Sleuthing

So, Dusty Baker says the Cubs can't hit against lefties because the don't have a lefty batting practice pitcher.

Yes, it's not because Dusty and his coaching staff can't teach (as they've admitted), it's not that the players are just bad, it's that the Cubs don't have a left handed Joey Amalfitano or Cookie Rojas to lob meatball pitches for 30 minutes every day in the pregame.

Sounds more to me like Dusty is back to making excuses for losing by throwing management under the bus. While Jim Hendry certainly deserves to be time laying in traffic, hearing Dusty start making excuses can only be a harbinger of a lot of bad days ahead.

Guessing 2007

While Kerry Wood continues to progress to the point where he could be back in the Cubs rotation within the next ten days (and back out 30 days after that), the silence on Mark Prior is scary.

Remember the Tribune daily Prior Watch? This year, nothing. Not even a whisper.

While I didn't believe it in Spring Training when news of the latest (continued) Mark Prior injury was hidden, I am now starting to believe that we will not see Mark Prior throw of a major league pitching mound until 2007.

At the earliest.