with Soriano’s slump or whatever you want to call it and Ramirez’s injury that if those three players with roughly half the RBIs they had last year were producing this team would be in decent shape. Still has to be the most dissappointing story in baseball this year, hopefully that will not be true by the end of the year.