third eye

Agreed. I have no interest in that dbag talking about the Cubs any time soon. I noticed the promo for the Mariners being "for real" as well.

Since when do the Cubs execute plays properly? I love it.

I'm guessing he was referring to Jason Kendall

35-13 is what we have to go now. Whoa, not sure how that math works out. They are 4 games over .500 now. 90 wins is 18 games over. You are saying they need to be 22 games over the rest of the way? I'm guessing some numbers got switch around there. I'm not one to call people out on this kind of stuff, but I'm pretty sure 31-17 is the right number from here for 90 wins. A little better outlook and still doable with the schedule ahead. :)

The Square D spots where he is in the basement of Wrigley with Pat, and he says "Welcome to my laboratory" - wow, just unbearably bad. But hey, he's not supposed to be an actor. BTW, Pat is pretty awful in that commercial too. I can forgive them, though, because of how entertaining they are in their day jobs.

Wow, that pythag is crazy. I thought the actual record was much closer than that by now. The Cubs are the only NL team with a pythag of 15 over .500. Next best is the Padres at 12 over. Hopefully there is more "evening out" to be had.

Wow, that is awesome. I actually ran into Kerry Wood a couple of weeks ago at a restaurant in Old Town. I think it was a couple of weeks after he turned the corner in his rehab. I said hi and asked how the rehab was coming. He said it was going great, and seemed very upbeat and personable. I'm psyched not only because of the pitching ability he could bring to the pen, but also because he seems like a really good guy. Definitely one of my top 3 favorite all-time Cubs. Go Kerry!

No good luck pictures of a Grand Marquis yet?

:cry: :x But so true.

+1 I'm all about rooting against the brewers but no need to go to their park when the cubs arent there for the sole purpose of rooting against them. Yeah, I don't get this at all. I enjoy attending baseball games at Miller Park and the Brewers have a fun, young team. I think, more than ever, I'd be open to attending a game because the Brewers are suddenly worth watching and I've always enjoyed seeing games at places other than Wrigley. I have three weeks off in August and I think I'll hit up a game at Miller. I also want to catch a game at the Cell. Needless to say, I won't be cheering for the Brewers or Sox. What I'm trying to say is... I wouldn't go to Miller Park just to cheer against the Brewers. I'd go to Miller Park because it's a nice place to catch a game, the brewers are an exciting team, and it would be a fun night. This is closer to what I was getting at. I personally love games at the new Miller Park. I've gone to both Cubs and non-Cubs games there. Now that Brewers games actually matter, I'd be more into it. Obviously I'd have a vested interest in seeing the Brewers lose the games I go to now.

I've asked before if people from this board get together for Wrigely games, but given that this is the first year the Brewers matter, do any of you (in Chicago) get together to go to games at Miller Park to root against the Brewers? Mods, if this is in the wrong place, please redirect.

I think it's coming pretty close to time you can remove the question mark from doable for 90 wins. I think you're right. If a trade for Griffey or Dunn is in the works, you might have to move the "Doable?" to the 95 win mark. Though, I'm pretty sure I said something similar after the Nomar and Mcgriff trades. *crosses fingers, knocks on wood*

While that would be funny to this board, i'm fairly certain that wouldn't go over well with the brass, much less the bullpen. As much as I want that, I am inclined to agree with you. I'd just stick with the "Get more runs!" gimmick. How about a shout out to NSBB?

yeah, good stuff

OK, I feel like a bad sport for enjoying the Brew fans' stress, but .....heh: from the brewers board: My Cubs-fan friends are eating this up with a spoon and it makes me sick...I don't even want to pick up my cell again tonight

Yeah, I feel dirty too. But since we're already in the gutter, can anyone post the link for the brewers message board again? Curious about the gloom and doom over there...

That game is the only reason I still own my old school Nintendo. Some of my favorite quirks -Players crying and running to the dugout when they make an out -Pain lines eminating from players when they make an error -Hitting the ball through the wall at the foul pole for a home run Kudos to the Indians on this one.

Whoa! Out 4-6 weeks! Much longer than previously expected: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2940218 Edit: Sorry, this was already posted. My bad.

Apparently it's not worth the time or attention for people to read past the first few words of other posts...sweet. If you're not trying to compare the two, then why bring them up in the same context, your disclaimer notwithstanding? By associating the two, you are implicitly comparing them... Good lord, it was simply in order to say that a very good player also had a bad first day as a Cub. If my position requires clarification, fine. Jason Kendall is nowhere near as good as ARam. But I don't care to judge him by his first day. You can feel free to disagree, and you can infer whatever you want about what was or was not implicit in my post.

Apparently it's not worth the time or attention for people to read past the first few words of other posts...sweet.

Aramis Ramirez went 0-4 with an error in his first game as a Cub too. I'm not directly comparing the two, I just think we could give him more than a game before rendering judgment. I second the mulligan.

For real. Earlier in the season there was like 25 page game threads for the whole game. The flashchat feature I think is part of the reason for shorter game threads, but still, I agree. Much more activity here than, say, late May. There is only so much that can be said about bad play. This stuff is novel.

Heck no. I don't think we are assuming anything. I'd be thrilled with 90 wins, but since that is a conventional barometer for a playoff team, I personally like to look at what level of play would be required to get there the rest of the way. On the upside, and as Davhern mentioned, for fun, it's interesting to look at how well they'd have to play to hit other round numbers of victories.

I often think of records needed to reach win milestones as well. Unfortunately the last few years it has been a pointless and frankly delusional exercise. One team that really sticks out to me as a potential parallel is the 2004 braves. That was the first year I believe they were not favored to win the division (no parallel there, obviously). They had many new parts and it took the first couple of months for the team to find its identity. They languished below .500 and bottomed out at 33-39, only slightly better than where the Cubs hit bottom this year. At this point in that season, they had exactly the same record as the Cubs at 48-43. They managed to finish with 96 wins. It would seem nearly impossible for a team that far under .500 to go on an extended run like they did, but its been done before. And recent seasons have seen one team do it every year, so while that 95 win mark looks unattainable in a practical sense, it is not without precedent.

I'm really getting tired of your stupid posts. This crap you keep spewing over the boards about "math" and "empiricism" completely elides the crucial difference between man-runs and girly-runs. In fact, your blatant refusal to affirm our not-at-all-homophobic distaste for men who won't swing their dicks, erm, bats, at every pitch comes dangerously close to implying that our masculinity should be put in chains by that frigid mistress known as reason. To claim that SLG does not have unique offensive value is to argue that the authentic display of traditional male traits of raw power and athleticism are not the primary purpose of baseball games. To challenge the relevance of our celebration of the positively bestial elements of athleticism is to propose that baseball should be desexualized, and thus it is to imply that baseball should be transformed into a more "fabulous" and, if you will, queered-up activity resembling dance more than sport. One suspects that your favorite baseball phrase is "going the other way." We should have known, all those years ago, that when we started letting baseball players wear long hair and stop wearing high socks it became inevitable that one day our whole hidden homoerotic culture would be unmasked and feminized...thank GOD for people like Steinbrenner who still try to keep up appearances This is right up there with your "down with stats" post. A bit on the pretentious side maybe, but the bolded part was wonderfully worded sarcasm.