Sean Marshall has been tremendous for the Chicago Cubs in 2010, but you already knew that. What you may not have known is that Marshall has also been a tremendous humanitarian; so much so that he’s been nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award, which goes to a player who shows dedication to charitable and humanitarian causes above and beyond the norm.

Since his debut in 2006, Marshall has been involved with Cubs Care, a fund of the McCormick Foundation and Chicago Cubs Charities. He’s donated much of his time to helping children who are ill or less fortunate.

Marshall also participates in the Cubs’ annual winter caravan, hosting clinics and visiting hospitals and schools. He also has sponsored a team through the Union League Boys & Girls Club and visited children at the local Shriners Hospital for children.

“The way I usually get involved in things is someone in the Cubs’ front office comes to me with opportunities to make an appearance, or go somewhere and visit kids or go help with Habitat for Humanity and give a helping hand and help paint,” Marshall said. “I’m open to whatever. The Cubs are such a popular name and we have such a good fan base, we have opportunities to raise money and help out. That’s the way I think of it. I feel I can help in many different ways.” cubs.com.

Recall, this was a guy who outpitched everyone in Spring Training, but was still sent to the bullpen because it was the best fit for the team – and he did it with a smile and a helpful attitude, on his way to a 2.88 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 68.2 innings this year for the Cubs. So the fact that he’s also a great guy around the community isn’t exactly a surprise. But it’s still impressive.

You can vote for Marshall, or any of the other nominees, now through October 8.

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Aramis Ramirez went down this weekend with a slightly strained right quad, but the injury was not expected to keep him out for long. Here, three days later, and Ramirez is still out.

Third baseman Aramis Ramirez did not start for the second straight game because of a sore right quad. He continued to get treatment and was not available to pinch-hit. His status was day to day. The Cubs called up infielder Bobby Scales from Triple-A Iowa as insurance. Muskat Ramblings.

Ramirez was hot before he went down, though that matters only for his season stat line at this point – his heat came on too late to, you know, actually help the Cubs win meaningful games.

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Yesterday, with the AAA Iowa Cubs bowing out of the Pacific Coast League playoff race (on the last day of the regular season – ouch), the Chicago Cubs called up five players from the Iowa club to join them for the rest of the season.

The most notable call-up is pitcher Jeff Samardzija, who returns to the Cubs after a long, long stint in AAA. Recall, Samardzija started 2010 in the Cubs bullpen, but after a few shaky outings, was sent to Iowa. There, he moved to the rotation, and asked to stay in Iowa to work on his pitching, rather than return to the Cubs’ bullpen. But with September upon us, it’s time for as many players on the 40-man roster as is reasonable to join the Cubs, regardless of role. Still, Samardzija may get a chance to start a game or two, depending on what happens with Tom Gorzelanny’s recovery from a left hand injury, and Casey Coleman’s status as a member of the rotation.

The Cubs also called up former bullpenner Justin Berg, together with outfielders Sam Fuld and Brad Snyder, and infielder Bobby Scales.

And yes, the image for this post is the movie poster for the 1997 Jamie Foxx comedy romp, “Booty Call.” You can go through only so many pictures of telephones for “call-up” before you decide to do something a little different. In case you’re wondering, the flick is basically “Harold and Kumar,” if White Castle sliders were a prophylactic.

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Carlos Silva returned to the Cubs, which was itself a success, though his actual performance sucked. The team was still without Aramis Ramirez (injury) and Starlin Castro (twubble), and they couldn’t outperform the little weiny at the top of the Astros’ lineup.

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Let’s be clear about something from the get-go: the Chicago Cubs have suffered through a brutal 2010. They’ve had on-field and off-field headaches, and they’ve been profoundly uncompetitive. So when I say I’m taking pleasure in the recent dust-up in St. Louis, you’ll not think me a hypocrite – at least not the worst kind.

I’m taking pleasure in the recent dust-up in St. Louis.

Over the weekend, word spilled out into the national media that the relationship between Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and centerfielder Colby Rasmus has been strained for sometime – so much so that, both last year and earlier this year, Rasmus requested a trade. For a young guy in his only organization, such a request counts as big news. Subsequently, Rasmus took to some private hitting lessons with his father in July, something that raised the ire of La Russa.

Things came to a head on Sunday when the duo was peppered with questions about their relationship, and neither had a particularly good, deflective response.

Before Rasmus’ spoke Sunday morning, La Russa had done his best to deflect any suggestion of conflict. The longtime manager, who has clashed with numerous players during his 15-year tenure in St. Louis, confirmed that Rasmus had requested a trade last year as well as this season. Still, La Russa said, “he’s grown up this year quite a bit. He’s on his way. … I think he’s thinking that probably the grass is not greener other places. This is a good situation, a great organization, teammates, everything. That’s what I think. You can ask him.”

When a small throng of media did, Rasmus said everything by saying nothing.

Asked if he wants to be in St. Louis next year, he said: “I’m not going to say either way. I’m just going to come in and play hard every day.”

Told that by not answering yes, it could be interpreted as a no, Rasmus said: “But I didn’t say that, though. You can interpret what you want. You can write whatever you want. But that’s not what I said. It’s not saying no, either. I mean, yeah, I’d like to be here. But there’s no telling what’s going to happen. I’d rather say nothing, so that way you’ll write nothing.”

Which, at this point, is impossible. Rasmus’ relationship with the Cardinals’ organization has been contentious for much of his career with the Cardinals, who drafted him with the 28th pick in the 2005 draft out of high school in Alabama. His father, Tony, criticized La Russa in 2008 on message-board postings after Rasmus was sent to the minor leagues after an excellent spring. La Russa reportedly chafed this year when Rasmus met with his father for personal hitting sessions in July….” Yahoo! Sports.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Cardinal star – and St. Louis favorite/bellwether - Albert Pujols had some harsh words for Rasmus.

“If he doesn’t want to be here next year, we need to figure out a way to get him out of here and find somebody that wants to be here and play,” Pujols told Yahoo! Sports on Sunday. “That’s a reality. That’ll show you right there a young player that doesn’t respect what he’s got.”

“He needs to find out the talent and ability that he has and pretty much keep his mouth shut and play the game. Let the organization make those decisions, not himself.”

Speaking from our own experience, fences can obviously be mended. As recently as a month ago, did you think it possible that Carlos Zambrano could return to the Cubs in 2011 with smiles and happiness all around? Yet somehow, it’s now possible. So it is likewise possible that Rasmus and the Cardinals could patch things up.

But while the stink continues to seep out of the Cardinals’ clubhouse, I’ll continue to take pleasure.

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On Sunday, Starlin Castro lost track of the number of outs in the 7th inning of an 18-5 drubbing at the hands of the Mets. He hit a grounder, believing there to be two outs, and jogged to first – he was promptly made the latter part of a double play. Interim manager Mike Quade was displeased, and showed his displeasure by benching Castro – possibly his hottest hitter – for Monday’s game against the Astros.

“Every so often it’s better for a player to observe than participate,” Quade said. “I thought he really should watch a game or so and sit with some very smart people on my staff and kind of keep an eye on things and maybe reflect a little bit. He’s had so much thrown at him, but I think sometimes step back, take a look at things, give a guy a couple days … lapses of concentration and stuff, maybe he can reflect on.”

It was a tough-love move that some in Quade’s position might not even consider, knowing it would hurt his chances of winning without having his hottest hitter in the lineup. And with a limited window of opportunity to prove what he can do, every game is magnified for Quade down the stretch.

The Cubs improved to 9-4 under Quade after Monday’s 5-4 comeback win over the Astros. In the long run, he may have improved his chances of winning the job in 2011 by benching Castro for a couple of days.

Hendry had to be impressed that Quade not only dropped the hammer on Castro, but did it in a manner that showed he could be stern without damaging the kid’s confidence. Chicago Tribune.

Previously, I’d questioned the wisdom of allowing a candidate for the permanent job to serve as the interim manager, where his incentives (makes decisions to win immediately) may not align with the organization’s incentives (do whatever is necessary to improve the 2011 club). Here, there can be no doubt that Quade was doing what was best for the future of the organization. Not only did he teach Castro a lesson; he did it while talking about it in all the right ways.

The fact that Darwin Barney had a couple hits in Castro’s stead was just gravy.

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Four early ones proved, um, not too much to overcome. Xavier Nady had a hilariously bad day, and Casey Coleman was great except for one inning.

But my eye was drawn to Darwin Barney, replacing Starlin Castro for the day, who was benched for failing to run out a grounder this weekend.

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It’s Series Preview time again, as the Chicago Cubs welcome the streaking Houston Astros to Wrigley Field for a three-game set. Not unlike the Cubs, the Astros keep winning, but it keeps not mattering.

Time for the Series Preview:

The idea is to hook you up with the bare minimum of what you need to know about every series this year. That way you can look like a genius, hardcore fan in front of all your friends, with minimum effort. Oh, and there will be pictures of beautiful women, too.

We’re Going Streaking

Although the Cubs got shellacked by the Mets in yesterday’s series finale, they took the first two games, their third series win out of their last four series. The team is now 8-4 in the imaginary Mike Quade Era.

The Astros have won 11 of 14, including a four-game sweep of the Phillies, and a humiliating-for-the-Cardinals-but-oh-so-delicious-for-us three-game sweep of the Cardinals. Get this: they’ve actually passed the Brewers, and now stand alone in third place in the NL Central.

Game Times and Broadcasts

• Monday, September 6 at 1:20 CT on WGN.
• Tuesday, September 7 at 7:05 CT on CSN.
• Wednesday, September 8 at 7:05 CT on CSN.

Expected Starters and Lineups

These lineups should be pretty close to what actually gets thrown out there.

Cubs

Starters: Casey Coleman (1-1, 5.76), Carlos Silva (10-5, 3.92), Randy Wells (6-12, 4.56)

Lineup (Quade has been wont to change it up regularly, so these are some guesses):

1. DeWitt, 2B
2. Castro, SS
3. Byrd, CF (Fukudome is seeing a lot of time)
4. Ramirez, 3B
5. Nady, 1B
6. Colvin, RF (same Fukudome note)
7. Soriano, LF
8. Soto/Hill, C
9. Pitcher

Astros

Starters: Wandy Rodriguez (11-12, 3.71), Nelson Figueroa (2-1, 3.26), Brett Meyers (10-7, 3.02)

Lineups:

1. Michael Bourn, CF
2. Jeff Keppinger, 2B
3. Hunter Pence, RF
4. Carlos Lee, LF
5. Geoff Blum, 3B
6. Angel Sanchez, SS
7. Brett Wallace, 1B
8. Jason Castro, C
9. Pitcher

Hot or Not and Whom to Watch

Aramis Ramirez is finally hitting like Aramis Ramirez: .339 over his last 16 games with five home runs, tying him with Alfonso Soriano for the team lead at 22.

Starlin Castro’s batting average sunk to .317 after an 0-4 yesterday against the Mets. His average hasn’t been below .300 since late July – the last time the Cubs played the Astros.

Wandy Rodriguez is on fire – in his last 13 starts, he’s 8-2 with a 1.65 ERA. It’s like he sucked just enough for the first few months of the season that no one would trade for him. Once he decided it was safe, he started dominating.

But Rodriguez isn’t alone of late. The entire Astros staff has a 1.94 ERA over their last 14 games.

Series She-View

And now the best part of the preview: if the teams were represented by beautiful women, who would they be, and what would the match up look like. I thought long and hard about whether I should change things up this year, and offer a different representative for the Cubs this year, after a 2009 full of Marisa Miller. But then I realized Marisa Miller is still smoking hot.

So, given the fact that she’s thrown out the first pitch, sung the Seventh Inning Stretch, probably likes the Cubs, and – like the Cubs – is still hot, just one year older, I’ve chosen to stick with supermodel Marisa Miller.

You’re welcome.

For the Astros, it’s a brutal decision. Everything is bigger in Texas, and apparently, the women are better looking. There are a number of beautiful women who hail from the Lone Star State, but we’re going to keep going with someone who is actually from Houston: the beautiful Hilary Duff.

Having left her Disney days in the past many years ago, it’s now safe to believe that Hilary Duff is hot. You may be a pervert for any number of reasons, but you’re in the clear on this one. And I’ll take it as a given that you’re thankful I didn’t choose Renee Zellweger, who is also originally from the Houston area.

I still can’t get over the fact that both hers and Marisa Miller’s respective first names are totally misspelled. But whatever. At least Hilary is clearly a Back to the Future fan, as evidenced by her Doc Brown glasses in the above picture.

Versus

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The 2010 version of the Chicago Cubs are excellent at bringing out the best in their opponents. James Russell and Thomas Diamond were particularly gracious today.

But let’s be real. It’s not as if another loss is really going to cripple the Cubs at this point…

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Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Carlos Silva will return to the team on Tuesday, making a start against the Houston Astros. The start will be his first since August 1 when he left a start against the Rockies with an elevated heart rate. He has since undergone a minor, corrective heart procedure and two rehab starts with the Peoria Chiefs.

Silva returns to a 10-5 record and a 3.92 ERA, both of which are significantly better marks than anyone expected when the Cubs acquired Silva (and cash) for Milton Bradley this winter.

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