Bleed Cubbie Blue

jerry morales rules - June 26, 2009 reply

They'd have to first

get out of their meth labs to make one.

LOL

rec’d

"But they have lost three in a row heading into Friday's game. "

It’s 4 games, isn’t it?

salparadise23 - June 26, 2009 reply

yea, not sure how a writer can miss that

neifi - June 26, 2009 reply

not sure he missed it as much as it was a typo

WanderingWanderer - June 26, 2009 reply

I have to say...

I like the lineup today. Let’s put some runs on the board.

CubsBullsBears - June 26, 2009 reply

Fox at 3B hasn't been as scary as i was prepared for.

And is totally worth the bat. I like it as well. Go cubs.

Seeing as he's the only guy

who can sorta hit with runners on, i totally agree.

at this point, anything to help the anemic offense

I agree, he's

not been bad and hopefully he has many hits today.

sue369 - June 26, 2009 reply

Without knowing the White Sox lineup

I think the Cubs will see some bunts today, especially if Podsednik leads off.

Sox lineup

WHITE SOX

Podsednik lf

Ramirez ss

Dye rf

Thome dh

Konerko 1b

Castro c

Getz 2b

Anderson cf

Beckham 3b

Contreras p

Rule Flip

I’ve been in favor of this for years. For Cubs-Sox, it doesn’t mean a whole lot, since folks can just jump on the El to see how the other league plays. But for anybody in a city with just one team, it would be a novelty that would bring more interested fans to the park than just the novelty of interleague play alone can do.

If people feel it breaks baseball too much, then just flip the rules for the “rival” series.

I think it would be great to flip the AL and NL rules

because that would allow fans in NL parks to get to see the entire team. For instance, Cubs fans didn’t get a chance to see Travis Hafner play or Jim Thome play at Wrigley.

cowsarecool220 - June 26, 2009 reply

I agree

Plus if the whole point of interleague is to get fans interested, make playing by different rules completely different.

It gives me great comfort that Soriano is leading off...........

with his robust .231 BA, .294 OBP and 71 strike outs.

nice to see he has his BA back up to .231!

every journey begins with a first step…

LAcarl519 - June 26, 2009 reply

What??? He's 20 for his last 120 AB's

and 6 for his last 19

Jeez, Clutche. You don’t like the guy, we get it.

That doesn’t invalidate LAcarl’s point.

and you know

Lou has your comfort in mind.

Indeed

I bet he gave

Hoffpauir a nice pillow, tho.

He should............

Hoff gives him 110% effort starting, DH or off the bench, and his defense isn’t too shabby. Did you see his diving catch at 1st the other day?

Where does he get the extra 10%?

the polyester

stuffing.

Get pillowed!

prepare to receive

fluffy down feathers!

From Soriano

If this diving catch

was anything like the last one in RF, it was probably just because that extra 10% pulled him to the ground.

gravity

is a cruel cruel mistress.

so are the Cubs.....

but we still love them

Rami seconds that

*holds back a tear

I think your response is disguised as a joke, right?

I can hardly stop laughing

just the facts, Joe Friday...

in the last two games he is 4 for 9. that is better than the BA he brought into Wednesday, thus my POSITIVE SPIN.

You may call it a “Dead Cat Bounce”, or “Guess Hack Bounce” I prefer to hope that this was the benefit of his short time off. Time will tell.

LAcarl519 - June 26, 2009 reply

this was a response to Clutche (how it got posted here is beyond me!)

LAcarl519 - June 26, 2009 reply

It was a reply to him

hit the up button. it threaded properly.

hope you're right

jerry morales rules - June 26, 2009 reply

Look, what is he supposed to do?

OK, it drive me nuts that he keeps saying that while putting out an unconventional lineup every single day. I’m surprised ther isn’t more talk about moving Soriano down. There has been some, but seriously, not enough. The Cubs have been getting on base recently. They just aren’t driving them in. Maybe a more traditinal lineup construction would help.

there's this guy playing in AAA, for Syracuse...

Corey something-or-another. I think he has the tools the lead off.

"But today, I am the greatest, of all-time"

I bat lefty

I’d totally do it.

No, you're better qualified to be an umpire

;-)

LOL

Probably true.

pick to click:

randy wells…go get ’em kid!

This is going to be...

…a high scoring affair.

Is that a Soto joke?

No...

…I’m not that clever.

actually it's a...

Soto Chamberlain Sanford joke… ;-)

ballhawk - June 26, 2009 reply

Calling Tommy Chong...

BigJohnAZ - June 26, 2009 reply

Milton Bradley is 4-for-12 against [Contreras] with a homer, and maybe that’s why he’s playing today.

Why the strange start time today?

In order to perfectly overlap with my marketing meeting.

Ugh. Why a 3PM meeting on a Friday? Cruel.

And my flight to Milwaukee

From Chicago?

If so, why not drive?

Oh no

In Atlanta

Just missed you

I’ll be back on Monday

Ah, that makes more sense!

Numbers that may mean something

Just went and counted wins in the first game of a series, comparing this year to 2008.

Last year, we were 15-8 in series game 1’s. W/L record for same amount of games played during that period, 44-25.

2009, we are 10-14 in series game 1’s, record is 34-35.

As we all know, winning the series is the goal, and by losing game one regularly, the odds of taking the series diminishes greatly.

Also, runs scored during first 69 games of 2008, 380. This year, 291.

Runs allowed during first 69 games of 2008, 275, this year 287.

FWIW…

BigJohnAZ - June 26, 2009 reply

Interesting... Glad to see our pitching mostly holding up..

I hope the starters can stay healthy. I do think it’s “when” instead of “if” for our hitting to come around. Given the state of the NL central, our continued good pitching, and the long season “when” could be August for the hitting and they’d still probably be just fine. Wierd year.

"Weird year"

They all are :)

I before e except after C or when making an A like in neighbor and weigh..

oh yeah.. and weird. Damn English language…

Blame Canada

great

now i have that song stuck in my head.

thanks

hahaha

you’re welcome

Crapture!

Thanks for the southpark link

Sounds good!

The second-best song in that movie

Kyle's mom

remains my favorite

I used to do that in karaoke

People were…impressed?

horrified?

I like mine more

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to salivate over the Cubs lineup today?

Instead of sit in dread… I mean, this lineup should be putting up 8+ runs/game on average.

I like the lineup today.

Just get a win….it’s time.

sue369 - June 26, 2009 reply

+1000000

And every time i see your icon, my heart makes a little pitter patter.

Just booked a hotel for homecoming vs Michigan (a night game!) today. The concert on the Pentacrest on friday is The Temptations and Augustana. Should be an awesome weekend in IC.

Every weekend in Iowa City is Awesome

Ages 18 - 22, sure.

After that, once a semester is about all one’s liver can be asked to withstand.

Yah

I make it back to one home game a year. Still not sure which one it will be this year.

I just read the

football predictions for the Hawks in Hawkeye Nation magazine. The three doing the predicting had the Hawks going 10-2 or 9-3. The last time they made those types of predictions it didn’t turn out well. I’m just going to take it one game at a time but I am getting excited for football. It’s my favorite sport.

sue369 - June 26, 2009 reply

Tell me about unfulfilled expectations in Big1T1en football....

Mine too

I'm feelin' a win right here

TWSS

Lou just interviewed...

And said he smoked pot once, and “it didn’t do a damn thing for me”.

CubsBullsBears - June 26, 2009 reply

lol!

I just wish winning went with this new mellow Lou

I kinda like him…

Tom Coughlin did the same thing the year the giants won the super bowl.

Obviously, the Cubs players aren’t responding to a more laid back, friendly, joking manager as well as the Giants players did.

i'm certainly not saying there is psychological effects of good coaching practices

but baseball vs football is comparing a sprint to a marathon and pitching a fit or mellowing out over 16 games compared to 162 is a little misleading…

i’ll prolly get drilled for this, but…i think managers / coaches at the pro level are slightly overrated

these are grown men making filthy salaries…

Football coaches are generally overrated

And discussed in the hushed tones normally reserved for minor deities. Baseball managers are generally an afterthought, unless:

a) They win the World Series, or
b) They’re about to get fired.

agreed...

look at clint hurdle in colo…

in the series 2 years ago w/ prolly the most improbable run in history and then not half way thru this year, (heck only about 30 games i think) and he’s out and the team peels off like a dozen or so Ws in a couple of weeks…

i think players (other than the man-rams of the world) really do prep hard and do what they can each day to help the team win…

when a coach “pulls the right strings” he’s a genious mainly due to the player making a spectacular play, but whose to say another move (or the move not made) would have turned out just as spectacular or even more spectacular…

for three years Lou has tinkered w/ the lineup and the pitching staff and from my experience i see the need for SOME deviation, yet the best and most sucessful teams find what works and doesn’t stray from success and breeds future success

May be a function of the filthy salaries

For $40,000 a year, I’ll go out there and take grounders until the coaches’ arms fall off. Kind of hard to keep a guy motivated when he’s set for life and they can’t dump him for the next X number of years.

Judging from most of Lou's interviews

I’m sure it made no appreciable difference.

So...

Smoke, but no fire. I guess he’s really not a dragon…

just wait

till he has the spicy beef tacos later.

Maybe he didn't inhale...

But that makes no sense!

Ah, the answer to anything every politician says

Are we sure it was pot?

After all, he can’t tell the difference between a reefer and a steroid…

Sounds like Lou!

Lou is a booze man...

…the preferred method for most old time baseball players.

Milton should try...

Just hitting right-handed.

kanderber - June 26, 2009 reply

But but but

left-handed!

twss

Emelie - June 26, 2009 reply

Riot gets the day off...

Good move, IMO. He needed it.

Like to see Blanco at SS

Maybe Lou will get the idea that Riot should play 2nd

Man, I hope the Sox ground into a lot of

6-3s and 4-6-3s. Showcase Blanco’s ability at SS for Lou.

Love for it to happen

but it wouldn’t work. Lou’s in love with Riot at short.

Lord knows why… but i don’t see it changing any time soon.

Good point.

Blanco is much better suited to play SS, and Riot is much better suited to play 2B. Let’s hope Blanco makes the most of this opportunity.

I like Blanco at SS too, but he does have his only error this year at SS in only like 15 chances or so

Because when you get to balls other people don't

you get errors.

Thats the worst possible way to measure someone’s defense.

Not true

Give us a week, and we’ll figure out a worse way.

SportsCenter appearances!

Well.. I can think of some worse ways...

1. Number of times a player spits between pitches
2. Percentage of walks/HR’s hit by the opposing team while you’re in the game..
3. Whether they smoked mexican, california, or colorado weed before the inning started

#2 would rock

+/- for baseball – an idea whose time has come!

Alrighty then...

I speculated that Milty would like the ego boost batting #3 or #4 would bring, time for him to prove my theory something other than wrong.

I like this lineup and better not see and freakin’ fireworks out my office window.

N Oakley - June 26, 2009 reply

actually you should here some in about 30 minutes-they shoot some off right before the 1st pitch

when you hear them-don’t worry! :)

cubswgnrocks - June 26, 2009 reply

I've been to the Cell twice this year...

… and both times, it was “bring your dog” day. No fireworks!

Before we slam Bradley

we should notice that our LHB are .228 and a horrible .173 vs LHP. Hoff at .167 and Fontenot .143 are leaders of the upside down Hendry world that is" lefties are nifty to have because they make us better".

One more thing. Until Fox begins making a mess of 3rd it’d be fair to stop crucifying him for his defense.

tharr - June 26, 2009 reply

I don't think anyone's had a bad thing to say about his defense

Not lately, anyway – he’s been pretty decent there.

Fox has been better at 3b than i ever hoped

This.

Take it back!!!!

You’re going to jinx him!

cowsarecool220 - June 26, 2009 reply

Unpossible

After reading the scouting reports posted before he came up, i wasn’t sure he knew which way 3B was.

my bar wasn’t exactly high

Exactly

and that’s the problem. Perception became reality in many’s mind. Let everyone decide for themselves based upon what they see, not what they’re told.

tharr - June 27, 2009 reply

Very nervous

I am extremely nervous about this weekend. I hope the Cubs break out of this, but I don’t see it happening. The lack of clutch hitting is killing this team.

jselinger24 - June 26, 2009 reply

Nothing like White Sux pitching to fix that

You'll be alright...

…just drink heavily.

That

Better listen to him

He’s pre-med.

for that stretch last week

i tuned in and REALLY BELIEVED that if we were down even in the ninth that we were gonna do whatever necessary to come back…it was just a feeling or a “swagger” i got from the dugout…

for some reason that “swagger” has been AWOL in detroit and especially last year against the dodgers…

no question that this team (with or w/o A-Ram) is super talented and built to win NOW…

could we make moves at the deadline and add some pieces…yes

is it really necessary and would it guarantee success…no

but overall…baseball is a marathon and full of peaks and valleys and the teams that minimalize the downturns will succeed, but alot can be said for being hot in late oct and into nov

We get a lot more swagger

In our home park. Worked that way for most of last year, too.

so true

we were (uh-hum) “clutch” at home last year, which was SO disheartening after the dodgers came in and handed it to us…

beating up on a bad clev team will do wonders for your “swagger”, but this team has been two steps forward and two steps back (enter your own paula abdul reference here) and i don’t think there’s one easy answer for this issue…

JUST KEEP THE GLASS HALF-FULL AND PUSH AHEAD…

less than 85 games will most likely win the central…there’ll be no shame in a .500 record once october rolls around

You know, Detroit's a good team.

they played well in the series, too, which I think gets overlooked sometimes.

Should the Cubs have won a game or two (even three)? Probably. But give Detroit some credit – they’re not leading their division because they stink.

They're leading it because the rest of the division stinks!

rimshot

And we're in 3rd in a crappy division ourselves

don’t hand out rimshots you couldn’t handle getting in return

This is true!

I was just kiddin around though, Detroits no joke this year. Baseball only though

detroit is a very well built team

top to bottom and there’s no shame in getting swept by them (although i don’t think we played our best, but that’s another issue)

they just had our number up there and hopefully a lesson can be learned from every defeat and we can minimalize the lulls thruout the season

THINGS TURN AROUND STARTING TODAY…

(i can’t think of a better team to start a nice run against other than the CHISOX, right?)

Kool-aid vs. soda in log-rolling

I am really glad I don’t watch a lot of daytime TV.

Go Cubs!

but more importantly… Go Cubs!

Scruff0082 - June 26, 2009 reply

Win.

Channeling SWL

Hooray for flash photography!

Quickly!

someone put up the SWL Beacon

He's on vacay

won’t work

I like...

…home grown, no silicone!

I like… home grown

TWSS- That’s what Soto said!

LOL

brilliant

Scruff0082 - June 26, 2009 reply

Genius

Ace Venom - June 26, 2009 reply

NICE.

I wish Rami was on his assignment to the minors already

how cool would it be to see Rami and Manny play at a AAA game

Hopefully they rehab him in Peoria...

so I can watch him crack a few homers at O’Brien Field.

Scruff0082 - June 26, 2009 reply

Mini-"America's Funniest Home Videos"

No less annoying than the real thing.

I'm killing time

by watching ‘trading spouses’

i don’t care how much money they give you… why on earth would anyone ever go on this thing?

That article is exactly why you should hate Paul Sullivan

Lou rests him in a day game following a night game, never once calls it a benching, but Sullivan runs with that headline and story anyway.

Sullivan is an horrible person, a biased hack, and the best thing that will happen from print media dying is that he’ll eventually be out of a job.

Wreckard - June 26, 2009 reply

He's still bitter over Elijah Wood

getting picked over him to play Frodo.

That was a bad choice

All Frodo ever does is fall down and cry. Sullivan was a shoo-in.

Between him and Rogers...

…it’s no wonder the Trib Sports section blows.

+English Lady

Your post pretty much sums up everything that ever needs to be said about Paul Sullivan, other than:

he was fired……from a cannon

Sister Hazel?

Really?

Cue Van Halen

and Jump!