Sarcastic

{sighs :roll: } If that happens, then we KNOW whose team this is. Can we nominate Calvin Murray an early entrance into the "Dusty Boys?" I think it is more likely that Corey comes up. According to Bruce Levine (as you probably already know) they were planning to bring him up soon anyway. It would suck if Murray is promoted to the active roster.

This thread kind of reminds me of the days before I knew of this site, when I often visited cubs.com. The team does have strengths. They hit for average and power. They have some talented young pitchers. That said, they underachieve like nobody's business.

I thought everyone decided not to make an official color for sarcastic comments? I agree, please we're not WSI, we don't want to be anything resembling WSI. If you can't pick up on sarcasm oh well. I did it purely for entertainment value. OK. I don't care that much either way, as long as I don't have to do it.

Yeah, that'd show'em. Nobody's ever booed in Wrigley before. Why boo? Do you think it will make the team better? A team that can't handle itself in the clutch won't play better with more pressure. Do you think it'll make the ownership spend more on the team, like they refused to do in the 90's? The team has a pretty high payroll. They aren't a .500 team right now because they won't spend. The only reason I can see to boo is to make yourself feel better about the team. You are within you rights to boo if you like, but if you want to make yourself feel better, I suggest you take a break from the whole team for a few days, or maybe a week. I know its harder than it sounds, but taking my mind off the Cubs for a few days after a few particularly disgusting loss is the only reason I haven't gone crazy. I understand the dislike for the "Who cares if they win" attitude, but the organization is actually trying to win now, and booing will not make them change anything for the better.

I thought everyone decided not to make an official color for sarcastic comments?

Sort of.

Have you considered that the batters are impatient? If Dusty said the game plan was to be patient, he probably told the players to be patient, but no one can get blood from a rock.

Do you have anything new to say?

The path is clear. You know what you must do. :twisted: :shrug: No, sarcastic, anything but that !! What you can't figure it out? You got into an accident, the Cubs won. Do you see where I'm going with this? Oh well, not every joke can be good. :cry:

The path is clear. You know what you must do. :twisted:

Cubs screw up and still score! Hallelujah!

At least Padilla won't last past the sixth at this rate. Probably. Does he have a lot of endurance?

Even when Nomar gets back, I'm sure Dusty will find plenty of ways to get Neifi into the game. After all, he's one of Dusty's boys. Didn't Dusty say Nomar wouldn't be an everyday guy right away when he came back? I wouldn't be surprised if Neifi gets around half the starts at SS for a while after Nomar gets back.

This team is not built for speed. I wouldn't hit and run with ARam, even if Neifi is the one at bat.

Neifi GIDP. Saw that one coming. :x

Walker flies out to CF after a 9 pitch AB.

ARam walks on 4 straight pitches.

Burnitz takes for a 2-0 count and hits a line drive to center for a single.

Or perhaps cyborg umpires with video cameras implanted in their eyes?

Well, it was pretty obvious that he did from the replay. If he keeps doing that, eventually he'll get the right call.

\ And he workerd a full count.

Don't let it hppen again! :lol:

True, but only one of them is an above average lead-off hitter. :wink: I think the Cubs are counting on Corey returning to play CF next year. If Corey can mount a successful comeback, the Cubs will have "added" a solid bat with good pop and an above average defensive CFer. Lawton could be retained to lead-off and play one of the corner positions. Murton and others could be packaged to get someone better than Burnitz to play RF. However, there are options. The Cubs could sign Johnny Damon (if he'll accept a 3-year deal) to play CF and lead-off. He could move to a corner spot when Pie is ready. If they do, Patterson could then be packaged to obtain an all-star caliber power-hitting OFer, and Murton would be kept to play LF. Burnitz has been solid for the Cubs especially at his '05 price, but doesn't his option pay him 9 mill next year? If so, I'll pass. One of the many problems with the two scenarios above is what all-star caliber, power-hitting OFer could the Cubs acquire by trading either Patterson or Murton along with a bevy of other players? I'm not certain Austin Kearns will ever be that guy. Its possible but there are safer bets out there. Question is, can they be had for what the Cubs have to offer? Looks like its time to start looking for the next salary dump... I think Burnitz's option for next year is $7 million. That's still probably more than he'll be worth, but who else is there to play RF next year?

I think one of the big problems the Cubs have had with consistency is that they have some games where they maximize every opportunity, and some where the score one or two runs on eight or nine hits. They seem to have a bit of bad luck. Well, that's probably an understatement. But there isn't really any way to fix bad luck. Also, an offense based on hitting and walking would probably be more consistent than the primarily power based offense that the Cubs have, since power hitters are affected more by weather. That said, the Cubs offense is still not the biggest problem the team has. Adding OBP is a good idea, but I don't think it will make the offense much more consistent. I wonder if anyone has ever done a study on what consistent offenses generally rely on, besides luck.

Our offense is streaky, but I don't know why everyone thinks it is so unbelievably terrible. It is above average in the NL, and not the team's biggest problem. I'd say that our pitching, specifically the bullpen, should be a much bigger concern. Today's game is a good example of the team's pitching problems. The Cubs starting pitching is not very good. Kerry Wood has killed this team. If Hendry could have foresaw Wood's continual problems and addressed the need for another starter, perhaps this team could be 10 over. However, I'm not going to gripe about Hendry giving Wood the benefit of the doubt. That's true too. None of our starting pitchers have lived up to expectations so far this year.