Cubs in 1st. Pujols at 2nd. Who's on third?

Today was a strange day in Midwest baseball.

The Chicago Cubs extended their NL Central Division lead over the St. Louis Cardinals to 1.5 games with the combination of the Cubs' win against the New York Mets and the Cardinals' extra-inning loss against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Cubs have been on a scoring spree lately. The North Siders have scored 41 runs in their last five games, all wins.

Manager Lou Piniella is getting contributions from all 25 guys. Derrek Lee is playing like the MVP candidate he was in 2005. Ronny Cedeno is playing out of his mind, showing flashes of the player that posted a .900 OPS in what would amount to a full season at triple-A.

Carlos Zambrano is pitching much better this April (compared to last year) and the bullpen duo of Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood are looking good out of the pen.

And even though the Cubs apparently missed an opportunity to acquire Mets ace Johan Santana, the Cubs are playing like they are the team to beat in the National League.

More on Johan in tomorrow's blog.

On second thought, I'm not sure why I'm even writing this. They're gonna screw it up in the end. Right, Marty?

As for Cardinals superstar Albert Pujols playing second base, it shows me that Tony LaRussa is dumb! Absolutely dumb!

Pujols has never played a professional game at second base, and even though it didn't cause the Cards the game ... LaRussa f*cking around with new infield combinations is dumb.

The smart move would have been putting Pujols at third base (where he's played before), Troy Glaus at shortstop (where he's played before) and Yadier Molina at first base (where he's played more than Jason LaRue who ended up at first).

Speaking of first baseman, Prince Fielder is totally not living up to his name. His power numbers are down and short-arming the scoop on what would have been a game-ending double play cost Eric Gagne another blown save.

Erin Andrews Watch:

This isn't breaking news, but I am in love with ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews. As for the pseudo breaking news: this will likely be a regular feature.

Today on The Watch, EA gets an opportunity to pen an article in Men's Health magazine about what she wants in a man.

Long story short, she wants me.

End of story.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

A note about your picture of the day:

From the left, it's starting pitcher Ted Lilly, utility man Mark DeRosa and closer
Kerry Wood. Awful Announcing has their create a caption thing and the winners were good, but click the picture to see which captions were good enough to win.

Which pro athlete do you want to party with?

While doing today's daily web searching, I stumbled across this picture at Deadspin of Golden State Warriors star Stephen Jackson drinking vodka, Dana Jacobsen style.

So, instead of running away from the issue, I've decided to embrace it. Which professional athletes would you like to party with? Here is my fave four.

1. Adam 'Pac Man' Jones. Pac Man is the clear-cut No. 1 on my list. Anyone who enjoys making it rain (to the tune of $81,000 no less) can be my wingman at the club any day.
2. Tank Johnson, NFL. Since Pac Man is bringing the cash, we're going to need some protection. Enter stage left the former Bears defensive lineman, who definitely stays strapped.
3. Matt Leinart. Now that we've got money and protection, we need some girls and there's no one I'd rather turn to than the Arizona Cardinals QB, who is still living out his college dreams, two years after leaving USC.
4. Mark Grace. OK, we've got money, protection and pretty girls, but now we need the final element -- more girls! The former Chicago Cubs first baseman made a career out of making Gold Glove plays, knocking doubles, and pulling drunk chicks in Wrilgeyville (which is my second favorite past-time behind making it rain.) Grace is credited with creating the term "slumpbuster."

After taking all of this into consideration, there is only one person I want to party with ... her name is Erin Andrews.

In fact, I had my opportunity with her ... she was my Valentine. :-)

I'll admit, I'm bordering an unhealthy obsession with blonde beauty from ESPN. She's perfect, absolutely perfect. She's cute, she loves sports (especially baseball) and she has a career. Erin Andrews is a woman! On top of that, she would be one of the few girls that would understand what it's like to be in the media --seeing that I am going to be the next great sports journalist.

Apparently, what makes EA weak in the knees is being in the presence of ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit.

What's even more notable is Andrews own admission that Kirk Herbstreit has a "Timberlake-like" following with college kids. She even says that while she was a spritely co-ed and wannabe sports reporter at the University of Florida, she got a little overwhelmed in the presence of Herbstreit's seductive aura: "My camera didn't work the first time I got a photo with Kirk Herbstreit and, oh my gosh, I'm freaking out..."

Let the record show, Herbie is an Ohio State ... sorry ... a graduate of THE Ohio State University and an all-around douschebag. If it's not about the Buckeyes, it's not worth a damn in his eyes. I hate homers on ESPN (especially when they go against my favorite teams.)

Well, this post accomplished a lot. Mostly because it mentioned three of my favorite things in life:

• Making it rain!
• Erin Andrews
• Drinking

If I wait a few hours, I'd mention another one of my favorite things, the Cubs (who are currently beating the Reds 10-1 in the top of the 5th).

That's all for now.