gflore34

The Wings have not had a highly ranked farm system for 15 years and yet is still produces about as good as anyone elses. Lidstrom is certainly an all time great, but he already taken a step down from where he was several years ago. Even If Lidstrom retires the Wings still have Rafalski, Ericson, Stuart, Kronwall, Lilja, Meech, Kindl and Lebda. Plus it frees up their biggest contract, so signing a player like Bouwmeester would be very reasonable. He is a step down from Lidstrom but Ericsson and Kronwall will still be improving. I think the Hawks still have plenty of places to improve and may pass the Wings, but I dont think the Wings are going to drop down too much in the near future There's one thing the Hawks have that the Wings cannot match nor have an answer for - Scotty Bowman - I believe that's going to translate to them making the best and correct decisions when to comes to future contracts, etc. Basically, the Hawks are young and talented along with a management that's not going to eff it up.

If career statistics and regression to the mean stand for anything we're going to get two or more months of Bradley being scorching hot - let's hope people are getting on base ahead of him when that happens.

Wait, are you talking about Fox coming up and catching? That's a horrible idea, since he can't do the whole "catch the ball" part of the equation. I've seen him play much, how terrible is he? Because in addition to not hitting Soto' become 2007 Kendall when it comes to throwing base runners out.

There's been a lot of talk about Jake Fox maybe, he can't catch the ball but, if he can hit, why not? Hell, even if it's only for a month, a month may give Soto time to get in better shape and heel up. I'm ready to go with Hoff at 1b for awhile as well thus far, he's shown he can do something Lee can't do - hit. And Freel, he was acquired to do what exactly? It wasn't to play baseball that's for certain.

Franklin might have the poorest stuff for a closer I've ever seen.

Lee K, Bradley weak grounder to 2b, Soto screamer to that joke in LF.

That same pitch was strike 3 to Lee earlier.

Somebody had to post a post about how the Cardinals were a minor league lineup before this series. Sometimes you should just bite your tongue and not tempt fate. Well, aren't they? Beyond Pujols they're garbage.

Sori swings thru the straightest of fb down the middle of the plate.

Soto morphed from one of the best catchers in baseball to one of the worst, only the Cubs.

No Sut, its the second time the idiot Cub defense has given them a run.

Seriously how stupid is he? Dumber than Bradley on the base paths.

These aren't even quality pitches they're making outs on, Soto and Fontenote both missed bp fastballs.

Yeah I've had my share of Lee and Bradley missing bp meatballs down the middle of the plate.

Anyone else just want to punch Carpenter in the face?

I was close it was 4 pitches.

K's in 6 pitches.

K's in 6 pitches.

Given he can't hit anymore I think he was lost on those bases.

Ryan you were out not...even...close.

Bradley hitting would lessen that but, it doesn't appear Bradley' going to hit ever.

Maybe, thought strike two to Lee was a hanger and of course, Lee takes it, strike 3, although not a strike, was a hanger.

Their farm system is still top-half. Zetterberg is 29, Franzen is 29, Draper is 28. I'd love for them to be bad, but unfortunately, it's going to be awhile. And they still manage to get free agents to take cheap deals to play with them and try to win a Cup. Isn't the Hawks system in the top ten? What offers me encouragement is the Wings don't have a Toews, Kane, Seabrook or Versteeg someone that young and that good, if they can keep their them together I believe they've got a good chance to surpass the Wings. The Hawks don't currently have a Lidstrom or Rafalski (Keith is close) or Datsyuk, Hossa, or Zetterberg (Havlat and the two kids are close, but Havlat is possibly gone after the season and the other two aren't there yet) either. The Wings do have some strong young talent, though. As I've mentioned, I'm a big fan of Ville Leino. They also have guys like Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm already contributing in the NHL. Then on defense they have Jakub Kindl and Jonathan Ericsson close to making an impact (or, in Ericsson's case, already in the NHL). The Wings aren't going away from the top of the West any time soon and the Hawks have a long way to go to catch up. As has been mentioned since the start of the season, the Hawks are going to run into contract issues sooner rather than later. It's going to be very interesting to see just how their finances play out over the next 3 or 4 seasons. That doesn't mean anything for the rest of the series though. The Hawks have played two very close games on the road. They can definitely come back and win the next two at home and I would not be surprised to see them do so. The Wings, as great as they are, aren't immune from contract issues either, sure plenty of their players may agreed to cap friendly deals. But, sooner or later, someone is going to go where the money is prestige, etc. be damned.

If the Cubs can manage 4 runs tonight that should be enough, can't imagine the Cardinals, with that lineup they threw out there last, scoring more than 3 runs if any.

Their farm system is still top-half. Zetterberg is 29, Franzen is 29, Draper is 28. I'd love for them to be bad, but unfortunately, it's going to be awhile. And they still manage to get free agents to take cheap deals to play with them and try to win a Cup. Isn't the Hawks system in the top ten? What offers me encouragement is the Wings don't have a Toews, Kane, Seabrook or Versteeg someone that young and that good, if they can keep their them together I believe they've got a good chance to surpass the Wings.