Illini Iceman

Bring Wood in for the stat padding cheapy save.

Interesting that Lou would replace Johnson in CF with Pie. Since Johnson has not been getting much playing time lately you would think he would let him stay in but move him over to LF to replace Soriano or RF to replace DeRosa.

I would start Dempster in game 1. He has been their most consistent starter and seems like with his personality he would be in the best position to handle the high emotions of the first game of the playoffs and potentially the pressure of a game 5. Maybe go Dempster, Harden, Zambrano. Z has said that he would like to pitch game 3 so I would take him up on it. Lilly has pitched so well I would let him go in game 4 (if necessary) and not try to bring anyone back on short rest.

If you have some of that good luck or magic dust left over from the '03 Marlins please share it with the Cubs this postseason!!

No way they let Harden pitch on normal rest next week against the Mets. They will almost certainly push him back at least a day or two. My preference is that they let Marshall make Z's next start and Wells make Harden's next start and push each of those guys back. They would still be ready to pitch in any rotation order for the playoffs but it would give them an extra rest. Dempster vs Cards Marquis @ Mets Wells @ Mets Marshall @ Mets Harden @ Mets Zambrano @ Brewers Lilly @ Brewers Marquis @ Brewers

What choice do they have? They have what 9 games left? Pitch him on normal rest to maybe get 2 good starts out of him, instead of 3 crappy starts. They pitched Suppan on 3 days rest yesterday and that didn't work out very well. Could this new guy be even worse than Yost? They don't have any starters left. They used McClung in the extra innings game on Thursday and had to use Parra yesterday because Suppan sucked so bad. They have made mistakes in the past, but at this point they can't just give any games away so they really don't have any other choice.

I don't know enought about the subject to pretend to speak from any knowledge base on "dangle" and the rest of that, but I do know that it just seems like an unnecessary risk to let a guy throw 134 pitches in a blow out when your team is out of the pennant race just so he can get a complete game. There are at least 6 guys in the bullpen, the reason they are there is so you don't have to do that. Why tempt fate with one of your best assets just so you can say he finished the game. Complete games are a useless stat in this day and age in baseball. The only reason I could see you would want a pitcher to throw one is if it is close game and you feel, even at the end, he gives you a better chance to win than using anyone in your bullpen would.

They should let Marshall make Z's next start and Wells make Harden's next start and push each of those guys back one game. They will still be ready to pitch in rotation for the playoffs but it would give them an extra rest. Lilly vs Cards Dempster vs Cards Marquis @ Mets Wells @ Mets Marshall @ Mets Harden @ Mets Zambrano @ Brewers Lilly @ Brewers Marquis @ Brewers That's how I would finish out the season with the rotation. You can then start Dempster or Harden in game 1 of the NLDS and go from there.

Does it really matter? Clinching the division is pretty much a formality at this point anyway. Thursday's game against the Brewers kind of sealed it. I think there will be a celebration when they win but at this point with such a big lead it will be rather anticlimactic compared to years past.

What's their excuse for getting the butts kicked by the Marlins? Maybe it's just that a team that is not that good was due for a bit of a correction after winning 14 of 15. Nah, must be the fault of having to play two games in Milwaukee. That being said, anyone that wants to rip on Uncle Bud for any reason has my support.

Question for journalism majors. Why is that part in brackets? Whenever I see this in a quote, I assume that those are words the player didn't actually say, but implied. But if he doesn't say that part in the bracket, the sentence makes no sense. They sometimes do that when the quote is not fit to print. Maybe he said "that pisses me off a little bit". Doubt they would print that but need the reader to understand what he is saying so they fill in something more acceptable and put it in brackets so you know it is an edit.

Got an email today from Cub World with a preview of the official clubhouse Division Champs gear - sweet!!

If you think Gordon knows what he is talking about (which I don't think anyone does): http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/1163335,CST-SPT-cubnt15.article Lou can't possibly be thinking of putting Lilly ahead of Harden, right?

Supply and demand. Minor league tickets cost more than $10. Really? I got front row seats next to scouts for $8 at Rancho Cucamonga. That's how much it costs for tickets to sit in the outfield grass in the Texas League. They are usually around $18. Don't even get the option for front row, although last week Nolan Ryan was sitting right in front of me in the front row. I guess that's why. On the flip side, Rancho is only high-A and I'm sure you have to keep low prices to attract Angelenos. Tampa Yankees tickets I think are less than $8 and when you leave they usually give you buy one get one free coupons for the next game. Even with that there are hardly any fans in the stands for weekday games. I usually only go when they are playing Daytona.

I hope Z comes out with his best stuff like he did last time he had to miss a few starts. Getting game 1 of this series would be a big dagger.

Didn't Lilly pitch pretty well last time out against the Brewers? Personally I wouldn't want an amped up Z going in his first start back against the Brewers. A nice quiet Monday afternoon game against the Astros in a neutral site seems like a better place for him to keep his emotions from taking over and overthrowing and hurting the shoulder again. He pitched ok. 6 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, 2 home runs. Milwaukee has a huge split between left-handers and right-handers though (.826 vs .738). Houston has a similar split, but much less pronounced (.779 vs .735). If we're setting up Lilly for his best chance to succeed, Monday would be his day. I don't remember how effective vs lucky he was in that game but I think he had 6 shutout innings before tiring and giving up 2 HR's in the 7th. I think if you looks at his splits Lilly actually is kind of reverse what you would expect - very good against RH and mediocre against LH. So maybe the Brewers success against LH pitching would not so much apply to Lilly.

Didn't Lilly pitch pretty well last time out against the Brewers? Personally I wouldn't want an amped up Z going in his first start back against the Brewers. A nice quiet Monday afternoon game against the Astros in a neutral site seems like a better place for him to keep his emotions from taking over and overthrowing and hurting the shoulder again.

My guess is Dempster, Lilly, Harden.

Just now? I just looked and can only get singles Could they possibly have sold all those tickets already? If so, I will admit to being wrong and they were justified in charging premium prices. He is talking about the Tuesday game at Wrigley against the Brewers.

In light of UM's most recent post, I'm retracting the first sentence of this. Wow. Talk about gouging. Yeah, that pricing is ridiculous when we're dealing with a less than 24 hour window requiring people to make plans on short notice... but I wonder if it was part of the agreement with Houston that they wanted to charge top dollar to maximize their revenue. Why is it gouging? It is the same as they would charge for other games at the stadium. I don't see why they would feel it necessary to give a discounted price. Not like anyone is forced to go if they don't want to and/or can't afford it. Because it's exceptionally late notice. Of course nobody is forced to go. That's hardly the point. Someone here said last year when they hosted an Indians-Angels series, tickets were $10. So, here, they saw an opportunity to make more money off the Cub fans. That's gouging. Gouging would be charging over the normal price for a ticket. So if this game had been announced 3 months ago as some kind of neutral site special event it would have been ok to charge these prices? I don't get it. Clearly they charged $10 last year because a) very few people from Cleveland or LA were going to travel to see the game and b) it was an early season contest and the interest wasn't as high. In this case they don't have to lowball the price to get a reasonable amount of fans in the seats so why would they? You do know that MLB is a for profit business, right? I remember getting tickets to the '98 one game playoff and there was no discounted pricing even though it was "exceptionally late notice". What is "normal" under the circumstances? I would say it's the last time they had such a make-up game involving two teams from other cities. Deviating from that norm simply because it's the Cubs is what I have a problem with, and that's clearly what is going on here. A more local fan base and a more critical game due to the position of the teams in the playoff race and lateness in the season. Different circumstances. You could even make the argument if you are the Astros that giving discounted tickets would ensure a completely full house of Cubs fans putting the "home team" at a greater disadvantage. My guess is that the park will be plenty full at these prices. They are pretty standard for a MLB game.

In light of UM's most recent post, I'm retracting the first sentence of this. Wow. Talk about gouging. Yeah, that pricing is ridiculous when we're dealing with a less than 24 hour window requiring people to make plans on short notice... but I wonder if it was part of the agreement with Houston that they wanted to charge top dollar to maximize their revenue. Why is it gouging? It is the same as they would charge for other games at the stadium. I don't see why they would feel it necessary to give a discounted price. Not like anyone is forced to go if they don't want to and/or can't afford it. Because it's exceptionally late notice. Of course nobody is forced to go. That's hardly the point. Someone here said last year when they hosted an Indians-Angels series, tickets were $10. So, here, they saw an opportunity to make more money off the Cub fans. That's gouging. Gouging would be charging over the normal price for a ticket. So if this game had been announced 3 months ago as some kind of neutral site special event it would have been ok to charge these prices? I don't get it. Clearly they charged $10 last year because a) very few people from Cleveland or LA were going to travel to see the game and b) it was an early season contest and the interest wasn't as high. In this case they don't have to lowball the price to get a reasonable amount of fans in the seats so why would they? You do know that MLB is a for profit business, right? I remember getting tickets to the '98 one game playoff and there was no discounted pricing even though it was "exceptionally late notice".

In light of UM's most recent post, I'm retracting the first sentence of this. Wow. Talk about gouging. Yeah, that pricing is ridiculous when we're dealing with a less than 24 hour window requiring people to make plans on short notice... but I wonder if it was part of the agreement with Houston that they wanted to charge top dollar to maximize their revenue. Why is it gouging? It is the same as they would charge for other games at the stadium. I don't see why they would feel it necessary to give a discounted price. Not like anyone is forced to go if they don't want to and/or can't afford it.

I'm definitely pulling for the Brewers to win one of two tomorrow. The Phillies scare me only a little less than Arizona does. I would prefer the Brewers just lose every game and we wrap up the division with about 6 games left in the season. We'd wrap it up much sooner than that if they lose every game, especially when you consider that 3 of those games are against the Cubs.... Well, I was thinking that the Astros might pass them if the Brewers went on a long losing streak. But if not, wrapping it up sooner would be fine with me as well. Get Marshall and maybe Wells a start once clinched and give Harden and Z a few extra days before their playoff starts.

Plus, in all fairness, the Astros have to travel a lot further for their "home" game than the Cubs. If I were an Astros fan I would think it stinks. However, it is kind of the fault of McLane because he could have agreed on Atlanta or Toronto or something like that which would be more neutral 3 days ago and not be in this situation.

I guess if MLB has decided on Milwaukee and the players are getting the union to stonewall it there is nothing Selig can do to push it through. Again, compare this to the NFL with the NFLPA could have put up a stink about the Ravens essentially not getting a bye week this season (other than week 2 which is pretty worthless) but they obviously let it go through for the good of the league.