Satch80

This game was lost because we aren't hitting and when we were gift wrapped a double, Lee gave it back with an incredibly stupid steal attempt. That inning basically took the wind out.

"Again, it isn't the booing that bothered some people, but the escalation to "Hawkins sucks" that seemed to be a bit too much. " Actually, some vendor was selling "Beltran Sucks" T-shirts for $15. Beltran just laughed and said if the money was for a good cause he'd help make them. Also, the Astros weren't held hostage. The similiar deal was turned down because the Stros refused to give him a no trade clause which the Mets did. He and his wife wanted stability for 6 years. Read the Houston Chronicle for this info. As far Hawkins, he made a lot of classless statements himself, so anyone who thinks booing him was classless, he and the group that did have a lot in common. Pretty much a wash.

I watched the Houston/Mets game today. The Houston fans booed Beltran every time he came to bat and every time he made a play in the field. EVERY time. Now this is a guy who didn't sign with them but stil helped get them to the playoffs and almost to the WS. And we're worried about booing Hawkins? Give me a break.

I don't feel the need to boo anyone, but some do. I think LaTroy brought some of it on himself ( besides sucking) by holding that arrogant press conference when he was made closer in 2004 and telling the press that it was their last chance to speak to him, that he could do what they could do but they couldn't do what he could do. Then he proceeded to blow save after save, which we all could do. The press pretty much hung Hawkins in the eyes of the fans after that, but of course Hawk gave them the ammo to do so. Then he later came out and said he was playing for his teammates and the org. only, which of course leaves out the very people who pay his salary. The fans. I don't think chanting "Hawkins stinks" was real cool, but I don't really see anything wrong if some people want to boo. At least they weren't throwing rotten eggs. You make the mega bucks, you take the heat. That's how it goes.

The blame game. Somebody has to be responsible. Right? Hendry. A great GM who either had a blind spot last off season or lost too much sleep over trying to unload Sosa that he couldn't think clearly. You cannot.....repeat, cannot...enter a season depending upon reclamation projects and rookies to man your bullpen. Especially not when you have the likes of Maddux ( limited to about 80 pitches), Wood who rarely makes it past the 6th and Z another power pitcher who can also pitch himself out quite early. Anyway, throwing $hit against the wall to see what sticks is hardly the way to build a pen. Dusty. Forget DuBois, ok? He couldn't catch the ball. can't hit a ML breaking pitch yet, just wasn't going to help this team no matter how many times he was trotted out there. He belongs in the AL. Wish him well. Corey wasn't going to hit no matter where he was put in the order because he apparentely isn't recognizing pitches early enough and his swing is far too long to adjust late. Hopefully he is fixing this. But batting him leadoff was insane. Nefi is what he is. A backup for an injured Nomar. But come on, playing Cedeno over Nefi is going to get us to the wild card? Cedeno had a hot two months but his career stats show he has a ways to go. But hitting a back-to-earth Nefi 2nd was also insane. Hendry again. Jim needs to start seriously considering the health history of players before acquiring them Back to back seasons with ravaging injuries is totally demoralizing. Reclamation projects are fine if they are just a bonus and not depended upon. Signing Wood long term was probably a mistake given his injury history but I can understand why he did it at the time. But hopefully he lets go of Nomar or signs him one year cheap with incentives. Even then, if he goes down again it's a mental hit to the team. The players. Yes, they're responsible also. Too often they have approached hitting like swatting at hornets. Clueless at the plate. Look at the videos, players, try to understand what the pitcher throws in what count and be ready, have a plan. Work the count in your favor. Get into the middle relief, always the weak part of the pen. Take your walk if you get nothing to hit. And don't you know ANYTHING about situational hitting? Bah! When they don't hit HR the offense usually tanks. And there's more. Missing signs, poor baserunning, careless errors. Yuk. No need to go on. The Coaches. I'm sure thay wonder why experienced multi million dollar ball players can't execute fundamental baseball. So is it really the fault of the current coaches that players have reached this point and have trouble bunting, running the bases, hitting behind the runner, getting them in from third, reading the ball off the bat, etc. etc. ? Or is it attitude and expectations? Which brings me to Dusty again. Dusty's player's manager persona is a double edged sword. Yes they all want to play for him and will work hard for him but at the same time, failure to execute ( except for stepchild Hairston) carries no penalty, no manager's black mark. they're not going to be pulled, called out in the media or chewed into shreds in his office. In some respects this takes the pressure off but it also takes the "edge" off. And that's what I see a lot of. Players in a comfort zone who do not always come to the situation with the intensity and grind that it usually takes to succeed. At this stage players should not need to be "coached" except for the occasional tweak to their swing or some improved footwork on defense. They need to concentrate and execute and focus. And the manager has to expect it and demand it. That's how I see things. [/b]

The blame game. Somebody has to be responsible. Right? Hendry. A great GM who either had a blind spot last off season or lost too much sleep over trying to unload Sosa that he couldn't think clearly. You cannot.....repeat, cannot...enter a season depending upon reclamation projects and rookies to man your bullpen. Especially not when you have the likes of Maddux ( limited to about 80 pitches), Wood who rarely makes it past the 6th and Z another power pitcher who can also pitch himself out quite early. Anyway, throwing $hit against the wall to see what sticks is hardly the way to build a pen. Dusty. Forget DuBois, ok? He couldn't catch the ball. can't hit a ML breaking pitch yet, just wasn't going to help this team no matter how many times he was trotted out there. He belongs in the AL. Wish him well. Corey wasn't going to hit no matter where he was put in the order because he apparentely isn't recognizing pitches early enough and his swing is far too long to adjust late. Hopefully he is fixing this. But batting him leadoff was insane. Nefi is what he is. A backup for an injured Nomar. But come on, playing Cedeno over Nefi is going to get us to the wild card? Cedeno had a hot two months but his career stats show he has a ways to go. But hitting a back-to-earth Nefi 2nd was also insane. Hendry again. Jim needs to start seriously considering the health history of players before acquiring them Back to back seasons with ravaging injuries is totally demoralizing. Reclamation projects are fine if they are just a bonus and not depended upon. Signing Wood long term was probably a mistake given his injury history but I can understand why he did it at the time. But hopefully he lets go of Nomar or signs him one year cheap with incentives. Even then, if he goes down again it's a mental hit to the team. The players. Yes, they're responsible also. Too often they have approached hitting like swatting at hornets. Clueless at the plate. Look at the videos, players, try to understand what the pitcher throws in what count and be ready, have a plan. Work the count in your favor. Get into the middle relief, always the weak part of the pen. Take your walk if you get nothing to hit. And don't you know ANYTHING about situational hitting? Bah! When they don't hit HR the offense usually tanks. And there's more. Missing signs, poor baserunning, careless errors. Yuk. No need to go on. The Coaches. I'm sure thay wonder why experienced multi million dollar ball players can't execute fundamental baseball. So is it really the fault of the current coaches that players have reached this point and have trouble bunting, running the bases, hitting behind the runner, getting them in from third, reading the ball off the bat, etc. etc. ? Or is it attitude and expectations? Which brings me to Dusty again. Dusty's player's manager persona is a double edged sword. Yes they all want to play for him and will work hard for him but at the same time, failure to execute ( except for stepchild Hairston) carries no penalty, no manager's black mark. they're not going to be pulled, called out in the media or chewed into shreds in his office. In some respects this takes the pressure off but it also takes the "edge" off. And that's what I see a lot of. Players in a comfort zone who do not always come to the situation with the intensity and grind that it usually takes to succeed. At this stage players should not need to be "coached" except for the occasional tweak to their swing or some improved footwork on defense. They need to concentrate and execute and focus. And the manager has to expect it and demand it. That's how I see things. [/b]

Corey is a liability to the team under his present condition and there is no way to manage a player that is not performing to a standard except to start him at square one with coaching. This is what has been done. It's pretty clear that if it takes that long, looping swing for power then Corey is not a major league power hitter because he will not survive the Ks and BA. He is starting his swing before he has any idea where the ball is going. I think part of the batting him leadoff strategy was to wean him away from his delusion of power and teach him bat control. It hasn't worked because Corey has not altered his mentality or his approach. Maybe now he will be forced to. If anything, Baker gave Corey a longer leash than he should have. As for DuBois, he is a butcher in the field, hits for power, can't hit a curve ball and Ks far too much. In time, he may be a DH but he certainly wasn't going to help this team. Dusty is not perfect and can create head scratching of the first order but if you read other team message boards you will find the same complaints. He's brought a winning attitude to the Cubs, 2 winning seasons and will remain the manager through 2006 for sure. Get over it.

I think Carlos Lee will win it. The worst, maybe Choi. He takes so many pitches that when he is forced to swing more freely in this contest he probably won't handle it well. He's very strong but has so many holes.

I agree with Bovine. Corey is very athletic but I'm not sure his athleticism translates well to baseball. If you watch him defensively, he rarely gets great jumps off the bat because his instincts aren't there. His speed usually allows for him to correct for taking a couple of steps in the wrong direction. At bat, he really doesn't seem to have any eye or sense of what the pitcher is trying to do to him. He consistently swings at the same eye level fastballs or balls in the dirt as if he can't really follow them out of the pitcher's hand. It's really mind bogling to watch his futility, doing the same things over and over. I have a feeling his hand eye coordination is not great. He didn't see a lot of 95mph fastballs and sharp breaking sliders in A ball. Now that he does, he seems inbetween all the time. If a player has real talent, it will come to frutition at some point even if he is brought along the fast track. I;m afraid that Corey may have been 80% wishful thinking and 20% reality on the part of the Cubs.. I hope I'm wrong and that he eventually pays dividends but this is his third year in the majors and the more the opposition learns about him the worse he gets. He may not be capable of making adjustments. He may only be comfortable doing what he knows. And now that it's not good enough, he's failing..

DuBois is a butcher in the field, pitchers deserve more than fly outs turning into doubles and I think he's a lot worse than Hendry figured. I have no doubt that Dusty noticed it pretty early. Between that, the fact that he can't hit a curve ball and the high K totals, why should he play? His place is not in the NL except for some power off the bench, but maybe as DH in the AL . Believe me, I'm not a Dusty suporter, hated his corey/Nefi tandem as 1/2, hate him playing Nefi over Cedeno. But I wouldn't have started DuBois in many games either.

Tough at bats like Harriston puts the pitcher under stress, you get to see more pitches, hopefully get a mistake and run up the pitch count in order to get into the opposition's middle relief. True, an out is an out for scroring purposes, but all outs are not created equal. Pesky hitters, patient hitters have a better chance to punish the other team.

I don't think Maddux should be in the mix here because his career is basically over and we know he is a sure HOF, has 5 Cy Youngs, has been a 20 game winner, has a WS ring, has a ton of gold gloves and 300 plus wins and counting. It's not likely that any pitcher can equal or surpass that. As for Prior, Wood and Z, Prior has the most ability but he seems to be somewhat injury prone. Some are freak injuries, but still, they are happening. Wood is also injury prone and I doubt will ever stay healthy enough to have consistent results. Z is likely to stay healthiest but maturity needs to happen before we have any idea how far he can go. Anyway, since we can't really predict injuries it's not possible to predict their future but I will say that among the 3 Prior has the best shot at the HOF.

"He needs to go, or this team loaded with tons of talent will continue to suck. " I don't see this team ( as assembled) as having tons of talent. Outside of Lee and Aram, the starting lineup is average or worse. Barrett as catcher probably does not call a very good game and is not very good defensively. His BA is ok. Call him average. The LF platoon of DuBois/Holly is below average.Holly is a streak hitter and no more than a bench player. DuBois is a defensive liability and a very average hitter. Walker's bat is above average for his position but his range is poor thus his defense below average. I don't know what to say about Corey but I would have to call him below average at this point. Burnitz is a very average RF, not bad, not great. Nefi is no more than a bench player and is well below average. Moving on to pitching, we have a grab bag pen except for Dempster and oft injured starters in Wood and Prior plus an erratic Zambrano. We also have Maddux who can only go 5-6 innings and is giving up more and more runs. Contrast the above with the Cards where Puljos, Rolen, Eckstein, Edmonds and Walker are all above average for their positions with Molina, their catcher being outstanding throwing out runners and hitting for a decent average. Their platoon in LF and RF of Sanders and Mayberry are at least average. Morris and Carpenter are their 1-2 starters talented, healthy and producing. Mulder is a talented healthy pitcher. Marquis and Suppan are fine 4-5 starters also making every start.Izzy is and has been a solid closer. Their pen has been reliable and some experience in Tavaras and King. I;m not saying that Dusty is a good manager, I don't think he is. But I think we are fooling ourselves if we think at this point we have a talented team.