7/7 Gm 1 Chicago (Prior 5-2) at Atlanta (Ramirez) 12:00 CST

[sethuel1]

I think that low, guttural sound you hear in the background is Ronnie choking on his own vomit.

[ltb]

OK, so Buerhle is having one good year and all of a sudden he is the best pitcher in baseball? Last year he had an era close to 4 and the year prior to that one he had one over 4.

 

he's been solid his whole career, and you can't really compare ERAs in the AL to those in the NL.

 

regardless, advocating trading prior for buehrle is ridiculous.

Solid , yes, no doubt but not the best in baseball.

 

i'm definitely not saying he's anything more than solid :)

[Brian]

hahaha he didn't get the shutout in under 100 pitches

[Mark Priors Calves]

Ramirez finished barely hitting 100 pitches on the afternoon.

 

Unbelievable.

[sethuel1]

Heads need to roll.

[dalgreen]

We have three guys on this team who I consider quality hitters. That's it.

 

lee, ramirez, and who else? walker? just curious.

 

Yes, Walker. I hope you didn't think I was talking about Hollandsworth or Burnitz.

 

I still love the Cubs, but I don't know if the people who are most vocal about this team got suckered into thinking back in March that this team was going to be good. Many of us saw the holes in this team, that's why some of us aren't ready to jump off of a building. We have three freakin' hitters on this team, that's it. I don't care about batting order that much since you're already giving up 12-15 outs before the game starts. Barrett and Burnitz are going to be mediocre at best no matter where in the order they hit. Hairston should be at the top of the order, but even if he gets on base three times, if he, Lee and Ramirez are the only ones getting on base with no one else getting on base or hitting them in, then you're talking about 2-3 runs a game. Hence, the problems.

[johnnyba99]

That AB by Hairston was the best of the game by a cub. It perfectly illustrates why we will never be a great team under Dusty. AB's like that (even when they end in an out) are productive for SO MANY reasons, NONE of which Baker endorses.

 

Occasionally our first-pitch approach will be successful, but never consistently. Any pitcher (Davies, Colon, Eischen, Ramirez) can easily take advantage of it.

 

This is maddening.

 

Here's what I don't get about the obsession with the number of pitches a player sees per AB. Nomar has been one of the best hitters in the league over his career, and yet swings at everything, if Neifi Perez takes 2 pitches before he makes his out it's still an out. Fact is he just can't hit, so does it matter if he grounds out on pitch 1 or 8? I'm not convinced it does. I do however think that several players swing at a bunch of bad pitches and they are not good enough hitters to make up for poor pitch selection.

[jyoung55]

DO SOMETHING JIM!!!!!!!!!!!! This is grotesque.

[Brian]

HEY GUYS DON'T WORRY, IT LOOKS LIKE 2006 MIGHT BE OUR YEAR!

[YearofDaCubs]

Ramirez finished barely hitting 100 pitches on the afternoon.

 

Unbelievable.

Actually, with this team it is believable :)

[gflore34]

A prediction : Should the Cubs put forth another lackadaisical effort while losing Game 2, Baker gets fired tonight.

[YearofDaCubs]

That AB by Hairston was the best of the game by a cub. It perfectly illustrates why we will never be a great team under Dusty. AB's like that (even when they end in an out) are productive for SO MANY reasons, NONE of which Baker endorses.

 

Occasionally our first-pitch approach will be successful, but never consistently. Any pitcher (Davies, Colon, Eischen, Ramirez) can easily take advantage of it.

 

This is maddening.

 

Here's what I don't get about the obsession with the number of pitches a player sees per AB. Nomar has been one of the best hitters in the league over his career, and yet swings at everything, if Neifi Perez takes 2 pitches before he makes his out it's still an out. Fact is he just can't hit, so does it matter if he grounds out on pitch 1 or 8? I'm not convinced it does. I do however think that several players swing at a bunch of bad pitches and they are not good enough hitters to make up for poor pitch selection.

If the Cubs took some pitches I highly doubt Ramirez would be able to finsih the game. How many 1 and 2 pitch at-bats did we see today? It's ridiculous. Changes need to be made right now, for the sake of respectibility.

[TheDude]

I think that low, guttural sound you hear in the background is Ronnie choking on his own vomit.

Ronnie refused to give out the player of the game award, instead giving it to Pat. Ha ha. He wouldn't award anybody.

[barrettismyidol]

Here's what I don't get about the obsession with the number of pitches a player sees per AB. Nomar has been one of the best hitters in the league over his career, and yet swings at everything, if Neifi Perez takes 2 pitches before he makes his out it's still an out. Fact is he just can't hit, so does it matter if he grounds out on pitch 1 or 8? I'm not convinced it does. I do however think that several players swing at a bunch of bad pitches and they are not good enough hitters to make up for poor pitch selection.

 

First off, they're getting the pitcher to work. If you make guys throw more pitches, they're more likely to get tired and make a mistake, or you'll get into the bullpen, and perhaps have a better chance with a different guy. I turned off the game after seeing Ramirez fly out on one pitch, followed by Dubois grounding out on the next. If you're not doing well, you gotta take some pitches, give the pitcher a chance to throw a mistake, at least.

[Wild_Cubs04]

I thought Chicago had 2 Professional Baseball teams.... :roll:

 

Pathetic is a severe understatement :evil:

[fiver]

hey everyone....I've been busy at work today, and I don't have time right now to go through the whole game thread. I've only seen a couple of the recent losses, but does it appear as though this team has quit on Dusty? Are they hustling in the field?...running out ground balls? making silly errors? baserunning blunders?

 

Or are they still just impatient at the plate and thus providing next to nothing on offense. Also...what was up w/ prior today? wild? Sorry for all the questions, but just wanting a synopsis if possible...if not then maybe i can catch up on my reading this weekend as i wait for the hurricane

[johnnyba99]

That AB by Hairston was the best of the game by a cub. It perfectly illustrates why we will never be a great team under Dusty. AB's like that (even when they end in an out) are productive for SO MANY reasons, NONE of which Baker endorses.

 

Occasionally our first-pitch approach will be successful, but never consistently. Any pitcher (Davies, Colon, Eischen, Ramirez) can easily take advantage of it.

 

This is maddening.

 

Here's what I don't get about the obsession with the number of pitches a player sees per AB. Nomar has been one of the best hitters in the league over his career, and yet swings at everything, if Neifi Perez takes 2 pitches before he makes his out it's still an out. Fact is he just can't hit, so does it matter if he grounds out on pitch 1 or 8? I'm not convinced it does. I do however think that several players swing at a bunch of bad pitches and they are not good enough hitters to make up for poor pitch selection.

If the Cubs took some pitches I highly doubt Ramirez would be able to finsih the game. How many 1 and 2 pitch at-bats did we see today? It's ridiculous. Changes need to be made right now, for the sake of respectibility.

 

You're right changes need to be made, but would it matter if Ramirez reached 100 pitches in the 7th? I mean it's Horacio Ramirez, if we can't hit him it doesn't matter who's in the pen. I'm just frustrated. Now we must win tonight against Smoltz. Chances of that??

[dalgreen]

A prediction : Should the Cubs put forth another lackadaisical effort while losing Game 2, Baker gets fired tonight.

 

I'll take that bet.

 

Funny, how a lot of people have already forgotten 2002 when some swore that with Baylor gone the Cubs would right the ship. If a manager gets fired, you also need to get new players.

[YearofDaCubs]

A prediction : Should the Cubs put forth another lackadaisical effort while losing Game 2, Baker gets fired tonight.

Let's hope your prediction comes true. I for one would celebrate if that happened.

[barrettismyidol]

hey everyone....I've been busy at work today, and I don't have time right now to go through the whole game thread. I've only seen a couple of the recent losses, but does it appear as though this team has quit on Dusty? Are they hustling in the field?...running out ground balls? making silly errors? baserunning blunders?

 

Or are they still just impatient at the plate and thus providing next to nothing on offense. Also...what was up w/ prior today? wild? Sorry for all the questions, but just wanting a synopsis if possible...if not then maybe i can catch up on my reading this weekend as i wait for the hurricane

 

I was watching and Bob got pretty upset because Ramirez flew out to center and didn't even bother running it all the way out. Instead he ran 45 feet and headed to the dugout. Everyone seemed like they didn't really care. And there weren't any baserunning blunders because for that to happen, someone has to get on base. They are incredibly impatient at the plate. It's just bad to watch, in all aspects.

[CUBZ99]

I don't understand why Dusty usually plays the forfeit lineup in the first game. Perez batting 2nd, Dubois 4th, Cedeno and Blanco. Its no wonder the Cubs only got 3 hits with that lineup.

 

Is there a reasoning for forfeiting the first game with a bad lineup? Or just Dusty logic?

[Mizzou]

Does anyone else think that Dusty might be very close to being fired?

[dalgreen]

A prediction : Should the Cubs put forth another lackadaisical effort while losing Game 2, Baker gets fired tonight.

Let's hope your prediction comes true. I for one would celebrate if that happened.

 

There's the post of the year. Hoping for a Cub loss. I hate Perez, but I don't hope he goes 3 for 55 just so he might sit. Hoping for a loss is just as bad as players quitting.

[Satch80]

Tough at bats like Harriston puts the pitcher under stress, you get to see more pitches, hopefully get a mistake and run up the pitch count in order to get into the opposition's middle relief. True, an out is an out for scroring purposes, but all outs are not created equal. Pesky hitters, patient hitters have a better chance to punish the other team.

[fiver]

Does anyone else think that Dusty might be very close to being fired?

 

Yes. and that was the point to my earlier post asking if others have felt that this team is not any longer giving it their all for DB. I think we may be nearing the end of the Dusty Baker era.

 

:cry:

 

:^o