Laura

3-2 Lookouts now on a Chris Walker rbi single and a Scott Moore solo HR (#15). Negron not in the lineup.

I wonder if XM will pick him up. Seems like it would be a popular move for them, though obviously it would be "just" radio for now.

Ditto, I hate the new format.

Good. So Aramis will be retiring as a Cub. Some would say that he's already opting for early retirement, at least on the basepaths. "They" said there were motivational issues with him on the Pirates. When he came to the Cubs, there were established Dominican players here and the team was in the playoffs. Those respected Dominican players are no longer on the Cubs. The team isn't contending. DLee was the recognized team leader, at least media-wise, and he was out-of-service early on. Ramirez may not have been ready for the spotlight. He doesn't give very good interviews and he really really needs to stick with a station-to-station basepath plan, but he can still hit the ball really hard and really far. He shouldn't be the main plan, but he can fit into the overall plan quite nicely still. Trade him if you get good value back, but don't trade him because of lack of heart or hustle. Because sometimes the environment has a huge effect on that, and that seems to be the case with Aramis (like it or not). JMO, and I understand those who can't stand it when he admires his blasts. Sadly, there are only a handful of players who don't do that anymore (and Pujols is not among that handful). I'm not quite ready to exchange Aramis for some guy who won't have any blasts to stand around and admire for too long, and I don't trust Hendry to find someone or someones better than Aramis.

Impressions of Cameron Maybin?

I'd stick with Aramis until that A-Rod trade comes through.

Apparently Hendry has been handing out NTCs like candy according to player interviews. WTG HENDRY!!! The chances of him getting canned are fairly slim -- FOR NOW -- but it sure was thoughtful of him to make sure that the mess he'll leave behind is all-the-more-difficult to clean up.

He needs some time out of the lineup at this point, he's pretty much flailing away up there. He probably needs to visit Iowa and Von Joshua. Too bad he can't do that at the MLB level.

No such luck. No clever puns so far (must wait for Prior to actually win a game) Cubs, Prior go for sweep of host Mets

I hear you, it's frustrating and I fear nothing will change with the current regime in place.

Didn't he hit one after Barrett singled? I think the rest were solo shots. I like HRs, but I REALLY like HRs with runners on base!

phew!

Pavlik with a scoreless 2 inning debut in West Tenn. LINK 2IPs, 1H, 1K, 4GO - 1FO

As posted, Nic Jackson is on the DL. Negron isn't in the lineup tonight after being pulled from the game last night. Hope he's not injured.

Congrats to Billy!

6-5 Cubs bottom of the 6th

Cubs are 29th out of 30 MLB teams in OBP (last in the NL) and tied for 26th/27th (above only LA in the NL) in HRs. Reds may hit more solo shots, but they lead the NL in HRs (2nd overall in MLB) and are 7th in the majors in OBP. Using the percentages you provided and the team HRs going into today, 86 of the Reds' 141 HRs were solo while 54 of the Cubs' 96 HRs were solo. I'll take the Reds production, please, even with the slightly higher percentage of solo shots.

Jason DuBois was International Player of the Week. International League Jason Dubois, Buffalo .417 (10-24), 7 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 2 BB, 6 SO, 0 SB, 1.125 SLG From Thursday to Saturday, Dubois was an unstoppable force. The 27-year-old outfielder went 7-for-12 with four home runs and 9 RBIs during this three-day span, driving in five runs against Louisville on Thursday and homering twice against Syracuse on Saturday. Dubois has a .306 average for the month of July, after hitting just .216 over May and June combined.

OK, last batch. I have a few ballpark ones I'll post in a different thread. JR Mathes http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/laserena06/baseball/Minor%20Leagues/Diamond%20Jaxx%20072006/DSC00057.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/laserena06/baseball/Minor%20Leagues/Diamond%20Jaxx%20072006/DSC00058.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/laserena06/baseball/Minor%20Leagues/Diamond%20Jaxx%20072006/DSC00059.jpg Gary Cates http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/laserena06/baseball/Minor%20Leagues/Diamond%20Jaxx%20072006/DSC00155.jpg Carlos Vasquez http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/laserena06/baseball/Minor%20Leagues/Diamond%20Jaxx%20072006/DSC001431.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/laserena06/baseball/Minor%20Leagues/Diamond%20Jaxx%20072006/DSC001441.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/laserena06/baseball/Minor%20Leagues/Diamond%20Jaxx%20072006/DSC001451.jpg Jake Fox http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/laserena06/baseball/Minor%20Leagues/Diamond%20Jaxx%20072006/DSC00037.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/laserena06/baseball/Minor%20Leagues/Diamond%20Jaxx%20072006/DSC00038.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/laserena06/baseball/Minor%20Leagues/Diamond%20Jaxx%20072006/DSC00008-1.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/laserena06/baseball/Minor%20Leagues/Diamond%20Jaxx%20072006/DSC00020.jpg

I fear the nothing.

People should submit any questions through his website, so it probably doesn't matter if we discuss Italian baseball idioms here. :)

Or how he was supposed to be the 5th starter?

In the Cubs organization it's philosophical insomnia.

I actually like the idea of holding out for something significant, even though he's not really worth much. Teams get stupid when going after name pitchers. You never know. well, yeah, hold out as long as you can. but if he's left to rot on the cubs' roster 8/1 because hendry couldn't get a top of the line prospect for him, i'm going to be kinda upset. if the cubs were in the dodgers position and they traded murton (who is half the prospect ethier is) for a guy like maddux, i'd be irate. i can't get too excited for the cubs being in sell mode for the first time in a while anyway because of how hendry and co. judge prospects and draft picks. i'm not getting my hopes up. It may also be that the Cubs are serious about not having any sense of urgency in terms of moving Maddux, regardless of the logic in doing so.