BigbadB

Petco is home to a AAA team. Surely, we could bump them. What's up with the Astrodome these days?

That was maybe the toughest matchup he will see all season, outside of Jared Allen (twice). Still he was pretty weak pass blocking. He did ok in the preseason against weaker DEs. I didn't have a huge problem with St. Clair. I'm glad they kept him at left tackle and Tait at right. At least in that situation, Tait is a good enough right tackle to not hurt the team, whereas he wasn't a good LT at all. St. Clair is a mediocre lineman, but he's not completely incompetent. They just need to give him help all season. All St. Clair had to do was hold off Freeney long enough for Orton to get off the short pass. The first two series of downs worried me, as Orton was missing badly, but he became much more accurate after that. That was one of my keys to the Bears winning this game. They had to control Indy's defense with short passes. Anything else was just going to be a bonus, and Orton did give us a few bonuses hitting Clark and Lloyd downfield.

I did throw your team under the bus, but with the match ups Raw's pitchers have this week, it's simply my prediction and nothing more. But, I'd trade my match ups this week for Raw's any day of the week. Derek Lowe at Petco Matt Cain at Petco Ollie Perez at home vs. the Nats and Braves Adam Wainwright at Pittsburgh (possibly without Nate McLouth) Cole Hamels at home vs. Milwaukee and his choice of which one will be better between Lilly at St. Louis and Ervin Santana at home vs. the Yanks.

Appreciate the offer, but Mrs. BigbadB has experience with fantasy baseball and she will be able to do any necessary changes for me. I'll be going over my roster with her before I leave. Good luck to you as well.

Alamo Stealth vs. Fuzzy Logistics Tootielicious vs. Rawaction Division Championships. Doesn't really mean all that much as losers go home and the winners play in the big dance. Alamo and Fuzzy split the seasonal match ups, though Alamo's win came during the all star break, and Fuzzy's most certainly would have come back to win that one if it was a full week match up. :grin: It looks like I'll have to come from behind in this one. Alamo has as many as 4 or 5 starts to use before Thursday, and I only have 1 start until Thursday, and it's probably my least favorable start of the week (Javier Vasquez vs. Toronto) I like my bats better for this series, but you have to like Alamo's pitching match ups a lot better. The sad news is I will be out of town for this one. I leave for Vegas early Wednesday and won't be back until Monday. I'll have Mrs. BigbadB monitor my team for injuries while I'm gone as well as provide updates on the match up each morning. I probably wouldn't bother, but with Randy Johnson's health situation, I want to make sure I get 7 starts this week. Raw has excellent pitching match ups, which will be too much for Tootie to overcome. However, the match up could become a little more favorable for Tootie if Kazmir gets a second start in a potentially big game against the Yankees on Sunday. With an off day Thursday, Kazmir could start on Sunday with normal rest. But, I still believe Raws pitching gives him a tremendous advantage this week.

Don't look now, but BigbadB is still alive in the suicide pool. And it's getting awful lonely after week 1. Too bad New England won, or it would have been a really great day to have picked the Bears. Of course, all these Charger fans here in San Diego are pouting and looking for a new suicide pool. Awesome game. Great D. I think we found our running back. I was impressed with Orton's poise.

I thought he did alright considering who he had to protect against all night (Freeney).

Lou won't even plan his playoff rotation until the Cubs have actually locked up a playoff spot.

I just got back from Denver. Driving through Kansas seemed like 15 hours. I'd never been so happy to see a Missouri state line. Been there, done that. Worst state to drive through, ever.

Yeah, don't we all just love a hindsight argument? Must have just been chomping at the bit to toss that one out there. If only DeRo could have hit that 20th homer sooner, so we could have all been ridiculed and laughed at much sooner. Of course, my proposal for Roberts still had DeRosa playing everyday. But, Theriot has more than fooled me, and I'm thankful. Still, I'm left with nothing more to add to this thread other than..... :roll:

Cueto likes to serve up tape measure home runs. It should be a good day for Cub fans everywhere.

I'm expecting a big day today. I have Brandon Webb, James Shields, Roy Oswalt and Johnny Cueto all pitching today. Of course, I wouldn't mind Cueto taking a dump today.

Is Joe Morgan a curse word? :D Yes.

This should be true of any player in the organization. Exactly. However, it's no big secret that Harden is a health risk. What kind of package can the Cubs expect to get for a health risk? Personally, I'd like to see the Cubs win their division for the next 10 years. New ownership with deep pockets just might help make that a possibility. Even if Harden only pitches 100 innings a year, to have that kind of arm in the playoffs for the next 3-5 years to me would be worth it.

One more bit of information to support your argument is that if St. Louis was in either of the other divisions, they would be in the playoff hunt. They'd be in first place in the NL West. Personally, I don't put any stock at all into where a team finishes, because one player cannot make that much of an impact on whether a team finishes first or last. But, many of the voters seem to think that making the playoffs somehow makes someone more valuable than another. And there really is a big difference between a guy who walks because he doesn't swing at crap and a guy who doesn't get anything but crap to swing at. It's Pujols' award to lose at this point, IMO.

Isn't it a pretty safe bet that just about every pitcher will have 2 starts in the finals, and some might even get three starts?

Unfortunately, that's usually about the amount of runs the Padres score each game.

Nudge.

I'm locking this one because there is an identical thread in this forum.

I'm sure the goal isn't to rush Zambrano or Harden back. The more rest they can get, the better it will be for the whole team. But, the Cubs will still want to win the division. So, it becomes imperative that the rest of the team step up and allow Zambrano and Harden their necessary rest while still holding HFA. And it wouldn't be a huge surprise if a lot of guys did step up, since playoff roster spots are up for grabs. Especially in the bullpen.

Fantastic news. Looks like we will have some fresh arms for the playoffs. Meanwhile, other playoff hopefuls will be leaning on their starters with short rest to hold off other teams in the playoff hunt. Hopefully the races stay close in the NL East and West for the remainder of the year.

The key to winning this game, in my mind, is the ability of the QB to hit his possession receivers. Marty Booker, Olson, Clark and Peterson in 3rd down situations make for pretty good targets. Especially if they can get someone like Hester to tie up a corner and a safety on deep patterns. That and the defense forcing a few turnovers and keep the running game in control. I'd also like to see a lot of blitzing on Manning. Being out of game situations for as long as he has, it would be nice to see him on his back early and often to shorten his ridiculous pocket presence. The defense has a lot to prove after the poor showing in preseason.

They've been pretty clueless drafting offensive players. By the time they actually fix the offense, the defense will be old and decrepid.

I think I read in that article that he's hit 17 home runs this year. Did I read that part of the article wrong?

The offense was perfectly fine last night. I will concede that Lee's at bat with the bases loaded was not one of his finer moments. When a pitcher is as wild as Wright was, don't give the guy an easy way out of the jam he created. Make him throw strikes. Swinging at a low pitch with a 1-0 count was just what he was hoping Lee would do, and Lee fell for it.