VanceJergins

He could have just held the mic out to the audience for the "root root" part.

Actually, it seems like they're both trying to give it to the Cardinals

Why? Even if it works, I'm complaining. Yeah right. Yeah so, I'm the first to call out decisions that are bad even if they work We hadn't scored since what? The 3rd inning? Sorry, but that was not a bad decision, it was bad execution. Kendall couldn't execute the bunt, and then he couldn't execute with the runners moving. It's that simple. Why would you send the tying run with 0 outs in the 9th when he's already in scoring position. It makes no sense. so you don't need a hit to tie it up? But I hated the call. Valverde is a strikeout pitcher. Fontenot isn't fast. Too much risk. Sucks it didn't work out. I don't see how anyone can defend that call. 0 outs, runner already in scoring position, top of the order coming up. I was fine with bunting, but why take that big of a risk?

awful awful awful decision

What's the point? for a joke? Ya know, "ha ha, he he".

Whenever someone mentions that they don't like the White Sox, why do 5 people have to let them know that they don't care about the White Sox? Just let them not like the White Sox, sheesh.

The sad thing is, if Jacque Jones hit 60 HRs and was given nightly curtain calls he would still never like the Cubs. For some reason, the Cubs fans just hated him like no other Cubs. Think about all of our bad FAs signings, none were ever hated as much as Jacque. The man hit a career high in HRs and was still hated by the Cubs. Not fair, and I feel really bad for the guy because you have to believe that he thinks racism is the reason. Todd Hundley. Put away the race card. He flipped off the fans. He brought that all on himself. Whatever the reason, Hundley was more hated than JJ. Think about the crap white guys who catch a pass though. Augie, Koyie Hill, Paul Baco. None of them caught what our black guys did. I think a lot of it has to do with expectations. Also, Jacque started out really bad with the cubs and then whined about the fans to the media. With Hawking, he was directly losing game after game.

someone should tell hill that ever AB doesn't have to go to a full count.

By talent, I was referring to their production, which I see now is confusing. But with the stats I posted, I just don't see how that wasn't a very well built team. Not the most patient team in the world, but they did have Walker, Lee, Alou, and Barrett who are all pretty patient. With that pitching, comparable to having Santana, Sabathia, and Zambrano, they should have been able to contend with a team full of neifi's. EDIT: I also won't argue with the manager over-working them. But I'm talking strickly about the players and their talent/production.

I'll deny it. It's not like that was a pre-ordained 100 game winner. It was highly flawed, as evidenced by the continually weak offense predicated on contact and the ignorance of the value of a walk. Amazing? Please. It was set up to be pretty good. Maybe not amazing just because that's such a strong word, but he did put together exactly what we always complain about him not doing. He put a team together that was a 95 win team on paper, and even if things go wrong, they should still win the wild card. That team was great. Obviously they were not great. The problem is the team looked great on paper because the first thing people saw on paper was the names. But we were still talking about a barely above average offense with a terrible tendency to not take walks and a pitching staff that was far too relient on very young pitchers being extremely good and carrying the team with a heavy workload. It didn't work out. If you look at the post above yours, you'll see that its not just the names that looked great. Even if you say Hendry got nipped by injury in '04, you still must concede that he hired Dusty, who is the biggest starting pitcher abuser in the game. I just don't see any way around it. GM's are tagged with the whole thing, it's hard to argue around lack of wins over the course of 4 seasons, especially when you look at other clubs and they're getting it done. I never said I think Hendry's done a good job overall. I'm just saying we had a crap-load of talent in 04.

I'll deny it. It's not like that was a pre-ordained 100 game winner. It was highly flawed, as evidenced by the continually weak offense predicated on contact and the ignorance of the value of a walk. Amazing? Please. It was set up to be pretty good. Maybe not amazing just because that's such a strong word, but he did put together exactly what we always complain about him not doing. He put a team together that was a 95 win team on paper, and even if things go wrong, they should still win the wild card. That team was great. Obviously they were not great. The problem is the team looked great on paper because the first thing people saw on paper was the names. But we were still talking about a barely above average offense with a terrible tendency to not take walks and a pitching staff that was far too relient on very young pitchers being extremely good and carrying the team with a heavy workload. It didn't work out. If you look at the post above yours, you'll see that its not just the names that looked great.

and my point was less about comparing them statistically and more about people clamoring over a guy who is maybe 5th or 6th best on his own team. latent racism? who knows, but there is no reason at all that Theriot should be selling jerseys at such a high rate when he really is just sort of okay. he doesn't even really have much personality Racism? Give me a break. Zambrano and Lee are the most popular players with Sosa and Banks being the most popular in team history. And the average fan likes hustle and things that are catchy, like Theriot's nickname and mustache. I'm sure once Pie starts producing a little bit more he'll be more popular.

I'll deny it. It's not like that was a pre-ordained 100 game winner. It was highly flawed, as evidenced by the continually weak offense predicated on contact and the ignorance of the value of a walk. Amazing? Please. It was set up to be pretty good. I think you're really underestimating that team. Look at the 03 stats: Prior: 2.43 ERA/ 175 ERA+, -young and should have still been improving Wood: 3.20/ 133, should have been in his prime Zambrano: 3.11/ 136, young and did improve Maddux: 3.96/ 105, getting older - maybe drop off a tad Clement: 4.11/ 103 That's like having Santana, Sabathia, and Zambrano this year. Patterson: 116 OPS+ Walker: 95 Sosa: 135 Alou: 113 Ramirez: 104 Lee: 135 Barrett: 63 Gonzales: 82 (if you want to give him credit for Nomar, 121) That seems like a team that could easily win 100 games. In my opinion that's one of the better teams in all of baseball this decade. I won't make excuses for Hendry, but I'll definitely give him credit for building a great team in 04.

In my mind, there's no doubt the streak is intact, but I can't come up with the clear explanation of "why" . . . It counts as an out for the batter, so I don't see any reason why it wouldn't count as an out for Jenks.

Is there a video of this missed bomb. Anyone? I feel like making myself cry.

I was at the game and rocketed out of my seat when Fontenot hit that and then just stood there for about 30 seconds trying to convince myself that it wasn't true. I seriously got weak-kneed and felt like I was going to puke....it was so close.

I'll be there. There will be isolated t-storms all day...hopefully they isolate themselves away from wrigley.

Dang it, gameday said out(s) recorded!

Is that solely based on the story about his Jewish ex-girlfriend, or is there more to it? There have been rumblings that he fought in the crusades. I think it was the children's crusade. No, I read that he was postheletizing in the clubhouse or something. I'll see if I can dig it up http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-11-06-faith-edit_x.htm Yeah, not wise. I would imagine if Church tried that in a locker room full of vets like Lee, Floyd, Soriano, and ARam.......he would find himself getting the verbal smackdown awfully quick. or a physical smackdown from a certain pitcher Is it just me or is there nothing in that article about Church proselytizing in the club house? It just makes a reference to the quote that is brought up every time Church's name is mentioned. It seems like the incident was clearly the chaplain's fault, people need to give it a rest already. Also, I think people need to make a distinction between talking about one's faith and proselytizing. Nobody has said this but it seems like some people think you shouldn't be allowed to talk about it, which is ridiculous.

Don't take me seriously, I'm just being a jackass

I think it says guys don't like playing behind Rich. He is slow, throws lots of pitches and really doesn't get the defense involved (Lots of K's and flyballs). Whoa whoa whoa I'm not saying anything like that, I'm just saying it might affect Rich a little pyschologically. He plays his heart out and the bats never seem to pay him any favors. I know what you're saying. And I'm saying that maybe if he pitched a little faster (lower pitch counts, quicker innings) that the bats might pick him up more often. I'm saying that's crazy talk. Oh really? Have you eve played baseball before? Go ask a fielder how much they hate playing behind a Steve Trachsel type, then get back to me. Here's the thing...if all we went by was personal experience we'd be confused about a lot of things. For example, it seems like everytime I'm frustrated with traffic, Nickleback starts playing on the radio to add to my frustration. If I just went with my personal experience, I would believe there was a connection between my frustration and Nickleback being played on the radio (for the record, I don't have any fancy XM stuff or do I have a cd player for my vehicle, so I'm stuck with FM radio). However, if I were to look at the broadcast schedule for the radio station, I would see the the playlist was planned ahead of time and they play Nickleback every 5 minutes, so I am bound to hear Nickleback at a frequent rate when I am frustrated. The times I hear Nickleback while already frustrated stick out in my mind due to the excessive levels of frustration they cause at that time. ...The moral of my story is this: You can't make arguments based only on personal experience.

No, he's right. I've seen Theriot steal bases too, and it seemed like it was really really hard.

because we have been playing .500 baseball with our current roster for the last 2 months? It was a hot streak. It got them back into contention, but to think they will sustain +.650 baseball the rest of the year is really pushing it. They havent even been over 8 games above .500 The team has to many weaknesses to sustain playing at that level for a 2-3 month timeframe. your right. team sucks. season over. good analyisis thanks for the input. I said nothing of the sort, but whatever, Im a Cubs fan and I expect failure from my team, as thats what they have done my entire life. Believe me I hope Im wrong, and IM man enough to admit it if Im wrong. We are all Cubs fans, but we all look at things differently, so why is my pessimism such a horrible thing? Its been 99 years and all 27 years of my life, and Ive never seen the Cubs in a World Series, so I think my pessimism is very warranted. Alright enough already! You're depressing... Ill post when I want to post but thanks How old are you? Im 27 what the hell is your point? He told me to stop posting, and he has no power on this board to tell me or anybody that. Hmm..I was expecting pre-teen or 90+. I think perhaps you should lighten up

because we have been playing .500 baseball with our current roster for the last 2 months? It was a hot streak. It got them back into contention, but to think they will sustain +.650 baseball the rest of the year is really pushing it. They havent even been over 8 games above .500 The team has to many weaknesses to sustain playing at that level for a 2-3 month timeframe. your right. team sucks. season over. good analyisis thanks for the input. I said nothing of the sort, but whatever, Im a Cubs fan and I expect failure from my team, as thats what they have done my entire life. Believe me I hope Im wrong, and IM man enough to admit it if Im wrong. We are all Cubs fans, but we all look at things differently, so why is my pessimism such a horrible thing? Its been 99 years and all 27 years of my life, and Ive never seen the Cubs in a World Series, so I think my pessimism is very warranted. Alright enough already! You're depressing... Ill post when I want to post but thanks How old are you?

I don't understand why everyone is so interested in a guy that's hitting .235...and based on the Red Sox offer, we probably have to give up way more than he's worth. Because he has more HR than anyone on our team and has been really hot since the all-star break.