Illini Iceman

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.

I am sure the decision has been made but they just haven't announced it. The MLB just has a very bad PR department. The NFL looks quick and decisive since they actually make public their decisions right away. Bud treats everything like it is top secret (see - maple bat "investigation").

Or he has some compromising pictures of Bud Selig with a Shetland Pony. Reports are that he is driving through the streets of Houston with speakers on the roof of his car repeating "All is Well, the Storm has Passed, Come out and Watch the Red Hot Astros Play 2 Tomorrow, We are doing this for you fans!" over and over again.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3585088

braves angels yanks giants rangers I don't think that the Yankees or Rangers have any starting pitching they could afford to trade away. Both would seem to more be in market for pitching help in the offseason than a one dimensional power hitter.

What's the 7th game? And would somehow 3 at MMP and 3 at Miller Park is out of the last 16 is better? I would much rather play the Astros at MMP then in Houston. Not that it matters much - Cubs will take 2 of 3 one way or the other. Just hope Lou does the smart thing and starts Marshall in one game of the double header rather than sticking with the regular rotation and pitching someone on short rest later.

Looks like more than just the Cubs and Astros are going to be scrambling to make up games: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-080912-brewers-postponed,0,6182592.story I also find this interesting: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080911&content_id=3457922&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc Wouldn't it make more sense to start Marshall in one of the games of a possible double header? He has been pretty effective lately and that seems better than having to pitch someone on short rest later in the week.

The guy had 13 appearances in August (13 IP) and gave up ZERO runs and now with a 10 run lead he gives up a few runs and suddenly maybe he should be left off the playoff roster. Unbelievable.

I'm pretty sure the problem is that Shark is being Shark. He had only given up 1 earned run in his previous 10 outings (10.1 innings) before tonight. So one bad outing has people saying he is no good?

I assume you mean 60 day DL? Putting him on the 15 day does nothing. cubs.com has it as 15 day. Isn't that 41 guys on the 40 man? Or I can't count. Why bother putting Rich on the DL? It's not 41 on the 40-man roster, because Hill was already on the 40-man roster. Putting him on the major league 15-day DL now may just be preliminary to transferring him to the 60-day later if they need more postseason roster flexibility. Yeah, I knew Hill was on the 40 man, I just thought we were at 39 not counting Gooz who was on the 60 day. I guess I was always counting Gooz when counting 39. Trading Eyre put them down to 38 plus Guzman on the 60 day DL.

If the same thing happened with Harden people here would be taking about how Lou abused Harden. Were you rooting on Dusty as he "rode his horses" with big leads in '03? Learn anything from that? Why as a Cubs fan would I care whether or not Sabathia gets a no hitter or not? If Sabathia had given up 6 runs and the Brewers had won 7-6 it would mean exactly the same to me as if he threw a no hitter and they won 7-0.

They are but then they are managed by Dusty Lite. Yost and the Brewers know that neither Sabathia nor Sheets will be back next year with both being free agents. What do they care if they ruin their arms? they should care that their guys aren't burned out in the postseason, and yost is doing everything he can to plow them into the ground right now. For Yost, his job is on the line. Get in the playoffs, and he may have bought himself another yr. Fail to get in...........and late the floodgates open. Yost is riding Sheets/CC into the ground for self-preservation only. You are giving him too much credit. I just think he is an old school guy like Dusty who thinks pitch counts are for stats nerds. "Don Drysdale and Bob Gibson used to throw lot of complete games and now we just baby guys blah, blah, blah..."

Confirmed on Cubs.com: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080831&content_id=3397198&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Ned seems to get worked up about some unimportant things. Probably could have pulled him after 7 innings with the big lead but might have left him in there so they can make their big protest. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=280831123

The only way I can see the Brewers catching the Cubs is if the Cubs can't take care of business in the 6 remaining head to head matchups. If the Cubs can at least split those the Brewers will have to sweep a lot of other teams to make up the difference.

We are pretty much in the same situation now as when this thread was started but have taken 15 games off the schedule.

GREAT effing sig I don't get it.

McGehee? That seems odd. Plus it means they have to clear two 40 man roster spots.

that is actually great news IMO. we're like 94% to win the division; time to get guys fresh for the playoffs. I know this is true, but I still have a hard time relaxing. I can't help it! We'll be fine. I really hope we give Harden and Dempster some extra rest in September. If this is true I have not seen any reports with confirmation of it anywhere.

reds have fans? you live here. i find more st. louis and cubs fans more than i find reds fans in this town at least. i think we only have the smattering of reds fans because of the bats. as soon as i get my off days confirmed, i'm looking forward to seeing wrigley ohio next week (and evening my record at cubs games. tampa, ew). speaking of tampa... i think the reverse is true. i hate tampa not because we got swept there, but because of their front running obnoxious bandwagon fans. the three games down there were packed. the recent series they had against the los angeles angels of anaheim near san bernadino in the state of california in the united states of north america on planet earth in the solar system of the milky way galaxy in the local group, in tampa, where the two best teams (record wise ) of the american league were doing battle, the place was half full on tv. that insults me as a baseball fan. So, just to clarify, do you hate Rays fans because they are front running obnoxious bandwagon fans that only started going to the games when the team got good or because they aren't front running bandwagon fans and won't fill the park now that the team got good. I am confused. I went to a game in Tampa as well and was kind of annoyed but I am sure would have been much more accepting if the Cubs had played well and won. In general I have found that when I go to a road game and the Cubs win I leave thinking the fans are good sports and when they lose I think the fans are obnoxious. The results of the game definitely taint perception of how the opposing fans are behaving.

I have read a couple places that Fox will join the team in September if he doesn't have any setbacks in his rehab. My guess is: Koyie Hill Pie Hoff Lieber Wuertz Fox Guzman Lieber becomes the long man out of the pen and frees up Marshall to be used in more of a situational lefty role like Piniella used him earlier this season and where he was pretty successful. Would be nice to have another lefty in the mix in case Marshall needs to move to the rotation if Marquis can't hold his spot. Eyre would be a good safety valve if they had held on to him but I get the feeling Lou really wanted him out of here (probably a work ethic issue if I had to guess since he always defends Howry's struggles by saying he is a good guy that has a positive attitude and works hard and never said the same of Erye).

It's a shame Pignatiello fell apart this year for whatever reason. Coming out of spring training it seemed like would be a good, cheap solution from within the organization.

I wonder if it is worth taking a flyer on Joe Horn.

Looks like more trouble for Braun.... http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3541810

This is an excellent post. So we're basically at $140 just to hold status quo, and that's while letting our starting CFers (Edmonds and Johnson) go, and Blanco. Obviously we'll need to have a CFer, and I'd think if they can fund it, they'd like Johnson and possibly Edmonds back (both at greater cost), and Blanco too. May also want to pick up another relief arm from outside. As I see it, the only expiring contracts you'd definitely want to let walk are Howry, Lieber, and Ward. So if we were to keep Blanco, and resign Johnson and Edmonds, in addition of course to resigning Wood and Dempster, we're looking at $150 next season. That's pretty up there. This year the Yankees are the only team above $138. Whatever Eyre was making is also gone. I think Hendry does whatever he can to dump Marquis and uses whatever money he can save to help bring back Dempster.