Rob

Ummm... no? No matter how badly Murton, Floyd, or even Jones is performing at the moment, there is absolutely no basis to assume Theriot or Fontenot will perform better over the rest of the season. To short change your big, struggling bats in order to get in more playing time for your anemic, middle infield bats only guarantees a low level of offensive production, with no upshot whatsoever. Bottom line: Theriot and Fontenot have no chance to hit like big league corner outfielders. Putting them in at the expense of people who do is asinine, and only compounds our problems.

Get some glasses, then. Cubs win! Wooo!

Walk for Berkman.

Should we stop using a quality closer because of his second blown save of the season? Do you feel comfortable with Dempster as closer? So who should he go with? Trade for Papelbon. :D A closer isn't worth half what he costs on the trade market.

Should we stop using a quality closer because of his second blown save of the season? Do you feel comfortable with Dempster as closer? I feel more comfortable with Dempster closing than with just about any other reliever in the pen. An argument could be made for Wuertz, but Dempster has been solid overall. I might want to see how Marmol handles the duties, but I'm comfortable enough with Dempster.

I'd settle for a reliever we could have trusted the 8th with, cause Eyre forcing Dempster to go 2 innings isn't helping anybody.

C'mon Pie... pick us up.

Aside from Pagan leading off, this is about as good a place in the lineup to start as any.

There you go. Typical! I have no faith in Barrett blocking things in the dirt. Blaming that on Barrett would be extremely poor form.

C'mon Demp... I've seen you pull through worse.

No no no no, let Eyre do it. Well, we want it to hurt, not tickle him. If somebody just sprinkles powdered sugar on the ump first...

Renteria better get suspended for that crap

And Lilly is tossed... what a load.

Benches clear!

Good thing he's leading off. Wouldn't want to waste any of those HRs by having guys on in front of him. By putting Izturis and the P right in front of him, we've virtually guaranteed that 90% of the HRs he hits will be solo shots. Well done, Cubs. Well done. Yes, because only the Cubs have realized that Soriano hits best out of the leadoff spot. Those stupid, stupid Cubs. I'm sorry, but I don't believe that where he hits in the lineup makes a damn bit of difference. Of course he wants to lead off, he loves to swing the bat. He gets more chance to do so if he hits first. But would he suddenly be terrible hitting 3rd or 5th? I don't believe it. And frankly, there's no stats that "prove" in any real sense, that his spot in the lineup effects his performance. He had a great year last year hitting 1st. Would he have had the same production in his walk year hitting 3rd or 5th? I think so. It amazes me how many people say "he hits better in the leadoff spot" as if his position in the lineup determined the results of his ABs more than all the other factors at play. If Soriano believes he can't his as well out of the leadoff spot, it's true. There's nothing about the leadoff spot itself that makes people hit better or worse, but if Soriano fools himself into thinking he can't hit anywhere else, we're better leaving him there.

Clean as Lee plays the game, I sincerely doubt it. He's a real class act.

I wouldn't mind seeing Gallagher throw a couple of innings. I haven't seen Gallagher throw in quite a while. I do hope he gets in this game. Seems like a good time to do it with a nice lead like this. Now that I think about it, I might let him play RF. Freakin Jacque.

I wouldn't mind seeing Gallagher throw a couple of innings. I haven't seen Gallagher throw in quite a while. I do hope he gets in this game.

Too slow, but I like the enthusiasm.

Official game now.

He currently sports a .920 OPS (even after the 2 dingers tonight) and his previous high was .911 and his career OPS is .840. Basically, that means he's likely to regress (esp. over the last few years of the 8 year contract)... and anything less than a 1.000 OPS for 136 mil isn't worth it. So, no, he's not likely to be worth every cent (and wouldn't be even if he kept this same level of production up over the next 8 years) While he won't be able to continually progress, whose to say that he won't be able to get better this year and for a few years to come. The Cubs still overpaid by abut 20 million for him. Nothing says he can't, but he's been around the league long enough that his career numbers are certainly worth entertaining. Could he establish a new baseline level of performance at 30? Sure, but it's not very likely.

Marshall really needs to try and draw a walk. Otherwise they'll just intentionally walk Sori.

Good lord. I knew it would be high, but jeez. I don't think we can ever send Pie down again. Cheers on the legwork, by the way.

Soriano's on fire, and Pie doesn't even have any RBIs to show for it. Send him back down. Anybody feel like calculating Soriano's #'s with Pie on the big league squad? .800 42 home runs 70 rbi .800 on base .24000 slugging. roughly. Sounds about right. Pie came up April 17th, went down May 10th, and came back up June 3rd... anybody feel like doing the math, or should we wait for a sportswriter to put it together for an article? I will-give me a minute on that. Bless your heart, sir. I did take a preliminary look and saw that of Soriano's six dingers going in to tonight, 4 were hit with Pie on the roster. Of the two that happened when Pie wasn't around, one happened the day after he left (call it the hangover effect) and the other happened the day before he came back (giddy with anticipation)

Soriano's on fire, and Pie doesn't even have any RBIs to show for it. Send him back down. Anybody feel like calculating Soriano's #'s with Pie on the big league squad? .800 42 home runs 70 rbi .800 on base .24000 slugging. roughly. Sounds about right. Pie came up April 17th, went down May 10th, and came back up June 3rd... anybody feel like doing the math, or should we wait for a sportswriter to put it together for an article?