BigbadB

This team is not going to miraculously become good. Changes must be made immediately. A good outing by Zambrano will only delay what must be done now. The people in charge of this mess must be held accountable. Excuses are just that. You and Bob are a much better man than I. My wife says I missed my calling in life. She says I would have been a great baseball announcer if I would have gone down that road. I beg to differ, because I tend to tell it like it is. You guys have earned my respect because you can still call a great game while biting your tongue from pointing out everything wrong with this organization. A day will come when the right people in charge will make solid team improvement decisions and this team will move in the right direction. When that day comes, we will be able to share in the joy together. That day is not today. I wish Zambrano a great outing, but it won't hurt my feelings one bit if the Cubs get shut out again today. Hendry should be made to stand before his season ticket holders and apologize and ask sympathy for tossing their money in the toilet. Afterwards, he should hand in his resignation. I know you guys watch these games everyday, just as I do. But, each person has their break point, and I am well past mine. Your predecessors had their break point as well, which is what basically opened the door for Bob and Len. It's a very tough job you guys have, but you have my full support. Keep up the great work! The Cubs organization also owes Bob and Len an apology for forcing them to go out over the airwaves on a daily basis and make poo smell like roses. I doubt that was what you originally signed up for. Signed, A lifelong Cub fan who hasn't seen a team this bad in his 42 years of existence.

It was poorly constructed. But it should not be a .370 W% team. Dusty has gotten the worst possible results out of this group. They were never going to be a 90+ win team, but they should have been above the .500 mark, and even after all the injuries, should be able to flirt with the .500 mark. It was a horrible attempt to build a championship team, but this should not be approaching 20 games under .500. I don't disagree with you. However, they were in a position to build a championship caliber team. Maybe needing to make as many moves as the Cubs needed to make, asking them to be championship caliber might have been a tough sell, but they should at least be one of the better teams in baseball this year. Instead, they used a very poor approach on what areas they believed needed fixing and ignored the things that definitely needed fixing. I want Baker gone. But, MacPhail and Hendry need to go too, extension or not.

Somehow, I guess I missed that one. Anyway, Bob was doing a pretty good Santo impersonation this game. He was pretty much calling these guys out, which they no doubt deserve. Honestly though, it's the management team that needs to be called out. You can't blame mediocre and bad players out for being mediocre and bad. They're playing like expected. Blame the guys who assembled a team full of mediocre and bad players.

What blows me away is the fact he is still employed after all these gaffs. He should have been gone after 2005. And I do agree with Dusty, in part. This was a horrible, horrible team as it was assembled. If you had tons of minor leaguers, 40m+ to spend, a healthy free agent class and lots of trade commodity, and the best you could do with it is a horrible, horrible team, people above Baker need to go with him.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to miss most of the remainder of this game, but I think I can safely assume how it will turn out.

Nevin with an oustanding routine catch.

oops

Maddux brought the good stuff.

The Astros had a much better team too. Not if we can get Pagan back soon No kidding. I must hurry out and get some sunglasses, cuz the future is bright.

$75? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha You sure are laughing a lot today !! :wink: I'm tired of being mad at this team. I've trained myself to judge games now as a tragic comedy, with emphasis on comedy.

$75? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Dusty bats Neifi 2nd in the order for the fans. A refill on your beer with one out in the bottom half of the first inning seems just about right. :wink:

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

But his bat at least knocks in some runs. Well, it's hard to knock in runs when there is nobody on base.

Ooooo. Jacobs IS playing. Another extra base hit. Thanks for calling my team a bottom feeder, Raw. You pissed 'em off.

Ha! My only two guys who have batted so far this week have combined for the cycle, 6 RBI, SB, 2 runs and a walk. Go me!

Well, I have an issue with this myself. If you are going to use the lame excuse that his back is bothering him, the least they can do is make it look good. Having Rusch carry a guy off the field isn't making it look good. Instead, it looks just as bad as every other decision this team has made so far this year.

Actually, we are even in starts. I was late setting my line up, but I put two start Blanton in place of Wang. The good news for you is that Uggla and Jacobs are both going to miss significant time this week. And I wouldn't call my team one of the bottom teams. Yes, in the win column I'm one of the bottom teams. But, your 3273-3106 point advantage isn't all that signficant considering we've played 12 weeks now. That's an average of 13 points a week better than my team. Your team ranks 5th in points, I rank 9th. With that said, I can't afford for Uggla and Jacobs to be out all week, so I'll probably lose.

Fuzzy's on a roll.

But, isn't that the problem of those teams that don't hit a lot of home runs? If you were to count a triple that cleared the bases, how can you not count a home run that clears the bases? It's not about clearing the bases, it's about the run scored by the batter. A guy who hits a home run is never technically on base so he can't be driven in. If you are attempting to measure a clutch factor by looking at the percentage of runners on base driven in it's best to leave HR out of the picture. (Whatever runners were on base when the player hit the HR would still count, just not the run scored by the batter.) I don't mean to argue with you on this subject, since I do think you are much more knowledgeable in this field. However, the runs total isn't just measuring clutchness. If a guy scores on a wild pitch, it's still a run scored. If you were truly rating clutchness, wouldn't you measure it by RBI and hits rather than runs and hits? I didn't really think Fred's stats were measuring clutchness, but rather the percentage of runners on base that score, whether they were driven in, got themselves in safely via hit, out or error.

Whether a team is $100+ million or not, there is an inherent cycle involved that requires youth. The Mets "reloaded", but it wasn't without the rebuild aspect of the cycle. Mineya timed the acquisition of proven veterans with the break-out of the club's best youth and that is what is required. The Cubs missed the prime timing window in 2004-2006, but they still hold several key youth roster spots for at least another year. I think they have one shot at reloading in 2007 before requiring a down year or two to rebuild. Even big market clubs have to go through the cycle, unless they jump from 100 to 130+ million. With a core of Zambrano, Prior, and Cedeno, and with one definitive veteran long-term (Lee), the Cubs do themselves a service by overhauling management and reloading for 2007. The core to build around is still pretty darn impressive, as it contains two aces strong 3-hole star, and a promising young SS. Agreed.

To be completely fair you should probably subtract HR from the run and hit totals. (Otherwise "clutch" teams will be biased toward those that hit a lot of homeruns, as home runs have a 100% R/BR ratio.) But, isn't that the problem of those teams that don't hit a lot of home runs? If you were to count a triple that cleared the bases, how can you not count a home run that clears the bases?

Didn't watch the game. What was the tirade? If you didn't watch the game, you won't be able to appreciate the things that were said nearly as much. There have been a lot of bad games this year, but the Sunday game ranks #1 in futility. Todd Walker and Phil Nevin stood motionless as a ball slowly skipped right between them into RF. Since neither player touched the ball, an error was not charged. However, it should have been a double error. The Jacque Jones throw to Henry Blanco should not have been charged as an error to Jacque, but it was anyway. It was a short hop (first bounce) about a foot in front of Blanco's glove. Since this is about the first time Jacque got a ball to roll all the way to the catcher this year, it's a shame that he got charged for an error. Murton had a line drive base hit smack him in the bread basket, which allowed 2 runners to take an extra base. Juan Pierre threw a ball home from shallow centerfield that couldn't even clear the mound. Neifi botched what should have been an easy double play. Not only did he bobble the ball, but he was backing up rather than attacking the ball. Neifi tossed a ball at Aramis sidearmed/underhand that was nowhere near the mark, which allowed a runner to score and everyone else to be safe and move up a base. If that wasn't enough, the Cubs bats were shut out by +5 ERA junkballer, Brad Radke. All of this on the day that Derrek Lee returned. The day that everyone seemed to be waiting for. There was no fire. There was no care. Everyone was a zombie out there, proving that whether Derrek is in the line up or not, this team is not going anywhere. We didn't need this proof, but apparently Hendry and Dusty did. Worst game of the year in a year full of horrible games should have been the final bell for Hendry and his cronies. A knockout punch was scored that day, but instead of a 10 count, Hendry is getting a 50,000 count. Let's give Hendry another extension today. Let's make it lifelong. It makes about as much sense as the last extension. :roll:

Everyone will have a newfound respect for Murton's defense in LF once they see the great Phil Nevin play there. Phil's one of my favorite players (back in his days with San Diego), but outfield defense is definitely not one of those traits that earned my obsession.

Almost as awkward as Brad Radke shutting out the Cubs with his "junk".