fromthestretch

Are you not reading anything anyone here is saying? No one is ripping you for cheering for the Cubs. You want to stay positive? Have at it. You're the one ripping everyone else for not being blindly optimistic. Well, I didn't appreciate being called a jerk for suggesting that people should cheer for the Cubs instead of rip them. You didn't suggest it. You practically demanded it. Now, I'm not going to speak for jersey about why he said what he said, but if I had to guess, it's because you pretty much implied that everyone who isn't as optimistic as you might as well be a Cardinals fan.

Are you not reading anything anyone here is saying? No one is ripping you for cheering for the Cubs. You want to stay positive? Have at it. You're the one ripping everyone else for not being blindly optimistic.

That's the thing that I don't get. The opponents of replay always say how they don't want delays in the game, yet they continue to ignore the fact that the arguments over a close play are going to take just as long.

Shuck it!

Careful. You're being negative.

It is. But after 34 years of dealing with the same crap over and over again, there comes a certain point in the season where you realize it's not worth getting your hopes up. You don't have to wear a cheerleader outfit and always have a smile on your face in order to be a fan.

Wow. God bless the pom-pom wavers. Most of you posters sound like Cardinals fans. I make no apology for still believing they could pull this out. Why even follow the team if you're going to be this negative? To you, it's negativity. To many, it's simply being realistic. I'd be ecstatic if they managed to come back and make the playoffs. I'm not going to get my hopes up though, only to have them dashed.

Probably not, since Soriano would kill him. Zambrano might. please they wouldnt mess with Lilly. Hed make a lamp out of Sorianos skull And wear his ribcage as a vest. See my vest see my vest, made of real gorilla chest. http://www.seemyvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/simpsons-seemyvest.jpg See my loafers, former gophers...

I'll have to look it up, but if memory serves, it's a dead ball and the runners get an extra base.

was this just to tick of HardcoreCubFan? =D>

That's what bugs the crap out of me. I watch a ton of games and listen to even more on the radio, so I hear several different broadcasters. A majority of them (especially the TV analysts) don't know a damn thing about anything outside of the 25-man roster of their own team, and they might not even know that much. Seriously, if it's your job, the thing you do everyday for a living, and you have a fairly decent audience paying attention to you when you're doing your job, you'd think you wouldn't want to come across like a complete moron. If your primary job is to sit in a booth and talk about baseball for approximately three hours 162 times a season, be prepared. If the team you cover is playing a three-game series against another team, don't you think it would be a good idea to get a basic knowledge of the opponent? Perhaps learn a little bit about some nagging injuries they might have that could be affecting performance or learn about some their top prospects? If they're struggling in an area, maybe spend five minutes finding out why, so you can talk about it on the air. Oh look, they called up a mediocre rookie pitcher to fill in for a start; might be a good idea to figure out what he throws before you go on the air. This is a main reason why people rip on Joe Morgan all the time. On the rare occasion he won't offer an opinion on something, he uses the excuse that he hasn't seen that team play much, if at all, this season. He's doing what, one or two broadcasts per week? Watch some damn video and be prepared. I know numbers are scary and all, but pick up a stat sheet and review it for an hour. It's not all that hard. Like Santo prepares for a game? "Who's that in rightfield for the Cubs, Patrick?" "How did Soriano get to third?" I've said in the past on here (several times, in fact), that I'm not exactly a huge fan of Santo as a broadcaster. Pat Hughes makes it a lot easier to listen to the radio broadcasts though. What separates Santo from Dibble, Morgan, McCarver, Stone, Harrelson, Brenneman (Sr. and Jr.), etc., is that Santo doesn't come off as a pompous ass. If he doesn't know something, he asks a question, like you've stated above. If the other guys don't know something, they wing it and pass their misguided opinions off as fact. In other words, if you aren't going to be prepared, at least come off as likable. However, you are correct in that Santo's preparation for the broadcast is severely lacking.

That's what bugs the crap out of me. I watch a ton of games and listen to even more on the radio, so I hear several different broadcasters. A majority of them (especially the TV analysts) don't know a damn thing about anything outside of the 25-man roster of their own team, and they might not even know that much. Seriously, if it's your job, the thing you do everyday for a living, and you have a fairly decent audience paying attention to you when you're doing your job, you'd think you wouldn't want to come across like a complete moron. If your primary job is to sit in a booth and talk about baseball for approximately three hours 162 times a season, be prepared. If the team you cover is playing a three-game series against another team, don't you think it would be a good idea to get a basic knowledge of the opponent? Perhaps learn a little bit about some nagging injuries they might have that could be affecting performance or learn about some their top prospects? If they're struggling in an area, maybe spend five minutes finding out why, so you can talk about it on the air. Oh look, they called up a mediocre rookie pitcher to fill in for a start; might be a good idea to figure out what he throws before you go on the air. This is a main reason why people rip on Joe Morgan all the time. On the rare occasion he won't offer an opinion on something, he uses the excuse that he hasn't seen that team play much, if at all, this season. He's doing what, one or two broadcasts per week? Watch some damn video and be prepared. I know numbers are scary and all, but pick up a stat sheet and review it for an hour. It's not all that hard.

It amazes me how many people were expecting over 25 home runs from a guy who only once in his career has hit over 20. You can make the argument that his 162-game average over the past four seasons is 28, but he's also averaged less than 100 games per season during that span. For him to reach 20 homers would have been a good start. However, 25 is wishful thinking, to put it mildly. His extra base hit percentage is low (6.3% this season, compared to 9.2% over the past four years), but that's not just homers. He could really help his cause with a few more doubles.

Thankfully, this is a day game, so I can listen to Pat and Ron at work. One more day of listening to Dibble, and I would have had to punch something.

That's probably a welcome injury for them. He's been terrible.

Castillo has had a nice second half. The patience still isn't there, but he seems to be hitting the ball well. I'm curious to see if he can build off that next season. Would be nice to see the guy improve his walk rate though.

On top of that, Sandberg isn't someone I would consider worthy of serious consideration for a managerial position.

Explain how it's "all time stupid". Yes, Bradley has brought a lot of this on himself due to his past behavior. That being said, he's in a no-win situation here. If he keeps his mouth shut and his head down, fans will accuse him of not caring. If he shows some frustration after questionable calls, constant injuries, and his own lack of production, he's apparently a whiny jerk. If he stays away from the media, they'll accuse him of being unapproachable and uncooperative. If he answers their questions honestly, he's labeled as unhappy and a malcontent. His teammates typically have nothing but great things to say about the guy, and compared to things that he's done in previous seasons, his behavior hasn't exactly been terrible this season.

What the hell??? Which LLWS is she watching? I hate people that complain about what hitters do between pitches. While some hitters "adjustments" are a little excessive (Nomar), you want to make sure you're as comfortable as possible in the batter's box. With every swing, things move. Perhaps your batting gloves loosen a little, or your batting helmet shifts a bit, or your cup moves a little. Taking a few seconds to adjust these things doesn't hurt anybody. And comparing it to beauty pageants? FTH is that?

Keep treating everything you hear from some random moron caller on sports talk radio as gospel. And keep putting your head in the sand and saying "It's Gonna Happen!" So because I don't believe some random idiot who called in to say he saw Zambrano playing softball, my head is in the sand? I agree that his antics are getting a little old, but I'm not going to let that lead me to believe every negative thing I hear about him. If you want to be blinded by your obvious hatred for a player, I guess that's your decision.

Keep treating everything you hear from some random moron caller on sports talk radio as gospel.

His issue with the Red Sox appeared to have been his command within the strike zone. He didn't have problems throwing strikes, but he wasn't throwing quality strikes. He was leaving pitches up and out over the plate. There really didn't appear to be big issues with his stuff, just where he was throwing it.

Well, you know, schools are getting people to write papers and take exams for athletes. It's only a matter of time before they get people to do the raping for them, as well.

Bradley's not a free agent until after 2011. You're right. Don't know how I fudged that up. But 2010 is Lee's walk year, right? Correct.

Just curious, hcf...when your track athletes are late for practice, do you make them play football?