4/18 - Astros (Wandy) @ Cubs (Dempster) 1:20 PM WGN/720

[illiniguy]

I disagree. That team last year missed half a season from Aramis Ramirez, had Milton Bradley, Carlos Zambrano, and Rich Harden have by far the worst year in their careers, and had Soto fall off of a cliff.

The half season of Ramirez hurts, Byrd will play approximately as well as Bradley (less on base but more slugging, given his career numbers) but I'm not convinced we'll get anything better out of Zambrano or Harden's replacement(s) or even Soto this year

 

So whats the big difference between this year and last year? Less Bobby Scales? Ok, peg us for a few extra wins on top of the 83 mark then

 

Then go ahead and subtract a few more for a slightly worse bullpen and a month less of Lilly

The big difference is we got older. Plus some of our guys are aging badly, Soriano. We will look better when Ramirez starts hitting, assuming he does. The thing that bothers me is I really don't think that the Cardinals are that good. They have two pitchers, one being held together by band aids one elite hitter and then one very good hitter. Why does it seem like they always overachieve and we always underachieve?

[illiniguy]

Probably going to be 3 back of the Cardinals after only 2 weeks. Yep, not looking forward to the rest of this season.

 

Wait, wait, wait...you clearly recognize that it's only 3 games back only 2 weeks into the season.

 

Yes. My point is that we are three games back and the season is only two weeks old and I don't have much faith in our team. I'm saying that I think there is a good chance that we will end up way out of first place.

if you thought that there was any way we finished better than 3rd in the division, you were deluding yourself to begin with

 

Who else in the division is better than us?

St. Louis for sure. I could see Cincy or Milwaukee giving us a run as well.

[BigSlick]

Milwaukee's pitching is bad bad, they almost lost a game today when they had a 10 run lead in the first. They've only had one game where their pitching has given up less than 5 runs, its almost incredible. Even with a good offense I can't see them being that great.

 

Cincy is a question mark, they have some really nice pieces and some really questionable players. Also everything is managed by Dusty Baker. They could be better than us, certainly not out of the question, but who knows.

[erik316wttn]

I hate this team

[gflore34]

This is a bad, bad baseball team, there's nothing to point out and say - it's going to improve. The bullpen as is will continue to walk the world, Zambrano as well, it's pretty discouraging.

[illiniguy]

This is a bad, bad baseball team, there's nothing to point out and say - it's going to improve. The bullpen as is will continue to walk the world, Zambrano as well, it's pretty discouraging.

Follow the minors. We have a lot to be excited about down there.

[Soul]

Hooray another lead blown late.

 

Wonderful habit you're establishing for the season, Cubs.

 

Glad I didn't watch this one.

[gflore34]

I disagree. That team last year missed half a season from Aramis Ramirez, had Milton Bradley, Carlos Zambrano, and Rich Harden have by far the worst year in their careers, and had Soto fall off of a cliff.

The half season of Ramirez hurts, Byrd will play approximately as well as Bradley (less on base but more slugging, given his career numbers) but I'm not convinced we'll get anything better out of Zambrano or Harden's replacement(s) or even Soto this year

 

So whats the big difference between this year and last year? Less Bobby Scales? Ok, peg us for a few extra wins on top of the 83 mark then

 

Then go ahead and subtract a few more for a slightly worse bullpen and a month less of Lilly

The big difference is we got older. Plus some of our guys are aging badly, Soriano. We will look better when Ramirez starts hitting, assuming he does. The thing that bothers me is I really don't think that the Cardinals are that good. They have two pitchers, one being held together by band aids one elite hitter and then one very good hitter. Why does it seem like they always overachieve and we always underachieve?

 

I don't get that either, simply amazing that anyone they pick up off the waiver wire and throw in the bullpen becomes Mariano Rivera.

[CubbieBum]

 

Because he can't be down on his team? Here comes your I am better than you attitude again. No one is allowed to think the team is going to be bad because they have shown very little in two weeks of play. We must wait until August to proclaim the team won't be good.

 

Weren't you the one complaining about people predicting the Cubs getting swept not 2 weeks ago?

 

To me there is a huge difference between someone posting that we will be swept in our season opening series and saying based on the first two weeks of crap I don't expect the team to be good at all.

 

I don't believe we will be below .500. I think we will end up with between 85-90 wins but I am OK with people saying that the team has looked like crap and based on that I don't expect us to compete. I do have a problem with fans who before the season has even started post a short, one sentence saying we're going to get swept. One has at least some analysis and reasoning behind it. The other is the always pessimistic, give up, loser attitude I hate in some Cubs fans.

[illiniguy]

 

Because he can't be down on his team? Here comes your I am better than you attitude again. No one is allowed to think the team is going to be bad because they have shown very little in two weeks of play. We must wait until August to proclaim the team won't be good.

 

Weren't you the one complaining about people predicting the Cubs getting swept not 2 weeks ago?

 

To me there is a huge difference between someone posting that we will be swept in our season opening series and saying based on the first two weeks of crap I don't expect the team to be good at all.

 

I don't believe we will be below .500. I think we will end up with between 85-90 wins but I am OK with people saying that the team has looked like crap and based on that I don't expect us to compete. I do have a problem with fans who before the season has even started post a short, one sentence saying we're going to get swept. One has at least some analysis and reasoning behind it. The other is the always pessimistic, give up, loser attitude I hate in some Cubs fans.

I always get pissed at lab rats who are conditioned to do something, then do it too.

[UMFan83]

This is a bad, bad baseball team, there's nothing to point out and say - it's going to improve. The bullpen as is will continue to walk the world, Zambrano as well, it's pretty discouraging.

Follow the minors. We have a lot to be excited about down there.

 

And the offense is better than how they've played. And the starting pitching has been really really excellent so far this year for the most part. I don't think there is a big gap between us and the Cardinals, I really don't.

 

We've lost 7 games this year, and 6 of them have been within 2 runs (4 of them 1 run losses). Break that down even further and 4 of those 6 losses have been in games where we scored less than 4 runs in the game. That screams of a team that is desperately needed to hit better. Then you look at some of the starts some of the Cubs have gotten off to....you would clearly expect them to hit better and score more runs than they have so far. Anyways, they haven't played great, but I don't think they've been bad either. Take out a horrible opening day, and our run differential for the next 11 games is +6 (47 scored, 41 allowed) despite being 5-6 in those games. This team isn't horrible (at least hasn't proven so yet).

[Omar]

Was at the game. Absolutely pathetic.

 

I cant believe I bought more tickets for next week.

[Sammy Sofa]

And the offense is better than how they've played.

 

That's my feeling, too. It's early, but you're already seeing pretty significant improvements from Soto and 2B compared to the slog of last year. I think the key right now is Aramis. I'm optimistic that this is this the early season rust we've seen him display before.

[RedFlash]

How hard is it for Lou to put Marshall in the 8th and Marmol in the 9th? Dempster should have been pulled after 7, Marshall pitches the 8th, and Marmol the ninth. It's not friggin brain surgery.

[Soul]

Yeah that's all he's got though. Unless he finds something else it would be Marshall every day.

[CubbieBum]

How hard is it for Lou to put Marshall in the 8th and Marmol in the 9th? Dempster should have been pulled after 7, Marshall pitches the 8th, and Marmol the ninth. It's not friggin brain surgery.

 

It should definitely have happened but probably wouldn't have mattered. Marmol wasn't bad but he wasn't the same either. He allowed an inherited base runner to score and then gave up the tying run. Marshall also didn't seem to be on today giving up the winning run.

[Little Slide Rooter]

And the offense is better than how they've played.

 

That's my feeling, too. It's early, but you're already seeing pretty significant improvements from Soto and 2B compared to the slog of last year. I think the key right now is Aramis. I'm optimistic that this is this the early season rust we've seen him display before.

 

The key is going to be getting Aramis going. Traditionally, hes a hot starter, and hes a huge cog in the Cubs offense. I just hope that if/when the offense really gets going, we still get the kind of starting pitching performances weve been getting. Dempsters now had 2 absolute gems wasted, and I dont know how long Silva(league leading 0.615 WHIP, 0 HR or BB allowed) and Gorzolanny will be able to keep up what they've been doing.

 

On the plus side, I didnt realise that Soto had pushed his average to .308 with an OPS over .900. Why does Lou keep pulling him for defense? It not like this is Michael Barrett were talking about.

[Omar]

I was at the game but for those of you who were watching on TV, was that last pitch to Theriot a strike? It didn't look like one from the bleachers.

[Keener98]

I was at the game but for those of you who were watching on TV, was that last pitch to Theriot a strike? It didn't look like one from the bleachers.

 

Not a chance in hell it was a strike