Sammy Sofa

Sounds like he had a couple of hard hit shots that were unfortunately caught besides the homer. Is this the case?

Sure you can, it's not like if the one gets hurt you can't move the other there. You can, but it doesn't make sense. Why not? Soto's (hopefully) useful bat stays in the lineup, but he gets a break from having to pull catching duties for a few games. If something happens to Blanco, he just gears up and takes over.

This should be green.

I hear plenty of people on the radio going off on this tangent, and see people posting about it on messageboards and blogs, but is it really something "official" sports writers have gone off on? It's seemed more like a hysterical creation of the fans.

And Lou will say it is to save Sori's legs as not to hurt his fragile feelings. What fragile feelings? Oh, right. You completely made that up.

that snow ball has melted. It's funny to read, because I actually agree with some of the reasoning on that thread why DeRosa wasn't the best signing. He really bucked a lot of trends by being good for 2 years (assuming he continues this year) when it did sort of look like he had just had a career year. It's fun to be wrong when it means the Cubs are a better team for it. statistical analysis is great and IMO is more important than scouting, but derosa's success is a lesson to those who think they can sit and look at a player's baseball reference page or PECOTA projections and think they know what's going to happen. Looking at DeRosa's pre-2006 PECOTA projections was almost pointless, given that he'd probably had a 2006 that was at or above his 90th percentile expectation. Focusing on his lousy 2004 numbers was the wrong idea given his change in approach (toe tap at the plate). His EqA and OPS+ trends: 2005: .271, 97 2006: .280, 108 2007: .275, 102 So his performance in 2007 is basically right in line with what he did the previous two seasons. At some point, scouting needs to be part of the equation, and obviously the people doing the scouting for the Cubs saw that DeRosa's improvements at the plate were no fluke. his performance to this date isn't likely to continue (~.298 EqA, 126 OPS+), but he is hitting line drives at a solid rate and continues to add some extra-base power to the mix. The idea that $13M over 3 years was a gross overpayment for derosa was preposterous, and looks even more ridiculous now. looking at PECOTA's projection that derosa would be worth $6.9M this year, i'd have to guess that he was worth about $7.5-8M last year, so he's just about earned his $13M in half the length of the contract. in terms of value, the DeRosa signing has to be regarded as one of the bigger bargains of the 2006-07 offseason. So is it more or less of a sham than trying to predict the weather? HIIIIIIIIIIIIII-OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

So we're essentially screwed. I'm not suggesting that Marquis has pitched well, but I wouldn't categorize these as horrible blowups either........... Marquis IP H R ER BB K HR PC BB/9 K/9 HR/9 WHIP ERA 04/05 vs. Houst 5.3 8 5 4 1 2 1 81 1.69 3.38 1.69 1.69 6.75 04/13 vs. Phila 5.0 4 2 2 5 2 1 86 9.00 3.60 1.80 1.80 3.60 04/19 vs. Pitts 6.0 6 1 1 1 7 0 102 1.50 10.50 0.00 1.17 1.50 04/24 vs. Colo 7.0 8 2 2 2 4 1 98 2.57 5.14 1.29 1.43 2.57 04/29 vs. Milw 5.0 10 5 5 1 2 0 98 1.80 3.60 0.00 2.20 9.00 05/04 vs. St. L 5.3 7 5 5 5 4 0 89 8.44 6.75 0.00 2.25 8.44 05/13 vs. S.D. 5.7 9 4 4 1 3 1 77 1.59 4.76 1.59 1.76 6.35 05/18 vs. Pitts 6.0 4 3 2 1 3 1 94 1.50 4.50 1.50 0.83 3.00 05/24 vs. Pitts 5.3 7 3 3 3 2 1 85 5.06 3.38 1.69 1.88 5.06 05/29 vs. Colo 5.3 7 3 3 2 3 0 95 3.38 5.06 0.00 1.69 5.06 06/03 vs. S.D. 4.7 4 3 3 5 2 0 105 9.64 3.86 0.00 1.93 5.79 After all, we have won 6 out of Marquis' 11 starts. They've won in spite of Marquis. With the bats seemingly quieting down for now, he's likely to not have that cushion. It was a miracle he only gave up 3 runs last time with how many guys he walked ad how many times he was in hitter's counts.

Sooooooooooooooo...0-4 today with 2 k's and 1 GIDP?

Maybe just sit him the rest of the series so he has that plus the off day to make sure the finger is as close to 100% as possible.

Well, hopefully that explains why he's been SO bad over the last month, but he still needs to lay off low and outside pitches.

Oh well.

Just one of those games. It happens to everyone.

When was he good? That one inning last year when he bailed I believe it was Kerry Wood out of a bases loaded 0 out jam. Remember that one time Neifi hit a game winning grand slam in extras against the Cards? I do. Dustys kept his picture on his nightstand ever since. It was only like a dozen innings, but Hart pitched well last season. Yes, a stark contrast to what he's done this season in like 15 innings. Limited sample size, yeah, but the contrast is like Soto doing what he did in his limited sample size last season and then performing like he's doing now from the get-go.

When was he good? That one inning last year when he bailed I believe it was Kerry Wood out of a bases loaded 0 out jam. Remember that one time Neifi hit a game winning grand slam in extras against the Cards? I do. Dustys kept his picture on his nightstand ever since. It was only like a dozen innings, but Hart pitched very well last season.

I'd switch Sori and Fukudome, or bat Theriot-Fukudome-Soriano 1-2-3.

Not only is he not walking at his old pace, he's not walking at a league average pace. I hope it's just a slump, but there haven't been any signs of him popping out of it. He's not even making a lot of solid contact. That's what makes it seem worse than it is, he usually will try to drive the ball to right field. He hasn't even done that in the last three games. The problem now is, with Hoff and Ward not around, theres no logical way to rest him without adding an automatic out to the lineup with Cedeno or Fontenot. The 13 pitcher move has ended up completely fruitless. But it's pretty much necessary. Any of the starters not named Zambrano are lucky to get through 5 innings. The Cubs have a few big problems all coming to a head at the same time.

Eh, can't win 'em all. Just win the series. With the Brewers and Cards losing, this isn't the end of the world tonight. In the long run, the continued short starts and Lee and Soto mired in awfulness is going to seriously handcuff this team down the stretch.

I was also going nuts at Kerry trying to pitch around Pierre, but I was astounded that Pierre was able to hold off of the pitch he walked on.

Is one of his grounders going to take a freakish bounce off the pitcher's mound and end up over the wall for a GRD?

On the upisde, Cubs win. On the downside, Lee continues to look horrid, Soto has a weakness as glaring as Supermn and kryptnoite and yet aother Cubs starter can't stretch his start.

BALLS SO HUGE.

FINISH HIM.

I can't believe he didn't give Pierre somthing to hit. IT'S PIERRE.

Criz-ap.

Well, force out at 3rd now.