BigbadB

Lee is 6'5", so I suppose he is bigger than Ronny. :D

I believe you have a valid concern there, as well.

Today's line up should be: 1st-Pierre 2nd-Murton 3rd- Lee 4th-Aramis 5th-Cedeno 8th-Neifi 8th-Jones 8th-Blanco

Couple that in with the fact that small ball should have been more prominent when Weaver was a manager, and station to station long ball was more prominent while Baylor was managing, and it taints those numbers even more. Though the Baltimore offense was hardly a weak hitting team.

How fitting that Cedeno will be at Toys R Us considering how young he looks. Where could we find other Cub players doing autgraphs this year? Kerry Wood at one of the local hospitals? We got rid of all the gas can relievers, so we can't expect any of those guys at the local gas station to do autographs.

I'd probably rate it the exact opposite. Clement will be pitching in Boston (extreme hitter's park), and mostly against very good offensive teams (Toronto, NYY, Baltimore and even Tampa to a smaller degree). Lowe will be pitching in LA, which is an extreme pitchers park. San Francisco is more of a pitcher's park, Petco is an extreme pitcher's park, Arizona is somewhat neutral (depending on whether the roof is on or not) and you can always bench your starter when they make that trip to Colorado. None of the offenses in the NL West are considered big run producers, either. Given the choice between Clement and Lowe, I actually prefer Lowe.

I didn't know anything about Chris Young before he got traded to San Diego. I watched him pitch against the Cubs in Las Vegas. Holy crap, that guy is huge. Now there is a guy who shouldn't feel threatened to pitch inside to ANYONE.

I was always under the impression that Steve Stone always blamed himself for his career being cut short, and that was because he threw curve balls all season long. As far as Flanagan and Palmer are concerned, I don't know enough to comment. I will say that I enjoyed watching Earl Weaver's offense and I did not enjoy watching Baylor's offense.

What? I'm not umpire techniques expert, but I can't see how you are even close to right here. You never see baseball umps look around for help before they make a call. They make what they thing is the right call. Then if another ump thinks differently they talk about it. There is no hesitation, and no way would it be just a split second delay if they glance over their shoulder for help. They make the call, then deal with the problems if somebody disagrees. That's a bit closer to what "I" would think as well, but I'm really not all that versed on how umpires do things. I'm just asking the questions, because the above quote doesnt' seem accurate to me. With 2 outs and everyone running, I would think there would be time to look back, but that it's still unlikely to happen. With less than 2 outs and players stopped about midway between the bases, any delay could really put a team at a disadvantage.

Don Knotts was never a governor? Who knew?

Yeah, Bannister looked pretty good for the Mets the other day, so Heilman is probably not going to see much time in the rotation. I believe Bannister had a no hitter going into the 6th, but then the bottom dropped out.

Can you provide examples of how Weaver abused his pitchers. Palmer and Flanagan weren't throwing anymore innings than any other pitcher in the league during that time. Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins, Steve Carlton, Juan Marichal, Nolan Ryan, etc....

I liked it. I don't dislike Neifi. I just don't like him on the Cubs.

Wily Mo was never going to be an everyday player with Boston. Ortiz is the DH, and he won't be sitting much. Manny is in LF, and he's not sitting. Crisp is the CF and he'll play everyday. That leaves RF, and Trot is not only a hometown favorite, he's the lefty side of a left/right platoon, and there's more righty starters than lefty. Good news is Wily Mo will probably start when Randy Johnson and Johan Santana are on the mound. :D

LOL. I would be okay with either, also. And I agree that it's too early in the season to make any assumptions.

That is a judgement call. There are only 2 kinds -- judgement calls and those from the rulebook. It's the same as if a runner is thrown out at first by a step and the ump blows it. It was in his judgement that the batter was safe, therefore no out is recorded. An example of the other type is if one of the umps forgets about the infield fly rule and starts calling the wrong people safe and the wrong guy out. Historically, that call would have stood as it was his call to make. Like I said, I don't know what changed and why, but they're starting to overturn each other more frequently. Okay, so an umpire who didn't have a good angle that makes a call, and that call is overturned by an umpire who had a clear view of the play is a "judgment call"? I would think the umpire who had a clear view to make the correct call would be obligated to reverse the call. On the first day of the year, LoDuca pretended to have had the ball in his grasp on the play at the plate. The home plate umpire's view was blocked. Let's just say that the 1b umpire came down the line a little bit, and from where he was positioned, he could see the ball clearly lying on the ground. It would only be a "judgment call" in this instance to reverse the original call? Can the umpire turn his back and walk away when he knows for certain the wrong call was made? By the way, winning games is important and everything, but it was a total lack of integrity on LoDuca's part to pretend like he had that ball all along. It's cheating. Plain and simple. It sets a poor example for every young kid wanting to play the game the right way. Do whatever you have to do to win is what it has come down to. I love this game, but I'm not nearly as enamored with how the game is played anymore. Professional is not really an accurate word to describe some of these guys.

Well, by all counts, I totally agree that a line up with Neifi is much worse off than a line up without. My argument wasn't necessarily that, but moreso that if he has to play, bottom of the order would give the Cubs better opportunities to score runs at the top and middle of the order. If it's about whether Murton or Walker bat 2nd or 7th, I agree that there isn't going to be much of a difference in runs scored over the course of a season. If it's Neifi and Walker or Murton, positioning in the line up can definitely be impacted. You know my feelings on OBP.

I wouldn't read too much into that. The ump's strikezone was tiny. So of the 2 games the Cubs have played this year we can assume that the other 160 are going to be like the 2nd game? I think the 2nd game is a closer reflection of what to expect. Pitchers are not in midseason form. Do you expect Zambrano to be as sloppy as he was in game 1 all season long? I sure don't. So by game 2 they are in midseason form and the rest of the season will be like game 2. OK I get it. Now it appears you are being argumentative for the sake of being argumentative. The Cubs scored 16 runs in game 1 and they scored 6 runs in game 2. Over the couse of the season, do you think the Cubs will average closer to 16 runs scored, or 6 runs? No, pitchers will not be in midseason form in game 2.

Um, I most certainly will not "get over it". Please don't ask me to. Why don't you whine about water being wet while you're at it. Neifi is on the team, with a 2 year contract no less. He's not going to ride the pine for 162+ games. I didn't sign him to that contract. If the government decides to take 70% of your income, are you going to simply smile and just "get over it". I like the fact that water is wet, so there is nothing to whine about there. But, if it was dry, you bet I'd be in line to complain. Just because you are pleased as punch that Neifi is on the team for the next two years doesn't mean we should all conform to how you feel. It's unreasonable to even think this should be the case.

Um, I most certainly will not "get over it". Please don't ask me to.

I don't buy it. I'd love for someone to prove to me that the Cubs wouldn't have scored many more runs last year if Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez had better hitters hitting 1/2 in the order all season long. No guy with as many or more XBH's had less RBI's than Derrek Lee last year. And it wasn't even close. I'd be interested to see how far back Derrek Lee finished in the RBI race among 3rd place hitters who have had as high of a batting average or higher as he did in 2005. 1 game. Not that much impact, but could potentially have an impact. Over the couse of a season, like last year, huge impact.

I wouldn't read too much into that. The ump's strikezone was tiny. So of the 2 games the Cubs have played this year we can assume that the other 160 are going to be like the 2nd game? I think the 2nd game is a closer reflection of what to expect. Pitchers are not in midseason form. Do you expect Zambrano to be as sloppy as he was in game 1 all season long? I sure don't.

One of the big reasons I'm not fond of first pitch swinging, is because for every out made on a first pitch swing, you've just extended the starting pitcher's outing. There are 27 outs in a game. What's the average amount of hits/walks/HBP in a game? 10? 12? Probably closer to 12. 12 would add up to a 1.33 WHIP, so that sounds pretty good. That's now 39 trips to the plate average. 3 pitches per at bat, minimum, and this pitcher is gased. Let's just assume that the opposing pitcher is Cy Young. If Cubs hitters make 27 outs on 27 pitches, you'll never get Cy out of the game. If each hitter sees 54 pitches (27 x 2), now you're only at 54. Double it again for an average of 108 (or 4 pitches per at bat), which includes ZERO at bats where someone reached base, and Cy is going to be leaving the game early. The earlier you get the starter out of the game, the better chance you give the offense. Outside of the set up man and the closer, who are pretty much money on most teams, the rest of the bullpen are a bunch of guys not good enough to start, and not good enough to secure the best spots in the pen. I watched crap pitchers go late in games against the Cubs because their pitch count was extremely low. I'm not saying it should always be that way, or hitters should always let the first 1 or 2 go right on by. If you go back through last years game logs, you will find an eerily similar pattern where the Cubs starter left earlier in games than the opponents starters, and a lot of runs scored on the Cub bullpen in those games. Why do Cub pitchers get knocked out so early, so often? The other team is being patient and letting the pitcher throw more pitches. I'd like nothing more than to see the opposing team swing at the first pitch against Zambrano in every at bat. But, the sooner the opposing team can get Zambrano out of the game, the better their odds. Pile up the pitch counts and hope he runs out of gas in the 5th or 6th. Meanwhile, Casey Daigle (who?) and whoever else looked like Cy Young against the Cubs recently pitch late into a game and we don't see the other teams crappy relievers. It's not foolproof, but the Cubs seem to be to the extreme opposite of this philosophy. The pitching staff walks too many guys, and the offense swings too early in counts too often. I'll never knock Lee or Aramis for first pitch swinging, since they are premier hitters. Everyone else should be waiting on "their" pitch, not swinging at the "pitchers" pitch.

What's a judgment call? In the game last night, the 2b made the wrong call. Another umpire may have clearly seen the ball bounce off the turf before it went in Duffy's glove. That's not a judgment call. That's a reversal of an incorrect call.

Still not 100% proof, but considering he did it over and over and over again last year, I have no reason to believe he wouldn't do it again this year.