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First Pitch Thread: Cubs vs. Cardinals, Sunday 7/6, 2:15 CT

Win this series!

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Let's get this one Cubs!!!!
#1!

Queen for a Day!

Aw, thanks

I feel so special. :-D

You didn't say first
I was telling Sue she's Queen for a Day :p
Wasn't sure if someone

was posting just before me.

It's good she didn't say first

Sue - unlike 90% of the people on the board - doesn’t strive for attention

Well sometimes I do.
Wasn't rendering judgment on it...just pointing it out
Lee isn't an All-Star this year

DUBYU-TEE-EFF

Lot of good 1B in the NL this year
Its funny bc he was featured in every Fox ASG commercial this year. Guess Fox messed up again.
Harden not pitching well on south side.
Don't tell MDBNIU

He’ll have to find somebody else to trade DLee for

Not sure I love this lineup..

R. Johnson CF 0-1
R. Theriot SS 0-0
D. Lee 1B 0-0
A. Ramirez 3B 0-0
G. Soto C 0-0
M. DeRosa RF 0-0
M. Murton LF 0-0
M. Fontenot 2B 0-0
S. Marshall

I'm extremely worried about Marshall
Jeez, at least let him throw a pitch
Yep

At this point in time, I am hopeful about marshall.

Big curve seems to be working so far
That's no fun...

We are Cub fans after all..

+1

But I’d be just as worried or more worried if it was Marquis.

Do your job Sean....please!!!
time will tell
Up 1-2 on someone named "Joe Mather"

No confirmation if that is his real name.

2-2 -- crosses up the catcher
I just noticed Rich Harden didn't get in the ASG

I know he missed most of April, but that’s a freakin shame. He’s pitching great right now

Not today
I'm gonna go ahead and think MLB didn't foresee the future

Silliness aside, he’s only given up 3 runs, 1 unearned, in 5 innings. Not that bad

And no White Sox pitchers...

Surprised Danks or Floyd didn’t make it..

That's a crime.

And no Dye, but Creded made it. .263 w/ 16 errors. What a crock.

16 ERRORS!!!
Mark Grace thinks we should give him the Gold Glove ringht now!
Dye still might make it..

with the last player voting thing….but I doubt it..

Ah, one of THOSE strike zones
Sit down you HGH freak

“For realsies”

Was that a miss or did Geo deke out HGH
Ankiel doesn't see so well...

With the needle jammed in his butt

Marshall has that sinker working

Whew

Edmonds would have caught that
And he would have crashed into the wall doing it ;)
maybe, maybe not
He plays shallow

He would have gotten to it.

But... not every HGH freak

is as easy to retire as Ankiel

Only because he plays shallow center

That would have been a triple if it got over his head, knowing the way he runs like my grandma runs now.

That went well
OK, ARam, start it off...
Good job Sean.
Looking good.
Wellemeyer!

LIGHT IM UP!

I freakin' hate the MLB!!!!!! AAAAHHH

I have absolutely no way of watching the game yesterday, but today they give me the game on TBS AND MLB.TV

THIS SHIT IS FRUSTRATING!!!!!!

Excellent!
Apparently, HGH doesn't help you track flies
HGH played some bad D right there
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I so hate Ankiel. Freaking HGH

Aram!!!!! A double

still wearing his high socks

he's haute couture
Ramy is back!
Don't call it a comeback.

He never left.

Smart tag by Aramis
Little Leaguers know to make that tag

I love him too…but c’mon

half of our guys have been going half way this year on flies like that

and not advancing. It just keeps happening.

We can't get frustrated these first few innings because once Wellemeyer's pitch count gets above 50 we will start taking BP
thank you HGH!
He was too busy thinking how awesome he was, being on HGH and all

totally blanked out with that ball

1-0 Cubs!!!!
DUI's BRILLIANT DEFENSIVE MOVE

FAIL

MORE WINE!
Mark DeRosa is a pretty damn good hitter 1-0
yes he is
he's two HRs off

his career high.

At the all-star break.

Cub fans making themselves heard
Anybody else having audio problems from CSN?
yep
Ok glad its not just me
here too

all fuzzy….

Yep...thought it might have been my satellite
Same here.

I got them to fix my HD feed, at least. Now I get crappy audio with a high-def picture.

the bad audio

is on both my hd and non hd comcast channels…

Yeah.

DirecTV was telling me that I hadn’t ordered the HD CSN feed, which was simply not true, though. I… corrected them, sir.

sounds like a baseball card

spinning in a bicycle tire. Argh.

ha yeah it does
Thank god it's fixed!
defintiely was annoying
I thought he had Sunday off?
He likes to watch baseball on his days off, of course.
he roots for the Cubbies
Heard he is a Cubs fan
Right thru Molina's 5-hole...DeRosa to 2nd
Yeah, Molina likes it thru his 5-hole alot.
Edmonds was in lineup this morning but pulled

due to thumb injury on play at the plate yesterday.

Clock it

Top of the second, first NYY-BOS mention

which station?
TBS...I'm in ATL, so only option

I do kind of like the Caray-Martinez tandem. At least it’s better than Miller-Morgan

gotcha

in that case, safe bet

MLB.TV seems to have the Cardinals feed

so I have roughly synched up WGN AM via MLB Audio.

OT: Not sure how many people here like tennis, but the Men's final is on NBC and it is pretty damn good right now
not big on tennis, but Federer's comeback in the 4th set tiebreaker was unbelievable
Tennis, while I believe it is an actual sport and very competitive,

should be an only-girls sport in history.

Case and point.

I think it should be girls only + Federer and Nadal
= Federer and Nadal

Cancel it out.

BUT only IF they all look like Sharapova, right?
Fukudome?

Did I miss something – why isn’t the All-Star playing?

I would assume he needs a day off

Lots of us thought so, anyway

getting him some rest
Couldn't

He rest against Cincy or SF next week? Just seems weird to have him out of a game we really need. Oh well.

I'm sorry, is this Game 7

If it’s not, we don’t “really need it” to the point of not giving days off.

With the day off tomorrow...

Lou is thinking KoFu gets two days.

I hear ya

Just caught me by surprise. I trust Lou!!

All-Star Ryan Dempster with the interview.
Carlos doing... SOMETHING to Demp on camera.
Big Z looked like he wanted to do something goofy behind Dempster
The only thing I can think is that Dempster is a pimp...

...and Z had to brush his shoulder off.

He needs a week off

Cubs continue to pwn Glaus
OT: found my cell phone antenna

went online this morning to order a new one, went to grab my credit card and it tumbled out of my purse. I think the cat enjoys punking me.

I have that problem with dogs and shoes
Glad to hear you found it in the purse and not ... somewhere else
you and me both! lol
LOL, thank goodness

you found it.

This name that Molina was built to run up pitch counts
So far, so good for Marshall
glad to see it
hope he keeps going like this
How good would Sean be if he had about 5 more mph on his fastball?

I still sometimes he can’t believe he’s such a soft-tosser for a guy who’s 6’7” (wait for it….)

So will Joe Buck watch the ASG if he's calling it?
I wish you could vote on the announcers....
I never want that name mentioned again

He’s a lousy piece of whale filth

did you see the piece where he tried to back pedal?

said he was only joking. Sure, Joe.

Selig and the Fox Sports execs

were NOT amused.

Can't imagine why
joking about what?

that interview where he said baseball was lame?

Yeah

Said he was joking, baseball is part of his life, he still has season tickets from an org (STL) that would give them to him for free, yada yada yada

he didn't say it was lame

but he said he preferred The Bachelorette. Same difference, I suppose.

So does my girlfriend

She’s not getting paid a great deal to promote baseball.

Is it just me or

does the box score on the home page fail to mention the 1st inning run?

nice piece of hitting by Reed!
Nice floater

that took FOREVER to come down

Got a break there?
Wellemeyer is leaving a lot of pitches belt high today...

I hope the Cubs hitters are noticing this..

Riot does what he does so well
That's what you do

With one out and a runner on first.

It's not situational if you do it every time.
he only has 38 of 92 hits

to opposite field

of 98 hits

that is

Cite?
TBS did give the 38 figure. Don't know about the other number.
That doesn't seem right...

...looking at the spray chart. I’ll have to look into this.

Scappy!!
Do other teams have scouting reports on Theriot?
Either they don't or the entire NL needs new scouts
I don't think they have been reading your posts lol
Surprised teams don't use a shift on him..
That's what I'm thinking.

The only issue with that would be the chance that he bunts down the third base line.

If nothing else..

have the 2b play deeper and the rf play shallow..

Have the 3B play behind second and line everyone else from there? ;)
Yeah, the wishbone.
A Thome or Griffey shift for a RH hitter would be freaking hilarious
Make 'em pay DLee!
Reed, please be careful
watch out Reed...whew
Reed, could we pay a little more attention out there?
We are a crappy baserunning team.

Lou tries to get cute with it anyway.

What about sliding back in?
twss
that was too easy lol
(Irish accent)

you durty divil

what about tagging up?
Not sure it matters w/Ludwick
if he slides the ball would likely have been caught

and he could’ve been called out

Darnit...that was a pitch he could have done some damage with
C'mon Aram, three run shot, right here
I'll take it
woohoo 2-0
RJ Scores!!!
Nice!

Hi y’all.. Thought I’d join you here for a while.

Uh-oh. Now we have to behave.
yeah, the principal is here...
OK everyone.

Sit up straight and face the front of the classroom!

I refuse

to quit chewing my gum or reading comic books!

Hey, you there!

Watch it or you’ll go to detention!

Is detention

VEB or the other BCB? :)

Bizzaro BCB would be the worse punishment!
Wow!

You’re going to force us to stay here and shoot the breeze about the Cubs?

Some penalty!

I thought you'd like that sort of punishment.
Well, the Cubs scored when you showed up...

...so now you have to stay the rest of the game.

Hmm.

Good point. OK, at least till the lead is safe.

That will work, Aramis is just an RBI machine
ARam is back
Welcome back Rammy
Reed motors home!

RBI for aram!

ARam singlesa, 2-0
Nice

Let’s hold it today

Let's hang a crooked number here
now let's carve this guy up like he is Oscar Mayer!
I hope we beat the Cards to a bloody pulp today
Didn't aram go back home for the birth of his kid?

Bet he’s pumped up

yes he did
Hi Al! Great to have you aboard!
Slowly adding it on...

...until the lead is insurmountable!

Wellemeyer just looks so hittable to me today

but then again, what do I know?

he has been hittable in his last few outings – coming off elbow injury

Wellemeyer has been hittable for most of his natural life.

I think it’s the stretch where he wasn’t hittable that’s the fluke.

true. his peripherals have been legit this year, though.

Perhipherals regress to the mean, just not as much as BABIP.

You can get lucky on defense-independent stats too, it’s just not as common.

sure, but we’re looking at a ~100IP 2008 sample size and a progession that began last year. you can be as skeptical as you prefer, of course. i don’t think he’s lights-out, but his improvement over past performance seems clear to me on both eyes and stats.

100 IP isn't as big of a sample as you think...

...and we don’t have an 100 IP sample, we have a 335 IP sample of his career.

You can look at the regression rates for components here, if you like. (MGL, the guy who wrote that, used to do consulting for the Cardinals.)

i think you’re being a bit presumptuous and argumentative. i didn’t state how big i think a 100IP sample to be, and i have only implied that wellemeyer is more hittable now than he was earlier in the year, due to elbow issues, and that he has shown improvement over the last two years. if you want to dispute that, be my guest, but i think you’re paddling upstream. i haven’t made any predictions about the future.

We are gonna start really getting to him now, his elbow won't hold up much longer
Is it just me?

Or does Wellemeyer have freakishly wide shoulders?

i think his wikipedia entry used to say that his nickname was “shoulders”

lol

fitting name

yes he does

Z used to call him “shoulders”

He needs them

to fit his name on the back of his jersey.

his parents knew what they were doing
Do we know if Wood is availible today?

Not sure what his pitch count has been the last two days

Let's win 10-0 and then we won't need him.
I don't think that's enough runs

Better make it 20-0

i think he went over 30 yesterday, and also pitched the previous day.

i’m not sure you’ll need him…

This tennis match is unbelievable
You're watching TENNIS!?!?!?!
only during commercials
And its worth it 100%
Oh, OK.

If I see that stupid Heineken commercial one more time…

they’re splitscreening it here in st louis

OT: That tennis you guys were talking about earlier is amazing!!
wish I could figure out my pic-n-pic
Talk about 1 and 1a when it comes to these two guys
This match goes down as one of the great battles of all time
I'm impressed by Marshall so far.
That catch almost made sportscenter
no comment
And this is the pitfall of having a short SS
With Z back is Marshall being showcased today ?
Marshall's pitching because the Cardinals don't hit lefties well.

But I’m sure some scouts are watching him, too.

Or is he being looked at as a replacement for Marquis?

Please please please

I think he is in the rotation if or until we make a trade
Yeah, what's the deal?

I thought Gallagher was #5

Hasn't looked great last couple of starts

You know Feisty … only takes a couple games to land in his doghouse

Gallagher's been dropped from the rotation.
that's a good question to ponder
Is it just me or does Ankiel kinda LOOK LIKE Edmonds?
Well . . .

. . . he kind of looks like a dick.

Well, Edmonds is our dick now, if that's what you're getting at
You've gotta be a pretty MF to roam center field for the St. Louis Cardinals
Yeah, like Andy Van Slyke was for all those years.
rut ro

walk him…..

According to Baseball-Reference...

...Theriot has 30 hits to the opposite field, 14 pulled, 53 up the middle. Hrm.

What are you thinking?

That he actually DOES spray his hits around and you’re surprised?

He doesn't spray his hits around; the spray chart is pretty heavy to the right-hand side.

I’m curious as to what the discrepancy between TBS’s numbers and B-Ref’s. B-Ref uses the Project Scoresheet zones; I presume TBS is using some other zone alignment.

Oh, I get it.
If you look at his fly balls...

...Theriot really can’t hit the ball in the air to left field. My hit chart only has home games, but I’m counting only flyout to left. (Yep – one.)

I think you could probably get away with using the wishbone shift on him, and bring the left fielder WAY in to cut off anything he hits to the third base side.

Do you think he'd make adjustments in that case?
I think he'd try bunting for a base hit more often.

I don’t know if that’d work for him or not.

I'd think it would.

Not a terrible idea.

The way the Nl pitches the Cubs I would like to see more Cubs go to right.
The number up the middle really surprises me
If you can hit the ball there, it's a hit more often.

Harder for the SS and 2Bman to cover the ball there.

so all things being equal, you might say that TheRiot prefers "to take it up the middlle."

...as opposed to pulling it. :-)

It's hard to believe that Pujols has been around for 8 years...
Yep, time for him to move on
There is danger here, cheri
Got lucky on that 3-1 pitch
nice work, sean!
ohthankgoodness
Nice escape Sean!
FYI

Brewers leading Pirates 10-6, bottom 5

Hardy having another huge day, can't believe what he's done the past week or 10 days
Jeez, Federer has 9 lives
Physical Stress Symptoms

Did anyone else feel tightness in the chest during Pujol’s at bat?

definite angst
given Marshall's history of the 2 out

rally (after he retires the first two easily), it always scares you with him.

Go Sean! Keep up the good work!

Champioship Point if you want to watch
unbelievable return
This is like watching Tiger Woods play himself
Great match...one of the best of all time without a doubt
DeRo is swinging a nice stick right now
My main problem with Fontenot is that he always hits the ball in the air
can't seem to get on top of it...wait for it...
I don't really see how that's a problem.
because he isn't strong enough to actually hit the ball far enough most of the time
He's got a .455 slugging on the season.

Seems like he’s plenty strong enough to me.

Seems liek a pull hitter

would like to see him push the ball to left

That's the source of his sneaky power ;)
Sure would like another run or two right here

Would anyone else like to see fotenot hit the ball on a line for a change>?

Or on the ground...

He has decent wheels.

I want to really like fontenot – but he has fell in love with the long ball. Makes me wonder if he will have a place on the team if we make moves down the stretch???

Lou has a mancrush on him

He’s a lock to stay on the team all season.

DeRo’s more likely to go than Fontenot.

I doubt that.
Glad that was harmless

Marshall really hung that one

Ugh.

If this keeps up I’m going to have to start defending Mike Fontenot. Please don’t make me do this. Please.

It'll give you something to do when you're not debunking Scrappy ;)
Opinions on Fontenot seem to swing too far.

Last year when he was hot he was wildly overrated, and this year he’s starting to become (oh lord I can’t believe I’m going to say this) underrated by Cubs fans.

Colin,

I’m making you manager of the Cubs for one week. You inherit the current personnel. (i.e., Sori’s on the DL). The Cubs will face 5 RHPs and 2 LHPs during the week. You are in the middle of a stretch with no off-days.

What is your “regular” starting lineup.
Who is your SS?
How many starts does Fontenot get?
Who plays in the OF?

We'll start with vs. LHP.

This is off the cuff – haven’t used a lineup simulator or anything.

RF Dome
2B DeRosa
1B Lee
3B Ramirez
C Soto
LF Murton
CF Johnson
SS Cedeno
Pitcher

that works for me
Versus RHP.

RF Dome
LF DeRosa
1B Lee
3B Ramirez
CF Edmonds
C Soto
2B Fontenot
SS Cedeno
Pitcher

Pretty fair off-the-cuff lineups, I think.

I assume you would put DeRo at 2B in place of Fontenot when Sori returns?

Good lord, that was strike 3
Nice job Sean!!
that red haired-red beard kid in the stands is distracting... lol
NICE curveball today, Sean.
I wouldn't want to be Glaus's dog
FYI

1st overflow thread will be up in about five minutes.

will there be a two minute warning or are we now on our own?
Links are pretty awesome too!
I ::heart:: overflow links
Good to know Izturis still sucks
I'd really like to see some more runs in this next frame...pile 'em up!
Sean

has his sh!t together today so far. Let’s keep it up!

+1 with a big sigh of relief
Retractable banner?!? That's a new one
Theriot

up the middle

that's his favorite spot
Just curious...

...but is every flyball in Chip Caray’s world a “pop-up”? I long to see a pop-up go over the wall.

That was close...
Lee almost accomodated.
almost just did
Line em up and knock em down...c'mon heart of the order
Scrappy up the middle

So there you go, cwyers

DLee's schmokin'!
Nice!

Bases loaded!!

Time for a Rammy Granny
Granny time!
OK, bases load, no out

SCORE

Interesting...why no yellow line at that part of the wall?
Be a man ARam!

I hope edmonds was watching reed

We screwed the pooch that inning. Hopefull LaRussa sends him out there for another inning

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