Andy

Ball State downed Anderson 75-47 to go to 4-2. Next is a tough road test against Drexel, though.

Offense is good too. And we don't have near enough of it at present.

Texas gets beaten at home by Tennessee and UK beats Louisville. Upset Saturday indeed. Ball State is up 12 over Anderson IN at the half.

I'll take the 2005 Millwood in the Cubs rotation. The only thing is, can we expect that?

Not to take anything away from the Cardinals, but they have been one of the luckiest (although much has been created out of Jocketty's intelligence) teams in all of baseball. Aside from the Rolen injury, what hasn't gone their way? Sanders stayed healthy and produced at an old age. Carpenter became a stud. Marquis has been tremendous. Edmonds has remained productive. Their pithing has stayed healthy. Tavares has been solid out of the pen. Womack had one of the flukiest seasons in MLB history. Eckstein recovered nicely. What I'm trying to say is (without a constant infusion of farm talent like the Braves) this team is bound to abide from the law of averages. They're due for more injuries. Some players are bound to decline. Others are bound to have off years. This luck simply can't conitune. At least I hope and don't think so. The exact opposite of which can be said about the Cubs. Aside from Derek Lee, virtually everything that could have gone wrong has. Every bullpen acquisition has been a complete disaster (even the ones that were, at the time, good sigining - LT). Prior and Wood have been slowed by injuries. Rookies haven't produced. Corey's regression was stunning even to this lifelong detractor. Our closers have been injured and inconsistent. Although some of this can be chalked up to shoddy coaching, and/or shoddy talent evaluation by our GM, a lot of it was simply bad luck. Could this bad luck continue on into next year? Sure it could. But based on the amount of misfortune the Cubs had last year I'd expect '06 to bring significantly less. In saying this I am by no means trying to diminish what the Cardinals have done, or excuse the self created poor play the Cubs have perpetrated. What I am saying, though is that the gap between the Cardinals and the Cubs isn't as wide as people think it is. Just think what would happen if both teams fortunes reversed themselves next year. Carpenter goes down. Mulder misses significant time. The Cards bullpen (which may be the BIGGEST reason for their succes the last few years) goes up in flames. Molina regresses. Edmonds (in Madduxesque fashion) declines. The second base option is a disaster. Reyes torches his shoulder (in Guzman fashion. Definately a lot of ifs, but it COULD happen (as it did to us). You can't tell me a team with this amount of attrition would finish with anything more than 84-85 wins (which would be EXTREMELY lucky). On the flip side look at what our team would have. Wood and Prior healthy. One of our rookies blossoms while the other is serviceable. At least one of our ? (RF and 2B) are solid. Our bullpen, for the first time since 01 (and the single BIGGEST reason for this teams failure) isn't a complete disaster. Corey (if still here) plays to even half his potential. Again a lot of ifs, but you couldn't tell me this team (under this scenario) wouldn't easily attain 92+ wins. With the improved pen we'd have at LEAST 3 15 game winners. Our 1 + 2 hitters would score a lot of runs. Lee's production numbers (RBI and runs) would surge because of it. This would be a very good baseball team. Now I definately wouldn't bank on this to happen (whit this team I don't count on anything), but I wouldn't be shocked (or even surprised) if it did. Great post. And surprisingly un-bitter sounding. I agree completely.

I'm liking the way Jocketty is thinking lately. :twisted: Anyone else think Walt is purposely signing the crappiest free agents he can find in order to prove once and for all that wearing a Cardinal uniform makes you a better ballplayer? I'm really trying to find a rational explanation for all these bad moves he seems to be pursuing.

Geez. Hill's a decent pitcher, but somehow I think if he threw with his other hand he wouldn't be getting half the hubbub he's been getting. If Hendry can get a good RF with a package including Hill, CPatt, and prospects then do it.

He's more prone to being hurt by line drives heading right at him at high speed than anyone I've ever seen. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but from my 2005 calculations: Cub pitchers who missed time due to taking line drives off the hand/arm: 3 (Prior, Borowski, Fox) Pitchers from the other 29 teams who missed time due to taking line drives anywhere: 1 (Halladay TOR) I don't recall Borowski or Fox getting hit by a batted ball. Fox blew out his arm throwing a pitch. Borowski got hit with a ball in spring training, but I confess myself incorrect about Fox. Two for the Cubs and one for the other 29.

Seven .300 hitters...hmmm...

He's more prone to being hurt by line drives heading right at him at high speed than anyone I've ever seen. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but from my 2005 calculations: Cub pitchers who missed time due to taking line drives off the hand/arm: 3 (Prior, Borowski, Fox) Pitchers from the other 29 teams who missed time due to taking line drives anywhere: 1 (Halladay TOR)

Remove the word "again" and it becomes the same for me.

Kotsay has an extension so he's not going anywhere, but Zito is due a big payday after next season and Oakland still doesn't have a big enough payroll to handle that.

I think it has to be bigger because we've waited longer. On another note, is it just my Cubs bias or am I right when I think that the Red Sox winning the Series wasn't nearly as big of a deal as I assume the Cubs winning will be? I realize that it may sound like I'm contradicting my earlier statements, about the magnitude of a Cubs win, but right now I'm focusing on National/International coverage (instead of local reaction). I think the Cubs are more widely known and loved while the Red Sox are a team that ESPN, and other networks, like to force feed the public. Has NESN provided the Red Sox with the same kind of following that WGN has provided for the Cubs? The answer is yes, the Cubs are more loved, and no, NESN is not even close to WGN in terms of how much they've helped their teams.

I officially give up on 06 if this happens unless we get Tejada.

If all the Bulls' WGN games were on the Superstation like the Cubs' are, I might get more worked up over the Bulls. But something about having to follow all the games on CBS Sportsline annoys me and turns me off a little bit to that.

We can only hope. If the Jacque Jones rumors are true, the Cubs will have improved this off-season just by the Cards' taking steps backward.

I'd be willing to go so far as to say that the Cubs winning it all would eclipse the Red Sox's win in 2004 and it would be the biggest American sports story since the Miracle On Ice. Just to note, my best friend's grandfather died a few years ago at the age of 92. A life-long Cub fan, he never got to see a championship from the Cubs.

Scott Gregor (Bruce's counterpart for the Sox) said they need to trade Garland (to get down from $95 to $90 million) for prospects with minimal contracts. OK here's what the Cubs do. Keep in mind the Orioles want an established pitcher(s) and not prospects. Trade prospects to the Sox for Garland and then package Garland with Williams and Cedeno for Tejada. The Sox unload Garland, Orioles unload Tejada and get some established pitchers, the Cubs get Tejada. Everbody's happy. Sure it probably won't happen but it does make sense. You know, that sounds like a great deal for all teams involved considering their goals. However, I could see the Sox refusing to give us Garland specifically because they know we'd probably flip him for Tejada. They can get just as good prospects from another team without helping their in-city rivals in getting another big star. Plus, our getting Tejada would steal their offseason thunder.

Nomar could have played second for us with Cedeno at short assuming we traded Walker. He could have played RF. He could have played SS. He would have done it at a discount to stay in Chicago. I'll feel free to take it back if he gets injured or struggles, but I'm more than a little pissed at Hendry for basically telling Nomar to jump in Lake Michigan.

He looked a little like Bernie from "Weekend at Bernie's" introducing Pierre. Perhaps they've transformed him into a robot and are in double-secret negotiations to make Theo Epstein the real GM...

Grudzielanek-Mientkewicz would be pretty damn hard to beat.

Luis Vizcaino? :twisted: He's not on the White Sox anymore. They dumped his useless rear end and got Vazquez as their number five starter. :x Well, considering he's already thrown money at two other set-up men, then yeah, he would have been hung.

As Tony Reali on Around the Horn would say, listen to the lady. She has class and grace. And it's pop damn it! :P

Very good news. I'm glad that he's been practicing this whole time. We (UK, but I'll be a student there next fall, so :P) desparately needs someone who can at least defend inside and catch the ball. Just make sure he doesn't catch the ball too well or Hendry will sign him to play RF.

Looper will either be hurt too often to hurt the Cardinals or, much more likely, fill that set-up man slot ridiculously well and have a (name any White Sox reliever)-esque year.