JonnyRed

You must keep the FAITH gentlemen! (I knew this game was in the bag...just like the next 120!) GO CUBS! Let's keep it goin' against the Rockies tomorrow...

I love the fact that even on nights when our bats are cold, we find a way to get the job done....we're going to win this game!

That's the spirit...We've got the most productive offense in baseball, yet they are somehow incompetent. We've got the heart of the order coming up and we're down 1 run...I think we can do it.

I see the rotation being the one area we need to strengthen by the deadline. If our focus is on how to beat the Diamondbacks, we can't afford to have any holes in our starting pitching. Ideally, we need a #2 starter, but I don't think any will be available. Who will the best options be? AJ Burnett Greg Maddux (he could fill the 5th starter's role and provide long relief in the playoffs Others?

I agree...possibly the best article on the emergence of the Cubs that I've seen. You have to love that we are winning with the perfect balance between hitting, pitching and defense. that alone shows me that the Cubs are a serious contender come the pennant drive. If we look at who is over and under performing their norm, I come up with: Overperforming: -Ryan Dempster: No one saw this type of performance coming -The Riot: Most on this board wanted him benched to start the season, he'll likely return to be a .280 hitter though -Soto: He's good, probably even very-good, but can a rookie catcher really lead our team in RBI and OBP? -DeRosa: Slightly better than expected - (Some might put Marmol in this category, but he proved last season how dominant he can be, so while we do need to lower his innings as Perry points out, I expect this level of peformance) Underperforming/yet to produce: - Howry: History says he should be much better than this - Eyre: Just welcoming him back to the team - CF in general: Johnson has been good for the most part, but Pie didn't deliver and Edmonds might rebound for us - Marquis - Hill Overall, I think it's a pretty good balance, and as guys come back to their means, I don't see our overall production changing much. Plus, I love how when one or even two of our big bats are cold, we've got another 2 guys to keep the pace. We also have depth in the right places if the following guys stumble: - Marquis: Marshall and Hart - Wood: Marmol - Theriot: Cedeno - Johnson: Edomonds, Pie (okay, we could still upgrade here) Overall, I don't see any reason why the Cubs can't maintain a 95 win pace.

This happens to CFers when a ball has spin and slice on it. Sweet. He's definatley a Cub now. He did what Edmonds does. Bourn probably catches that standing under it. Bad angle+no speed=omg what defense!!!111! And lol @ Bob even thinking that was anywhere close to as good as the Johnson catch. What a joke. So the Astros announcers called it an astounding catch, yet Cubs fans can't get over the fact that Edmonds actually did something to help the club....kinda pathetic if you ask me. If Z can forgive the guy why can't we?

Talk about the Friendly Confines....what a homestand! I love the fact that we won despite only managing 4 hits...this team's newfound patience at the plate is sure paying off. All four runs resulted from walks. Go Cubs Go!

Hey, that's fine be me as long as we win the game, I don't care how we get the runs. Let's keep the fireworks for Houston.

I'll ask the questions and then duck.... Should we really care how much Soriano is making? Would beer prices be cheaper at the Friendly Confines if we didn't sign Alf? Has his contract prevented the Cubs from signing Fukudome or any other FA targets? Could the $18M he will be receiving at the end of the contract be considered somewhat reasonable given the escalating contracts we are seeing? Won't we all trade the $126M in a heartbeat if Soriano helps led the Cubs to a World Series title?

So are we not supposed to not talk about any of the team's success because we are only in mid-May? I would say that a 5-1 record, sub 2.50 ERA and top 20 ranking in Ks is worthy of a little Demp recognition.

Amidst all of this belly-aching, what I like is the idea that Edmonds could help the Cubs beat the Cardinals for a division title and the Cards will be paying him much more money to do it than we will. I'll stay optimist about the move until proven otherwise...there really is no downside to the move other than he was a pud while on the Cards...then again so was Rodman before he joined the Bulls.

Man, there's a lot of whining going on for a team that started the day with the 2nd best record in the game, has a 6-4 lead and now can enjoying an en fuego lead-off man. I don't get it...

Less than two weeks ago, all you heard was how we should be replacing our all-star outfielder with Reed Johnson, how he was terrible in LF and how if he did play he should be batting in the 8 hole. I think it's time for all the so-called Cubs fans and baseball experts to sign the attached thread petition and ask Zo for his forgiveness. How bout it? btw...Soriano has eclipsed his HR pace of last year at this point.

Well, we all hated Dennis Rodman as well, but that actually worked out okay, didn't it? Everyone needs to relax a bit. If he sucks, he won't play, but I'm sure the Wrigley faithful will rise and cheer the first time he pulls a premature dive to catch a ball or he starts hitting. In the end, it's $284K and a low-risk, maybe good reward move.

I made the mistake of turning on tonight's ballgame to get a score update, only to hear Hawk professing the brilliance of Sox hitting coach Greg Walker. He went on and on about how good Walker is, yet he somehow left out that the Sox are yet again among the worst hitting teams in baseball, average wise, in the majors. Virtually every Sox slugger is underperforming. Yeah, Hawk, Walker is awesome!

I used to love the fact we led the league in Ks each year. But now I much prefer our pitchers use 1 or 2 pitches to get a batter out.

Interesting stuff, but frankly I don't care if he uses his bat as a pool cue to get on base, as long as he reaches first at least 3 times every 10 plate appearances. I just love that ever since my Sox-lovin father-in-law spent 20 minutes trying to convince me that Soriano deserved to be on the bench, Zo has turned his season around---starting with the 2 run game-tying homer that same night! Guess I should thank the Cubs-hater....

I hope I hear it another 85 times or so this year!

As much as I'd like to see a Woody save today, I wouldn't mind seeing a Soto 3 run bomb either.

That's the kind of insurance I LOVE! WTW DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD-LLLEEEEEEEE!

SORI! That's more like it Cubs! Let's go get an insurance run now!

Yeah, what was it, all of 6 days ago that Fuku was 3-5 with 2 RBI?

It's nice to see Lilly giving us another solid performance today, especially with us going up against Haren. Now, let's get a couple of runs and put Lilly in line for a W.

Can we just forfeit this game and head home early? (We've had our share of losses this year, but I can't think of many worse than our performance so far today.)

Well this isn't the way we wanted the game to start...When Bako and Hairston are hitting HRs off you, you know it's not your day. BRUTAL!