rawaction

just nitpicking, but could you possibly use a placenta as your avatar going forward. thanks... Um, that's my daughter. She'll be 3 weeks old tomorrow. Thanks for the advice though. thanks. please post the first puke. i'll post my cat's next retch. all baseball related dontcha know... I don't understand why you are being such a jerk about the guy's daughter avatar. were you quoted, Cool? Luke? what we have here is a failure to communicate... Seriously, man. Cool out.

The O's Adam Jones should adopt the name "Pacman" now.

If you count spring training, there are 5 players in the lineups that have played 2B for the Cubs. And that doesn't include Cedeno on the bench, and Brian Roberts who I was guaranteed would be the the Cubs 2B.

Lou's pretty stupid sometimes.

O'Neal was worth that price 3 or 4 yrs ago, but not anymore with his salary. That said, I get why the Raptors are interested in him. Someone has to take the pressure off of Bosh up front. If he plays with some heart, he could make Toronto a very tough out come playoff time. Ford is underrated, IMO. He would certainly solve the Pacers PG issues, they'd be left with no inside presence other than Granger. This would also take away a potential Hinrich suitor. Yeah, TJ Ford is a solid PG.

Is this official? I've heard the rumors, but can't seem to find any confirmation. Actually, it's not. Crap! I didn't read the whole article. I guess it's "near".

Jermaine O'neal is going to Toronto for TJ Ford, RASHO, and the #17 pick.

I want to think that the Beast will be as good as he looked in college, I keep having Derrick Coleman nightmares. A good player, but not one that ever did what he should have. FYI, Derrick Coleman's first 5 years. 90-91: 18.4 PPG, 10.3 RPG 91-92: 19.8 / 9.5 92-93: 20.7 / 11.2 93-94: 20.2 / 11.3 94-95: 20.5 / 10.6 The Nets traded him after 95. He hurt his knee and got fat....and that was it. Any team should kill for numbers like that out of Beasley in his first 5 years.

I like how you throw your name WITH mine at the top of the standings, being that Tootielicious is looking up at the Dawgs and has been for a while. There's only 1 team that's looking down at the rest of the league and that's mine! If NCCubs is the 07 D'backs...what team does that make me? Maybe I'm the 08 Cubs. Long winning streaks, lose a game and everyone thinks I'm crashing down to Earth. Makes sense to me.

The Cubs are scoring more runs at home, so it's obvious they are cheating. Of course, every team in baseball probably scores more runs at home. And it doesn't hurt that Wrigley is a hitter's park.

Burres sucks. The Cubs should be ashamed if they don't have a good offensive showing against him. He doesn't strike out anybody. He's prone to walks. He doesn't throw anything that's particularly tough to hit. I just hope Lou doesn't stack the RHs against him. LH hitters have killed Burress this year, with much better numbers vs. him than RH hitters. I think the best lineup might be the same as yesterday, but with Murton in Derosa's spot and in LF, with Patterson at 2b. Derosa is cold. Eric hasn't had much trouble hitting LHP throughout his career. I thought Marshall pitched well at times yesterday. Lilly is similar, but should be a better version of what the O's saw last night.

Does Wild Cherry Pepsi count as Pepsi or other?

The 4-1 hitters in the Smokies lineup went a combined 20-35, with 11 runs scored and 11 RBIs. Matt Camp didn't get the memo as he went 0-5. Colvin was the only other hitter without a multi-hit game, going 1-4, with a walk.

I'd love it if Patterson could handle CF everyday. However, I don't like him as an everyday player in the same lineup as Theriot. They will likely be similar players in the long run. Neither has great power and their value comes from the ability to get on base. Assuming Soriano absolutely has to hit leadoff, I'd keep Fukudome 2nd. Lee, Ramirez and Soto follow. But then you have Derosa, Patterson and Theriot at the bottom. Even with Derosa and Soto's great numbers this year, that doesn't make for a very productive bottom 1/2 of the lineup. Pie at least has the potential to provide some power and is guaranteed great defense in CF. If you get a more run producing SS and/or move Soriano to the middle of the order, then Patterson has a shot to fit in nicely. With the team as constructed, I don't see him as a good fit. He would be a great asset to the bench though. Can play 2B and all 3 OF spots. And not be a guy that's gonna hurt you if he has to start for an extended period of time.

Dedication from this group. I've gone 2 years before without, right out of college. But now I'm married and still in the honeymoon phase (meaning I get it pretty regularly), I couldn't last more than a month. If I was single, I could definitely go without indefinitely (heh). I just wouldn't put forth the effort. But to lie next to it every night, within poking distance would be hard (that's what she said).

Who's left to care about at Iowa? No Pie, Hill, Gallagher, Marshall, Murton, Patterson or Hoffpauir. I guess there's Ascanio and now Samardzija, but man that team is lacking prospects.

Interesting outing by Pawelek. Walk, HBP, Walk to start the 4th with the bases loaded none out, but did get a GIDP and groundout to get out of it w/ just 1 run scored. Three groundouts in a 1-2-3 fifth inning. Single and 2 walks to load the bases with 1 out in the 6th. Allows a run on a sac fly. The 2nd hit he gave up was a 2-out bunt single to load the bases again. He got out of it with another flyout. Good: 7-2 GB/FB ratio. 2 hits allowed, 1 a GB single, other a bunt single. Bad: 4 walks, 1 HBP, 1 wild pitch, 0 Ks.

Tough game tonight. This is the game that I think will be similar to the first game of the Sox series. Meaning, if the Cubs can win tonight, they will have a good shot at a series sweep. Guthrie has quietly been one of the better pitchers in the AL for the last couple years. Only 3-7 this year, but the O's have scored 2 runs or less in 1/2 of his starts. He leads the AL in Quality starts this year, with 12 in 16 starts and has a pretty solid .237 opp. batting average. Guthrie does however allow flyballs, and thus the longball. He has 135 GB outs vs. 134 in the air. He's given up 13 HRs, including at least one in all but 5 of his starts. If the wind is blowing out in Wrigley, he can be beat up a little. He allows the ball to be put in play a lot as he doesn't have many Ks. Doesn't really have any splits. Lefties have hit him a little better, but his BB rate and ISOP against are identical vs. batters from both sides of the plate. I'd like to see the same lineup Lou has run out there the last couple times (Patterson in LF, batting 2nd). If the longballs aren't working, Guthrie is susceptible to the stolen base. He's also a guy that takes a little bit to settle down in the game, so you can score on him early. Similar to Vasquez, if the Cubs can scratch out a couple in the 1st against him, they can tack on a couple more the 3rd time thru the order. The O's have decent numbers vs. LHPs. But Marshall should have the luxury of facing their lineup without 2 of its best players. Huff likely won't play with NL rules and no DH tonight. Luke Scott will likely sit in favor of the much lesser Jay Payton. They key will be getting the top of the order out. Though, Roberts, Mora, and Markakis have killed LHPs.

That's a great stat.

FYI, game's on WGN.

Rod Roddy! This alone makes this the greatest thread ever and I just want to post in it.

But Wright has a gold glove. I know it's about as important as batting average, but David Wright had 21 errors last year and a .954 fielding pct. Aramis' error totals and fielding pct, as a Cub, has been much better than anything Wright has done.

I see I sparked a lot of conversation. And I actually meant that Wright was slightly better than Ramirez offensively. I do think Aramis is the better defender, though. Wright has more range, a better arm, but I think Aramis' hands and footwork are much better.

Arod. But that's it. Chipper even when healthy is not as good as he has been this year. And he's old. Wright may be a toss up based on speed, but Aramis is a marginally better hitter and a better defender. Wright may get the nod based on age.

I offered Volquez (#2 pitcher in the league and w/ an exemption left), Corey Hart, Lowrie and another prospect for Peavy and Chipper.