JonnyRed

I'm feeling some momentum boys...Nice performance by Hill, clutch hitting by a couple of rooks and two big Ws by Dempster. Let's make it 4 in a row tomorrow and celebrate Mad Dog's 3,000+ in style!

Great win today by the men in blue....love seeing our bash brothers all go deep...gutty performance by Jerome against a tough team and conditions....Dempster hangs in the ninth....And now we've got our ace going tomorrow night...let's get this series win!

Mind telling me who you would have liked Hendry to sign? Go ahead and pick from the following categories... Injured: Perceival, Benetiz Ineffective: Kolb Questionable at the time: Urbina Hendry had a lot to choose from, didn't he?

Come on....Have you seen may third starters lately? When healthy (I know that's not often enough these days) he is among the most dominant pitchers in the game. Do we forget that Woody is responsible for winning us our only playoff series in the past 90 years? How many third starters have a career batting average against of .215? Or have a stikeout title and 4 200+ strikeout seasons to their credit? Before you go off touting his low win total, remember that he typically has gotten low run support and lost 3-4 games a year because of the bullpen. I'm as frustrated with KW's injuries as the next guy, but don't go doubting his talent.

Way to slam the door Novoa! I'm really liking what I've been seeing from him lately. Now, let's get some insurance runs!

We can all stop thinking about trading KWood because it's just not going to happen. Who is going to invest in a $10M a year pitcher who can't stay healthy. This stinks because I really like KW and when he's truly healthy, there are few guys I'd rather have on the mound.

Call me crazy, but I am 100% in Jim Hendry's camp. Let's review many of the points brought up about Hendry that led me to this position. 1. Hendry is credited as much as anyone with re-building the Cubs farm system. The system has produced two top of the rotation starters (Prior and Z) in recent years, not to mention enough talent to attract two all-stars via trade. 2. Name me another GM in the game today, who traded prospects (who haven't even developed into starters) for two all-star position players---and the likely MVP of the league this season. I'm hearing all the whinning about Hendry not securing a closer, but yet no one is praising him for getting D-Lee and A-Ram for junk. Not to mention he has since signed both players to long-term deals. Imagine how much D-Lee would be worth after this season on the open market? 3. My favorite one....Hendry couldn't find us a closer last off season. Let's see, would we prefer the injured Perceival or Benetiz right now or the ineffective Kolb (who isn't even closing anymore). And you can't blame him for passing on Urbina considering it looked like he wasn't even going to play this year. A wish of mine is that instead of fans whinning about this, please offer a realistic suggestion for what Hendry should have done. 4. Hendry has demonstrated a willingness to go for it the last two years. In '03, his deal with the Pirates not only landing us A-Ram but Loften and Simon won us the division and our first playoff win in my lifetime. In 04, the Nomar deal put us in a great position for the WC until Hawkins decided to choke down the stretch. And I'm confident he will do what it takes this year as well. 5. I don't know how you can blame Hendry for not forseeing the injuries we have suffered the past two years. Other than possibly Wood, all of the injuries this year have been new and unpredictable. And his payroll is already at $100 with Sosa, so there isn't much of any wiggle room available. Overall, like any GM, Hendry isn't perfect (ie Willis) but he has this team and minor league system crafted for a long run at winning and I fully support his efforts.

There is far greater success of Mitre succeeding as a starter and Williams as a reliever than Williams as a starter and Mitre as a reliever. Williams isn't pitching well, and his relative success 2 years ago doesn't mean much. He doesn't strike many out, and gives up too many hard hit balls and fly balls. Didn't Williams win 10 games last season as a rookie? I may be wrong, but he's been a starter for his short MLB career. That's where he should stay, because he has the potential to be a good #4-5 starter for us.

Lets hope someone hits a HR so he doesn't have to run through people again. Your wish came true!

Back in 03, did anyone else hear about bars on the southside that offered drink specials when the Cubs lost? If it is in fact true, I'm going to enjoy every minute of the Sox going down to defeat this fall. All their early wins will just make the eventual loss that much more painful.

Great to see Kerry go deep into the game and the Cubs to get a bit of a winning streak going into the break. Anyone else okay with KWood trading Ks if it means he can pitch into the 8th inning? And I want to print out copies of Dusty's lineup card for the next month with JHJ and TWalk in the 1-2 holes. Let's keep it goin tomorrow and build up some momentum Cubs!

Mizzou, Let's have a little perspective, can we? Dusty does have 9 winning seasons in his 12 years as a manager, so he must be doing something right. He was also managing the Cubs when they had back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in my lifetime. Now, don't get me wrong, I can't stand his decisions as times, but there are plenty worse managers in the game. In fact, many have sat in the Cubs dugout at one time or another. What I would ask of our enough group is, instead of just asking for Dusty's head, make a suggestion of who should replace him.

Dusty doesn't swing the bat or throw the ball...He is certainly deserving of his share of the blame, but how many two out runs have we given up in recent weeks or failed to come through with clutch hitting?

Time to start planning for Bourbonnais and Bears' camp? This team is unwatchable right now. It's one thing to have the injuries, but they flat out aren't performing up to their capabilities right now, which is inexcusible.

Too bad Hendry can't actually swing a bat...Then again, how can he be worse than Macias?

"Dude, we've pt got to pt try to pt get through the pt first one and take the pt second one too" Could you run that by me again in English? You know how Dusty does that spitting thing without actually spitting every time he's at the mic? No, I haven't noticed that, but I also only get about 10 Cubs games each year because my stupid cable company doesn't give me Comcast. Think DirecTV....think almost no cost for the gear....think great picture...think every baseball game (not to mention the NFL Ticket)

Which is what we do a lot of times. That, and I'm also sick of swinging at the first pitch just to be swinging at the first pitch. If it's a pitch you can crush fine, but don't hit a little dribbler to the shrotstop on the first pitch all the time. What makes this even worse is if a pitcher knows (ie Patterson) that you're swinging at the first pitch, it will be nowhere near the plate.

Are you ####ING KIDDING ME??? MACIAS? Sweet lord. GOD. He is such an idiot. WHY IN THE HELL is Macias playing over Hairston, and WHY IN THE HELL is Neifi playing over cedeno. GOOD LORD. I think it is pretty clear that Dusty does not like Hairston. Maybe his dad did something to Baker. I cannot understand it at all. Word has it that Hairston is one of the players missing signs lately. If that's the case, I agree that we shouldn't be playing him. It's inexcusible not to know the signs, how many outs there are, etc. They get paid to be professionals, not little leaguers.

A team with all-stars at the corners and 4 all-star pitchers in the starting rotation, not to mention an all-star SS returning for the last two months, certainly has what it takes to win in the second half. We have to start playing up to our capabilities and we'll all be pleased with the outcome. It starts tomorrow......Go Cubs!

65% Dusty 35% Hendry I won't even rehash the innumberable reasons why Dusty is more to blame than Hendry again in this thread. At some point, the blame has to be placed on the players themselves. Is it Dusty or Hendry's fault that Corey has gone from an all-star caliber player in '03 to what he is today? Or what about Zambrano, Wood and Maddux playing up to their full abilities? We have enough talent on this team to win if the players start pulling together and live up to the expectations. Right now, the blame should be: Dusty: 25 (Poor decisions, not creating the right team chemistry) Hendry: 20 (No LF, weak bullpen) Injuries: 30 (Losing 2 ace pitchers and a 2-time batting champ hurts) Players: 25

Why did I know that the Cubs wouldn't be able to hit against a weak pitcher and our "ace" would be less than dominant against a battered Braves' lineup? It's getting really hard to be a Cubs fan right now. Except for D-Lee and A-Ram, no one is living up to expectations, and the daily onslaught of Corey and Dusty must go is getting tiresome. The all-star break can't come soon enough...

Baker IS an idiot and overrated as a manager. It's that simple. How can he be overrated when everyone bashes him all the time? He was overrated before he was hired as the CUbs manager. But I think we as fans know now that he is not a good manager. I personally like managers who have won in 9 of the 13 seasons they have been managing. (I'm not saying some of Dusty's moves drive me nuts, but there are plenty in the game worse than Dusty)

Baker IS an idiot and overrated as a manager. It's that simple. How can he be overrated when everyone bashes him all the time?

I actually think he has defined the new Sox and led to their success, but my initial point is that all of that speed and SBs haven't translated to producing runs, have they? No one whould think JB is a huge run producer, yet he's better than Podsednik

There is a Podsednik lovefest going on right now in Chicago. Everything thinks he is the catalyst to the Sox success. Granted, he has certainly been better than expected, but what do you make of this stat? Our own Jeromy Burnitz has scored more runs that Podsednik, 46-43. So, really, what have all the stolen bases lead to?