Sammy Sofa

BOSH. FLIMSHAW.

I'd plead innocent if I were him. I don't know. Maybe he's tweaking their approach or something and the result will be a better hitter in the long term (with the power back), but for whatever reason it's sapping power right now. Nothing scientific behind the idea, just a thought that seemed to make a little sense. I'm completely at a loss as to why the HR's are suddenly down so much. OK, Lee is coming off a wrist injury and Floyd's getting old and Soriano is streaky...but Jacque only has 2? Barrett was way off his mark when he was here, too. Coming into this year, HR's were the one aspect of hitting I wasn't worried about and now they worry me the most.

Scary for who?

actually, many of these guys would have to play DOWN to expectations, as they are playing above their heads right now. do not want Who exactly is playing above their head besides Fontenot? derosa lilly marquis howry marmol Or DeRosa is showing that last year wasn't a fluke. And maybe Lilly is just naturally adjusting to no longer playing in the offensively brutal AL East. Marquis I'll give you. How is Howry playing above his head? He's been a very good reliever for something like 4 years now. And Marmol is an unknown. What past is he playing against that indicates he's playing way above what he can "normally" do? How is Marquis performing above his head? The season is 4 months old. He was very good for 2 and very awful for two, and he's started out month 5 as very awful. I'd say he's performing right in line with expectations. If you take that one outing where his own error led to 4 "unearned runs" and count them as earned, he's got a 4.66 ERA, and a sub 100 ERA+. He's basically performing in line with career norms, off the pace of his best years but better than his worst. His season might end up worse than it is now, but I'd say the up and down inconsistently with some extreme variance (complete game shutout and multiple disaster starts) was probably what was expected in the first place. I didn't think Marquis was performing above his head now. I thought he was for the first two. Please don't assume that I'm trying to prop up a hump like Jason.

Unlike Miller, however, Wood managed to hit the heat.

By all account I've read (besides fans here), DeRosa is an above average defensive outfielder. he has seemed a little overwhelmed the last couple of games Based on what?

actually, many of these guys would have to play DOWN to expectations, as they are playing above their heads right now. do not want Who exactly is playing above their head besides Fontenot? derosa lilly marquis howry marmol Or DeRosa is showing that last year wasn't a fluke. And maybe Lilly is just naturally adjusting to no longer playing in the offensively brutal AL East. Marquis I'll give you. How is Howry playing above his head? He's been a very good reliever for something like 4 years now. And Marmol is an unknown. What past is he playing against that indicates he's playing way above what he can "normally" do?

Why? Because of a couple bad outings after they've been stretched out covering for most of starters not going more then 5 innings?

Lou bringing in Ohman when he did was beyond stupid. People can gripe and moan about how LOOGY's shouldn't exist, but bottom line, that's what Ohman is. Throw him up against a bunch of right-handed batters and you're going to pay, period. I have no idea why he didn't flip Wuertz and Ohman. And it's easy to crap on the bullpen when you ignore that our starting pitching is hauling their butts out of the game by the 6th at the very latest these days, and even that is pretty rare if the pitchers aren't named "Lilly" and "Zambrano." Like I said in another thread, the bullpen is gonna drop dead by the end of this week. Oh, and then Lou lets Jacque hit against a lefty with guys on base while Murton rides the pine. BRILLIANT.

I'm pissed that Lou waited this long so his return got oversahdowed by Glavine's night AND it wasn't broadcast on WGN or CSN.

Our bullpen is going to be dead by the end of the week.

Yeah.......I'm sure he'll get past Bowden and the Nationals. Uh no. A lot of people here seem to not fully underatand the waiver process.

Go Cubs. Was it really necessary for you to take a shot at Vance? Is it really necessary to so explicitly buck the rules of the site? I'm not trying to slam Vance...he's an awesome guy and brings a ton to this board, but it baffles me how he's able to get away with that.

Ouch! :!: Yeah, I think this is a disaster. I do. This lineup is so severely underpowered now. It's incredible. I think we'll start seeing the results in the W/L column at some point, sooner or later. And also, if they say Sori's out for a month, he'll probably barely make it back in for the end of September. That means he won't possibly be really ready for the playoffs if we did go. This is huge IMO. Is it? His hitting, especially for power, came in fits and spurts. This team, for better or for worse, has been mostly winning without a ton of home run power. I think the main key is still getting people on base out of the leadoff spot, and I don't think that's gonna be too difficult to beat THAT production from Soriano so long as they use Theriot and Murton or even Pie in the top 2 spots.

A very nice bright spot in an otherwise average to depressing homestand. Welcome back, Kerry!

I ONEDUH IF ALOOOO GOT TEH PEE ON TEH BALLZ!!!!!!!1!!

SRSLY? YA RLY

HAY GUYZ, DID U HEAR THAT MOSES ALOO PEES ON HIZ H@NDZ!??!!/1/11 LOLERRRRRRZZZZAZ@1!!1!11111!!!

Man, what do you know that we don't?

Maybe if he used a bat to hit the ball instead of throwing it we could get some guys stealing bases out.

Dear Lord, no.

Cubs are ripe to be swept this series. I hope I'm wrong.

I don't think it really matters who closes. But Marmol is the guy who's pitching the best, along with probably Howry. They should be facing the middle of the other team's order; let the other guys take on the 6-9 hitters when possible. If definitely matters who closes. A closer needs to be able to throw strikes (Marmol). Dempster walks a ton of guys and it just builds up the pressure. You should have your best relievers pitching in big situations, whether it be earlier in the game or later, rather than using them in the 9th inning with a lead. The closer label/position is the most overrated thing ever. I agree with this philosophy. Dempster might not be the answer for closer, but making Marmol close would be a poor move. Couldn't agree more. Making Marmol the closer no matter what is gonna be a waste of him unless it's a tight game. Dempster coming it with it being a tie game was a poor choice. I know people will disagree, but Wood should have come in when Howry did, and then Bob should have been used when Dempster was.

That '45 team was pretty craptacular, even making it to the WS. Definitely a product of the homefront environment.

OK, let's wrap this inning up, Marshall.