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Bleed Cubbie Blue

Bring Rain Gear Again Today: Cubs vs. White Sox Preview, Thursday 6/18, 1:20 CT

And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain -- Creedence Clearwater Revival

I woke up this morning just before 7 am... and it was raining again in Chicago. That rain should be out of here before game time, but the forecast once again doesn't look so good:

Today: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 10am, then showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Some of the storms could be severe. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. Southeast wind between 5 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Both teams have "endorsed" (the word used in Toni Ginnetti's Sun-Times article) September 3 as the makeup date for Tuesday night's rainout, and:

The plan has to be approved by the players association and Major League Baseball, which is expected to be a formality.

Expect that to be a day game, as the Cubs are heading to New York for a weekend series with the Mets beginning the next day. But if there are any rain problems with today's game, what do they do? I wonder if anyone knows.

Meanwhile, Bruce Miles agrees with the take of many of us here in writing that Alfonso Soriano needs a day off, at the very least. Soriano claims he's healthy, but he sure isn't playing like he is. I can't imagine why Lou hasn't made the "tough decisions" he claims he might make "soon" up to now. The run Soriano "drove in" yesterday -- with a meek groundout to 3B -- was his first RBI on anything other than a solo homer in a month (since May 16), and he only had two solo homers and two RBI in that time. Since May 19 he is hitting .146/.214/.252. That's right, the guy who can carry the team when he's hot has a .466 OPS in the last month. He's got to sit on the bench for at least a couple of days, if not go on the DL. Jake Fox can hardly be worse out in left field.

Oh, and get Aaron Miles out of there, too. Since his season "peak" at .220 on May 16, he is 6-for-36 (.167). No walks (and only six walks the entire year). And his double yesterday was his only XBH among those six hits. Could we really be any worse off with Andres Blanco out there every day? At least Blanco can field. Look at this photo taken by BCB reader Damen Jackson for an idea of how tall Miles really is. (Hint: there's no way he is his listed height of 5-8.)

Today's Starting Pitchers
Carlos Zambrano
Carlos Zambrano
Cubs
vs. Gavin Floyd
Gavin Floyd
White Sox
4-2 W-L 4-5
3.39 ERA 4.94
56 SO 71
28 BB 31
4 HR 8
vs. Sox -- vs. Cubs

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2009 - Carlos Zambrano 4-2 15 10 0 0 0 0 63.2 55 26 24 4 28 56 3.39 1.30


W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2009 - Gavin Floyd 4-5 13 13 1 0 0 0 82.0 83 47 45 8 31 71 4.94 1.39

Like his lefthanded counterpart, John Danks, Gavin Floyd is off to a rough start this year after being a big reason the White Sox won the AL Central in 2008. In his last five starts, however, he is 2-1, 1.67 with 36 strikeouts and only eight walks in 37.2 innings. This is not a good sign for the anemic Cub bats. Floyd has never faced the Cubs and has faced only one active Cub while he was on another team: Alfonso Soriano (1-for-4). Floyd has a 7.97 ERA in six road game starts this year.

The rainout from Tuesday allows me to repost this preview of Z from Tuesday night: the best thing about Z's season is that he hasn't given up HR as in the past -- only four this year. As I wrote about him after his last couple of starts, when he has his heavy sinker working, he gets hitters to beat the ball into the ground and is usually much more effective that way. Paul Konerko is a Z nemesis -- 7-for-22 (.318) with four homers. As he was on the DL during the Cubs/Sox' two series last year, Z hasn't faced the Sox since June 22, 2007, one of his best performances; he allowed three hits and a walk and struck out 12; the only run allowed came on a Konerko homer.

Today's game is on two Chicago channels -- WGN once again today has Len & Bob. Those "other" guys will be on the Sox broadcast on CSN Chicago. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Overflow comment threads will post today at 2:15 pm, 3:15 pm and 4 pm CDT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

0 recs  |  352 comments

Comments

Sunny here downtown...

Hopefully this weather holds up. Still can’t believe the lineup today tho…

You slept til 7?!?!

You must’ve had the day off today.

Let’s hope for a win today. Soriano and Miles will provide all the offense in a 2-0 CG shutout.

oops, hit enter instead of tab

Am I wrong in reading sarcasm in the Soriano/Miles reference and that we will be shot out by the 2-0 score ?

Yeah but no but yeah

It’d be nice, but it won’t happen, but I refuse to lose faith…

Sad that the thought even entered my mind

but expectations have plummeted. What does Lou mean when he says that he may have to do something he doesn’t want to do ? Wake up ?

Actually care about winning
Move players out of positions...

Or spots in the lineups that they want to be in.

Got a ticket for this game.

Anyone want it? It’s free. I hate giving it away for free, but hoping maybe karma will come back around! Let me know quickly if so, I’m about to head out to lunch.

Thanks for the kind offer
Wow, can't believe no one has taken you up on this offer.

I’d grab it but I gotta work.

I posted this on the other thread..but here is the lineup again..

Soriano LF
TheRiot SS
Bradley RF
Lee 1B
Soto C
Fontenot 3rd
Fukudome CF
Andres Blanco 2nd
Z SP

Its really awful

when the pitcher is the bright spot in a lineup.

Yuck. I hate just about everything about that one.

Dropped Dome lower

Bradley in the 3 hole instead of Lee

If they can get it together, this lineup could do something.

You can be cheerful

I’ll remain annoyed.

None of that is a “change”, its a minor shuffle.

well

change = different, this lineup is different. I, too, have said I’d like to see Sori sit for a while.

Lee hasn't hit 3rd in 3 weeks.
I guess Lou's tough decision was putting Blanco in there.

Good going Lou, think outside of the box.

Still no Fox

Dumb

Agreed!

Fox should start the next 8-10 games in LF and be allowed to see what he can do! I don’t care if he makes an error every game, we sorely need his bat!

I was hoping Lou

would rest Sori for a few days especially after Sori said he would it that’s what it takes to get this team going. Come on Lou!

have you ever had the feeling that

what Soriano says to the press and what is really communicated between him and managment are two totally different things?

Yes!

In fact, I think he shows little passion/responsibility for his mistakes and is hugely ambivalent to being a Cub in general.

It is going to be a long 5 yrs. waiting for his contract to run out!

no

and I don’t know where you’d get that.

It is possible I guess.

But it would be silly for him to do that when Lou can see what he is saying to the media.

Well as we inch closer to fifth place

Some people need to be fired. I wish the ownership thing would sort itself out so that Hendry could be sent to the unemployment office.

Isn't the definition of insanity?

doing the same thing but expecting a different result?

wow, Lou is really faithful to his horses

Not the Lou of the last couple of years for sure and frustrating.
One out in the first already?

Maybe Piniella put the fear of the bench into Soriano. I don’t understand it, but we’ll see.

Yeah, we'll see

the same things we have been seeing for the past 60 games.

Don't get it Lou?

This is just continuing to show that the players are NOT being held accountable. Yeah, Lou, I know you don’t play the game but man, Sori can do whatever he wants, play as poor as he is and still be in the leadoff spot. It’s time to take some of these guys OUT of their comfort zones because they aren’t performing anyway!

But Al, Sori already had a couple of days off.

Monday and Tuesday. And he still had yesterdays game. But if his knee is hurting him, besides what Sori says, then he needs to be DL’d. (not just a couple of games)

Wow

Miles is…not a tall man.

I looked at the photo of Miles, Riot and Lee

and thought it was the evolutionary chart of a baseball player.

Crap, to scrap, to talented?
I would be willing to bet this comment is not topped today.

Hilarious.

Thanks

I laughed… but I’m easily amused. :-P

Crap, to scrap, to Orange Mocha Frap?
Maybe D Lee is really 7 feet tall.

Did you ever consider that? Huh? Huh?
I didn’t think so.

A Wrigley report coming on the Score

I’ll post what they say, apparently they asked Lou about the lack of change

I'll bet...

A “what can I do” will be included in that report.

I'll have a count of all the "looks"

the “I’m not a dragon” the “what can I do”

"I don't know a lineup from a reefer."
I just bet it starts with a

“look” or “listen”.

We've really soured on him pretty quickly

Not quite to Dusty-esque levels, but the change of attitude towards Lou has been really astounding.

I like Lou

I just wish he’d do something when he talks about “big changes”.

Me too, but

maybe the threat of benching or moving Sori down will light a fire? hope hope

We've soured on everybody. Lou's responsibility puts him at the forefront (ignoring Jimbo behind the curtain)

Lou will always have a place in my heart. With that said, I expect a manager to have superior insight into his ballclub and the kind of relationship with his players to where he knows what to do in almost any situation. Here, Lou just seems as at a loss as any of us. And that worries me.

"Not right now" on changes...

“We’re giving it some thought” …. “I’ve got confidence in these guys, and that’s good”…

There is the first "look"
Here we go

Thinks Lou is teasing while thinking, perhaps using media to get to players.

Jesus Christ on a stick LOU!

wake the F up grampa! comon!

Hola xene

Racing 3-0 Boca? Que paso? Y el River dio una catedra…

Boca sucks. They are so overrated. A bunch of prima donnas.
Hola chilango(jose?)

la verdad, no se. No mire el partido, lo unico que se es que no ganamos nada este ano. A ver si el Coco cambia las cosas.

El America de Mexico quiere llevarse a Palacio

y Cruz Azul quiere regresar a Luciano Figueroa. Asi como los Cubs, el Boca tiene que rearmarse y dejar que Basile construya desde cero.

(Si, soy Jose)

OUch, ya te diste por vencido con los cubbies jose?

si yo confio que el coco va a arreglar las cosas. Hay que retener al colombiano vargas, y traer a pocho insua de mexico. nos cago dajar ir a datolo.

No estaria bueno poder hablar con todos los jugadores latinos de los cubs y decirles, ’ vamos muchachos, pongan huevos’. especialmente a soriano.

El Pocho?@?!?!?!??!

En serio? Es uno de los grandes fracasos de los Millonarios del America. Le fue tan mal que lo mandaron al Necaxa, y los ayudo a descender. Creo que el Coco habia dicho que era fundamental para el, pero despues de verlo jugar en una liga muy inferior a la argentina, no creo que tenga el nivel.

Y de los Cahorros, mejor me guardo mi opinion. Luego me cagotean aqui…

Hey Chilango

Did you see the Ozzie/Z Pepsi commercial in the fanshots?

Any chance you could translate some of it? People are really curious.

i already did. They pretty much say something like

“make your own commercial using ozzie and me’. nothing really big

Ah

Alright. Must’ve missed that.

Thanks!

"Hopefully I won't have to make changes..."

And here’s it comes…. “What can I say?”….

Unbelievable.

haha

“I’m might have to do something I don’t want to do”

Then you know what...

Get him the hell out of there and let someone else make those “tough” decisions.

"I wouldn't know the difference between a steroid and a reefer."

I FEEL LIKE I’M TAKING CRAZY PILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a different note

Did anybody watch the Arkansas vs Virginia college world series last night? Virginia looked like the Cubs. They gave up a two out two run homer to tie the game and then left runners in scoring position in four straight innings before losing the game. Quite exciting to watch and all ended well for Arkansas but sure felt bad for Virginia.

Meant to say

that Arkansas tied the game in the top of the ninth inning with two outs.

Why didn't Virginia squeeze in the 11th (or maybe the 12th) to end it?

1 out, men on 1st and 3rd, and the top of the order up. Only drawback was the lefty at the plate – I think I would have tried it.

Love the changes

Lou apparently made today. Ugh.

M aybe he was referring to his underware.
I wouldn't be

too sure he changed that either.

He only changes it after a win
I was wondering why no one wanted to sit close to him in the dugout.
Grandpa, you smell funny!
Those are "Oops I crapped my pants" actually
Poor Lou...

Thanks Kali

I still can’t post photos here.

Just click the image button(tree) and paste in the url of the photo
Or

put that url in between !

like

ooh

that didn’t work!

! url ! (w/o the spaces)

how do you post a link?

but have text instead of the url

most people use the word linky ;)

Type the word you want

highlight it and then click the chainlink button on the bar between the header box and comment box.

like this?

or like this

linky

yay, heine!
yay i feel competent
while you're still getting the hang of it

use the preview button a lot.

it takes an extra couple seconds, but it helps a lot if you’re not sure.

ahhh

man the things im learning :)

Goog going Heine

I actually went back to old threads and practiced myself.

There you go.

Except I would check the box where it asks if you want to open the link in a new window, if only because when you navigate back to the previous window, you have to refresh the screen to see the newest comments.

right, noted
Gotta do it in the big box
awesome thanks guys!
can't be in the subject.
thanks drew

howd our mini-beer drinkers do last night

another victory.

11-1. Max walked, pushed in a run, and scored.

a victory?

thats a beatdown drew.

In your game recap it should read:

my son’s team is better than your’s

I'd feel better about it

if he’d contributed more. Yesterday was a difficult day. Two coaches yelled at him for facing away from the game in right field, and neither coach was me.

oof

why does the movie benchwarmers come to mind.

I hope he didn’t take his coaches getting on him the wrong way?

he was pretty oblivious

we told him to bunt in his second at bat (he only got two) and he was so out of it, he swung/bunted as the catcher was throwing the ball BACK — and got called out with two strikes.

well its not too late to teach him how to pitch with both arms
How old is he?

I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

I’ve got guys who are doing just about the same on an incoming freshman high school team.

Cubs have Bradley.

:-)

(OBLIGATORY SARCASM NOTE. I LIKE BRADLEY.)

I don't.
really?

you’ve been hiding your feelings. tell us more. :P

Me wants the lumberjack.
he's ten

I think it’s a combination of zoo camp, nice weather, and being tired. But he’s been pretty good for the rest of the season, so to see it yesterday was frustrating.

Understandable.

Zoo camp sounds awesome.

he loves it

I wish it lasted longer than a week.

I suppose I was more frustrated because I’d had a long conversation with him about focusing, and then he went and did exactly the opposite.

click the chain looking icon

and put your text between the tags.

like this

Hey

clicking this is like running in place

He's going to run these guys out there until Hendry does something.

It’s the same BS Dusty did back in the day. Did anyone REALLY expect anything more from Lou? He doesn’t care anymore. He got the lineup he wanted in the off-season, they suck, and he has too much pride to admit he was wrong. So he’s going to trot them out there every day.

Lou cares

That’s not the issue. Whether he’s still the right guy for this team is another question.

Mediocrity

Your right its Rusty Baker in white skin. Two ordinary teams playing for 3rd or 4th place.

we have two tough games today and tomorrow

Gavin Floyd and Cliff Lee tomorrow. If we loose both of these, I don’t know what will happen.

I mean Gavin Floyd *today and Cliff Lee tomorrow
What will happen if we win both?

Do you know?

everybody in cubdom will exhale
for about ten seconds.
no for 24 hours at a time..trust me it will be great!
We'll have lost 2 more games

Still a lot of baseball to be played. (But I know how you feel…. starting to feel a lot less “early”)

true, but a lot of baseball has already been played also..see the other side?
there's always hope

until you’ve been mathematically eliminated.

Maybe THAT should be my sig: I’m a Cubs fan. There’s always hope till you’re mathematically eliminated.

And then there's hope for next year!
I'll help some friends move some furniture and get drunk in their driveway

Pretty much the same thing that will happen if the Cubs win 2, or split.

so you think winning the next two is exactly the same as loosing the next two...Is that you Lou?
Life goes on

Thats all Shanghai is saying.

that was a great revelation then..wow!
Thanks for that great indepth insight!
well, since you seem to be casting about

the sun will rise and then set.
the tides will come in and go out.
Time will pass.

Death and taxes.
babies born

old people die

Confuscious say

Baseball all wrong-man with four balls can’t walk

snarky much?
No charge this time
When Anthony Swarzak and Russ Ortiz shut you down

That means pretty much every game is a tough game.

I'm sporting my blue argyle sweater vest at work today.

Last time I wore it, the Cub offense exploded with 5 runs against Pittsburgh.

It's kind of telling

that you would consider 5 runs “exploding.” :-)

Beat me to it

I was just about to say the same thing.

It seems like

that is almost a weeks worth lately. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a 3 run lead late in the game more than once a week ?

Exactly.

I would kill for 5 runs today. I’m sure Z would too .

I'm afraid

Z would kill for 5 runs

So it's your fault we've been slumping. :)

We can take up a collection to buy you for every one in the week.

i'm wearing my cubs titleist hat

trying to change things up

Wow

I need more sleep.

I thought you were wearing a very different kind of hat.

nope, I only have an Allie one of those :-P
Great versatility

Your hat says, “I’m a diehard Cubs fan, but I’ll also be watching the U.S. Open today.”

If it keeps raining

you’ll be watching neither.

That subject line made me think of Zeppelin

When the levee breaks started playing in my head instantly.

Wearing my friend's DEATH shirt.
i've never masterbated at work, so might try that one later on. Gotta change things to get us going!
Waaaaaaaaaaaay TMI
I was going to also, but I didn't want to touch that one.
If Lou really wanted to get fired

he would say that to reporters.

WTF?

You didn’t even spell it right.

That's your problem with that statement?

Spelling?

Did laundry last night...

… finally got my cubs boxers back on. Last worn during 7-1 victory over Astros. Before that, 2-1 win over reds.

If this continues, i’m gonna need an in unit washer / dryer.

or more pairs.
or less contact with other humans
or an airfreshener
There ya go Drew, way to think outside of the box(ers).
No go on more pairs.

I’m not superstitious in the least, so if i’m gonna do it, i’m going all out. THIS PAIR is causing wins.

And they feel nice too!

Who's in Chicago?

Is this game gonna get in today? We’re at home this weekend. so it’s not a big deal for us to push this back. The White Sox play a 6 pm game @ Cinny tomorrow, so presumably we could get this in later today, if necessary.

It's nice out now...

But could see rain in a few hours. Hopefully we’ll get the game in.

it's partly cloudy but bright

in Downer’s Grove.

Sunny here now.

Dark grey stuff creeping in from the west, though.

Rain way off to the west

Radar

I live 200 miles WSW of Chicago

we just got dumped on by a pretty good storm. On a good note, it didn’t last long and it’s sunny here again

Ugh, check it now.
aaaaah!

large white arrows! TAKE COVER!

We have been targeted for destruction.
Well

it is still “way off to the west”… for me anyway.

Really hope some of it blows over. I’m so f’n tired of rain!!!

Me too.

I suppose if it’s a fast-moving storm it’ll move through and they’ll be able to at least finish the game at some point today.

change right now

Lets change things today, put Lou in the booth and BB on as manager

It would take BB roughly 10 seconds to rip up today's lineup card

and pull Soriano.

yep, he will throw a dart and will pick a better LFr
Best Brenly line ever.
I hope Brenly appreciates the irony if that happens

And mails Mark Grace a quick note.

or no. I am ok with BB as manager but please don't like to see Lou in the booth
+1

Just imagine him in the radio booth with Ron. cringe

"Well Len, what can I say?"
"Well...you are seeing the damn game.."
Have you heard the pre-game interviews?

Preview of the insanity.

those are really entertaining

mostly b/c of the badness.

my favorite part

us that they appear to have given Ron Santo only one microphone.

That he drops.

on the floor.

Without noticing.

Why would Bob want to manage this group?

Up in the booth he gets to sit, talk, and then occasionally take days off to go watch his son play in Boise.

Actually, his son is playing in Peoria

so he sees him quite a bit. In fact, Brenly was in town Monday on the off day to watch the Chiefs play a doubleheader.

Really?

Well. My point still stands, even if it was inaccurate (lol)… Going back to the dugout doesn’t make sense for Bob. No way he gets time to go do things like that if he’s in charge.

I think Bob should be the manager of this team on July 1st if they dont turn it around by then
Bob Brenley

is NOT going to be the manager of the Cubs in 12 days. Holy cow.

Im just saying what I think should happen lol
BB has a strange track record as a manager

He inherited the group he won with in 2001.

won't happen

if Lou goes, Trammel will probably be next in line.

Tram would be a perfect fit for this team...

He can lose 100+ games as good as anyone… I don’t think that’s the answer.

not saying I think he's the answer
Are you kidding?

The only person more stoic on change than Lou is Jim Hendry. That will never happen.

OT: Went and saw The Taking of Pelham 123 the other night

would recommend it, a lot of good dialogue between denzel and travolta

Rent the Original
yeah i've seen the original as well

this was good in its own right imo

I chose the hangover, over Pelham. Didnt dissapoint.
Hangover was hilarious, this is just a totally different genre
Hangover looks fantastic
very funny

was able to execute excellent solid humor with out getting overly crude or stupid

Original was good

Walter Mathau

Original had a better ending too.
I am off to the park

Came in last about 7 weeks ago and all I can say is I left the Cubs in pretty good shape. Hopefully they will do better
now.

I abhor linking to the Tribune, but

look at what this moron wrote.

he is an idiot
unbelievable.
What is wrong with him saying,

The Fans haven’t been into the game because they’ve had nothing to cheer about.

Pretty much a fact.

I don't give a rats ass about that.

He’s telling the fans they should boo.

That's a bit much...

But the way we’ve been playing isn’t exactly filling us with enthusiasm.

It's not like that sentence is going to prompt people to boo.

They’ve been doing that for a while now regardless.

not the point.

he shouldn’t make the suggestion anyway.

Agreed

we’re not in Philadelphia

I think his statement wasn't to be taken literal...
I think that

that would be a cop out.

I haven't lived in Chicago for like forever...

but have seen the comments about the Trib. What about that paper is worse than the Times? A particular writer or the paper as a whole?

This is a discussion I have with my friends, colleagues and my wife everyday

To sum it up: The Trib is not even a shadow of what it used to be, coverage-wise. The cuts have been so deep that they outsource a lot of their copy and the product is not worthy of a city like Chicago, much less of what the old standards used to be. The S-T is “scrappy” and their writers make due with what they have.

Baseball coverage-wise, their writers are bad, have poor sources and seem to carry a chip on their shoulders. Mark Gonzalez and van Dyck are OK, though.

Can't say I disagree with any of it...

The booing part could have been left out, but that’s about it.

How would the Cubs know who was booing,

and at whom?

Rosenbloom sucks
His content is on the money

I’ve graded better writing from 6th graders, though.

Content = the linked article
Exactly

He’s not a very good writer. At all.

Although he is sometimes mildly entertaining.

"The left fielder must have picture of somebody (although we know for sure the shots are not from a hitting DVD)."

Can somebody tell me what this sentance means?

Ha Ha

Yeah, I’m not sure what good it would do Soriano to sit and look at still photographs of great hitting before the game.

Von Joshua: “See, look here Sori, when you flip the pages really fast, it looks like they’re swinging.”

I think he

is saying that he has pictures with which he is blackmailing Lou into putting him into the starting lineup everyday

that picture of miles is just silly.

he’s seven years old and playing the major leagues.

I think (and hope) ...

that Soriano has to put up or shut up today.

bad choice of words

put up or ride the pine, would be more appropriate.

article on lack of changes

they’re quick

carrie will get the scoop, apparently
not to nitpick

but how can they publish without spellchecking? ugh

See what I mean?
Yeah, I was just reading your comments above

and realized this article is from the Trib too. kind of funny for the link to happen when we were just talking about it.

Piniella confirms

Baseball = serious business

as evidenced

by the typos.

and lack of content

I see about 4 sentences and a shitload of quotes.

I want that job
Lou has a point.
Piniella said the players should know how to produce without having to have individual meetings with him.

“It’s not like we’re going from Algebra I to Algebra II, and then to trigonometry,” he said. "Basically it’s all things they’ve done in the past… We’re not talking about going from Latin to Greek, OK? There are so many things a manager and a staff can do.

“Look, I’ll take responsibility, but at the same time, I don’t hit, you know? When I played, I hit. Outside of that, all the meetings in the world, I don’t think they’re very productive. When I played, I don’t know how many times I talked to a manager.

“Maybe it’s changed. Maybe it’s changed where you have to talk to guys every day. I don’t think they would want that. I think they want to be left alone and be left alone to play, and that’s basically what we do. We treat people like men here.”
No one is asking for sit-downs or meetings...

Soriano doesn’t need a meeting, he needs time off or a DL stint. If they treat like men, then they should hold the players accountable.

I'm about to hook up my "Milton Bradley Sucks" caboose to the "Lou Pinella is Full of Shit" locomotive.

I’ve been patient enough with Lou. The man is a baseball genius and I was estatic to get him on our team a few years ago, but I’m seriously questioning if he gives a shit or is just old and senile. He’s either the primary or secondary reason the corral is full of crap players like Miles and Bradley. He’s made managerial decisions (and a lack thereof) this year that make me think he’s just no paying attention. That Cardinal series (in which we actually played well!) made me think of this a long time ago, and the recent Dodger series was a joke. He should be out-managing opponents, not getting served by them. He keeps talking a big game about roster or big changes, but still trots out the same lineup. If guys aren’t producing (which is NOT his fault), you need to do something to plug guys in that are producing, or use lineup changes as motivation to wake guys the hell up.

Chooooooooo chooooooo, ALL ABOARD THE LOU PINELLA IS FULL OF SHIT LOCOMOTIVE.

Dan

Agreed...

They should know how to produce, but if they don’t, then it’s up to the manager to get involved and make a decision and/or a change. You can’t just leave everything alone and expect it to fix itself.

Just bought my ticket and climbing aboard.
i'm at the station, looking long and hard at this train
Com'on now, it's a free ride.

But once you in it, YOUS IN IT. If it’s a lie, then wes fight on that lie. But we gotta fight. Sorry, had to throw that Slim Charles from THE WIRE quote in there.

There's already video of the train

here.

he he

Now we just need some creative person to photoshop our avatars onto the passengers.

Again

Please don’t throw around words like “senile.” He isn’t senile, trust me. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.

Woo! Semantics!

Words mean things

Think about it.

sorry

my ticket is for another train, and yours isn’t going in the direction we need to go.

Got an extra ticket, Drew?

Although from what I can tell, there should be plenty of seats available.

for the train I'm riding?

Plenty of room. But lots of people will be running for it later.

♪♪ People get ready, for the train a-comin' ♪♪

♪♪ Don’t need no baggage, you just get on board ♪♪

how are you doing

the nifty notes?

This train prefers as little baggage as possible. :D

Just figured that out, actually.
Turn NUM LOCK on. For musical notes, hold in ALT and type 13 on your left hand key pad (push 1, release, push 3, release, release ALT) this should give you a musical note ♪, Type 14 for ♫

Thank you, Yahoo! answers!

♪ ♫

awesome.

♪♫☼►◄↕‼◙♂♀¶§▬↨↑↓→←∟↔▲▼☺☻♥♦♣♠•◘○

Wacky

I'm not drivin' the train, bud.
yeah

I think you are. :(

No, I'm not driving this train.

I just don’t think Cubs players crap roses.

It’s much more sensible, IMO, to be able to critique this team than it is to think “they’ll come around!” after 60+ games, Soto’s gonna lose 20 lbs., or Bradley’s gonna hit .320 by season’s end.

Not every critique or critical assessment of the Chicago Cubs is a personal attack, drew.

I didn't say it was a personal attack.

I just said that I’m not getting on the train. I believe.

So that's it

You either have to think every Cubs player sucks, or you think they crap roses. Nice.

♪ ♫ Drivin' that train...high on cocaine... ♪ ♫
trouble ahead, trouble behind...
♪Stuck in the middle with you♫

Wait, what?

Uh oh...now someone's going to lose an ear.
the gasoline will sting a bit.
I'm aboard

This crap is getting old, just like Lou.

Im gonna board the "Do something now" train

I dont care what it is but something needs to be done now, not tomorrow, not when things arent changing, now. Obviously trying to make Perry the scapegoat wasnt the right idea. But it was an idea, it just didnt work. Try something else.

"It just didn't work"?

Well, they’re 1-1 since it happened. I’d say that at the very least, it’s inconclusive.

Not necessarily that I thought the move would be worthwhile in the first place, but …

it's way to early

to draw any conclusions about the hitting coach change. Two weeks may be too early.

Too early?

Probably, but I am talking more about sparking this team. And that still hasnt happened.

I think

it’s too early for the change to have done that too. I think today is Von’s first day actually TALKING to hitters.

♪ ♫ Ain't talkin' 'bout Von! Cubs hitting is rotten to the core! ♪ ♫
♫That's what I liiike about Mark!♫
Whoops, wrong one again.
Well maybe he can get us more than 1 run
From Wittenmyer on Twitter:

cst_cubsCubs honchos still checking fast-moving storm that might delay game, or interrupt it early if they start on time.

The screamer is on the air
Ron just said it best on the pre-game...

“It feels like they’re just waiting for something to happen, instead of MAKING something happen.”

U.S. OPEN just called for the day.

Round 1 will resume @ 730 am tomorrow.

well, now I can focus on one sporting event for the day.
Alright everyone, out of class early!

driving to pekin and hopefully gonna turn on the game right as Z throws the first pitch.

I know how bad we all want to win! and I know it’s frustrating. Keep the faith!

Lou says...

“If you have to hit your pitcher anywhere but 9th, It’s time to start getting some better hitters in here,” when being asked by reporters why not hit Zambrano higher in the order.

Hmmm…

Oh Lou

He should think about what he says and then punch Jim Hendry.

Tony LaRussa is not amused.

Well,

he’s never amused about anything.

He should just go sue twitter again

or perhaps have a drink or 6.

of course he's not

HE’S GOT NO LEGS!

I heard that. Lou is just full of bullshit excuses

Z is a better hitter right now than 3 or 4 guys that Lou is putting out there but he doesn’t have the balls to actually tell a guy that he’s hitting 9th till gets his act together. This is ending up just like the Dusty era, what shame.

 We know he doesn’t bat and we know it’s not his fault but, it’s his damn responsibility to put the guys who can hit on the field. It’s his responsibility to kick Soriano in the ass and get him focused or sit his ass down. This is a $136 million damn payroll and if he and Hendry don’t things fixed now, they both should be fired.

If a guy is 5’ 5" and hitting .200 with no power and never walks, why the fuck is he on a MLB field?? I see he’s out of the lineup today but he should be off the damn roster ASAP.

Can't believe this...

I offered up a free ticket to the game today, and no one wanted it! Crazy!

If I was closer than Arlington, VA

I’d be there. But, sadly, I’m not…

I'm assuming...

You’ve already seen this.

:)

(I’m writing this from Arlington myself. Really got a kick out of that video).

I'd go in a second

if I didn’t have a wife who would be upset if I abandoned her for the afternoon.

::makes 'whip' sound::
♪♫ WHIP IT GOOD!!! ♪♫
uh-huh

you wouldn’t like her when she’s angry. :P

I would go in a second

If i didn’t have a job that would be upset if i abandoned it for the afternoon.

I would take it too but am in Wisconsin.
So am I

But the real deterrent was a 2:30 meeting.

Work...

always seems to mess things up!

Tell me about it

What’s the WX like in MKE? Was pretty cloudy in Delavan at 11, but the sun is shining right now.

It's sunny and humid...

warm too. Guess it’s a perfect afternoon for t-storms to pop up out of nowhere.

♪ ♫ MONEY! Money changes everything! ♪ ♫
♫Dave just wants to get ruh-uhns♫
Me too

I took off yesterday for the game, and today is (mostly) all catching up and sorting through the overflowing inbox.

Ditto -- Austin, TX

:(

i am at work :(
Treat some lucky hobo to a day at the park
If I were in Chicago, I probably would've done that.

Just make some random stranger’s day. Unfortunately I’m not.

I have the day off...

…but my wife has the car. Luckily for me, she’s hot, so I’ll forgive her.

Apparently

my tv is even disgusted with the Cubs… Leadoff man went to pregame stuff with Lou… and it was dead silent. But the volume was way up.

Its a sign, I think.

Uh oh.

TV is never wrong.

Also if the

anthem spin around is any indication… fan cam is going to be disturbing.

Arm waddle FTW.

Cue synth machince and guitars

and Jump!

♪ ♫ GET IN AND JUMP. JUMP!!! ♪ ♫
Chicago Cubs Baseball

is ON THE AIR!

The Messman always does the anthem the best.
+1

Have him do the stretch as well.

god

please no. I find Messmer to be… contrived.

Santo should do the stretch.

Completely agree

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