bobbyd20

9 up, 9 down. I guess we don't have the book on this guy yet either?

I don't have a second team. During seasons like this, I usually find myself doing yard work and the like instead of watching WGN in the afternoons. Needless to say, almost every year (minus the occassional miracle), I have the nicest yard on the block.

Who's rooting against the Cubs? With the lineup that keeps getting sent out there, it seems like Dusty and Hendry are rooting against the Cubs.

I will be wearing my brand new Fire Dusty t-shirt...maybe I'll take a matching Fire Hendry sign as well.

Not sure if this is the right forum for this question, so I won't be offended if it's moved. I'm heading to the bleachers on Wednesday for my first and only game of the season and I am looking for suggstions as to a creative sign to display. I'm hoping to somehow point out the incompetency of Hendry/Baker without being asked to leave the ballpark. The best thing I have come up with so far is a poster of the three stooges with their faces replaced by pictures of MacPhail, Hendry and Baker. Any other ideas?

Pulling our overused ace pitchers in blowout games doesn't really amount to conservative, in my book. Just smart. Especially when said pitchers are in their early to mid 20's. Why anyone would be willing to risk their future production to get an extra inning out of them today in a 5 or 6 run game is beyond me? Not to mention, at some point, shouldn't the Cubs brain trust (and I use that term loosely) be working with these pitchers to pitch toward getting outs early in the count and not always going for the strikeouts.

Neifi in the #2 spot and Walker hitting 8th. Neifi goes 3 for 4 with a 2 run double in the big inning. Brilliant! :wink: I'm glad we are on the road (in American League parks) this week. Dusty is able to get another hitter (sort of) in the lineup. That means more at-bats for Neifi. Yes! I'm so excited.

I think it was something along the lines of he had to play veterans even though the Cubs were out of the race to maintain the integrity of the post-season chase for other teams. The other teams probably were happy to see this since they already "have the book" on guys like Neifi, Macias, etc. and don't "have the book" on young players like Murton, Cedeno, etc.

The inevitable Ozzie Guillen meltdown when things turn sour on the south side is going to be fantastic. I wish I were a member of the media so I could have a front row seat to watch the fireworks. One other thing, does it concern anyone else that Jay Mariotti is the mouth piece of all things Chicago sports to the nation? I think he is a blowhard and feel that the garbage he spews on Around the Horn just gives the nation a bad projection of what sports fans in Chicago are like.

I'd donate $10 to help pay off Rusch's contract. In fact, I may even donate $25. The sooner this guy is out of the picture, the more opportunities management has to evaluate young players and determine if they can be counted on for the future. Hendry was a fool to give Rusch more than a one year contract at the minimum for years of service.

Pierre needs to be moved down to 8 until he can come out of this slump? Having a sub .300 OBP guy hitting at the top of the order makes a mediocre offense look downright pathetic. Until he gets the ship righted, he needs to be down in the order. It's just like last year. The insistence on batting Perez and Patterson at the top led to the guy who had the best season in baseball (Lee) getting way fewer at-bats with runners on base than A. Jones, Pujols, etc. I've been preaching this for too long. Sooner or later, I just need to realize that Dusty has no use for OBP when it comes to creating a lineup. Maybe I'm the stupid one for hoping this will change.

I learned when I was 13 years old that 0-0, 2-0, 3-0 and 3-1 were hitters count. My coach said that you should look for a fastball in a location that you can drive on these counts. If you don't see a fastball in that location, you keep the bat on your shoulder. This means no getting fooled by a curve ball on these counts and hitting weak dribblers to second, no chasing pitches in the dirt, etc. Remarkably, I followed this strategy and became a much better hitter throughout the rest of my career (youth baseball through high school). If a youth baseball coach in a small town in Illinois is smart enough to know the importance of working the count and not making outs on pitcher's pitches when the count is in the hitters favor, how come no one in the Cubs organization can grasp this concept? It's really not that difficult.

I haven't seen enough of Hill or Guzman to know which one is better. That being said, on a team that is 12 games under .500, either young kid (unknown) being in the rotation is better than Glendon Rusch (known and bad). The thought process of this organization baffles me, time and time again.

I'd rather he swap Hairston for Murton. For all Murton's struggles, one thing he HAS done is reach base far more often than Cedeno. From the look of it, I'm getting the St. Louis-San Diego game on Fox instead of the Cubs. :x :x Either way, Murton or Cedeno, are obviously better options in the #2 spot than whichever crappy second basemen is in the starting lineup. I was just thinking Cedeno because I'd rather have Murton hitting in the sixth spot than either Hairston or Cedeno. How Dusty (or someone in the front office) can't figure out how to properly utilize the #2 spot in the batting order is beyond me.

Will someone please break into Dusty's office and switch Hairston and Cedeno? What is it with Dusty's insistence on using his worst hitter in the lineup in the #2 spot? Am I missing something here? He does it nearly every day.

Wasn't the whole point about Moneyball was finding things that are undervalued for a franchise that doesn't have the payroll to spend money on things everyone thinks are important? At the time, OBP was something Oakland felt was undervalued throughout baseball. Since they had a limited payroll to work with, this was something they chose to focus on. I'm not saying this to imply that OBP isn't important. Obviously, getting on base (not making outs) is a key component to scoring runs. In my mind, people have gone too far with the whole on-base thing as if it's the only thing that matters in baseball. It is important, and lord knows the Cubs need to improve in this area, but the author (and Beane) felt that using statistical analysis allowed them to gain an advantage over guys who only evaluated players based on their tools. This is the Cubs biggest problem. The value tools and potential over production.

If Dusty truly didn't know who was coming up in the bottom of the ninth, he should be fired immediately. A manager's job is to remain calm, cool and collected even in the face of adversity. When things go heywire, it is the manager that is supposed to be able to maintain composure and make the best decisions for the team.

Plus, why did he let Neifi (and his .195 average) lead off the ninth? Where was Murton? Dusty is either completely incompetent or asleep at the wheel. Either way, it's unacceptable.

Don't blame Neifi. He saved up last season, dude. At least Perez is going to lead off the bottom of the ninth because Dusty, in all of his wisdom, put Neifi in the 2 spot today and hit Cedeno 8th. Brilliant!

I'm not saying any of these guys are future all-stars but wouldn't the Cubs (an offensively challenged team) been better of picking Erubial Durazo or Richard Hidalgo off the scrap heap than another fast-running, no-hit second baseman.

If an idiot like Mariotti can figure it the problem, how come the people running the franchise can't seem to understand what is happening here?

The apathy must be at an all-time high for this thread to slip to page 8. We know it's not because Dusty is doing a better job. Here's an example of what really ticks me off about Dusty...last night's lineup. Batting 2nd Jerry Hairston (.221/.268/.260) and 0 for his last 12. Batting 8th Ronny Cedano (.286/.306/.379). Cedano is leading the team in BA on a team that can't hit and yet Dusty puts him in the 8th spot? Not to mention Cedano has the potential to be a contributing part of this organization for a long time. He needs to get as many at-bats in the 2 spot as possible to see if he's a good fit. Hairston (and Neifi) is a stop-gap player who should bat 7th or 8th on the one or two days a week that he is in the lineup. Also, what's with Ramirez still hitting sixth. I know he's been struggling and if you want to shake things up, put him in the sixth spot for a couple of days to try to get him out of the slump. But if you are using the philosophy that an extended stay in the sixth spot is going to help Ramirez, why wouldn't you move Pierre to the 8th spot for a while? Dusty's inconsistency/stupidity in managing a lineup is unbelievable. I can't imagine how someone could get to be a major league manager without being to at least put the 9 people on the field in the correct spot in the lineup. That all being said, Hendry deserves a substantial amount of the blame. The Cubs have about 6 guys (Perez, Hairston, Blanco, Bynum, Pierre...right now, Mabry) that should ideally be hitting in the 7th or 8th spot when they play. Unfortunately, with the roster Hendry put together too many of these guys are in the lineup on a regular basis to even make it possible not to hit at least one of these guys higher in the order.

There are so many choices 1) Trading for Pierre 2) Resigning Perez and Rusch to multi-year contracts above the league minimum 3) Signing Jones to a three-year deal 4) Failure to offer Nomar a incentive laden contract to play the outfield(after Nomar made sacrifices late in last season to give the impression he was interested in returning and willing to play somewhere other than SS) 5) Failure to sign another starter as insurance in case of injury (surprise) to Wood/Prior 6) Failure to go out and get Joe Girardi as the new manager when he was available 7) Failure to upgrade the coaching staff around Dusty Baker 8) Failure to resign Jose Macias as team mascot 9) Other I think I'm going to put a vote in for #6. At least if Girardi was in charge, there would be some hope that fundamental mistakes would not be tolerated and optimism where he could lead this team.

In addition to experiencing all of the feelings over the past month, I've noticed my alcohol consumption has increased by an impressive (or maybe scary) amount.

In other shocking news today, the sun rose in the east this morning.