Bleed Cubbie Blue

Love the

signature line!

Grockcubs - September 3, 2008 reply

Thanks.

Me too. One of my all time favorite Harry quotes. I didn’t remember exactly how it went until I saw it a couple of weeks ago in an article.

It is a cool sig line...

…but you should probably correct the spelling of Harry’s last name.

LOL

Oops. That’s funny. I’ll do it.

Try this...

Excellent, thanks!

No biggie – but little details like that tend to catch my eye. And I’m sure Harry would appreciate it.

Must have been typing to fast

Like my momma used to say. Attenntion to Details is keey

I stayed last night 'til the bitter end...

It was a real depressing loss, especially after Edmonds’ blast tied it up. The highlight of the night had to have been for Casey Mcgehee. He got his first major league at-bat last night to a standing ovation, in a clutch situation, with the crowd chanting “Let’s-go-Casey!” My friend looked over at me, “No pressure, right?”

That chant was cool to hear on TV.

Sadly, Casey looked pretty overmatched in that AB. And, yes, the Mighty Casey struck out.

Not really overmatched...

He only took the bat off his shoulder once… unfortunately it was for strike 3.

He was really late on that last pitch.

I don’t want to dis the guy – I love seeing minor league guys get their big shot. But that seemed a prime example of how major league pitching differs from Triple A pitching.

Close the bridges!

mrcubsfan - September 3, 2008 reply

Thanks Al

for keeping this into perspective. As I mentioned in another fanpost, " put the Cub hat on, took my daughter to school, and said enough of the negative thought"
This team is to damn good, they will get it going again. A tired lull right now, win tonight, get a day off, then take the series in Cinn.
I also have seen enough of Howry, goodness, no movement on his fastball, all his pitches appear to have the same speed.
I feel for Lee, he took the loss on his shoulders. He smoked the ball in the eighth, ( even though it appeared to be ball 2) and ends up in another DP.
Go Cubs

Grockcubs - September 3, 2008 reply

Howry

“all his pitches appear to have the same speed.” That’s because all his pitches are fastballs. He doesn’t throw anything else. When they don’t move, he gets smoked.

I posted last night

that the worst thing (non injury) about the loss is that both our closer and top setup man are unavailable tonight. Lou should have pulled Kerry as soon as he gave up the 2 run bomb. Now, if the game is close and late, we have the Shark and Guzman as our power arms. We don’t have Gaudin, We don’t have Wuertz. Shark has been a little shakey lately and Guzman…well he just came back.

Thank God for the Off day tomorrow….Here is to Dempster pitching 7/8 Strong Innings and the Offense plating some runs.

That's the most frustrating thing about last night

is how Lou just doesn’t get it. Al pointed to the WS winning teams who had their eyes on the ultimate prize. But when you throw Marmol and Wood 30+ innings, you aren’t thinking about winning in October.

30+ pitches, I think you meant.

Yeah

Of course, throwing them for 30+ innings would be bad, too.

REALLY bad.

I don't want any part of a game

where they both have to pitch 30+ innings

From a friend's desk calendar:

The longest game by innings in MLB history was played on May 1, 1920, with Joe Oeschger of Boston and Leon Cadore of Brooklyn both going 26 innings as the Dodgers and Braves played to a 1-1 tie.

No, Dusty Baker wasn’t there.

Frustrating Game

First time all season I’ve seen Lou make so many questionable decisions, most egregiously bringing Howry in. IMHO that’s what lost the game, not DPLee’s miserable at bats.

+1

Although it would be nice if ANYONE can bring in a runner on 3rd with 1 out.

Agree...

…when your hitters are leaving that many opportunities on the table, it tends to expose your manager and make it very difficult to win a game. Not to say that I was jumping for joy when Howry came in, but one fewer double play hit into probably wins this game for the Cubs.

This is one of those stretches where you just come up a little short. With good teams (like the Cubs) it will turn very quickly.

I agree about the role of "luck"

in what’s been happening and needing to keep criticism muted in that context.

Well said Em.

sue369 - September 3, 2008 reply

Agree Al,

abosolutely w/ each of your points on Lou’s managing last night. The bullpen moves were puzzling. I can understand inserting Howry b/c Zambrano left abruptly, but after the first two batters reached, he should have had someone up, and made the switch away from Bobby. Bob Brenly openly questioned Howry’s location last night, specifically to Wiggington, who swings freely.

Fontenot must play more often, he is a clutch hitter.

As a 3 hole hitter, Lee must choose a pitch he can hit in the air. He hit the ball hard, but chose a pitch, early in the count, that was down in the zone.

Alas, the batters hit the ball well, walked a ton, and will start to hit in the clutch again soon. The Astros are playing good ball right now, they are certainly a 2nd half team.

Slakkr - September 3, 2008 reply

Lou's decision to bat Casey

was more storybook than an actual thought through process. First MLB official at bat of his career? What pressure. I bet Lou wished he had that one back. As always, hindsight is……

mrcubsfan - September 3, 2008 reply

And guess what?

If he hadn’t double-switched Edmonds out of the game, that would have been his batting order slot.

why not hoff in that situation?

LHP on the mound.

thanks

i knew there was a reason, just couldn’t remember

What I don't understand re Howry

is that he is continuously allowed to try to finish an inning even after he gives up a couple hits/runs. More often than not he is not able to pitch himself out of jams anymore. How you do not have someone warming up when he goes into the game is beyond me. I would be completely OK if he were DFA’d today.

Lee is almost as frustrating. He has virtually no clutchness left in him huh?

He has to swap with A-Ram

I truly believe having Lee hit at #4 would be beneficial. Aramis has 100 RIB’s for a reason.

Correction

RIB = RBI

I wouldn't mind seeing...

…Soto or even Edmonds (against righties) get some time in the 4th slot. Move Ramirez up to 3rd and put Lee in the 5 hole.

Soto can step up

just as he did in the playoffs last year. I don’t know that big changes like dropping your #3 hitter down when he’s a team leader are something you do at this point in the season, but Soto is on his way to being the face of the franchise and at some point, he’s going to earn the #3 or #4 spot.

I agree...

…on the issue of Lee being a team leader. It’s really not unlike starting a Dempster or Harden in game one of a playoff instead of Z (when Z has paid his dues for a long time).

It’s a delicate balance, and eventually, you have to do what puts the club in the best position to win.

Yes!

After the first three guys got on, I was saying to myself: “take him out, take him out, take him out”

Mapmaker - September 3, 2008 reply

"Man, they can't even hear me through this glass."

You just lost your right

to the High Life.

adam316 - September 3, 2008 reply

"For five dollars, I'll BE a macadamia nut!"

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Take him out!!!!

I got's to go smell me a hotdog...

hopefully they Cubs will smell what winning is like tonight. Funny how things change. 5+ weeks ago they had this obscene home record and were nine under on the road. Now they have trouble at home and have gone 13/14 on the road. Maybe this nine game trip will really show what these guys are made of once and for all.

howry is my new paul bako

i have no faith in him anymore and that’s coming from a pretty patient guy

the reason you don’t dfa him, is at this point you might as well keep him around so he doesn’t go somewhere else and help them (or maybe we should trade him to the brewers, NOW)

DFA or release...

… pointless with expanded rosters. Just sit him.

Fine

but 82 hits, 40 ER, OPP BA .312 and a 5.62 ERA should warrant that we bolt him down to the bullpen bench so he doesn’t get into any more critical games/situations.

Agreed.

I’ll supply the nails and bolts.

Worse part about Howry

Is that every time he seems to turn the corner he gives up a game like this. It sucks.

Yet oddly enough I feel like everytime he has a bad game we seem to tie it up again and more often than not win…

i couldn't believe the way BB was blasting him last night

i had Houston broadcast on TV

So I didn’t hear that. Well it’s frustrating for the announcers to also see a game like this.

the jist of it was

on a 1-2 count, you can’t do what howry has been doing lately….THROWING EFFIN FASTBALLS DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE PLATE!!!!!! UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

more like boots and cement

I can't understand why Lou hasn't done this with Howry.

My only guess is Lou sees a couple of scoreless outings from Bob and thinks, “He’s got it! He’s got it!” Well, it’s September and it’s clear that he ain’t got it. And now that the rosters have expanded Lou has plenty of other options.

It’s time write off Howry as a veteran reliever who’s done some good work for the club in years past – and a standup guy – but who is now, simply, ineffective. Whether this is the end of Howry’s career is hard to say, but I think it’s time to severely limit his opportunities to contribute to this team on the field.

My problem with that inning

was that Lou managed that particular inning like it was a blow out loss or we were way ahead. He did not manage that one particular inning like it was a tie game. It was like he did not want to burn another bullpen arm…the damn roster has been expanded…you have extra arms.

This is one of the FEW things I worry about.

Some of Lou’s decisions are beyond me.

Lou trusts Howry.

That’s why.

Lou is afraid of Howry.

huh?

He is stronger than Lou

…it was a joke, but I have heard him remark a couple of times that he would not want to be on the receiving end of a Howry punch.

Aren't we all?

Yes, but what is the basis for that trust?

Howry’s reputation? My only guess is that I’ve heard Lou say several times during the pregame that he has no patience for relief pitchers who don’t throw strikes and that he’d rather see a guy get hit hard than give up walks. He’s also said that major league hitters get paid to hit, not draw walks, so a pitcher should make them earn their pay.

Now if there’s one thing Howry does do right, it’s throw strikes – he’s given up only 10 walks in 64 IP this season. And I certainly see the logic – theoretically, at least – in Lou’s statement. But come on – how many batting practice line drives with runners in scoring position does Howry have to give up before Lou sees the light?

The problem is...his pitches

Have about as much movement as Willard (God Rest his Soul) had before he met Kevin Bacon.

Is that a Footloose reference?

You betcha....

Lou's gut?

Lou has his guys. Howry is one of his guys.

It's hard for me to believe the answer is that simple.

But maybe it is.

Well, I think you're right about why he's one of Lou's guys

but remember Theriot last year. Theriot was one of his guys and a demonstrable drag on the team and Lou kept playing him.

Lou...

…won’t be right 100% of the time and neither will any other manager.

The overall judgements he has made with players has been pretty damn good since 07.

OT: Google Chrome Browser is pretty good

the new browser. Check it out.

using it now.....

……daddy likes….gonna take a while to get use to, but anything with the google brand name is okay by me

p.s. i love the spell check tool, however i think it’s funny that google comes up as a misspelled word haha

Using Firefox

but DL’d Chrome last night to check out. neet program but I’ll probably stick with mozilla because of the add-ons and security.

Jettero2112 - September 3, 2008 reply

Still the beta version

Other options will be made available later but from the looks of it, should compete well with the other browsers out there, specially if you already use other Google products (gmail, talk, picassa, search).

plus it's not a ram hog like firefox

that's the thing I dislike about Firefox...it's too hungry for RAM.

3.0 is supposed to fix a lot of that

but it doesn’t yet work with a lot of important plugins (AdBlock Plus is one).

3.0

didn’t eat all my RAM, but it DID eat all my CPU.

Apparently 3.1 will be the next great thing....

With the new Tracemonkey javascript speedup…..we’ll see…in the meantime, I’m going to be slowly moving to chrome—especially when they get a Linux version up, and plugins (like delicious) work….

I'm using 3.0...

…with AdBlock Plus as we speak (type!)

The Lip - September 3, 2008 reply

I used it yesterday

it handled the game thread pretty well, till near the end.

noob Q

It imported my bookmarks, but where the hell are they?

upper right corner has bookmark link

just click on it

Jettero2112 - September 3, 2008 reply

top right under "other bookmarks"

mine are in "other bookmarks" on the top far right

thanks everyone

there was no “bookmarks bar” at all…just had to find it and set it to “always view” before I could see “other bookmarks”

I too made the swith from Firefox to Chrome today

very quick. Leave it to Google to beat the pants off of Satan, errr… Microsoft.

LAcarl519 - September 3, 2008 reply

According to my numbers

the Cubs have lost 3 games once and now 4 games twice in a row. Every other loss was either a single or two in a row. When was the last time you could say that about the Cubs? Al’s got it right with the Hitchhiker logo. At least the magic number isn’t 42.

Jettero2112 - September 3, 2008 reply

yeah, there's nothing to worry about.

the cubs are a bunch of hoopy froods who know where their towels are.

nathew - September 3, 2008 reply

Rains it pours...............

This is only the second game all year that had me seeing red (kerry wood blown save against the cardinals in July was the first). This one though really sets me off. Lou was completly missfiring tonight. D LEE CANNOT hit into to that DP in the 8th. We have no bullpen for tomorrow putting even more pressure on Dempster to end the streak. Soriano in the ninth (i think) showing great discipline hacking at the first pitch with runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. No consideration of moving runners over. I see Puljols give up ab’s to mover runners over. Sori is no freaking puljols. Anyway, this one fires me up. And on top of it Big Z. Call me a ledge jumper or whatever, i’m just seeing red today. And all of this the playoffs are a foregone conclusion is crap (probably accurate) but crap.

+1 on Sori

1st and 2nd – no outs. I think it was the 10th inning. Please find a way to move the runners over.

My thought process at the time in 10th

was you were willing to give up an out to get Theriot to second. Why not put the take on Soriano for at least two pitches and try the double steal. I now he is the all star and whatever, but at some point he have to try to the little things to win. Worst case scenario, you still have a runner at second and one out…same scenario you were trying for when dome was asked to bunt. I know that potentially takes the bat out of Soriano’s hand with 1st base open, but I think it was a worthwhile gamble to take at the time. They are not going to throw to second so Dome does not have to get a great jump off the lefty…

Hey, whisper............

don’t let the Sori apologists here you suggesting that he doesn’t do the little things. Keep that quiet man!

fine

as a sori apologizer, he probably could have done that…..but who didn’t mess up last night? seemed like EVERYONE came up short somewhere

rami’s 3 errors
dlee double play
woody giving up the hr
howry ’nuf said
dero not putting down a good bunt

Yeah, but I can't miss an opportunity to point out Sori's selfless play

so you agree with lou's decision to have dero bunt?

I'm indifferent on that one to be honest........

plus he just looks good even when screwing up.

philadelphiacub - September 3, 2008 reply

My biggest problem w/ having Dero, and later

Dome given the bunt sign is that they both followed BB’s of the 4 or 5 pitch variety from a pitcher (Wesley Wright) who has a history of control problems. Giving the bunt sign takes the pressure off Wright to throw strikes. Dome did eventually walk after falling behind 0-2. Derosa is a selective hitter, let him take a pitch or 2 and see if he can get ahead in the count and keep the pressure on the pitcher

Actually, Dome singled

But your point is taken

My point was

not so much to bash Sori. I did not expect him to bunt or get the runner to third (w/o hitting into a DP). The point was I thought they should have tried the double steal. In order to do that, Sori would have had to take at least one pitch if not two. Worst case scenario is that you have the runner on Second with 1 out and Soriano in an 0-1 or 0-2 count. Now, if the steal is successful, then you probably take the bat out of Soriano’s hand since they would walk the bases loaded to setup the force. However, you then have the infield in, bases loaded, you have to hope that somebody, anybody can get that guy in.

agreed

and i’m just saying there were a lot of things we could have done better/different last night, not just that one play

As far as doing things different.........

I should have started by never turning that damn game on.

...or watching until the end. now I don't feel like going tonight

you're suggesting

that he didn’t try to move the runners.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

I don't think it was a question of trying to move the runners. I don't

think he really thinks about that. He tries to hit the ball out of the ballpark. That’s what he is paid to do.

+2 on Sori

He needs to get those runners over… some how… some way!

wrigley_boy - September 3, 2008 reply

My jaw dropped when DeRo squared around to bunt...

…that was really inexplicable. He is the hottest hitter on your team.

Bob Howry is done, period.

I love D Lee, but right now I cant bear to watch him at the plate with RISP. It almost seems like he knows he is going to GIDP.

Dempster will right the ship and we will get back on track tonight.

JB 23 - September 3, 2008 reply

thinking the same thing about D Lee

It is scary when you completely do not trust your number three hitter in RBI situations. And then he goes and swings at a ball low and in with a guy having control problems. Make him throw you a pitch up in the zone and give a few pitches to prove he won’t.

+1

He really seems to be tired and pressing right now. I hate that Pinella seems absolutely dead set against moving him down in the order. At the very least, it might take some pressure off of him.

bluekoolaide - September 3, 2008 reply

Or it might put more pressure on not only Lee

but whomever takes the 3 spot over. If Lee had batted in other spots earlier in the season, it would be different. Some things Lou has set and they are where they are.

Even though I want him moved down

I think the only way that’s going to happen is if Lee offers to move down the rotation and I wouldn’t completely put that past him.

oh god

Lee is getting moved to the rotation? i hope you’re talking about Cliff

Wow I need to proofread :)

You know what I meant. Move down in the battling line up.

Maybe Lee is under pressure off the field...

…with the family stuff…? Something seems to have his mind off of the task at hand.

Um... maybe his back still hurts

and maybe he’s actually been hitting well over the past ten days, just not in the highest pressure situations. You can’t hit them all, especially when Wright hit his spot precisely.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

For me, thenost frustrating thing about DLee this season

is his refusal to situational hit. His swing produces hard-hit grounders and line drives. With his height, he is more often to hit on top of the ball. In a situation like last night in the eighth, you pick a ball up in the zone and hit a fly ball. His approachhas been successful in the past, but is doesn’t make sense to do the same thing and expect different results.
If you hit ground balls, you have to hit them between the fielders to be successful and that takes luck. In that situation, you want to remove that element of luck out of play.

I doubt...

…he refuses to situationally hit, I think he is just not quite the hitter we saw when he had his big year in 05 (which set expectations too high).

I don’t know what it is, but his swing just doesn’t seem as crisp as it once was. If he has lost a little bat speed, that can make you press and try and do too much.

Or for that matter an extra-base hit.

Hasn't had an RBI since Aug. 26

I like the move - unexpected

He just tried to take an inside pitch and still push it towards 1B. With a Southpaw on the mound, pushing it to 1B would have been great.

I’m much more worried that D-Lee has a mechanical issue that Perry can’t correct. I swear he’s pulling off too early and rolling over the top; trying to pull everything he sees.

How about Magic # to get into post season

Al, I’m one of the few who wouldn’t want magic numbers on the site. However, what if we posted the # to get into the post season? I believe that’s like 15 or 14? That might appease some people on here?

I don't want to do that at all, actually.

The Cubs shouldn’t be aiming at the wild card. I’ll post the division magic # after the next win.

Fair enough

I agree with you but I guess the way I’m looking at it is I’ll sleep better knowing when they get to October, not which place they get into October.

Usually I'd agree with you.

But this year, with home field seemingly meaning more than ever, I want the Cubs to have it for the NL rounds.

+1

+1

Aramis will be ok

yeah, he had 3 errors and looked tired. But, all 3 errors were on tough plays. Yes, all errors, but each play was going to be difficult to get the guy. He’s the least of our problems. It’s Z that bothers me.

The first error was the worst.

He pretty much waved at the ball going by.

the third was an error

however what do you really expect out of him there?

he had three possible outcomes

1. throw the ball, make a amazing play and we all love him
2. hold on to the ball and people on here beat him up for not trying
3. throw the ball and make an error for putting forth a good effot

I agree with both of you

I guess seeing it on TV, I thought that the first one was pretty tough as well.

Hank White pinch hitting for Fontenot...............Really?

I don’t care who is right or left handed (let Tony LaRussa play match up game) common sense tells me I want little babe ruth up there.

I was shaking my head at that one, too.

me too

Blanco has amazing #s v. LHP this year.

Fonty can’t hit LHP at all. It was the right play.

do we always have to play the odds?

i guess i’m more of a gambling man that goes with gut feelings….probably why lou’s actually managing and him typing on a blog

Well both the odds and my gut tell me to sit Fonty anytime a LHP is on the mound.

If your gut says different, here’s a bitter pill to swallow: Fonty career v. LHP: .217/.291/.333.

But I know what you mean – Fonty has come up big so often and Henry has been so ick with the bat so often that it seems like Fontenot would be the way to go.

I'm not disputing your stats............

but I don’t think Blanco does anything AMAZING. A bit of an overstatement.

First of all, Henry is an amazing defensive catcher.

Second of all, Henry is hitting .319/.360/.447 against LHP this year, which is, I believe, still better than Aramis Ramirez v. LHP this year.

the stats don't lie, and like someone said earlier..........

that is why we aren’t managing. But it felt wrong last night. Fonty SEEMS to step up.

exactly

Fonty does step up

when he hits v. RHP. And he seems to step up so often, because Lou has done a good job of putting him in situations where he can succeed. In that way, his use of Fontenot is the exact opposite of his use of Cedeno.

The upcoming off-day should help them

I’ve noticed throughout this year that when the Cubs have a long streak with no off-days, the last few games seem to be a bit of an adventure (even if they wind up winning them somehow). Playing something like 16 straight without a day off has to start to wear a little bit.

I have to think that bodes well for the post-season too, where off-days abound.

SuperContext - September 3, 2008 reply

+1

Can we leave Jimmy Ball Game in once in a while

I know he looked clueless for the past 2 weeks up an till his homerun, but he is a classic streak hitter and a big moment hitter. Give him a chance. OOOH I’m mad today.

anyone else think he should have caught that ball against the wall

i hold him to a higher defensive standard, it just seemed like a ball he coulda got….oh well

how about that other random ball popping out? i haven’t seen that happen in a LONG time

he defintely is missing a step or two

someone needs to check the ivy for lice?

and balls....

hehehe…. See that Pence drive off the wall that dislodged a 2nd ball from the ivy?

That ball hit pretty far up..........

………..in the ivy (or “ivory”, per Lou). Don’t see Hot Dog coming down with that.

tville - September 3, 2008 reply

i dunno

i replayed it a couple times on my tivo and thought he could have gotten it

does that mean he should have? no

If not for Howry...

…that would’ve been a 7-3 win. I was generally feeling better about him recently – he’d only given up 1 run in his last 7 innings and was looking like he might actually be a reliable arm down the stretch. I guess I was wrong.

Can we petetion MLB to award the loss to Howry rather than Wood?

hip2bsquare - September 3, 2008 reply

no kidding, wood is just an innocent bystander on this one...........

wood shouldn’t have been out there in the 11th anyway. In fact, if our number three hitter could cget under a ball once a month the game would have most likely been over 1 hour earlier.

nimblenikelfoos - September 3, 2008 reply

Amen on GDP Lee

I love the guy, but you would think at this point he would have a mental ’’take’" sign on anything around the knees with runners on base. He seems to be swinging at a lot of low/borderline pitches this year, and pulling them to the left side.

There are many things you can’t control at the plate, but you can generally have some idea of what you are going to swing at.

cubmudgeon - September 3, 2008 reply

IS The Sky Really Falling ?

Lou ……. What are you thinking….. Howry, McGehee, Guzman…….
…. 29 LOB WOW……. think of this…. 23 left 17 on the road 6 at home
I know we are playing better on the road…….. B U T

I found out from Bud Light that Howry has a Cardinal tee under his Cub Uni

It's 16 road, 7 home.

But the Cubs have actually played better on the road than at home the last month, WAY better.

Panic?

Who’s panicking?

/puts the hemlock away

CyberCyclist - September 3, 2008 reply

Expect Guzman to get more work...

He looked good last night.

Jimmyeatworld - September 3, 2008 reply

I would have looked good coming in after Howry!

Man I sound terrible today.........

my dad would have told me I need an attitude check

i love power arms in the pen

heh. all of us would.

I’m so fed up with Howry I could spit. Lou should have seen that he was gassed after his second pitch and pulled him. It’s not like he hasn’t done so with other pitchers. Hope last night taught Lou a lesson, or woke him up or whatever it takes to get him to admit the uselessness of that arm.

I'm not an MLB pitching coach

but Howry’s pitches don’t have any movement on them. Everything is straight. If major league hitters just have to sit on his fastball, he’s gonna get hit.

DKT - September 3, 2008 reply

Yeah, I was glad to see Guzman out there...

…but it’s hard for me to say exactly how he looked. He threw 15 pitches – and only seven of them were strikes. He got the first two batters out relatively quickly – especially Punter Hence, who FO’d on the first pitch. Then he gave up a single and a walk.

All in all, he did OK, but let’s hope his wildness was first-day-back jitters and he can settle down more from here. He’s always had great stuff, and I’d love to see him play a big role in the bullpen going forward.

Me too, but

Who knows how his arm will hold up. He hasn’t thrown back-to-back days all year, and coming off of surgery, it probably isn’t prudent to do so. Looking at his splits, he was getting 2-3 days of rest after bullpen appearances.

Still, I’d rather have his power arm than Howry’s dead arm.

I fully expect Guzman to make a huge impact this month, and hopefully in October

He can be a fourth bullpen weapon for Lou to have.

nji232 - September 3, 2008 reply

Yeah, listening to the radio today on the way into work...

…even I had to laugh (and I AM nervous): all this THE SKY IS FALLING! crap. Come on. It’s Sept 3rd, and I’m NEVER the one to be on the ‘glass is half full’ side of this kind of stuff, but gimmie a break.

trust me

IF the cubs make the playoffs, I’ll be the first in line to recieve my spanking for panicking. But right now and last night was UGLY and with our rotation RESTING. It isn’t good right now.

I blame my wife

Or rather, she blames herself. Every time we come out to see the Cubs they swoon. This is her third or fourth series, and they’ve won exactly one game. In fact, she came out for the four game Reds series in 2004 where the Cubs let their season slip between their fingers. I told her we’re just coming out at bad times in the schedule (i.e. late when everybody’s tired) so it’s less than totally surprising that they might get stuck at the horse latitudes.

Hmmm.

You guys are my friends. But I’m thinking you might need to stay away.

FWIW

If the Cubs make it to the WS, we’re staying away.

Works for me!

And Lou shot himself in the foot several times

The double switch to yank Edmonds — who had just homered! — made zero sense to me. One of the reasons I’m a big fan of the AL game is that it’s much more self-healing, that is, the manager has less of an opportunity to shoot himself in the foot without the hitting pitcher. This was, in my mind, a perfect example of that.
Installing McGehee as a pinch hitter with the game on the line in the ninth, and a man on first and one out. Just a wee bit too much pressure there for the kid’s first at-bat?
Failing to yank Howry after he surrendered his third baserunner and it was clear he had nothing.

i usually get blasted for this but.....

When we lose like we did last night – Lou usually coaches very similar to dusty. And i really dont see how you could say any different last night.

he's done a great job for most of the year

so i guess even managers are allowed to have a bad night, right?

especially this manager

my admiration for Lou knows no bounds, but he’s human.

Definitely an unsettling number of "Dusty moments" last night

I guess every manager has his “pets” but Lou’s continuing to run Howry out there in key situations (and his refusal to even consider moving Lee in the order) is completely baffling to me.

bluekoolaide - September 3, 2008 reply

Totally - i was just making a point.

Speaking mostly as an outsider

I can assure you that’s not true for the most part. I watch a fair number of Cubs games over the course of the year (my primary allegiance is to the Angels these days), but Dusty would have really mangled that game far worse. This is only the first game I can recall where he’s really blown it multiple times in the same game. His bullpen usage is generally better, his in-game strategy is almost always superior… one or two games you can forgive (though I would hope he pulls himself together tonight).

Please re-read....

I am talking about losses like last night. Very very similar to Dusty, double switches, lefty vs. righty hitting, errors, overuse of the bullpen, bringing the wrong guys in. That is Dusty like. Sorry it is. Lets face it Lou over-managed last night.

Please dont take this as a Lou bashing, nor am i upset about the streak or last night, i am just saying he looked very similar to Dusty last night with some of his moves.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

I think you are taking the Dusty bashing a bit

too far. Sure he blew a lot of games and played some guys that should have never left the bench, but ti say that he would have mangled this game far worse is ridiculous. Lou had a bad game, we all can acknowledge that. But to try to lessen the blow by saying that “Dusty would have done worse” is making a claim that has little merit. Many of the decisions that Lou made could have gone either way, but the experience of this year should have directed him to chose another alternative. Dusty has nothing to do with that. You can’t try and read the tea leaves and say "Dusty would have made a worse decision. Hell, what was worse than the outcome we got?

Nobody's trying to "lessen the blow"

Just saying. Maybe he wouldn’t have, but perhaps it’s fairer to say that there would be more of these types of games were Dusty still running things.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

I can accept that. I just think to take this game that Lou

clearly made some bad decisions and claim that “Dusty would have done worse” is straying far from the point. We should be comparing Lou to his past performances, not to Dusty’s. The only common thread there is that they both managed this team. I just don’t see how that advances this discussion.

I said it in the Fukudome bashing thread...

and i will say it here – the difference between us losing and winning right now are the clutch hits. They just are not there.

hitting a weak sac fly isn't even a clutch hit..........

and we can’t even seem to get that accomplished right now

Remain calm

all is well.

flyingdonut - September 3, 2008 reply

animal house reference?

My thought

Nobody likes a four-game losing streak

but things get magnified and blown out of proportion when it’s September instead of June. A win tonight and a day off are what the doctor is ordering…

DKT - September 3, 2008 reply

lets hope he's also ordering

a maximum 1 week rest for z…..fingers crossed

This may be the first time we've ever said this on this board....

LETS GO METS!

flyingdonut - September 3, 2008 reply

LOL - and +1

In those situations

with D-Lee in the past it seemed that he would really try to drive the ball the other way. it appears now that he is getting into a streak of trying to pull hard and ends up hitting these tailor made DP’s.

On plus side it was good seeing the boys show some patience at the plate when we were down, its a sign that noone on the teams seems to be stressing about the recent games

cubsfaninkc - September 3, 2008 reply

Well, DLee's GIDP in the eighth inning...

…wasn’t exactly a “tailor made” double play. He hit the ball very hard down the line and Blum made a great play. I wish Derrek would start elevating the ball just as much as anyone but, in that particular case, it wasn’t like he hit a weak dribbler to the shortstop.

You could make the argument

that Geoff Blum played out of his mind last night. He made 2-3 nice defensive plays (including Lee’s ground ball), plus he hit the game-winning homer. It happens.

Yep, just like Werth on the Phils...

…the Cubs seem to be running into certain players who are just having huge games.

it is called bad pitch location!!!

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Dlee's swing and his height causes him to swing down on the

ball. The timimg of his swing has to be right to drive the ball consistently. In the past it was, now it is producing hard ground balls. A fraction of an inch makes a world of difference.

TWSS

Too Much Howry -- Again

Considering the season, enough has been said about Bob Howry.
Many have commented about his decrease in velocity, straight as an arrow fastball, and his barely passable offspeed pitches which rarely find the strike zone.
I have stopped counting the number of times Lou has brought him into games that were winnable — down by a run or two, tied, or ahead.
I sit and watch and scream as soon as he puts men on base, allows runs to score, and wonder what Lou is thinking. Just like last night — tie game and here comes Howry.
Gives up a triple on a pitch down the middle; gives up tow more hits to two wak hitting players (Newhan and Quintero) — enough. But no — he’s allowed to throw five balls to another weak bat (Abercrombie). Enouh — but no — he’s allowed to pitch to weak hitting Bourne — results — another hit. For gosh sakes Lou — why did you let him pitch? Even after the first three hits, it’s only a one run ball game and you still leave him in? What was this — a senior moment?
One final thought — Cubs brass — please give us some credit and tell us the real story behind Harden’s layoff. A planned absence or rest — in the heat of the pennant race — give me a break!

ceegeewow - September 3, 2008 reply

Harden

The only reason Rich Harden has pitched 71.2 innings in September in his career is because he was uninjured only rarely. Good grief, I remember when he was in the AL West and he went down like clockwork in late July or August. Dude is fragile.

Fukudome...

Looked pretty good last night. He had battled back for a walk and then had a hit his next AB. I believe he’ll be key down the stretch.

i do too

i still think he’s got that “it” factor and is smart enough to make the right adjustments

BeltwayCubsFan - September 3, 2008 reply

This Cubs team has not peaked yet...

Which is a good thing. There is nowhere to go but up. Demp will right the ship tonight. Then they will go on to have a great September.

Jimmyeatworld - September 3, 2008 reply

Comparisons to 2004

I think the similarities are that, for those of us who remember in painful detail each game that week, there were SO many games where we had chances to win with runners on base all over the place, and so many times the games dragged on and on until inevitably the opposing teams won in extra innings or late innings. I don’t think this current losing streak falls into that category, but last night’s game made me think of 2004.

Also, though I’m a self-professed ledge jumper we saw last year that just because a team enters the playoffs hot (The Cubs were red-hot entering the NLDS) it doesn’t mean they will roll through the playoffs. I’m less concerned by how hot the team is than I am about having Z and Harden healthy – and Howry banished far, far away.

Actually, the Cubs weren't that hot entering the NLDS last year.

They had been swept by Florida, then won 2 of 3 in Cincinnati — so lost four of their last six regular season games.

What helped us last year

Was that The Brewers had a tougher schedule and they played against the Padres the last few games who also needed to win. That was a long final week of the season!

who will forget the tomahawk chop in the bleachers?

i'm not panicking about losing games

but the z situation has me freaking out…….someone talk me down from this ledge

I think it's going to have to be REAL bad for them to 'shut him down'

The ‘Tuesday start’ proved that. They might just let him try to pitch thru it and, knowing Z, maybe that’s good.

well...

no sense in freaking out until we have actual information. Until then no news is… no news.

Exactly.

i just keep on adding these factors up

bad august + “dead arm” + pulled early last night + visit to a doc = a scared cubswynn

Remember

Soreness is not as bad as pain.

Sean Marshall had “soreness” after his last start. It was a muggy night, you know how Z gets cramps, maybe he legitimately realized he shouldn’t pitch anymore this night as a precaution? I know it’s optimistic thinking but we don’t know anything.

thanks

i hope you’re right

I'm tired of the Z thing.... it is so 2004 to me

Hold your hand up high if you can pitch, if not we’ll find someone else. Sore Arm? My hamstring is sore right now and I can still go to work and type on a blog.

You don't type with your hamstring, do you?

I'm glad you asked!

oh god

now tom petty and the heart breakers just came on the radio and guess what song it is

wait now van hamstring's jump just came on

everything thing is gonna be okay

LOL

You’re not going on the blogging DL, are you?

I might, but it would be retroactive to labor day?

It should be.

BeltwayCubsFan - September 3, 2008 reply

well i suppose that is true

but can we even count games in Florida? We lose there no matter what :) They did finish 12-6 the final 18 games – I suppose that isn’t red hot but semi-hot

A few things

While relying completely on news reports and other assorted comments, a few positive implications if I may.

First, while it is entirely possible it is simply a precursor to a second visit, I believe it is encouraging that Z is visiting with Dr. Gryzlo rather than Dr. James Andrews. That would lead me to believe it is a shoulder or biceps we’re dealing with rather than a elbow. Long term, I’m not sure that makes a difference but short term, it would make sense that he is dealing with inflammation in some area non-elbow related. I would consider that to be a positive. Shut him down for a bit and let him ride back into the postseason run.

Second, yes, the last few losses have been difficult but keep in mind, these are blips on the radar. Were they to occur in mid-October, I believe the hand-wringing would be warranted. Now, they are no different than the tough stretch the Cubs had earlier this year. Those are long forgotten and better play will ease the concern.

Lastly, this short stretch has no more bearing on what will happen in October than a hot or cold stretch in April does. There is no “recency effect” and this is a very, very good club we’re talking about. Fight through it and move on. Nothing more you can do.

krummy12 - September 3, 2008 reply

Hate to be a downer

I’ve been positive about this Z thing but usually most athletes will see a local Dr. before going to Dr. Andrews. I work at WWE and that’s how the wrestlers do it.

but why wouldn't you go to the local guy first?

if says continue to a specialist, then you move on…..seems to make sense

Because

If it’s minor he can be treated in Chicago. If it’s something more serious then fly to Alabama to see Dr. Andrews. Let’s just wait and find out. I know you’re nervous as am I but we just don’t know anything yet.

If it is something serious and he is done for the year

you would rather it be the elbow than the shoulder. The shoulder has a lot more moving parts and a serious injury to it it is a lot hard to come back from and be the same pitcher (See Mulder).

Hopefully it is not serious at all though…

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Good point. See Dempster.

I agree w/most of your sentiments

and, compared to the majority of his predecessors, Lou is a cut above all the rest (well, the Dallas Green era was no too shabby – but in recent memory).

However, a game like last night, LaRussa would have managed rings around him with the above awful bullpen management and bench calls. It sickens me to say it – but in some ways, the game is passing Lou by.

I still believe Derek Lee had not one – but TWO chances to win the game. For his $15MM/a year salary, and his “ownership” of the #3 position in the lineup, he needs to do better. Now. Lou will not do anything unless DLEE asks for a change. So we should not expect it.

2005 was an aberration, and we will not see that offensive prowess again. However, batted lower in the lineup, with his great D, I’d be fine w/that.

We WILL make the playoffs – no doubt about that. But there are certainly some major concerns.

My home Wrigley record is 17-2, and I thank the team for a wonderful, exciting summer.

However, October baseball is a different thing altogether.

The E-Man - September 3, 2008 reply

Soriano should have bunted

Hear me out. Up until Sori’s AB the pitcher had thrown 8 pitches, 6 of which were balls. Men on 1st and 2nd, No Outs. And Soriano, who had not had a hit since the first pitch of the game, swung at the first pitch (which looked to me if it was an above-the-letters pitch). And don’t get me wrong I have 90% of the time I have faith Sori will come through, but he and and our other big boppers seemed to be pressing w/ RISP after Edmonds’ HR. Correct me if I’m wrong but I remember a couple years ago, the same situation presented itself in a game against the Cardinals. Except it was Pujols at bat and he laid down a perfect bunt to move the runners. I’m not asking Sori to sacrifice his bat every time but maybe just every once in a blue moon?

That being said Booby Howry is D-O-N-E.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Come on, Soriano bunt? Aint gonna happen. A guy with his potential

to change a game with one swing is not going to be asked to bunt. Major league managers don’t do that.

Not a bunt, just a better at bat

I watch people like Puljols (10 times the hitter sori is) give himself up to guide balls the other way. I bet the thought never crossed Sori’s mind.

philadelphiacub - September 3, 2008 reply

yea I would've been happy if he'd just taken a pitch or two

considering the guys ahead of him walked

Totally agree.

This goes back to every fan’s predicament of either accepting Soriano for who he is or…well, or slamming one’s head into a well in perpetuity. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Soriano doesn’t even know how to bunt for all practical purposes. Should he? Yeah, ideally, he should. But it’s not who he is. It’s not what he does. I can accept that.

So....it is too much to ask?

You could ask

But is it worth it for a popped up bunt or a broken finger since he doesn’t bunt at all?

don't make me angry.......

if major league ballplayers can’t bunt without breaking bones, we all have big freaking problems. Is he above the rest of the guys or something. Can we not ask anything of him? Let us wrap him up in bubble wrap along with Big Z and Rich Harden so they never get hurt.

Every ML player should be able to bunt

but I think it’s a significant risk with Soriano. I worry about it with all of the Cubs pitchers (and some players, too). The last thing I’d want is for Soriano to attempt a bunt, wrap his hand around the barrel (slighly below it, actually), and take a pitch off the finger.

Wright threw up and in on Fukudome when he squared, so why wouldn’t he have done the same to Soriano?

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

And every pitcher should be able to throw strikes. You are

asking for something that goes agaist the way the game has been played for a long time. Sluggers don’t bunt. I’m sorry, but that is the way the game is played. You may not like it, bit it’s a fact.

I agree with you.

I don’t think he should have been bunting in that situation. He’s asked to drive in runs, not move the runners up.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Be realistic. Why don't you just ask Theriot to hit home runs? Some

players are better at other parts of the game. He’s a slugger. You don’t normally ask sluggers to bunt. You may not like it, but that’s the way it is.

I wouldn't have had him bunt either.........

but don’t tell me he can’t or shouldn’t ever have to. All I want is a smart at bat. Trying to yank a pitch for a homer in that situation was crap. If he would have hit one out, i’d be jumping for joy, but statistically speaking that isn’t always going to happen, so try to do something productive. And I don’t understand the Theriot stuff, he is a role player he isn’t our big freaking one dimensional star.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Slow down man. i was making a pointof asking a player

to do something he naturally doesn’t do. Soriano is not the type of player that changes his approach to fit the situation. I agree that agood smart hitter would move the runner in that situation and let someone else drive them in, but he has been successful with his approach and he just isn’t the type of player that evaluates the situation and tries to fit his approach to that situation.

I know, I'm hot today....

I hear what you are saying and I think I hear you making my point, that we just shouldn’t count on him to not be selfish and one dimensional. If you are cool with that, I can accept that. I’m not cool with that, and I believe people (including Sori) can try to do better. Can’t he change his approach for the team? That is all.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Believe me. I am just as frustrated with the guy as you are. When

he waves at a slider in the dirt off the plate, I want to strangle him. I think he can do better. It takes a lot of talent to hit a baseball and he can really hit it, so he has the talent. I think he is a bit lazy. He has been successful with his approach, so why alter it to fit the situation? If no one has asked him, why would he? I fault his managers for enabling him to play the game the way he does and not making him more accountable.

now that we can agree on

and you're right........

no one is suggesting that he has limited talent. I think he has a huge upside (offensively and defensivly) . I think he a tad lazy. I just want him to try to become more of a complete ballplayer

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Obviously, we have the same opionion of him. I think it's a bit late to expect him to play

any different than he has. He strikes me as the type of player that could lose it quickly. When his skills start to diminish, I don’t think he will be able to make many adjustments to keep himself in the game.

Uh, yeah...

…he’s been playing in the major leagues since 1999 and has gotten almost 600 ABs every season since 2001. He’s probably never going to become a complete player under your definition. Like I said, it’s a matter of acceptance or self-abuse when it comes to Soriano.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

By most standards, he's been pretty successful. I think most

people knew what we were getting with him and for the most part, he’s lived up to those numbers. Last night’s game was disappointing on a lot of levels and a lot of what I hear is just good venting.

Okay...how did you expect him to move the runner over if he does not bunt

There are runners on 1st and Second. Anything to the right side is probably a double play. The only way for him to have a productive out and get Theriot to third is for him to try to drive the ball deep to Center or Right. He tried and failed….

I still contend that they should have tried the Double Steal..see previous posts above.

Maybe look for a pitch outside and try to drive it the other way

I honestly would rather see him hit into a double play doing that than what happened last night. That is just my opinion.

and I don't know about the double steal,

because sori swings and misses alot and a straight steal at that time esp to third is RISKY

It is no different

than the situation would have been if Dome would have been successful in his sacrifice attempt. It would have been one out with a runner on second…

The only downside is you force Soriano to take a couple of pitches and get behind in the count and if the attempt was successful he probably take the bat out of his hands…

a pavement quote

in a post with a hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy quote? man, i love this site.

nathew - September 3, 2008 reply

If I'm not mistaken

There was a long fly to right that got Theriot to third from the next batter. So a bunt there would conceivably have won the game. I know the pitches change with different situations, but there is absolutely no reason not to bunt Soriano at that point in the game. Earlier no, but that late with a chance to win (and clutch hits being fe and far between), absolutely. IMO

Mapmaker - September 3, 2008 reply

Normally...

…I would agree if it was anyone but Soriano.

I highly doubt the guy could have got a good bunt down without missing it or popping the thing up.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Good point. It's easy to say"just bunt here", but what

are the odds of him being successful at something he never does. Just because you tell him to bunt, doesn’t mean he can execute it.

Odds on Sori........

being successful at catching pop flys?
backing up plays?
not getting picked off?
hustling in general?
making an adjustment at the plat?
doing anything but hitting 30 homeruns each year, most of them solo lead off shots?

Hey, he's put up some pretty big numbers

comparable to the rest of the league. And he missed nearly two months.

You know when dad used to come home.........

and just start yelling at everyone because he hated his job ( i think it is called displacement or something) That is what i’m doing with Sori. I’m angry about last night, and well he is just too easy to find fault with.

+1

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

He is what he is. I don't want to say he isn't an intelligent player, but

he doesn’t change his approach to match the situation. I would hazard to guess that the thought of hitting to the right side never crossed his mind. He has a dead pull swing and the odds of him producing a ball to the right side are probably as good as him executing a bunt.

and for that my friends.........30 million dollars or whatever the hell he is being paid

Meh, I've over the money factor

It is what it is.

I'm*

Hitting to the right side only works

if the runner is on second and no one is on first and there are no outs. Otherwise, it is probably a double play

Disagree...

…with a runner on third and less than 2 outs, it is a good idea for a RH hitter to go the other way. The reason is this; most of the time, when you wait on a pitch and try to drive it the other way, you are much more likely to get it in the air. When you try to pull, you get on top of the ball more and tend to hit ground balls to SS and 3rd base.

Considering how often Lee hits those perfect double play balls to the left side, trying to go the other way would have been a great idea.

I am not talking about Lee here...

We are talking about Soriano ABs.

He did hit in the air…just not deep enough to get the runner to Third

My bad....

…but a few of those other circumstances when they hit into double plays with a guy on third, it would have been a great idea to try and go the other way.

Gimme a break...

…he catches plenty of pop flies, he backs up plays (and makes some pretty spectacular assists), he doesn’t get picked off all that often, he hustles plenty and none of us can say definitely whether he does or doesn’t make adjustments at the plate.

he makes great adjustments on that low and away slider, sammy sosa told me so

I'm surprised he even seens fastballs anymore

When the ball breaks his ankles seem to go w/ it.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Don't discount the ego factor. The fastball is the

most misused pitch in baseball. The minor leagues are filled with guys who are in live with their fastball and think they can throw it past anyone. The ball that he hit out last night was a mistake that was supposed to move him off the plate. The catcher was setup inside, off the plate and the ball strayed over the plate. I wonder why pitchers even try to setup the breaking ball away to him. He stands right on top of the plate and he won’t move. I would throw him nothing but sliders away, every pitch the same.

Agree

Was I the only one thinking ‘hey, pinch-hit with Dempster to get the bunt down’?

If the run scored, that should have been Soriano’s last AB, so putting a PH in that spot just to get the bunt down wouldn’t have bothered me in the slightest.

Now, it ended up working out in a way where the bunt probably doesn’t change the outcome of that inning, but looking at that situation without hindsight, I don’t know how you don’t try to get the runners to 2nd and 3rd.

WittyUserName - September 3, 2008 reply

Did anyone notice the...

Darth Vader character on the Brewers website for the start of the Cubs vs Brewers series on the 16th? When you scroll over it it says – “THE FORCE UNLEASHED” What is that about?

(sorry if this has already been posted somewhere)

I noticed the same thing when I was perusing

the Rays’ schedule. It must an MLB-wide event.

It is

Witnesseth.

gotcha - thanks.

I just looked on the Cubs too (never check that one because of my handy pocket schedule) and it is up there too.

it's a video game release, i believe

Isn't it the animated clone wars movie?

El Borto - September 3, 2008 reply

Not to be judgmental

and pardon me if it was mentioned earlier but who were those MORANS wearing masks behind home plate last night. Apparently they thought it was Nacho Libre night and if I must say their impressions were less than flattering.

There were some of those in the bleachers, too.

I thought costumes were banned in Wrigley Field (except for 70s night).

"Morans"?

<sarcasm>Yeah, who let all those Irish in the park, anyway?</sarcasm>

Must've been Cardinals fans

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

I'm suprised he could write at all.

that is a kickin' mullet.

Indeed

there’s one….

there are people who use the internets

who still don’t know the “morans” meme?

Not all of us can be Farkers

/Romero

Clutch16 - September 3, 2008 reply

true

but, unlike romero, “morans” has made its way to the end of the internets and back

I just wanted a different picture with morans in it for a change

could be scareduck was just sick of the well travelled meme too.

Doggie Stalker - September 3, 2008 reply

Lou the "genius"

Ok I am back and really pissed. As most regulars know I have been ranting against Lou’s rible at both. He “trusts” Marmol so much he used him with a SIX run lead in May because he wanted to show the rest of the BP he did NOT trust them, left him in to blow a five run lead the Sunday before the AS break while Marshall was available and warmed up and last night he has him go two innings because his pet Howry sucks and yet he keeps USING him ( yes I know he throws strikes and is more useful than
lefty Eyre) I don’t want to rehash the whole Eyre/Howry thing. They both basically stunk except Eyre had been frozen by Lou since the day he arrived but Howry was coddled He also coddles Soriano ( rejecting the idea he be replaced in late innings or hit anywhere but lead off) and others. while guys like Lieber , Cedeno, & Pie are treated like the guys who are airbrushed out of old Soviet Military photos. Lou glides on the mostly very good starting pitching but when he is forced to do anything but put Wood, Marmal and Shark in, he usually screws up. He makes it clear to everyone else in the BP that he has no faith. He is OBSESSED with righty/lefty match ups to the point of using up both the BP and bench. I will ALWAYS go back to the Sunday game in Philly when he went through the ENTIRE bench in a 9 inning close and eventually tied ROAD GAME. Cubs won on an ERROR ( and a previous bad call) but no good manager runs through his bench in a 9 inning game like that.

I am NOT on a ledge but I am terrified that if Lou does not start dealing with the entire
BP and bench fairly the post season is gonna be very ugly if each starter does not go
7 innings.

+1

I still don't understand

why Howry is being used in anything but blowouts. He has gotten so many chances from Lou but Eyre was shown the door.

I also don’t understand why Lee would swing when Brocail couldn’t find the plate. I love what DLee brings to the table especially defensively but it’s time to put Rami in the 3 hole, Soto 4, and Lee 5.

With all that negative stuff being said, the Cubs are fine. I didn’t expect them to keep playing .700 to .800 ball after the All Star break. Z has a lot of time to get right, along with the rest of the team. If this was the last week of the season I would be worried.

slocs55 - September 3, 2008 reply

Even in blowouts he's no good any more.

He’s taken two seven-run leads and made close games out of them, close enough that Kerry Wood had to come in.

I wouldn’t pitch him at all the rest of the year.

I kinda wish one of the local media outlets...

…would send a sacrificial lamb into one of the postgame press conferences and just ask Lou straight up why he has stuck with Howry in critical situations this long. I mean, it’s freakin’ September.

You wanna volunteer?

Er, no. Not really.

But I’m a coward. C’mon, there’s gotta be some wily young upstart doing an apprenticeship at the Score right now who could get the job done.

Me too

I made eye contact with Lou at the one game I attended this year, and it was kinda scary. He wasn’t even mad at the time.

someone get me a credential

and i’m there.

Trey, meet daver

I'm just young and dumb enough to try it

plus, if I’m dumb enough, the sun-times might give me a column. I hear they’re looking.

You would be a true BCB hero.

At least for a day or two.

i was hoping the fanpost

could carry me for a day or two.

I don’t think Lou’s glare could scare me any more than one coming from my wife or my mom back in the day. Plus, I’d have free food and an opportunity to see if I’m really taller than Mike Fontenot.

Lou thought he...

…could get him turned around and he has been wrong on this one.

Considering Howry really only has one pitch, he has done pretty well for a long time. At this stage, he needs another pitch to extend his career.

Bob Howry, meet Ed Harris.

I’m sure Eddie can teach Bob the benefits of the ‘Bardol Ball’

exactly, this is precisely why

I’m spitting mad every time Howry takes the mound … he can’t even handle 7 run leads dammit! He’s very creative in finding ways to blow a game.

Oh Stevie Ire

how I miss thee

OT: Nice use of "dodgy" right after the "King's English" crack in the recap

although, it has been the Queen’s English for about the last half century. The last few years I’ve seen a lot of formerly British-only words creep into US Internet usage — “whilst”, “arse”, etc. — but that’s the first “dodgy”. Good ’un.

As regards to Cubs players remaining from the 2004 roster — Michael Wuertz also played in 30 games for that dodgy side, although I can’t remember if he was still around during the late September meltdown. Dempster also appeared in 23 games.

"King's English"

is alliterative.

But technically archaic

isn't Lou?

I kid.

Burn

Left on base

Anybody got the numbers handy for how many men we’ve left on base (both in and not in scoring position) recently compared to how many we were leaving say two weeks ago, or or a season average?
Then again…it seems like there have been even more double plays recently, so those numbers may not show anything.
I don’t know. Gotta start driving them in

Z arm problems

Uh oh

This is no different than what has already been reported

ah sorry

I must have missed it higher up in the thread

after scrolling through everyone's comments...

I’ve calmed down from my rage and realized we’re too good of a team to act as if the world is coming to an end. Dempster will turn it around tonight…Go Cubs!

SoTxCub - September 3, 2008 reply

Little things

Pitching,
Dont give Quintero a .230 hitter a pitch to hit with an 0-2 count and no one on
Howry is a mop up guy in blow out games only, come on Lou ???

Running,
Can we steal a base please, especially when they are giving it to you
Will Soriano ever beat out a ball hit in the hole again

Hitting
With bases loaded and one out a good fly ball gets the run in
Dont leave men on base every inning

Fielding
Too many to mention

Bench
Where’s the speed and where’s the bats – Who cares about Iowa

Please Lou make it happen and no more excuses

Lastly,

Whenenver Hunter Pence is a free agent, sign him. He kills the Cubs

parrotinct - September 3, 2008 reply

Just catching up here

Howry still here and Eyre not – WTF?!??

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Good point.

2 Things I truly HATE

1. Bob Howry
2. The announcers referring to Soriano as “Fonzie”. That is soooooo gay

scalmie - September 3, 2008 reply

it's only gay

if they pronounce it “Fonthie”.

nathew - September 3, 2008 reply

LOL

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

quality stuff nathew

slocs55 - September 3, 2008 reply

I really don't mind the bunt attempt in that spot...

…in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth. It didn’t work, but you can’t judge it based soely on that.

As far as the whole situational hitting argument – please read this.

cwyers - September 3, 2008 reply

Good article. Kind of blows away some of this morning's posts.

i hated the bunt

more than the pitcher handling miscues. i couldn’t believe we were having one of our best power hitters (recently) give up an out

I wonder if MDBNIU would have rather had Lieber pitching last night instead of Howry-Shit.

Haha...

…We should post his comments in the pre-game thread today when he emerges…

When he reads all of this criticism of Lou...

…he’s going to go absolutely apeshit. It should make for an entertaining “discussion.”

I'm making up a batch of popcorn now...

I don't know.Jjust don't say Howry is in Lou's doghouse.

Rick B - September 3, 2008 reply

Howry is in Lou's doghouse.

Howry better be in Lou's doghouse.

+1

I don't know if Lou put him in there

but I think Bob walked his way in…

Yes, don't even THINK the word "doghouse"...

…or you’re clearly a traitor to king (pitching, of course) and country.

If pitching is king

What’s queen?

That's a question only BlueMike can answer.

Timely hitting? Good defense? The greatest manager the game has ever known? (Waitaminute…did I just call Lou Piniella a queen? Aw crap, now I’m really in trouble.)

Hmmmm, I was expecting more like this

Beelzebub has a devil set aside for me...

…for me…FOR MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Commence head banging

Nothing really matters

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye-
So you think you can love me and leave me to die-

If pitching is king

is power pitching (come playoff time) emperor?

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

What's the court jester?

MDBNIU

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

I said court jester not village idiot.

He's not stupid. I find some of what he says to be interesting....but his delivery is hilarious.

Give the guy a break! He’s just a different kind of cat than we’re all used to.

+1

The delivery is what gets him into trouble, but I find it wearying that some (not calling anyone out here) automatically blast everything he says, simply because he’s the one saying it.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

I agree, I just couldn't resist that one. We all know that bashing Bluemike

is the second favorite activity among BCBers.

yeah

lay off him

I agree...

…IMO, the majority of the content from NDBNIU is pretty solid.

Yeah...

…just really funny the euphemisms and over-the-top baseball cliches…I do enjoy it…

yeah

we are losers for being on here for as long as we are and we need different things to talk about…..he gives us that

thanks enterprise rent a car for allowing me to blog all day

uh...

well. Maybe sometimes. He wanted Lou to bench Soriano, remember?

posing

He makes intelligent stand-alone arguments

and is a good voice to include in the mix here. The frustration is that he can get to just popping out his old arguments as responses in threads that are talking about something totally different.

Careful - he's working his way from the bottom of this thread on up...

2 issues with Lou

1 – De-Ro bunting? Why? WHY??

2 – Howry. Why? WHY?

As for D-Lee, he of course manned up and took the blame. I have to say I was really disheartened by his 8th inning DP. Couldn’t he have just taken a massive uppercut in hopes of getting something into the air? I won’t ask our power guys to lay one down, but anything, ANYTHING would’ve been better than a DP.

rgonzale - September 3, 2008 reply

Because Bob Howry is so good.

Those were some serious catcalls last night...

when Howry was mercifully yanked from that inning last night. My buddy and I were asking…“where’s Gaudin?” Wouldn’t he have been a better choice than Howry in that spot? Is it my imagination, or is Lou not a fan of Gaudin? He seems like the forgotten man in the pen in spots like that 6th inning last night.

reedjohnson - September 3, 2008 reply

back problem...not available

Plus, Lou can always count on Howry throwing strikes!

So can the Astros

Straight ones right down the middle

Mapmaker - September 3, 2008 reply

In an effort to bring about some postive news...

We miss Volquez again….

I'll go ahead and explain some of the bunting stuff...

…and keep in mind I hate the sac bunt as a strategy.

Here’s a run expectancy chart. They’re a little complicated to read if you haven’t done it before, so I’ll step you through it.

Bases and Outs should be self-explanatory. REOI stands for “runs at end of inning” – how many runs score on average in that situation from then until the inning ends. These are generated based on whole innings only, so they’re not an exact match for last night’s situation – excepting a home run only one run could have scored. But it’ll do.

With a runner on first and no outs, the odds of no runs scoring in the inning are 0.574. With the runner on second and one out, those odds raise slightly to 0.588.

But the odds of scoring one run increase significantly, from 0.186 to 0.247. Since one run wins the game guaranteed, that’s nothing to laugh at at this point.

All of this presumes that you have a better pinch hitter than Casey McGehee, though.

cwyers - September 3, 2008 reply

I should clarify...

…that it’s not a 100% certainty of doing that – obviously it didn’t work that way last night. So you have the odds of the failed bunt to consider, as well as the odds of DeRosa reaching on a bunt, either via the single or the reach on error.

cwyers - September 3, 2008 reply

isn't .186 and .247

the odds of scoring exactly one run? tied in the 9th, the relevant inquiry is the odds of scoring at least one run, which would be the sum of all those numbers.

That's an excellent point

cont.

which is the .588 and .574 you reference earlier. that’s the relevant number. the small difference between these numbers is what makes modern statheads HATE the sac bunt

in other words

i don’t really care that the odds of scoring exactly one run go up at the expense of my overall chances of winning the game in the 9th, i.e., the odds of scoring at least one run.

Last night marked the finish of Bob Howry

He’ll stick on the expanded roster. But I will be shocked if he pitches in anything but mop up duty. No shot to make the playoff roster. And yes, this Cub team will still make the playoffs with or without Carlos Zambrano.

Good thing we have John Lieber to replace him huh!

Nope

Rotation…..Harden, Dempster, Zambrano, Lilly

Pen…Wood, Marmol, Gaudin, Spellcheck (I think), Cotts, Marshall, Marquis

If Zambrano is done for the year then it opens the door for Guzman or Wuertz I imagine. Again, Lieber has not adapted well to bullpen duty this season. No way both Marquis AND Lieber are in that playoff pen.

Lou Piniella made tactical mistakes last night

Swapping out Jim Edmonds ???

Going with Bob Howry ???? In defense of the move it was too early for Marmol, Gaudin has a tight back, Cotts rarely inspires confidence

and John Lieber sat in a chair the whole time.

Again...

You presume that Jon Lieber is healthy and can be effective. Obviously Piniella and Rothschild don’t agree. The same way they didn’t agree about Scott Eyre several weeks ago and let him therefore rot.

Yeah...the same way Lou and Larry presume Howry is healthy and can be effective.

Well...

I will assume the following. Piniella and Rothschild see that Howry’s velocity has remained consistent with past levels of success. Therefore leading to the thinking that Howry is salvageable. They also see bullpen options being limited in the 6th inning. Spellcheck wasn’t going to pitch in this game, Cotts is Cotts, Guzman is untested, too early for Marmol, Gaudin is unavailable with tight back (and lets hope there isn’t more to that story). We’ve debated to death feelings on the 38 year Jon Lieber. He’s hanging around the roster for reasons that don’t include faith in his ability to be effective coming out of the pen ($3.5 million worth of reason, emergency plan should all the starters contract the bubonic plague, not wanting him to fall into enemy hands if he were to be released, its roster expansion time anyway).

But now you can safely say Bob Howry is dead. He’ll serve in mop up roll then be sent home for good after the regular season concludes.

I think the problem that everyone HAS with Howry last night

is that most of us wish he wasn’t on the roster in the first place, therefore, could not have been used. I know this is a moot point with the roster expansions, but I feel like it is a situation where NO MATTER WHAT, even in mop-up, I don’t want him out there…And the fact that he is even a possibility for Lou to use at ANY point, pisses me off.

Does anyone really belive that ANYONE else could do any worse that Howry?

There is no logical reason to keep putting him out on the mound in any situation that does not involve a double digit difference in the score. Ever.

NO ONE.

Seriously. Like, take your pick from the AAA roster, or even AA for that matter.

He had Guzman warming up to enter the 5th if

Z did not get out of the mess that he created. If you were willing to insert him there, you have to be willing to insert him at the beginning of an inning…

Well I don’t care for Howry at all, the blame rests solely on lou for that inning. As soon as the bases where loaded if not before, he should have pulled him. There are no execuses to hang him out to dry like that in a tie game. He hung the whole team out to dry on Bob Howry’s dish rag arm. That is disrespectful to the team and to Bob Howry.

Yesterday you suggested

Bruce Sutter in his prime?

Of course I was serious on that front

I’ve got a time machine in the garage that can transport back to 1979 and pluck #42 right off the Wrigley Field mound and bring him to 2008.

Good. Please do.

best line you ever had

was “pound sand up your ass”

my friends and i use that all the time

I literally just spit soda all over my computer at work...

…Oh my god, I am laughing so hard…

hahaha

it was when he posted something regarding night games when it was easily answered through a google search

people were ripping him for creating a fanpost

and he responded, “pound sand up your ass”

classic and bravo blue mike

Maybe I'm in the minority here...

… but I AGREE with DeRosa bunting (he f’ed it up) and Soriano NOT bunting.

Just my $0.02 because so many are flipping out (about both).

I agree

I saw the logic in DeRosa trying to bunt and Soriano swinging away.

how is it logical

to lower your chances of winning the game? that’s what bunting does

If you need...

…one run to win, it is a good call to bunt to try and get that run.

I agree with Soriano swinging away for one reason, the guy can’t bunt. For the same reason, I agree with DeRosa trying to bunt – he is better with the bat and had a decent chance of getting it down.

BUT

bunting makes it less likely to score, not more

Trying to be the optimist here

Has it been confirmed that it is really Z’s arm that is hurting. The only comment I can find saying that it is, is by Lou saying “It has to be in his arm – I don’t know” Like I said just trying to be the optimist here.

It's sore

That’s what the official word is.

Thanks

hmm...

“sore” isn’t very helpful. Especially since the arm’s gone from “tired” to “sore.” Wish they’d be more forthcoming.

Well

Sore is better than painful.

Sore is the term Sean Marshall referred to his arm after he last pitched.

yabbut ...

it feels like Kremlinology, trying to parse language for true meaning

I am going to guess...

…that Zambrano’s arm has been bothering him for a while and the Cubs decided to keep it quite.

I could be wrong, but there are too many signs that point in this direction.

Or

Z has been keeping it quieter than people in the clubhouse thought…

Zambrano needs to be on a plane to see Dr. James Andrews

Enough of this mystery. And enough with the medical guess work that keeps saying an extra several days of rest is the elixir. Get him to Dr. Andrews and run the full battery of tests to determine, conclusively, what the issue is.

+1

Ole Jimmy...

…is the best, especially if we are talking shoulder.

"Absolutely. Science is whatever we want it to be. I’ll let you know as soon as we have the results."

Dr. Spaceman, 30 Rock

i'm sure he's a nice guy

but i HATE dr. james andrews, worst three words a guy can hear

Would it be..

the Cubs keeping it quite or Z just not saying anything to anyone and trying to do too much?

you beat me too it ak123

If that is the case, then shame on the Cubs...

An organization that has been negligent and horribly burned in the cases of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior should not defer to the statements of the pitcher or anybody less than the best medical advice (e.g., Dr. James Andrews).

but they needed to sell tickets!

i have never forgiven the cubs organization treated the fans during those days

I have to disagree here...

…and I have a lot of experience in understanding how this works.

First of all, I don’t blame a team for not revealing every ache and pain a player has. Believe me, there are plenty of guys playing with issues right now the public doesn’t know about, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.

Secondly, the Cubs may not have handled the communication in regards to Prior and Wood very well, but these guys went to see specialists of their own choosing early on in the injuries. Diagnosing shoulders is very difficult and even the most sophisticated MRI’s can miss damage. This isn’t the way it was 30 years ago, when whatever the team doc said was gold. The player’s agents communicate with the teams quickly and get the player to any doc they want an opinion from.

Well...

I agree that teams don’t need to communicate the aches and pains of the roster. You’re right. Especially by this stage of the season a heap of Cubbies are likely hurting to varying degrees and spending lots of time in the trainer’s room. Case in point, I’m of the opinion that Jim Edmonds is more hobbled than he or the ballclub has been letting on.

But arm injuries for pitchers are different and can’t help to be very visible issues for the fans and opposition alike. Carlos Zambrano clearly is battling something the past few months. Original prognosis was a case of dead arm. Next prognosis was a case of mechanics gone temporary haywire. But now we are at the third iteration of this soap opera and the most inconvenient point of the season for a playoff bound team that there can be. Zambrano DOES need to be forthcoming. And Hendry DOES need to stop the nonsense and get his stud pitcher in front of the best possible medical experts. NOW! Not only for the sake of this team’s fortunes in 2008, but for the longer-term well being of Zambrano.

He was hitting 95/96 last night...

…I don’t think there are any SERIOUS issues, like the type that players usually get on the next non-stop flight to see Andrews for…

For all we know Zambrano could be pitching thru a torn rotator cuff...

There is great example of the concern sitting right on the Cub roster. Kerry Wood. Wood at this stage of professional life is damaged goods. Two years ago the medical device finally handed out was that Wood could go under the knife yet again with no guarantees, retire, or simply rest and try to reinvent as a relief pitcher under the condition that the arm could massively blow up at any moment. Wood opted for the later. We all know that Wood is pitching with an arm that hangs on by baling wire and duct tape. And that the final end of things could come tomorrow, next month or next year.

Tim Hudson was dialing it up to 93 for two months with what was later diagnosed a torn rotator that will put him on the shelf for two years.

I have heard this...

…from more than one sports medicine specialist; if you scoped the shoulder of every major league pitcher, you would find rotator cuff issues with well over 50% of them. For reasons that are hard to explain, some guys can pitch their whole careers with damage, while others go down like they were shot with a cannon as soon as damage occurs.

Throwing a baseball is the most destructive activity to the shoulder in sports. Some guys deal with it better than others.

Again...

…nothing is stopping Z from going to whatever doc he wants if he is hurting. All he has to do is say the word and he will be on the next flight to Birmingham.

Also, if my pitcher has a sore arm and is trying to pitch through it (which happens often during the year), I am not going to advertise that so the other club can use a strategy to run up his pitch count.

Bob Howry is dead to me.

Lou should be in Hendry’s dog house for allowing Howry to lose yet another game. Lou will bring him back, he can’t help himself.

Pitch a great game tonight Demp and gett hs team back on the winning track.

sue369 - September 3, 2008 reply

if he brings him back a great howl

will rise up out of the city of Chicago, deafening the atmosphere with collective souls shattering in unison

I agree, howry is one of lou's boys which is awful because its howry and he consistently

finds ways to blow games when they are still in the process of being decided in clutch situations. However, come playoff time I doubt we will be seeing howry at all

CubsBall2202 - September 3, 2008 reply

Howry's been dead to me since June...

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Thank you, Tony Soprano.

Fahgitaboutit, Pauly Walnuts

All too true

your comments about Lou last night. Starting with Howry, well, I could make a case for his entry into the game. It was the 6th, too early for our backend guys. But it was unforgiveable to allow him to stay in the game after the 3rd batter.

Finally, the most egregious “dumb thing to do” award goes to Lee. He’s up there with 3 on, all walks, and he goes after a 1-0 pitch. That was the game. If I were Lou, I’d chew his ass out for that stunt.

I know this sounds strange, but I look forward to us going out on the road. We’ve been playing much better there than at home over the past month or so. I wonder if this team is too distracted by their attention at home. It’s time to bond again away from the Friendly Confines.

tharr - September 3, 2008 reply

tharr

I was thinking the same thing this moring when I was looking at the schedule, then saw the home vs road splits lately.

The fundamental problem is that Cub fans have too great of expectations for Derrek Lee

Quality ballplayer. Good all-around contributor and apparent solid clubhouse figure. But especially on a playoff caliber ballclub he is of the skill set that says he has no business being a # 3 hitter. I’ve always believed that your best “pure hitter” should hit # 3. In a perfect world Derrek Lee should be hitting in the #6 hole in this Cub lineup. I think he always tries his damndest. Trouble is his best isn’t good enough in the # 3 hole. He isn’t the player he flashed during his career year in 2005.

Who did he flash? Nefi? I bet Nefi got a kick out of that!

+1

I’ve significantly lowered my expectations for lee since may. The guy can no longer hit for power and the best we are going to get out of him is a line drive double down the left field line. It sickens me to think of a situation like last night’s 8th inning in the playoffs with lee up because it has almost become a certainty of what is going to happen

CubsBall2202 - September 3, 2008 reply

The problem is it is difficult to come up with wiser solution in the # 3 hole...

Almost by default the argument leads to Geovany Soto. I dont’ see Lou PIniella doing that. I also think Piniella accords Lee a great deal of respect and is therefore hesitant to “demote” him in any way.

That's a quaint way of totally fucking up the lineup day in and day out.

True, which is why this is going to remain a problem until next year

because there is no way piniella is going to move lee, so I guess we can just hope and pray that lee doesn’t ruin us in the playoffs

CubsBall2202 - September 3, 2008 reply

In the playoffs...

…you can almost guarantee some of your better hitters will go cold. You have to deal with 2 issues that are elevated in the post-season; better pitchers and heavily worked on scouting reports for each hitter.

What typically happens is successful teams have guys lower in the order that deliever, because the other team is focusing so much on the heart of the order. This is why I like the Cubs chances this year, they have depth in the lineup.

Lee needs rest

He has played almost every game. He needs to rest a few days. Now that Micah is up… get him in and see what he can do.

which will be

not dig out throws from Rami and Riot.

Please, no. I’d rather have DeRosa play first.

Micah had 2 errors in 61 games in Iowa at 1B, none as a Cub...

…where do you get that he’s a bad defensive first baseman?

Four losses in a row - change the avatar!

Just for you

never thought I'd see the day

If they win tonight, this is why!

Steve Garvey, father of his country

I always enjoyed

his celebrity fishing shows

Great...you've gone from being an minor annoyance...to a dickhead.

Congrats.

That means a lot

coming from you

You’re just following directions.

I suppose I shouldn't give you such a hard time...after all....

good memory

Getting ready.....

I think we are all getting ready for a repeat of last year’s first round drubbing….. maybe in four games this year….

James031 - September 3, 2008 reply

Go pound sand up your ass.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Yeah, the "Woe is me" blog is just to the left.

lol

am i the only one that remembers that line? its been spreading around dsm for the past couple weeks

LOL

i remember too – i love that line

thank god

i thought maybe i was the only one who did…..i felt like i was taking crazy pills!

ROFLCOPTER

ur a quote machine!

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

There's a variation on that. It's "go pound hot sand up your ass".

and another offshoot for an insult...."dumber than a bag of smashed assholes"

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

I thought it was "uglier than a box of rocks".

Blivit = Two Pounds of Sh!t in a one pound bag

Have another beer, Loser....

James031 - September 3, 2008 reply

You have called down the fury!

glad you have my back Ems

I do my modest best

isn't there

a Bears Blog you can go visit?

SouthsideCUBSfan - September 3, 2008 reply

well well well

I have not panicked yet, I have not gone into typical Cubs fan mode and freak out over a 4 game losing streak when we still are the best team in baseball, and in a 162 game season a losing streak is pretty much understandable. Our ace has slowed down a bit and our timely hitting has disinegrated, but my guess is our “ace” will be back to dominance when necessary, and all at once our hitting will come together and we will go on to dominate

SBUC NIW

Time to root for the Mets again

::Gritting Teeth::

mets take early lead 1-0

TWSS

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Bush is getting pounded in the first at Miller Park - film at 11.

Bases loaded, Church up.

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

Dammit...Clogged...

GRANDSLAM 5-0

willie mays hayes' gloves - September 3, 2008 reply

yes!

and another HR! 6-0

How do you give up 6 runs on only 28 pitches?

I guess only Bush and Howry know the secret….

There's no secret to sucking

excellent!

wo0t

sue369 - September 3, 2008 reply

Al's game recap highlighted in Neyer's Wednesday Wangdoodles

• Bleed Cubbie Blue’s Al Yellon has some advice for Cub fans: Don’t Panic. That’s all well and good, but Yellon saves the most panic-worthy news for the very last: Z’s arm is bothering him again. With Carlos Zambrano, the Cubs are the best team in the National League and perhaps the best team in the majors. Without him they’re just another good team.

It is too early to panic on Z, but Neyer is right that even without him, this is still a really good team.

Hoping for good news, sooner than later.

JB 23 - September 3, 2008 reply

written by someone who hasn't been watching all season if you ask me

losing Z would hurt but it wouldn’t be fatal

+1

Stick To The Royals, Rob

CaliCub - September 3, 2008 reply

It is 6 - 0

mets over brewers after just 1/2 inning

brian custer - September 3, 2008 reply

missed the extra pt eh?

Good news. Hope it holds up. So tonight everyone can see that score sitting in the inning-10 slot on that classic scoreboard, knowing they could go up 5 in the “L” column with 22 to play.

Sweet!

Itchy - September 3, 2008 reply

Join us in the Brewers-Mets game thread

Here

http://www.metsgeek.com/articles/2008/09/03/open-thread-mets-vs-brewers-932008/?cp=2

or here

brian custer - September 3, 2008 reply

I know we're worried

But I can’t help feel like The Brewers might be more panicked?

They’re on the verge of being swept by the team they will most likely face first round of the playoffs…

They got to get there first and it's no shoe-in

They’re facing a team battling for a division while in just over a week go to Philly for FOUR games while the Cubs finish up in StL then head to Hou for three with the ’stros.

This is downright scary

Not the 4 in a row but the angst here.

Now Al used that don’t panic graphic late last season and it seemed to work, now if he can rub some cyber magic on it for the playoffs.

You know, there’s 3.5 weeks left. If Z needs the DL / rest, do it. Same for Harden. Spot start Marshall & maybe even Lieber. Take advantage of the 9/8 and 9/15 days off. I’d be MUCH more concerned if this were happening 9/23 instead of 9/3.

I really want to see D-Lee correct what I think is a flaw in his swing. Here’s to GP pulling off the big fix there.

One bright spot

Marquis has pitched decently this second half.

Right...

But he still probably won’t make it on the playoff roster.

I was thinking more for September

We can get 3-4 quality starts out of him?

Why not?

He sucked worse last year and he was on the playoff roster.

Another odd note

mlb.com has Z pitching Sunday? Could be a mistake? This was added only in the last couple hours I think.

i imaginge it will stay that way....

…until the cubs announce otherwise.

Just an assumption is my guess; I wouldn’t take it to mean anything one way or the other.

bobby h - September 3, 2008 reply

little strange though?

Brewers getting pounded by the Mets. Love it...

MinnesotaFan - September 3, 2008 reply

WOW - you ain't kiddin' - 6-0 in the 4th

Do you think it's like Brokeback Mountain?

After a bad outing, Lou walks up to Howry’s locker and is like, “I WISH I COULD QUIT YOU BOBBY!”

+1

LOL

vonde6 - September 3, 2008 reply

Ha, ha.

2 questions

1. Why wasn’t Howry DFA’ed when Wuertz was sent to Iowa? Wuertz is a much more effective middle reliever than Howry

2. Does Howry know that ball movement and changing speeds are necessary skills to be an effective major league pitcher? Apparently not, because every pitch he throws is a low 90 MPH fastball with no appreciable movement.

perseman - September 3, 2008 reply

You do know you answered both your questions, right?

Times like this thin the herd and shake off some posers.

O'Cub - September 3, 2008 reply

yeah.

They all come into the game thread to troll

Says the guy with three comments?

Oh, you must be talking about Cub fan bandwagoneers in general.

Four Comments.

….and three replies. I’m kind of a big deal around here…

O'Cub - September 3, 2008 reply

I'll make a note of that...

Lee

It’s admirable of Lee to take the blame for last night’s loss (though the blame could have been parceled out to several others, as well). But something has to change in his approach.

If I make the same mistake at work so many times it becomes predictable, my boss is going to talk to me about it. I hope Lou is.

Lee is so predictable that I actually called the DP. My wife and I were watching, and she noticed the bags loaded with 1 out and DLee up. I said, “don’t worry, he’ll hit into a DP to end the inning.” Sadly I was right, just as I was when DeRosa did the same in Game 4 of the playoffs last year.

The Cubs always end up disappointing us. I’m emotionally removing myself until they’re in the World Series. Less pain that way. Last night’s game is the last I will stay up late to watch. Don’t know why I tortured myself like that.

danimal15 - September 3, 2008 reply

Your prediction

I’m going to make an equally bold one — the sun will rise in the east tomorrow.

Sadly, most of us expected a double play, I think.