TruffleShuffle

haha, the most-missed schools: i notice a theme there... somehow west virginia has become the "least obscure" of the big east schools

yeah some of you need to be realistic here, the cubs have a very lousy system. as mentioned, they were ranked 20th out of 30 last year, and that included soto - who won't be traded and no longer qualifies as a prospect. nobody else has really broken out to make themselves look like premium prospects, and the stars of guys like colvin and veal continue to dim.

if lou is managing the game, i say that wellemeyer or lohse should start and throw at least 150 pitches.

or .406/.553/.735, 235 OPS+, 37 HR, 33 doubles, 120 RBI, 135 runs. ted williams lost out to joe dimaggio (joke) in 1941. joe's numbers: .357/.440/.643, 30 HR, 43 doubles, 11 triples, 125 RBI, 122 runs the next year ted went for: .356/.499/.648, 217 OPS+, 36 HR, 34 doubles, 137 RBI, 141 runs... and lost to joe gordon of (who else) the yankees, who had: .322/.409/.491, 155 OPS+, 18 HR, 29 doubles, 103 RBI, 88 runs then after winning the MVP in 1946 - basically his next season since he missed 1943-45 to the war, he got screwed over again in 1947: williams: .343/.499/.634, 205 OPS+, 32 HR, 9 triples, 40 doubles, 114 RBI, 125 runs dimaggio: .315/.391/.522, 154 OPS+, 20 HR, 10 triples, 31 doubles, 97 RBI, 97 runs my favorite, though, is 1949. ted won the MVP that year, getting 13 first place votes... but phil rizzuto had 5 first place votes and finished second. here's a comparison of their numbers: williams: .343/.490/.650, 192 OPS+, 43 HR, 3 triples, 39 doubles, 159 RBI, 150 runs rizzuto: .275/.352/.358, 88 OPS+, 5 HR, 7 triples, 22 runs, 65 RBI, 110 runs is there any better argument to invalidate the MVP award? five voters - more than 20% of the voting pool - thought that phil rizzuto was a more valuable player in 1949 than ted williams was! that's the dumbest thing ever.

I really think that team is winning the East. The Red Sox have a lot of question marks. It will be interesting to see how the Rays handle the deadline. Also, are they still planning on calling up Price at somepoint this season? Man, that rotation is going to be completely dominant pretty soon. Maddon is right that they really haven't hit well at all (and he's right) so that is encouraging. You could say that Navarro and Hinske are hitting better than expected but everyone else is at or below where they should be. Crawford, Upton, and Pena are all doing worse than expected. I'd like to see a RH'ed bat and poss. maybe another arm in the pen b/c of Percival unable to stay healthy. crawford has been pretty disappointing, as has pena, but i'm not sure about upton. his babip was a ridiculous .392 last season, so he was almost certain to take a step back. the good news is that he's cut back on his strikeouts by a large margin, and is drawing walks at a great rate. the power should return. i'd say as far as overall production, he's been about what i would've expected. and one cannot ignore that some of the pitchers have had unexpectedly good performances. edwin jackson has been good (and lucky). a lot of the bullpen guys have pitched over their heads. i'd say the team as a whole is overachieving a bit, but they're certainly better - even on paper - than most gave them credit for before this season.

by the all star break we could easily in third place and 5 games out of first.

reminds me more of 1969 when everyone was like "oh the mets, who are they? just some crappy expansion team!!!" then damned if they didn't win the world series!

walkoff single for fatass, brewers win #-o

I really think Lou believe Edmonds is still a great defender. gold gloves, man.

and they only cost 35 bucks!!!

welington castillo was back with a single and double in 4 ABs tonight. pie has singled and walked.

edmonds really needs to come out for a defensive replacement in the 9th inning... reed johnson is not great but he's better than edmonds out there.

volquez hasn't pitched well lately and the cubs have a 1.50 WHIP against him. their "not being able to hit against him" is more a function of "not hitting with guys on base against him" cueto gave up 3 runs in 6 innings against the cubs. OMG he owns us!!!!!11!!!!111!! cain had really good stuff against the cubs last time out, but his career ERA against the cubs is 3.29. good but not great. the giants have a terrible offense; the pirates' offense is average at best. and most importantly, the games are being played IN WRIGLEY, where the cubs are 33-10. really, it blows my mind how much people can see the negative in everything. if you can't enjoy this year's cub team, then you pretty much aren't going to enjoy baseball ever.

if you really think there's a decent chance that the cubs will go into the all star break on a 2-8 skid, you'd probably be better served by just not being a sports fan any more.

Seriously. It's a tough loss, but not the end of the world. I'm confident the Cubs can hit a struggling Wellemeyer. Marmol was great today. Lilly was pretty good. Aramis finally did something. Lee stayed hot. Derosa stayed hot. Cotts was good. Wood won't blow many save chances, especially ones with a 2-run lead. Will everyone agree it is time to worry when we go 2-4 the next 6 games? Hell we could be looking at a 2-7 finish if you look at the starting pitcher match ups. which would be extremely stupid, since the cubs have been very very very good at home and have a much better offense than the giants and pirates.

i'm going to burn down rick ankiel's house tonight. then maybe busch stadium if i have time.

i wouldn't bet everything i owned on anything. the cubs lost a baseball game, that's it. i'd probably lean toward picking the cardinals because they're at home and they have the better starting pitcher.

yeah just like the brewers tremendous collapse on thursday led to them getting blown out by the pirates on friday. Do the Cubs play the Pirates tomorrow? no, they have one more game against the cardinals, followed by 3 games each against the reds and giants, both of whom stink. so i guess your point is valid, it's very possible that the cubs could lose tomorrow and be on a devastating 2-game skid.

I know he has been good all year, but **** kerry wood. You have to get through the crap that is the bottom of the cardinals order. they'd be crap on most teams, but molina and skippy have hardly been crap this year. same with miles.

if the ump makes the right call on molina, there aren't back to back walks. though wood should've walked glaus yesterday. i suppose it evened out.

yeah just like the brewers tremendous collapse on thursday led to them getting blown out by the pirates on friday.

someone please send ankiel a pound of cocaine and get him back on the stuff. this is such bull crap.

i wouldn't blame native americans for banding together and attacking/burning jacobs field

ankiel - 18 ludwick - 16 cubs leader - 15 (lee/soriano)

i take it back (about edmonds never getting jobbed)