Twisted Testy

Felix Pie, who was easily ahead in the center field competition, will be out 3-5 days with a testicular torsion, or a twisted testicle.  Ouch!  Pie missed a little time with the same injury earlier in canp, but had the problem reduced manually (insert joke here), sources said, and was able to continue playing. Now he is going to have corrective surgery.  And if twisted testicles didn't already make you squeamish, then watching Rich Hill get rocked by the Brewers should do the trick.  Hill was given a three run lead when Aramis knocked in Theriot and Fukudome, and scored on left fielder Josh Kroeger's single.  He gave up a pair of hits in the first inning, then in the second and gave up four more hits and four runs,  He lasted 2 2/3 innings, leaving with the bases loaded. Now to be fair, pitchers with big curve balls like Hill seems to always struggle in Arizona, but I hope he is ready to go by the time the season starts. Then, a terrible group of relievers followed Hill.  Tim Lahey, who has looked good this spring except for one bad outing against the DBacks, had to bail Hill out, and pitched 1.1 innings of shutout relief.  But then then bring in three of the worse arms on team, Les Walrond, Shingo Takatsu, and Ed Campusano.  After Lahey finished in the fourth, the Cubs were down only 4-3.  Walrond and his 16.88 spring ERA gave up three hits and one walk, but only gave up one run.  Takatsu managed to throw an inning without giving up a run, but Capusano gave up two hits and one run in his inning of work.  Kevin Hart, who will amost certainly make the team, finished the eighth without giving up a hit. 

Offensively, the Cubs should have done better too. They were facing Dave Bush, who is by far the worst pitcher on the Milwaukee staff.  They touch him up for three runs in the first, but then the bats go cold.  All three hits, the walk, and all three runs came in the first.  Not only that, but Manny Parra is having a fantastic spring for the Brewers.  He's another young arm to go along with Yovani Gallardo, who could prove to be a tough combo.  Derek Lee continues to have a miserable spring, going 0-3 today, lowering his batting average to .143.  Mark DeRosa played in his first game back from his heart scare, and not surprisingly, went 0-3.  Sam Fuld, who now has centerfield to himself with Pie out, went 0-2 and is hitting worse than Lee, with a .125 average.  Cedeno went 0-2 and saw his average slip to .190.  So much for throwing in Cedeno in the Roberts trade.  Way to increase your trade value Cedeno.  Anyone else concerned about Lee?

Crystal Ball

Every year, Baseball Prospectus put out its predeictions for the season using the  Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm, better known as PECOTA.  Considered one of the best projection system in baseball, PECOTA sees the Cubs following their 85-victory NL Central championship with another division title, this time with a 91-71 record, second best in the National League.  Unfortunately, PECOTA sees another Subway Series, with the Mets taking on the Yankees in the World Series.  Now as much as I would love to see back to back division titles, every Cubs fan wants to see a World Series win for the Cubbies.    But don't fret Cubs' fans, Nate Silver, a south sider who invented PECOTA, had this projection for last years Cubs Dbacks playoff series;

"Although the best wager would be Cubs in four, I am going to go out on a little bit of a limb and predict a Cubs sweep. "

So don't feel bad Cubs fans, this is our year!!

Go Cubs!