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With the doubleheader on Saturday, Trachsel was going to start one of the next few days no matter what. According to the cubs.com article that someone posted in this thread earlier though, that may be his last start of the season.

I like the moving up of Jones and the dropping of Theriot because of how they've been playing lately. I don't really want to see Floyd playing, but he has had 2 straight good games (1 for 3 with a BB on Monday, and 2 for 3 with a BB last night) so hopefully he can put together a 3rd straight good game.

Gonzalez gets an incomplete for this season. His team has gone way under expectations, but his pitching staff was decimated as well which means that he hasn't really heard the criticism yet.

The Cubs game is on WGN tonight.

Honestly though, that happened when the Bears game threads were here too. I know Andy got pretty maligned in one in particular, and OleMiss catches a lot of Saints flak. And it happens to Card fans being critical of Cub fans in the Cub game threads. We do our best to be diligent with moderating that kind of stuff, but game threads, be it here at NSBB or at WCF, are hyper-emotional places anyway. And I'm sure you already know that. I'm not breaking new ground here. I know that we have great posters that are Cub fans and fans of non-Bear football teams. And I hope you all can get something beneficial out of posting at WCF. It's still a work in progress though, and I hope you'll be patient through the growing pains. All I can promise as a moderator is that when we see something inappropriate, we'll try to take care of it. We won't always be successful at it. And I think game threads here at NSBB and at WCF are always going to be a challenge to moderate. Finally, if you think something is inappropriate over there, use the "report this post" option. It'll help the mods. EDIT: Unfortunately I'm going to be at the Cubs-Cards game on Sunday and will not be around for the Bears-Chiefs game thread. So I won't be able to help much then. I understand that you go in at your own risk to those threads. When a couple non-Bears fans tried to debate a particular call though, a moderator shut them down-twice. There's a difference between members getting upset and moderators giving warnings out for innocent things. Bascially, there's nothing a non-Bears fan can do in a Bears thread unless they agree with the consensus (IMO). Last week showed that they cannot disagree with any calls or even put in the occasional comment that is favorable for the other team. I'll keep working through it though and see how the moderation goes for the season, and let everyone attempt to make the tough transition and understand in what ways the rules need to be similar to NSBB and in what ways they need to be different based on the very different circumstances.

How can you say that when everyone who has seen him in CF this year describes his defense as well above average? 99% of people who see Jeter play SS say he's great defensively. True, but 1) most of those fans who have seen Jeter are casual fans, while most people who evaluate the minor leagues know much more what to look for. 2) The only evidence of Colvin in CF is late last year and this year, so until we get other evidence the only thing we have is what people say about his defense, and even the ones who were skeptical of his defense in the first place have been pleasantly surprised. They all say that he's not Pie level out there, but he's quite good.

One of the things that has really put a sour taste in my mouth is the game thread on Sunday. Basically, I know if the Bears ever play the Colts again I have to avoid the game thread like I did last time or else be labeled a troll as soon as I post something. People have also made the same accusations when other fans want to post critical things in the bears discussion (even for the people who have also defended the Bears in other posts), even though they know that people from this community simply wouldn't troll on other people's threads. As much as I have posted over there already, I question if it will be a good situation for me to continue if I feel I have to avoid participating in most of the site.

How can you say that when everyone who has seen him in CF this year describes his defense as well above average?

True, but the majority of the blame should go to the offense and the opportunities they missed. It's definitely a team loss. The offense sucks. Kendall sucks. Marquis sucks. Lou is an idiot. I'm not sure why Kendall is included in there. He went 1-2 with a walk, that hit was a double scoring the first run, and he got 2 sacrifices down. He did let a run in on defense, but overall he was a net positive on the game, which there weren't enough of tonight to single him out. The people who really didn't come through tonight include Soriano, Theriot, Ramirez, and Lou.

10 hits, 10 walks, 1 HBP, and 4 runs-one of which was a 3 run homer. It's almost not possible. Well, this is how the race goes. It's simply a competition to who can blow more games, and there's still enough time for both sides to go up and down a few more times.

I agree with the 1st 2, but what's the "etc.?" I actually agree with Lou's decision to bunt Pie because of Pie's struggles at the plate this year. I don't agree with the bunt with Kendall that set up the walk to Ward though. Kendall's been playing well the last 3-4 games, and there wasn't any reason to give away an out there.

Soriano has a much better chance at a crap ab then does Ward. Just goes to show how "respected" Soriano is in the league. or how respected Ward is..that's the 7th intentional walk for Ward and he's only had 95 AB's this year. IBBs in the NL don't mean as much - don't know how many times he had a much weaker hitter/the pitcher's spot behind him. True, although I know 5 of them. 3 in front of Soriano, 1 in front of Theriot, 1 in front of Barrett. I'm not completely sure about the other two.

Soriano has a much better chance at a crap ab then does Ward. Just goes to show how "respected" Soriano is in the league. or how respected Ward is..that's the 7th intentional walk for Ward and he's only had 95 AB's this year.

well that is certainly true. it's not a perfect solution But football trumps bball. I dont know what tv market Hawaii brings but Boise expands the Pac10's market a little. And as you know Penn State didnt get invited to the Big Ten for its Bball. (i see what others are listing in this thread as more likely) The Big East isnt that whacked because Providence/Nova/Georgtown/Marquette dont even have a football team. Im sure they would remain in the Big East when it comes bball season. The Big East becomes a 20 team conference in basketball. Their current number of 16 is already too large-20 wouldn't be feasible. Boise and Hawaii might get the TV market a little higher, but it also makes sure that the Pac 10 has no chance to be a great basketball conference. I'm sure there would be problems in other sports as well. It's simply not worth it for a small benefit in football to greatly hurt some other sports.

It certainly is an interesting idea, but I think school presidents would balk at it. Scheduling issues would be a lot easier under that system. There's one other big problem-you have to consider what happens in the other sports beyond football. As bad as you have made the Big East in football now, you have just destroyed their conference in basketball. The same goes for the Pac 10 and basketball-Hawaii and Boise State would be horrible additions to their conference. So basically the plan is debatable on if it makes college football better, and it's horrible for the other sports.

Making your boss look like a fool is a tough sell. I realize it's for the good of the team but this is a sticky situation imo. I don't see how skipping Trachsel makes Hendry look like a fool. Hendry makes Hendry look like a fool. Trachsel pitching makes Hendry look like a fool. Lou deciding he's seen enough of Mr. Experience makes Hendry look like the guy who hired the right manager. Can't Lou just come out and say something like "Trachsel gave us the innings we were looking for, blah blah blah, he did well in his role, blah blah." You know, totally lie about it and make Hendry look better......then move on and do what's best for the team. Basically I think that's what Lou is doing. He's skipping Trachsel's start next week. My guess is that Trachsel gets 2 more starts the rest of the year-one on Thursday, and one in the final week of the season.

Hill has allowed the same amount of HR's as Lilly, even though Lilly has pitched 14 2/3 innings more. So Hill has given up a greater HR/9 than Lilly, not less. Their K/BB ratio is close, but Lilly's is a little better (3.06 for Lilly to 2.88 for Hill). Lilly's WHIP is better-1.150 to 1.219. They've been close this year, but Lilly has been slightly better in every phase of the game besides straight K rate.

Well, you certainly seemed to say it wasn't the biggest in your original post. I don't know if it's Scarlett Johansson bigger, but it's definitely bigger. Regardless of where the viewers come from, it still gets the most viewers. Edit: I'll also add that maybe it doesn't really even matter anymore, since all the BCS games payout the same. (Though it's still much easier for Michigan to get to the BCS out of the Big Ten than it is for LSU out of the SEC.) Of course, that fact alone may make Notre Dame the best job: it's easiest for them to get to the BCS, then they don't have to split the $17 million. Notre Dame doesn't get $17 million. They get $4.5. I actually didn't know that. Thanks. That amount was "renegotiated" by Notre Dame's completely and totally incompetent and idiotic athletic director Kevin White. That man is going to mess up ND football, I just know it. well it's only fair. If they got all $17 million while conference teams were splitting that up, well you and I know that's BS Yeah, but think about the years where for example Penn State does not make a BCS game. For example, last year. They get the money from the Capital One Bowl+their share of Ohio State's BCS game+their share of Michigan's BCS game. For the bad teams in the conference like Indiana, that means they've pocketed over 15 million in the last 10 years that the BCS has been in play without ever having made a BCS game. ND for years was all or nothing. If they went 5-7 one year, they didn't have that guaranteed 2-4 million dollar check from another team in their conference going to the BCS. It was either the full 14 million for the BCS , or going away completely empty handed. It ended up evening out money wise over the long term. Now ND has a money arrangement that is very similar to all the other conferences. They get 4.5 million if they make the game, and 1 million if they don't. It still won't quite add up to what the conferences get (because if conferences get 2 members in all the schools get paid double) but it's a fair approximation. and i'm fine with that. there SHOULD be financial incentive for them to join a conference (as opposed to making more $$$ by being Independent) Why should there be financial incentive to join a conference? ND isn't doing anything wrong by staying independent. BTW, they'll never be able to create a situation where it makes financial sense for ND to join a conference. In situations where all the schools come together and make an agreement, the money should be split as evenly as possible. The first arrangement they had with ND did that, but there was such a perception problem with other fans because nobody understood the all or nothing thing. Now, they have it very similar to what all the other conferences do, and the whole process is very fair. As far as the BCS goes, ND shouldn't be helped or penalized by being independent, and I think the rules tweaks have made it so that happens.

Well, you certainly seemed to say it wasn't the biggest in your original post. I don't know if it's Scarlett Johansson bigger, but it's definitely bigger. Regardless of where the viewers come from, it still gets the most viewers. Edit: I'll also add that maybe it doesn't really even matter anymore, since all the BCS games payout the same. (Though it's still much easier for Michigan to get to the BCS out of the Big Ten than it is for LSU out of the SEC.) Of course, that fact alone may make Notre Dame the best job: it's easiest for them to get to the BCS, then they don't have to split the $17 million. Notre Dame doesn't get $17 million. They get $4.5. I actually didn't know that. Thanks. That amount was "renegotiated" by Notre Dame's completely and totally incompetent and idiotic athletic director Kevin White. That man is going to mess up ND football, I just know it. well it's only fair. If they got all $17 million while conference teams were splitting that up, well you and I know that's BS Yeah, but think about the years where for example Penn State does not make a BCS game. For example, last year. They get the money from the Capital One Bowl+their share of Ohio State's BCS game+their share of Michigan's BCS game. For the bad teams in the conference like Indiana, that means they've pocketed over 15 million in the last 10 years that the BCS has been in play without ever having made a BCS game. ND for years was all or nothing. If they went 5-7 one year, they didn't have that guaranteed 2-4 million dollar check from another team in their conference going to the BCS. It was either the full 14 million for the BCS , or going away completely empty handed. It ended up evening out money wise over the long term. Now ND has a money arrangement that is very similar to all the other conferences. They get 4.5 million if they make the game, and 1 million if they don't. It still won't quite add up to what the conferences get (because if conferences get 2 members in all the schools get paid double) but it's a fair approximation.

This is from an article yesterday on Astros.com: So it looks like Backe vs Marquis, Patton vs. Hill, and Williams vs Trachsel.

It depends on who the opposing pitcher is. If it is a pitcher who has a chance of holding the Cubs to 0-2 runs, I start Zambrano for his greater ability to have a dominant pitching performance. If the Cubs can likely score 3-5, then I'd start Lilly at the moment for his greater consistency.

The one problem with this is-there is no incentive for margin of victory. Is a 1 point win worth the same as a 30 point win? If yes, then computer rankings are just fine. If a blowout adds value to a teams win, then something has to be done to account for that. they removed margin of victory from the computer portion of the BCS. the voters, however.... Exactly, which is what I meant. If you think margin of victory is completely unimportant (to use an example, the ND comeback wins over UCLA and Michigan State last year would be worth as much as if they beat them 80-0) then the computer rankings are sufficient. If you think there should be a difference put in to equate "how well" a certain team played against another team, then it becomes more complicated.

The one problem with this is-there is no incentive for margin of victory. Is a 1 point win worth the same as a 30 point win? If yes, then computer rankings are just fine. If a blowout adds value to a teams win, then something has to be done to account for that.

Same here. Going into the bottom of the second, I decided to spend the day skydiving instead, and it was still only 2-2 when I left, but I knew it would only get worse and I'm glad to have been away. I hope Sean Marshall gets to take his spot back now. Marshall has never been there before, and hes never started a game in September. Plus hes not a gamer, or a winner, so Marshall needs to stay in the bullpen, so his little rookie head doesnt explode from the pressures of pitching in Sept......... Love the fact that both zambrano and lilly will be going on 3 days rest so they can avoid pitching Marshall. They aren't going to avoid Marshall. Marshall is pitching against St. Louis this weekend. The rotation is going to be from Thursday through Wednesday: Thursday: Trachsel Friday: Zambrano Saturday: Game 1: Lilly, Game 2: Marshall Sunday: Marquis Monday: Hill Tuesday: Zambrano Wednesday: Lilly I guess if they pitched Marshall on Thursday and Trachsel on Saturday they could pitch Marshall again a week from Tuesday instead of Z. If you switch it that way though, Trachsel pitches against St. Louis instead of Marshall, and I'd rather have the Marshall start against the Cardinals.

No rules against it, but the Cubs could just take the walks until they got a safe lead, and then swing at every pitch even if it was 5 feet outside in order to strike out and end the inning.