Following a successful trade of Greg Maddux—the only semi-reliable Cubs starter this side of Carlos Zambrano—to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Cubs’ four-game win streak was snapped Monday night as Mark Prior showed why he may never get a victory this season. The former ace surrendered three long balls and six earned runs to the Arizona Diamondbacks, dropping him to 0-5 on the year with a Glendon Rusch-like 7.20 ERA.
Not to be outdone, Rusch relieved Prior and gave up three home runs himself in just two innings, increasing the actual Glendon Rusch ERA to 7.44. He was supposed to take Maddux’s Thursday start, but that honor will have to go to someone else, as “The Doughboy” was needed to bail Prior out after just five innings. Will Ohman pitched a five-run eighth to stop the D-Backs’ scoring at 15.
In exchange for Maddux, Cubs GM Jim Hendry acquired shortstop Cesar Izturis, allowing him to move Ronny Cedeno to second base.
“Most reasonable people believe that pitching wins this game,” said Hendry. “But I believe second basemen do. And now that we have Cedeno, Neifi and Theriot all available at second, I think we have a glorious future ahead of us.”
Asked whether he had any regrets about trading a future Hall of Famer, Hendry shrugged.
“I would have liked to move Carlos [Zambrano] in the deal,” he said. “Unfortunately, the Dodgers didn’t want to give up any second basemen.”
Hendry went on to say that the passing of the trade deadline wouldn’t keep him from trying to acquire Craig Biggio, Dan Uggla, Jeff Kent, Marcus Giles, and Tadahito Iguchi.
“Hell, I wanted to keep Todd Walker too,” said Hendry. “But Andy [MacPhail] always had a beef with Todd’s big mouth, so he had to go.”
Number of the Day: 192
Potential second basemen in the Cubs organization for 2007.
Number of the Day Part II: 0
Potential quality second basemen in the Cubs organization for 2007.
