CubColtPacer
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I voted the last one-I don't think we'll get that much closer this year and may not finish the year closer, but I think we will get closer at one point.
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Absolutely no control caused most of his problems, and the pretty bad defense behind him extended innings that exacerbated the problems. His main problem was that he couldn't get the fastball over the plate but it was drifting up and in consistently. That wasn't it come on, let's be serious for a moment. Prior's problems are more than just control. His fastball and curve are not the same pitches that he used to throw. His curve doesn't have that snap on it and his fastball isn't consistent in the 92-94 range that it used to be. He's done for. It's hard to tell how batters will hit his stuff now if he can't get the ball over the plate most of the time-I mean, they didn't exactly hit him very hard today-I saw only about 2-3 hard hit balls off of him all day, and 1 of those was caught and another 1 should have been caught. I don't know if his stuff is as good as before-probably not, but he still should be a much better pitcher then he is-and that is his control. I'd rather see him pitch-it's horrible to see him out there, but I think he needs the work if he's going to figure it out again.
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Absolutely no control caused most of his problems, and the pretty bad defense behind him extended innings that exacerbated the problems. His main problem was that he couldn't get the fastball over the plate but it was drifting up and in consistently.
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Is this speculation? They aren't going to pitch Mateo on Saturday now. Pat and Ron believe someone will be called up. I'm guessing it will be Guzman, but I haven't checked the last time he's pitched. Going back through the discussion threads, it looks like 8/5, or last Saturday was the last time Guzman has pitched. I think he is supposed to go tomorrow night, so I wouldn't be surprised if he came up and Mateo went down.
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I think the idea was that Davis wouldn't have pitched around Aramis if 1st base weren't open. I agree with the not swinging at bad balls part, but Aramis probably would've seen better pitches without the double steal. If Pierre is going to be in a lineup, he'd be more valuable in the 7 or 8 spot, where "small ball" might actually help produce a run every now and then. Why MLB teams feel they need to put traditional leadoff types in front of power hitters is beyond me. Henry Blanco can score from first on a D-Lee homer just as easy as Pierre can. Exactly. I think that Aramis would have gotten a pitch to hit if it had been 1st and 2nd. Once it became 2nd and 3rd, Aramis needs to take the walk if they give it to him. I would agree that Pierre later down in the order might work better-I think the change became when teams started putting their best hitters, including their best power hitter in the 3 spot-they used to be 4 or lower, which means that the leadoff hitter was supposed to create a run before they came up.
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This is one situation where both that attempt of a double steal and a walk have actually not been all that great for the team because it took the bat out of Ramirez hands..let's hope Jones can do something.
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Yeah, he should have given up 2 runs that inning. How? Walk, flyout, Walk, flyout, flyout. The inning should have been over wildness or not. I don't know if the ball hit to Pagan was routine, but the first one definitely should have been an out. He was back to the wall and then just missed it, Murton would have had it. I don't know. I like Murton, but he hasn't exactly played a gold glove caliber LF either. No, but he does go back for a ball well. Add that to the fact he is a much better hitter, especially against lefties and you see why it is we pay Dusty the big bucks. Murton is definitely a better hitter against lefties-and he is probably better overall, but he hasn't been this year against Pagan overall. Also, games like this make me wonder how people can think the Cubs have a top 10 in the league defense. Haven't we seen people take extra bases and plays like those two flyballs all year long?
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True-but so is the entire Cubs bench today.
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Except it would be nice to see Pagan for Jones vs a lefty. True-I guess I was prepared for that, since Bruce already said on Tuesday that Murton would start on Tuesday and Wednesday and then Pagan on Thursday-so I guess I just didn't think about any possible lineup changes because of the planning that was already set out. Didn't it say somewhere in that thread(the one where Bruce mentions Murton) that Jones is suppose to hit Davis very well? I just found it. Jones is 5 for 11 against Davis in his career.
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Except it would be nice to see Pagan for Jones vs a lefty. True-I guess I was prepared for that, since Bruce already said on Tuesday that Murton would start on Tuesday and Wednesday and then Pagan on Thursday-so I guess I just didn't think about any possible lineup changes because of the planning that was already set out.
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Wow..we knew Pagan would be starting today on Tuesday, and that is fine. I guess everybody is getting the day off today though-at least they didn't have Neifi sub in for Izturis today and then for Cedeno tomorrow-which at least allows Theriot to get 1 of those 2 starts.
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I think there is 2 options for a masher LF Carlos Lee - who is a borderline DH Alphonso Soriono - will he be worth the $$ and will be be willing to play LF again I'd prefer having Lee in LF and Soriano back at 2nd. Yeah, I know he makes Walker look like a defensive god, but then maybe Izturis has some value. His defense, combined with Lee doing what he does at 1st and Aramis' improving D could hopefully make up for any problems Soriano would have, and the other three big infield backs make up for Cesar not getting much done with the stick. Exactly..a player like Soriano at 2nd actually maximizes the value Izturis has with his great range. I think Izturis showed his range quite well last night (with the ball on the other side of 2nd, and then the ball deep in the hole), and Soriano can really be hidden at 2nd with two great defenders between him in Lee and Izturis. Izturis's bat could then be hidden because look at the rest of the infield including catcher-we'd still have I think the best hitting infield in the majors (Lee, Barrett, Soriano, Ramirez, Izturis). At least we'd be right up there-then we would just have to figure out what we wanted to do with our outfield, but we would only have to make a moderate upgrade there rather than a major one.
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I don't see any mention of what they need to do to be eligible however. Perhaps they must finish in the top 8 to get there? I have to be missing something here. Soccer says they are guaranteed a spot if they finish in the top 8. I'm wondering if they can be eligible without being guaranteed a spot or if they must be in the top 8. My guess is that they have to be eligible now along with everyone else if they are ranked in the top 14 in the BCS (up from 12 last year-because the number of teams in the BCS went from 8 to 10). I think it was a compromise with ND-ND used to be eligible with either a 9 win team or a top 12 ranking, and had to be top 6 to be automatically in-now they have to have at least 9 wins and be in the top 14 like everyone else, with a top 8 bid getting them automatically in. I also like that they have given a possible path to minor conferences-any team from a minor conference that finishes in the top 12 will be automatically in-and 13th through 16th if there is a major conference winner that is ranked below that (which there has been just about every year). So it is likely that we will see the best minor conference team in a BCS bowl pretty much every year-which I think their best usually deserves.
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I think it's a Dusty startegy. Give him X amount of games to prove himself and then he won't see the light of day after that. If Baker lets Cedeno start at 2nd for the rest of the year I'll be shocked and apoligize to the Baker man in person. I do think that having Cedeno at second is a waste and that it makes 3 bad bats in the lineup....maybe I should say 3 very limited bats in the lineup. If you mean start the rest of the year as any starts without a few off days, I would say yes. I think Cedeno will be sat down 4-5 games the rest of the way, but I think he'll be there the rest of the time. Baker has a pretty long leash on him-didn't even replace him that much when he was doing terribly in July. I personally doubt we will see Cedeno as the starting 2b next season, but I guess we will have to wait and see how it all unfolds.
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One interesting note that continues tonight for those that thought the Cedeno delay to play 2nd just was an attempt to get more at bats for Neifi..since Cedeno has taken over at 2nd on friday, Neifi hasn't gotten off the bench-not once as a starter or a replacement or a PH in 5 games.
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This is why Baker is paid the big bucks. You take out a hot hitter and leave in a 4-3 in CF. We all know that Pierre can pop one out to tie the game at any time unlike Murton who couldn't hit one out to save his life. As long as Pierre is batting leadoff, it will never make sense to double switch him unless there have been multiple double switches before-you can debate the double switch in general, but Baker really wouldn't have been very smart if he had done a double switch and taken Pierre out in that spot.
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He has been benched until next season per MLB rules on mascots. No, I am not kidding. :shock: please elaborate.... It's something about the notice that MLB requires before introducing a new mascot. Apparently you can't add a mascot just on a whim, so they supposedly sent him down to the minors for some work (at least that was the Brewers explanation on it), and they will bring him back at the start of next season.
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This ump's zone is a little crazy tonight..I'm not saying it has hurt the Cubs tonight, in fact, I think they have been the benefit of it...but normally I can tell by now what is a strike and what isn't. Tonight I have no idea-several pitches to me that have appeared right down the middle have been called balls on both sides.
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Yeah, it would be 4-0 instead of 6-0. Zambrano really didn't have anything today, and neither did the rest of the team, apparently. But he was cruzing and then that happened and he lost it. He was throwing a fit on the mound after it happened. Sorry.....what happened? Barrett dropped a 3rd strike on the pitcher and he reached to 1st-1st baserunner of the game in 3rd, and then Z hung a slider on Brady Clark on a 3-2 count that made it 2-0. He was never the same after that pitch.
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Yeah, it would be 4-0 instead of 6-0. Zambrano really didn't have anything today, and neither did the rest of the team, apparently. I'm kind of confused about the people who said Z didn't have anything today..he gave up some walks, like he does every game. He labored out there-but he does that a lot, and he only gave up 5 hits-1 of those was an out (the one at 1st base) and the other ones were just hits at the wrong time. Z certainly didn't have great stuff, but he didn't set down the first 9 hitters (if the passed ball was caught) with absolutely nothing.
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Z missed quite a few pitches by quite a bit, and the zone has been very, very inconsistent and kind of strange tonight. So both, but more of Z just missing than anything.
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Can't....it's only the 5th inning and in Bakers book of ignorance that just can't be done. Gotta get the dude into the 7th inning. I think Z will pitch this inning and then Baker will pull him for a PH starting off the 6th.
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I really wish Nevin would have let that ball hit him-maybe Bush would have been thrown out of the game early.
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Wow-I didn't realize the Zambrano foul tip into the glove was our first swing and miss of the night, if you even count it as that-if you don't, we haven't had one yet.
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But what good is swinging at a pitchers strike and not a ball in your zone early in the count? Yup-and those are probably the 3 swings I'm not entirely happy with-Pierre on the 1st pitch, Barrett on a 1-0 count, and Ramirez on the first pitch. Other then that, they were already down in the count-and I have no problem with guys swinging at strikes when they are already down in the count.