bukie

So, 1 fantastic game, 2 great games, a decent game, and 2 bad games against good defenses. Curious what that averages out to overall, but Brady Quinn wasn't the reason ND looked bad in 3 games this year. And, I'd like to think that if Brady Quinn wasn't a Notre Dame QB, he'd be getting a lot less flak around here.

There's a decent Bulls blog at http://www.blogabull.com , but the guy that runs it seems to have a slightly irrational dislike of Nocioni.

I have a feeling that Game 3 isn't going to be much fun to watch. Especially if the referees give in to the Wade special.

Apples and oranges. The Bulls won 75% of their home games this season. The Cubs won 54% of their home games in 2003. Not to mention the Cubs won game 6 that year. And no amount of logic, reason, "truth", or therapy will ever get me to believe differently.

One line summary of this year's Cubs: They're good enough to win handily when they play well, but not good enough to win when they consistently make silly mistakes.

With Pie up, and Soriano back, there is no need for Theriot to play OF sub, so Cedeno presumably becomes expendable...if Theriot can play SS well enough. I assume the Cubs will skip Miller's spot next time, and then call up Guzman to start the next.

Actually, the Cubs biggest weakness is not having guys on base. True..But this season it seems theyre getting the guys on..But weve sene numerous times theyve had guys on with no outs or 1 and they screw it up somehow and cant score a single freakin run The trouble happens when the Cubs only get runners on 3-4 times a game. A good team with RISP is only knocking them in 1/3 of the time.

Actually, the Cubs biggest weakness is not having guys on base.

Wow, was that pitch too down the middle?

Almost like Joe wishes he was out there catching and calling the game.

Good pitch, good piece of hitting by Rolen.

There's the hit and run talk. Didn't take too long.

I'm liking Girardi's analysis already. He's said the Cubs offensive problem is not getting enough guys on base, and he's explaining how to pitch to each guy.

The lesson to be learned here is that if a pitcher can't get it done in 50 innings of sporadic work over 2 years in the majors while being bounced around between spot starts and bullpen work, it's completely hopeless. Those 50 innings also overrule any consistent minor league numbers over the course of the previous 3 years, also.

I'm feeling strangely optimistic today. Playoffs predictions: Mavs over Warriors in 5 Suns over Lakers in 7 Spurs over Nuggets in 6 Rockets over Jazz in 5 Pistons over Magic in 5 Cavs over Wizards in 4 Raptors over Nets in 7 Bulls over Heat in 5 Conference Semis: Mavs over Rockets in 5 Spurs over Suns in 6 Bulls over Pistons in 7 Raptors over Cavs in 6 Conference Finals: Mavs over Spurs in 7 Bulls over Raptors in 7 NBA Finals: Mavs over Bulls in 5 EDIT: That would be 13, for the over. :)

Technically, if they hold serve at home, the Heat have no chance.

So wait, you mean the world didn't end last night? It's the Heat, folks. They played well for about 3 weeks the whole year, and their two best players are slowed. They aren't the best team in the NBA, or the East, or in their first round series this year. If the Bulls take care of business at home, it'll be over in 5.

Quick once-over of tiebreaker scenarios for the NBA tonight: Eastern Conference - The Detroit Pistons are the East 1 seed, and have homecourt advantage throughout the conference playoffs. East 2-5 seed: - Bulls clinch 2 seed with a win or a Cleveland loss to Milwaukee. - Cleveland clinches 2 seed with both a win and a Bulls loss to New Jersey. - The Toronto Raptors are the East 3 seed and have clinched homecourt advantage in the first round. - The Miami Heat are the East 4 seed and will not have homecourt advantage in the first round. - East 6-8 seed: - New Jersey, Washington, and Orlando have clinched the final 3 Eastern Conference playoff spots. - New Jersey clinches the 6 seed with a win or a Washington loss to Indiana. If New Jersey loses and Washington wins, New Jersey is the 7 seed. New Jersey cannot get the 8 seed. - Washington clinches the 6 seed with a win and a New Jersey loss to the Bulls. Washington clinches the 7 seed with a win and New Jersey win, or a loss and an Orlando loss to Miami. - Orlando clinches the 7 seed with a win and a Washington loss to Indiana. If Orlando loses or Washington wins, Orlando is the 8 seed. Orlando cannot get the 6 seed. Western Conference - The Dallas Mavericks are the West 1 seed and have clinched homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs. - The Phoenix Suns are the West 2 seed and have clinced homecourt advantage in the first 2 rounds. - The San Antonio Spurs are the West 3 seed and have clinched homecourt advantage in the first round against the Denver Nuggets, who have clinched the West 6 seed. - The Houston Rockets are the West 5 seed and have clinched homecourt advantage in the first round against the Utah Jazz, who have clinched the West 4 seed. West 7-8 seeds: - The Los Angeles Lakers have clinched a playoff spot. They clinch the 7 seed with a win or a Golden State loss to Portland. If the Lakers lose and Golden State wins, the Lakers are the 8 seed. - The Golden State Warriors clinch a playoff spot with a win or a Los Angeles Clippers loss to New Orleans. The Warriors clinch the 7 seed with a win and a Los Angeles Lakers loss to Sacramento. - The Los Angeles Clippers clinch the 8 seed with a win and a Golden State loss to Portland.

If Orlando wins tonight and Washington loses, Orlando is the 7th seed. Only way Washington gets the 7 seed is by losing with Orlando losing. Only way New Jersey gets the 7 seed, however, is by losing with Washington winning. I'm not overly concerned about any of the 3 teams, though. Much more concerned about a potential Miami series.

I wake up every morning knowing that the Cubs are a light-hitting 36-year old catcher away from being a contender every year...

I see the Cubs sending Guzman down as more of a function of convenience than anything else. He had pitched 3 innings the game before, and the Cubs needed a CF right away. He wasn't going to be available the next day anyway, so no harm in sending him down to get an extra OF on the roster until the Cubs decide whether Soriano needs to be DL'd.

Bulls going to have to earn that 2 seed, just as it should be. 50 wins should have been motivation enough, now it's the right to play NJ/Washington/Orlando in the first round instead of Miami.

Iowa is calling Matt. Do people realize that Matt is hitting nearly .300 right now? He's above league average. 'Tis the game thread, where kneejerk reactions and rollercoaster emotions reign. Best to check reason and logic at the door, apparently. EDIT: Of course, with only 21 ABs coming into today, an 0-5 day will drop that considerably.

No, you go find it. I dont care enough. Mets suck. That's quite an argument you have, there. Completely ignorant, yet irrefutable because you completely ignore reasonable thought.

No they weren't. Their pitching was bad. Worse than St. Louis for sure. Find me a single statistic that supports this, and maybe you'll have an argument. Mets had a better ERA, better ERA+, fewer hits given up, more strikeouts, more shutouts, more CGs, fewer HRs allowed, heck, more wins and saves, if you follow that crowd.