C.C.

And looks like Fogg is settling down....

We've been getting a lot of breaks lately.

wait, I've never seen this.... is that edited at all or is Mike going down like that on his own? Yeah, when was this? Funny stuff!

Welcome!!!

Damn! What the hell is up with the Cards?

BOOOO!!!!!!!!

Blah! That was a good pitch.

It's SOTO time!

DEROOOOO!O!O!O!O!!O!O!O!O!O!O!

Fuku loves Wrigley.

SWEEEEETTTTTT!!!!!!! FUKU!!!!!!!!

That was the same pitch as the lsat one

2-0!!!

HBP! I'll take it! C'mon Fuk!

I see a Strikeout coming.

And he's not exactly tearing up AAA right now either.

The outs count the same statistically, yes. But when you're evaluating a guy and he can't even make contact, that's worse than a guy who is at least putting the ball in play. Felix can hardly get the bat on the ball at this point. He's got a lot of work to do. Either play him or send him down. Right now he's a waste of a rooster spot if he's on the bench or an occasional spot start.

Must. Keep. Winning. How the hell are the Cards tied for the best record in baseball?

Good damage control. If Dempster can just pitch strikes he'll be alright. His stuff moves around nicely.

http://blogs.jsonline.com/brewers/archive/2008/04/15/brewers-supposedly-have-signed-weaver.aspx

I feel the same way. I don't care at all. I'm just glad we don't have to deal with him anymore. Same for Patterson. I don't care that he's coming back to Wrigley either. Yea, same here. I could care less. If feels like a decade has past since he was last here.

Well, let's see. The National League average starter put up a 4.65 ERA last year. The average National League reliever put up a 4.06 ERA. So 200 innings of 3.75 and 80 innings of 4.06 gets you a 3.84 ERA out of both players combined. 80 innings of 2.00 and 200 innings of 4.65 gets you a 3.89 ERA overall. Of course, having those good innings all come in close games does give an extra benefit to the setup guy. At the same time, you have to add in that an average reliever costs you probably 1 million dollars and can easily be replaced if something goes wrong, while an average starter is going to cost you 3-6 million dollars at least and if they bust, they're much harder to find a replacement for. If I could lock in either of those two choices, I'd go for the starter. There is so much more flexibility in a bullpen to find a few good players and use them in all the important situations. In the Cubs case for example, Marmol going into the rotation moves Howry into Marmol's sport, Wuertz's into Howry's, and Eyre into Wuertz's. The guy who would replace Marmol wouldn't even have to be that good, because he'd be getting most of the mop up innings anyway. Of course, I have my doubts that Marmol could produce that much as either a starter or do it again as a reliever, but that's another discussion entirely. I'd take him as a reliever, simply because he's comfortable as a reliever. And if I am mistaken, he was developed a s a reliever in the minors. Which means, even if the Cubs wanted to move Marmol into the rotation, they'd prolly have to send him down to AAA for about a month or so, to stretch out his arm, and fine tune his mechanics. So nothing only would the Cubs be down an outstanding bullpen arm, but an outstanding arm all together for atleast a month. At this point, I much rather have Marshall/Gallagher/Veal/Smardz have the shot at starter in front of Marmol. Middle of the season is not a good idea to experiment. If the Cubs believe Marmol can be an outstanding starter, then let him make the transistion to starter in the OFFSEASON, not the middle of the season. Nonetheless, Piniella absolutely trusts Marmol in his current role, and thus is NOT about to move Marmol out of that spot. He was a starter in the minors. You're not going to make him a starter right now, but it's something I wish they would have done in the offseason. I'm not trying to be a butt, as I really want to know, was a "Starter" in the minors, or an arm who needed as many innings as possible for his development? The reason why I ask, is that both Billy Wagner and Mo Rivera were both "starters" in the minors, also. He was a starter in the minors, that's why he started 13 games for the 2006 Cubs. Also, he was good at starting, very good, so it's not as if they moved him to the pen out of ineffectiveness. He was 5-7 with a 6.08 ERA in 2006. His control was a problem...Which he obviously corrected last year. I'm willing to bet the farm he would be a very, very effective starter. We may need him in that role if the pitching doesn't come around.

Is this the start that Dempster comes back down to earth?

Alright! Much needed win today.

If Tagochi(sp?) burns us here I'll crap myself.