LoneStarCubFan

DLee=needing a break IMO...which consitutes to a slump as well I guess. I think he is hurting pretty good, also looks as if he's tryin to pull everything...could be wrong though. Just my opinion.. And he's in a slump because our Village Idiot manager is running him into the ground for the second year in a row. Screw you Dusty, screw you.

Why waste a trade on this worthless sack of crap of a season? They team's quit Hendry might as well too. Gutless idiots.

They'll claw back to get within a run then Prior will leave the game and the Cub bullpen slam the door on the comeback. 9-4 final is my guess.

No poise = No heart

What a bunch of gutless clowns. Way to show up you idiots.

Line-ups? Can't wait to see what the outfield looks like. I'll guess: Lawton RF Perez SS Lee 1B Burnitz CF ARam 3B Walker 2B Hollandsworth LF Blanco C Prior P

No need to hurry back. It won't matter.

I hope Lee keeps ripping guys. Somebody needs to hold these clowns accountable. The manager sure as hell won't.

Remlinger is on the third base side of the mound with his momentum moving away from first. Lofton is on the first base side of the plate with his momentum moving towards first. Three guesses on who wins that footrace. I'm not arguing that. I just take issue with your assertion that Lofton was closer to first than Remlinger. You said: Lofton WAS closer to the bag than Remlinger.

A 34-year-old guy who wants multiple years? Ummmm.. No thanks.

Rothschild did use a mound visit. IIRC, it was during the AB of the second guy he walked. Man, I don't remember seeing that on TV. Matter of fact, I thought Brenly commented on the fact nobody came out to talk to him. I do remember Barrett going out to talk to him though.

Honestly, if we're fielding a team with pitchers too old and immobile to at least ATTEMPT to field their position, we have MUCH bigger problems than that play last night. It's not that he's immobile, it's just that there's no way in hell he outruns Lofton, who is considerably faster AND closer to first base to begin with. IF Rem is a righty, he may beat him to the bag. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if Remlinger DOES get over there, Lee flips him the ball and Lofton is more than likely safe because he beats Rem to the bag, putting runners on the corners with nobody out. Since when is 90 feet closer than 60ish feet? Remlinger is on the third base side of the mound with his momentum moving away from first. Lofton is on the first base side of the plate with his momentum moving towards first. Three guesses on who wins that footrace.

Honestly, if we're fielding a team with pitchers too old and immobile to at least ATTEMPT to field their position, we have MUCH bigger problems than that play last night. It's not that he's immobile, it's just that there's no way in hell he outruns Lofton, who is considerably faster AND closer to first base to begin with. IF Rem is a righty, he may beat him to the bag. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if Remlinger DOES get over there, Lee flips him the ball and Lofton is more than likely safe because he beats Rem to the bag, putting runners on the corners with nobody out. So, in a way, this worked to the Cubs' advantage.

Nomar's ability to play nine innings and the use of Neifi isn't the crucial point of this thread. The crucial point is that Dusty is running Lee into the ground just like he did last year and ARam is playing hurt and could use a couple days off. The problem is the no. 1 back-ups at first and third are Todd Hollandsworth and Jose Freakin' Macias. Thanks the the ridiculous make-up of this roster, resting Lee or ARam is tantamount to throwing a game because the Cubs don't have major league caliber back-ups for either one of them.

Not gonna happen. This season is over. They'll dink around and keep it close until the end of September, completely collapse in Houston on the closing weekend and whine about how much energy they expended in August and September trying to "stay close." Of course if they played with a sense of urgency all season they wouldn't have to expend all that energy in August and September...

I'm still trying to figure out why he didn't send Rothschild out to settle Dempster down on Tuesday night.

Well, if your #4 hitter was hitting .221 w/RISP, but had the 3rd most plate appearances in the league in those situations; you might get sick of being stranded on base. Dude, we can't have two right-handers back-to-back in the line-up. Burny's got to hit clean-up. [/dusty]

That's an incredibly unfair statment to make. You can't just say a team has no heart because their close wins are because the other team screwed up. That's how the majority of close wins happen. This team does not have the heart to win tight ballgames. Last night was a good example of that. Theoretically they have a shot at the playoffs, in reality they don't have much of one because they aren't capable of doing what it takes to get the job done. I also think it's kind of funny that the Cubs are selling us the same load of crap they sold us last year. "We're finally getting our guys back." Yeah, that worked so well last year. And of course these guys coming back coincides nicely with somebody else probably heading to the DL (Hairston) with no legitimate ML talent level replacement available. Be prepared to see a lot of Jose Macias in CF is Hairston is out for awhile.

There are only four guys on this team who should be untouchable: Lee, Ramirez, Zambrano and Prior. Everybody else who isn't a free agent should be on the market for the right price in the offseason. My guess is Hendry looks for one free agent outfielder or trades for one, either a corner guy or a center fielder. With that said, I think the roster will look something like this: 1B Lee 2B Hairston SS Nomar 3B Ramirez LF Lawton CF Patterson or FA Signee RF Murton or FA signee C Barrett SP Prior SP Maddux SP Zambrano SP Hill SP Williams/Kid from system TBA Murton/Corner OF TBA if Murton starts Perez Blanco Cedeno LH Hitting Corner IF TBA Greenberg Dempster Wood Rusch Williamson Ohman Novoa/Van Buren/Aardsma Pie starts the season in Des Moines.

I can't get too mad at Remlinger for not covering first last night. No way in hell he beats Lofton to the bag on that play even if he tries. A 39-year-old lefty falling towards third base when he releases the pitch does not beat Kenny Lofton in a foot race to first.

They're pretty good at laying down like dogs against inferior competition. May be the best in the league at that.

This team is completely incapable of winning 8-9 in a row or running off a ridiculously long hot streak like Houston has for one simple reason. This team has no heart. None whatsoever. When they are put in an adverse situation they will do something incredibly stupid to cost themselves the game the majority of the time. Generally their late inning wins have been the result of the opposing team finding a way to screw up to the point that there's no way the Cubs can fail. But when the other team doesn't help them out, they're cooked. Their continued horrible approach against no-name slapdick pitchers they're seeing for the first time, their lack of any grasp of fundamental baseball, a manager who would rather use "his guys" in crucial situations in order to build their confidence instead of worrying about winning the damn game all assure this team will wallow in mediocrity while teams like the Cardinals and the Astros play with heart and professionalism run away with playoff spots that should belong to the Cubs. I couldn't even get angry with the way the game ended last night because I knew it was over when Rollins doubled to start the inning. Good teams find a way to get that guy home. Mediocre teams find a way to help them. The Cubs are a mediocre team. I'm glad I'm going to be out of the country for a couple of weeks so I won't have to watch this disgrace of a ballclub.

Who else was he going to use? I don't fault him for that. It's not like he's got a lot of great options ou there right now. Dusty's only contribution to this loss is the fact that he manages the dumbest team in baseball, and one that plays with zero sense of urgency, both of those problems lay completely at the feet of the manager. It's also becoming painfully evident why a lot of the pitchers on this staff would rather throw to Blanco. They can't count on Barrett to keep the damn ball in front of him in critical situations. Too many wild pitches this season have been balls he should have blocked and kept in front of him.

Dumbest. Team. In. Baseball.

Never doubt the Astros. Last week it was Pedro Martinez vs. Ezequiel Astacio. Pedro pitched like his usual self, but Astacio mowed down the Mets. The Astros won that game. :roll: At some point the better pitcher is going to win out, why not tonight? I'm not doubting you. I'm just pointing out that the team with the "better" pitcher doesn't always win. Anyone else just have 2003 NLCS flashback? There was no NLCS in 2003. None. Never happened. Wasn't a World Series that year either.