Sammy Sofa

Indeed. Absolutely. How is that different than saying his April/May numbers are better than his June to Oct numbers?? Because that's not the only way his season can be broken down and it's far too broad a generalization. You keep tossing this out there like we have to look at his season this way. Why do the first two good months count together, but the later two good months have to be lumped in with the bad months? Why not compared the first 3 months vs. the last 3 months? Why not compare the 4 good months vs. the 2 bad months? Why is May a "better" month than July and August?

So you're completely unaware of how many times the "summer swoon" myth has been debunked? Yes, I can see why they hate him, because he has a low batting average (the most cited stat when talking about what a disappointment he is) and he spins when he strikes out (the thing most often referenced when mocking him). Legitimate Question: How has it been debunked? His stats last 2 years at the end of May: 2008 .310/.412/.854 2009 .309/.439/.946 Totals by seasons end 2008 .257/.359/.738 2009 .259/.379/.796 How is that not a swoon? I've seen the argument where there are "summer" months that he has hit well - but I could care less if he hits .650 one month if he's going to hit .015 the other months. He certainly has value but I don't see how you can say over his 2 year history that his offense isn't significantly worse after May. I absolutely hope that changes this year but that's not going to change the past. Well, you're wrong. Here's Fukudome's May last year: .277 .415 .415 .830 Here's July: .307 .392 .534 .926 Here's August: .287 .398 .506 .904 His total numbers were dragged down by his horrible June (.169 .266 .241 .507) and September (.200 .338 .286 .624). So your general assertion that he hits worse after May doesn't work since he had two months after May where he produced BETTER than he did after May. His good months post-May covered 52 games. His bad months covered 52 games. His good first two months covered 42 games. Why do the bad months outweigh the good ones when clearly he was producing for a significantly larger portion of the season? Which of my numbers is wrong? I gave his numbers at the end of May and again at the end of the season. You gave his numbers for the month of May. That's not the same thing. So you are right an apple isn't an orange but that has nothing to do with anything. My "general assertion" does work. Again I don't care if there are specific months where he has hit well - his overall numbers after May are worse than they are for April and May. The bad months outweigh the good because his bad months are "worse" than his good months are "better". That's why his line ends up where it has the last two years. If he was 'clearly he was producing for a significantly larger portion of the season" his numbers would better - They are not. I even said in my original post but I'll say it again - I could care less if he hits .650 in one month if he is going to .015 in the others. His combine slash stats for April & May > combined slash stats for June, July August September October. By a pretty wide margin. Wait, why are the only things that can be compared are April & May vs. the rest of the year? That's completely arbitrary. Why not compare his April and May of last year to his July and August? Ah, right, because that wouldn't allow you to dismiss the rest of his season after May, nevermind he has two months where he actually outperformed what he did in May, which makes framing his season as if he dropped off after a month of world beating never to recover even more ridiculous.

And don't you forget it.

Indeed.

YOU KNOW, PEOPLE, SOMEWHERE....OUT THERE.

So you're completely unaware of how many times the "summer swoon" myth has been debunked? Yes, I can see why they hate him, because he has a low batting average (the most cited stat when talking about what a disappointment he is) and he spins when he strikes out (the thing most often referenced when mocking him). Legitimate Question: How has it been debunked? His stats last 2 years at the end of May: 2008 .310/.412/.854 2009 .309/.439/.946 Totals by seasons end 2008 .257/.359/.738 2009 .259/.379/.796 How is that not a swoon? I've seen the argument where there are "summer" months that he has hit well - but I could care less if he hits .650 one month if he's going to hit .015 the other months. He certainly has value but I don't see how you can say over his 2 year history that his offense isn't significantly worse after May. I absolutely hope that changes this year but that's not going to change the past. Well, you're wrong. Here's Fukudome's May last year: .277 .415 .415 .830 Here's July: .307 .392 .534 .926 Here's August: .287 .398 .506 .904 His total numbers were dragged down by his horrible June (.169 .266 .241 .507) and September (.200 .338 .286 .624). So your general assertion that he hits worse after May doesn't work since he had two months after May where he produced BETTER than he did after May. His good months post-May covered 52 games. His bad months covered 52 games. His good first two months covered 42 games. Why do the bad months outweigh the good ones when clearly he was producing for a significantly larger portion of the season?

I know man, and then we face this pitcher with an arm, and he may shut us down, or he may not. Then, believe it or not we face another pitcher with an arm, and he may or may not shut us down. I mean [expletive], why are we facing all these pitchers? [expletive] Hey, you were the one who made the comment about being shut out after scoring 12 runs as if its some kind of mind blowing oddity. No, he didn't.

What does Dempster's contract look like? He's got 2 years left after this season, right? Something like $12 million a year? This is his 3rd season straight where he's looked very impressive as a starter. I'd have to think he'd be appealing to contending teams in a trade even with 2 years left on his deal. Demp as a starter from 2008 on: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dempsry01.shtml#2008-2010-sum:pitching_simple

OK, you've got to slow down. This is just too complicated and revolutionary. You dont have to be sarcastic about it. Oh wait you do, but it gets me when people are surprised when the same team who scores 10+ runs 1 game can ge shut out or only score 1 or 2 the next. Its baseball. Happens all the time. Cubs were able to beat up on a struggling Joe Saunders, but then they face Jason Vargas, whose been great all season and get shut down. Sometimes bad hitting will beat bad pitching, but more often than not, good pitching will embarass bad hitting. Who was surprised? You're just stating the painfully obvious.

Actually, hoping they fall out of it so they don't become buyers would seemingly indicate a change DOESN'T need to be made right now, right? I'm with you on the latter part, but God forbid something like Lou quitting/getting fired is followed by them going on something like a 12-15 streak.

Of course not. They've shown almost no consistency this year when it comes to scoring enough runs to win a game. Its called being a bad team. every team is going to have the occasional offensive explosion here and there, but in between, the good teams find ways to win more games than not, the bad teams dont. Whoa, run that mind blowing concept past me one more time. Its true. You cant be surprised when the Cubs suck most of the time, but have a big offensive game once in a while. Even the Royals can put up double digits here and there, but that doesnt make them a good team, and its not at all surprising when they get shut down the next game. Same goes for the Cubs. You cant expect them to get shut down every single game. Just most. OK, you've got to slow down. This is just too complicated and revolutionary.

I'll buy Fukudome hitting for Nady, but no way do you pinch hit him for Colvin when you need an extra-base hit. Then again, why do I care and what does it really matter? [expletive] Colvin. He was going to be, of course, swinging for the fences and nothing else and I'd rather have Fukudome up there when Aardsma is giving up hits to lefties like he wants to.

Shoulda hit Fukudome for Nady or Colvin.

Mmmmmm, hacktastic.

Fugazi rally? Come on, you goofy bastard.

Of course not. They've shown almost no consistency this year when it comes to scoring enough runs to win a game. Its called being a bad team. every team is going to have the occasional offensive explosion here and there, but in between, the good teams find ways to win more games than not, the bad teams dont. Whoa, run that mind blowing concept past me one more time.

Hey, lefties are hitting .314 against Aardsma. Guess Lou has a good reason for not having Fukudome hit for Nady, right?

Of course not. They've shown almost no consistency this year when it comes to scoring enough runs to win a game.

Fantastic outing by Dempster. Too bad it's wasted on the Cubs' offense.

Not much worth talking about.

I really hate that I'm not optimistic about his return at all.

Yeah, but he was watching the ball and it should have been obvious that was going to be caught well before he turned away. Bizarre.

ONLY THE CUBS. I MEAN BEARS.

Uh, what the hell just happened? Soriano was watching that and he still ran? Maybe he's trying to give David Kaplan a heart attack.

He also supposedly tried to turn the clubhouse against Ichiro when Ichiro was supposedly refusing to listen to suggestions to move him elsewhere in the lineup. Supposedly.