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Bleed Cubbie Blue

Open Thread: Cubs vs. Angels, Wednesday 3/26, 3:05 CT

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona -- The Cubs, who have won seven of their last ten (two losses, one tie), will attempt to even their spring record at 14-14 when they take on the Angels this afternoon.

Stuff of interest this morning:

Carlos Zambrano will face the Angels' Jered Weaver, who has had a great spring (5-0, 1.33, 14 K and only 3 BB in 20.1 IP). Weaver has to step up now that both John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar are out for the Angels.

Today's game will be on MLB Audio via the Angels' station, KLAA (and I believe once again, you can listen free), on MLB.TV, and at the MLB.com Mediacenter. Starting tomorrow, the next four games -- exhibitions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and Opening Day on Monday -- will be on WGN-TV. Monday's opener will also be on ESPN2, if you are somewhere that you don't get WGN.

MLB.com Gameday (2007 version)

MLB.com Gameday (2008 version)

Discuss amongst yourselves.

0 recs  |  379 comments

Comments

Perhaps The Cubs Should Start...

...Marquis, so the Angels can visualize him in their rotation.

How can we listen to KLAA?

I must have missed this.

Likely Through...

... GameDay Audio from mlb.com?

Yes, and...

... the Angels are giving away their ST games free via audio -- that's what I recall reading earlier this month -- so you don't need an account to listen.

Don't shoot the messenger if I'm wrong, but I believe that's the case.

Sorry Al

But the messenger always gets shot.

You mean

waterboarding isn't an option.

Yeah :)

This free mlb audio is working!!!! Yet another reason to not do anything more on my to do list.

I agree...

...send Marshall to AAA and let him continue to work as a starter. What does Pignatiello have to do to get a spot in the bullpen? I say give him a shot until he proves he cannot get the job done.

I assume some sensitive ears do not want

today's take on Mariotti?

As for Marshall, spot on Al. He needs more work soon.

I just won't

actually click on those links anymore. I won't feed his hitcount.

I read Mariotti every morning

I just take everything he says w/ a grain of salt. (Ok, more like a gram)

My problem is

that I don't hate Marriotti like it seems 99% of the city does-every once in awhile he makes sense to me-i also hate the whole thing about opening the season in Japan. He also points out that after the Red Sox open the regular season in japan, they actually go back to playing exhibition games before the season resumes-that just seems crazy to me.

The last thing Marshall needs is MORE work

Marshall shouldn't pitch more than 160 innings this year, so why waste starts down in Iowa. Starting him in the 'pen and working him up to starting later in the year is ideal.

I don't know

He's always been a starter and it seems foolish to try and convert him into a loogy at this late stage of the spring. I just don't understand why Piggy isn't getting any respect at all. Perhaps Bruce has some insight on this.

I'm not suggesting you convert him into LOOGY

I'm suggesting Marshall use all of his above average innings in the major leagues. Until Eyre comes back, he can pitch one inning stints. When Eyre comes back he becomes the long-man for 2 -3 inning stints, and then when someone is injured or ineffective, he goes into the rotation.

I don't get

What makes the decision to send Marshall to AAA so difficult. We need Marshall to keep his stamina up so that he can start if (read as "when") we need a fresh arm in the rotation.

Others have pointed this out before, Piggy should have a 0.00 era this spring. There is no reason Marshall should get a first shot at the bullpen spot, he is a starter.

I thought...

that Lieber was in line to slip into the rotation if you need a fresh arm. So what happens then? Marshall to the pen? See... we're back at square one.

Thats true

I hope this won't be the case, but we may need Marshall too. I just think Marshall would be better served by staying loose and practiced by starting in AAA rather than throwing a batter or inning at a time a few days a week in our bullpen.

I think Piggy has always been in the bullpen, so there is no adjustment needed for him.

Piggy was a starter

for a number of years and he was converted in the past few. But it seems that the likelihood of a trade of Marquis or Dempster is possible. That means Lieber moves to starter and Marshall goes long man.

Yes

That is one option that can be inferred from Lou's decision. Interesting.

Widescreen!

THANK YOU to the SBN2 guys for adding thenarrow/wide buttons to the sidebar... seems to work great at first try. Just noticed it today....

I second that sentiment

hey, cool!

is that a sticky setting? Will it keep that?

I just closed out my internet window and reloaded the page, and it kept the setting so it appears to stick. :)

just did the same thing

props to the guys behind the curtain

I agree...

Nice touch. Also love the other BCB blog improvements. This is a much more robust platform. Nice work.

"Today's game...on MLB.TV"

That remains to be seen. Yesterday, we got 20 minutes of the Cosby Show on WGN instead of the Cubs on CSN, then 2+ hours of......nothing.

Thanks for taking my money again this year, MLB!

Looks like they aren't picking up someone else's feed today

and are going with an MLB.com crew, so I don't suppose they can screw that up.

I must be crazy

After hearing all the glitches but I just bought a year's subscription to MLB.TV. I have no other choice since I can't listen to the radio (hearing impaired) while at work. I do have TIVO capability but I've already stayed up till 3 am the last two nights watching the game and that's no fun the next morning.

Actually, it's usually pretty good during the regular season

I have to keep reminding myself that the Internet itself is a "best efforts" service, so someone selling a service that rides on top of it can't guarantee perfect performance. That said, the glitch yesterday was obviously human error.

During Spring Training, both the MLB audio and MLB.TV products, just like GameDay, seem to be warming up for the season. During the regular season, MLB.TV has been pretty reliable the last year or two.

Cubs Released Cintron?

Does this mean the Cubs are sticking with Cedeno (e.g., no Roberts deal), or are they perhaps satisfied with Fontenot as a SS/2B?

Where does it say Cintron was released?

Not seeing it anywhere

Cite your sources, please

Deep Goat...

... no, seriously, Bruce Levine.

Interesting

I assume the Cubs had a deal with him when he signed that if he didn't make the major league team out of spring training, he'd be granted release.

I Thought He Looked Good....

... enough to make the team. Perhaps his injury is more than what was led on to believe. Or, Cedeno/Fontenot tandem is better.

Maybe utility guys like that are a dime a dozen?

Maybe "D. All of the above"?

Thanks for clarifying

Woo

Cintron is just Cedeno with a weaker bat (though more baseball IQ), IMO. Cedeno can back up all the IF positions too, and we'll have a for-real backup SS if Theriot struggles.

Don't Banish Me...

But for the most part, I actually agree with Mariotti's take on opening day. Bad idea from my perspective. It's silly and it's a lame start to the season... not fan focused at all.

Call me old-fashioned,

but I preferred it when the Red always started the season, and it was the only game, and it was always a day game. God, I'm old.

Call me old-fashioned,

but I think we should worship the sun and moon as powerful Gods, and fear them.

The State!

awesome.

I agree 100%

with you. Terrible idea. What's worse IMO is the fact that they played two "regular season" games but now come back to the states where they will resume their spring training schedule. WTF?

It allows them to get their rotation back in order after jetlag, but yeah... exactly. It's crap.

I think its kinda cool

Just sucks from the player's perspective and it has to be done right, which so far it hasn't. But everything has kinks, I guess.

Cubs Released Cintron

Where did you see this? I was kind of hoping he would have made the team

Tiring of Lou...

Lou was a breath of fresh air last year following the Dusty debacle. He actually seemed to understand hitting splits, a platoon system, double switches, etc.

But a lot of his decisions this spring training have been frustrating.

Dempster in the rotation over Lieber? I know it won't last long but it may cost us a few games early on.

Marshall over Pignatiello? This may not have much importance, but it just doesn't make much sense.

Theriot leading off? I know he's mentioned other options, and there may not be any great options, but having our worst hitter leading off and getting tons of ABs is not very smart.

I'm far from a Lou hater, and I recognize that managers are inherently going to draw criticism, but some of the decisions made this spring have been frustrating, to say the least.

I agree

I'm a huge fan of Lou, and he's made some poor decisions so far this spring. Marshall over Pignatiello is a Dusty like move, so is Dempster over Lieber, and Soriano batting second instead of Fukudome. But Lou sometimes makes bad decisions, and realizes it a few days or weeks later, so hopefully thats the case here. I was pretty bad about the Marshall over Pignatiello yesturday but Eyre is suppose to be back within the first week or two of the season, so Marshall or Pignatiello probably wouldn't have pitched much anyways.

Dusty Move?

I don't know if I would call it a Dusty Move unless Pignatiello's spot was being taken by a 37 year old Journey Man. Marshall is better served starting in the majors or AAA

ugh

Marshall has 150 innings in him in 2008. You can't go over that by too many or he'll break. So, why waste 50 of those innings in AAA, when, instead, you can get major league use out of him in the 'pen. He can always be stretched back out.

The problem here is

Not that Lou will make a change but that he made the wrong decision in the first place. No data supports that Dempster should start over Lieber or that Marshall should be in the pen over Piggy.

Ok, Marshall has ML experience, but I'm talking about current ST performance. I just don't want the errors of the manager to be the difference between making and missing the postseason.

Cubs lineup

Theriot, SS
Pie, CF
Soriano, LF
Ward, 1B
Fukudome, RF
DeRosa, 3B
Fontenot, 2B
Soto, C
Zambrano, P

interesting . . .

anything we should read into this? e.g. Soriano being moved in the lineup again, or he hitting third since Lee and Ramirez have the day off?

I Would Think...

... that Soriano would bat 3rd like last year if D. Lee is out for a period of time.

I really...

...wouldn't take Lou's lineups at this point too seriously. I would even extend that thought into the first couple weeks of the season.

Whatever happens, I highly doubt Soriano will see more than a few games in the 2-hole and definately not Pie.

No big deal

probably just wanted to
- see what Pie looks like with a good hitter behind him
- split some lefties up
- keep Dome in his regular spot

That, plus...

... no Ramirez today, so time to experiment a little.

I don't want to see Pie hitting second very often, though.

really like

the roster and the flexibility when it comes to putting together a line up. Hopefully we can strike gold eventually and find one that works best, but until then I'm with Lou most of the time.

Just wonderin'...

Why not play Fontenot at 3B? He is supposed to be the utility IF -- i.e., he is supposed to be utile. Lou has been crowing about his "versatility" all spring. We're getting close to show time now. How about demonstrating Fontenot's versatility for real? DeRo is the veteran -- make the young guys move around.

My reaction to this line up

It's obvious that Lou hates names that do not end in vowels, because there's three of them. I mean, this is a TERRIBLE line up. We need D Lee in there for starters. Cedeno would be nice, too, then we could limit it to one.

Wouldn't read too much into this

A couple regulars are off today.

cool, thanks Bruce

Reed Johnson Negotiations lasted all of 10 minutes

Johnson, a 31-year-old right-handed hitter who will play center field against left-handers and spell Kosuke Fukudome in right, signed a one-year, $1.3 million deal Tuesday after negotiations that lasted all of 10 minutes.

That's how badly Johnson wanted to become a Cub.

"You guys don't know how happy I am to be here," he said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-080325-cubs-reed-johnson-chicago,1,722236.story

Karros Part II?

Can't help but root for a guy that comes in with so much enthusiasm. You always wonder how players truly feel about certain things and it's good when a player not only gives some insight into that, but when it's good like this.

good.

happy ball players are motivated ball players.

Mariotti... Why even link his article?

...you're just encouraging him and giving him more traffic, Al.

TWTSNBM

The Writer That Shall Not Be Mentioned? Any other suggestions? Clean ones?

LMAO

Not a bad idea.

However, I am now collecting all these links under the BCB tag "mariotti idiocy". Let's see how many of those I can post before the end of the season.

I suppose he won't be one of your celebrity interviews this season? n/t

Jay! Jay!

Al Yellon here, from BCB. Jay, you've been wrong about, well, EVERYTHING Cubs-dom since the beginning of the season! What are you gonna do now?

LMAO

Probably not. No, DEFINITELY not.

How many days are there until the season is over?

Exclude Saturdays and I think we got our number! ;)

This is interesting

I didn't really catch this sentence till my second reading:

The Cubs, who have won seven of their last ten (two losses, one tie),

I said to myself, "really? It doesn't FEEL like they've won seven of their last ten."

Is it just me?

seven of ten

I know Spring Training records are basically meaningless but it is always nice to at least *finish* spring strongly, with a few morale-bosting wins. There are good signs the Cubs are running into some good form at the right time. Let's hope so.

It'd also be nice to know we have the roster finally set and all the trade speculation put behind us. I hate to see the Cubs "clogging" the starting lineups with players who are just being showcased for another team's scouts. If that's truly what's been happening.

Marriotti

When you're wrong, you're wrong, but when you're right, you're right. And today, Marriotti is absolutely 100 percent right. Love him or hate him, that's a good column.

Why?

Give your reasons. I happen to like the international trips, think they're good for the game.

When Mariotti went to Japan in 2000, I'll bet he never went anywhere but his hotel and the stadium.

Nothing wrong with promoting Internationally.

Everyone wants to get into the Asian market, whether you're talking about MLB, or Wal-Mart and McDonald's. And there is nothing wrong with that, in fact, it's a good thing. But I agree with Marriotti that a.) it's too early to open up when other teams still have almost a week of ST, b.) how can two teams have Opening Day, and then have more exhibition games themselves?, and c.) Opening Day, sorry to sound ethnocentric, should be an American thing, on American soil.

It was a scheduling snafu, mainly. These games in Japan should have either been exhibition games, or they should have been pushed back several days, so that whichever teams were playing could open up with a couple of games, have two or three days off for travel and jet lag purposes, then continue their regular season games here. The fact that the MLB season has officially opened is lost on most fans, because they are still in ST mode. Also, I remember being pissed in 2000 when the Cubs opened up in the middle of the night in Central Time. It's Opening Day for crying out loud. I know the A's have no fans, so that's not a problem, but as Marriotti said, what about the die-hards in Boston? It's like by trying to reach out to new fans, you're pissing off your longtime loyal fans. Like when Las Vegas starting to build theme parks and cater to families. As soon as you saw parents pushing strollers down the strip, that alienated their core "Sin City" base. I don't know, there is nothing wrong with expanding the game and trying to go global, but it just needs to be done right. And IMO, this year, it was not done right.

If I were a diehard in Boston...

... I'd have gotten up at 6 am to watch the game. Wouldn't you?

Sure.

But for me, and for a lot of people, Opening Day is a holiday, and I don't want to watch the game at home sitting on the sofa with a cup of coffee. Every year I take a vacation day from work on Opening Day, and if I don't have game tickets, I like to watch from one of my favorite venues, like Harry Caray's, or if they're at home, somewhere in Wrigleyville. On Monday, I'll be at the new Harry Caray's Tavern, and let's just say I won't be drinking coffee. I guess you can never make everyone happy, no matter what you do, which I understand. It just seems like it could have been done better this year. But it didn't affect the Cubs one way or the other, which I'm happy about.

I too

think the international games are good for the game of baseball and MLB.

We already know that MLB has the highest quantity and quality of talent. By playing these international games, perhaps we can further encourage the best players from these other leagues to come to MLB and increase the competitiveness of MLB. Maybe even that Yu Darvish kid will come to MLB sooner with more of these international games, unfortunately he will probably end up with the Yankees or Red Sox because of a sky high posting fee.

International

The international idea is way overblown in professional sports. There is no example of any sports league or any other form of live entertainment that can sustain a global fan base for more than a single event (World Cup soccer would be the closest I can think of).

This opening day business is only useful to MLB as a precursor to something bigger. From their point of view it is an investment/gamble. They are going against tradition and taking what would-be large primetime American audience and cutting by 90% at least. So the question is what do they hope to gain.

There will never be an MLB team in Japan and having a larger schedule in Japan will only hurt the US fanbase. I know everybody thinks that international is the key to success in business but, I just don't see where this is going.

On top of all that, it sucks for the US fan. There is nothing in it for us. I have no problem with MLB pursuing a profit, but to me there is no profit to be found.

I don't like Marriotti, but everyone once in a while he does put out an article that has a reasonably premise and doesn't deserve to be labeled as garbage. I'm not sure that passes your test of something you would say to him in person (and you never really know whether he reads here or not).

How so?

I don't understand what you mean by "There is no example of any sports league or any other form of live entertainment that can sustain a global fan base for more than a single event (World Cup soccer would be the closest I can think of). " There is already an Asian market, or at least Japanese, for baseball. We know that jersey sales are present there, and fans follow the Japanese players when they migrate over to mlb. So giving them a few games a season would seem to continue to advance those interests/profits.

I don't think that the opening over there has any effect on the US fans. Diehard fans of these teams will watch the games anyway. Casual fans or fans of other teams will just ignore the overseas games and treat the US and home openers as the real opening day. I would imagine that the potential lost profits of home games by the A's and the Red Sox are made up by the profits from the games over there and the general increased profits from increased Asian influence.

About the only people I can imagine who are hurt financially by these games are the workers at the ballparks, who lose a home game to work, and the ancillary business such as bars and t-shirt shops, etc, near the ballparks.

murton going to AAA

wow.

That SUX.

Though it'll be nice to see him play again in Iowa, however bittersweet.

Poor Murton. What's a redhead got to do to get a table around here?

It's unfair to Murton

but I'm glad the Cubs didn't just give him away. Letting him pound the ball in Triple A should give him more value then sitting on the Cubs bench. Plus now we can call him up if we have a injury to Fukudome or Soriano.

I think it's actually a smart move by the Cubs at this point...

Cededno according to that Trib article is out of options. Not worth losing him just to keep Murton, especially since we have 5 outfielders now.

As sorry as I feel for Matt, this is a good deal for the Cubs right now. Injuries will allow him to start.

Roberts not in the lineup today

Sorry, couldn't resist.

What Does...

... Bruce Miles -- er -- "Deep Goat" say?

Exactly

Glad that's been picked up

Bruce Miles is NOT "Deep Goat".

That much, I can tell you.

Roberts

was pulled yesterday too. Some sort of injury.

He'll Be Out For a Few Days...

...with back spasms. They want to get him nice and rested for Opening Day....
.
.
.
.
...in a Cub uniform.

Someone...

pulled their "Roberts"? Ouch!

Not To Be Confused With...

...someone pulled their "Reed"...

I'd rather pull my Reed

than my Fukudome.

At least it's "pulled"

and not "twisted"....

...or...

fissured.

Cubs pocket schedules

Completely off topic here (and very amateur)...

Where can we find a good Cubs pocket schedule?

For quick service,

Write a request to 1060 W. Addison.

The nice official ones have been out for awhile (at least since single game tix went onsale), though I've yet to see then at the gas station/liquor store/other usual places.

OR

go to Opening Day and get a fancy shmancy magnet one

Just an off topic from this off topic...

I ran across a bunch of my old pocket schedules and decided to put them up on my web site (like the scorecards I had up there). http://ignarski.tripod.com/ps-menu.html These were only the ones in the newlydiscovered stash I found and as I find more, I will add them to the site. It's interesting to see the way the team decided to advertise themselves and who (or what) they decided to feature on the schedules.

Kasey

that's

really cool to see, thanks for the link. Never know what you're gonna run into here on BCB.

You can actually send an e-mail

to Cubstickets@cubs.com. They actually responded to my e-mail indicating that the schedules would be sent shortly, and I got them within a week or so.

thank you

n/t

or this**

You are correct you should receive them within a week.

Thank you,

The Chicago Cubs Ticket Office

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Taylor Michael J [mailto:TaylorMichaelJ@JohnDeere.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 3:13 PM
To: Cubs Tickets
Subject: Pocket schedule

I was told I could email this site to get one sent to

Splits

while we're on the topic of "where can we find...." does anybody know where we can find a good site that will show the splits of every current cub player against a pitcher ? Jered Weaver, for example.

They're predicting that Z shuts them out today over at the Angels site. Just want to make sure we wont get shut out too!

Go to ESPN.com

and click on the pitchers name. It allows you to sort what they've done against all the hitters of a particular team. It's defaulted to show the team he's pitching against on that day but you can find out matchups against other teams. Likewise, you can go to a hitter and find out how he's done against another team's staff including relievers.

It's a very good problem

In response to many people saying Lou's making the wrong choices, I have 2 points.

1. Despite everything we like to think, Lou and his coaches have seen more from EVERY player than we have. They see practices and mechanics in spring while we see numbers during the game. I'm not saying that Lou has done everything right, but I am saying that giving our head decision-maker the benefit of the doubt might be a good idea.

2. Many people are upset that Carmen's going to AAA and Murton's going to AAA, but when's the last time you remember us HAVING to send legitimate major league talent down to AAA. As a Cub's fan, I FINALLY have the ability to say, I'm not completely terrified of injuries this year. We are legitmately covered at every position (except maybe catcher), some positions 2 or 3 deep.

So we can say: Darn, Lou sent the wrong major league talent down!

Or we can say: Woo hoo, we actually have the talent to be upset about this crud.

I'm gonna choose the latter

Great post

n/t

Thank you

Just a little confused as to why all of us are hitting the panic button when we were the division champs last year, and we clearly have more talent to work with this year.

Plus

Optimism is our calling card as Cubs fans! Have we all forgotten? Baseball is fun!

Our Triple A team

should be pretty good. With Patterson at second, Fox or Colvin in RF, Fuld in CF, Murton in LF, Hoffpauir at 1b, McGehee at 3b, and even Koyle Hill at Catcher.The rotation will have Gallagher, and probably Marshall in a few weeks once Eyre returns.

It sucks for Murton

he has to go to Triple A with the way he hit in the big leagues. But it's probably much better for him then sitting on the Cubs bench. With our current OF situation Murton would have maybe gotten 5-7 AB a week at best. So now he can go to Triple A play everyday and pound the ball, and either wait to be traded or a injury for the Cubs. So it is unfair to him, but thats baseball. Josh Fields deserves to be a starter in the big leagues to, but he's also in Triple A right now, because the White Sox don't have room for him.

I have a feeling...

...that Murton will be back soon. Something tells me that Pie will have issues and RJ (Reed Johnson) just isn't going to cut it. Give him a month or two.

We need

a MURTON-METER. Everytime JPie fouls up, strikes out or makes an E the MURTON-METER goes up!

JPie

Good one.

Lineup change

Cedeno replaces DeRosa at third. DeRosa still isn't feeling well from the upper-respiratory bug that's been bothering him. He's OK other than that.

Reed Johnson will

cut it, there's no question about that IMO. His career numbers speak for themselves, and he's 100 percent healthy now. If Pie struggles it's possible Murton could be called up with Johnson becoming the full-time CF, but I could also see us calling up Fuld. It's probably best for Murton to kick but in Triple A to increase his trade value. Murton will get much more value destroying Minor League pitching then sitting on the Cubs bench this year.

Cedeno at 3rd?

Are the Cubs trying to put him in a position he can get hurt or something? hmmmm

Are they trying to convince the Orioles...

...that there's life after Melvin Mora if Scott Moore doesn't work out?

This is totally random but...

since we have DeRo and Fonty as utility men, and the Roberts deal is going cold, I heard somewhere that the Cubs were "considering" trading for Coco Crisp or something. Did the aquisition of Johnson kill that? Or should we aquire another outfielder to REALLY shore up any possible faults?

nah

No need. Johnson/Pie is perfectly fine. I still think that Pie is going to have a monster year if he can be managed properly and kept happy.

No we added our

CF yesturday in Johnson. Reed Johnson has better career numbers then Coco Crisp, is alot cheaper and lets us give Pie a chance. While Coco Crisp would have complained about not playing everyday.

Opening Series Rotation

I saw the opening series rotation for the Brewers listed in this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blog post: http://blogs.jsonline.com/brewers/archive/2008/03/25/rotation-is-lined-up.aspx

So I guess it will be Zambrano vs. Sheets on Monday, then Lilly vs. Suppan on Wednesday, and Dempster (shudder) vs. Bush on Thursday.

So we will face all righties and miss the young arms (Villanueva, Parra).

what happened to

Lilly in the opener and Z pitching game two bc of his history on opening day?

I still say Auchtung Lieber!

saying "ach du lieber"

would make far more sense... :)

Pitching match-ups seem pretty even

Zambrano vs Sheets could go either way, hopefully Zambrano streak ends this year. Lilly vs Suppan could go either way as well, and both Bush/Dempster have good stuff but are very inconsistent so who knows what you will get from those guys.

Only going on memory and could be wrong, but

1) Z's Opening Day meltdowns have always occured away from Wrigley Field, and

2) The Cubs hit Sheets pretty well

Actually

Would it make sense to send Z to Chicago right after today's game, so he can get acclimated to the weather and even do some cold weather work-outs? When the Cubs are in Vegas, the Brewers will be in Milwaukee playing their final exhibition games (most likely under the roof) at Miller Park.

Would he go?

Z probably thinks he should pinch hit in Vegas!!

So he's a good pitcher on the road...

but not on opening day... MAYBE if you combine two negatives (pitching at home and the opener) we'll get a positive!

WFAN in NY Central Picks for 2008

WFAN in NY just blased our CUBS for 2008. call them a mabye 85 game winner just like the Brewers

They like the Red's as a sleeper and team with the best rotation and players. Only sleeping is Dusty in the Dug Out.

Its hard to be a cub fan in this Rotten Apple

You are a brave soul, parrotinct....

n/t

I had to do it in Jersey...

It's torturous at how bad their coverage of other teams is. Some of the cable in the area doesn't even carry WGN! I don't know how I kept up, that's for sure...

Good...I like it

much better when the "experts" pick the Cubs to not be so good. How many of them picked the cubs in '84, '89 or '03? As for the Reds being "sleepers' I have two things to say; 1)Corey Patterson leading off and 2)Dusty in the dugout.

I'm in brooklyn

i agree, it is tough, especially when the cubs play the mets

They should...

Worry about their own team. Delgado and Alou have injuries, it looks like Pagan might be a regular for them, and their rotation isn't anything special behind Santana and Maine (not even Don Pedro).

Is the MLB.TB feed...

taking a coon's age to buffer for anyone else?

awesome

"Coon's age" is an amazing term

PIE!

im also watching on mlb.tv and so far so good....Pie gets the first hit of the game, screaming grounder to right

Pie single, and stolen base

plus the Angels tv announcers have already mispronounced his name in two different ways

Lou is sucking up to Z big-time...

Z is hitting while the Angels use the DH!

soriano pop fly foul caught

wow

listening to klaa for free.

Nice to see

Pie to get a hit off a good pitcher in Weaver.

Meanwhile...

my mlb.tv feed says ....Buffering: 54%........

try closing the window and restarting

Try reducing the size

of your buffer in the media player's options menu

Two solutions:

1. Boot into Linux (it will work).

2. If you're on Windows, use Internet Explorer instead of Firefox. IE seems to buffer faster with MLB.TV.

GameDay 2008

Well, I haven't seen it DO anything yet, but I already like it better than 2007 simple because... the background is WHITE instead of dark.

Much easier for me to read.

weaver throwing error, almost got pie

but missed the 2nd baseman and pie advanced to 3rd....ward batting

whoops

guess he didnt go

ward ground out, inning over

i'm watching on mlb.tv

did the announcers really just discuss the importance of ward's great defense for the cubs?

sorry guys

I'm only getting video here so I can't discuss what the announcers say :-P

strikeout, infield pop up, grounder to second

1-2-3 for zambrano

Angles 3-up, 3-down

they don't get a ball out of the infield.

Go Z!

Cedeno strikes out

"swinging wildly".

And we released Cintron, instead. Pete's sake.

It makes me sick...

That I will have to watch Cedeno and his brain farts for ANOTHER season... *sigh*

anybody else glad that len and bob

do their research? it really bugs me that these announcers don't take the time to figure out how to pronounce nine names that they know for a fact they're going to have to say, i know that this year is going to be full of that, with fukudome, but it's really not that hard, especially if it's your job

greaaaaaaat

now mlb.tv is sucking it up big time

Workin' fine for me.

Check your connection.

it stops loading

and when you get to the end of the line, whatever its called, it jumps back to the beginning

Is there a little message

in the upper right hand corner that says something like "Use Old Mediaplayer"?

If so, click on that. The "new" mediaplyer sucks.

And if you are already using the olde mediaplayer, see above re: buffer size.

Agreed

gameday audio doesn't work for me unless I click on the old version

can u watch the game for free too??

n/t

I don't think so

I was wondering this too.

Did they automatically renew me from last year, or is it just free right now for no reason?

I just bought mlb.tv

today for the whole season for $116 something and there was a box i had to UNCLICK that asked whether it was a one year purchase only or if i wanted to automatically renew after this season

I think

I'm going to get MLB Extra Innings on Directv rather than MLBTV.

angels announcers

are comparing fontenot to mickie morendini

WHAAAAAAAAAAAT? HAHAH

Only comparison is the MULLET

well

he just struck out.

Z hits a guy?

Morales?

fuku!!!!

gunned a guy trying to stretch a single

Quinlan

tries to stretch a single into a double, and he's out. Morales is at third.

Wow

Fukudome just nailed a guy trying to take second base

I love Fukudome's gun

We're gonna have a great defensive outfield

Z just walked

Mathis.

Haha.

Some guy just did a front flip falling on the field tryin' to get a fould ball.

HAHAHA

a fan just did a triple gainer going for a foul ball, ended up on the seat of his pants where the bullpen in chicago would be

z is slowin it down

walking around and talking to himself. Chance to hear the beer guys....can't wait for my first order of 2 cold ones @ Wrigley. K Zambrano of Brandon Wood.

Struck out Wood

2 outs, runner on 3rd and 1st.

Z is "animated".

3 run shot

Crap.

3run HR for Brown.

Cmon, Z...

Had him

with 2 strikes.

Statia

out. end of teh inning.

not to be a sori hater but he barely jumped for that

Score

Update plz :D

Cedeno!

too early for that - poop is more appropriate?

and whod have thunk that kind of sentence would make perfect sense??

0-3 early with Z on the mound

might consitute a CEDENO!!

Santos, can I get a quick posting of the scale featuring Cedeno, my fiancee hasn't seen it yet

Here you go...

Thank you santos

this should be on the site some where...permanantly.

It is appropriate...

Z had 2 outs and 2 strikes on the guy.....

yabbut...

are we turning into the bush administration here? We don't want to go to code red just to scare the public TOO badly just yet

Well...

if you want to wait until it's all over and then regale us with tales of watching the game while dodging sniper fire, I guess that's OK too.

i think people just like saying cedeno really loudly and often ;)

0-3 angels

men on 1st and 3rd Z gives up a 3 run homer

CEDENO!!!

Hey...no need to curse...this is a family site :)

yea

u r rite. I didnt bet this game so I shouldnt be cursing.

0-3 Angels...

...means we're winning, no?

Oh i c

Ouch, but ty.

Would be nice to see some streak here before the opener, and woulda been nice to see some confidence booster for Big z

Not watching the game

but I'll take a guess, Z's fastball was down the middle while he was ahead in the count with 2 strikes? Saw a lot of this last year, he gets a bit predictable in the fact he loves to get ahead and instead of throwing an "out" pitch, or something offspeed he challenges too many people and hitters can assume the fastball.

Soto

Ks.

Z batting now.

MAN

I wish i wasnt a poor college student, someone donate some money to me so i can wacth some cubbies!

dont worry

you'll be able to watch on WGN in 5 days

and not a day too soon!!!

tell me about it

can I go to sleep and wake up at 8am on Monday?

i think they're on wgn tomorrow

They

will be on tv for thes rest of spring training i think

Pie with a nice running catch for the 2nd out

3 up 3 down

in the bottom of the 3rd.

This game is going fast; they need to get on the board soon.

listen to them

for free

Id love to.

Plz explain to me how i dont have to play at mlb.com ive tryed multiple times, ty.

umm

click on the mediacenter link and click on the klaa link and click the audio symbol or listen live link

to listen

Click on MLB.com Mediacenter in the main post above (lata paragraph)...then click on the KLLA link next to the yellow L button.

Wow

Fukudome just nailed a guy trying to take second base

woops, not sure what happened there

OHH

got it, ty

2bad its angels sportscasting, its better then nothing.

TY!

Z isn't doing well

first and third, nobody out.

People

Arent putting him in the top 20 starting pitchers, im starting to see why.

You're right

You're right he stinks a bad start in spring training. They should release hm.

I heard that...

Ted Williams struck out a couple times too...loser.

Yup

Thats exactly what i meant, im saying i see why people who really do not follow Z think he isnt capable of being a prime time pitcher.

But ty for jumping on me!

theriot muffs it

should have been a double play, but instead, it's first and second, 4-0 angels.

Did he dive?

didn't say. just that he muffed it.

"should have been an easy double play".

Did Z

go over and punch him in the face?!?!? Start early this year boys!

4-0

Let Zambrano get his bad start out of his system. He's been lights out this spring and was due for a bad one. So hopefully on Monday he will be good to go.

pick off at 2nd!

runner at second

just picked off.

2 outs, I think.

Mariotti

I don't even bother reading his crap anymore. Thanks for the links though, Al.

I have a 10 to 1...

Mariotti ratio. For every 10 horrible, outrageous and just plain stupid articles he writes, he'll write a decent one that I MAY enjoy (usually the ones bashing the Sox).

Mariotti

I am going to have a use for Mariotti starting in about 2 weeks when we pick up our new puppy and have to paper train him.

Dave Kaplan

Kap just broke in with WGN and said Andy MacPhail had a PC to announce the Roberts trade is dead.

Go DEEP GOAT

What a letdown...

I guess I have to take Roberts of my MLB The Show roster

I think

I think it was too much giving up for the guy especially one who misses 2 games with back spasms this week.

The way Kap's voice sounded at the start of the report I thought it was bad news. Was expecting him to announce an injury.

Spasms...

I would be spasming too if I found out I would have to stay on the Orioles...

thank goodness.

Now everyone can just concentrate on starting where they're suppose to start -- DeRo at 2nd, Theriot at SS.

I wanted it to happen, so did Piniella and Hendry

But if the price was too high, then it's good that they have agreed to call it off publicly.

JMO

Hendry should make the same announcement. That way everyone -- not just DeRo -- will know for sure that he isn't coming. After Ramy spoke out last week, I sensed that the entire team was waiting for their messiah to walk in the door instead of realizing that they were the guys who were supposed to get the job done.

Fukudome

lines out, Cedeno bloops a single.

Cedeno almost picked off 1st base

He had to slide back...

No way

How does this happen every single day!

life in Cedenoland.

It usually starts with...

him getting on base, then his mind starts thinking about all the stuff you have to think about while getting your lead....

what's this guys move look like?
what signs did the 3rd base coach just give me?
how many outs are there?
what's the count again?
what's the post game buffet gonna have today?
i really like spinach, i hope that's on the buffet.
gotta remember to get IN FRONT of Ward in line this time...he takes all the spina......oh crap!

Soto bounces to third

FC takes Cedeno at second. two outs.

LAA Announcers

not complaining but they've been talking an awful lot about the Cubs. Pretty cool.

who's playing first?

Ward screwed up! Bunt, and no one covering the bag...

runner

thrown out at second, stealing.

Pie

gets a single

pie

Steals second.

2-2 in steals today alone.

Pie and Johnson battle heating up

How awesome would it be if they pushed each other to have great years?

is he 2-2 batting also?

3-2 i think

Wow...

thats batting average of 1.500!

Impressive....

n/t

For those of you who were following the comcast caption drama (all 2 of you)

I just spoke with someone in the comcast sportsnet management hiearchy and apparently they are going to have ALL of their programming captioned by October 1st. Just in time for the playoffs - oh wait, everything will be on national TV. Greeeaaat....

Nonetheless, this is good news for myself and any other hearing impaired individuals who may be reading this.

great news!

Yup

btw - i never thanked you for your earlier message...appreciate it

Soriano swings wildly at a 3-0 in-the-dirt pitch

and misses. Then swings again. It's now 3-2.

Soriano

strikes out, from a 3-0 count.

VERY ugly..

end to that at bat.

Also...

a very familiar one.

Ward

gets a base hit! Pie scores! 4-1 Angles.

f yeah dward

well done

Felix = Very Fast

n/t

would you say he's

cat-like....? sorry...

Pie scored from 2nd..

on a base hit to LF...he's kinda fast.

DOme

Doubles, ward to 3rd.

Can he be as good as sensible people imagine?

In my best frustratedfan voice...

"No Way!"

Dome doubles!

Ward chugs around to third.

2 outs. Cedeno to the plate...

lets go ronny

keep the line moving

im having a heart attack already

and its only the 6th inning

....in spring training

dangit

Cedeno almost walked. Popped it up instead. Two stranded, still 4-1 angels.

Well, it's time for me to go home. Blah.

sojhglkdfjhgkljdfh

bleh. got one and weaver is out of the game.

CEDENO!!!

would have been ball 4 - cedeno turned on a ball to avoid it and somehow fouled it off on the backswing

Its ok

He would have overslid first anyways. What a cedeno

wait

we're still mad at him for that?

I'm enchanted with Cedeno

I've never seen someone with such raw talent , and at the same time who seems to play the game clueless...

Are you sure...

LOL

Yeah, good point :-)

Talent?

speed
strong arm - needs work on accuracy
he has demolished AAA and Caribbean league hitting

er....pitching

I meant Gross Man

Good rex has talent bad rex has el stink-o

ugh

come on carlos. pitch like last year.

Marmol pitching terribly

marmol not locating at all

nt

fonty

with the double. nice work.

YEA! FONTY SCORES 5-2

Another run scores, 5-3 Angels

Pie gets another hit -- good going, Felix....

Pie 3-4

with 2 stolen bases and 1 RBI

score 5-3

peeyeh comes through

atta boy fonsy

5-4

The home plate ump

is too lazy to make the ""safe" sign when a runner scores.

francisco rodriguez

is also too lazy to back up the throw at home.

Relax...

it's still Spring Training...they're professionals, they'll "turn it on" once the season starts. You don't want to give anybody an early scouting report on you.

but

aren't you supposed to practice the fundamentals? i see your point, though.

Fundamentals?

They practice those in ump drills...

ouch dward

fouled a nasty slider off his foot. ow.

Ward is hurting and limping, but he wants to finish the AB

and he swung for strike 3.

Very impressive

day for Pie against two good pitchers in Jered Weaver and Francisco Rodriguez.

Paging Mr. Hoffpaiur...

Mr. Hoffpaiur...will you please report to the Major League camp. Thank you.

great AB Dome!

go ronny!

He showed some emotion there!

I liked it!

If Ronny comes through..

I'll post a picture of myself!

do it

now

You got it...

that better be prime oak wood

LET'S SEE IT !!!!

You mean that's not YOUR picture as your icon?

YEAH RONNY!!!!!

6-5!!!

OK, Santos

What to say when "Cedeno!" is needed in a non-ironic situation?????????

I dont know about you...

but i'm going to go with

Who took over for Ward

at 1B?

RJ in for Pie, after Felix goes 5-4 with 6 SBs

"meh" outing for marmol

well done woody

the angels announcers

keep saying that reed johnson has "high energy." do they mean like eric byrnes like energy?

Salchow

Okay, post a photo of whatever happened next...

WAY TO GO CUBBIES!

And great day for Pie! Make me a believer Pie...make me a believer!

Way to go, Kerry!

Excellent outing!

Ohhh

Kerry threw well? I didnt get a chance to see.

A lot of Cubs fan in the crowd

clap as Reynolds scores and Cubs lead 6-4. Cedeno is up....

oops, i meant 7-5

sorry

Boom goes the dynamite!

This one may be too "over the top"....

even for me.

Scratch that...

make it too much "off the bottom" even for me.

hot damn! You could set a tv dinner on that thing! YIKES

Is that Daryl Ward?

Rimshot!

haha

i'm still laughing at that damn rally monkey dancing below

So much for the...

The rally monkey

lost it in the sun.....

Cubs win!

Another scoreless inning from Carmen Pignatiello, hopefully him pitching well on back to back days is going to change Piniella mind about putting him in the bullpen.

Cubs now back at 500 on the sping 14-14-1 and playing good baseball in the last week.

We are hot at the right time

Really feeling good about Pie... Hopefully he starts off strong

Wait til

these guys get to Cjicago. 50 degree difference and wedding reception tents on the field. They'll be like WTHELL!

Cjicago IS Chicago..

Well..

That was refreshing.

By the way, this new site is a huge pain to load up a game thread on if you're coming in fresh.

Once the thread hits about 250

it takes a bit to load for everyone...I think.

I like those come from behind wins

There've been too few of them the last few 25 50 many years. I'd like to hope this is a good sign for the season...

cubs.com headline "DeRosa scratched from game"

didnt he hit a 3 run bomb?

On Monday...

dang

......I'm not as smart as I think I am.

Maybe I am

as smart as I think I am. cubs.com headline for today says DeRo scratched for Wed. vs Angels.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080326&content_id=2459724&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Nice

Just got back from class, expecting to load up my homepage to see 5-3 cubs loss or something, but BAM cubs win! Man these are some feel good games, and im excited about PIE!

Very nice

to see our guys came from behind to win. It's TV from now on so we won't miss too many games.

They won?

THEY WON! THAT'S AMAZING! I left work when it was 4-1! Woo Woo!

Woo Woo....

like the Human Siren?

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