barrettismyidol

Did you guys see the El Toro shirt? Some guy in the Cubs dugout had it on. Possibly the trainer? But it was a blue shirt with El Toro written in red.

I was playing Ken Griffey Jr. Slugfest from back in the day yesterday, and I kept diving after everything, missing the ball, and then diving again. My friend told me I didn't have to dive after everything, but I told her I was channeling Jim.

I was watching and Bob got pretty upset because Ramirez flew out to center and didn't even bother running it all the way out. Instead he ran 45 feet and headed to the dugout. Everyone seemed like they didn't really care. And there weren't any baserunning blunders because for that to happen, someone has to get on base. They are incredibly impatient at the plate. It's just bad to watch, in all aspects.

First off, they're getting the pitcher to work. If you make guys throw more pitches, they're more likely to get tired and make a mistake, or you'll get into the bullpen, and perhaps have a better chance with a different guy. I turned off the game after seeing Ramirez fly out on one pitch, followed by Dubois grounding out on the next. If you're not doing well, you gotta take some pitches, give the pitcher a chance to throw a mistake, at least.

I like that lineup. But I'm sure Dusty will say he's batting Todd down there for protection.

Way to keep Todd in the 2 hole, Dusty.

we should just save the time and forefeit. I don't think Prior throwing a no hitter would win this game, it would just guarantee extra innings. Yeah, no kidding.

I seriously remembered thinking awhile back that the lineup couldn't get worse... but I was wrong. What is this? Hey, we're facing a good pitcher so we'll mess with the lineup and put in Jose Macias. Yeah, that'll help... Is it wrong that I hope they lose tonight?

He hasn't necessarily succeeded yet, but Jerry Hairston went to Naperville North HS.

Hairston needs to be in there. Or Todd Walker needs to lead off or something. But Neifi at the top is horrible. I heard earlier on the radio that a remote possibility could be to put Corey in left and Jerry in center, in order to get him some playing time.

Same with me! I was tempted to put on a Cubs hat today, but I decided against it.

Oops. I forgot about the off-day on Thursday. Thank you. No problem. All the off-days coming up are making everything confusing. I wonder what will happen when Borowski comes back, and eventually when they need a 5th starter. I'm assuming Dempster will go back to starting. But then, when Kerry comes back, does Rusch continue starting or does Dempster? But I guess those things will be straightened out when the time comes.

I don't know who else he could throw out there. I wish he wouldn't have had Dempster in the bullpen today. I don't mind the 134 pitches thrown today by Z, but I feel he should get five days rest before his next start instead of four. Otherwise, I would expect a rather short outing by Z next start. Won't he still get 5 days? Monday: Leicester Tuesday: Maddux Wednesday: Prior Thursday: Off-day Friday: Rusch Saturday: Zambrano

Welcome aboard, Cubman! That was definitely my impression of Hendry. He seemed to be in a good mood all weekend and despite sometimes being with family, he took his time to talk to people and sign autographs. I got similar impressions of MacPhail and McDonough, as well. It was a nice surprise to actually see managment in a cheerful and personable mood! Glad you got to the Z line and I'm even more glad you brought up Edmonds. While I'm hoping Bonds is actually in the lineup when Zambrano pitches against the Giants this season, I'm really looking forward to some Z/Cardinals matchups. I saw him by the batting cages and his kids were throwing the ball in the area where you can measure pitch speed. He was watching his kids throw and talking to them while signing autographs. He seemed to be in a very good mood.

Thanks :)

As I said earlier, my friend won a Kerry Wood autograph Friday, and I got it for her on Saturday since I went that day with my dad. I gave it to her earlier and she framed it for me and gave it back. :) I had no idea she was going to do it, and I was so excited. Here it is. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/jessicaw22/100_0338.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/jessicaw22/100_0337.jpg

You should try to get someone really, really tall to wear a shirt next year. I'm not sure where you could find this person, but if you could, I bet people would notice. :lol:

Wow, thanks a ton Vance! Michael doesn't know it yet, but one day we're going out on a secret date. :P I noticed that, and it seemed good. I think the lines would've moved a lot faster if people didn't try to take 10 zillion pictures and get more then one thing signed. But for the most part the ushers did a good job, at least in the Kerry Wood line. Yeah, he walked from the Vineline booth to a ramp next to one of the exhibits, and tons of people followed him. Security was having a hard time keeping them back so he had to move up the ramp so he didn't get mobbed. As soon as people figured out what was happening they ran to the ramp and all the sudden there had to be 30 people trying to hand him stuff as he walked up.

What the...there are real girls on the internet? Crazy. Well, actually, I'm a 50 year old man. Those are just some random pictures I found on someone else's album. :lol:

Sold out? When I left earlier, they still had boxes of them... but I left a few hours ago, so maybe they are.

Pictures! It was pretty hard to get good pictures. My camera doesn't zoom too well, and when it does, the pictures are grainy. There are some nice shots of people's hair though... :lol:

My recap of the convention… This was my first year attending, so it was slightly confusing, but I had a good time overall. My friend and I got to the Hilton around 4:30 (we couldn’t get out of school early and we missed the first train, delaying us more), and went to register. My friend won the Kerry Wood autograph lottery! We headed up to the opening ceremonies, but unfortunately it was already full and had been closed off. We were able to catch a glimpse of the players as they went into the ballroom though. After watching all the players go in, we headed to the ballroom with the radio show, and got second row seats! That was quite exciting, except that we were two hours early. We sat around for awhile and talked to the people next to us. About an hour into our wait, we left our jackets on the chairs and went down to the shopping area and got Cubs Convention t-shirts. We went back upstairs and hung around for awhile more until the radio show started. My friend got Jim Hendry’s autograph for me during the commercial break (she’s not a hardcore Cubs fan, so she said I could have it). My favorite show had to be the one with Walker and Dempster. Both were hilarious. At the commercial, Dempster jumped off the stage and signed autos for a bunch of kids (I was getting extremely annoyed that parents let their kids creep up to the stage the whole time). When my friend and I were standing outside the hotel waiting for our ride, Ryan Dempster tried to nonchalantly walk out the front door. My friend was looking down at something and I elbowed her and whispered that it was him. Unfortunately, the kid next to me must have been listening because once I said it, he turned to his friends and told them, and soon Ryan had a whole group running after him. Saturday was not quite as fun as Sunday. My dad and I went this time, and got to the Hilton at about 9:45. We hurried down to Michael Barrett’s autograph line, but there were people already past the metal gates they set up, and the line was winding around the whole area. We stood in it for a few minutes and realized there was no way we were going to come close to him. We headed to the “Not for Women Only” session, and got seats in the second group of chairs. I couldn’t really see anything, but the session was pretty funny. We snuck out before it ended and went downstairs so I could get in the Kerry Wood line (my friend gave me a picture to get autographed for her, since she won it). The line for Kerry was supposed to start forming at noon, but when I got there at 11:30 there were already people. I got up to him at about 12:30 (only around 15 minutes after he started). Everyone in the line tried taking pictures with him, and he was very gracious and tried to turn toward the camera and smile. This was slowing down the line quite a bit, so the ushers stopped that. I got up to him, said hello and asked how he was doing, and he smiled said “Good, thanks. You?” He signed and then shook my hand, and I had a huge smile plastered on my face. While I was in line for the Wood signing, my dad got in line for Michael Barrett, take two. Take two turned out worse then take one. We stood in line about 3 hours (2 for me by the time I got back from the Kerry Wood line), and came within 4 people of getting his autograph. He was 15 minutes late and the line moved extremely slow. I’m not sure if we was talking to people or what, but whatever he was doing took a long time. We got to the front and the usher told us he was only taking 10 more people, and counted off. We happened to be just a few people too far. It was extremely disappointing. I think they need to make some sort of system where they count off right away, rather then making people stand for 3 hours and then telling them at the last minute that the person is finished. After that, we stopped to buy a shirt for my sister. As we walked to the line, Michael walked up a ramp right next to the line, and was mobbed. He signed a few autographs, moved farther up the ramp and signed a few more. He joked that no one had even known who he was last year. He thanked everyone but told us that he had to go, and said sorry he couldn’t stay. Michael seemed very nice, but the Cubs need to find a better way to do autographs, because they end up with a bunch of angry fans. We left after that, in a futile attempt to beat the snow. Overall, I had a pretty good time, besides the disappointment of the auto lines. Whew, that was long.

I'm in!

I have one... Todd: I'm curious about your kneesock wearing pattern. Sometimes you wear them, sometimes you don't. What's up with that? Is it just a random thing, like "Today feels like a kneesocks kinda day," or do you have some secret pattern going on? Wow, that's almost as good as some of the ones on the chat today! hahah.

Seconded! Maybe he'll stop by when ESPN finally lets him go home :wink: