Tracer Bullet

And we've reached a new low

You need to do better at something so I'm not letting you practice it anymore. Maybe he is seeing a pattern of just "putting on a show" in BP instead of actually working on their games? Perhaps he is "taking away their fun" until they show they have come out of this slump in actualy game action? It almost like Lou saying: " No X-BOX or PS3 kids until your homework is done". Maybe he doesn't know what to do so he's trying something random. Not a real comforting thought, but that's what occurs to me. Yeah, taking away batting practice when the offense is slumping doesn't exactly sound like the greatest idea. If you don't like the approach your players have during batting practice, address the issue. Don't just take it away. To me, that's like saying, "Zambrano didn't throw strikes today, so I'm not going to let him warm up before his next start." Actually, I don't think it's anything like that. Not allowing a pitcher to warm-up is inviting injury. Not having batting practice is no big deal. Yeah, it's nothing like not letting a pitcher warm up. But it does strike me as odd. Maybe it's not intended to be a punishment. Maybe he thinks guys are tired and all the extra swings in BP are hurting more than helping at this point.

I'd take Aviles and DeJesus. ETA: on second thought, maybe not.

Yes. He's got blistah on his fingah. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So then, which of Howry, Marmol and Eyre (needed a lefty) is going to marry some chick and break up the group?

That was hilarious for the slide alone. Ellsbury thought for a split second about reaching under Manny's ass for that ball, but must have thought "there's no way I'm going in for that."

Ugh. It's bad enough that we have Soriano locked into 1 spot b/c he allegedly can't hit anywhere else in the lineup. Let's not extend this to others as well. These sample sizes are not really sufficient to draw any statistical inference from.... but they might bear watching...... Fukudome AB R H 2b 3b HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS BABIP P/PA IsoD RBI% batting 1st 50 10 13 2 0 1 5 7 16 0.260 0.362 0.360 0.722 0.364 4.81 0.102 0.250 batting 2nd 49 4 6 1 0 1 3 5 14 0.122 0.204 0.204 0.408 0.147 4.36 0.081 0.071 batting 4th 11 1 3 2 0 0 3 1 2 0.273 0.308 0.455 0.762 0.333 3.69 0.035 0.333 batting 5th 193 39 61 10 2 5 23 38 32 0.316 0.427 0.466 0.893 0.359 4.30 0.111 0.182 batting 6th 22 3 6 1 0 0 2 3 5 0.273 0.360 0.318 0.678 0.353 4.08 0.087 0.125 batting 7th 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 1.000 2.000 3.000 1.000 5.50 0.000 0.000 batting 9th 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.250 0.250 0.250 0.500 0.333 5.75 0.000 0.000 All spots 330 58 91 17 2 7 36 55 70 0.276 0.379 0.403 0.782 0.332 4.37 0.103 0.171 No, I don't think they're worth watching. I'm sure someone will watch them, but I think it's pointless. To each their own.

Ugh. It's bad enough that we have Soriano locked into 1 spot b/c he allegedly can't hit anywhere else in the lineup. Let's not extend this to others as well.

Are you going to give us a game-by-game update? He's 2/2 with a double and a run today.

He was in the Twins system for a while. Got a few shots in the majors. Holds some dubious record (most consecutive appearances allowing at least 1 run, I think). Nice enough guy, from the few times I've seen/met him.

I'm in North Liberty but grew up in that area. most of my family went/goes to Starmont and I have several relatives that are good friends of his. I played softball against him and his dad for a few years as well, but I haven't seen either in probably 3 years had many a friend in the strawberry area his mom used to work with me in manchester, the family on both sides definitely has baseball blood in cedar falls now, did you go to starmont? sure did, class of 92 wd '92 here you guys were about 100 miles down hwy 3 from where I grew up. Always like to see an Iowa kid get drafted. Saydel '87 here. And I love seeing the Iowa kids get picked also. OT, It's kind of a personnal thing, but I played against Joe and Ben Blake( Two of Casey's older brothers) and got to know them a little bit, so I'd love to see the Cubs get him, just from a personnal perspective. That was a few years before Benj Sampson's time, right? He married my old neighbor.

I'm in North Liberty but grew up in that area. most of my family went/goes to Starmont and I have several relatives that are good friends of his. I played softball against him and his dad for a few years as well, but I haven't seen either in probably 3 years had many a friend in the strawberry area his mom used to work with me in manchester, the family on both sides definitely has baseball blood in cedar falls now, did you go to starmont? sure did, class of 92 wd '92 here you guys were about 100 miles down hwy 3 from where I grew up. Always like to see an Iowa kid get drafted.

and what do you call them? Hopefully something that doesn't include the term "snowball."

Because Fontenot is the preferred back-up at 2B (ahead of Cedeno) and DeRosa is the non-defensive back-up for corner OFs (and sometimes 1B and 3B). In essence, Fontenot backs up three-five positions. I think you could make the case that a clear upgrade to DeRosa as back-up corner OF would step into Fotenot's spot, but it is unlikely to happen. If Hart and Ceda could bring back Blake, I'd do it. He can be very useful if the Cubs are in a position to rest some players in September, and he's the RH DH if they make it to the world series. I don't really follow, but as between Ward and Fontenot, I think I'd rather have Fontenot.

Well said. I can't even recall the last time a color guy offered some insightful commentary that made me sit back and think, wow, I didn't realize that. Mostly it's cliches, regurgitated groupthink, and mimimally interesting decades-old anecdotes from their playing days. Santo is as bad as any of them in all of the above areas, but what he does add is authentic, genuine emotion. Hughes does a wonderful job of describing what you'd see and hear if you were there, while Santo conveys how you'd feel if you were there. Great combo. I actually like Orel Hershiser (sp?) as an analyst. Though he might be the only one.

The same question becomes "Is there a reason we need both Blake and Johnson?" I guess Blake is better against RHP than Fontenot is against LHP, but on the other hand there are a lot more RH relievers than LH relivers. My understanding is Blake plays adequate defense at 4 positions (corners of the IF and OF). Ward plays adequate defense at DH. With Fukudome getting days off against LHP more frequently than I expected and the fragility of Soriano and Edmonds, I'd like another OF that can actually play the OF (sorry, DeRo).

That's funny. I wish they'd move Santo and Hughes to TV to replace the morons Len & Bob. Joke, right? Not at all. I can't stand Len & Bob. you prefer the hard-hitting analysis of Ron Santo I'd like to hear Pat describe in detail the uniforms sported by both teams while I watched the game in glorious HD.

Is there a reason we need both Ward and Fontenot? Seems to me, a bench of Blanco, Blake, Cedeno, Fontenot, Johnson/Edmonds (platoon) would be just fine. Fontenot hits the crap out of RHP and Blake isn't terrible against RHP, so I don't see the need for Ward, esp if Blake can be had cheaply. How's Blakes defense in the OF? I can't imagine he's worse than DeRosa has been this year (admittedly I'm going on the several miscues I remember DeRosa making in the last several weeks).

Way to just embrace it, Skyballer.

two-faced? I think we should start a petition to protect people's right to make gay jokes about Cubs players.

it was more hilariouser than the only other one I've ever seen It has been addressed, so please carry on. So posters calling out BS gay jokes is or isn't encouraged?

There, fixed. The wedding was in Missouri: not California. Did you really start this thread just so you could make a gay joke?

I think money and options have a bit to do with that though. Plus, once Lou says that Marquis seems to pitch a game out of his Kazoo and lives to pitch another day. That and he loses all trade value is he's not in the rotation. Teams might trade for a 7m starter, but none would have any interest in a 7m long reliever. No one's going to decide whether or not to trade for Marquis based on whether he's a starter or reliever over the next 2 weeks.

Wait, Hurdle is to blame for playing all of his players? I watched most of the game and I could have sworn that Buck said Francona only had 1 player left on his bench in about the 6th or 7th. So the managers managed the same way (to get everyone into the game). The AL is just deeper than the NL, when it comes to talent. The starters for each league are pretty evenly matched. But the AL bench was far superior to the NL bench, if you ask me (sizemore, Longoria, Morneau, Kinsler). And the RPs are much better (Nathan, Paps, KRod, Rivera in consecutive innings - holy crap). Yes. Hurdle is to blame for this entire mess. Well, it's Selig's mess to begin with, but it's Hurdle's fault we lost. Isn't he the one who pick's his pitching staff? How can you honestly pick a pitching staff and not have Johan Santana and Jake Peavy on the roster? I don't care what their records are or what their other significant stats are, these are absolutely 2 of the best pitchers in the NL, and I'd much rather have these guys with a game on the line than Aaron Cook or Brad Lidge or even Carlos Marmol right now. This is no longer about getting every player in the game. This is about home field advantage, as stupid as that may sound. I will applaud the first manager who says "screw playing time, I want to win this game". Ah, but the good ole boy network probably doesn't have a single manager who has the nads to buck the system. This will forever stay one of the dumbest things Bud Selig did under his legacy of doing dumb things. The pitching staff held the AL to 4 runs in 15 innings and didn't exactly have stellar defense behind them. I also can't believe anyone really expects a manager to play starters for 8 innings. I don't care if the game "counts" all those guys want to play. But most of the starters only want to play 3-4 innings anyway. It's not the old boys club that's stopping the manager from playing starters the entire game. It's wanting to please 30 guys that all want to play. Sounds like little league, but that's the overriding influence. I think it's BS to blame a manager for losing an ASG. He's put into a BS situation by Selig and he's trying to please a bunch of people. And of course he took Aaron Cook. Same reason the ASG was full of Yankees for about 10 years. To the "victor" goes the spoils. How many ASGs do you think Hurdle expects to manage? Making an exhibition "count" by basing HFA in the championship series on the winner is stupid.

come on...they played 15 innings of absolutely evenly matched baseball. i don't think you can make any definitive statement about either league based on that. I'm not making a definitive statement about the relative talent in either league based on the ASG, though I think it certainly supports the claim. Even ignoring the ASG, I didn't think there was any remaining dispute that the AL is significantly better than the NL right now.

a lot of this remains to be seen. There's too many ifs to say with any confidence what the rotation will look like: Is Hill able to pitch again this year anywhere near his '07 level? Is Harden healthy the whole 2nd half? Can Lilly keep the ball in the damn yard (21 HRs this year - 28 each of the last 2 years)? Can Dempster throw 200 IP when he hasn't thrown that many in years? Can we sign CC? I'd like Marshall to be in the rotation for the next month or two to see if he can be effective, but his leash would depend on how our lead holds up. I don't think Lou is going to give him that chance over Marquis though.