kroth1342

For the bleachers, I wouldn't think availability would much of an issue.

Anyone know if STH can increase their number of seats past their initial allocation?

Thanks for the update - I saw a similar move. The question now becomes how much attrition will we see next year and into 2012 if the team continues to be mediocre and prices remain as high as they are?

With last night's 1-0 loss, the Cubs now have 30 one-run losses on the season. Will they challenge the all-time record, which is 44 by the 1968 White Sox? At this rate, I'd say there's a non-zero chance. Rk Tm Year G W L W-L% RS RA pythW-L% 1 CHW 1968 74 30 44 .405 172 186 .464 2 HOU 1971 75 32 43 .427 216 227 .477 3 HOU 1975 58 16 41 .281 225 250 .452 4 CIN 1916 69 26 41 .388 203 218 .467 5 CIN 1946 71 28 41 .406 200 213 .471 6 LAD 1992 57 17 40 .298 182 205 .446 7 PIT 1917 65 22 40 .355 176 194 .456 8 PHA 1908 69 25 40 .385 176 191 .463 9 NYM 1962 59 19 39 .328 241 261 .464 10 CIN 1907 64 22 39 .361 155 172 .453 http://www.baseball-reference.com/games/situational.cgi?from=1901&to=2010&0=2&1=3&rsgtlt=gt&rs=5&ragtlt=gt&ra=5&2=6&trgtlt=gt&tr=10&3=9&mvgtlt=lt&mv=1&4=10&owlsgtlt=gt&owls=.500&sortby=L&teams=team&years=each&submit=Run+Situation

Castro ahead before tonight's game - .374 to .368.

Slugging as of this morning - .372 for the pair. And yes, Castro's OPS is 10 points higher at .709.

Corrected.

Yeah, I didn't notice any significant movement in my position, either.

Anyone ever sat in 204 row 18? Can't imagine the view.

White Sox and Cardinals games got hit pretty quickly, but it seems to be dying down. Like the above poster said, an extra 20% on 500s isn't a big deal.

Has anyone else experienced a significant move-up on the list like Vance did (~2500 places). I feel like I've been in the 13-14k range for a couple years now. To those just selected - what sections are available for new season ticket holders?

Anyone else noticed the delay in regards to the release of info about the single game ticket sales? By this time, we usually have the date, new prices and the promotional schedule.

As I've posted before, a healthy Ramirez and Soriano certainly would have kept the Cubs in contention. All teams have to prepare for injuries, but there's no way to prepare for the excessive injuries that the Cubs (and Mets) had this year. Perhaps not prepare, but the Cubs could have dealt with the injuries better - say by taking Soriano out immediately after he was hurt. If this necessitated surgery, so be it, replace him with Fox. Showing too much deference to Soriano is the organization's fault.

He's already thrown around 170 innings in total this year, almost 50 more than last year. Thoughts?

That's a really nice night for Samardzija! His next pitch will happen as a member of the major league team, so it's a great way to leave the minors! I would prefer to have Samardzjia developed all year at Iowa instead of rotting in the bullpen, but hey...

I'm thinking about heading out to this series as part of a vacation. Can any NSBBers out in Denver provide some tips on places to stay/eat/drink? Are Rockies games big on tailgating or is it more of a bar scene? Of course any recommendations on other things to do in Denver are appreciated. Thanks.

Let's see. - Everyone here knew signing Miles, especially as basically DeRosa's replacement, was a stupid idea. - Everyone here knew that Bradley was injury-prone. - Everyone here, for the most part, could see that Derrek Lee had been declining throughout most of 2008. (I'm glad he's on the uptick right now, but he's got a long way to go before having a productive full season.) - Most here, while glad to be rid of Jason Marquis, thought it was iffy to bring in a nothing reliever for him. - Everyone here was skeptical as to why we were shedding like 5M in bullpen pitchers for no apparent reason less than two weeks in when we weren't exactly loaded with great relievers. - Most here were skeptical of Dempster's contract considering his career numbers. This isn't hindsight. For the most part, these moves were bad even in foresight. Spot on. Miles was signed as a reserve IF and not as an everyday player (like DeRosa). Also, it was pointed out that the Cubs ended up paying him what the Cards were offering. Everyone knew Bradley was injury prone, but he was the most productive OF available. DLee was signed to a large NTC after a great year like dozens of other ML players, some of whom are mediocre at best. Trading Marquis for Viscaino is a perfect example of hindsight, since nobody knew if there were any other offers for Marquis. Everyone wanted Marquis gone and the deal saved app. 5 million. The bullpen has been a problem, so I'll give you that one. Dempster was signed at the going rate for pitchers coming off of a very good season. Not signing him would have left a hole in the rotation that would have meant signing some other pitcher. Given all the the information that Hendry had at the time and the parameters he had to use, I'm sure he thought he was doing the right thing. Of course, in our fantasy-league minds with no information at the time, all of us could have done better. Agreed, on a PA basis. But you can't tell me offering him $10 mm a year to play in an estimated 100-120 games was a good idea. As has been his trademark, Hendry identified the player he wanted most and went hard after him - but in this case, a little more caution could have warranted a better return. Perhaps a reduced avg annual salary that allowed us to keep DeRosa?

The wanting to score 855 runs again issue?

What's the weather outlook - they gonna get this one in?

Fixed

The last update I heard was that Ricketts was trying to drum up outside investors to toss in funds in exchange for a seat on some new executive advisory board and a voice in the team's future decisions. So basically, it's nowhere close to being completed and sounds like a disaster waiting to happen if/when it finally does get finished. Kind of, except not. Here's a quick note from the Sun-Times: http://www.suntimes.com/business/1536114,CST-FIN-tick21.article Chicago financier Thomas Ricketts, who plans to buy the Chicago Cubs for about $900 million, could raise about $100 million by selling limited stakes in the team, a source said Monday. The insider said Ricketts might offer preferred shares in the Cubs for about $25 million each. They could carry a guaranteed dividend but no say in management. Possible benefits include front-row seats and the chance to meet players. What he's trying to do is raise equity shares in order to reduce the amount of debt he takes on to buy the team. Think of this as making a larger down payment when you buy a house - you will have to borrow less and potentially pay a lower interest rate. This is a good thing in today's credit environment. And the sale has lasted this long, shouldn't we be happy if Ricketts can finance the purchase on better terms - even if it means waiting a couple months longer?

Yeah, go. They're going to do everything they can to get this in. There may be a delay but I don't see them completely canceling the second game in a row. If it does get called, would they do a day-night tomorrow?

Obligatory Pat/Ron audio request...

Two questions: 1) what's the latest update? 2) who are our sources on news: radio, print media, blogs? Thanks

Anyone else get anything? Edit - just saw above me.