cheapseats

I'm watching from my office.

Hitting a HR when the game is already out of reach = not clutch. #-o

Wellemeyer's performance so far would make him our fourth most valuable pitcher, behind Zambrano, Dempster, and Marmol.

Typical.

I wouldn't worry. Lots of seeing eye homeruns.

Derosa grounds out into double plays at less than league average, FWIW.

Thanks a lot, Glendon, now we've got breast cancer on second base.

Edmonds and Lofton were #5 and #4 on the list of worst defensive CF according to Dewan's Fielding Bible last year.

But who do they replace him with? I have faith that Hendry could find someone worse. If Pie isn't going to play, then I'd be in favor of a straight Johnson/Lofton platoon. Kenny should be good for a .350 OBP against righties. I'd rather just give Pie a little time at AAA to get his confidence back up and then bring him up to start against right handers. That would be my preference, too.

New to being a Cubs fan? "This has got to be Shawn Estes' last start." "Lenny Harris has surely played himself out a job." "At least we won't have to worry about Theriot starting at SS next year" (though this one isn't turning out so bad." "Well, at least Neifi is just a rental." "If we catch lightning in a bottle with Gaetti, great, but even if not it's not like he'll be back next year." "This has got to be Jason Marquis' last start." "Koyie Hill has sucked for an eternity. Surely they'll bring up Soto now."

I agree with this. Plus, Lilly works pretty slowly, so the combination of Lilly getting hammered + length of time in between pitches could result in a rainout.

But who do they replace him with? I have faith that Hendry could find someone worse. If Pie isn't going to play, then I'd be in favor of a straight Johnson/Lofton platoon. Kenny should be good for a .350 OBP against righties.

For what? That was clearly Jimbo's ball. Soriano made absolutely no attempt to go after it and just looked at Edmonds the whole time. It bounced off Edmonds' freaking glove. Clearly it was his ball.

After 5 games, Lilly had a 7.30 ERA. Hill has a 4.12. Lilly has been pretty good in MAy, which is what I was referring to. I fail to see how Rich Hill, who has been in AAA has contributed more than Lilly during that period. Lilly was so bad in April that he had negative value. Any good performance in May has just gotten him back into positive territory, and still less than what Hill had provided. Yes, Hill was having control problems, but opponents were hitting less than .200 against him, so he wasn't giving up as many runs as, say, Ted Lilly.

Then I don't buy your "trust your eyes" argument.

We'd have a five-man rotation in the playoffs? clever...those are our available pitchers that lou can work with...better? you're the one who called it the rotation oh christ...you guys are so nit-picky...you know what the definition of rotation is don't you? why does everything have to be broken down to such a small factor of complaint...? why? Because you specifically said rotation for the playoffs. Starter depth isn't much of an asset in the playoffs. It's much better to have two great starters and three average starters than four good starters and one average starter.

After 5 games, Lilly had a 7.30 ERA. Hill has a 4.12.

Steve Trachsel might be available at the deadline.

No. Not at all either. I think if the Cubs wanna go far in the playoffs they're going to need to aquire a #2. Most people here have been saying that for most of this season. Lilly isn't this bad, but he's not a "true" #2 that you can hinge your playoffs on with the ace. yep...this is why i constantly pray for the bluejays to loose at least 95% of their games till the allstar break... BURNETT CHA CHA CHA Or we could just call our number 2 back up from Iowa. Rich Hill has not performed like a #2 at any point this season. I hope he does, but he's got to get things going in the right direction. Yes in his what, 3 starts up here he wasn't great. Which is shocking. Most guys are great every game they pitch. Come on we gave him 3 to 4 starts and then jerked him around. You know my stance on Hill, I'm not his biggest supporter, but I don't dislike the guy. Its not that his starts "weren't great". He was amechanical mess and had no idea where the ball was going. It would have been better if he was just getting hit, but he couldn't get it over the plate. Yeah, but why can we let Marquis suck up here, yet not let Hill get things figured out? They were still both giving us equal chance to win. To me it reeks of the same thing we are doing with Pie and Edmonds. Get rid of the young guy, while letting some washed up guy play. According to SNLVAR, which accounts for the quality of batters faced, Hill has contributed more to the Cubs this year than Lilly or Marquis, and he's done so in half as many starts as either.

No. Not at all either. I think if the Cubs wanna go far in the playoffs they're going to need to aquire a #2. Most people here have been saying that for most of this season. Lilly isn't this bad, but he's not a "true" #2 that you can hinge your playoffs on with the ace. yep...this is why i constantly pray for the bluejays to loose at least 95% of their games till the allstar break... BURNETT CHA CHA CHA DL ChA CHA CHA... what are you talking about and on the topic of hill...who isn't a number two pitcher... why not have zambrano burnett lilly dempster hill that is a rotation i would have a lot of confidence in should we make the playoffs We'd have a five-man rotation in the playoffs?

Even our forfeit lineup look pretty good. Theres nothing wrong with Ramirez is there? He's 0-10 against the starter, so it's a nice day to give him a break. Except that past performance in 10 at-bats has absolutely no predictive value. I used to give the benefit of the doubt to managers who made lineup decisions based on past batter-pitcher performance (Brenly goes crazy over those stats), but the research of Lichtman/Tango/Dolphin pretty much squashes the idea that certain pitchers own certain hitters and vice versa. I think it has to hold some value in certain situations. Whether it be a tought LH against a fellow lefty which is not as common as the R/R matchup. Obviously 0-10 is a very small sample size, but I don't think you can completely disregard it in other instances. Some guys, for whatever reason, hit well against certain pitchers. I used to believe that, but if you read the article in The Book, it's pretty tough to continue to make that argument. As others have said, if Aramis needs a day off, today is as good a day as any, but if he's sitting because he's 0-10 against Cook, that's bad managing.

Even our forfeit lineup look pretty good. Theres nothing wrong with Ramirez is there? He's 0-10 against the starter, so it's a nice day to give him a break. Except that past performance in 10 at-bats has absolutely no predictive value. I used to give the benefit of the doubt to managers who made lineup decisions based on past batter-pitcher performance (Brenly goes crazy over those stats), but the research of Lichtman/Tango/Dolphin pretty much squashes the idea that certain pitchers own certain hitters and vice versa.

There's a ton of research that indicates that platoon splits are real, predictive, and persistent for both hitters and pitchers. I fully endorse populating the roster with the best available players, but when it comes to bench players and bullpen pitchers, I've got no problem with Hendry adding lefties. By and large, non-starters are fungible commodities, so it makes sense to have a few players on the big league club that can take advantage of platoon splits.

Two hits, two walks, and two runs scored against him in the 9th against the Braves today. Go Julian!

Jeromy Burnitz.