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Bleed Cubbie Blue

First Pitch Thread: Cubs vs. Astros, Wednesday 8/6, 1:20 CT

Win this series!

0 recs  |  443 comments

Comments

you win.
how do you post so fast??

I will get the first eventually!

he sits

on the main page and obsessively hits “refresh”.

He waits on it like a low fastball.
Brandon Backe

Light ‘em up, Cubbies!

Does Wayne Messmer

get compensation for singing the National Anthem? They’re going to set his feet into the concrete one of these days.

Que: Van Halen's "Jump" Intro

CHICAGO CUBS BASEBALL IS ON THE AIR!!!!

Hello everyone!

Que?
Cue, que, q, qeue, hit, play, start, go, whatever
I think he meant cue:
And I think you meant to use the reply button!
Holy F-

Les Walrond got called up by the Phillies? This makes me feel much better about the Cubs bullpen.

Les Walrond

The name still sends shivers down my spine….

not as many shivers as Bobby Howry, but still....
No way.

Maybe we’ll see him at the end of the month!

OK, I made it

and I’m just hoping that I’m not jinxing DeRo by coming today…

it's going to be EXCELLENT

dood…

did they kick 'jump' to the curb in 1985 or 86?
Probably

Then they replaced it with the moronic Beach Boys ripoff, “Cubs, Cubs, Cubs, here come the Cubs”

I miss Brick
Don't we all? :-)
Carlos Lee should not get a single pitch in the strike zone with runer on base.
I dunno, I'd IBB him with the bases empty.....
no takers on my over/unders

c lee 1.5 rbi
berkman 2.5

Lee over Berk under
i don't know how to feel about the brewers

Don’t get me wrong, I want the cubs to beat them everytime and go into the playoffs easily, but I kinda think of milwaukee as a little brother. I want them to make the playoffs to, as a wildcard of course. what do you guys think? brewers are beating the reds 4-3 in the 6th.

Absolutely Not
i hate them
i don't hate them, just don't think much about them except when they are playing

the cubbies and then I want them to LOSE…

I want the Cubs to beat them...

...like a redheaded stepchild.

I think you might want to consider taking back that comment

Whats next “I see the Cardinals as a little sister?”

The Diamondback are your friends hot mom?
The Padres are your rich uncle in California?
the mets

are the cheap crack whore down in the alley.

Ha ha. Good one.
And the Yankees are...

...your wealthy grandfather on the East Coast who barely recognizes your existence.

i hate the cardinals

i’d rather see the brewers than the cards. It’s just the brewers never have any success whatever….you kinda feel for them. well at least i do

No
Also

Last I checked our Cubs haven’t been tops of the Baseball Achievements list either

never have any success?

have they won a WS in the past 100 years? Yes? Ok, then.

Who hasn't?

(disclaimer: I haven’t watched ESPN in 2 weeks)

Wait, you root for a team that hasn't won in 100 years

yet you feel sorry for the Brewers? At least they dont’ have to listen to all that Billy Goat/Bartman/Black Cat/Leon Durham BS that we have to put up with . . .

i dislike the brewers almost as much as the white sox.

It’s heresy, but I think I like the Cardinals more than the Brewers.

Nope. They're bush league. I'd rather the White Sox move to Milwaukee.
Cubs win.

that’s the only stat that matters. Brewers and Cardinals can go suck it.

Hell to the yeah!
AF at the plate.
You know...in most leagues...

when a batter runs out of the batters box DURING A PITCH….the umpire calls it a strike. No matter where the pitch is.

one two three!

Marquis remarkably… efficient.

8 more innings JUST LIKE THAT!
Crikey - that was quick.
TWSS
Avatar ?

Is your avatar from Conan the Barbarian?

My astonished Australian girlfriend.
Good start, Marquis!
Lets see if we can start strong
TWSS
Oh Lord

Ehen did you talk to my wife. LOL

great inning by marquis

always loved that guy as a starter

heh

wow a no hitter through one for Marquis.. I'm shocked
already broke the cardinal rule

by talking about it.

I don't recall Jason choosing the blue jerseys before.

New jerseys, better luck?

I don't recall Jason choosing the blue jerseys before.

New jerseys, better luck?

Didn't he do it last start as well?
Ok so Marquis just needs to do that every inning and every game for the rest of the season
Maybe we're going to be treated to the "good" Marquis today.

Can I say that without jinxing it? :)

Backe is looking Marquis-ish here.
He's bringing sexy Backe.
terrible
Tough crowd, tough crowd!
Who knew these two clowns would throw nothing but strikes?
Come on, Cubs

Backe gets 2 outs with 5 pitches. Yeesh.

Brewers break it open

6-3 Still batting top 6

Shouldn't expect more than 1 out of 3 from the Reds anyway
seems to me...

Brewers lost 2 out of 3 to the Reds the last time they played in Milwaukee. Stranger things have happened.

The outside corner...

is getting called today it seems.

it is getaway day for the Astros, I suppose....
Backe is being remarkably

efficient.

Is bump floating around here today?
who me?

yeah, i’m lurking and eating my lunch…

Did Brenly make a "spygate" reference

I think so

lol

Majority of pitches to DLee: Low and away, low and away, low and away....
Why aren't we stealing the signs today?
Which direction is the wind blowing today?
Blowing In

East at 6 mph

Did you guys read the article on espn that ranks the cubs bullpen #2 behind the Angels?
That sounds about right . . .

As much as we all bitch about Howry, he’s still probably better then the pile of crap Milwaukee and St. Louis run out on a day to day basis

What day is today?
the day before tomorrow and the day after yesterday.
Marquis

challenges Carlos Lee right away.

1-1

Jason's 2 seamer is moving nicely today.
TWSS
judges?
Let's see...

...I would say…

DENIED
cmon...

it’s sort of a Clockwork Orange kind of thing…

A little off the ol' in-out, in-out?
with the bowler hat

and everything

OMG...

Marquis got Carlos Lee to look at a strike.

and he just

swung at one, too!

thats what scares me...
as long as he misses...
Marquis gets very few swings and misses
He's a contact pitcher, not a swing and

miss guy. That’s why he should be around the plate more. As Brenly says, “If you are going to pitch to contact, don’t screw around, throw strikes.”

weeks 4-4
the deal he made with satan is working out...

for now.

I'd make the same deal if it were with the Cubs, and I got to spend some time with Lola.
the '4-4' is a bonus

he didn’t want prince to swallow him whole for being lousy

Lee

grounds out to third. Four outs in a row.

"Poor Location"

and Bob Howry in the same sentence who’d a thought

The slider is not going to be effective for Marquis today...

hope he sticks with the fastall and sinker.

His fastball...

..and sinker are really the same pitch (2 seamer). When he throws too many 4 seamers, the ball usually ends up with an asphalt mark on it.

Geoff Blum can play SS?
let's hit him some sharp grounders and find out, Cubbies!
I guess we'll find out.
debateable...

he did with the Padres for a bit…

in cecil cooper's bizarro world he can
Geoff Blum can act pretty well, but not good enough.
Very close to going fair
Ramirez playing with fire there.
blum aiming for rami
let's see if Aramis returns the favor.
Soriano

misses a fly from Wigginton. “Screaming line drive”

It was roped right at him...

those are difficult to judge off the bat…it’s 50/50 weather a below average OF’er makes those plays.

Could C Lee have meade the play?
How bad?
I didn't see it

but Pat & Ron said he misjudged it, leaped for it, and didn’t catch it.

cancel the post game show
Like Pat Hughes just said

Ramirez footwork has got alot better

tom emansky tape material
did he hit the trash can?
David Wright STOLE Ramirez's Gold Glove last year

Let’s hope he wins it this year . . . He’s been awesome

Soriano once again blowing bunghole

and misjudging the ball

Yep... his daily butcher job

and then lazy jog to the ball

Take it easy fellas...

frozen ropes right at you are not routine plays….he committed the cardinal sin of the outfield…his first step was in.

yea thats easy to say for a good outfielder

but for soriano it is normal to misplay a ball

oh, cmon, it's not.

He’s made several good running catches. He’s not Reed Johnson or Jimmy Ballgame, but he’s competent.

and it resulted in?

Jeeze…the guy isn’t going to make EVERY PLAY! Accept this and enjoy his production at the plate. I more than makes up for his lack of OF “adriotness”.

I've misplayed the same ball...

But, then again… I’m not playing outfield in the Major Leagues.

It’s the lazy-a55 jog to the wall to retrieve the ball that constantly pisses me off about Soriano

because TY WIGGINTON is going to make it to third if he doesn't run harder?
It's the horrible habit of it that pisses me off: no hustle what-so-ever in the field.

Run to the damn ball… anything can happen.

he's playing

the way he thinks he should. When he needs to run fast, he does.

SWL.....we're waiting
For?
a massive picture of Fred McGriff
that's BlueMike's job.

of course, he has returned. But we’re not losing, so you won’t see him in the game thread.

Let's be more patient this inning.

Shall we?

There is no way Backe throws so many strikes two innings in a row

Im thinking we get a walk or two this inning

The Usual Suspects!

Haven’t seen Bump so here goes….

I not saying if I'm here or not.
I'm lurking

while working

live from Bourbonnais
What's happenin'.
Here!

Coming at you from Bloomington, IN Herman B. Wells library at Indiana University!

Fellow IU Grad here . . .

Go Hoosiers

eLLO guvna
haha I miss that commercial

Ello guvna

Weird

Never seen that before. Don’t even know why I said it. Funny, though.

only half paying attention

(trying to work)

Yeah, I'm in the same boat
tardy but here...
Does "in and out" count?
Hey -- I told you not to worry about DeRo!
You were most definitely correct!

And when DeRo gets hot, you need asbsetos gloves to shake his hand.

some yukky swings so far
nice play by Marquis
Sounded like Marquis made a nice snag there.
Yep--he's pitching a marquis game so far....
corey patterson 0-3

down to .192

Who woulda thunk that? :-) Not Dusty....
Unluckiest hitter in the game. He hits nothing but ropes. Not!
Caught an at bat last night...

He struck out.

On a high, away fastball.

Just like old times.

Ha, I saw that, too.

Corey did make a nice defensive play last night, though. Running catch up against the centerfield wall.

Marquis with a marquee play

...pun intended

Backe

throwing some not-strikes now…

Hey y'all

Just got back to NC after 6 glorious days in Chicago including 3 Cubs games: Thurs in Milwaukee, Sunday and Monday where we were sandwiched in the concourse with 40,000 folks trying to stay dry and alive. It’s nice to watch this one from my couch.

Edmonds double
getting primed for stl
Jedmonds heating up at the BEST TIME OF THE YEAR!
ok DeRo get him in
Jimmy crack corn....

and I DO care.

WooHOO!

Jimmay Doubles!!!

Jimmy Ballgame. Jumping on the first pitch!
D-RO, D-RO, D-RO
There we go Cubbies
See, DeRoMyHeRo!

everything’s fine.

Good! Glad to know I didn't jinx him by hanging out at BCB today.
Love me some back to back doubles
Damn it feels good to be a gangster!

Feedin’ the poor and hepin out wit they bills/Although I was born in Jamaica/Now Im in the US makin’ deals

It's hard out here for a pimp...
When you're trying to make money for the rent....
Fukudome, join us, won't you?
if the 3b is back,

bunt for a hit

Let's go, Dome

make it three doubles in a row!

Yes, DeRo is back

after his July vacation!

Glad I just picked him up on.

my fantasy team!

Much better

i figured we’d be lighting Backe up!

Thanks blue...for calling the boat-oar pitch a strike.
back to backe doubles
clever... I see whatcha did there...
Bob wondering if Kosuke's worn out

because he has to talk to the reporters every day.

You dont' hit with your mouth.
Didn't Steve Phillips blame him having to order dinner in english?

That angle needs to go away

Dome continues to frustrate

Another short flyout

i'd rather him hit the ball than strikeout
I love Ronnie's new haircut!
damnit pencil
Want to see a magic trick?
Got a feeling Geo's gonna have a big day
prince thrown out at home

on a fly to the outfield

looks like backe wants no part of Geo
What a novel idea . . .

walk a guy with 2 outs and 1st base open. Is Howry Watching

Backe is living on the outside corner...

sit on one and rip it already!

Maybe at first - lol - not now
extending the last few abs at least
Marquis still owes us a homer for that start against the Marlins
RIckie Weeks: 4-4, 2 RBI

Stock up on canned goods.

How many errors at 2B?
let's go marquis

help yourself

Marquis can help himself here...

and at least we flip the lineup over for the next inning…well done Geo!

at least Geo saw a lot of pitches... and he's on first ;)
Marquis fouls out

to Berkman.

Someone should've thrown some lightining at him.
damn, I'm not at the game

and I have some in this bottle here…

upside is marquis didn't have to run to first and tire out his legs
Derosa has been playing well
Backe is living in the junkyard. Does he have a fastball today?
Backe has 36 pitches after two innings. Looks like we may see their bullpen in the 6th

or maybe before

Hopefully it won't have to do with pitch count . .

but with the 7 runs we put on the board

Dome!

keep the glove, who cares about the bat?!?

whew...

nice catch!

Watch out. This guy can hit.
yeesh... backe's hitting .314?
and he doesn't get to hit against himself
and backe was the one who just looked at about 8 Marquis pitches before putting that in play...
Kosuke Whuddacatch Fukudome
cmon

it’s the PITCHER! Strike him out!

Rami's

getting quite the workout today.

I was just about to say that

Trying to get his gold glove today

what the hell are they TALKING about???
dunno

listening to franz liszt

Battling the sun & wind - Ed just can't get to that one & put it away...

Oh well – Marquis is gonna get out of this.

ground rule double at Wrigley

That does not happen often

I assume that got stuck in the ivy

No way it went over the fence

Nope, went over the fence
Wow

That cant happen often

11 1/2 foot high fence
Why no sunglasses?
there above his hat. it'd be pretty tough to take the sunglasses off, put them on while running towards the fly ball
never understood that.

makes no sense to me that they wear sunglasses where they can’t get at them.

Well, obviously, they should be on in the first place with the sun out
Brenly is going off on the flip-downs again
don't do him much good sitting on his cap...
Is anyone else having trouble with MLB.TV?
It's just REALLY delayed . . .
i'm having trouble with sportsline

keeps saying the brewers are ahead

Hunter Pence looks

entirely too happy in his Gamecast photo….

walked him.
I have a baaaad feeling about that walk.,...
COME ON, JASON
game over yet?
No shots to the face........YET
C'mon Marquis - Throw Strikes!!
Quiet, dumbass at work!
OH real smart Marquis

walk somebody so you can face Berkman

Berkman hitting .480 vs. Marquis with 11 walks.
Lets go baby, one out all we need!
Greetings from DC -- How are the Cubs doing?
winning 1-0
good news... thanks!
C'mon Lightning!!
ump seems a bit inconsistent with his strike zone
make up call
Marquis looks to have some good movement today, but is getting the ball a little too up
Well that was inevitable, just gotta get lee now
Yeah. Good word. It was inevitable. Berkman is a good hitter, and we all know about Marquis.

Cub killer CLee is up, though.

how soon can marshall be ready?
For crying out loud! It's the 3rd inning and we have 2 outs and the top of the order up...

calm down.

You were saying...
For the love of Pete Marquis...

Just get the last out of the half inning & only allow one run!

that did not surprise me one bit
Uh oh

This could get ugly fast with Lee batting

Marquis is just dumb

Fastball right over the plate!

Not dumb, just not good command...

I am quite confident that that is not where he wanted that pitch.

No, he's D-U-M-B

When the best pitching coach in the game gives up on you, you’re a dumbass.

what?? what just happened?

I hate Jason so much.

So very very very very very much.

we could have

shawn estes

MARQUIS SUCKS!
Ugh. Just happened.
fastball

right down the middle of the plate. Ron Santo is… upset.

Lee

home run.

So much for Marquis being on today.

4-1 Astros

ouch

still, it’s early. Howza wind?

damn you marquis
an efffing 0-2 pitch..

and he gives up a bomb.. you have to be kidding me

Wow 2 outs no one on to 4 quick runs, way to go marquis
lol

should have loaded them up for Blum

THAT IS WHAT WE DESERVE

I mean really. WTF

This should be Marquis' swan song . .
they could have walked him...

even with first base occupied. I walk him.

do they listen? Nooooo!

Santo -

How do you throw a fastball right down the middle with an 0-2 count?

Good question.

Stupid PIECE OF CRAP

2 outs and none on. Stupid loser

Santo is incredulous

“A fastball down the middle on an 0-2 pitch, how can you do that???”

We've never overcome a Carlos Lee HR and won a game have we?
i believe we have before..

i think the last one was recently right?? lol we’ve got plenty of time

Ummm...let me think....oh, yeah...now I remember....
Goodness...

Why oh why put one that close to a hitter like Lee with an 0-2 count? WHY?

Well the offense is gonna have to bail him out

Marquis needs to stop getting scared when runners get on base.

marquis

is scared when runners arent on base

No, he's a dumbass

Ask anyone from his days in St Louis. He’s his own worst enemy.

he's our 5th starter

its ok to give up a up to 5 runs a game so says alot of posters on this board. dfa his sry tail!! he sux

That guy is a Cub killer.
Marquis is the real cub killer

Outside of two unintelligent pitchers like marquis and howry servingn up fastballs to him, he hasn’t done much this series outside of those 2 homeruns

He could have atleast thrown the ball away from Lee for a couple pitches

“How do you throw a fastball down the middle of the plate on an 0-2 pitch” – The words of the great Ron Santo

Marquis doing his best Howry impression

That being said, I’m not worried. It’s still early.

i'm not worried yet either..

its still early and we can hit Backe

I agree. We can beat Backe

Assuming Marquis quits messing up pitches….

it's not beating Backe that I'm worried about.

It’s beating ourselves.

Im not worried about beating ourselves

The Cubs have proven themselves enough to say that that is not to be to big of a concern
“A day like today 3 runs arent going to beat us… I hope not” – Santo about 2 seconds ago

Oh, now we get the grounder for the third out...

after the barn door was left open…

there are some cows

still out there.

You just saw...

...why the best pitching coach in baseball gave up on this guy.

0-2 pitch, and he gives him a fastball down Broadway.

Bury a gosh darn breaking ball in the dirt

its not that hard

Novel idea. Think Marquis ever thought of that?
somem posters

arounf here will make excuses for his sry tail. #5 pitcher or w/e he does this almost every start.

No excuses

Anyone who backs Marquis is high on stupid pills. Santo is still talking about it.

There was no excuse for that pitch

Still a better 5 starter than most teams have

Yes and he still sucks, 5th starter or not
We can score runs in bunches

No reason to panic. Ballgame is young

agree this team's proven time and again they can get out of jams

ledge jumpers…. chill out

ledge jumper????

never but this is almost 2 years of this crap. enough is enough we have marshall,gaudin,and lieber to start (when he comesoff the dl)

Yep, plenty o' time left.
Wow, CLee lays down the pwnage.

And there goes any hope Marquis had for qualifying for a quality start.

We need to just go with 4 starters

with all the days off coming up . . . then give Marshall a shot at starting

I would be okay with Marshall getting a shot...
Can Marquis get on same bus Howry is leaving on?

Lee must think its Christmas in August with all the fat 2-strike pitches he’s seen this series. I don’t care if you are ace or 5th starter, to miss your spot and throw that pitch 0-2 is a disgrace. Soto wanted the pitch high, he should have known that was too risky. Brewers looking like they will pick up valuable game.

I wonder what Lou is thinking about Marquis at this moment?
I'll field that one Kent...

“Wow. On an 0-2 pitch. This guys sucks.”

I could use a rolaids... :)
i dont think lou

overreacts as much as you guys

Normally I agree . . .

Cubs fans in general seem to overreact . . . However, Marquis has been bad for a long time now. It’s justified to be calling for his head now . . .

"How can we find a way to place this guy on the DL"
That inning could have been a lot better if edmonds would just wear the sunglasses

instead of leaving them on his hat

Certainly did not help
i was thinking that too

but marquis still should have gotten out of that no problem.

DFA Marquis

I have seen this movie – I know how it ends

who takes his spot?
I know this music

let’s… change… the beat!

I wouldn't DFA . . .

I would use 4 starters, taking advantage of the days off over the next few weeks. Use Marshall if you have to until Rosters expand . . . then leave his ass off the playoff roster

I've had this nightmare before -- I know how it ends.
Sometimes...

I think it’s so much worse (yesterday and today) because we know Lee is a Cub killer. We’ve known that for years now. So I keep wondering… if you have all this historical data… why keep pitching him like that? Why?

Fool me once, shame on you

fool me twice, shame on you
Fool me 8 times, shame on you?

Don't get fooled again!
spoken like a true wordsmith :)
The change, it had to come...

We knew it all along..

Riot singles

to right.

3.5 hole agin
I'm tired of watching that curveball on gameday

Our hitters should be able to hit it out

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