BRASKYS SCOTCH

I thought the promotion of Don Mattingly to bench coach for the Yankees was a signal that he will succeed Torre when the times comes. Say what you want about Steinbrenner, but I think Cashman will have the call here and has already lined Mattingly up for the opportunity once it presents itself.

As a true Cubs fan, I'd start lamenting how good he could have been.

Though I'm not comfortable with how long this is taking, let's dial down the stress factor a bit. Why wouldn't Ramirez make the Cubs sweat by haggling over the contract up until the deadline? Furthermore, if talks are worsening and the sides appear to be distancing themselves, that info would have been leaked already. This is the same team that held an exhibit of Sammy leaving on the last day of '04 to lend credence to their imminent priority of shipping Sosa out. It's hard to imagine the Cubs keeping quiet if they feel Ramirez' contract demands are outrageous, etc. I'd say the more troubling thing is Ramirez' agent staying relatively mum. Usually the agent would be more prone to make public his player's love for the team to further pressure management so as to not upset the fans. Ah, screw it. Speculation's more fun.

You too, huh? George Costanza came up with "it's not you, it's me". GC: 'Don't you dare tell me it's you and not me. If it's anyone it's me!' (girl breaking up with George): 'All right, George, you're right. It's you.' GC: 'You're damn right it's me!'

I'm going to liken this to Kornheiser's enthusiastic response to Mike Tyson's claim that he would fight women. TK said it's a great thing because it takes you one step closer to 'Tyson will fight a bear.' I'm crossing my fingers that mlb just sells out even more and brings ideas such as a "Depends Undergarments Performing Under Pressure Player of the Year" award, etc. that much closer to reality. What's next? Putting the backs of chairs in a baseball team's dugout? ... wait. :evil: edit: I know this is irrelevant to the "wonderbread" aspect you originally put up, but the award itself is stupid. What player honestly wants to accept this stuff? Put it on the fireplace mantle or in the fireplace itself?

I missed the beginning of the game. Was Joe Buck wearing a hilarious tie? He was on Conan O'Brien last night and pledged to wear La Bamba's hilarious tie on Game 1 of the WS. Dumb question, I know, but if he went through with the promise I may dislike Joe Buck a little less. ... then again he was effusive in detailing how he was attempting to get Sting to sing the "Meet the Mets" song in Game 1 of NLCS ... thankfully it was rained out.

I thought the Nationals were high on Terry Pendleton?

Will the press conference be streamed anywhere? Thanks in advance.

Good to see my fellow Hoosiers conducting themselves so well and knowledgeably. Great interview. Thanks to O'Shea and Bruce!

Um well. Florida just hired Gonzalez so why can't we hire Girardi? GM's can be hired now up until the World Series, but no hires can be made during the WS. If we don't have one in place by then, I'd honestly be rather confused if not concerned ... worried ... wtf is Hendry doing wasting away this time ... ohmygodwe'restuckwithPinellabecauseeveryoneelsehasbeenhiredbynow! See what I mean?

Dusty and Jim must hate you. :lol: Keep up the good work! Any inside word on Freddi Gonzalez or Joe Girardi? Not yet. Too early to tell, and everybody's playing it close to the vest. Would Hendry really risk hiring Gonzalez, a would-be first-year manager, to lead this team when Big Jim only has a 2 yr leash himself?

Well, if you see a couple of yahoos tonight waving "terrible towels" from the Pittsburgh Steelers in the bleachers that will be my roommate and friend Zach ... I'll be the one holding my head in my hands immediately next to them. Really need a good outing from Hill tonight.

I think it was Mike Greenberg who said something to the effect of "I would be shocked if Girardi isn't managing the Cubs next year, assuming he leaves Florida." I'm not sure how much stock I put into his predictions/analysis. Agreed. Hendry will go through his "interviews" to make it look like he's going through his whole process, the way he did with Melvin, and Showalter, and Garner, and whoever else he interviewed when he had Dusty in his sights the whole time. I imagine Jim already knows what he wants to do, and who he wants to replace Dusty. I just hope that it's not Piniella. Hendry will distance himself from Girardi and any other managerial candidates until the end of the season to lessen the chances for a messy Dusty/Cubs divorce. It's pretty obvious Dusty's gone at this point. His statements about his unhappiness here and not being wanted, whether true or not, will only ease the decision-making process for Hendry. Like many, I'd love to see Girardi in our dugout next year. I'm sure Fredi in Atlanta would be sufficient, but I really want to see 1) a big name that would renew/generate optimism 2) a serious and passionate manager who instills discipline and 3) tenure. Granted, tenure isn't a part of the negotiating process, but I'm sick of the 3-4 yr managerial terms here on the North Side. Joe's connection to the Cubs could enable a longer stay here - of course, so could anyone who understands that Neifi should never bat 2nd or have more than a handful of plate appearances, reluctance to respect OBP... I'm not going to list more of Dusty's mind-boggling decisions. At this point it doesn't bear repeating unless he's brought back.

I think Neifi's head photoshopped onto the kid's body from the 80's movie "Lucas" would be more appropriate.

More The Riot! No more Gremlin!

I tend to agree, but it appears that Baker and Hendry are quietly playing the blame game between each other. Hendry's shots that the team shouldn't have performed as badly with DLee out and that other teams have found success in spite of the youth of their starting pitching obviously aren't going to sit well with Baker. And Baker's claim that his performance should be judged beyond his record this season seems more of a claim that he hasn't been given a good roster. Arguments on the talent level of the roster notwithstanding, you don't tell your boss that he's not doing a good job, let alone conveying that message through media.

That avator ... that's nuts. It's like the trainwreck you can't peel your eyes from. What movie is that from?

You ever catch some of the Tigers' farm teams in action? Preston Larison, a buddy from high school, pitches in their farm system.

I feel that Dusty is coming back here next year no matter what. And I wouldn't be surprised if he's given a 2 yr deal with an option/buyout clause/etc (by Dusty, not the Cubs) on the 2nd year. It'd be nice if we made it through two years, Hendry and Dusty hit the road, and Girardi enters the fold (it would be after his 3 yr deal has run its course). Dusty has his faults, but I think the main reason the Cubs won't develop is the unwillingness of Hendry and MacPhail to pay attention to the makeup of winning ballclubs. That said, this isn't the most optimistic post. See you in 2009.

It started in RF bleachers. We were in LF bleachers. They started it a few times until it finally spilled over to willing participants in LF. Some regular at the beer stand was having a total conniption fit over the whole thing. To make up for it some of the LF fans began the old "Right Field sucks!" chant.

"Dude ... WTF?"

Bless Gameday Audio for letting me hear the Cubs starting lineups announced at Wrigley Field so I can hear the boos peppered among the crowd when Neifi's name comes up.

Rusch. Seriously. I know this is a family-oriented board so I'll just leave it at this: "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!"

Don't have time to sift through all of the posts here - and I also don't need to exponentially increase my anger at this moment by re-processing what just happened - but has there been any announcement on how we are going to account for another pitcher entering into the rotation? Is Fatass back in now?

Baseball is no longer an Olympic sport. Why would they be building a new baseball stadium? In Atlanta and Montreal they converted the main Olympic stadium into a baseball park. Turner Field was Olympic Stadium in ATL I think I read that Chicago would not venture down that path. Apparently the IOC was rather displeased that certain funding used to build the Atlanta stadium was essentially subsidized for the Braves. I don't know what you would do with an empty olympic stadium, but Chicago officials made some representation that any additional stadium would be temporary. I think it was in the Trib.