Irrelevant Dude

Here we go, Fontenot will be stranded at 3rd.

Which position player is going to finish this game off tonight?

He turned into Dusty Baker.

I honestly can't remember the last time he got a hit.

Lou Piniella interview coming right up...

Lee looks lost at the plate lately.

Wow...that might not be a bad idea. It's actually a really good idea. How many pitches did he throw tonight, 10? Why is it a really good idea? There's no reason to push Zambrano back a start and that doesn't help our bullpen situation.

That makes absolutely no sense and wouldn't help, but Lilly could probably be available in relief tomorrow or Tuesday if needed.

The 2nd base ump was staring right at the play!

Wow, this umpiring crew is amazing. I bet he wishes he wasn't wearing that mic.

Whose place would he take? We have a pretty solid 5 starters right now, so it would take an injury for Marmol to have a chance to break into the rotation.

Curveball right down the middle, ball 2.

What are they saying on the radio, anyone know?

That was a very dirty slide. The umps are letting Atlanta get the better of every exchange.

This is on Tchita because of his early warning yesterday. Way to go.

I get nervous every time a ball comes anywhere close to CF. I just assume that Jones is going to catch everything.

He has a surprisingly accurate arm with that release point. It doesn't look pretty, but the ball usually ends up right on the money.

I'm glad it wasn't just me!

Did anyone else go check their front door when there was a doorbell sound effect on TV?

Lee is hitting a very quiet .340 this year, it doesn't seem like he's had much of an impact on any games since very early in the season.

7 I believe.

Pie extends his hitting streak.

The Cubs are playing Toronto on Thursday. I have tickets to that game also and I believe it will be Marquis again. Correction. I don't know why I thought it was Toronto, but I just checked my tickets and it's Seattle.

The Cubs are playing Toronto on Thursday. I have tickets to that game also and I believe it will be Marquis again.

I can't blame him for using discretion to now throw any of the pitchers out of the game so far, but it's the initial warning that was the problem That's the problem. You're saying discretion is no longer in play -- you're going to throw out the next guy who comes close. Otherwise the warning means nothing. That's not necessarily true. The umpire can still use discretion after issuing a warning and it's pretty obvious that the Braves don't want to hit a pitcher (Gallagher) and a pitcher-wannabe (Izturis). I agree that the warning was stupid, but there haven't been any other pitches thrown with intent that would warrant an ejection. Then what does the warning really mean? An ump can always throw a pitcher out when there was intent to hit someone, whether there was a previous warning or not. It's true that an umpire can throw a pitcher out an any time whether or not there has been a warning issued, but it rarely happens that way. The warning means they don't want any more pupose pitches being thrown, and in this case it has prevented the Cubs from retaliating... until tomorrow. at which time the pitcher and Lou will be ejected immediately. the net effect of giving warnings is usually a benefit to the offending team. LaRussa has used it for years. beaning someone who honestly beats him, or in retaliation for an honest mistake, then crying foul when anyone pitches close to his batters. the right call is to eject Hudson immediately, or issue the warning after Marquis beans Jones. Agreed.