5/10 Cubs (Zambrano) @ Giants (Cain) 9:15 CSNC TV/XM 189

[cheapseats]

This team is incredibly weak minded.

 

They need more fire. FIRE!

[mjohnson71]

Thanks to whomever it was that decided to start putting the XM channel in the subject header.

[C.C.]

This team is incredibly weak minded.

 

They need more fire. FIRE!

 

They have been week minded since 2004...Every year is the same thing over and over again.

[NorthsideAvenger]

This team is incredibly weak minded.

 

They need more fire. FIRE!

 

They have been week minded since 2004...Every year is the same thing over and over again.

 

The Bears "Defense" has taken on the personality of both Rivera and Smith. That "personality" is a low-talking, hard-hitting do the job on the field attitude.

 

The Bulls have taken the personality of that of Scott Skiles. That personality is that to play incredibly hard, and play to the UTMOST of your talent, if not exceed it. In other words...overachieve.

 

The White Sox have taken the personality of that of Ozzie Guillen. Don't understand what they heck they are doing, but they play the game right and hard. (Can ANYBODY truly understand what Guillen says? :? ) No excuses.

 

The Blackhawks.....well NM, they ain't professional.

 

That means the Cubs have taken on the personality of Dusty Baker. That means...Dusty is incredibly inept of the foundamentals. Incredibly sensitve (ahem weak minded), excuse laden team that Don Baylor would be proud of.

 

In other words....This engine is broke, and the Cubs need a completely need engine.

[C.C.]

This team is incredibly weak minded.

 

They need more fire. FIRE!

 

They have been week minded since 2004...Every year is the same thing over and over again.

 

The Bears "Defense" has taken on the personality of both Rivera and Smith. That "personality" is a low-talking, hard-hitting do the job on the field attitude.

 

The Bulls have taken the personality of that of Scott Skiles. That personality is that to play incredibly hard, and play to the UTMOST of your talent, if not exceed it. In other words...overachieve.

 

The White Sox have taken the personality of that of Ozzie Guillen. Don't understand what they heck they are doing, but they play the game right and hard. (Can ANYBODY truly understand what Guillen says? :? ) No excuses.

 

The Blackhawks.....well NM, they ain't professional.

 

That means the Cubs have taken on the personality of Dusty Baker. That means...Dusty is incredibly inept of the foundamentals. Incredibly sensitve (ahem weak minded), excuse laden team that Don Baylor would be proud of.

 

In other words....This engine is broke, and the Cubs need a completely need engine.

 

But the problem lies who's going to fix it? Let's face it we swap out managers more then Corey Pattersons K's. I don't think it's only Dusty's fault. It's from upper managerment on down...

[cheapseats]

This team is incredibly weak minded.

 

They need more fire. FIRE!

 

They have been week minded since 2004...Every year is the same thing over and over again.

 

The Bears "Defense" has taken on the personality of both Rivera and Smith. That "personality" is a low-talking, hard-hitting do the job on the field attitude.

 

The Bulls have taken the personality of that of Scott Skiles. That personality is that to play incredibly hard, and play to the UTMOST of your talent, if not exceed it. In other words...overachieve.

 

The White Sox have taken the personality of that of Ozzie Guillen. Don't understand what they heck they are doing, but they play the game right and hard. (Can ANYBODY truly understand what Guillen says? :? ) No excuses.

 

The Blackhawks.....well NM, they ain't professional.

 

That means the Cubs have taken on the personality of Dusty Baker. That means...Dusty is incredibly inept of the foundamentals. Incredibly sensitve (ahem weak minded), excuse laden team that Don Baylor would be proud of.

 

In other words....This engine is broke, and the Cubs need a completely need engine.

 

Lovie is a good defensive coach. Could it be that the Bears are playing good defense because they have good schemes?

 

As for Skiles, he, too is a good defensive coach. Are the Bulls playing harder for him than they were for Floyd? Probably. But that shows up on defense. "Intensity" doesn't help out a whole lot on the offensive end. It might get you an offensive rebound every now and then or a loose ball, but it doesn't help you make a jump shot.

 

How, exactly, would intensity help the Cubs? Getting in Jacque Jones' face is not going to make him a better hitter. Would a fiery manager make Neifi less useless than he is right now? Would a good motivator make Pierre's arm stronger?

 

There are some things that a more intense manager might correct - getting the outfielders to hit the cutoff man, getting Aramis to run out groundballs, getting Glendon Rusch to cover first, etc. But annoying as those things are, they aren't the main reasons the Cubs have lost 8 games in a row. And almost invariably, the old school in-your-face type managers that might correct such things are also the ones who would have their starters throw too many pitches and sac bunt in the first inning.

[RegulusBlue]

No, its Dusty's fault. This team would not have lost its last 8 games if Neifi and Bynum had seen no time during that stretch. Same goes for Gas Can Novoa. There is no way in hell we would have won all or even half of them, but 2-6 or 3-5 is alot better than 0-8.

 

The decision to play the worst players on the team smacks of tee ball where the parents are livid if their kid isn't out there for every pitch, except Dusty is Neifi's dad. Hendry inked the deals for these terrible bench (at best) guys, but its Dusty's insistence that keeps Neifi on the team, because anyone alive knows that he doesn't even belong in AAA.

 

Dusty is at fault for reacting to an offensive drought by putting in the worst players. Can you imagine losing a footrace, only to challenge a rerace with steel-toed boots on rather than tennis shoes? He's also at fault for making Clines and Matthews the hitting coaches. What a bunch of terrible baseball guys.

 

Firing Dusty is the answer. Any of us could roll out of bed and drive to Chicago this week, and manage the team to a better record than 0-8 with 11 runs in 10 games. Book it. The proof will be in the pudding if Dusty gets canned, and a new manager resurrects the offense.

[C.C.]

Firing Dusty is the answer. Any of us could roll out of bed and drive to Chicago this week, and manage the team to a better record than 0-8 with 11 runs in 10 games. Book it. The proof will be in the pudding if Dusty gets canned, and a new manager resurrects the offense.

 

I remember the same thing before we fired Zimmer, Rigglemen, and Baylor...

[goonys evil twin]

Firing Dusty is the answer. Any of us could roll out of bed and drive to Chicago this week, and manage the team to a better record than 0-8 with 11 runs in 10 games. Book it. The proof will be in the pudding if Dusty gets canned, and a new manager resurrects the offense.

 

I remember the same thing before we fired Zimmer, Rigglemen, and Baylor...

 

I still don't understand what Riggleman did wrong. He had a talentless bunch of hacks and got 90 wins out of them one year. He was actually ripped for babying Kerry Wood too much. What was it that he did wrong?

[soccer10k]

A new manager can't make our guys hit. The offense is flat out pathetic. They aren't catching bad breaks, they just suck.

[C.C.]

Firing Dusty is the answer. Any of us could roll out of bed and drive to Chicago this week, and manage the team to a better record than 0-8 with 11 runs in 10 games. Book it. The proof will be in the pudding if Dusty gets canned, and a new manager resurrects the offense.

 

I remember the same thing before we fired Zimmer, Rigglemen, and Baylor...

 

I still don't understand what Riggleman did wrong. He had a talentless bunch of hacks and got 90 wins out of them one year. He was actually ripped for babying Kerry Wood too much. What was it that he did wrong?

 

He had some decent years with awful teams. I always thought he did an decent job, but he hasn't managed since the cubs and that speaks volumes. You would think someone would give him another chance. I can tell you this if Dusty gets fired of leaves after this year, he'll be employed as a manager for some major league team in 2007.

[goonys evil twin]

He had some decent years with awful teams. I always thought he did an decent job, but he hasn't managed since the cubs and that speaks volumes. You would think someone would give him another chance. I can tell you this if Dusty gets fired of leaves after this year, he'll be employed as a manager for some major league team in 2007.

 

I don't think it speaks volumes. MLB is a good ole boy network. Reputation and tenure is much more important to "baseall people" than actual ability and merit.

 

And I'm not sure Dusty would get another job right away.

 

 

In 98 the Cubs offense ranked 5th/7th/5th in AVG/OBP/SLG, and 11th in ERA (with only a 97 ERA+, tied with 3 other teams for 8th place ie, below average). How did he get 90 wins out of them?

 

I'm not saying Riggs was a genius or anything, but he's a dude who took a fall for his GM's failing, moreso than Baker would be.

[Banedon]

I still don't understand what Riggleman did wrong. He had a talentless bunch of hacks and got 90 wins out of them one year. He was actually ripped for babying Kerry Wood too much. What was it that he did wrong?

 

My theory:

 

Riggleman was characterized as mild-mannered but fair, a manager who would stand up to his players if needed, as he did in the 1997 season finale in St. Louis when he confronted Sosa in the dugout for what he thought was selfish play.

 

That was before Sosa went on to become one of the great home run hitters in baseball history the past two seasons with 66 and 63 homers. The two patched up their differences.

 

Sosa was at his peak, and probably had the most influence he's ever had at that point. That combined with the fact that they went from 9 games over .500 in July of 1999, to finish the season 67-95 was enough for Ed Lynch to make a desperation move to try to save his own job.

[ManCrushOnNomar]

A good manager would light a fire under this teams butts and tell the media why they're not performing. He constantly makes excuses for everything that goes wrong and never comes forward and tells it like it is. Look what's happened in Detroit.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Cubs Game Notes

[Flames24Rulz]

we HAVE to win tonight, and I believe we will too.

 

i don't expect much from the offense, but I think Z will be awesome tonight.

 

Final score: Cubs 3 - Giants 1

[otis89]

we HAVE to win tonight, and I believe we will too.

 

i don't expect much from the offense, but I think Z will be awesome tonight.

 

Final score: Cubs 3 - Giants 1

 

Uh, 3 runs is expecting a lot from the offense.

[Flames24Rulz]

we HAVE to win tonight, and I believe we will too.

 

i don't expect much from the offense, but I think Z will be awesome tonight.

 

Final score: Cubs 3 - Giants 1

 

Uh, 3 runs is expecting a lot from the offense.

 

Bonds will misplay a ball terribly in left leading to 2 of the 3 :wink:

[soccer10k]

we HAVE to win tonight, and I believe we will too.

 

i don't expect much from the offense, but I think Z will be awesome tonight.

 

Final score: Cubs 3 - Giants 1

 

Uh, 3 runs is expecting a lot from the offense.

 

Bonds will misplay a ball terribly in left leading to 2 of the 3 :wink:

 

Bonds will be running after a ball, will slip and tear his knee to shreads.

[sunnydoo]

I am reminded in thinking of tonight's game of these words:

 

All hope abandon, ye who enter here-

 

Dante, 1308

[baseball7897]

It's easy to put the blame on Dusty for what has happened during this losing streak. But the bottom line is the players need to perform. They are not getting the job done, they are missing the cut off man or getting picked off 2nd base not Dusty. I think before you consider firing Dusty you look at the players and go from there.

[Bruce Miles]

Lineups

 

Cubs

Cedeno, SS

Pierre, CF

Walker, 2B

Ramirez, 3B

Mabry, 1B

Murton, LF

Jones, RF

Blanco, C

Zambrano, P

 

Giants

Winn, RF

Vizquel, SS

Sweeney, 1B

Bonds, LF

Finley, CF

Feliz, 3B

Frandsen, 2B

Matheny, C

Cain, P

[Jon]

Uh huh......

 

 

.......

 

 

Thanks, Bruce!

[Drew Doughty]

Mabry batting 5th? Ugh. I do like Ronny leading off though.

[hrowengartner]

Pierre is not leading off is this for real or is this just a sick joke