Dirt Dog Sparly

I argue that Hill is the best expert on what makes Hill tick. Or as you say succeed or fail. Hill has said several times that he focuses on what happens after the pitch to what he can do with the pitch. When he has had success by his own admission is when he does like the "Nuke" LaLooshe character in Bull Durham. That is not to think and just pitch. After all its part of the catchers job to do the thinking for the battery.

Baseball is a game of failure. Failing seven times out of ten over twenty seasons gets you into the hall of fame. Name another sport where failing seven times out of ten gets you playing time outside of a free throw percentage and hockey. Look at Rich Hill, who has good stuff but isnt mentaly tough enough to compete with it. I go no further that Hill himself who admits to focusing to much on the outcome instead of the process. Lou has started to echo those comments. Look at the Daily Herald quotes after Hills last start. The mental side of the game is there from the time you get to the park till the last pitch. It is a part of every play, every pitch. It is more draining of energy than the game itself. Its something you have to experience, rather than talk about.

Let me say right now I do agree with the "stats people" most of the time. Once again I will take the hits for saying this but the game is 90% mental. We do not have reliable measures for that metric so it tends to be dismissed by some. "If it cant be measured, it dosent exist." Is a commonly read reply on this board. This is one of those occasions where measuring what can be measured isn't enough. Belief in yourself, teammates, rituals, good luck charms, is unmeasurable. However it is a difference in how the game is played. Think to situations in your own life where you believed something was achievable and you had a hand in it being true or not. Odds are it was a success. Think again to a situation where it was reversed. You did not believe in the success of the project. Odds are it didnt work. The great generals of history all write of the overwhelming preponderance of the morale, (mental), to the physical. The belief that victory, success, however it is defined, is waiting on them and them alone. That is the army that will often win. They expect victory and will bear the burden to make it happen. Lou has talked since being hired about developing a "Cubby swagger". Dusty last year talked at one point of just playing for your stats. Which manager is expecting victory? Which manager is telling his players that winning is the only acceptable outcome? People talk about Lou being a "winner", even after being at Tampa Bay. Why? Because he refuses to accept defeat in the long term. Lou expects to play in the post season and come hell or high water he is going to do what he has to do to get there. That is why I believe some players dont mix well with Lou. Look at the guys he runs out there. They play hard, they play solid fundamentals, and rarely give up bad at bats. They may not have the best talent, but they refuse to give in. Losing breeds losing. Once you get used to it it becomes the norm. Working to win is hard. It requires work, both physical and mental, that is tiring. When you are working to win and you have those around you who dont it leads to a stark contrast. It becomes easy to see the differences. Lou's tirade was his statement to the team that losing, and all that goes into that, was no longer an option. The players could have rejected him and this team would have gone into the tank. Instead they responded and began to learn how to win. I see a difference in body language, in how things are done. With each win you see it becoming more ingrained. The stats are a measure of outcome. The winning is a measure of belief that they will win, find a way to win, and continue to win. The next test that worries me is how they will cope with a long term injury to a cornerstone player on the team. We all know what happened after DLee went down last year. Dusty needed to get them together and put the onus on the players for each of them to pick up a little of the slack. Instead he let the players be players and expected someone to do it. In the end no one did it.

Its just another item to put in the list of coulda, shoulda, woulda when it comes to player personal and the Cubs.

They use the ESPN feed any time they can it seems - must be cheaper. On a related note what I want to know is how come other networks allow their pregame show to be broadcast on XM but the Cubs broadcast doesn't begin until seconds before first pitch? Just got off the phone with XM. It is part of the FOX national game of the week contract that XM has to use the national feed too. As far as pregame and not pregame, it is up to the station. Some allow pregame to be broadcast and some dont.

XM just preempted WGN's feed to go with ESPN's feed!!! :evil:

Seriously you have never seen that before?

I'd rather face Braun with a RHP than Fielder. There's only one out... they're going to have to face them both. Might as well walk Braun and try and induce the ground ball off the bat of Fielder. If Fielder is a flyball hitter you dont want to face him.

Pat made it sound like it was going to be a magnificent catch. The Ron says, "you know it hit him right in the palm of the glove?"

I could live with that. As long as the Mets win.

Tri-signed.

As long as they stay 5+ back they can sweep out this series.

You should hear the Cardinals announcers on XM. Booo Hoooo Hooooo, the umpires hate us. This is just so...... They need some cheese with all that whine.

The Cardinals radio crew are being putzes talking about Bartman. Re: Lees catch for the first out of the inning.

Listening to Rob Dibble on his show in the afternoons is a hoot when he starts in on the four letter network. He basicly echos comments from here that they really dont know there is baseball outside of New York and Boston. In production meetings they are told what position they will take. How it will be presented, and what the arguement will be about. Called them Jabrones one day. I laughed so hard when he did that. That said Steve Phillips is the posterboy for idiots inc.

The vig is part of what blunts the blow, but it's pretty much a given that there will be an unequal number of bets for two possible outcomes. If you track point spreads over a given period of time (i.e. if the Bears start out the week as 7 point favorites, but become 8.5 point favorites by game time), you can clearly tell which way the majority is betting on a given game. In that case, you'd like to have the majority lose. However, if you'd rather not get involved in these matters, you're right. Take your bookie charges and whatever money you get from the losers and walk away happy. Those are not the kind of people I'm talking about and who seem to be involved in this mess. As far as falling into a bookies trap, the umpire most likely could go to the league, gain official forgiveness, and a transfer to the Umpire Evaluation section. Granted they wouldnt ever call a game but they still would be employed. As I was saying before baseball takes gambling very seriously. Any umpire who found themselves in those circumstances would have to know that there was a safety net for them to prevent such things. I just thought about the bookie too. The bookies bosses cant be too happy that a spotlight is headed their way. I would think that a bookie wouldnt do this w/o someone saying yes. That someone would have to know that risk, especially after this. Given the security baseball keeps around you would have to think that risk in the long term dosent = reward. Edited to add thought about bookies.

I still think it would be too hot a potato to involve an organization in to heavily. You are right when you say a hooker here, bookie there, and protection over here. However when you look at it as 5,000 hookers, call girls, and strippers daily here, 500 bookies daily there, and whole sections of town that you are providing protection monthly to... Then you start to talk about some serious capital that is relatively safe. I am already having to grease police, judges, keep a few lawyers, pay my associates, and make sure I dont draw to much attention that I become the target. Why run the risk? Be the crocodile who waits in the cool water for the unwary beast instead of the flashy peacock who has to show off to get what he wants.

Thinking about the question posed, I could see a crew being able to do it. But it would take a huge commitment of resources on the part of the group that wanted to rig the games. 1) You have to be close enough to a crew to be comfortable enough to float the idea. Considering how paranoid baseball is about underground interference your contact with them would have to be a "clean" individual. 2) Umpires are well paid and compensated for what they do. During the off season, once they make the majors, holding camps and speaking engagements can double what they make during the season. They get what amounts to four to six weeks of vacation paid during the season. The medical package is top notch, and its like teaching, once you are there full time you can stink it up; because you will always be there. So you have to be able to top that package to make it worth their while to risk it. Trust me when I say they know it is a huge risk. 3) People talk. So it would have to be a very quiet operation on your part. That is why I dont believe the conspiracy theories, to many people have to not talk. Even then you have to guarantee that no one on the umpires side gets cold feet and turns you in. 4) How do you measure your success? You have a crew in your pay, when and how do you use them. Playoffs and World Series are out. They pull individuals and make up umpiring crews. When the best play the worst team? Who is going to bet against you and then do it consistantly? You cant control the players. That means mistakes that are launched, routine grounders that are bobbled, highlight plays made are all out of your control. Do you try to get them to shave runs? K's in a game? Runs scored? I can think of more than a few games where a pitcher had nothing and won because everything hit was hit at someone. The opposite is true too. Its just to hard to say that you didnt pay off because "its one of those nights" or your crew didnt do its job good enough. Push them to hard and they turn on you. Hello Feds and RICO. A manager might be easier just because you are dealing with one person. But your troubles multiply. Since Rose I would imagine that the security office in the New York offices pays very close attention to managers, lines, and game outcomes. Granted I am just scratching the surface but I would think I could get a bigger return out of drugs, prostitiution, and protection than I could get out of trying to rig a baseball game.

I agree with you that two strike zones can affect a game. However looking at how many pitches are thrown, balls put into play, then fielded and thrown, it's just to hard and a waste of resources to buy an umpire to put them in that situation. An umpire that gets into trouble is another issue entirely. However considering that MLB employs retired FBI/CIA/experienced criminal investigators I would think that an umpire that found themselves in that situation could receive official forgiveness for coming forward and saying that I was contacted by "X" to rig some games because I have some debts with them. Because no doubt is left that they will find out. They make sure you know they will. The Black Sox and Rose scandals rocked baseball. It has become baseballs boogie man that another betting/gambling incident will come again. The Steroids problem is getting ready to blow. Bonds is just the very visable tip of the iceberg. Baseball will be in trouble from a perception point for a while afterwards. A umpire/player in trouble for gambling might be a bigger blow than they want because of the steroids. That is why I believe that an edict has gone out to all the teams and players to watch your friends carefully.

Considering that inside every clubhouse and umpires locker room from rookie ball to the Majors there is a huge series of posters stating the rules on gambling to the punishments for. They are in English and Spanish. They are not in small print. They are posted in a spot so that you cant avoid not seeing them. When I was hired to work in a minor league clubhouse I was told three things. 1) They are serious about the gambling issue. 2) You will be treated like crap by the players until you earn their trust. 3) Dont ever, even jokingly, make a comment about betting on a baseball game. Football, horses, dogs, the odds of a guy getting lucky that night are ok. Never, ever, ever on baseball. During a clubhouse inspection as part of the BPA I was asked by a league official about the gambling rules posters. When they had been put up, were we ever told to take them down, ect, ect. I was told later when the GM was in town to look at the farm team to put extra tape on them to make sure there was no chance they would come down. As far as umpires go, baseball to me would be one of the hardest sports to fix. With so many things going on on each play you would have to be obvious in your calls/non-calls. I can see a soft strike zone helping a guy get to "X" k's on a night. Then you could say maybe but even then you have to match up with umpire and pitcher and outside sources. I would be more worried about this in college baseball where I have personally seen umpires make calls to get even with fans/parents in the stands. Doing so to make a little extra money isnt that far of a step.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290279,00.html Seems he has a few problems.

If it is a serious injury to keep him out for the year then it has to be a tear. Since I didnt see the game did he pull up before the play?

They probably settled on a $$$ amount instead of a player. Or a swap of end of ST minor league roster filler and the Cubs got a "better" player by saying that they satisfied the PTBNL clause. Next ST look at the minor league transaction wire. Lots of "consideration" and "future considerations" notes.

I heard talk on XM that the Pirates were wanting to trade Wilson. Maybe getting his replacement in house early.

So they can trade Jack Wilson.