Banedon

That looks horrible on Gameday.

Gameday has that looking like a pretty iffy 3rd strike.

Or even if he doesn't get on probably.

Well now you're just TRYING.

I sure as hell hope this wakes them up. I certainly hope they wake up from this awful funk they've been in this month. You know, you can call me out on the Chicken Little stuff, but are you honestly going to try to make the leap that from that post I meant the Cubs have been bad all month. Seriously. Then what do they need to wake up from? Did you think we were going to score 8 runs a game the rest of the year? Offenses go cold from time to time and there's not always great reasons for them. They look complacent and impatient at the plate. I am by far not the only person to make this point. But yet I'm the bad guy. But I digress...... Nah...all the chicken littles are bad guys...you're not alone. :)

Willis up around 100 pitches now.

This game is Rex Grossman's fault.

Um...you realize that if the Cubs win 3 of the last 5, then the Brewers can at best tie by going PERFECT through the end of the season?

Glad someone can still smile and make fun of others, with only having a 2 game lead with 5 still left to play. When Brewers have another easy W left with the Cards tomorrow. The Brewers have had a lot of "easy W's" turn into losses. And there's a long way to go in this game.

I keep seeing all the doom and gloom, and I keep looking to see if the Marlins have scored more runs or something...but nope.

The Score said earlier that Trachsel probably would NOT pitch on Thursday, but I only caught part of the report so I don't know what the story is there.

They won in the first inning? Amazing. I'm sure that lights out bullpen of the Brewers will shut them down too. Cuz they haven't blown a game all year.

Ok wow...that was incredibly fast.

Nice start Matty.

Well I just got here...and I see the Cubs are down 4-0. Of course, reading this thread you'd think they were down 10-0.

I hate WCIU. It needs to die.

I have no problem with most of this, but to say that Theriot or Fontenot weren't major contributions, no matter how much they've cooled off, I think is wrong. They both had some hot streaks that helped keep the Cubs afloat and get back into this race during the middle summer months. They've come back down to earth, and fortunately it's been when the big boppers finally started coming around. Now that said, I don't think BA underranked these guys...they just had some conveniently timed hot streaks.

Not to derail this thread...but frankly I put less and less stock in what Steve Stone says these days anyway. I still think there's a lot of bitterness there toward the Cubs. I think he's burned a lot of bridges and looks for ways to criticize them. That said, I don't think anyone was saying (seriously) that Ankiel was on any performance enhancers until there was at least some kind of actual proof. Even Cubs fans. There may have been some snide, troll-like remarks in jest...but I don't think it was seriously considered. And he was a whole heckuva lot better in a short amount of time than Soto.

This is a completely natural reaction. No big deal to me.

Wait what is it you're mad about? The Cubs just got done sweeping the Pirates and building about as comfortable of a lead as you could have hoped for going into the weekend. What is it you're perturbed about? The Cardinals are really hurt and banged up right now. Pujols was out there playing, and they had their best pitcher on the mound, so they aren't trying to tank it here. I'm guessing the Brewers get 2 of 3 from the Cards. The Cubs are going to have to win against a team they SHOULD win against. I don't think that's a change from Sunday.

I think he's done a lot better lately, but gave a lot of vets a lot of playing time when they were playing really bad, and let the young guys rot on the bench. Murton, Pie, and Soto didn't get any significant playing time until just recently, and Pie still hasn't. Jacque, Floyd, Izturis, Koyie, Trachsel, Miller, and Monroe have all gotten far too much PT. Lou has corrected many of his mistakes though...that's where he beats out someone like Dusty, who just rides his mistakes into the ground. I know that some of that has to do with Hendry handing him these players, and that he's had to make do. I recognize that, and I do give Lou credit for what he's done with this team. But he's had his fair share of mistakes this year. Waiting till now to unleash Soto is one of them. I don't care what other managers would do. They'd be wrong too. Well the last sentence just means that you choose to look at it with no perspective at all. Some of your playing time gripes are just ridiculous. Monroe has gotten 46 plate appearances in the 30 games since being acquired. Murton didn't get any significant time until recently? Really? Jacque disappeared in the first half when he stunk. Lou went back to him after Felix struggled in June and Jacque got hot. He cooled down but he still has an .800 OPS in the second half and no one else could contribute that this year in CF. Wade Miller had a total of 3 starts. Izturis only got 50 PA's in the 24 April games. In May his production wasn't much off of what Theriot has done (.350 OBP). Following that in his last 44 games on the roster he got 69 AB's. On the contrary Pie got 44 PA's in his first 12 games here. He had 100 PA's in June. That's not significant playing time? That's much more than the guys who you claim got too much time and it was 4th most on the team in June. You're always going to have non-productive players getting time, especially when your roster consists of what we had at C, SS and the outfield. Guys have to fail before they get their time taken away. Then in most cases, when someone produced he kept them in the lineup. The point of my last sentence is simply this. If someone does something badly, I'm not going to be giddy with someone that does it less badly. Maybe you are. That's fine. I'm not. Look I'm not trying to bash Lou. I think he's done a reasonably good job with this team this year. But I do have gripes with some of his personnel decisions this year. You were obviously fine with Floyd and Jones getting playing time when they were struggling, and Murton sitting on the bench getting periodic playing time. I wasn't. And yes, Murton hasn't gotten regular playing time until this past month. Before that it was highly erratic. I agree, Miller was probably a bad choice for me to point out, and Izturis did go away, so I'm willing to concede those points. Pie had 87 PA's in June. Jones and Pagan combined for 91 PA's in June. So Pie got less than half the total PT as Jones and Pagan. So Lou didn't exactly let him get steady playing time. Instead he broke it up into a couple games on then a couple games off. He had no rhythm. Jacque was flat out terrible in June. And Pagan is not someone in the Cubs future. It just didn't make a lot of long term sense. I agree, that Lou is a lot better at letting players earn their spots, but he was slow to pull the trigger in some instances in this season, and I happen to think they were mistakes and cost the Cubs. (FYI, I'm not complaining about what Jacque has done in the second half. But the Cubs were about to trade him away, so they thought he was toast too. So it's not like it was amazing foresight on Lou's part to let him stick it out.)

Good. Hopefully the Cubs get KC instead. I'm always irritated that the Cards get 2 series against KC each year. The Cards do not play KC twice each year. That is a well spread myth. They do play in KC every year, but not vice versa. And they aren't the easiest games in the world. KC really gets up for those games. They have 4 of the last 6 years. Not sure why they didn't in 04 and 05...thought KC was their "natural rivals"...blech. In any case, here's the Cards records since 2002 against the Royals (494-577 since 2002): 3-3 4-2 2-1 3-0 3-3 5-1 Total 20-10 Now, the Cubs vs the Sox (507-459 since 2002): 5-1 2-4 3-3 4-2 2-4 3-3 Total 19-17 I'm not a huge fan of the unbalanced schedule, but if you're gonna do it, at least have it be a rotation. I hate the "rivalry" matchups. Wouldn't Cubs-Sox be a ton more special if it was a series or 2 every 3 years? (The 2002 date was just arbitrary because I was using ESPN and that's as far back as they have schedules)

I'm unwilling to buy any of this gear until after the Cubs are eliminated. I don't want a division champs shirt and then have to buy another when they win the NL...or more....:P

I think he's done a lot better lately, but gave a lot of vets a lot of playing time when they were playing really bad, and let the young guys rot on the bench. Murton, Pie, and Soto didn't get any significant playing time until just recently, and Pie still hasn't. Jacque, Floyd, Izturis, Koyie, Trachsel, Miller, and Monroe have all gotten far too much PT. Lou has corrected many of his mistakes though...that's where he beats out someone like Dusty, who just rides his mistakes into the ground. I know that some of that has to do with Hendry handing him these players, and that he's had to make do. I recognize that, and I do give Lou credit for what he's done with this team. But he's had his fair share of mistakes this year. Waiting till now to unleash Soto is one of them. I don't care what other managers would do. They'd be wrong too.