cheapseats

Rusch in the 7th, Novoa in the 8th, and Ryu in the 9th. Book it!

PADRES ARE THE STUPIDEST TEAM IN BASEBALL!

Rusch looks due.

Neifi doubles to left. Goes to groin with left hand.

haha

Or would it be more appropriate to say winning ball clubs employ some small ball ? Just a thought. I think that's a very appropriate question. The stats tell us there are situations in which the offense might benefit from giving up an out or attempting a steal. Those situations are few and far between - ie, playing for one run late in the ballgame or trying to score against a particularly dominating pitcher. FWIW, I think it would be interesting for someone to calculate how many runs Ozzie Guillen's "smart ball" helped the Sox score last year. Maybe focus specifically on Podsednik? There were plenty of times last year when Iguchi would sac bunt Pods over only to have Konerko or Dye hit a homerun, but I'm sure there were times when Pods scored when he might not have otherwise. The difference, of course, is that Sox starters and bullpen were much better than ours last season, and a one-run lead was much more likely to hold up for them.

How about when the Cubs execute a sac bunt? Just curious. CUBS are 6-5 when they execute a sac bunt.... 9-15 when they don't Go CUBS !! Clearly, small ball wins games. This is the best possible lineup for offensive success, and I hope it becomes the default batting order from this point on.

Why do they always show the guy who sells foam claws and blankets at least once per home broadcast?

I'd ask for the Cubs record in games in which they don't execute a sac bunt, but I'm sure there aren't any.

Neifi fields the ball, throws to first, NOT in time, does not adjust groin area.

4-3.

That was remarkable!

I'm just happy that I have a recognized catch phrase. Carry on.

Nice play by Hairston. We are the SMARTEST TEAM IN BASEBALL!

Neifi showing some leadership and thoughtfulness. Neifi saves us once again.

I'm happy for Jacque and the Cubs. He shouldn't have been signed for three years, and he should always be platooned with someone who can hit lefties, but he doesn't completely suck.

Nice to see Ryu up. We really needed another option out of the bullpen since our 7-man pen is so overworked. :roll:

He is living up to our worst nightmares. He's the first REAL leadoff hitter the Cubs have had since 1922. He's fast and steals bases and lays down bunts. What else could you want in a leadoff hitter?

Jones to NY, Hunter to Chicago, NY and CHC prospect to Twins. Then trade Pierre to a willing team. Extend Hunter. cosign! You do know that Corey Patterson and Juan Pierre project to be more valuable than Hunter over the next five years, right? Just sayin.

Roberts stole third with 2 outs. Barrett told him that such a play is boneheaded and does nothing to help his team. Roberts took offense.

Is he starting Tuesday for Iowa? I'd have to check, but I think he's out of options.

That might be our quota for the weekend. :cry:

Dusty showed some FIRE! and INTENSITY! in arguing that call.

While I believe better managing would have helped us win some of those close games during the losing streak, this is truly a terrible offensive roster. I really doubt any manager could make this a winning club. Out of our 3 outfielders, only Jacque Jones is #48 in OPS of 97 outfielders with 75 or more plate appearances. Murton, as much as we love him, is actually in the bottom half of OF's in OPS. And we all know about Juan Pierre. Ronny's OPS has really been falling lately, too. He's 15 out of 30 in MLB. The only player we could really expect better production from is Aramis. This is a wretched offense even with DLee. It is at least partly Dusty's fault for asking for these players, but this is not a team that will score many runs. Agreed for the most part. The offense is bad, bad, bad, but I still think it could be above .500 with the state of the NL. I just don't think the NL is very good, which only makes losing hurt more. I think we'll just disagree, then. There's no good way to measure a manager's impact on the team, but I figure no manager is going to be more important to a team than Derrek Lee was last year, and Derrek was good for an extra 10 or 11 wins. I'd love to see a guy come in and do something crazy, like go to a four-man rotation (using strict pitch counts, of course), but there's no innovation in modern managing. We don't have 4 starters. :lol:

While I believe better managing would have helped us win some of those close games during the losing streak, this is truly a terrible offensive roster. I really doubt any manager could make this a winning club. Out of our 3 outfielders, only Jacque Jones is #48 in OPS of 97 outfielders with 75 or more plate appearances. Murton, as much as we love him, is actually in the bottom half of OF's in OPS. And we all know about Juan Pierre. Ronny's OPS has really been falling lately, too. He's 15 out of 30 in MLB. The only player we could really expect better production from is Aramis. This is a wretched offense even with DLee. It is at least partly Dusty's fault for asking for these players, but this is not a team that will score many runs. Agreed for the most part. The offense is bad, bad, bad, but I still think it could be above .500 with the state of the NL. I just don't think the NL is very good, which only makes losing hurt more. I think we'll just disagree, then. There's no good way to measure a manager's impact on the team, but I figure no manager is going to be more important to a team than Derrek Lee was last year, and Derrek was good for an extra 10 or 11 wins. I'd love to see a guy come in and do something crazy, like go to a four-man rotation (using strict pitch counts, of course), but there's no innovation in modern managing.