CubinNY

Peaks and valleys. Even when the Cubs are bad, they are a .500 ball club. There is no good time to go through a slump as a team, but right now is much better than in August or September. Once Lee and Aramis begin to regress to the mean they'll start winning again.

You might want to sweeten the reward a little.

I wish I never opened this thread. We need a warning label on stuff like this. A skull and crossbones will do.

I still say "Freedom Fries" and "Freedom Toast"!

You cannot just look at the name of a pitcher and say that "we should be this guy". Both Moehler and Rodriguez where hitting their spots as was Johnson. The Cubs aren't snakebit, they're slumping. It won't last.

Get his wife and new born baby up to the states. The offense has been slumping for awhile. I'm not panicking yet.

Last night I was driving home from Michigan and listening to the ESPN feed on XM for the Angles/Red Sox and I thought I was going to have some road rage listening to "Soup" Campbell. He was second guessing both Francona and Soscia. And his second guesses were pathetically stupid.

if it was during a Fox telecast, I'm pretty sure you heard neither of them mention it No, it was mentioned on the FOX broadcast and then a couple of days later it was talked about it on ESPN. I should have been more clear on that. It's pretty weird because McGwire was not a good hitter. He was a slugger.

Weis has an almost Identical record to Willingham (one more win, same number of losses). What are the chances that the "genius" gets fired if ND ends up 7-5 or 6-6?

I thought that was the whole point. Unless two teams in the east start rocking, two playoff spots go to the central. So if one of the Brewers/Cards gets swept that leaves the Cubs with as much breathing room in the playoff hunt as possible. Would you rather be tied in the division but 5 games up on a playoff spot (Cards sweep Cubs split) or 2 and 3 games up respectively (all split). Since making the playoffs is what really matters, I'll take the first choice. But who really cares...it's too early to worry about what other teams are doing anyways. I just hope we win every series. Except it probably will not work that way. Some team has to win a game. When the teams are playing within the division every game is doubly important. Cubs win 1 of Brewers/Cards win NL east treads Cubs, winner of Brewers/Cards in playoffs ------------------ Cubs win Brewers and Cards tread A dominant team emerges out of the East (Mets) Cubs in the playoffs Brewers, Cards, Phillies, Marlins fight for the wildcard ------------------ Cubs win Brewers and Cards tread No dominant team emerges out of the East Cubs in the playoffs Brewers, Mets, Phillies, Marlins, Cards fight for the wildcard and NL East -------------------- NL central treads NL east does not tread at least 6 teams in hunt for division and WC ------ The best thing to happen for the Cubs is for them to win and the Brewers/Cardinals split. They have to put as much distance as they can between themselves and the rest of the division before September. To do that they need to win and the two teams behind them need to play .500 baseball. If the Cards or Brewers get hot and two teams emerge from the East, it could get bad for the Cubs.

Good call...according to the transactions on MLB.com for that day, no other 40 man or DL changes had to be made. So I guess its completely fine. Show you what I know about transactions in MLB. However, I see very little reality in the idea when Hughes is one of the guys the Yankees are banking their future on.

This is what I'm thinking too...I would absolutely love the Cards to make the playoffs over the Brewers. I'm sure the rest of the NL agrees too. That said, I might develop an ulcer if the Cards stay this close to us for the rest of the season. CCP's logic does not take into account the teams in the NY East. Whomever does not win the NL Central will be fighting with at least two other teams for the WC spot. Therefore, the Cubs need as much distance between themselves and the two other teams behind them in their division. If they go on a 14-6 or 13-7 run that takes them to the second week of August, they should have the division wrapped up. Not likely, but a boy can dream. He did mentioned that... The NL East Teams don't need to pass them. This is a zero sum game. Teams are going to be playing within their division more now. The only way for the scenario to work out is if the NL East teams split amongst themselves. If the Cubs and the winner of the of the Brewers/Cards consistently win, it won't matter because both teams get in either way. In my opinion, what the Cubs want to have happen is that both the Brewers and the Cardinals tread back to the pack so they are fighting for the WC. If all the teams in the Central tread and the teams in the East don't, that's bad for the Cubs. It's especially bad b/c their September looks horrible.

This is what I'm thinking too...I would absolutely love the Cards to make the playoffs over the Brewers. I'm sure the rest of the NL agrees too. That said, I might develop an ulcer if the Cards stay this close to us for the rest of the season. CCP's logic does not take into account the teams in the NY East. Whomever does not win the NL Central will be fighting with at least two other teams for the WC spot. Therefore, the Cubs need as much distance between themselves and the two other teams behind them in their division. If they go on a 14-6 or 13-7 run that takes them to the second week of August, they should have the division wrapped up. Not likely, but a boy can dream.

I think that the couple of weeks of games are a not indicative of much (outside of the 9 walk game). The pitchers the Cubs have faced have been throwing strikes for the most part. Aside from Fukudome, they're just going through a stretch where the pitchers they've faced having been getting ahead in the count.

"Taking care of business" should not even be in the equation. If it is, it doesn't really matter what the Card/Brewers do. I'd take a split depending on where the Cardinals were in the standings. At this point the Card/Brewers need to win and not tread water. The longer they tread water the less it matters what the Cubs do (barring a collapse).

Hughes is on the 60 day DL with a rib fracture.

A split and the Cubs sweep (and win over the Marlins) and the Cubs are 4 up on the Cards and 5 up on the Brewers heading into the weekend. That's best case.

I'm worried and have been for a long time. I just hope he stays healthy this season. This by far the best Cubs team in my lifetime (I was born in 1969).

They still haven't fixed the bullpen and they still have Ned "I want to platoon pitchers" Yost managing the team. I'm not worried. The Cubs are a better team. The Brewers and the Cardinals have been getting fat on the same teams everyone else gets fat on. This is going to come to down to head-to-head match ups. Advantage Cubs.

He was striking out guys in AA with that pitch. At least it looked like a splitter. It could have been a change up.

Regardless of if they run the Cubs for profit (which I think any owner will do) they also need to field a winner if they want people to come to the ballpark. The Tribune Company has been very fortunate that the Cubs have had "good" teams, at least on paper. My dad told me that when he use to go to games in the 1960s the upper decks use to be closed. If the new owners are perceived as only out to make a profit and not put out a good product people will stop going to the games and profit will suffer. That neighborhood is totally different these days than it was in the 60s (or even the 80s). People will still fill the park to see a loser because it's a great way to spend a day. They just won't be paying 3-5x face value to a scalper/broker. Contrary to popular opinion, people do not go to Wrigley Field, they go to see the Cubs. I don't know anyone who goes to Cubs games and gives two craps about Wrigleyville. If the new owners are perceived as not really caring about the product people will stop coming to see the Cubs. That means they will stop going to Wrigley.

Regardless of if they run the Cubs for profit (which I think any owner will do) they also need to field a winner if they want people to come to the ballpark. The Tribune Company has been very fortunate that the Cubs have had "good" teams, at least on paper. My dad told me that when he use to go to games in the 1960s the upper decks use to be closed. If the new owners are perceived as only out to make a profit and not put out a good product people will stop going to the games and profit will suffer.

What's baseball? I don't agree at all. Why should Barry Bonds or Greg Maddux get credit for time served? It's stupid. The strike zone for a game in Milwaukee should be the same for a game in Boise or Mobile or anywhere professional baseball is played. Quirky umpires should not be able to determine the outcome of at bats and sometimes games.

Ditto. And not just because, you're a new Mod. but, whatever

I will be so fired up if Rebel makes it to the bigs. What a great name.