Tom Gorzelanny still has at least two more starts to go before Ted Lilly’s estimated return but I sure liked what I saw tonight. The former Pirate pitcher showed a whip action fastball against the Cincinnati lefthanders, making a decent hitter in Joey Votto look pretty much clueless. Bob Brenly recently described this kind of fastball against lefthanders as a “Linda Ronstadt” pitch because it “blew by you.” The Cubs were pretty much on cruise control tonight besting the Reds 6-3 in a game that was actually more decisive than the score portended.

I am very eager to see what Gorzelanny does with his next two starts – if he does well it totally alters the chemistry of the pitching staff. A staff with three lefthanders out of the pen (Gorzelanny, Marshall and Grabow) means that any starter who has a bad outing can be immediately replaced early in the game – during a pennant drive this could be decisive. We still have to get more out of our late inning guys but perhaps Tom or Grabow can step up in that respect as the season progresses.

Of concern were the two pitches that hit Ryan Theriot and Jake Fox in their throwing arms – Theriot appeared to be affected by the injury when he air-mailed Derrek Lee on a throw to first. Almost certainly Aaron Miles will be activated tomorrow in case Theriot can’t go – look for either Samardzija or Stevens to go down. Of the two I’d like to see Samardzija go down, he has not impressed as he did last year. It’s likely that Geo Soto will be called up later in the week and the likely demotion will be Sam Fuld. At the present time the Cubs are carrying 13 pitchers which is one too many; this should be rectified tomorrow. In an unrelated note former Cubs prospect Corey Patterson was released by the Nationals; he was signed by the Brewers AAA affiliate here in Nashville.