My God what a change from Dusty Baker. .

[rocket]

Hmmmm........0-2 and have played like crap their first two games. What exactly is different?

 

What would be "refreshing" would be solid play and wins......not what spin the manager puts on the situation.

 

Way too much made of Baker as the problem with the team.......way too much.

 

Players either execute or they dont.

 

Piniella's managed some great teams....and some real dogs. He is one in a very, very long line of Cub Saviours.

 

Dont get your hopes up.

 

it's spring training

[VVMattVV]

Hmmmm........0-2 and have played like crap their first two games. What exactly is different?

 

What would be "refreshing" would be solid play and wins......not what spin the manager puts on the situation.

 

Way too much made of Baker as the problem with the team.......way too much.

 

Players either execute or they dont.

 

Piniella's managed some great teams....and some real dogs. He is one in a very, very long line of Cub Saviours.

 

Dont get your hopes up.

 

Spring training wins would be refreshing?

[J.R.]

Hmmmm........0-2 and have played like crap their first two games. What exactly is different?

 

What would be "refreshing" would be solid play and wins......not what spin the manager puts on the situation.

 

Way too much made of Baker as the problem with the team.......way too much.

 

Players either execute or they dont.

 

Piniella's managed some great teams....and some real dogs. He is one in a very, very long line of Cub Saviours.

 

Dont get your hopes up.

 

cubs.com has a terrific new layout ...

[98navigator]

Hmmmm........0-2 and have played like crap their first two games. What exactly is different?

 

What would be "refreshing" would be solid play and wins......not what spin the manager puts on the situation.

 

Way too much made of Baker as the problem with the team.......way too much.

 

Players either execute or they dont.

 

Piniella's managed some great teams....and some real dogs. He is one in a very, very long line of Cub Saviours.

 

Dont get your hopes up.

 

Huh, did you watch/listen to the games? Seriously, it's early in ST and wins and losses right now aren't that important (especially when most of the regulars aren't playing more than a couple of innings). In both losses, the lead was relinquished by players with very little shot of making the 25 man club. In today's tie, it was O'Malley and Marmol that each gave away a lead (to be fair, most of the starters today weren't regulars). This team can't be evaluated until the roster is thinned and the regulars are playing 9 innings.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Hmmmm........0-2 and have played like crap their first two games. What exactly is different?

 

What would be "refreshing" would be solid play and wins......not what spin the manager puts on the situation.

 

Way too much made of Baker as the problem with the team.......way too much.

 

Players either execute or they dont.

 

Piniella's managed some great teams....and some real dogs. He is one in a very, very long line of Cub Saviours.

 

Dont get your hopes up.

 

I love a good sense of humor.

[RichHillIsABeast]

Our starters are playing fine, especially Barrett, Murton, and Jones.

 

I wouldn't get too bent out of shape about wins at this point when your minor leaguers are getting more than 50% of the playing time.

 

The Cubs ML SP have pitched well, especially Marquis who seems to have regained the GB ability which made him a decent starter.

[Yeti]

This is so refreshing!

 

Link

 

Quote of the day: "You look at this ballgame today, and we just didn't really execute. We had runners on second base twice with no outs and couldn't get them over. The game ended up 5-5, and we could've lost the darn thing. But these are the things we're going to have to work on. I don't expect my boppers to do that, but the rest of these kids in the lineup will have to play that type of baseball if they want to stay in the lineup. That's how you win baseball games. You don't win baseball games with a two-run lead in the seventh inning hitting batters and walking people. These are the things we have to correct and find the right combinations for. That's just fact, and nothing more but fact. These are the things we have to work on. There's talent here, but we have to get it to mesh and we have to get it to execute the way you have to do to win baseball games with consistency. If not, it's just a struggle." -- Piniella, after Saturday's game against Oakland. The Cubs were 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position, and stranded seven baserunners.

 

Uh, that's actually one thing that I thought Dusty did say a great deal.

 

I don't really think so. Dusty would, more often than not, find a way to deflect blame for why they didn't get the job done and he certainly never came out and said play was unacceptable. I also don't recall Dusty, publically, challenging guys; telling them to step up their collective game if they expect to play.

 

I guess we have different memories then. Dusty would deflect it some of the time, but he said all of that plenty of times. He also challenged people to step up their game-Rich Hill is a perfect example of somebody who he said had to step up if he expected to play. I thought that Dusty talked about execution in the way Piniella is there most of the time when addressing what was wrong with his team. In fact, he was widely criticized for blaming it on simply not executing in that way.

IIRC, Dustbag was pretty quick to jump on a rooks case publically, but vets, not so much

[Jehrico]

This is so refreshing!

 

Link

 

Quote of the day: "You look at this ballgame today, and we just didn't really execute. We had runners on second base twice with no outs and couldn't get them over. The game ended up 5-5, and we could've lost the darn thing. But these are the things we're going to have to work on. I don't expect my boppers to do that, but the rest of these kids in the lineup will have to play that type of baseball if they want to stay in the lineup. That's how you win baseball games. You don't win baseball games with a two-run lead in the seventh inning hitting batters and walking people. These are the things we have to correct and find the right combinations for. That's just fact, and nothing more but fact. These are the things we have to work on. There's talent here, but we have to get it to mesh and we have to get it to execute the way you have to do to win baseball games with consistency. If not, it's just a struggle." -- Piniella, after Saturday's game against Oakland. The Cubs were 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position, and stranded seven baserunners.

 

Uh, that's actually one thing that I thought Dusty did say a great deal.

 

I don't really think so. Dusty would, more often than not, find a way to deflect blame for why they didn't get the job done and he certainly never came out and said play was unacceptable. I also don't recall Dusty, publically, challenging guys; telling them to step up their collective game if they expect to play.

 

I guess we have different memories then. Dusty would deflect it some of the time, but he said all of that plenty of times. He also challenged people to step up their game-Rich Hill is a perfect example of somebody who he said had to step up if he expected to play. I thought that Dusty talked about execution in the way Piniella is there most of the time when addressing what was wrong with his team. In fact, he was widely criticized for blaming it on simply not executing in that way.

Whether Dusty deflected blame or not depended on how many years the offending player had in the league...

[hardcorecubfan]

How quickly have those you song the accolades of Dusy (In Dusty we Trusty) to be singing the praises of still an unproven manager. I say that for all managers are unproven when it comes to the Chicago Cubs.

 

though he sounds a bit more intellegent

[98navigator]

Lou Piniella is not unproven. He comes to the Cubs with more of a pedigree than Baker; both as a player and manager.

[CubinNY]

Nice article from Bruce, regarding Lou's temper and the play of the Cubs. There are some good quotes from Lou.

 

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/cubs.asp?id=287509

 

So far Lou is nothing like Dusty.

[Banedon]

Nice article from Bruce, regarding Lou's temper and the play of the Cubs. There are some good quotes from Lou.

 

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/cubs.asp?id=287509

 

So far Lou is nothing like Dusty.

 

“Your on-base percentage up here can’t be your batting average,” Piniella said. “It just can’t be. You look at winning teams, offensively, and they all have on-base percentages of .345 or better, and that’s what we’ve got to do here with our baseball team.

 

“Whether it’s a base on balls, a basehit or whatever, they all add up.”

 

I noticed how that quote seemed to miss the Tribune, but showed up in the Herald... :)

[goonys evil twin]

Nice article from Bruce, regarding Lou's temper and the play of the Cubs. There are some good quotes from Lou.

 

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/cubs.asp?id=287509

 

So far Lou is nothing like Dusty.

 

“Your on-base percentage up here can’t be your batting average,” Piniella said. “It just can’t be. You look at winning teams, offensively, and they all have on-base percentages of .345 or better, and that’s what we’ve got to do here with our baseball team.

 

“Whether it’s a base on balls, a basehit or whatever, they all add up.”

 

I noticed how that quote seemed to miss the Tribune, but showed up in the Herald... :)

 

It's like Bruce takes Lou to the side and says, "Now that they are gone, give me an intelligent answer."

[hardcorecubfan]

Lou Piniella is not unproven. He comes to the Cubs with more of a pedigree than Baker; both as a player and manager.

 

I realize that, but when it comes to the Cubs, they have a tendency to humble the best dog in the lot.

[goonys evil twin]

Lou Piniella is not unproven. He comes to the Cubs with more of a pedigree than Baker; both as a player and manager.

 

I realize that, but when it comes to the Cubs, they have a tendency to humble the best dog in the lot.

 

Without any experience employing the "best dog" it's hard to know if that's true.

[98navigator]

Lou Piniella is not unproven. He comes to the Cubs with more of a pedigree than Baker; both as a player and manager.

 

I realize that, but when it comes to the Cubs, they have a tendency to humble the best dog in the lot.

 

I agree that managing the Cubs is unique because there's a skeptical fan base and cynical media ready to overanalyze every move and anticipate failure. We've seemingly seen it all before... It's crazy. What other organization's manager or players are grilled about the teams futility before one game is ever played? It's almost like we're bipolar; operating with high expectations and certain doom. Winning the World Series is the only cure for this problem.

 

Having said all that, I still contend that Baker wasn't what we thought he was. LOL, that is, his work in San Francisco didn't prepare him for the media scrutiny he'd get here because, aside from being a bad in-game manager, he was horrible with the media. Lou Piniella has played and managed in NYC and Cincy (both of which are tough baseball towns) plus, he's been apart of the media which makes him much more qualified than most to handle the spotlight of the Cubs' job. Most importantly, I think he understands how to manage a game better than Baker.

[goonys evil twin]

Having said all that, I still contend that Baker wasn't what we thought he was.

 

He was exactly what I thought he was.

[98navigator]

Having said all that, I still contend that Baker wasn't what we thought he was.

 

He was exactly what I thought he was.

 

I'm glad someone was on to him because I wasn't.

[CuseCubFan69]

I wanted the Cubs to hire Lou when they hired Dusty but I admit I wasn't so keen on him this time around. It's still a long ways to go but I like what I've read so far.

[moorecg]

It may have been mentioned elsewhere...and its only kind of indirectly attributable to Lou...but I really liked Trammel's comments during yesterday's game about how the pitchers giving up walks was unacceptable....that was very refreshing to hear...now if they can only get performances to reflect that.

[Soul]

It may have been mentioned elsewhere...and its only kind of indirectly attributable to Lou...but I really liked Trammel's comments during yesterday's game about how the pitchers giving up walks was unacceptable....that was very refreshing to hear...now if they can only get performances to reflect that.

 

If they keep saying the right things and at least attempt to apply it, then I'm willing to stick with Lou and his crew even if success doesn't come this year.

 

It's refreshing just to hear sanity and reason for a change.

[Connor McConnor]

It may have been mentioned elsewhere...and its only kind of indirectly attributable to Lou...but I really liked Trammel's comments during yesterday's game about how the pitchers giving up walks was unacceptable....that was very refreshing to hear...now if they can only get performances to reflect that.

 

If they keep saying the right things and at least attempt to apply it, then I'm willing to stick with Lou and his crew even if success doesn't come this year.

 

It's refreshing just to hear sanity and reason for a change.

 

You are? After 100 years and the payroll they have now? You are satisfied if the talk is good? Sanity and reason? Thats enough?

 

How about wins and a trip to the World Series? I'll accept Insanity and chaos....if it means a winning ballclub and a trip to the World Series.

 

It's really something to see how Cub fans begin to lay the ground work for being satisfied....even if the club continues to fail.

[Banedon]

It's really something to see how Cub fans begin to lay the ground work for being satisfied....even if the club continues to fail.

 

It's because we so desperately WANT to be satisfied with this team, when the truth is that we never are, and likely never will be. Look at the Bears...as much fun as we had this year, there's still a lot of dissatisfaction with the team...the defense didn't play well against the Colts, or Grossman stinks, or the coaching doesn't adapt...it's just the nature of Chicago sports fans, if not all sports fans. And it's especially the nature of the internet sports fan.

[CubinNY]

It's really something to see how Cub fans begin to lay the ground work for being satisfied....even if the club continues to fail.

 

It's because we so desperately WANT to be satisfied with this team, when the truth is that we never are, and likely never will be. Look at the Bears...as much fun as we had this year, there's still a lot of dissatisfaction with the team...the defense didn't play well against the Colts, or Grossman stinks, or the coaching doesn't adapt...it's just the nature of Chicago sports fans, if not all sports fans. And it's especially the nature of the internet sports fan.

 

What I want to see is improvement or at least some semblence of follow through on the part of the coaching staff to make things better.

 

With Dusty it was all denial and blame.

[Soul]

It may have been mentioned elsewhere...and its only kind of indirectly attributable to Lou...but I really liked Trammel's comments during yesterday's game about how the pitchers giving up walks was unacceptable....that was very refreshing to hear...now if they can only get performances to reflect that.

 

If they keep saying the right things and at least attempt to apply it, then I'm willing to stick with Lou and his crew even if success doesn't come this year.

 

It's refreshing just to hear sanity and reason for a change.

 

You are? After 100 years and the payroll they have now? You are satisfied if the talk is good? Sanity and reason? Thats enough?

 

How about wins and a trip to the World Series? I'll accept Insanity and chaos....if it means a winning ballclub and a trip to the World Series.

 

It's really something to see how Cub fans begin to lay the ground work for being satisfied....even if the club continues to fail.

 

Maybe you're right. I'll give Lou more than one year if I think he's taking this club in a direction I think is refreshing.

 

To me, we've had 100 years of chaos and insanity already. And it's gotten us nothing. The actual dollar figures mean little to me -- how we develop and use our players matters more. I've watched 150 million dollar ballclubs win it, and watched 50 million dollar ones do the same.