apete6

Thank God, McGowan is probably my least favorite Bear. He has been garbage since he has gotten here. Remember that Steve Smith playoff game? Well, that was Brandon McGowan chasing him around on a few of those long plays. That was his rookie season and he's sucked since. Makes a ton of penalties on special teams and generally sucks as a DB. To think they traded Chris Harris because they were confident in Adam Archuleta and Brandon McGowan is ridiculous. Terrible decisions by Lovie and Jerry.

They didnt have it last year, but if they wanted to do that they could make a 1 game series like they did this year with Washington/Atlanta Ya, I think the only reason they didn't do it was because the Red Sox were already contractually obligated to open the season in Japan with the A's. Hopefully they take a game vs. St. Louis or Milwaukee and move it to that Sunday so the Cubs can raise the banner in front of their rivals. God, that would be great.

If the Cubs open in Houston, how are they going to have the requisite Sunday night home game to hand out the championship rings?

Really? If you take him off, that's only 13 position players. In a 5 game series, if you need 11 pitchers, you're probably already effed. Pie's value as a PH and defensive replacement>>>>>having Howry and/or Marquis there for mop up duty. During the regular season, Pie wasn't very valuable, but in a short series, I can't imagine them not bringing him. Using Jason Marquis as a pinch runner is OK in the middle of June against the Reds, but I'd rather have Pie come in after Ward hits a single or something.

Locks: Pitchers (9): Zambrano, Harden, Dempster, Lilly, Wood, Marmol, Samardzija, Marshall, Cotts, Position Players (14): OF (6): Soriano, Johnson, Edmonds, DeRosa, Fukudome, Pie IF (6): Ramirez, Theriot, Fontenot, Cedeno, Lee, Ward C (2): Soto, Blanco Who will get the last 2 spots? Marquis, Gaudin, Howry, Hoffpauir, Wuertz, Guzman, Hart?

Renovated Wrigley (leave the bleachers, scoreboard, marquee, light stantions, and newly redone playing surface), 26 years old. I think they should just tear down the entire grandstand (everything except the Bleachers), rebuild the stadium pretty much exactly the same without the stupid poles in everyones way and just add luxury boxes and make the upper deck a bit higher with a few extra rows to compensate for the crappy terrace reserved seats that you will lose with the addition/expansion of the luxury boxes. I'm not an architect, but if they could create an open concourse that you can see the field from (ala the newer stadiums), I'm all for it. They could then redo the outside of the stadium in the same style of brick & green fencing that they used in the bleacher expansion. Then put the same marquee back where it is now. Build some state of the art underground clubhouses/batting cages/weight rooms under where the players currently park. The visitors may have a longer walk to their clubhouse, but that's still better than that POS they have now. On top of that, go ahead with the proposed "triangle" building with an official Cubs gift shop, hall of fame/museum (where the 2008 WS Championship trophy will go), and a few levels of premium parking above. Make this building look exactly like the stadium with the brick/green fencing look. Add the proposed walkway from the premium parking to inside the stadium so all of the season ticket holders/luxury box people can just walk from their cars to their seats (because, lets be honest, most of them aren't going to Murphy's for an Old Style anyways).

Anyone else feeling the "Schumaker, Izturis, Lopez all bunt single followed by Pujols grand slam off Kerry Wood" loss coming? Me too. I hope Ted Lilly sacrifices Ronny Cedeno in the dugout to get his point across and the Cubs score 17 runs next inning

His ERA is now lower than Ted Lilly's and it would be lower than Sean Marshall's if Marshall pitched the whole season. Congratulations JM. Thanks for working hard Jason.

It's about that time again. When will these losers lose first place?

Anyone who has ever given the Cubs their email address is going to get this email. There are going to be a TON of people who couldn't name three Cubs starting pitchers that will register for this chance to buy playoff tickets. It's going to be very difficult to get tickets this year. Yup, the Trixies and Chads that populate Wrigley during the summer months will be in full force in October. You'll hear things like "Hey wait, that guy has the same name as that ND football guy, remember him?", "Derrek Lee is going to go yard here, I feel it. He's a stud", "HEY ARAMIS HUSTLE ITS THE PLAYOFFS", "(on cell phone) Hey bro, can you see me on TV?" and finally "Hey, its too cold out here, let's skip out in the 7th and head to the Cubbie Bear" Yeah thos people definitely weren't out there last year. Exactly. It's not like all of the people who had 1000000 windows open in the VWR were real fans. They were people who were trying to get tickets in order to scalp them. Any time a big game or playoffs roll around, money talks. The only "true" fans at playoff games are the season tickets holders who don't sell their tickets, the few people who get lucky through the VWR/Lottery/Wristband Thing and keep their tickets, and the people with a lot of money that just happen to be true fans. The rest of the people there just have a buttload of money and are just there to be part of something cool. It's pretty much the same in every major sport. The Bulls of the late 90s were the same way, as are almost all NFL playoff games, and every major "neutral" site sporting event such as the Super Bowl, Final 4, etc... Quit whining and try to win the lottery. That or pay up.

In 2005, the White Sox had a record of 87-51 (36 games over .500) before losing 6 out of 7 and starting a run of 7-12 combined with the rise of the Indians. Their lead got down to 2 games with 5 to go...and then they won their last 5 games, including the last 3 IN Cleveland to finish at 99-63 (36 games over .500) and then went on to go 11-1 in the postseason, culminating in a World Championship. In 2008, the Chicago Cubs had a record of 85-50 before losing at least 4 in a row. I guess we'll just have to see how the rest works out. Well, our last 3 games are IN Milwaukee. Go Cubs and figure this thing out.

It's because of that stuff you posted. Plus, the bad seats at Wrigley are really bad. Standing room only as well. They are only sold day of game and night games and weekday afternoon games not in the summer are usually not sold out. By the way, does all of MLB still go by tickets sold? I remember at one point, they actually did turnstile attendance. How do they do it now?

This one is actually probably the best view in right center. Good food, good bartender service. Should be a fantastic time.

Might be a good idea to just let Philly win tomorrow so that Brett Myers's wife can sleep soundly at night. ...just wanted to give a good lead in to tomorrow's game thread. What is Myers's wife doing tonight? The dishes if she knows whats good for her.

Brandon McGowan is garbage. Go back to his rookie year when they put him in in the playoffs and Steve Smith made him his beeyotch. That guy has sucked all along and to think they traded Chris Harris because McGowan was better. What a joke. This franchise really effed itself after that Super Bowl run and hopefully Angelo takes his arrogancy to the XFL or something.

lol.. neither did i.. I think it's supposed to be Aramis-slam morphed together, but I could be wrong. Yes, that is it.

:hello: http://home.comcast.net/~bcvm22/cubs/8282008.mp3 you always know what it's going to be, but it just never gets old Agreed. Fantastic all around. Pat Hughes might be the best baseball announcer on earth. My 2nd favorite part was when Howard is coming up, Ron goes "This is not fun." Hilarious. I heart Pat and Ron.

it was posted in the game thread Thanks.

Please post it if you have it. Thanks.

Lou wouldn't use Eyre. Lou isn't always right. And I'd rather have him taking up a large chunk of space on our bullpen bench than have him on the Phillies.

Who's a big market columnist that doesn't suck? I like Peter Gammons. 4 or 5 years ago that would've been akin to saying "I like Joe Morgan." The mass Peter Gammons hate has really died down in general over the past few years. Is it because he had a stroke or something? Nancies I think its because unlike most baseball writers, Gammons has started to use stats such as OPS and ERA+ frequently. He still uses a lot of words like "gamer" and uses HRs and RBI, but at least he has shown a willingness to change. Also, he has no problem telling it the way he is. He's ripped A-Rod, Manny, Schilling, etc. I mean, he's still an ESPN talking head, but he's gotten a lot better.

The whole getting rid of Eyre thing was dumb. They could have sent Cotts down to the minors for 3 weeks and then recalled him Sept. 1 with the rest of the guys. Instead, they let a guy go who had some value (real or perceived) and he signed with a team that is likely going to stand directly in our way to going to the World Series. Let's hope it doesn't come down to Eyre getting a hold or garbage extra inning win in Game 7 of the NLCS. It's like Lenny Harris going to the Marlins, only about 500 times worse and 3 months later in the season...and Eyre is actually OK. Bad.

Haugh's been saying this pretty consistently on Tribune Live on CSN too. 6 RB, 2 QB. And it seems like David is right an awful lot. I with you though...keep Hanie, ditch Wolfe. Wolfe isn't ever going to be more than is right now, IMO. Hanie doesn't count toward the 53 man roster because the 3rd QB is "inactive" for the games and can't play unless the first 2 guys get hurt and once they play in a game, the other guys can't come back in. Not true, he would count toward the 53. He just wouldn't count on the gameday or active roster which is at 45. Hmm, so they're only going with 2 QBs, both of whom are bad, behind a line that might as well dress as ushers or turnstiles? Better get Jeff George on speed dial because both Orton and Rex will get knocked out of a game at some point this season.

Haugh's been saying this pretty consistently on Tribune Live on CSN too. 6 RB, 2 QB. And it seems like David is right an awful lot. I with you though...keep Hanie, ditch Wolfe. Wolfe isn't ever going to be more than is right now, IMO. Hanie doesn't count toward the 53 man roster because the 3rd QB is "inactive" for the games and can't play unless the first 2 guys get hurt and once they play in a game, the other guys can't come back in.

That was the worst article I've ever seen. How about some stats or some quotes or anything? What a hack. It's absolutely inconceivable that Rozner is the main guy for even the 3rd newspaper in town. He should be toiling away in a town the size of Peoria, at best.