Mike Aller

i would have flipped if he was made to bunt. like i did when Derosa bunted. or like i did last night when soto bunted. Really? And you people call yourselves NL Baseball fans.

I know Soriano is "OMG SO GOOD" but the other night (about a week ago?) in a Cubs' loss, when Soriano was up with guys on 1st and 2nd, no out, and he wasn't made bunt the runners over to second and third, I almost flipped. It was either the bottom of the 9th or the 10th or something.

I think you guys are being a little too harsh on OSU. I understand they looked bad last week, but I think they'll bounce back nicely. Beanie is fine, and the egg they laid against Ohio is just more motivation.

I have a bad feeling about my brownies. :(

I think they know that have just about zero chance of resigning Sabathia, unless he and Prince become good friends by going on a speed-eating competition tour this winter.

I can completely understand helping out a guy who is helping you out. And, despite thinking that it might not be smart come playoff time, I don't blame Ned Yost for it.

How could you not be confident with him, unless it is based on age and inexperience alone. He has pitched lights out with a sub 1 WHIP (before this game).

Gaudin warming up.

Blanco reaches on an infield single. 1st and 3rd, 1 out. Harden (pinch hitter) due up.

It's the 5th inning. It will be fine.

Eh, I disagree. With our injuries and under performing players, you can't exactly assume a 10-game winning streak in late-August. Besides, Sabathia is gone at the end of the year, and both Byrd and Blake were free agents. Despite possibly making us miss the playoffs this year, the "firesale" will work out in the end.

You've got to be kidding me. You honestly believe that a team 33 games above .500 gives up on games that they're clearly not out of? I can understand being frustrated by what you see, but heck, at least be realistic. Obviously it was hyperbole, but the 6-7 pitch inning in the 6th didn't look very inspired Cole Hamels is a very, very good pitcher.

The Phillies are giving up.

You've got to be kidding me. You honestly believe that a team 33 games above .500 gives up on games that they're clearly not out of? I can understand being frustrated by what you see, but heck, at least be realistic.

Not to be a homer (well, kind of) but the Indians sold out 455 straight games during the mid-late 90's/early 2000's. :)

Holy crap, that's awesome.

Yeah. The way people played at the beginning of the season was absolutely ridiculous. Sabathia was terrible for quite awhile, Betancourt was bad, and Perez followed suit. Not to mention that until about a month ago, we didn't have an outfielder not named Sizemore that knew how to play professional baseball.

It's pretty ridiculous to assume they have any chance. Although...they DO play Seattle next followed up by a 3 game set with the White Sox. If we can play Chicago on a 13 game winning streak, it might at least make ESPN make a statement of some sort towards the series.

Are playing fantastic baseball. 1 inning away from 10 wins in a row. I guess they should have traded away a top 5 pitcher, a solid positional player, and placed Hafner and Martinez on the DL at the beginning of the season? :-k Nah, they're just playing good baseball and some of their players are finally doing a little bit of what they should have done all year. Of course, it doesn't hurt when Cliff Lee is as close to an automatic win as there is in the league and Reyes looking like an absolute steal so far.

Why doesn't it embody the spirit of the Olympics? Is it because they are professionals and not amateurs? no, because there are clearly professionals in other sports. it's one of those hard to define things. let's put it this way: I enjoy the parts of the Olympics that involve people who have sacrificed a lot, defied the odds, etc., etc. to get to where they are. I enjoy seeing underdogs win. I enjoy the outpour of emotion from those who overcame the odds and won a medal when no one thought they could. If the U.S. wins the gold in Men's Basketball, that's fine, but it wouldn't fulfill anything I associate with the Olympics. Every single one of those players has their own story that got them to this point. Outside of China, where they groom their athletes just for that exact purpose, pretty much every athlete has some sort of amazing and inspirational story to be told.

International refs are absolutely terrible.

Jeff Samardjiza. There are plenty of people having surprising seasons, but who saw him coming in, contributing, and dominating everything he touched so far at any point in this year?

Not accurate on either count. For one, he's not an announcer, he's a color analyst. There's no question he'd be absolutely terrible as a play-by-play man, but as a color analyst, his analysis may be wonky but there's no doubt he brings color to the broadcast. He's the shouting fan inside the booth; he's the player who's seen this franchise do what they do for the better part of the last 50 years or so, and he brings every one of those memories with him to the microphone. You can hear the highlight I posted; the broadcasts simply aren't the same without him. I think that with any other PBP man but Pat, Ron simply wouldn't work, but by this point the two have worked together long enough that they play off of each other perfectly. For another thing, there are worse by far. Just look to the TV booth on the other side of town if you need an example. Listen to a Pirates TV broadcast, particularly against the Cubs. ("If Sean Burnett can shut 'em down right here, the offense can get him his first win since 2004. And the 0-2 to Johnson... oh no... no, no, NO!") As insane as he is, Ron isn't afraid to call out Cubs players when they screw up blatantly. He's not the worst broadcaster among the 30 MLB teams at all. For one more thing, he's resting all this road trip anyway, so we won't hear him again until Tuesday. I guess for long term cubs fans, nostalgia plays a significant role in liking Ron Santo, but seriously. Yeah, he gets excited when good stuff happens. That's really the only thing positive that I can think of, though. Any commentary he does is usually terrible and he fumbles over his own words. Also, please God count the number of times he says "YAH!" in one broadcast. It's annoying.

yeah i don't think i've seen anyone make the 100 look so effortless. maybe it's just because he's tall and has a huge stride, but he doesn't look like he's trying and he is only 0.2 off the world record! plus, you aren't supposed to beat people that soundly in a 10 second race. Unrelated, but:http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b47/alexstravier/1218735018272.gif

Ron Santo is the worst announcer in the Major Leagues.