erik316wttn

I figure if a team with 100 wins or so is really as good as that record, they should be good enough to find a way to win the pennant. The Cards didn't rise to the challenge. They certainly did not look like a 100 win team for some of those games. They got beaten by the better team. Now, I don't think I'd have a problem if you threw seeding out the window. Why should a San Diego, who was 82-80 on the year, have home field advantage if they'd play a team like Houston in the NLCS when Houston would have the better record?I think San Diego ought to have been the 4th seed in the NL this year, not Houston. It's rewarding them for being the least sucky team in the weakest division in baseball. And do away with the stupid "can't play a division opponent in the first round" garbage. Who cares?

I see you've never been in Cleveland for the winter. The NFL has Indy in the AFC South. I don't know if I'd want to see expansion. Stuff is too far watered down as it is. If you could add a hard cap (give all teams 3 years to comply) and a salary floor, I may be in favor of expansion and re-allignment. There will never in our lifetimes be an MLB team in Las Vegas.

the yankees and red sox tied this year, didn't they? I would imagine boston would have a prayer. anyway, I think most of us agree that a new revenue system is needed. Colorado belongs with Arizona, Kansas City, Texas . . .teams like that. I think your best bet is to shake up the AL and NL. Tampa belongs with Florida and Atlanta and charlotte. Baseball will never be able to redo the revenue system, because the players and the union would have a collective fit and strike.

If you have 15 teams in each league, the season would go into late October probably because you could not have every single team play on the same day if you kill interleague. One team per league would always have to have a day off. And if you would keep interleauge, you'd have to always have at least one interleague series, kind of taking away the specialness of it.

And that's why it's awesome to have Bruce Miles on this board - speculative thread killer. Thanks Bruce :D Instead of "distingushed guest" under his name (which he is), I think it would be awesome to have "threadkiller." Either one is cool. Thanks, Bruce. Once again you set us straight.

Astros in 7.

Cubs 2005 numbers, total and with RISP Total NL Rank RISP NL Rank OBP .324 11 .336 15 SLG .440 2 .414 7 OPS .764 4 .749 10 PA 6161 10 1605 15 Aside from the drop in slugging, it seems to be the problem isn't so much as a lack of performing with RISP, as simply getting RISP in the first place. Players and coaches who don't understand the value of getting on base lead to not having runners on base to drive in. I think performance with RISP is very much a problem. 15th out of 16 in the NL in OBP with RISP is a big reason for being 4 games under .500 But I do agree that the organizational hitting philosphy needs to change. How do you fix it though? There's no such thing as a guy who's a "good RISP guy". They call them "good hitters". Improving the offense as a whole will help the RISP woes, and that's about all you can do to fix it. With as impatient as we were at the plate this year, those numbers show we were even more impatient with RISP. Our OBP was 12 points higher with RISP, how were we even more impatient? OK, we were more impatient than 14 other teams with RISP. TB_11 made a good point. Adding to it, it seems like OBP w/RISP was higher for some teams than OBP w/o RISP. When you have the pitcher on the ropes, you need to capitalize on a mistake. You need to be patient, work the count, foul off the tough pitches and wait for your pitch so you can drive it somewhere. Or, if the pitcher is in a really wild streak, take the walk. Never is it a bad thing to have another runner on base. We obviously were not doing either of those. But getting runners on base consistently regardless of RISP will go a long way to curing our offensive woes.

I just plan to watch baseball at its finest without a rooting interest. I'm really looking foward to game 1. And how is Backe? If the Astros get into trouble, get down 2-1 or so, do you think they'll throw Clemens 3 times? If you work it right you can have 3 pitchers go a 7-game series and have Backe come out of the pen if need be. Or you can push him back to game 5. But I think you throw Clemens in game 4 if you're down 3-0 or 2-1.

I don't really hate either team. I don't plan on cheering for either. I plan on watching two pretty evenly-matched teams in what I think will be a pretty hard-fought World Series. I am glad the city of Chicago will be getting to see a World Series, and I am also glad that Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio will finally be able to play in one. If you like pitching, this is the series to watch. Astros in 7.

I think we can get Jenkins actually. And he wouldn't be a terrible option if we don't get Giles. And people want to get rid of Nomar because of injury concerns. Jenkins, when healthy, is about a .270/35/100 hitter. But when healthy.

Haha, Mascara Boy screwed that one up.

It's agressive because you're taking a chance. You miss that bunt, and the runner is dead meat.

Making Oswalt work this inning. Friggin Eckstein.

Cubs 2005 numbers, total and with RISP Total NL Rank RISP NL Rank OBP .324 11 .336 15 SLG .440 2 .414 7 OPS .764 4 .749 10 PA 6161 10 1605 15 Aside from the drop in slugging, it seems to be the problem isn't so much as a lack of performing with RISP, as simply getting RISP in the first place. Players and coaches who don't understand the value of getting on base lead to not having runners on base to drive in. I think performance with RISP is very much a problem. 15th out of 16 in the NL in OBP with RISP is a big reason for being 4 games under .500 But I do agree that the organizational hitting philosphy needs to change. How do you fix it though? There's no such thing as a guy who's a "good RISP guy". They call them "good hitters". Improving the offense as a whole will help the RISP woes, and that's about all you can do to fix it. With as impatient as we were at the plate this year, those numbers show we were even more impatient with RISP. Maybe it was guys pressing, I don't know. I'm not them, I don't know what was going through thier minds at the plate. All I do know is we need a hitting coach and manager who preach plate patience, and hitters who would be willing to take a walk with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out and maybe let the next guy drive them in, or maybe not swing at the first pitch, work the count, and then find a pitch to drive somewhere.

Cubs 2005 numbers, total and with RISP Total NL Rank RISP NL Rank OBP .324 11 .336 15 SLG .440 2 .414 7 OPS .764 4 .749 10 PA 6161 10 1605 15 Aside from the drop in slugging, it seems to be the problem isn't so much as a lack of performing with RISP, as simply getting RISP in the first place. Players and coaches who don't understand the value of getting on base lead to not having runners on base to drive in. I think performance with RISP is very much a problem. 15th out of 16 in the NL in OBP with RISP is a big reason for being 4 games under .500 But I do agree that the organizational hitting philosphy needs to change.

I agree. There is no reason to not pick up Walker's option, and I think we should make an offer to Nomar and try to keep him. If not, then to for Furcal, but Nomar would be SS priority #1 for me.

You're half right. Yes, the GM is the one who gives the manager the players, but is it the GM's fault if the manager has a qualified prospect to fill in at a position but instead starts the guy meant for the utility role?

Hurry? The season is over. Teams let go of dead weight when the season is over. A lot of teams have already made moves, declining options, picking up options, outrighting guys, firing coaches, hiring coaches, claiming players. A lot of dead weight is gone by this time of year. The problem is the Cubs think Macias has value, and they will keep him. They think Neifi Perez is fine for SS. They think Burnitz is a fine RF. They think the problem was health, luck, chemistry and attitude. They have failed to recognize the single biggest problem on this team for years, and not one major front office person has been replaced, nothing makes me think they finally understand the problem and are willing to fix it. To expand up what Goony's point is, it's not as if this team was 15 over .500 and missed the playoffs by a couple games. There was a serious regression here, and nothing and no one has been held accountable. Macias being let go would signal a change, or at least an admission that the roster was flawed going into 2005. That's the least we could expect as vested fans: an admission of failure, and a signal that the club intends to correct the flaws in this team. But, as so often tends to happen with people in power, they never want to admit blame and either pass blame off to others, or insist that they were right all along and that everyone else was wrong.

Especially if you remain a Cub fan.

If the Astros don't win tonight, they won't win tomorrow. Do you think they should be throwing Clemens tonight and saving Oswalt for tomorrow if needed?

The first thing should be to stop complaining about how hard it is to play at home. Quit making excuses. There's no reason why they can't win at home, and there's no special team to build in order to win at home. Just build a lineup that gets on base and hits for some power, a defense that fields the ball, and a pitching staff that gets outs and doesn't give up walks. Baseball is simple, there's no reason to try and make it complex. Here are some interesting facts: Cubs offense 5th in XBH's 10th in AVG 20th in runs scored 28th in walks Cubs pitching 5th best in BAA 7th worst in BB's 15th in ERA With this team, it's all about the lack of respect for damage a walk can do. As Goony stated, it's really simple and there is no reason to make it any more complex than that. Here are two simple questions to answer based on the stats I provided above: 1. Why does a team that averages in the top 10 in batting average and XBH's finish in the bottom 10 in runs scored? 2. Why does a team that ranks in the top 5 in BAA finish in the bottom 15 in ERA? 1) Complete and total lack of situational hitting. I wish I had a dollar for every time this year there were RISP and we had some yahoo up there (not named Lee or Ramirez) who would get anxious, swing at the first pitch, and ground out weakly or pop up, or go out there and swing at 3 balls and strike out. We also couldn't move runners over, and the utter and complete refusal to take a walk by most of the hitters didn't help much either. 2) Walks at inopportune times. All you need to score a run is one hit when you have two walks behind it. I blame this on the "nibble" theory. You saw it with those maddening teams of the 80's and 90's. The pitcher has OK-to-good stuff. Instead of going right after the hitter and challenging him, trying to make him hit your pitch, the pitcher tries to get cute and nibble the corners. Tries to hit an exact spot on the outside or inside corner, and misses, and then keeps trying, and keeps missing. The walks add up, and then when the pitcher is really in trouble, he has to throw a big old meatball up there for a strike and it gets hammered.

How accurate are these people? I'm not optimistic at all about us signing Giles.

I have about 4 grey hairs on my right sideburn. And I'm 24.

That would explain it.

I click on the faces and I can't get them to show up in my message. Am I doing something wrong?