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First Pitch Thread: Cubs vs. Astros, Friday 7/18, 7:05 CT

'Bout time. PLAY BALL!!

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Comments

thirst-

-ty for a Cubs victory!

I would've said Old Style but I try not to drink (and post) alone...
hint, hint...
c'mon people - I'm dying here...
Hammer, Cwyers and Blue Mike walk into a bar...
Is this thing on?
budweiser and chew here

only because that’s what the major leaguers do

....

waiting for the punch(line that is)

Looks like the place is empty.

what’s up with that?

ah... thankyou,thankyou,thankyou...

I think I’ll have a beer! ;-)

I just had some

home made sugar cookies.

Sweet!

the cookies, I mean. Oh what the heck – you too… ;-)

mmmm....

cookie….

LOL! thanks
mmm....

beer….

yuck

take a few guys

Glad we remembered how to be patient at the plate.
5 pitches? yeesh
ugh...

what happened to patience?

Damn HMOs...
over/under

10 pitches next inning?

cumulative?

or what?

just for the cubs
OT

I hope everyone is off to see THE DARK KNIGHT. Saw it at 1201 last night, it was simply stunning. Heath. Owns. This. Movie. Make’s Jack’s Joker look like child’s play. The storylines are excellent, the acting is superb (re: Maggie > Katie), and Two-Face’s transgression is something to be in awe of.

Dan

I think there's a BCB sub-plot in there just waiting to be revealed come playoffs...

The Dark Cub….

No, because "The Dark Knight"...

...references the transgression from “The White Knight” to “The Dark Knight”...don’t we always want to be the cinderella story or TWK?

Dan

got my imax tickets for sunday

i’m excited

Good job...

...this is the first major motion picture to be filmed in IMAX, rather than converted later to the bigger screen. The Hong Kong scenes probably benefit mostly from IMAX; it’s simply sprawling.

Dan

Saw the 12:01 showing myself

The Dark Knight is incredible. You are absolutely right about Ledger completely outdoing Nicholson in the Joker department, one of the best performances ever. The Hospital exit scene? Chilling.

I don't remember the last time a villian...

...actually sent chills down my spine. Chigurh in No Country For Old Men, maybe. But Ledger’s Joker is both plausible AND surreal.

Dan

over/under

number of times they show jimmys ballgame catch on the hill – 1

right on que

thanks wgn…..

roof open?
closed..because of heat
nope
thx

Houston in the summer has to be brutal…

routine catch by Dome...
inning over..ARam.coming up
Berkman

lines out to Riot.

10 pitches for Lilly.

gotta like seeing TRL get off to a good start
14 total pitches in one inning...
Patience? Nahhhhh
Hill still pitching in the minor-league game?
Yep - at least through 4.

4ip 4h, 2r, 1er, 1bb, 6k

yeah.

thru 4: 1 BB/ 6 K/ 4 Hits/ 2 ER

ARam high popup
not exactly driving up his pitch-count.
I'd love to

see Geo hit another in-the-park homerun. :D

i'm just glad he's seeing some pitches
can anyone explain to me why the hill in houston is named that?

don’t know how to spell it, sounds like towels hill?

believe it's Tall's hill.

not sure why.

Tal's Hill

tribute to Tal Smith(?) I believe.

pretty fast and loose with the term tribute
well, didn't know if he was still alive or not.

either way, it’s a pretty stupid tribute. still can’t believe nobody’s broke an ankle or torn an ACL yet out there.

tribute to some writer I think
quick search says

ballhawk is right…..tal smith was a sports writer turn gm/president that turned around the stros

from the MInute Maid Park wikipedia entry...

“Fielding is a challenge there as well, due to the 90-foot wide, 30-degree incline grade, known as Tal’s Hill, for team president Tal Smith, an element taken from Crosley Field and other historic ballparks (in a bit of gallows humor, the hill is also known as the “Grassy Knoll”),”

whatever the case

it’s a ridiculous idea and is a slippery slope for future major league parks…..whats next, sand traps and water hazards?

Agreed.

That and that stupid flag pole.

I have to agree

Never have liked the hill. Its like having wind mills out there.

there is a water hazard at Tropicana Field...

a water tank full of mutant manta rays in deep right center. too bad it’s not in play…

I thought that tank was in left...?
could be. I thought just to the right of center but I could be wrong.
you are right.
to play devils advocate

wrigley has the warmup mounds really close to the foul line and the’re were some older parks with pretty crazy demensions and stuff (polo grounds and the collosium) in the past

That brings to mind

The train tracks running through the outfield in Brewsters Millions. Damn, what a fine film LOL

wasn't there a ballpark that actually had a train track very close by

and would have to stop games while the train went through because it destracted the batters

Well, Shea always seems to have low flight patterns from LaGuardia (JFK?) that play havoc with the uninitiated

and I know of a certain ballpark on the North side of Chicago that is prone to some aerial buzzing the third weekend in August…

And then there was the real “buzzing’ last year in Cleveland during the ALDS against the Yankees. Take that Joba!

Safeco in Seattle has trains right outside the outfield fence

But they don’t stop the game. You get used to them.

then there's the swimming pool at the BoB in Arizona, but I wouldn't exactly call that a hazard

unless you’re out there during a “boy’s night out” and you run into a bunch of girls enjoying a “girls night out” and your wife/girlfriend is watching the game on TV…

nice, and he took some pitches.
and edmonds looked pretty bad there.
frickin Padres blow good scoring chance in the 1st, man they suck
Good AB

But no cigar

top 5 in daytona.

ill do some play by play for a while.

men on 2nd and third when i started listening, not sure how
and hill gets a flyout to right, runner from third scores. one out
runner thrown out stealing third. two out, nobody on.
geeze, sorry, correction. man still on second. runner's interference was called. still one out
rip dustin.....we lost a great cub fan :(

thanks for the tribute len

That was very nice.

I hadn’t heard he has passed until now.

Is it just me or does

Hunter Pence look like a guy that you would see tending the counter at a 7-11 and not a big league Baseball player? He seems a little awkward is all…

at least he lost the knee highs

that always made him look more awkward if you ask me

Nice K

Guess Lilly has Pence’s number

2nd BB of the night for Hill. Men on 1st and 2nd, one out.
Question and an Obvervation:

1) I just turned the TV on and joined the thread. For those of you watching on WGN (I assume most of you) is the audio all screwed up? I hear a lot of hissing in the background. It sounds awful and is really annoying (I don’t think Joe Morgan is in the booth, so it can’t be that).

2) The Astros pitcher doesn’t look like he’s throwing a whole lot of off-speed stuff, and is just trying to throw it right down the pipe. We ought to be able to hit this guy hard at some point.

Didnt think to look on WGN

I was watching EI. Thanks!

Sounds fine here

WGN feed, that is.

2-0 stl

HGH drove in pujos and glaus

hgh haha

that always shuts up my cards friends…...but i have to admit, he has a CANNON

yea...

i hate how ESPN always does the Ankeil came back from being a bad pitcher story line but never talk about his HGH suspension…

great sig....
i hear

more feedback from the audience, but overall nothing really different in the audio…

I was thinking the same thing after the first, that we should be able to nail this guy

Edmonds couldn't resist the unneeded jump onto the wall could he?
well, it looked like there wasn't enough room...

...for him to dive! ;-)

leinenkugels

summer shandy beer… first time… im loving it

leineys are so hit and miss.....love some, hate others
oswalt

i think he’s the dark horse candidate that will be traded this year…...i predict to the yankees

greene HR

2-1 Stl

Hill is out.

Final Line:

4.1 IP/ 6 K/ 3 BB

Really flaked out at the end, leaves the bases loaded for the relief pitcher.

How many runs did he allow?
he allowed 3 so far, and left with the bases loaded

so possibly 6, depending on how the relievers do.

and that reliever would be Phelps...

“Your mission, Mr. Phelps, should you choose to accept it…”

hopefully he just needs to get streached out again after not pitching for so long
fontenot

is done after his tear last week

quite possible. I don't understand why they bring up Hoffpauir and don't put him in left and DeRosa at 2nd

Unless they really think Fontenot is a better hitter than Hoffpauir. Because either way you have bad left field defense.

Hoffpauir is a bad fielder
Hoffpauir is probably much worse defensively than DeRosa is.
yes, but isn't derosa better than fontenot at 2B
but hoff certainly can hit.....lets hope he does a lot of work in left for next year
true but if you could pick a park to 'hide' a poor left fielder...

Houston would be near the top of the list.

Exhibit A: Carlos Lee

i wouldn't consider derosa a BAD left fielder
There are worse.

Who is better defensively, Sori or Dero? That is probably debatable.

think about Soriano's arm.
just one AB

besides took more pitches than the first inning

it is nice to be back on a game thread
why does everyone sit next to ward?

anyone hear len talking about hoff and murton always being right next to ward

Yeah, and Micah looked great cracking that big yawn while he was on camera.

Maybe Ward is keeping him up.

Yeah to go Riot!

to learn the ways of getting 2 ABs a week?
Based on some interactions at Cubs Convention...

Daaaaaaaryle seems to be a really cool guy.

the riot!

11 games?

Theriot with more than a single!
There you go Riot!
Strike zone is really low tonight.
55 walks for dome.
ANNNND Unfortunately.

Rich Hill’s Final Line:

4.1 IP/ 6 ER/6 K/ 3 BB

im not surprised
ouch......he's not coming back this year folks.....come to terms with it :(
again, he pitched very well until the 5th. and his walks were down, and K's up.
I agree

he won’t be back in the Bigs for a while, much less the Cubs.

wow

thats in A ball

to be fair. he pitched very well until the fifth.

up until the 5th he had 6 K/ 1 BB/ 2 ER. then he loaded the bases, was taken out, and the reliever let all 3 in.

Obviously Mr. Phelps chose not to accept his mission...

...and the line score self-destructed in 5 seconds….

earned runs are earned for a reason
yes, but if phelps had done his job, we'd all be thinking it was a good performance by hill.
if you look at it that way, then you might as well not make a distinction between earned and unearned runs.

which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I get tired of seeing a pitcher let the floodgates open up after a 2 out error and the pitcher gets away scot-free w.r.t. to his ERA because of that error. I assume somewhere there is an adjusted ERA stat that somebody has figured out to track?

I thought he was on his way

perhaps I was hasty.

wow, hard to see making an impact in the majors this year, if ever
agreed
GEEZE, relax folks.

he pitched pretty well minus one inning.

All that matters

Is his strike percentage. He’s working on his stuff, not (specifically) trying to get everyone out

Dome better get his act together
Fukudome last 10 games

.182 with 12 K’s and only 3 walks.

think he needs to be dropped in the order
brenly

what? he managed in the major leagues before? i have neeeeeeever heard that before….and thus the reason i HATE him as a commentator

what did he say?
had to bring up that he managed the last time the nl didn't lose an allstar game

sorry i like my cubs commentators to be homers

that's not really that big of a deal. most color guys talk about their experience.
I agree since most of them are past players or managers
call it jealousy......he just comes across to me as arrogant
who would you rather have?
here comes the backlash

steve stone

HUH? The most arrogant color guy their is. And you say Brenly is too arrogant?
haha i know i know.....my personal opinion

i’m glad you guys like him though

understood. and I also liked Stone a few years back.
we are all entitled to our own opinions.
You could always

switch to the Sux and listen to Stone.

He and Farmer=arrogance on a whole new level
it pains me that he calls the sox now
I don't mind

him at all.

I actually like him.

And Len Kasper is such an improvement over Chip Caray it’s sick.

Yep, I

like both Len and Bob.

i always like chip.....A LOT.....but i know i'm in the minority

with that said, len has grown on me and i really like him now

really?

all chip did was yell and scream. over everything. it really was annoying.

the weird thing is

in my group of friends we all agree that we hate brenly and wish chip and stoney was back….but on here i’m the only one that thinks that

man, when I hear chip on TBS I'm so happy he's gone.
maybe you need new friends???

I KID, I KID!!! ;-)

haha....go drink some more old style
well, if you insist...
ballhawk

this buds for you

I like Bob

He seems like a real baseball guy. Tells a decent story here and there. Shows some personality. Just my opinion.

i just hate hearing his dbacks stories

i’m jealous and i don’t want to hear about another team winning the world series

maddux hands the run back to the Cards
I think perry needs to work with dome

I doubt Perry has done much with Dome this year, I think its time to step in and get his confidence back

It's quite possible Dome just isn't as good as we all thought.

He’s fundamentally sound, but he’s probably somewhere around a .275 hitter with 10 HR a year. Which is not worth what he’s paid.

Easier said than done

But he needs to lay off the breakers low and outside. The league has adjusted to him, and he needs to readjust.

i like brenly

very informative and honest

edmonds didnt run too fast

to get that ball

he's no pie
he's no cup cake either...
I don't know... did you see that half shirt?
Yeah, he can hit

and he’s got those four All-Star apperances and the World Series championship and all…

And that has what to do with running fast?
Great

Pie’s fast. He can run all day. In Iowa. Maybe if he runs fast enough he can look at one of Jim Edmonds eight Gold Gloves.

The statement was: Edmonds didn't run too fast to get to that ball.

Whatever your talking about has nothing to do with anything. Nobody is saying that Pie has/will have a better career, or that he’s even better right now. All I said was that he’s faster than Edmonds. You’re really building a strawman.

Edmonds is 38...

...and won’t be winning any more Gold Gloves. He’s not a good center fielder anymore, and the fact that he can still hit shouldn’t make it impossible to mention that fact.

in regards to the above conversation

how on Earth do you support HIll this much, when he hasnt been able to show he has the mentality to remain in the bigs, yea he did good last year, look before that (He was extremely inconsistent according to memory, i look up the numbers if necessary) and look now, he cant even pitch in the minors… I dont care if its one inning, it lost them the game didnt it… but somehow you hate Theriot who has proven pretty much the exact opposite, how do you come to these conclusions… honestly

Hill and Theriot are extremely different cases.

And liking one/disliking the other is not exclusive. Rich Hill has legit talent, as showcased all last year, and he dominated many teams last year. Ryan Theriot, on the other hand, is good at getting on base, but horrible at everything else. I’m not sure why you want to bring this up, or how the two are related.

reed and ryan talking.

too much scrappyness in one place.

DLee has had 2 AB and swung at the first pitch both times.

I love the man, but maybe he thinks that he HAS to swing at the first pitch?

Admittedly, in his first AB, he really hit the ball well, and just hit it right at someone.

Just tuned in

Seems like our boys aren’t making Moehler work very hard.

Nope, they really aren't.

At least Lilly seems to have his good stuff tonight though.

fastest game ever?
No kidding.

I’m trying to watch and make dinner. Usually, I miss an ab or two while I’m doing something. Tonight, I’m missing whole innings!

Usually I miss an ab or six when I'm doing sit-ups...
me too

when i’m doing 12oz curls

you do sit ups often during games?

or are we talking curls?

welll......

I sit-up to go get another beer. Does that count?

12 oz = beer cans
and blogging?

impressive

good news bad news

good news is lilly tearing through the lineup…..bad news we won’t get into the stros bullpen at this pace

not much patience

moehler is throwing strikes, give him credit, but were hitting the ball right at people, we need to be patient and wait for their pitch

Correction about Hill:

only 5 of the runs were earned. Not much better, but still.

As a reminder...

...minor league fields are very poorly maintained, as are minor league defenses. View this like a rehab start. Process is more important than results.

Lot of deep fly outs tonight
Boy, when Lee hit that, I thought it was 1-0 Stros.
Good thing he missed the short porch.
3-3

stl and sd

nice. what happened?
only in the 3rd.....lots of game left to be played
not sure

saw it on the scoreboard at minutemaid when edmonds was catching the last out

wow - you really were scoreboard watching...
yes I was

:)

11 more games against the astros

we HAVE to take advantage of that…..hopefully they will be sellers

Thank you Houston

For making those Crawford Boxes

jimmy!

time to call my dad and tell him to stop hating

JIMMY BALLGAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOMERS!

belteddddddddddd

goneeeeeeeeee

way to go JB
cheapie, gotta love it.
Weird, when he hit that one, I thought it was a pop up.
all edmonds homers seem like pop ups to me
No WGN here (upstate NY)

Following on Gameday while watching “In the Heat of the Night” on TCM w/ my wife. Great movie, which I haven’t seen for years.Better than having to watch Dome swing, I gather.

and so far you'd be correct
6 hr

edmonds has against moehler

clearly married life hasn't affected his power...

(wait for it…)

hmm... can't think of how to anser...
fonty!

just barely a double

Fonty almost

made a homer and then almost got out.

He knew his ninja stealth would help him through
Ha! new nickname for Fonty

“Stealth Bomber”

foot in mouth

fonty

tastes good doesn't it?!
twss
i've seen twss before....what does it mean?
tomorrow we'll slurp silicone
precisely
i'm so confused

but i’ll smile and nod like i know what you all are talking about

Ah, I'll tell you for real

That’s What She Said. A running joke picked up from the Office

psst...cubswynn

it’s an acronym for “that’s what she said”

too funny - your comment is a prime candidate for a twss

especially for all the lincoln park trixies here in chicago

i actually lol'ed
theriot wont stop sucking
or twyhss

“giggles evilly”

altho once in a while we get creative with them
NY Times article about the bids for the cubs:

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-tribune-cubs.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

not sure if it was already posted

Lilly's been watching Dome swing
I think it might be the other way around...
Uh, no.

Dome might be in a slump, but that’s excessive. No offense to girls, but… well, girls, you swing like Ted Lilly. Or maybe that’s backwards.

Kidding. At least I was
I was overstating it, but we really don't know how Dome will do. It's not like he has a long major league past to look back on.
Funny story

So I thought back on opening day of tickets onsale in Feb. that I had bought tickets for Aug.1. This morning I go to look at my tickets to see what seats I had, and find out that I didnt buy Aug 1 but bought next Friday July 25th, whew I am glad I looked today… I would have been pissed If I had looked afterwards

Kosuke

This’d be a great time to break out of it.

Come Bob and Len.....

Ryan is just SCRAPPY!!

BB to Riot

Could have been intentional?

Looks like Kosuke is taking his eye off the ball while he's swinging....

Of course, if I knew what I was doing, I’d be in MLB as opposed to hanging out on here typing away!

Edmond's new bride

Wonder if she’s in the crowd. I’m looking for a girl w/ a nice tooth.

or

hair on her lip

twss

haha i love it…...and the office

how would i describe myself…..3 words…..hard working, alpha-male, jackhammer

important rule... you c ant twss yourself
At the risk of sounding totally ignorant....

which is easy for me to do, what does TWSS mean?

read up a few posts
duh

you don’t know…...what a loser (read above posts)

TWSS = that's what she said
I think we might be the only females in here tonight.
I think so too.
i wasn't! i promise!

it sounds like to me it’s like when a guy gives himself a nickname he automatically is called sheet stain

Have any of you guys seen the BBC Office?

It’s great. I actually prefer it to the US one.

gallagher goes tomorrow vs joba

cubs

ESPN: Who is this Gallagher kid? And why is he facing our beloved Joba?
whose this joba.... is he a starting pitcher????????

lol

Yes, he is now

he started the year as a reliever but than moved to the rotation. In fact, it was such an important move, ESPN had a 48 hour around the clock Joba watch in effect. I’m surprised you didn’t know, it was one of those, “where were you when you first heard…” kind of things.

He's actually already in the hall of fame.

ESPN lobbied them to make an exception.

In the Hall of Fame

what a travesty! There needs to be a Hall of Joba

that was sarcasm on my part.
his part as well, i think
yes, yes indeed
well he said he was surprised I didnt know.

so I wasnt sure if it came thro or not “shrugs”

hope gallagher shuts them out. I'm so sick of Joba.
amen !
que the espn joba video montage
Fukudome's stats by place in batting order

1 – .260 avg.
2 – .133 (Yikes)
4 – .273
5 – .316

I think he needs to move back down in the order.

Yes, please.

Last I remember we were doing just fine w/ him at 5 and Theriot at 2.

I would imagine Lou plans to once Sori gets back
who bats 2 then, DeRosa?
Riot

That’s my choice. I know, the haters will rip, but we were doing just fine with Sori-Riot as the 1-2

I won't rip

I’ll just say that I think that a guy w/ Theriot’s skills is better suited to bat 8th, and turn the lineup over.

I wouldn't be opposed to RJ there

I think it’s more important to get Dome comfortable. Worry about who’s No. 2 then

Problem, of course, is what you do when Jimmy Ballgame goes in
my only prob with that.... the number of cub dps seems to go up**

*note I am not a sabermagician so I dont have stats to support that lol

My prob w/ that is

Who should be blamed for that? The man who gets on first. Or the one who hits into the DP? B/C isn’t Dome just as likely to get on base? Or at least should be.

I like it

Theriot at the top of the order. He gets on base, does little things, hits to the right side of the field, it good in my opinion.

and pence was out.
Pence was out at first and safe at second, so it evens out, I s'pose
normally does.
Ehh looked pretty safe at first.

But there was nothing you could do about it. He’s mighty quick.

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