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I have to get excited about the Bears. I dropped a $20 on them beating the Colts in a suicide pool. A lot of Bears players have a lot to prove. Hope Clark and Olson are ready to catch a lot of quick, short passes. I know. It's a crazy pick. But, I won an NCAA pool and am still way ahead in winnings. Not to mention the fact that I'm about to win two more bets. Mike Cameron only needs to hit one more home run and Tampa needs to stay ahead of Toronto in the NL East for the other bet. These are bets I made in the preseason. Realistically, I see the Bears at 8-8. The offense will be quite frustrating, but between defense and special teams, there are enough possession guys on offense to score enough points to be a .500 team this year. Wait you picked the Bears to beat the Colts in your suicide pool?? The Bears going into Indy, in their first game in their new stadium, and beating the Colts? I know Peyton might not be 100% and I know everyone has been dogging the Bears, but you must be crazy! Maybe he thinks a suicide pool means killing your chances of winning a bet. And won't you all look like fools when all those people who picked Indy are signing up for a new suicide pool? :grin: If you can't bet on your favorite team to win a stupid game, what good are they? And I trust that my allegiance to the Bears will never again be called into question. Don't you have to win multiple weeks and only use each team once to win though? I can understand having faith in your team, but why not save them for an easier week? There are several games that the Bears will have even greater chances to win here in the next 5 weeks (Panthers without Smith, Lions, Falcons). Didn't you do this exact same thing last year in week 1? It should be a good game. Decently close, probably with several mistakes on both sides. There are a lot of question marks with each team at the moment, so it's really a tough game to handicap.

Lineups Astros Bourn Wigginton Tejada Berkman Blum Pence Newhan Quintero Backe Cubs Soriano Fontenot Lee Ramirez DeRosa Edmonds Soto Theriot Zambrano

Yeah, but he's had an upgrade in jobs since then. Since Masur has been doing games for San Diego as part of the booth for 2 years now, he's eligible. He probably wouldn't have been eligible the years he was in Chicago for the work he was doing..at least that's my guess.

It won't be overturned. Decision on what constitutes a hit or error or the whatnot is to the discretion of the score keeper. I don't remember ever hearing MLB ever overturn a score keeper's call, nor shall they. I doubt this one will be overturned (for the simple fact that I don't think MLB will appreciate someone backing into history, and will use their discretion on a borderline call to keep it the same). However, scoring decisions are changed well after the fact all the time. For example, in Harden's first start, Marmol gave up 5 earned runs in the 9th. One of the early plays in the inning was Marmol fumbling a ball on a play that he probably should have had running towards the first base line. A couple of weeks later, this was changed to make that play an error. This meant that instead of 5 ER, Marmol gave up 1 ER that day.

It's really too late for him in all likelihood..but Bob Howry has been pitching better lately. His last 6 appearances: 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

Was it worth burning Theriot to go to another pinch-hitter though? In the 6th, I'd have to lean towards no.

It's been that way for years IIRC so they can fit the telethon the best way they can around the game.

we were supposed to play middle tennessee, but the backed out. i guess chattanooga's AD is a friend of our AD, so we gave them 500 grand to come be a patsy at the last minute. They said their entire sports budget is 10 mil, so that's a fair chunk of change. we pulled the first teamers early in the second quarter Is the fact that it's a replacement game for Middle Tennessee supposed to make it better? Middle Tennessee is probably better than well over half the opponents of Top 25 teams today. That's not saying much. Just look at most of the cupcakes on the top 25 schedules. The added 12th game is a huge farce. Middle Tennessee is one thing. Chatt sounds like the equivalent of Devry grabbing 50 students out of class and practicing for a couple weeks. T.O. isn't too happy with you making fun of his alma mater :D Really though, Chattanooga plays in a conference that tends to play many of the big-time teams in college football. Appalachian State, Citadel, Furman, Georgia Southern, Western Carolina, etc. usually play at least one major conference team every year.

Lousy Cannuck Juicebag... Looking over Gagne's #s, his CY year in 03 is just [expletive]. 100 more K's than H(137-37), ERA+ of 335, 2 HR in 306 batters faced, just wow. How the mighty have fallen. Kinda off topic, but I really resent Gagne for overshadowing John Smoltz when they were hands down the most dominant closers in the NL for that 3 year stretch. Gagne did it with PEDs while I really have to assume Smoltz has always been clean, everything I've ever heard about him points towards class act all the way. I think Marmol will be an awesome closer when/if they decide to put him in that role. With such filthy stuff he's got a way of making batters look stupid and lacking in motors skills. Fun to watch, as is his getting fired up like a mini-Z. and jk about the Cannuck part. I heart Canadia and many of her bands. I'm really sick of this throwing PED's in on anyone who has a couple good years then fall off. People have done that for the entire history of the league. Gagne didn't fall off he got hurt over and over again on his arm. Using your logic Prior must have been on PED's too. He hasn't fallen off due to the injuries he just stopped taking drugs. It's not just idle speculation though. He was included in the Mitchell Report. While that doesn't conclusively prove his guilt, it's certainly enough that the mention of PED's next to him has a little validity to it.

My opinion was yes. Seemed like it hit a good part of the corner. A good pitch, especially since he hadn't thrown a fastball for a strike in like 10 pitches.

Hmm. Edmonds and the pitcher's spot coming up against a left-hander. What combination of hitters do you go with?

It was a great throw when you consider how quickly he got rid of the ball from when he caught it. Besides, a one bounce throw as long as you bounce it in the right spot is a good way to make sure the ball is down for the tag.

?? That's what the FOX announcer told me. You saying he's lying to me? ok good I wasn't the only one who heard the fox announcer say Zambrano was pitching for the phils tomorrow. I think he also said Myers was pitching for the cubs tomorrow but maybe I am just hearing things I donno. At that point, he was trying to correct himself. He said that Z was pitching for the Phillies tomorrow, then he tried to transition to Brett Myers..then he realized he said the Phillies for Zambrano, so he said Cubs tomorrow out of the middle of nowhere, then he got really got confused so he just trailed off. Lilly's got good stuff today. Spotty command..he's hitting his spots on several pitches, then missing badly with a couple.

Chris Wells left the game due to an injured foot in the Ohio State game. He looked to be in quite a bit of pain.

So this latest walk craze by Sori wasn't just a random boost in walks, rather a conscious desire to be more selection. Maybe the patience bug has infected Soriano as well. I'd be more inclined to believe it if I hadn't seen him make essentially the exact same quote at least 6-7 times since he's been here.

Elca might care....but yea... I mean, Ill probably watch, because what else is there to do Sunday afternoon (unless the Cubs are on)? But at this point I have already written off the season as a lost cause. Week one should reinforce that. The Colts will win by 30, in fact i picked them in the survival pool posted above. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Colts be a bit clumsy in week 1. They've virtually had no good preseason time (the first team offense has scored a total of 0 preseason TD's), Manning has to work with a new center, Manning hasn't played at all in the preseason, and there's other holes on the offensive line. Then on defense..well, let's just say I wouldn't be surprised if more than half the defensive starters missed a day or more of practice next week. Something strange is going on down here. I actually see the Bears pulling off a Colts opponent special. The first drive, the Bears will have a 17 play, 10 minute TD drive. After that, I have no idea what will happen. The variable is the stadium. What will playing on their new field do to their intensity level? (teams have usually done very well in new stadiums)? Will it be anywhere near as loud as the Dome (unlikely I would say from having been in the Dome)? The Colts could come out and try to do a little too much, especially in the first half. It should be an interesting and fun game. To any Bears fans coming down here for the game, I hope you have a great time at the new stadium, and I hope the Colts fans treat you well. They usually are pretty good about not getting on opposing fans, but they could always do better.

I don't know how many people are in them (unfortunately, I don't really have the time to pay attention to them this year) but NCCubFan made the pickem's for this year for NSBB. Here is the thread: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=50681

Looking through the game logs from this month, that isn't really true. I think it's more that the pitchers decide to attack him outside the zone. From those at-bats, he takes a lot of called balls on pitch number 1, but otherwise it's about a 50/50 ratio of Cedeno either swinging at the first pitch versus taking a called strike.

Gooz gets Howry's spot first. Am I the only one who doesn't trust Guzman to be an effective reliever? Do you trust him less than Howry? I don't think anybody is investing anything into Guzman beyond hoping that he does prove to be an effective reliever over the next few weeks, because that would be a nice way to round out our bullpen and replace Howry. I don't think people necessarily believe he will, but I, for one, believe he can and hope he will... I would rather have someone other than Howry, I'm just wondering if Guzman is the answer to bringing in an effective replacement. Do we not have other pitchers who would fit better than him? The guy's only pitched like 15 innings this year, but I continually see people on here hoping that they give Guzman a spot over anyone else that's available to call up. I'd rather get someone in there who has been pitching effectively all year as opposed to a guy who just started pitching again after being out for a year. My dead grandfather could be more effective than Howry, that's not the point I'm getting at. I'm just wondering if there was another pitcher who would probably be a much wiser decision to call up He's only pitched 15 innings of recorded competition this year. The Cubs held him back quite a while in Mesa because they wanted to get him an extra option year. So he really could have come back earlier, but they had to wait a certain number of days until they began his rehab assignment because they couldn't bring him up until September 1st. And if a reliever had been pitching effectively all year down at AAA, he already would have been up with the major league club. There's been plenty of opportunities, and in fact 3 members of the current bullpen started the year in AAA (Marshall, Cotts, Samardzija). Most of the people left down there are still down there because they have only been pitching ok. That isn't necessarily the case with Guzman.

National League 2nd baseman, SS, and 3rd baseman are up: No Cubs free agents Aramis Ramirez is a solid A (don't have to worry about this for a while) Mark DeRosa is a pretty solid A (he should be very likely to keep that A going into free agency after next year. His 2008 numbers are going to help him along a lot even after the 2007 campaign drops off). Mike Fontenot is the very last person to get a B ranking. Once again, not really a concern, but interesting. Theriot is unranked. My guess is he'll be a B after next season when he'll likely drop off, but still be better than he was in 2007. Again though, still doesn't really matter. So not very much relevant Cub news for free agents, but I'm always curious to see how all the Cubs stack up. Derosa's the biggest key, and it's good to have it confirmed that he would likely be an A when he hits free agency.

You've been struggling to get runners on all game, you have a chance to take the lead, your starter hasn't looked that good and you have 3 guys in the pen who can give you at least 2 shut down innings? And your facing a very good offense, and its highly unlikely that the Phillies are going to be held to 1 run. Plus with Hamels stuff and the IF playing in, the chances of a PH actually getting the run in are minimal. Plus you have to burn your pen with 3 more games against the Phillies this weekend. There is no reason to take out a starter that has only given up 1 run and 80 pitches at that point. Agreed...plus, who is on the bench who you trust to get good contact against Hamels? The PH options are bad against him.

I've seen lineups delayed, but this is I think the first time I've ever seen it be within 25 minutes of gametime and still not be there. There it finally comes: Soriano Theriot Lee Ramirez Soto Johnson Fukudome DeRosa Dempster

Got stuck waiting around for a QB too long. Choices left include: Jason Campbell Jake Delhomme Kurt Warner Jon Kitna Jeff Garcia I need 2 on my roster and have been debating it back and forth for days. Who do you guys suggest?

Excites the few ND delusional fans who actually believe him (less than 15% I'd say) and continually inflames the ND hate from everybody else. The 85% of the remainder of ND fans are caught in the middle left wondering how he slipped down the hill so quickly. He's the worst analyst at ESPN, but he does seem to get a lot of people awfully fired up over his comments (not saying that you're doing that), so that's probably why he has a job. It's sad too-ESPN execs probably knowingly continue to sell him the lie that he's there because he provides quality analysis even though everybody knows that he just continues to embarrass himself.

It just looks like a fluff column to excite White Sox fans. You notice he never really goes into why he thinks the White Sox would be bad for the Cubs (I'm sure the reasons he would give would be bad anyway, but he doesn't even try, which shows how little he probably believes in what he's saying). The only real baseball opinion he gives in the article is that the Cubs are the best team. After that he just sort of rambles, gives vague comments about how the Cubs should be fearful of the White Sox, but is careful never to really go beyond that.