bobbyd20

With Prior throwing about 7 million pitches this season, wouldn't tonight have been a good night to bring in Hill in the 5th or so and give him a chance to throw 3 to 4 innings? Or do we still have the throttle down trying to get to that magical .500 mark?

I heard Ozzie gave out his email and likes reading the comments from the fans. I was wondering if anyone saw this article and could pass along his email address? I want to send him some words of wisdom that he could pass along to Dusty.

Mizzou, I agree with you completely on the idea of Neifi predetermining whether he is going to swing or not. I have no idea why any pitcher who has read his scouting report would ever throw him a first pitch fastball, much less one in the strike zone.

Face it, over the years the Cubs have made numerous mental mistakes that would have gotten a player benched while in little league. Management has looked away and ignored these fundamental flaws for too long. They continued to reward these type of players because they were exciting and helped bring people through the turnstyles. Dusty Baker was brought in prior to the 2003 season to change the organization from lovable losers to perennial contenders. Unfortunately the poor fundamental play has continued (if not gotten worse) under Dusty. He seldom calls out players for boneheaded plays and since the players see no repercussions from these plays, they have little incentive to work harder on the little things. Maybe if Dusty would pull Corey Patterson after the 100th or 101st time that he swings at the first pitch when it's at his eyes, Corey might learn something. Maybe not, but if the manager starts holding players accountable and they still don't learn it's not the manager's fault. Until the manager holds players accountable for poor execution, I lay the blame at the feet of the manager.

to me, fundamentals also includes showing some discipline at the plate...ie, working the count, not swinging at the first pitch right after the pitcher makes the second out of an inning, letting that first pitch go by if it's not the pitch and location you are looking for, having an idea of the strike zone, etc. The Cubs approach at the plate is one of the frustrating fundamental errors I see in this ballclub...not the only fundamental flaw by any means, just personally the most frustrating

Whether Dusty has had many young prospects who turned into major league players is irrelevant in the discussion of why it took him so long to play Murton everyday. Murton has hit at every level this season. .342 at AA before being called up .339 when he was sent to AAA .353 during his 10 days at AAA .340 currently I think he has established that he should be in the lineup everyday. But, Dusty in his infinite wisdom only used him for 11 at-bats during a 12 day stretch in late July-early Aug (July 27-Aug 7) when his average was above .400 and many of the veterans were really struggling. Why didn't Dusty play him more then? And why does Dusty refuse to use him at the top of the lineup? His OBP is .405, he shows patience at the plate and he runs well. All things I like to see from a guy hitting at the top of the lineup. But not Dusty. He's only used Murton in the 1 or 2 spots in the order for 11 at-bats (about 10%). But, he continues to trot out his boy Neifi (.301 OBP percentage and zero plate discipline) nearly 65% of the time in front of Derrek Lee. I don't think Dusty's refusal to play Murton everyday is what's keeping this ballclub from the playoffs. But, I do believe that his boneheaded lineups have cost the Cubs at least 10 wins this season, specifically the guys he uses at the top of the lineup (especially during the first four months of the season when Lee was the best hitter in baseball).

Dusty has proven time and time again that the concept of a double switch is far too complicated for him. Take Monday night for example. Burnitz pinch hit for Maddux with 2 outs in the bottom of the seventh. He struck out. Most would assume that Burnitz's night would be done since the new pitcher is going to replace him in the 9 spot, which was 9 batters away in the lineup. No, Dusty decides to employ a double switch at this point by taking his 5 hitter out of the lineup in Walker, moving Macias from right to second and inserting the pitcher in Walker's spot (5 hole) which was guaraneteed to bat at least one more time in the game. What?

dbarbler21 - I don't want to argue, but Nomar was playing short prior to Ramirez going down. I'm sure he could have handled it for a couple of innings in a pinch.

He probably should have double switched following the inning when Neifi popped out to short to end the inning. Dempster come in and was due to leadoff the next inning. But doing this would have required Dusty to remove his boy Neifi and god knows we can't win without him in the lineup. His 2 double switches tonight took two of our three best hitters (Walker and Nomar) out of the lineup in a tie ballgame. Plus these two were 4 for 8 on the night. This comes when we have extra players on the bench thanks to roster expansion. I can't make this stuff up.

Let's get rid of this Ryan Theroit guy. What is he doing seeing 8 pitches in his first major league at-bat? Apparently he hasn't watched the rest of the Cubs play enough this season.

Let's get rid of this Ryan Theroit guy. What is he doing seeing 8 pitches in his first major league at-bat? Apparently he hasn't watched the rest of the Cubs play enough this season.

Let's get rid of this Ryan Theroit guy. What is he doing seeing 8 pitches in his first major league at-bat? Apparently he hasn't watched the rest of the Cubs play enough this season.

I know 29. Wishful thinking.

Any chance we can get this Murton guy and his 1.389 OBP in September in the lineup everyday? Preferable in front of Derrek Lee.

Wouldn't this situation have been more appropriate to double switch with the pitcher's spot coming up 3rd in the 10th. As opposed to last night when Dusty's double switch lead to the pitcher batting 5th the following inning. I think I have given up trying to figure out his moves. Isn't this an example of why you carry a third catcher during the month of September?

mhuber92211 Do you think you could do me a favor and sneak into the Cubs lockerroom and make out a lineup card that doesn't include Neifi, Macias or C. Patterson? Try this one. 2B Walker SS Cedeno 1B Lee 3B Nomar RF Burnitz C Barrett LF Murton CF Hairston, Jr. P Rusch On second thought, don't do that. This lineup makes way too much sense. Dusty would probably try to take credit for it.

Len, I can't figure out this strategy and am hoping maybe you can shed some light on it for me. Why is Dusty such a proponent of a balanced lineup (right-left-right-left) only when there is a right-handed pitcher on the mound? He continued to bat Burnitz between Lee and Ramirez in June and July even though both righties were on fire and teams pitched around Lee with runners on base and two out to face Burnitz. But, when a lefty is on the bump, Dusty doesn't also go right-left-right-left. Instead, he chooses to group his lefties together toward the bottom of the lineup. This doesn't make sense to me. Can you shed some light on Dusty's thinking for me? Thanks.

I might actually pull for 0-22 because I feel that's the only way Dusty won't be managing the 2006 Chicago Cubs. If he's back they will probably also feature Neifi Perez leading off and playing shortstop on opening day. I don't think I can stand another season (much less a contract extention) of poor fundamentals, continued lack of accontability by the manager, lineups featuring low OBP guys at the top, Jose Macias in a Cubs uniform, struggling veterans still in the lineup instead of promising youngsters, and Burnitz batting between D. Lee and Ramirez to create a balanced lineup even though Lee and Ramirez were hot and Burnitz was swooning. I could go on, but I'm starting to get frustrated again.

If Edmonds would sprint back to the point of the catch instead of coasting, he would make those catches with ease rather than having to dive all of the time. Sure, it's a nice show, but he makes those catches more difficult than need be by coasting back on the ball.

Can someone explain to me why Dusty is such a big righty-lefty-righty-lefty proponent about the lineup, but only on days when right handers are pitching? This is more of a gripe about earlier in the year when he insisted on hitting Burnitz between D. Lee and Ramirez. It lead to numerous occasions when D. Lee was intentionally walked and Burnitz then followed with the final out of the inning. For much of this time, Ramirez was hot, but he was continually leading off innings. At this time, Dusty was all about having balance throughout the order R-L-R-L when righties were on the mound. But when lefties started, he'd move Barrett up and clump his lefties Burnitz, Walker, Patterson, etc. together toward the bottom of the lineup. It seems to me that if you value a balanced lineup as much as Dusty appeared to, you would do it everyday, not just against right handed pitchers. Sorry to vent, but this season has frustrated me like no other Cubs season in memory.

Why oh why does Dusty continue to use Neifi in the 2 spot. Neifi has an OBP of .304. Who would put a guy that only gets on base 30% of the time in front of your leading RBI man? This makes no sense yet our wise manager has had Neifi in the #2 spot for 203 at-bats this season. It's no wonder D. Lee is fourth in the NL is RBI's despite having a 1.199 OPS with runners in scoring position. That doesn't even factor in Neifi's lack of patience at the plate, typically an inportant quality for a #2 hitter. Todd Walker needs to be hitting in front of Lee. Either 1 or 2, I don't care. We need (and have needed all season) as many baserunners on in front of Lee as possible. The failure to get people on in front of Lee has cost us greatly this season.

Dodgers Werth LF .243 Robles SS .283 Kent 2B .294 Saenz 1B .283 Phillips C .244 Edwards 3B .261 Cruz RF .222 Repko CF .220 Lowe P .140 Lowe 8-13 4.11 ERA Cubs Hairston LF .267 Perez SS .279 Lee 1B .346 Burnitz RF .269 Garciaparra 3B .267 Walker 2B .303 Barrett C .285 Patterson CF .224 Rusch P .138 Rusch 5-7 4.35 ERA

What are the odds of Dusty starting Perez at SS and Macias in LF today instead of Murton and Cedano? It was bad enough that he used Wood last night one day before surgery but a lineup with Perez and Macias may put me over the edge.

Plus Neifi makes the game go faster by always swinging at the first pitch, especially when it's out of the strike zone.

How about Cedano at SS and Nomar at 2B? The Cubs could really use the offensive production a healthy Nomar would supply and Cedano seems to be deserving of a shot to play everyday. In limited action at the big league level, Cedano seems to be better defensively than Nomar. This would all be contingent on Nomar accepting a contract with a base salary around $4 mil and some incentives based on games played and productivity in the batter's box. I'm not sure Cedano is quite ready to be in the lineup everyday, but the staff needs to use this last five weeks to find out what they have in Cedano and others (Murton).