Andy

It's sad to us because it's so ridiculous how this keeps happening. You can feel free to come up with counter-examples from our own team though. :wink: Matt Clement, Joe Borowski, Sammy Sosa, Jon Lieber, Mark Bellhorn, Ryan Dempster, Michael Barrett, and I'm sure many, many more. don't forget aramis ramirez And year one of the Glendon Rusch era. More than cancelled out by Years 2 and 3. (That's our own fault, by the way. Stupid Hendry.)

It's sad to us because it's so ridiculous how this keeps happening. You can feel free to come up with counter-examples from our own team though. :wink: Matt Clement, Joe Borowski, Sammy Sosa, Jon Lieber, Mark Bellhorn, Ryan Dempster, Michael Barrett, and I'm sure many, many more. Lieber - granted he had his best years with the Cubs, but it was in his prime years and he wasn't a whole lot worse with anybody else Dempster - Not much rebuttal here except that no one else ever tried him closing before, who's to know if he'd been good had they done that from the start. The rest I suppose there's really no answer for. It probably seems like you guys have had it better because your flukes have actually helped you win multiple division titles. But point taken.

8-team league, I had the 2nd pick. QB - Donovan McNabb (bench: Brady Quinn...yeah I had to) RB - Steven Jackson RB - Rudi Johnson (bench: Willie Parker, DeAngelo Williams) WR - Marques Colston WR - Reggie Brown WR - Chris Chambers (bench: Darrell Jackson) TE - Jason Witten (bench: L.J. Smith) K - Nate Kaeding (bench: Josh Brown) DEF - Baltimore

It's sad to us because it's so ridiculous how this keeps happening. You can feel free to come up with counter-examples from our own team though. :wink:

I actually feel pretty confident. Marquis's been giving up fly balls a lot, but SF is as good a place as any to pitch for that.

Welcome back, Henry. After the crapfest that was catcher for most of the season to this point, good Kendall plus Blanco will seem a godsend.

David Eckstein: Not to say he's been good in STL (except 2004), but his AVG and OBP are both up consistently from his days in Anaheim. Jason Isringhausen: Slightly unfair example because he was good in Oakland in 2001 and 2002, but since coming to STL has been absolutely lights-out five straight years (ERA+ of 124 or above each year, 146 or above four of them). Hector Luna: Passable in 2005 and the 1st half of 2006, declines as soon as he is traded to Cleveland (.752 to .700 OPS), has had 9 ABs in Toronto this year. Scott Spiezio: Highest OPS+ (121) of his career in 2006 at age 33 with STL. Has been average this year, but still better than 7 of the previous 9 years of his career pre-Cardinals. Preston Wilson: Sucks horribly for Houston in first half of 2006 after being average in 2005, STL gets him and he immediately is passable for the rest of the year (99 OPS+). Jeff Suppan: Three lowest ERAs in his career - 2004-06 in STL. Also lowered his HR giving up from his career up to that point. Sucks in Milwaukee this year. Josh Hancock (RIP): Bounces around major leagues for four years, STL in 2006, pitches 77 innings at a 108 ERA+. Was off to an even better start this year before his accident. Chris Duncan: Didn't play double-digit games in the big leagues until age 25 but has become a slugger since. Had more home runs last year and this year (in about a half-season's worth of AB's each) than anyone currently on the 2007 Cubs. Just in the last three years.

Cal Eldred: After being below average every year but 1 from 1997-2002, proceeds to put up 111, 111 and 195 (!) ERA+ with STL from 2003-05 (ages 35-37). No big league games played since leaving.

Al Reyes: Neifi slam notwithstanding, 2004 and 2005 - at age 33 and 34 - with STL were far and away better than any previous or succeeding years of his career.

Steve Kline: Has posted exactly one season outside STL better than the worst of his 4 in STL (1999 Montreal beats out 2003 STL).

Julian Tavarez: 2.38 and 3.43 in two STL seasons. 7 home runs given up in 130 combined innings those years. (He has given up at least 7 every other full season he has pitched save 2003, including a whopping 11 this year already in Boston.) 7 seasons in his career of an ERA above 4.00, all with other teams. Just for comparison's sake, Tavarez had a 4.52 ERA in 2001 with us, gave up 13 homers (career-high), 98 runs (2nd-highest), and walked 69 (2nd highest).

Matt Morris: With the exception of a 4.72 hiccup in 2004, Morris didn't post an ERA above 4.11 in an STL uniform. Struck out 117 or more every season in an STL uniform. Finished 3rd in 01 CY voting (22 wins, 3.16 ERA, 185 K; worth pointing out that he gave up more hits than innings pitched that year so he was clearly lucky). Since: 4.98 ERA in SF in 2006 (pitcher's park, no less), 117 K's (matching career low with STL), 63 BB's (one off the most he gave up in STL). This year he has a 4.68 ERA (6.87 in 3 starts since trade to Pittsburgh) and his K/9 has plummeted to the 4.5/5 range. He's only 33.

BTW, you can make an argument for Pujols. I mean, he was a 13th-round pick. Don't you think if he'd been even remotely this good wherever he was before that he'd have been picked higher? It's not like his game has any real weaknesses.

Edmonds came to St. Louis as his career was peaking. He hit sort of well in California, won a Gold Glove or two, then came to St. Louis and was protected with some big sluggers for his peak careers. Don't think he's the ideal example. Plus, he really sucks now. Eckstein and Kennedy won a WS as the DP tandem for Anaheim. I have a hard time thinking that they sucked, especially as what they're doing in St. Louis is pretty much what they've always done in their careers. No Kent Bottenfield? Isn't his "goodness" the one that started this whole mess of Cardnial pixie dust? Womack's what clinched it for me, especially since he had been pretty worthless with the Cubs the season before. His highest OPS+, his highest OPS, his highest SLG, his highest OBP, his highest average all came in 2004 with STL. At age 34. His 2003 OPS was .558. His 2005 OPS was .556. It gets more unbelievable every time I look at these stats.

Hopefully he tears his ACL or something. Too bad you guys don't play Ball State. We tried that two years ago and lost by 53. No thanks. Knipp's going to be a stud this year, though. All the Cardinals are. :koolaid:

How the hell are we in first?

Please get this game in. Lilly v. Pineiro is one pitching matchup I don't want to waste.

Oh well. Here's hoping The Riot has nailed down the #2 slot if nothing else.

How the hell are we in first?

In 2004, Hurricane Frances wiped out a 3-game set with Florida in late August, forcing us to play something like 24 games in 23 days to end the year. The Cubs go to hell the last week of the year. Who knows if the Cubs would have played better at the tail end of the year without all the extra work late. In 2007, a giant rainstorm possibly wipes out the last 2 of a 4-game set with St. Louis, forcing the Cubs to play something like 24 games in 23 days towards the end of the season... I really don't like where this is going.

Johnny English was brilliant cinema, I don't care what anyone says. It was reasonably funny.

I'm sure that an editing mistake is why they forgot to include "for" at the end of that sentence :D

Y'know, I'll take a wild stab that it could be Truffle. :D

Compared to Floyd he's freaking Ichiro out there.

Someone mentioned earlier this season that there's a provision in the CBA that there not be anything like a 24 in 23 stretch if it can be avoided. I'm sure MLB would put the game on 8/27 in that case.