Houston_Cub_Fan

Actually, not a bad night for the Cubs: Gained on the Astros and Mets Held position with the Phillies and Nats Lost a half game to he Crew and the Marlins All in all, not bad. Best we could have hoped for really.

Jimy, Check out Justice's column in the Chronicle today. He says that Bud Selig calls this rumor a total lie. QUOTE: "He has been so close to perfect that he has become the object of a silly series of rumors. Talk-show gossip has him as one of the 50 or so big-leaguers who have tested positive for steroids. There's just one problem with those rumors. They're not true. "They're absolutely not true," commissioner Bud Selig told me Thursday. "I don't know where this stuff comes from. I know this kind of stuff is out there. This isn't journalism's finest hour. Some people ought to be ashamed." http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3317099

True, I can't speak for everyone who was booing. Again, I'm not trying to start a fight. I just don't like sensory overload at a baseball game. To each his own. I liked my seats in terms of view and comfort etc. But the overall experience was negative - probably because the Cubs were getting their buts handed to them. Didn't mean to pull the thread off course. I really wanted to talk about Nomar.

Amid the boos were shouts of "it was foul" and the like. I was surrounded by booing Astros fans so I have a pretty good idea of what they were saying. They thought it was a foul ball. The HR only made the score 3-2, I sincerely doubt any Astros fans cared so much about 1 HR at that point that they were booing the pitcher. It was a lack of fundamental knowledge about the game. As for the asthetics of MMP, it's as sterile as a mall. The train, hill and pop up HRs to the Crawford boxes make it a joke. It may not seem like that to Houstonians who can only compare it to the Dome, but it's the truth. All loud music and flashing lights. Absolutely no character that isn't contrived. And to the other poster, yes the place was pretty empty. 26,000 I think. But school just started down here and they rarely sell out unless Clemens is pitching. Please don't get me wrong. I think the Astros are a great team of players who know how to play the game. Ijust think the fans of a team that has made the playoffs quite a bit recently should have a better grasp of the rules. They booed a pitch out in the second inning. What's that about? EDIT: I did not mean that the HRs last night were pop ups to the Crawford boxes. They were all mashed. But in general, when a 315ft pop up gets the crowd on its feet, that's a bad thing.

I don't blame anyone for being pessamistic when it comes to this team and injuries. But I think it's a little far fetched to view the doctors attached to the Cubs as incompetent. I also don't think management would put Kerry in the position of doing more damage to himself. I think they have been very restrained this year. They have not given out timetables for players comming back from injury until it was clear that they were ready to make a rehab assignment. And they have not rushed anyone back.

Here's a breakdown of the recovery time based on this surgery if the labrum is torn. So factor in that this is worst-case scenario for a frayed labrum: "After surgery, you will need to keep your shoulder in a sling for three to four weeks. Your physician will also prescribe gentle, passive, pain-free range-of-motion exercises. When the sling is removed, you will need to do motion and flexibility exercises and gradually start to strengthen your biceps. Athletes can usually begin doing sports-specific exercises after six weeks, although it will be three to four months before the shoulder is fully healed." As a worst case scenario, even if Kerry waits to have the surgery until Novemeber- like Morris- he will be fully healed by February. Since Kerry's is only frayed, expect a somewhat faster recovery .

"Let's hope so because Wade Miller, Matt Morris, and Joe Borowski all lost at least 2mph from their fastball." So Kerry will only be able to hit 98! Seriously though, the point is that he can't injure it anymore than he has already. Miller never even had surgery on his, and never had the stuff that Wood does. Morris had the surgery in November and is having a pretty good season 12-5 3.80 ERA. And I'm pretty sure Borowski's injury was a tear.

The doctors say he is not doing any additional damage. The Cubs have said that they will shut him down when they are out of the WC race. Unless you know something I don't about the recovery time for this surgery, I don't see what 5-6 weeks is going to change. Even if we make the playoffs he would have five months to recover from what is considered a routine proceedure. A frayed labrum is a lot different from a torn labrum.

I think this team faces some really tough decisions this offseason, and right now there are few answers. 1) We will have a lot of money to spend. But the FA crop is weak. Who can we realistically go after who will change the team drastically over in-house options? 2) We have a lot of minor leaguers who are pretty close to needing to play at the ML level on a regular basis. But do we want a youth movement now when we, threoretically, have the pitching and core veterens to make a playoff push? We know we don't have the right manager for a youth movement. 3)We have a nice collection of talent already. But are we -or were we ever- as good as we think we are? We talk about our staff in reverent terms but, to date, they are injury-prone underachievers. Our lineup is okay but not overly intimidating. Our bullpen is a laughingstock. Our manager is a boob. Compared to some of the horrific Cubs teams I've watched, we're great. Unfortunately, we have to compare ourselves to a higher standard (the Cards?) and right now, we come up way short. So our choices are: Stand pat and hope a healthy season cures all (didn't we do that this year?) Make trades/ sign FAs for corner OF and bullpen help (not much out there for FAs and trades mean weakening the farm for a team that isn't that close to a WS contender) Trade vets and stock farm for youth movement (get a new manger and wait another 3-4 years for a real winner.) Like I said, tough choices. None of them seem too promising. But the lesser of three evils is to trade for the positions we need to fill and make a run again next year. We may bankrupt the farm, but we can't be asked to wait much longer.

You have to admit that, for the time being, it's nice having Kerry comming in in the 7th or 8th and mowing them down. He brings an intimidation factor that is undeniable. After this year, I hope they give him another shot at the rotation. Until then, I'm really enjoying him in his new role.

I'd like to see Nomar back at short and Walker back at second, too. Why would we want to see Nomar in left? We would be taking above average production from a SS and turning it into below average production for a corner outfielder. We can find a corner outfielder in the off season. I don't think we can find a SS with the potential to put up numbers like Nomar. Cendeno is nice insurrance against injury.

Deep breath. Hold it for five seconds. Exhale. Whew! That's better. I almost started to believe again. Some pretty good arguments for optimism. But pretty good just aint gonna cut it. Even if we beat up on the Stros, it will just move an NL East team into their spot. We're playing for pride now, and the small satisfaction of a winning season. If by some freak of nature we are three (or fewer) games out at the beginning of Sept, I may reconsider this stance. But let's get to .500 first and go from there.

I love your optimism, but don't share it. It was embarassing to watch the game last night. We're lucky we're only 6 out of the WC. I expect us to be out of the race - as if we're not already - by the 15th. By then, even Hendry will have to admit it's a lost season. Sorry to be so down.

What a ridiculous article! I guess Jimy Williams was a victim of racism in Houston last year as well. Notice that Scoop never talks about specific problems that Dusty has, nor does he try to rebut the complaints of Mariotti et al. He never discusses Dusty leaving two of the worst OBP guys in the league at the top of his order for half a year. He never talks about Dusty completely mismanaging his bullpen. And he never even hints at Dusty's inability to play rookies - who are more talented than the everyday jokes like Macias. I'll be the first to say it. If being critical of the way Dusty Baker manages a game makes me a racist, then I guess I'm a racist. Frankly, that's a pathetic card to play, and says more about Scoop Jackson than it does about anyone who feels Dusty should be removed as manager of the Cubs.

What a ridiculous article! I guess Jimy Williams was a victim of racism in Houston last year as well. Notice that Scoop never talks about specific problems that Dusty has, nor does he try to rebut the complaints of Mariotti et al. He never discusses Dusty leaving two of the worst OBP guys in the league at the top of his order for half a year. He never talks about Dusty completely mismanaging his bullpen. And he never even hints at Dusty's inability to play rookies - who are more talented than the everyday jokes like Macias. I'll be the first to say it. If being critical of the way Dusty Baker manages a game makes me a racist, then I guess I'm a racist. Frankly, that's a pathetic card to play, and says more about Scoop Jackson than it does about anyone who feels Dusty should be removed as manager of the Cubs.