With all of the excitement—and by excitment, I mean disgust—over the likely Cubs signing of Jim Edmonds, there wasn't an opening to note here the snag in efforts to peddle Wrigley Field to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.

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Every once in awhile, a player that holds a special place in the hearts of Cubs fan comes back to Wrigley. And although they're wearing a different uniform, you can't help but root for them...

Oh wait, that's the beginning of Thursday's thread when Greg Maddux starts for the Padres. Today, it's Shawn Estes which most Cubs fans remember try to forget as the player who did his best to ruin the 2003 season. And just in case anyone thinks it wasn't that bad, here are his 2003 numbers:

8-11, 152.1 IP, 28 GS, 117 K, 105 BB, 5.73 ERA, 76 ERA+

But speaking of ugly numbers, the Cubs have Jason Marquis going.

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The EXST Angels collected 14 hits en route to a 7-2 victory over the EXST Cubs at the Angels Minor League Complex at Tempe Diablo Park this morning.

EXST Cubs 1B Matt Craig (leg) and 2B Jeffrey Rea (quad) continue to progress through their respective rehab assignments, getting four ABs a piece and playing defensively in the field for the entire game. Both appear ready to leave Arizona, with Craig headed back to AA Tennessee, and Rea likely going to Peoria. 

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The recently released Jim Edmonds should clear waivers on Wednesday and it looks like the Cubs are going to bite. The move would likely send Felix Pie to the minors and give Edmonds the majority of playing time in a center field platoon with Reed Johnson.

So it's understandable that the Cubs want to upgrade center field right now. It seems to be the only weak spot in the lineup and some of our guys are certainly going to regress substantially from their early season success. But could the Cubs actually find someone to upgrade with?

A tale of the 2008 tape after the jump...

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From a link on the new blog by Paul DePodesta (really), here's Carlos Zambrano helping out "career minor leaguer Ron Stilanovich" and his Hardball video series.

Lesson #19: Taking One For the Team

Juggernaut

W - Zambrano (6-1), singling up the middle

L - Wolf (2-3), the pitiable foes who resist us

Box Score, Photos

Things to Take from This Game

1. Crooked Numbers

The Cubs put up six in the fifth and five in the sixth. For the life of me, I am not sure I've ever seen as many singles up the middle as I saw in this game. The big innings featured a home run, two doubles, five walks and six singles, five of them back up the middle. Len tells us that the Cubs lead the world in innings scoring 5 or more runs, with 13 so far this year.

2. (Sort of) Efficient Z

Zambrano cruised through the first and second innings on 9 pitches each. Even after laboring through the third, he needed just 95 pitches to go seven, before letting the bullpen protect a 9 run lead

3. Soriano heats up.

Soriano followed up yesterday's big game with another. A home run, a double, two RBI and two Runs scored. Welcome back.

4. Kouzmanoff's error

With the bases loaded, two outs and a full count in the sixth, DeRosa grounded one to Kouzmanoff, playing deep at third. Perhaps forgetting that the runners were all moving, he went to step on third for the inning-end force. Ramirez, however, just beat him to the bag. Kouzmanoff then threw wildly to first, and all three runners scored, blowing the game open at 11-2. How many consecutive games can Ramirez influence (for the better) with his feet?

If the recap seems a bit flat, it's because the mlb.tv feed wasn't great. It's also because my mind got the cyber-equivalent of being dropped in a blender with some mango and vanilla soy milk and served as a smoothy, due to reading and recapping nine full innings of parachat. The offensive-juggernaut game details, and a parachat recap that, even after careful editing, might be in violation of the Geneva Conventions, follows....

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The struggling Padres roll into town, their league-worst offense versus the league's best. Yes, the Cubs do have the best offense in the league. Repeat. Enjoy. Savor. A look at the game notes that are chocked full of offensive goodness, shows that the Cubs lead the NL in OBP, 2nd in walks, first in runs scored (in the majors), and first in pitches seen per plate appearance. The Cubs are also tied for third in the NL with 10 come-from-behind victories. It's rather unique in my lifetime to have a good Cubs team and then look at the underlying numbers and realize that this is indeed a good Cubs team, and not a fluke. I'm not saying that the wheels might not come off at some point, I mean, they're one Carlos Zambrano arm injury from that happening, but I'll enjoy it while I can.

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The five hits that did the most to enhance the Cubs' chance of winning during a week that began with a disappointing series against a team in the throes of a long losing streak, but ended with a sweep of the club with the best record in the National League, as measured by FanGraphs' Win Probability Added (WPA):

#5 Big Hit: Tuesday, v. the Reds, 4th inning — After Geovany Soto whiffs with men at second and third, Ronny Cedeño connects for a two-out, two-run single to extend the Cubs lead to 3-0, which turns out to be more than cushion enough for Carlos Zambrano. Cedeño's hit was far and away the Cubs' biggest one during the three games in Cincinnati. WPA .172

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The EXST Cubs had a road game this morning, but Angel Guzman (September 2007 Tommy John surgery) and ex-catcher Jake Muyco (recently converted to pitcher) remained at Fitch Park, throwing "live" BP on Field #2 to three of the position players who did not make the trip (Bryan Jost, George Matheus, and Josh Vitters).  

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