Transactions, Thoughts and Useless Information?

While the Cubs rest, thought I would pass on some information. And away we go...

-Sunday's win gave the Cubs their first 10+ win season against the Cardinals since they went 11-7 in 1992.

-Sunday's win was the first time since 1995 the Cubs won the home and road series against the Cardinals in the same season.

-The Cubs are now 74-76 for the 2005 season. At Wrigley they are 36-40 and on the road they are 38-36. Maybe Dusty should find a hotel in Wrigleyville.

-Greg Maddux has a record streak of 17 years with at least 15 wins. The closest active streak is 5, held by Mark Mulder. With Maddux's loss on Saturday, it looked like the streak would not get to 18 years. The Cubs announced on Sunday, Maddux will get 3 more starts this year. Larry Rothchild and Dusty Baker shuffled the rotation and Glendon Rusch will skip a start in order to give Maddux a chance at getting to 15 wins. According to cubs.com, Maddux did not ask for the extra start and Rothchild and Baker are doing this out of respect for him. Usually I do not agree with trying to 'get or hold onto' a record. I do agree with Rothchild and Baker. I think that if the bullpen would have done their job for Maddux, he should have gotten at least 3-4 more wins with 2 starts left. His record is 12-13 . Maddux will pitch Thursday against the Brewers, on September 27th vs. the Pirates and on October 2nd vs. Houston, the last game of the season.

-With all of the bullpen talk I am doing, I thought I would do research on the origin of the term 'bullpen'. To my surprise it was in Monday's Cubs' Mailbag. According to cubs.com and The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball, the term bullpen arose when fans were allowed into games for 10 cents if they arrived after the first inning. Latecomers were penned in like bulls behind ropes in foul territory beyond first and third base. Relief pitchers warmed up along the sidelines near those areas. The term was not used until around 1915, but the first formal bullpen area was in the Polo Grounds (The New York Giants) in 1905.

-It has been 40 years since the last time a pitcher threw a no-hitter against the Cubs. Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers threw a perfect game against the Cubs on September 9, 1965.

-Only 2 pitchers in Major League History have 3000 strikeouts and under 1000 walks. Both are Cubs. Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux. Jenkins was with the Cubs from 1966-1973 and 1982-1983. Maddux was with the Cubs from 1986-1992 before he resigned at the beginning of the 2004 season. Did you know they both wore (and still wearing) #31?

That is all I have, for now. Keep reading and watching to C the changes coming to my site. Time to beat the Brewers.

Until Tuesday.....