It's more a measure of how fucked up the Cubs are than anything else, but Carlos Silva has mutated from fifth starter to stopper, all four of his wins ending Cubs losing streaks (of 2, 3 and, twice, 4 games). And the Cubs are 6-1 when he starts.

Meanwhile, Milton Bradley is still on the restricted list, but could rejoin the Mariners as early as tomorrow.

In other ex-Mariner news, J J Putz is now part of a Closer By Committee Situation for the White Sox, which just shows how Chicago baseball blows on both sides of town.

Finally, I categorically deny that my lack of Slogging lately is due to taking naps. I never sleep. Though if I were accused of sleeping, I wouldn't respond by blackballing the reporter who broke the story. . . but that's what Milton has taught this team, blame the media.

SLAKE BET UPDATE: Slake and I have a beer on the line (see comment 10 here) when the Cubs are in Seattle in June: he has Silva winning 4 or fewer games, and Milton appearing in 43 games at that point. So, one more win for Silva, and that half is mine: and Milton (with 21 appearances so far) will need to play in 22 of the next 37 contests. This bet might end up being a push . . .