thedaymen

Argh. Fine. Lets say game 4.

NL East: Mets NL Central: Cards NL West: Dodgers Wild Card: Reds AL East: Yankees AL Central: Twins AL West: Angels AL WC: Red Sox Mets over Reds Dodgers over Cards Mets over Cards Twins over Yankees (finally!) Red Sox over Angels Red Sox over Twins Mets over Red Sox. Ball rolls between Papi's leg at game 1 at Shea in the bottom of the ninth to bring Mets back for a win. Red Sox completely collapse under new curse. Good teammate Curt Schilling throws Papelbon under the bus.

The fans around me all cheered when Rusch came in. They knew it was just a matter of time

They did have Cedeno sac. bunt a guy over comitting the second out. It does seem they know Z is a better option then Cedeno.

And what if Lee is never the player he was last year. There was a lot of talk this offseason about "what if Lee returns to career norms." With the injury and results we're seeing now, its not a stretch to think that Lee won't even be a .300/30 type of guy next year. The Cubs are going to need someone to step up, and the collection of role players they have in the lineup besides Barrett isn't going to cut it.

Happens all the time, to a lot of teams. The sad thing last night was that ump had a tiny strike zone that Trach and Maddux were both frustrated with but for Ronny is was Lake Eerie. Part of this is "you make your own luck." How often have we typed "a heads up play by Jones led to the inning being extended" or "Ramirez really hustled that one out." Beltran hustled. Mets got extended. They deserved it. No, but a big part of getting or losing close calls is reputation. The Cubs have the reputation of not knowing the strike zone from the Dead Zone (Sundays on TNT) so they don't get calls. Remember last year when Z was always feuding with the umps? I bet that helped him get a lot of calls. You make your own luck. I haven't watched those broadcasts, so I'll take your word for it. Bad players and management is the biggest thing wrong with the Cubs.

Who is this Sandberg and did he know Ryne Sandberg? The Mets announcers this weekend were saying Biggio> Sandberg because Craig could produce more runs then Ryno and I nearly blew a fuse.

Is Sosa such old news that an interview with the Tribune doesn't even get a thread? http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-060724sosa,1,7855295.story?coll=cs-cubs-headlines Best Quote: "The decisions I am making now are better." http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-060724sosabrite,1,6498655.story?coll=cs-cubs-headlines Best Quote: "I am living the life of Sosa."

Remember in game one of the last series against the Mets when Xavier Nady took Ronny out on what I (and not Keith Hernandez) thought was a dirty play? Ronny was down for awhile. Maybe the incident is caught in his head. Oh well, probably best not to address it at all.

Thats a no-brainer...and if you have to throw in a couple of prospects, so be it. Unfortunately, the Yankees aren't morons and they know how good AROD is and how most of the criticism of him is as not "clutch" is moronic. I do disagree with your other point. Yankees fans are a lot more merciless then Cubs fans when players dog it. Most of the Cubs' fans around me at the game last night had no idea why I was yelling at Ramirez. Every Yankees fan I know has comments about AROD's fielding.

Mizzou...thats exactly what they're saying.

There's a difference between a "gaff" and not trying.

Last time Z pitched against the Mets was the Sunday night game he took himself out of in disgust at the...uhm, I mean was the game he left early with back spasms. Hopefully a better show tonight.

BAD idea for Aram. How do you think the fans in the Bronx would like Aram casually jogging the bases? How about the NY media? If he thinks he gets a lot of guff in Chicago for not hustling somebody should remind him it would be a thousand times worse in New York. Based on the way they have treated ARod and what they have reported, I think the New York media would be much more focused on ARam's 6 HR's and 8 RBI's over the last 5 games to care about his hustle. EDIT: I do see your point though. The media might give him a pass, but he would get boo'ed mercilessly if he had the exact same season he had this year with the Cubs wearing Yankees pinstripes.

I abhor players that don't hustle, and honestly, I wouldn't mind if ARAM was shipped out if there was quality in return. Someone mentioned the play where Floyd beat out a double play ball and the Metropolitan Baseball Team of New York got another run off the play...well, if he had ARAM'ed it, he wouldn't have. I guess some folks are ok with guys not doing their best to win the game. For me, I find it insulting that I pay money to see a guy who doesn't care enough to try his hardest. ARAM is an insult to the fans, no matter how many home runs he can hit when the team is dead and buried by July AFTER he helped throw the dirt on them in May and June.

I believe he is referring to Shawn Estes in that quote. Yep. And by Baseball Prospectus's VORP stat, Shawn Estes really was the worst pitcher in all of baseball in 2003, so Sheehan's statement isn't just hyperbole. Estes sucked, and Baker sent him to the mound time after time. The #7 worst pitcher in 2003 by VORP (out of 676 players who pitched that year): Glendon Rusch. It's good to see Hendry has improved the pitching staff during his tenure. :wink: If I remember correctly Estes threw a shotout that last week of the season on the same day Oswalt was pitching for the Astros and everyone was giving the day to them. For some reason the Stros lost and Cubs won. Not saying Shawn is a good pitcher, I just remember everyone partying when that matchup flipped.

I don't think Willis is going anywhere. The Mets were all hot and bothered for him a couple of weeks ago (and their fans still are) but were basically told "Willis ain't a goin' nowhere."

It's in the press, MLB. No more Ozzie being Ozzie crap. He hits a Texas batter, he needs a long suspension. His act is tired. He's said it this time, something needs to be done. I've read a lot this thread about CBB and what Rational thinks of him and a debate over style....but all of that being said...I agree with his main point. He's basically giving a "Bring It On" speech in the paper.

Obviously since this is a debate centered around a stupid MLB idea, there's going to be some problems with the concept, but I think this is pretty flawed. How do you compare Fergie Jenkins to Sammy Sosa to Ron Santo to Three Fingered Brown? Its nigh impossible. If I had to pick a list of the 5 all-time great Cubs it would be (in no particular order): Mordecai Brown Ernie Banks Sammy Sosa Ron Santo Cap Anson Why? Modecai, Banks and Sosa are baseball legends. 100 years from now people will remember them. Santo had a series of seasons in the 60's and early 70's that was as good as anyone that wore Cubbie Blue put together. And Cap? Well, I wouldn't have put him on the list until I read this thread. No idea how good a ball player he was.

"Hey Mark, if you're feeling a little sore, just smoke some of this...."

Neyer was very critical of Dusty throughout 03. Someone around here has a quote on their sig.file from him.

More later in the article: That's our big blunder. But getting back to the first question, you know, if Steve Bartman doesn't get in Moisés Alou's way or Alex Gonzalez doesn't make an error on that particular ball, Dusty Baker could bring the Cubs to the World Series, and then there's no way you can call hiring a guy a blunder if he brings you to the World Series for the first time in 58 years. I think that's true. That's absolutely true. There's no question that our perception of managers and teams do hinge upon luck all the time. I would say that Dusty Baker could have made better luck for himself in that game. In a different chapter in the book there's a sidebar about Dusty Baker in that game, the fact that he didn't have anybody warming up to replace Mark Prior. When Prior fell apart there was nobody ready to come in, and Baker should have at least had somebody ready, if not in the game at the exact moment. But no, you're absolutely right. There is an element of unfairness throughout the book because, in most cases, with a little bit of luck here and there, not just the Dusty Baker chapter, most of the chapters about managers in particular would not exist if the manager had just been 0.2 percent luckier than he was.

hiring Dusty. Here's an excert from his interview with Salon's King Kaufman: I want to start with one of your last chapters, "Cubs Hire Dusty Baker." I know everybody wants him fired now, but he took them to within five outs of the World Series in his first year, and he's had a record of success. How was that really a blunder? Well, I happen to think Dusty Baker is a good manager in some situations but isn't in others. He might have been perfect that first season, but he certainly hasn't had any luck keeping his young pitchers healthy. Now, do I blame him for that? Not necessarily. I think Mark Prior might well have gotten hurt regardless. And it is true that the pitcher he's worked the hardest, Carlos Zambrano, has been perfectly healthy. But really what it comes down to is that if you look at the Cubs, leave aside for a second Prior and [Kerry] Wood, their pitching, look at their hitting. They finish near the bottom of the league in on-base percentage every season, and in part that's because Dusty Baker, as you know, has this incredible affection for Neifi Perez and other players and has no patience for young players. But "Cubs hire [general manager] Jim Hendry" then. He keeps making the deals, or do you think he's just doing Dusty's bidding? Oh, I think Jim Hendry is more than a willing accomplice. No question. When you write about managers, it probably makes more sense to focus on the general managers, or even the owners. I mean, somebody hired Jim Hendry, right? If you're going to do a truly accurate book about great blunders and you want to talk about who really is responsible, you could just write about the owners. Write a whole book about stupid things the owners did, because the owners are ultimately the ones who are responsible for everything that happens. I just think it's a lot more fun to write about Dusty Baker than about the Tribune Company.

The Cubs would never do such a thing! Just ask Mark Grace.

Thanks for the reminder to start Oswalt tonight in my yahoo league.