April and May in Review

Well, we've played 2 month of baseball. There are only 4 months left in the regular season. In April and May you hear people say, "Oh, it's early." Once the calendar flips to June it's no longer early. It's time for the Cubs to start taking care of business.

The Cubs are 25-24, 4.5 games off the pace in the NL Central. A year ago, the Cubs were never more than 2.5 games out of first, and that was on May 7. Let's take a look at where the Cubs were after the first 2 months in recent years:

2008: 35-21
2007: 22-29
2006: 20-32
2005: 26-24

So the Cubs have put themselves in a position where they really need a strong month of June. Here are some of the Cubs stats and splits for the first 2 months:

Days in first: 5, 10 counting all days of season including off days
Farthest Behind: 5 games, May 25
Most Games Over .500: 7, May 16
Most Games Under .500: 1, May 25
Longest Winning Streak: 5, May 10-16
Longest Losing Streak: 8, May 17-25
Most Run Allowed: 12 (May 9)
Most Runs Scored: 11 (Apr. 8, 28, and May 14)
Times Shutout by Opponent: 4
Times Opponent Shutout: 2

Home: 16-10
Road: 9-14
April: 10-11
May: 15-13
9-inning games: 22-22
Extra Innings: 1-2
Shortened: 2-0
One-Run Games: 4-7
Blowouts(5+ runs): 8-8
Most Wins Against: Houston (5)
Most Losses to: STL (6)

My Awards:
April MVP- Kosuke Fukudome hit .338 with 4 HR and 15 RBIs.
May MVP- Ryan Theriot hit .273 with 5 HRs and 15 RBIs.
April Pitcher of the Month- Rich Harden was 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA.
May Pitcher of the Month- Randy Wells had a 1.80 ERA in 4 starts.
April Defensive Play of the Month- Reed Johnson (Click to see)
May Defensive Play of the Month- Ryan Freel (Second One)

Cubs Team Ranks in Hitting Categories (Going into play on May 30):
Runs: 209 (12th in NL, 22nd in MLB)
Hits: 389 (14th in NL, 27th in MLB)
HR: 53 (4th in NL, 11th in MLB)
TB: 627 (13th in NL, 24th in MLB)
RBI: 198 (11th in NL, 21st in MLB)
BA: .249 (11th in NL, 24th in MLB)
OBP: .328 (12th in NL, 21st in MLB)

Cubs Team Ranks in Pitching Categories (As of today):

ERA: 4.28 (9th in NL, 12th In MLB)
SHO: 2 (T-10th in NL, T-17th in MLB)
SV: 11 (10th in NL, T-17th in MLB)
Hits allowed: 391 (Fewest in NL!, Fewest in MLB!!)
Runs Allowed: 213 (6th fewest in NL, 7th fewest in MLB)
HR Allowed: 54 (5th most in NL, 12th most in MLB)
BB Allowed: 190 (7th most in NL, 10th most in MLB)
SO: 394 (2nd most in NL, 2nd most in MLB)

Cubs Team Leaders:
Batting Average- Kosuke (.309, 20th best in NL)
HR- Soriano (12, 8th in NL)
RBIs- Soriano (25, 39th in NL)
Runs- Soriano (36, 6th in NL)
Hits- Theriot (53, 20th in NL)
SB- Theriot (7, 17th in NL)
2B- Soriano (11, 28th in NL)
3B- Theriot (2, 12th in NL)
SLG- Kosuke (.507, 23rd in NL)

Injuries in First 2 months:

• Derrek Lee (neck)
• Alfonso Soriano (knee)
• Ryan Dempster (blisters)
• Rich Harden (back)
• Milton Bradley (groin)
• Geovany Soto (shoulder)
• Carlos Zambrano (hamstring)
• Chad Fox (arm)
• Ryan Freel (hamstring)
• Aaron Miles (shoulder)
• Aramis Ramirez (Shoulder)

Suspensions:

• Zambrano (6 games)
• Bradley (1 game)

Transactions:

• Luis Vizcaino DFA'd later signed with CLE. (4/23)
• Jeff Samardzija recalled from AAA (4/23)
• Bobby Scales called up from AAA (5/4)
• Chad Fox called up from AAA, Samardzija optioned down (5/6)
• Joey Gathright outrighted to AAA, then traded to Baltimore from Ryan Freel. Randy Wells recalled from AAA Iowa (5/8)
• Jose Ascaino recalled from AAA (5/10)
• Andres Blanco, Jason Waddell, and Jake Fox called up from AAA. Neal Cotts and Bobby Scales sent to AAA. (5/27)
• Bobby Scales recalled from AAA (5/28)

Team Strengths:

• Young Players
• Starting Rotation
• Late Relief

Team Weaknesses:

• Middle Relief
• Injuries
• Bottom of the Order

Let's hope the Cubs improve on those weaknesses as we head into the month of June! From now on, I will be doing a month recap like this at the end of each month.

Off day notes later!