Sammy Sofa

Maybe Santo isn't actually sick and he's suiting up to get out there and kick some ass and show these bums some class. Man, that would rule. Get better, Ron!

Squeezing Hancock.

How long had you been waiting to use that one? :) Sadly, I've already used variations of it at least six dozen times this year alone.

That strikeout was SO Taguchi.

Why is Eyre still pitching?

Why the funk is Jones out?

Aramis, stop sucking just enough so you can be packaged and traded for someone with a little value.

Where's Lee? Granted, his cast has only been off for a day or two, so he'll only have the strength of five men instead of fifty, but it'll have to do.

The ball landed in the glove and stayed there.

Oh, the delicious irony...

Eh?

Actually, Ronnie had a perfect bunt tonight.

Come on, Cedeno...top off that huge play with some more sweet hitting!

Brad Thompson looks like he eats souls.

"David Aardsma, YOU have just struck out Albert Pujols with the game tied in the bottom of the ninth!" http://mlb.mlb.com/images/players/mugshot/ph_430911.jpg

Aardsma's pic is very appropriate when you pitch to Pujols in a situation like this.

I meant outside of the Cubs' "world." Of course the fans and regional press are gonna talk. But to the rest of the sports world, they're pretty unimportant at this point. They're gonna get mentions here or there, but by and large it doesn't seem like most people care, good or bad. The Cubs have made themselves a non-issue.

I think Corey's "book" is a bit overrated at this point. I've going out of my way to try and see him play on EI this past month, and he's very noticeably not going after pitches that would would have had him down 1-2-3 in the past...namely the high fastballs. He's taking pitches and swinging much smarter, and hitting a lot of different pitches. I'll be surprised if he keeps up this pace or better for the whole year, but I highly doubt he gets anywhere near his lows with the Cubs.

Or maybe he just needed to be coached by people who know what the hell they're doing at least every once in a while. Corey himself said he thought he should be batting lower in the lineup, specifically as a #6 hitter. Well, the Orioles are doing just that, and letting him work there. And look at the results. Wow, what a radical approach...nobody could have EVER thought of that! Corey definitely had some ego "issues," but if what he's doing now with the O's continues, it should prove he was VERY far from being uncoachable, or terrible or a headcase, or whatever other excuses want to be made. His success should be one of the most scathing indictments of how bad the Cubs' management and coaching staffs are right now. corey had plenty of ab's in the 7/8 hole last year. sure some blame should be placed on the cubs coaching, but most the blame falls on corey. He was yanked around the lineup and expected to change his role on a near weekly basis. The Cubs' plans for him seemed to change with the winds. That kind of inconsistency and blatant misunderstanding of your own farm pick is murder on the game of a younger playing still trying to find his role and skills. It's obvious even the Cubs realized that. Look how much playing time Murton and Cedeno have gotten towards the bottom of the lineup. Most of their switches have been to the two spot. Consistency. Corey was seemingly expected to be everything except the three and four hitters. And I'm not saying he may have not been a difficult player to coach. But those players are going to come around enough that having coaches that can't deal with those situations are a real problem. Look at what it means we might miss out on.

All lefties, all the time. At least they could rest easy knowing they'd destroy the Cubs for eternity.

Me too. My beef is with the hitting coaches up on the MLB team. Clines, Sarge and Rothschild, with a heaping helping of Dusty to top it off.

Works for me. My medical knowledge is next to nil. I just want whatever needs to be done to be done to get him ship-shape for 2007.

Hill? Seriously? Really? Hill?

Talk about how more fun it is to beat the Astros with Roger Clemens back on the team?

Let's all grow handlebar moustaches!