I took my leave of absence from GROTA back on June 1st and a lot has happened in a month. I've been trying to get in a routine for a while, and I was just unable to update about our first child.

First off, the little guy to the right is Benjamin James Yarbrough. He was born on June 1st and weighed just 6 pounds and 12 ounces. My wife had an emergency c-section three weeks early, which was scary enough. Then, to our surprise the doctor's told us that Ben had Down Syndrome. Needless to say, it was a shock, because we had all the normal tests done and we were told that Ben was negative on everything. While the news wasn't what we were expecting, we wouldn't change anything now. It just shows that life is always unpredictable.

The main reason that I'm so late in getting an update for all the readers (not to mention fellow writers) was that Ben had to stay in the NICU for over two weeks. For parents that have had this happen before, I can only say that I hope it never happens again. There is no worse feeling than having a baby and being discharged before you child. Ben is doing much better, but there are still some issues we are working through because of the Down Syndrome. But as you can see here, he is looking much better already. He also looks happier, maybe it's the Alabama shirt. At least my other team wins championships every now and then.

We finally made it home a couple weeks ago, but it has been really hard juggling all that was going on in my life. My plan was to come back to GROTA starting this month, but that will be on a hold for a few weeks I think since this genius here decided to take 12 hours of grad school this summer. That might have been the dumbest move since picking the Cubs to win 90 games at the beginning of the season. What was I thinking? Ben could come closer and all he does is eat, sleep and poop.

I wanted to say thank you to Rob to reaching out to me after Ben was born. I just had to come to grips with all that happening before I could give the update to everybody. These last few weeks have been really stressful, but I wanted to reach out to everyone. If there is a positive to this situation it is that I picked a great season to not be able to watch, even though the last two nights have been fun as I cranked out numerous papers for class. If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I will respond as soon as I can.

Thanks,
Chris

I owe you guys an apology -- unlike every other writer on this blog, I have not even been remotely pulling my weight lately.

Without making excuses, I'll fill you in on what I've been up to...

On top of working first in a high school for returning adults seeking their diplomas (read: the people who couldn't hack it in a regular high school the first time around) I've started working for a government housing organization while doing digital work for a couple of news sources as I've been working on some non-baseball-related writing material.  Phew.  Try to say that in one breath.

In the meantime, I managed to lose access to my photobucket account (hence the recent absence of all images on the blog) and, while I've been keeping up with the Cubs, it's probably fair to say that they have been the fifth or sixth priority in my life.

While I can't promise that that's going to change -- I mean, c'mon Cubs, give me something to work with here! -- I'm going to be back to providing the basic images that makes this blog unique while posting as often as my busy little fingers will allow me to.

I know this season has been a bitter mixture of painful, frustrating, and boring, but we are on the brink of something big -- the exit of Lou and some of Hendry's worst mistakes.  And maybe Hendry himself.  Assuming Ricketts isn't a bleacher mark.  There's so much drama! 

In the coming months, as the Cubs continue their slide into mediocrity, we'll be looking at some of the more philosophical issues -- ie, stats vs. guts, who to trade and what to expect in return, and so-on.  I'll do my best to make my favorite arguments once more, whenever time permits it.  In the meantime, I can only thank the other guys on this site -- everybody has been pulling their weight admirably.  I'm happy that I'm no longer the guy who posts the most; I'm hardly cut out for it anyway.

So, if it's not "Go Cubs," then I guess I can say "Go Us."  Or something.  Because crap, they suck.

(No, not Manning.) 

If you've ever seen the incredible television show Sports Night, a show that lasted only two seasons before its creator moved onto bigger and better things (see: The West Wing), then you may have seen the episode in which co-anchor Dan Rydell senses a looming portent, represented to him by the Three Dog Night song, "Eli's Coming."  Bad things were happening, and contrary to the saying, there was no "calm" before the storm -- there are always signs to warn us of what is to come.

The Cubs, then, stand before a portent.  Sold recently to Tom Ricketts, the Cubs are now witness to the soft destruction of WGN and the Tribune Company (as exampled by the demise of the near-thirty-year show "Sports Central," as an aging and salary-bloated team tries to hang on for one last run before the rebuilding steamroller trucks on through.  Ricketts, meanwhile, is too focused on the added revenue of a neon Toyota sign  to fix the team (why we are upset the existence of this is ridiculous and indicative of how Cub fans have the wrong priorities), not to mention the stinky bathroom trough situation. 

These are all signs -- of what, you be the judge.  But for a team always focused on disaster, failure, and heartbreak, maybe the only true portent that we can heed is one that warns of looming victory.  But probably not.

Nevertheless, as the media world collapses like a bronze statue with clay feet, blogs like GROTA, A League of Her Own, and Aisle 424 will continue to serve you, if only sporadically because blogging regularly is a soul-sucking procedure.  I mention them because both blog's authors recently posted here.

However, if you are a blogger who is too tired to weather it alone, if you want to post in a place read by thousands daily, if you want a little bit of a fame rub (I said a little bit, we're hardly the Rolling Stones over here), then join us.  Shoot me an EMail, post here in the ShoutBox, do whatever you want to do.  We're looking for a few regular/part-time writers.  Why, you ask?

The reason is simple -- our last batch of writers have moved on.  One writes for Baseball Prospectus now.  Another is working at the Tribune.  I'm not saying we're the reason why -- I'm sure we're not, these guys were talented long before they stroked some keys at GROTA -- but we couldn't have hurt, either.

Join us.  The portent is here.  Can the Apocalypse loom far behind?

Surely you've noticed that, in the past few weeks, GROTA hasn't exactly been spewing content.  This evoked one of our writers to send out a team EMail yesterday asking if the blog was officially dead.

I assure you, sir, that this blog is merely restin'!

Maybe it's an indication of how boring in general the off season has been.  Players have reported to Spring Training, many of them ahead of schedule, and we're all like, meh.  Ted Lilly may or may not have blown a wheel (reports say he hasn't), and we're all like, whateves. 

This hasn't exactly been the most confidence-evoking off season in the history of the Cubs.  There were no massive trades, no promising developments, nothing exciting at all, in fact, unless you want to count the Geo Soto weight loss as an event to drive content.  Hell, really the most exciting happening of the off-season was the further descent into insanity of many of the Cub bloggers out there, and even that is old news at this point.

So if you're wondering, then, about how often you can hit up this blog for fresh content; if you are doubting our ability to provide you with Cub stories exciting and new, then I say to you don't worry.  Come aboard, we're expecting you ... the Cub boat!  Da da da da daaaa...

Crap.  Sorry about that.  I temporarily lost my shit in the last paragraph there.  I blame, again, the boring off season.  Anyway, we should have daily content for you starting in March, and I'll work a little harder to keep things fresh and updated between now and then.  I promise. 

With the All Star game over, we now return to the regular stream of Previews, GameCasts, and Recaps on the site. 

I for one enjoyed the stuff we got to debate while no games were being played.  I got to call out Pujols for being a cheater (shockingly, there's still been no acceptance to the Every Day Test Challenge), Wittenmyer for being a Race-Baiter, and I was able to write the most ridiculous firesale article of my blogging life.

In a lot of ways this has been the most ambitious year that we've had at GROTA.  We've done Previews and Reviews in past seasons, but never so regularly and it's been mostly an exercise to see if we could.  (You may be shocked to learn that between working 9 to 5 jobs, getting married, having children, going to grad school, and general travel -- all things that have been happening to one or more Goat Rider this summer -- it's actually not so easy to produce daily content on a blog, especially as prolifically as we do, especially in a season that's tough to write about.) 

Anyway, I'm sure we'll keep on keepin' on, and thank you for reading the blog.  Without you guys we'd just be shouting into an empty room.

Just a few things this morning to occupy your thoughts...

^{Eric Milton (1-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Sean Marshall (3-3, 3.70 ERA)}

Story Lines

In case you've been avoiding the Cubs for the past week, I would like to point out that they have a chance to take 3-of-4 against the best team in baseball tonight at Wrigley Field. How have they done that? Well, they continued to pitch well thanks to Randy Wells, Ted Lilly and Ryan Dempster. Then, yesterday they broke out the bats to club the Dodgers 7-0.

All of the sudden the Cubs are showing signs of life before heading out on a 9-day road trip to Atlanta, Houston and Cincinnati next week. With Milwaukee pounding the Reds this afternoon, the best they can be is 3.5 games out of first, which is just fine. The Brewers and Cardinals are in action tomorrow, so maybe we can pick up a half game without playing.

Back to the game at hand, the Dodgers are throwing Eric Milton. I thought he retired or something. Apparently, Milton did not pitch in '08, before signing a Minor League deal with the Dodgers this season. So far he's made two starts and is 1-0. I can't imagine he will keep up his 3.00 ERA, so I expect the Cubs to score a few today. Milton marks the fifth lefty the Cubs have faced this week, which is something you don't see often. They have fared pretty well against them, except Randy Wolf on Thursday.

Marshall will counter for the Cubs. In his last three starts, he's only gone five innings in each of them. Of course one of them was a rain-shortened complete game, but it is an interesting trend to look at in the time being. Unless somebody else gets hurt or the Cubs trade for another lefty, Marshall will move to the pen when Rich Harden comes back. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but if Randy Wells keeps pitching out of his mind it won't matter much.

The only other thing that's really got to worry Cub fans is the super-ice-cold Alfonso Soriano. Pat Hughes made a statement yesterday that he was a limping after catching a fly ball, but he stayed in the game. The Cubs really can't afford to lose another player, but playing with half a player really isn't that great either.

Who's Hot
Reed Johnson - What has gotten into Reed? He shaves his beard and goes nuts. In the last seven days, Johnson is hitting a not so cool, .389 with 3 HRS while posting a 1.339 OPS. Also, Reed is doing the little things like laying down 2-out bunts. This recent hot streak has raised his overall average to .270. Now if we can some other guys this hot.

Mike Fontenot - Nine days ago Fontenot was hitting .193 after a pinch-hit appearance. I guess he thought he might lose his job or something, because he's raised his average 37 points. He came up  with a 2-for-3 preformance yesterday that included a double and a triple, not to mention a walk and two RBI.

Milton Bradley - Well he didn't do any real damage, but he collected three hits and saw his average raise to .223. Hopefully, he's ready to carry the team for a couple weeks and get up to around .270.

Who's Not

Alfonso Soriano - What's cooler than being cool? Well, I guess it's Soriano, who went 0-for-5 yesterday. He's average has dropped to .246, and he hasn't hit a HR since May 17th.

Bobby Scales - It wasn't a great day for Crash Davis. Scales rapped into two double plays and left four guys on base.

Conclusions

After losing a game on Thrusday it seemed unlikley the Cubs could win this series, but they have that chance now. I suspect the Cubs will put together a good performance and get pick up their second straight series win.

Also, I'm going to all three game in Atlanta. Scott Lange, of the Northside Lounge, and I will be tailgating at least a couple of days this week. I will try and post more details later, but we're probably sitting in the Upper Deck. Leave a comment below if you anybody wants to get together.

By the way, I was supposed to announce yesterday that Goat Reader AJ Walsh has been elevated to Probie Status at GROTA.  Welcome to the fold, AJ!

I would have announced it earlier today but I was busy.  I was up at 3:30AM and drove damn near 17 hours from Toronto to Savannah, GA to kick off a long week of good eating and sight seeing.  That means I won't be driving the content here which is surely a happy relief for y'all.

Also I forgot to update the Zambran-0-Meter before I left.  Whoops.

This is what happens when I deprive myself of sleep for two nights, take a Tylenol PM on Friday afternoon, and go to bed at 8PM.  Sorry about all that.

This blog is not a public service.

Sorry for the lack of posts during the last two weeks, but Spring
Break and a trip with Mrs. Yarbs to her family reunion will do cause
these things to happen.

As for the Cubs, I haven't seen a game
since Monday, which before I was married was unheard of. To top it off,
I haven't listened to a game since Thursday thanks to reunion the last
two days. However, I did make it back to the car just in time to hear
Aramis crank his shot yesterday.

I will get a chance to sit
down and watch tonight, even though it starts about 8:05 p.m. on the
East Coast. Is too hard to start a Sunday night game at 7 p.m.?
Hopefully, I will be able to stay up and provide some comments on the
shout box.

Finally, it is just a matter of time before Neal
Cotts is released, placed on the DL, or ends up selling hot dogs at
Wrigley. He is just about as bad as anybody I've seen in sometime (or
watched on iPhone updates while at a reunion).

In 2 2/3
innings, Cotts has given up four hits, walked four and hit one guy.
Somehow, he's managed only a 3.38 ERA. I was really hoping that I would
get back from the 6.5 hour drive today to see our only lefty on the
side of the road with a "Will walk for food" sign. As of 4 p.m., no
such sighting or transaction has been made.

Well, I hope
everybody has had a great weekend, and please join me tonight for a
little fun in the shout box. Everybody is welcome. Well, except Neal
Cotts.