BigbadB

You're absolutely correct. That was a whoopin' and I want my due. :D

Remind me again. What did he do that warranted needing a shower after last nights game?

I think the Cubs will need these kids to step up, not for trade purposes, but rather for the hole in the rotation next year. Williams is my #1 trade candidate at the deadline. Maddux may retire or possibly not resigned. Wood is in the last year of his contract. That leaves Zambrano and Prior as the fixtures in the rotation. If Wade Miller works out, bring him back. There has been no interest shown in bringing back Wood. I'm not sure the Cubs will be in a position to trade all their young pitching prospects for Abreu. Not all of these prospects are going to work out.

I'm glad you pointed this out. I was mocked for calling Neifi's Friday start a spot start, but that was exactly the right word for it. Weren't you also mocking people that didn't want to see Todd Walker traded? Granted, he's only adequate defensively. But, his offense is much needed. While Barrett pretty much settled things last night with his dramatic grand slam, let's not forget that Walker worked the count and drew a much needed walk to start the 8th. A wild pitch moved his replacement (Hairston) into scoring position. It was only a 1 run game and we had Lee and Ramirez to try to get that runner in. OBP is very important at the top of the order and in front of the most productive hitters. I'm not so sure Neifi draws the walk in that instance. And considering how little playing time Hairston has seen so far this year, I'm not so sure Dusty doesn't have him listed 3rd on the depth chart at 2nd base.

Hmm. How far can we take this "New Dusty" idea? Maybe if we can convince Dusty he's the "New Dusty", he'll take the ball and run with it.

I'm more critical of Dusty than most. In fact, if I was in charge, Dusty would have been gone already. But, other than the Neifi at the top of the order (note that I didn't say "in the game") the other day, I haven't had much to complain about. In other words, if he kept managing this team for the rest of the year like he did this past week, I'll shut up. I don't want any "I told you so's", since he's clearly managing differently than in previous years. But, I'm willing to give credit where credit is due. 1) he has stuck with the rookies. 2) Neifi has mostly played in double switches and late inning defense. I don't mind an occasional start, but bottom of the order please. 3) He moved Jacque down in the line up yesterday while struggling. While I wouldn't have a problem with him being moved back up tomorrow, a struggling player should not be hitting 5th. 4) His line ups have been pretty consistent. Good OBP guys batting 1/2 in front of Lee and Ramirez. 5) Pretty good use of the pen. 6) I've been pleased with the calls to the bench for pinch hitters. 7) Good call bringing in Hairston to pinch run for Walker late in the game. 8) Maybe it's just me, but the team appears to be hustling more this year. I'm sure I could name some more if I spent more time with it, but I've been generally pleased with Dusty this week.

Was it Grackel that dropped Garrett Atkins during week 1. :shock: [-(

Maybe they should do ballpark renovations every offseason. They haven't lost a game yet in the new park.

Cool. So it's possible someone could find me an extra 50 or so points overnight? :D

Fix your sig!! Is this better? Ha! Great sig!

isn't it weird how as Cubs fans, the ump gets a call right, and we feel fortunate. the pitch to Barrett before the GS was a ball. I'm not sure which call you're referring to. bottom line is, pitches that Morgan describes as "acceptable" strikes went like this today: one corner call for Marshall against Pujols one corner call for Barrett against Izzy all others went the Cards way. The obvious bad call at 1st base that went the Cubs way is the one I was referring to. But, Murton was safe at 1st earlier in the game, but they called him out. I felt like it was a make up call. The Barrett pitch was definitely borderline, but there were a bunch of them that Marshall threw that I felt were strikes also. I thought Marshall was just getting the "rookie" treatment. Izzy and Rincon on the otherhand, weren't anywhere near the strike zone when they missed, so the ump apparently didn't feel like being generous to them.

On the post game show, Dusty's reasoning for pulling Marshall is that the most he pitched in ST was 4 innings. I would have liked to see if Marshall could pitch out of his own jam also, but I really didn't feel all that strongly either way. Turned out to be a pretty good call going to Wuertz. He kept the damage to a minimum. Cedeno seemed a bit out of position on that since the bases were loaded and there probably wasn't a huge need to check the runner, but I'm sure it did shorten the guy on 2nd's lead. There was nothing about this game I feel like picking apart. I enjoyed it all the way through. We got a call back after a bad call against us. The ump's strike zone was small for Marshall, and he still managed to pitch through it.

I thought he did a great job. The umpire hosed him a few times, including the Rolen at bat. If that one pitch is called a strike, I believe Marshall is ahead in the count and doesn't serve up the pitch he did. I wouldn't have minded seeing him work out of the bases loaded jam, mainly to see if he could get out of it and preserve his first major league win, but going to the pen was probably the better idea. Cedeno just missed that ground ball, but I'm not sure he would have been able to get a throw off in time if he did get it.

I kinda felt like that base was stolen on Williamson more than it was stolen on Barrett. But, Williamson picked him off anyway, so moot point.

I enjoyed this game from beginning to end. I stand up and applaud Dusty today. The lead off guys (well, Walker anyway) got on base in front of the big bats. They didn't swing at bad pitches all night. They hustled (Cedeno double especially). Marshall looked good except for that one pitch to Rolen, but the umpire blew the strike before that pitch, which changes that plate appearance if Marshall doesn't fall behind. The Barrett home run. WOW! And against the division rivals, no less. Happy to see Jones finally break through. It is exciting to see the speed, but it's also awesome to not have to expect Lee or Ramirez to do all the power work.

If they keep drawing walks and showing general patience at the plate, I'll be happy. Of course, with the way Izzy was pitching, how do you not draw walks? :D

Can you enlighten me on this comment? Have the points not completely updated in the game center? Rookie question.

The hookers from Risky Business? Nah, not that one. Can't think of the name of it. The pod women. Minority Report That's it! Thanks B! No problem BigBadB. 2nd time was a charm. Not really. I responded to your first one. My response was right before your 2nd time. :wink:

I should shut up now. It only took me three pages of this thread to get out what I was trying to say.

The hookers from Risky Business? Nah, not that one. Can't think of the name of it. The pod women. Minority Report That's it! Thanks B!

The hookers from Risky Business? Nah, not that one. Can't think of the name of it. The pod women.

Make up call for Lee -- who was clearly safe. I didn't see Murton's play. Murton was safer than Lee. :) Agreed. Why didn't they show a replay of that blown call?

Bynum looks like one of those people in that Tom Cruise movie.

The ump definitely gave Marshall the rookie treatment.

Yeah, if you want to use Conine and Cruz for comparisons, it will make people lean more towards Jones. However, Conine and Cruz were not the only players available for RF this offseason. Brad Wilkerson, Milton Bradley, Brian Giles, Aubrey Huff, Reggie Sanders, etc.... While it wouldn't look like a popular move now, I'd rather have brought back Nomar on a smaller contract and stuck him out there in RF than sign Jacque Jones to a 3 year deal. Jones isn't as bad at the plate as he has been so far, but he's never been anything special at the plate. One of Jones' problems is the same problem that has plagued this team for years. OBP. He doesn't get on base very well. I'm not interested in "I told you so's", I just want a good team. Paying high dollar for mediocre players because you couldn't get who you wanted is a poor business decision, now and until the contract ends. Jones' contract will handcuff the team later on, just you watch. He will basically be making what Todd Hundley made, and while Hendry pulled off a tremendous deal to get rid of Hundley, he had to take on "bad contracts" in exchange. It worked that time, but it isn't always going to work. If the plan didn't work out to get the guys he really wanted, then, IMO, it was a much better idea to put his long term contracts in his back pocket and offer up a 1 year deal to someone like Reggie Sanders, or trade for Milton Bradley and figure out a way to upgrade next year.