Hill Versus Arizona

Lou Piniella will send Rich Hill to the mound against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 3 of the National League Division Series. Hill was 11-8 in the regular season with an ERA of 3.92. Livan Hernandez will pitch for Arizona.

But games are not won by pitchers alone. If they hope to win, the Cubs will have to improve on their dismal offense in Games 1 and 2. As a team, their collective batting average is .179. They have scored only five runs in two games.

I don't care to say anything about Arizona's hitting stats.

Hill Gets Win

Rich Hill got the win against the Cardinals Friday, raising his average to .500 with a record of 7-7.

Hill pitched seven innings, allowing one run and three hits. He struck out seven and gave up two walks.

Hill's record of seven wins edges out his six wins in 2006, his rookie season.

Hill's ERA now stands at 3.73.

Cubs Versus Cardinals

In today's game with the Cardinals at Wrigley Field, the score is tied 0-0 in the fifth inning. Rich Hill is on the mound for the Cubs. Thus far, he has given up two hits.

I don't know how much Hill is getting paid, but I suspect it's less than what Carlos Zambrano is getting. Go get 'em Rich. Or put another way. Go get rich.

There was a time when the average working stiff got paid almost as much as a major-league baseball player. But I think that was before I was born.

Cubs Chase Brewers

The Chicago Cubs are hot on the heels of the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers. With a record of 56-49, the Cubs trail the Brewers by one game in the Central Division.

At tonight's game with the Philadelphia Phillies, Rich Hill will pitch opposite Jamie Moyer of the Phillies.

Southpaw Hill goes into the game with a 2007 record of 6-6 and an ERA of 3.59.

Game three of the four-game series with the Phillies starts at 7:05 PM at Wrigley Field.

Bats & Balls

Rich Hill lasted only three innings in today's game against the Padres. During that time, he dished up five hits and five runs.

Hill said the main problem was "just the ball was coming off the bat a little differently today."

He has a point there. When you get right down to it, the whole pitcher-batter contest is about "the ball coming off the bat."

The pitcher wants the ball to come off the bat and gently hop to one of the infielders. The batter wants the ball to come off the bat as a screaming line drive that would destroy the hand of anyone who tried to catch it.

Or the pitcher wants the batter to miss the ball altogether. In other words, in an ideal world, no batter would ever hit the ball. Instead, strike after strike would plop securely into the catcher's mitt.

In the ideal world of the batter, he would hit the ball so hard and so far that it would sail all the way across the Howard Street El and land somewhere in Lake Michigan.

Rich has given us the essential problem every pitcher has to face. It all comes down to the ball coming, or not coming, off the bat.

Cubs Pitching Rotation

We know two things about tonight's game between the Cubs and Padres at San Diego. Rich Hill will be the starting pitcher for the Cubs, and I'm unlikely to stay awake for the entire game, which starts at 9:05 CT.

The thing we don't know is what the pitching rotation will be after tonight's game. We don't know because Lou Piniella, Cubs manager, isn't ready to tell us.

For those of you not conversant with baseball lingo, "pitching rotation" has nothing to do with a pitcher who spins around like a figure skater, thereby drilling a hole for himself in the pitcher's mound.

But let's go back to an earlier time.

In the early days of baseball, managers didn't send in relief pitchers as quickly as they do now. They began with the assumption that the starter would pitch the whole game.

In those days, pitchers did spin around like figure skaters when the opposing batters started hitting their pitches into the hog lot beyond center field. They literally dug holes in which they could hide until everyone else forgot about them and went home.

That practice is long forgotten, but it's the true origin of the term "pitching rotation."

The Cubs Need More Rain

Rain delayed the start of the Cubs-Mets game Wednesday night at Shea Stadium.

For the Cubs, it would have been better if the rain hadn't stopped.

Cubs manager Lou Piniella sought an explanation for the Cubbies 8-1 loss and found it in the pitching of Rich Hill.

Having solved Carlos Zambrano's pitching troubles (the now-famous early revelation problem), Piniella must next solve Hill's troubles. If Piniella fails, Hill may get rained out permanently.

Hill's problems lie in the fact that he's walking batters and then letting them steal on him. These troubles may be more difficult to solve than Zambrano's early revelations.

It's now 3:25 PM, Thursday, in Chicago, and the Cubs just lost to the Mets by one run.

Bring on the rain.