rawaction

My predictions: NLDS Cubs in 4 Brewers in 5 (one of the best 1st round series ever, Sabathia remains dominant and outduels Hamels in game 5) ALDS Rays in 4 Angels in 5 LCS Cubs in 6 (Sabathia's dominance comes to an end as the Cubs light him up in Game 6) Angels in 6 WS Angels in 5 (emotional Brewers series letdown, Angels pitching is just too much)

Ok, now who the hell are those people?

I think so. But from what I'm hearing up here, there's hope that it isn't serious, at most he would miss next week. They play the Falcons next week -- a team they can probably beat by running the ball and dinking & dunking with Flynn provided they play defense, maybe get a couple key turnovers. If it's more serious though, all bets are off. He says he's going to play Sunday, but I don't imagine he can finish if his shoulder was seperated this past Sunday. GB is probably done if Rodgers is out for a long period of time. They don't have a running game, defense, or special teams that can carry them.

Want the Brewers to win, because the Cubs would beat the Brewers pretty easily, and be the first team in league history to have all home games in a 7 game series.

Big win last week. This has the potential for a big letdown game. Back on the road vs. a Detroit team that will have 2 weeks to prepare for this one. The Lions will also be very desperate as they try to move on without Matt Millen. Also, another loss and their season is effectively over. The good thing for the Bears though, is to use the new cliche, the Lions "are who we think they are". The Bears should be able to win this game if they play "Bear Football". The Lions have allowed 5.6 ypc on defense and have only forced 1 turnover. Offensively, their line has allowed 12 sacks in 3 games and Kitna has turned the ball over 6 times. They don't have particularly good special teams either.

I haven't seen Idonje out there since the opener. He's worked his way into a starting DT. I don't think he'll be out there anymore.

Yeah, that's not that good.

Nobody will be going to game 4. Cubs will sweep.

Lloyd and Tillman. Big concerns right now. Every WR has made a couple plays here and there, but Lloyd was a consistently, legit option. Tillman has probably been the 2nd best defensive player (Briggs). If he's out that's a lot of pressure on the D, though Corey Graham looked good last night. I don't know what Roberto Garza was doing on 99% of the plays. Maybe time to get Buenning a longer look in practice. John St. Clair is the true definition of serviceable at LT. I don't know how long he can stay that way though.

I saw the Colts win coming. I did not see this last night. Special thanks to the Eagles throwing that game with their goaline calls. Lions, Falcons, Vikings, Lions coming up. A combined 4-11. Three of 4 is a must as the schedule gets tougher after that.

Wow, my team is pretty good. Not sure where this came from.

I'm going to guess Fontenot gets the game 1 start. Soriano Fontenot Lee Ramirez Edmonds Soto Derosa Theriot I'd guess the Dodgers will trot out Furcal Martin MRamirez Kent Ethier Kemp Loney Blake Really hard to tell w/ LA, because their likely starters haven't played together this year thanks to Furcal's injury and the Blake and Ramirez additions.

I don't think it really makes a difference to the Cubs either way. Can't play the Brewers anyway. If the Mets win, they still have Santana set for Games 2 and 5. They might have to throw some mess together for Game 1 pitching, but that's probably a game they were gonna be at a disadvantage anyway without the services of Santana, Perez, or Pelfrey and facing Dempster. I don't see the disadvantage of their hitters having to play 1 more game.

Should go: Pujols Hanley Ramirez Soto Berkman Ludwick Will go: Howard Delgado Pujols Wright H Ramirez

With the 4 man rotation and the extra bullpen arm, the difference between someone like Howry and Wuertz/Gaudin is minimal at best. That's assuming that Lou doesn't use Howry in a high pressure situation and doesn't micromanage the pen to where using Howry in that situation is necessary. Unfort. the 7th is where Cotts could've taken that next step, where instead of being the situational lefty, he could've filled that 7th inning role where the Cubs had ideally wanted Eyre to fill while he was with the team. Of course, Cotts has struggled as of late and leaves that spot up in the air. I'm assuming Lou will basically play musical chairs with that 7th inning. Right now, I would expect the plan to be that if the starter goes exactly 6 innings, Marmol would come in if it's a 1-run game and pitch 2 innings. If there is a 2+ run lead, I think Samardzija would get the first crack at the 7th depending on the matchups. If he fails, Marmol will be ready at a moment's notice and Lou will go to someone else in that situation the next time, most likely Howry. However, if the matchup dictates it, I think he would go with Marshall. For example, if Delgado, Beltran, Church, Schneider are due up for the Mets or Ethier, Martin, Loney are due for the Dodgers. If Marmol pitches 2 innings one day and there's a game the next (Game 2 or 4), I'd imagine Kerry would get the 2 inning outing the 2nd day in a 1-run game.

Excellent move by the Mets. Plus, today was more of a must win at the time than tomorrow. They didn't have the luxury of seeing how the Brewers did first. If they didn't win today, then they could have been eliminated by a Brewers win then saving Santana for tomorrow would have been pointless. Kinda like saving Zambrano for Game 4 last year then getting swept.

Really? You do know he is scheduled to pitch in Game 2, in 4 days, right? But as of this afternoon, he was named the starter tomorrow. Yea, Bruce said the plan was for him to pitch an inning or two, which would make sense But as long as he's not hurt, who cares I guess I didn't know he was going to pitch a couple innings. But I think that would have been a stupid idea since he was named game 2 starter already. Had he been going in game 3, that would be different.

Since Gaudin's injury, the bullpen has gone from a strength to a potential weakness for the Cubs. At one point, Gaudin and Samardzija were battling it out for the role of 7th inning reliever. They were pretty much interchangeable. Now, Jeff has walked 8 in 8 innings this month with a 2.26 WHIP. Gaudin got hurt, then got lit up and isn't even on the roster. Cotts has been pretty bad recently as well, with a 7.20 ERA. Howry has been horrible all year, but because of his age, will likely be back in a prominent role. If the Cubs starters can't go 7 OR if the starters go 6, and Marmol or Wood can't go 2 innings, the Cubs have some serious question marks.

Dodgers pitching is much worse on the road (nearly a run and a half higher ERA). But their offense has produced exactly the same on the road. Another thing I like about the Dodgers matchup, which is a little more subtle, is that all their starters are RH whereas the Mets will throw LHPs in 3 of 5 games if it gets that far. While the Cubs have hit LHPs better, I'd rather the Cubs success be dependent on Jim Edmonds over Reed Johnson and especially Mike Fontenot/Fukudome/Hoffpauir over Ronny Cedeno. As good as Johnson has been, Edmonds is the better hitter and I don't like the thought of sitting him 3 times out of 5. While most of the regulars have hit LHPs better, Ramirez has not. Derosa, Soto, and Theriot haven't had much of a split either way. Soriano has a huge split vs. LHPs, but I've come to learn his splits mean absolutely nothing when he's hot or cold.

Really? You do know he is scheduled to pitch in Game 2, in 4 days, right?

Wow. Reds not in Chatt? That's like the Cubs leaving the state of Iowa.

What does this mean? You don't know what you're gonna get on any given day from anybody. Secondly, if you do think Zambrano is iffy, why don't you think Harden and Lilly are iffy? Third, if you think Zambrano is iffy, then wouldn't you rather have him going in game 2 than 3? Where you're faced with a must win down 2-0, or going for the kill up 2-0, or in a pivotal tie breaking game with the series tied at 1. Given Zambrano's last 7-8 starts, its more likely you are going to get a bad start from Z than Harden and Lilly. Harden had a bad start or two, and Lilly has had his clunkers, but neither has been nearly as erratic as Z. And I'd rather him going game 3, on the road (where he pitches better) than game 2, yes. It's easier to come back from down 0-1 than 0-2, and if we're down 0-1, I don't feel as comfortable with Z pitching as someone like Lilly or Harden. Harden has had control issues and hasn't looked as sharp over the same period as Zambrano has looked bad. Lilly has had issues giving up the longball. Zambrano's bad outings recently have come when he was clearly not 100% and/or games that were meaningless. He dominated the playoff game last year, while Lilly crapped the bed. I'm not really saying I disagree with you, but I don't think Zambrano has any more worries than Harden or Lilly.

What does this mean? You don't know what you're gonna get on any given day from anybody. Secondly, if you do think Zambrano is iffy, why don't you think Harden and Lilly are iffy? Third, if you think Zambrano is iffy, then wouldn't you rather have him going in game 2 than 3? Where you're faced with a must win down 2-0, or going for the kill up 2-0, or in a pivotal tie breaking game with the series tied at 1.

Who's the other middle IF that's hurt? Apparently Cedeno couldn't start yesterday. Hurt his shoulder sliding into 1st base. Will that dumbass ever learn that it's not a good idea to slide head first into 1st? Theres a lot that he will never learn, which is why no matter where his floor, ceiling, or walls are, he'll never be our starting short stop. There's really no reason to slide head first at any time to any base.

Who's the other middle IF that's hurt?