Bleed Cubbie Blue

Not First!

Curtain Jerker - August 16, 2009 reply

Hey Chicago...

whaddya say, the Cubs are gonna win today!

mondello58 - August 16, 2009 reply

PGA Championship, Cubs, Mad Men premiere. Lots to see today.

I don’t think this game is going to be any different than the last two. And we need to cheer for Kyle Lohse to implode today against the Fathers.

dtpollitt - August 16, 2009 reply

Uh...

ENTOURAGE!

Musicdude10 - August 16, 2009 reply

I hope Ashley is gone.

She sucks. Give me more Sloan.

dtpollitt - August 16, 2009 reply

Sloan, darling...

do you have a kiss for Daddy?

San Diego Smooth Jazz Man - August 16, 2009 reply

So that's how it is in their family...

Blue W - August 16, 2009 reply

Ashley looks like she's 12.

Creeps me out.

Don't forget "Hung."

Another in the long line of quality HBO programming.

Photo Caption:

Drop and give me 25!

Now, I just know I saw the ball here somewhere....

Caption:

Now where did that contact lens go?

Curtain Jerker - August 16, 2009 reply

I personally

think that Sandberg will get the job in 2011. Even though there might be heat on Hendry and Lou if the Cubs fail to make the playoffs.
Who Knows maybe next year Miles could be player/coach.
Lets get the sweep, Cubs have to play who is on the schedule, just hope next week on the road they step up and have a good week.

Who Knows maybe next year Miles could be player/coach.

GOD I HOPE THAT WAS A JOKE….unless Miles has a gambling problem

Cubbie-Tim - August 16, 2009 reply

A joke

LOL

Sandberg is the LAST person

who should be managing this team, if it hasn’t won a WS by 2011.

San Diego Smooth Jazz Man - August 16, 2009 reply

No way Sandberg's ready.

You’ve got Alan Trammel sitting there, for God’s sake.

I'd like Trammel to get a chance when Lou decides to leave.

Blue W - August 16, 2009 reply

I am not saying Sandberg is ready

I just think he will get the shot. I like Tram. also.

(“No one on the corner”) Mr. West is in the building
Swagger on a hundred thousand trillion
(“No one on the corner”) Aiyyo I know I got it first
I’m Christopher Columbus, y’all just the pilgrims
Thanksgiving, do we even got a question?
Hermes pastel, I passed the dressing
My attitude is tattooed

Jay Hova?

haha yup

Theme For The Bleachers

No one in the reserved seats
Have stagger like us…

Caption

2… 3… 4…

[girl in green halter top goes by]

78… 79… 80…

San Diego Smooth Jazz Man - August 16, 2009 reply

They also have an imploding closer.

J. Broxton surrendered back-to-back HR’s in the bottom of the 9th Saturday night as the D-Backs tied the game, and won in extras.

Broxton has blown 3 of his last 7 saves in 7 innings pitched.

Right now, Broxton is…a one-pitch pitcher. His slider is being hacked. The Cards did the same to him almost 2 weeks ago.

George Sherill is a timely addition to their pen.

Good. Maybe the Cubs

will be able to get to Broxton next weekend. Hopefully, the Cubs will have the games in hand so he doesn’t even have to appear.

Caption

is it wrong, to do the centipede, backwards to first, when driving in 7 RBIs

Cubbie-Tim - August 16, 2009 reply

Could we start winning games

and the Cardinals lose on the same day? A few days like that would make the next couple of weeks much fun.

mrcubsfan - August 16, 2009 reply

The article also said...

the team is hard to reconstruct, with the bad contracts and no trades, which I think is MORE accurate.

That tells me it won’t be LaRussa. He isn’t the best at working with groceries someone else picked out.

TLR likes the insulated position he has in St. Louis, and has been very gruff with the media who is very afraid of him.

He’s not coming to the Cubs after years of St. Louis. It wouldn’t be a fit in sooo many ways. After getting his rings he will be picky about where he manages if he doesn’t retire (which he has threatened several times). I don’t see him retiring or moving here.

Vermont Cubs Fan - August 16, 2009 reply

In San Diego now...

Go for the sweep today! I might miss it, I’ll be out and about today.

But I’ve got tickets to tomorrow’s game … anyone going?

Trying to decide...

Which game I want to try to get to. I saw the Z/Peavey matchup during the first SD trip, and I like Petco, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen a game at Dodger Stadium.

yajohn - August 16, 2009 reply

Glad you made it safely there Vermont.

With all the crap they had about the anniversary on their broadcast the last series (nuff said about that), nice to see a BCB representin’! Hope you have a fun time in that pretty area.

Caption

Don’t you know where your home is…

TheRiot Police - August 16, 2009 reply

I figured Bob

was not interested in managing this team. He has the job that allows him to be able to watch his son play a few times a year and family means a lot to him.

Vampire Rich today or not? Please be vampire. Get the sweep today boys!

Even if he was interested it would be quite inappropriate to suggest such.

dtpollitt - August 16, 2009 reply

yea, its really hot and humid here today. I hope Rich can handle the heat.....

….a sweep is essential with the Cards playing the Friars

http://www.wunderground.com/sports/MLB/hometeam/Chicago:Cubs.html?st=1250432400

On wunderground.com it does sound too bad

If the Cub's approached him...

…I think he would be torn. Clearly, he knows how good the gig is he has now, but you can tell he still has the fire in the belly.

With all this said, as long as the core of the Cub’s organization stays the same, you won’t find a magic pill in any new manager that may be brought in to save the day.

MPH73 - August 16, 2009 reply

Brenly never said he wasn't interested in the job or would turn it down if offered.

Has everyone forgot he just interviewed for the Brewers job last season? Are you telling me he would take the Brewers job but not the Cubs?

He simply said that by criticizing the team he’s not trying to lobby for Lou’s job. His job as analyst is to give his opinion which is what he has been doing. He criticizes the team because it’s his job and it doesn’t mean he’s trying to push Lou out. Having said all of that he never once said he wouldn’t be interested in the Cubs job. If anyone thinks Brenly would turn down an interview when Lou leaves or turn down the job you’re most likely mistaken.

last year

his son wasn’t drafted by the Cubs organization.

Not sure how that's relevant to what I said. Has Brenly said he wouldn't take the Cubs job if offered it?

no

but he has specifically said he liked getting to go see his kid play. If he took the Cubs job, not only would he not be able to do that, he’d also be in the position of having to evaluate his kid and possibly cut him. I don’t think he wants to do that.

Ok, but he had to have known before he interviewed with the Brewers that his son was going somewhere most likely.

He wouldn’t have interviewed with the Brewers if he wasn’t willing to leave the booth and he had to know then his son could very well be drafted. I would also argue that the big league manager rarely decides how low level players are advanced in the organization. Chances are his son is not a legit major league prospect and he would have very little involvement in decisions regarding him.

I guess we'll

all have to wait and see.

It will be impossible to know unless the Cubs actually ask him to interview which they may not.

Why should we believe Hendry or the next GM would even be interested in him?

What we do know is Brenly has never said he wouldn’t take the Cubs job if they offered it to him.

I like what he says

in the booth about the play of this team but I’m not sure that means he will be a good manager. I agree they may not ask to interview him.

While his comments may not mean he would be a good manager

his World Series ring says a lot more.

Could be but

it makes me wonder why he hasn’t gotten another managing job by now if one has been offered.

Yeah, his world series ring says he was lucky enough to have Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in his rotation.

Sure, that helped.

But you may as well credit Mariano Rivera with his ring, then, because the D’backs were three outs away from losing the Series until Mo had his most infamous blown save.

By your standard, Jack McKeon should get no credit for his WS victory either, since all he had to do was plug in Josh Beckett, Brad Penny, Dontrelle Willis, and Carl Pavano.

Vermont Cubs Fan - August 16, 2009 reply

Caption:

“Where did the baseball go? Did it end up going in this hole I just discovered?”

"Apparent disinterest"?

I must be watching a different team.

Orval Overall - August 16, 2009 reply

Regarding Neil Hayes' article

I really hate it when writers pose a possible scenario and then dismiss it as ludicrous in the next paragraph.

That’s just lazy writing, and it’s really annoying to read. Why offer the possibility of LaRussa becoming the manager when you’re just going to completely blow it up in the next breath? Ugh.

mostly because

columnists want to stir up trouble, because it gets more people to read their… stuff.

When did BLou

start working at the Suntimes?

leothelip - August 16, 2009 reply

Neil Hayes

isn’t a bad guy, but boy, that was tripe. The media in this town is much, much tougher than what TLR deals with in STL.

CaughtInTheVines - August 16, 2009 reply

Fundementals...

…need to be ingrained at the farm level, and that is exactly what most good organizations do. By the time they get to the bigs, it is much more difficult to start baseball 101 with players.

I’m not saying a manager can’t have some influence on this, but not near as much as can happen on the farm (where they have the time and best environment to work on fundementals).

MPH73 - August 16, 2009 reply

+1

Fundamentals have to be drummed in over years. It’s like practicing your scales on an instrument.

And the ideal case is a ML manager with high expectations in this area and minor league management that wants to deliver.

The best scenerio...

…is really an “organizational philosophy” that starts with head of baseball operations and permeates down throughout the entire organization. It has to be a core element of what you are trying to accomplish, and this has not been the case with the Cubs and it has shown.

5 tools are great, but you need to build the tool box to keep those tools in order.

MPH73 - August 16, 2009 reply

Why did I just get the mental image

Of a fat dude patting his belly and saying, “When you got a tool like this, you gotta build a shed over it!”?

I think my brain has something wrong with it…

There's a good chance

Your significant other was nodding behind you when you said that.

Over the 'tool' thing, the 'gut' thing, or the 'brain' thing...

Sounds like an understanding woman you have there.

http://rotoinfo.com/?p=2443

Some people are going to be very happy

Chicago Cubs – Alfonso Soriano, Rest, Doubtful – is not expected to be in the starting lineup Sunday (8/16) vs. Pittsburgh.

You mean we might have 8 position players that could get a hit?

mrcubsfan - August 16, 2009 reply

Nope!

Miles is in there!

Miles=worm hole

mrcubsfan - August 16, 2009 reply

and Fontenot

not with Miles in the lineup......over under on how many 4-3's he has today?

I say 3…..

under

2 4-3’s and one 6-4-3.

santo4hof - August 16, 2009 reply

Hmm both are possible...

That allows for one K…could be the monkeywrench in your prediction if he gets two Ks.

we can only hope

that he Ks every time. I’d ask for a sac fly, but you can’t hit a sac fly to second base.

Are you saying he can't hit Ross Ohlendorf

Weakly and right at an infielder?

ehh

I don’t expect too many Ks. He’s near the bottom of the roster in SO% and actually solidly above average in contact% (the contact just never puts the ball out of the infield).

http://twitter.com/jperrotto

lineup (WARNING! Contains Dangerous Levels of Aaron Miles)

Fukudome cf,
Bradley rf,
Lee 1b,
Ramirez 3b,
Fox lf,
Fontenot 2b,
Soto c,
Miles ss,
Harden p

That lineup makes my heart hurt

it was going so well through the first 5 spots

Does Baker need a rest or something?

Can he play short?

he has played a week straight

So?

just guessing at explanations

You could have gotten a nice paid position in the Philly PR dept.

weird, it seemed used to ride the hot hand almost to a fault..

…now a guy like Baker who is killing the ball isnt in the lineup

ugh.....It seemed Lou used to ride the hot hand...

even a god like jeff baker needs rest

jesus christos - August 16, 2009 reply

Can gods coexist peacefully?

It will be interesting to see if Lilly sits near him today on the bench.

Why not try Lilly near Miles?

Madison Cub Fan - August 16, 2009 reply

Suck vs. Anti-suck

Mutual annihilation, y’know…

put Miles between them and hope he is crushed by accident.

He's saving Baker

to hit a pinch hit HR to win the game…

DKT - August 16, 2009 reply

Not as short as the two starting middle infielders

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

Does Miles have pics of Pinella with a hooker? I just don’t understand his man crush on Miles from any angle at all.

And Baker singlehandedly wins the game yesterday, is red hot, and rides the pine? I realize Fonty’s been out for awhile, but today wasn’t the day to change that.

Miles should be batting ninth

Miles vs RHP .176/.219/.222 .442OPS 110PA
Harden vs RHP .273/.273/.318 .591OPS 25PA

Pathetic.

china423 - August 16, 2009 reply

Ninth in Iowa.

At this point...

I think even Lou’s wife would rather see the pictures of Lou with a hooker than Miles in the lineup

Yabbut

He’s got that porn star goatee goin for him

this is ALWAYS Pineilla's M.O.

instead of resting guys one at a time, he rests three starters in one game. Theriot, Baker, and Soriano.

Now, I’m please Soriano is getting a day off, he clearly needs it, but why hamstring the offense further by using Miles and Fontenot on the same day?

Soto is going to see a lot of good pitches with Eddie Gaedel behind him.....

WE NEED ADAM LIND IN THERE!

SHORTSTOP????

He's played there before

Poorly

Is Blanco off the DL in a couple days

can’t they just make riot go a bit longer without a day off so that they can at least get a defensive upgrade when they downgrade their O at SS.

Andy White will first be available for Tuesday's game

I’ll be counting the seconds.

Of course, they’ll probably stash him at Iowa to “rehab” until they can call him up on 9/1 and avoid making the tough decision…

that's

what I expect will happen as well.

sob

always nice when you trot a 5 man lineup out

and when the pitcher is a better hitter than the 3 people in front of him

nji232 - August 16, 2009 reply

a bit too harsh

Harden (.591OPS) is only hitting righties better than Miles (.442OPS)

Geo (.688OPS) and Fonte (.699OPS) aren’t doing awesome, but they are solid enough for the back of the order.

I would have liked to see Fuld stay in the lineup

Me too but you can bet the farm

He will be in for the 9th if the game is close in anyway.

Doggie Stalker - August 16, 2009 reply

Lou must be senile.

Miles in there makes me want to cry.

Unfortunatley with Theriot out sick he's the only back-up they have at short. But I guess you could consider that senile.

I posted that

before it was announced that Theriot was ill. But thanks for the snarky comment any way.

If I am snarky for pointing out facts what are you for calling Lou senile? Pot meet Kettle.

I question many of

Lou’s decisions this season. How do you know he’s not senile?

How do we know you're not senile?

I guess you'll

never know.

If Special Oly is off limits, sue,

so should be senility. I wouldn’t wish Alzheimer’s on my worst enemy.

True. I'll

be more careful in my posts.

I haven't had an opportunity to see much baseball in the last couple days....

Today I can….. and come here to check the line up. This is it. Both Theriot and Baker have the day off?

Madison Cub Fan - August 16, 2009 reply

Hopefully Ramirez can make up for the automatic out that Miles is

How in the world

does Lou do this garbage, Bake ripping the ball, Miles and Fontenot in the same lineup, unreal.

I hate myself for writing this, but

maybe Piniella knows something you and I don’t.

Ugh. Sorry.

Per Lou on the Pregame...

Theriot has a bad stomach flu and stayed home. It makes a little more sense now…just not to put Miles in there.

until Blanco is back what else can they do with Riot out?

I think Fontenot is the only other player on the roster who’s played SS in the majors (and he’s played just 4 games, none of them this year).

Soriano made his debut as a SS.

mykalmorgan - August 16, 2009 reply

Actually, Soriano played SS in the minors

but he made his ML debut as a pinch-runner for Darryl Strawberry against Tampa Bay.

He wouldn’t play SS again until Jeter missed some time with an injury, and he was recalled from the minors. According to his bio:

In his first four games he batted .188 and booted two grounders. Bellinger and Delgado took over at shortstop until Jeter regained his health.

and…

Alfonso had quick hands, good range, and a strong throwing arm, but his mind tended to wander, particularly on routine chances.

Sounds familiar.

Nothing wrong with that

We can’t be privvy to everything.

Plus, I think Fontenot is done as far as Piniella is concerned. Still, for him to have any trade value whatsoever, he needs to play some times.

It is nice to see

the daily “whining about the lineup” thread is in fine form today, though.

The nature of the fan

I don’t think it’s exclusive to Cub fans, but it’s probably more prevalent.

He does.

Orval Overall - August 16, 2009 reply

LaRussa

couldn’t handle the pressure in Chicago. He’s not coming here, but not because the team isn’t good enough.

That's one reason he wouldn't come here for sure, the media generally loves him in St. Louis

And he still treats them like crap or won’t talk to them for long many times. He knows that schtick wouldn’t fly in Chicago…he was a lot younger and less set in his ways when he coached the Sox.

I don't buy B.B. is not interested in managing the Cubs.

He was in the running in ‘06. Of course that’s what he’s gonna say while Lou’s still the manager.

china423 - August 16, 2009 reply

I 'm with you

I think Brenly know when to say the right things, and this is one of those times

El Borto - August 16, 2009 reply

Eh...possible. His words to the press sure don't mean much I'll say that.

But Brenly sure seems to be having fun as a color man, he does have a low stress job for the most part that does allow him to watch his son a decent amount. I’d have thought by now if he wanted to manage something would have been there he liked. I don’t think at this point anyone knows what he’s really thinking about it.

Sitting in the best seats of life today.

6th row so it should be a good day. But as i’m typing that Ronny woo woo just walked by me. Ugh

cubswynn - August 16, 2009 via mobile reply

He's just looking for his seat

It’s the one right next to yours, BTW.

Now it's raining!

cubswynn - August 16, 2009 via mobile reply

WGN via MLB-AM just said it is dry with a chance of rain

Who are you gonna believe...the radio or the rain falling?

I sure hope we get this one in today. We’ve already been hurt enough by the lost days off from rainouts for sure.

Well I did look at the webcam and NEXRAD, seemed dry on the northside to me...

but then again central Europe is a long way from Wrigley

Pregame is about to start on WGN.

We should know shortly what the conditions are at Wrigley Field.

Breezy, cloudy

Ron on the radio, said there was "gale" blowing out to center

The radio pregame has been on for about 20 to 30 minutes now.

It rained for about 5 minutes.

As if it wasn’t muggy enough.

cubswynn - August 16, 2009 via mobile reply

LaRussa could come back to Chicago...

… however I see it more likely that it would be with the White Sox. Reinsdorf has repeatedly said that one great regret he has was getting rid of LaRussa. And Reinsdorf and LaRussa remain close. The question would be in what capacity, since it seems the Sox are quite happy with Ozzie Guillen & Kenny Williams.

DrCrawdad - August 16, 2009 reply

It would be more likely, a team with a number of established tools and management that would be friendly.

It’s just hard for me to think of him wanting to hear the Chicago media when he talks little in St. Louis…and when he does, he says BOO! and all the media scurries for cover. Guess being a scout, or consultant is possible.

It's like Lou

is trying to give the Pirates a chance.

When you have a weaker opponent down, you tear out its throat with a garden implement.

Do NOT risk going down 5.5 games to get Miles playing time.

Heath Bell was put on waivers .... i just think there's no way in hell he can fall to the Cubs

ummm....wow????

tim815 - August 16, 2009 reply

lots of guys are put on waivers, it's a very good way to gauge the interest

HE'S NO ADAM LIND!

Point well taken, stepping on their throats

For all the weak teams we play has to be the attitude to make the playoffs.

That said I only want to see Miles playing in Iowa. If Lou was told he must play him, then only using him in 17-2 blowouts would be the option to me.

Two things:

One, Brenly said exactly what you would expect someone to say if the job wasn’t actually open. Did you really expect him to say, “heck yes I want that job, when the hell are you getting rid of Pineilla?”

And second, the Pirates as 18-43 on the road this season. What’s the record for worst road record since the schedule expanded to 162 games? They’ve gotta be close to it.

We need to focus today and make that record 18-44.

I don't need to focus at all

The Cubs, on the other hand, should.

No bb for me

I’d like for the cubs to not use BB as the next manager. Just don’t think he is that good. Ryno is on track for 2011, let’s keep it that way

Butchman - August 16, 2009 via mobile reply

Some fodder for Worf, et al

“My problem is I’ve been lazy,” a contrite Zambrano admitted after his morning session.

From here.

This guy infuriates me, obviously

And at the risk of reigniting the Holy War, this is why stats aren’t entirely useful with Zambrano.

If he does not take care of himself properly, then past performance is not as valid an indicator of future value.

Having said that, he sounds contrite and he sounds like he’ll work harder. I hope he does.

Of course, for the money he has been making, I don’t think 50 situps a day are too much to ask.

He does sound contrite

I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this and maybe he’s taking a step forward.

I hate

doing abs too.

Are you paid millions of dollars to stay in shape?

unfortunately,

no. I was simply commenting.

Fair enough

I’m not trying to start anything here – honest.

But past history made that read to me (and Worf, it seemed) like you were defending Zambrano for not doing his exercises.

I hate doing ab work, too, btw.

nope

I think he should eat his wheaties too. I’m not going to defend him for not doing the work he needs to do to stay healthy.

I will note that he doesn’t feel that he’s been overdoing it at BP.

No one cares

Theriot has "stomach flu"

IT'S HAPPENING!?!?!?!?!

I still bet he'd play better than Miles

Whatever fluids come out of his body because of the flu

would play better

Yeah it makes a lot more sense that Riot is out now, Miles can play SS.

I just would still rather have Lou’s wife in there than Miles. Any game.

Caption: Marking up the field, so that Aaron knows where to go requires real expertise

Andres Blanco is eligible to come off the DL Tuesday

I'd rather have Fontenot play SS

he’s done it a couple times, let Baker play 2nd.

I'd rather have Soriano at second

And play the little shell game Lou pulled a few weeks back for the entire game.

DOME AT SS!

hmm

Now I’m wondering about the most screwed up defensive lineup you could make from the Cubs roster with positions they’ve actually played in the majors.

C Fox
1B ?
2B Soriano
3B Hill
SS Fontenot
LF Marshall
CF Bradley
RF ?

Miles has played outfield in his career.

there ya go

too bad he hasn’t played first. Can you imagine Riot throwing to Miles?

Would being that close to the ground

Make it easier to dig out throws in the dirt?

I can't imagine

have arms that are a foot shorter would.

Sure

I can also imagine a lot of infield hits

yep, has a game in RF

C Fox
1B ?
2B Soriano
3B Hill
SS Fontenot
LF Marshall
CF Bradley
RF Miles

even more shocking is that Miles has appeared twice in the DH spot
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/milesaa01-field.shtml

Baker has played 1B

But maybe a bit too well for this list…

Inkin - August 16, 2009 reply

and pitched, iirc

tim815 - August 16, 2009 reply

raining in Melrose Park

now.

REALLY

raining.

Darn it, tarp's on the field now.

Only good news was while it will rain all day they will be brief until tonight. We sure need to get the game in today.

Z Just said he doesn't think BP hurts his back...

Any Physical Therapist would tell you the muscles are connected in using your core. He also didn’t realize drinking Red Bull and Coffee before a game would contribute to cramps…the Cubs and their trainers need to sit down with this guy and have a long talk, he’s being paid too much money to let him go without a lot of monitoring. Every time he gets injured he never seems to understand until then how he contributed to the problem.

That is on the Cubs, too, then.

Looks like we can

JUMP

(Maybe) First Pitch Thread is a go

JUMP!