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QFT

Hairston was out (the replay was clear) and it was because of the stupid slide. I think he got ejected for arguing but I was turned it off...

FYI, Braves.com

Cubs.com Link He's the ace and it has nothing to do with being a LHP.

You can make the argument that this April is worse than April 2006, and I guess, technically, that's correct. But I contend that both months are of the same order of magnitude of suckiness. So what if this year is a little worse.... it still sucks !!! April 2007 IP H R ER BB K HR PC BB/9 K/9 HR/9 WHIP ERA Zambrano 22.0 25 19 19 16 16 6 401 6.55 6.55 2.45 1.86 7.77 April 2006 IP H R ER BB K HR PC BB/9 K/9 HR/9 WHIP ERA Zambrano 33.7 33 23 20 25 38 6 648 6.68 10.16 1.60 1.72 5.35 agreed!

:lol:

Cards lose! Cards lose! At least they didn't gain a game on the Cubs today.

Let's go Giants EWW just beat the Cards

WTH? Poo tried to steal home????? He takes some boneheaded risks on the bath paths but this is ridiculous even for him. TLR didn't look happy at all.

I can't believe Rothschild still has a job. I don't really think Rothschild is to blame for Z being a [expletive] headcase. Just sayin... And one could argue that Dusty's overuse may have more to do with Z's start than anything Larry has done. If Lilly, Marquis and Hill are examples of what Larry is capable of, then bravo. Especially if Marquis can hold it together...even the great Dave Duncan couldn't keep that guy pitching well. But he started the same way last year... He was bad last April, but he wasn't this bad. ERA 2004 - 3.55 2005 - 4.31 2006 - 5.35 As of this writing, he is at 8.10 so far this year. It's 7.77 after this start. He has two more starts this month (including the Brewers on the 23rd and we know they'll have something to prove). I'm willing to bet that his ERA for April will continue it's upward trend! Frankly, I don't see how things are going to miraculously change when the calendar turns to May. It took a long streak of really good games to return him to respectability last year. His walk rate continues to rise and that's a big part of the problem. side note: Z has pitched 22 innings and given up 19 ER thus far. Therefore, he can pitch 18 innings of shutout ball over the next 2 starts and still end the month with an inflated 4.27 ERA. That would be a vast improvement but I don't see it happening. :cry:

It's not about 1 run it's about 5 runs. Z was not this bad last April. This is worse than anything he's gone through previously.

Huh, isn't this the time where Z is conciliatory and talks about letting his team down? Oh yeah, the door wasn't shut after the 1st because they scored another run in the 5th inning. :roll: So you wouldn't take 1 run over 4 innings? He threw a terrible hanger to francouer and paid for it and otherwise pitched an ok game. His control has sucked so far but look no further back than last april as he was terrible then too and ended up winning 16 games for this pathetic team. He'll get it back and will be very good the rest of the year. NO, I wouldn't. IMO, you're looking at this wrong; he's not a 4th or 5th starter. Giving up 4 runs in the first inning was just plain bad and allowing another run to score in the 5th was terrible. It wasn't a matter of a few bad pitches, he was escaping trouble in almost every inning. We're talking about 5 ER, 8 H and 5 BB in 6 IP. That's a 7.50 ERA and 2.17 WHIP. I know he has a good track record but I'm calling him out because he has clearly been the weak link among the 4 regular starters. In fact, it isn't even close! BTW, I don't know if he will rebound. We all assume he will because he did so last year but players can have uncharacteristically bad seasons.

Bonds just hit a homer to tie the game with STL. It's the first time I rooted for him to hit one!

Sullivan /Tribune Huh, isn't this the time where Z is conciliatory and talks about letting his team down? Oh yeah, the door wasn't shut after the 1st because they scored another run in the 5th inning. :roll:

If you want to show it's a farce, pick a player who sucks and is not popular. Ronny Cedeno perhaps. A much better idea, except if we're going to do this, it'd be best to pick based on which position would be easiest to push someone in. Would it be easier to go with an OFer? Angel Pagan it is. Doesn't the winner have to be a Major Leaguer to qualify? :lol:

I believe Jones is being scouted I just don't see the addition of a 3rd catcher and Barrett in LF.

um... why is "nearly" in the title?

I wish, but the way he's pitching the Cubs would be lucky to get AGon straight up. :lol:

no, 14 games and I'm still very optimistic. 3 of the 5 pitchers have been solid and tonight proves that this team can score runs when the weather is conducive to offense. I wish Z would stop sucking and Guzman was the fifth starter though. Right now, I'm more confident about Angel getting into the rotation... I know it's early. But it's hard to be optimistic after games like this. We blowout win 10 runs up. We loose freaking ONE to ZERO. We lose FIVE to EIGHT. FOUR to FIVE. And so on. Dammit it just seems like. . I don't know. ------------------------------------------- I am optimistic because they are 5-9 and only 3 games out of first place. In another division this would be an early grave. Well, the good thing is we won't be seeing any Wild Card threads this year. There's a real good chance that the NL Central winner will have a worse record than the Wild Card winner. I'm almost certain of that. I agree. The Cubs schedule will allow them to make up some games very quickly (within the week) if they can take advantage of it. The weather in Chicago over the weekend should allow for more offense. Let's hope the pitching is decent and the bats are ready to go.

The defense let Eyre down; Izzy needed to make sure he got that third out instead of double clutching. Beyond that, Cox was smart to send a boat load of righties to the plate because he knew the Cubs' bullpen was short... [broken record]Zambrano's fault for not pitching 7 innings[/broken record]

no, 14 games and I'm still very optimistic. 3 of the 5 pitchers have been solid and tonight proves that this team can score runs when the weather is conducive to offense. I wish Z would stop sucking and Guzman was the fifth starter though. Right now, I'm more confident about Angel getting into the rotation... I know it's early. But it's hard to be optimistic after games like this. We blowout win 10 runs up. We loose freaking ONE to ZERO. We lose FIVE to EIGHT. FOUR to FIVE. And so on. Dammit it just seems like. . I don't know. ------------------------------------------- I am optimistic because they are 5-9 and only 3 games out of first place. In another division this would be an early grave.

Wanna bet Hill get's it done? I hope so. In a way, I think it would be more deflating, to the team, if he doesn't because he's been the most dominant starter. That's why I think there's a lot of pressure on him tomorrow.

no, 14 games and I'm still very optimistic. 3 of the 5 pitchers have been solid and tonight proves that this team can score runs when the weather is conducive to offense. I wish Z would stop sucking and Guzman was the fifth starter though. Right now, I'm more confident about Angel getting into the rotation...

What more can Lou do? He's made changes every which way and we still lose. He is the reason that they did not have any relievers left. He should have left one guy in yesterday and hoped for the best. I disagree. He couldn't anticipate a 14 inning game. He used his guys like he normally would--actually, Wuertz went longer than normal. The problem is Zambrano didn't pitch into the 7th inning. Lou's hands were tied. Everyone knew it coming into this game; not just because of the extra innings but because Soriano is sitting on the bench with one less reliever in the bullpen!!!