jersey cubs fan

No need to apologize, I just like letting the world know my pet peeves. It doesn't matter to me where the season ends as long as it ends in late October.

Actually, baseball is a sport where home field advantage makes a noticeable difference in the game, stemming from the home team batting last. In football and basketball it's much more of a minimal difference. So, for situations like the last Astro series, the games could've been played in Wrigley with the Astros batting last, and they'd have more of a home field advantage than the Cubs. What's the difference between home and road winning percentages in those leagues?

That was the series at the end of May, wasn't it? ?? I meant the Cubs are ending their season at Wrigley vs. AZ, first time since 2006 that we would end the season at home. He means the season ended in May. Oops, I get jokes :oops: It's a pet peeve of mine when people, mostly sports writers, write or say stuff like "first time since 2006", which implies it hasn't happened in a long time. That was 2 freaking years ago. I see sportswriters often write stuff like the STL is trying to get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2006. They make it sounds like there have been several seasons since something occured when it was not that long ago.

But that's not really all that new. It's not a sign of how different this team is from the Dusty years. They were 2nd in the NL in SLG in 2004 and 2005, yet the team wasn't that good. The walks are notable because of how different it is from the bad years, when they were obviously the problem that nobody in charge paid attention to or cared about.

I think the Cubs should play one game completely opposite. Every RH hitter bats lefty and vice versa. Treat 3b like 1b and run there after hitting the ball, have the infielders throw to 3b.

Throw 4 solid innings and solidify a spot in the playoff bullpen. I'd trust him for one inning over Howry.

http://content9.flixster.com/question/29/10/01/2910015_std.jpg Say my name bi&^#

I actually don't think he's that great, he's just the most well known. I've seen him make plenty of really bad calls. There's a handful of others who are much better.

But it didn't say "Trib and Mariotti in talks". It was posted on Friday saying he'd start on Monday. That's clearly false. Maybe Dallas Green doesn't write his own headlines...

Howry doesn't deserve another shot at ANYONE'S good graces. I don't get what Lou is thinking on this. It was around this time last year that Lou said Kendall would be his starting catcher down the stretch and in the playoffs. He partially flip-flopped on that one, but Lou is like any other manager who likes to rely on the crutch of a proven veteran. That way, if the proven veteran fails, they can say I gave the ball to a guy that's done it before, you can't blame me.

This is very early isn't it?

It's not called walking. The 90's Yankees didn't lead the league in walks. The highest scoring offense in the national league this year doesn't lead the league in walks.

I am not trying to start a fight, I just wanted to know what you like about Lang? As a Wings fan I cant think of too many players who have played for the Wings over the last 20 years that I disliked more. Its not just the fact that he is lazy on defense. On offense he tries to hard to make spectacular plays and loses the puck. Plus he gets knocked off the puck very easily for a guy his size. About the only thing that I ever really like about him is that he is strong of the PP. All that being said I only seen him about 15 times last year playing for the Hawks. Maybe his game was different in Chicago. Hawks fans haven't had many guys capable of actually scoring. I didn't see many games. I've heard very little about him being lazy, and considering the source is Rozner, I don't put much stock in it.

That's BS. Yeah, he blew that call terribly. But is it his fault that the NFL that incomplete passes aren't reviewable? He's one of the better refs in the league. He got one wrong. It happens. And I think I'm the last remaining Rams fan. I guess I know how the Lorax felt... (Good God, the Rams are terrible.) I don't think it's too much BS. He made a mistake in a pretty critical situation and probably cost the Chargers the game. With that in mind, I don't have a problem with him getting graded down. Now, he should still be in line for the playoffs and Super Bowl barring more mistakes. He is still one of the best out there. You can review incomplete passes. You can't review a play once the ref blows the whistle. The problem was he screwed up by blowing the whistle too soon. It's not the NFL's fault.

scary time I guess he's happier knowing exactly what kind of [expletive] you can get from Howry.

And Dempster is leading off. Lou is nuts.

DeRosa is batting 9th?

I would have preferred they didn't boo, and there should have been some acknowledgement of the hurricane victims. But as I've said before, this was on McClane first and foremost. People knew what was coming. They could have easily gotten out of Houston with their families. They didn't need to fly in last second. Plan ahead next time and don't cry when fans of one team boo your team.

Maybe they could, but I'd like to at least have a third solid arm. Harden is probably going to be a 6 inning pitcher. There is likely to be at least one extra inning contest.

I'm not so sure. Just making the playoffs may not cut it. They made the playoffs earlier this decade and it didn't do anything for the longterm health of the organization. They can't just sneak in as some 7th seed and get shellacked. People are going to be watching this year, and if they aren't good, people will be disappointed. Well, they didn't have the young talent in 2001-02 that they have now. And, obviously, the organization was still stuck in its backward ways. What I mean is that just making the playoffs and getting the young guys some playoff experience may be viewed as enough of a step forward to keep the fans excited. But you're right, there will be a lot more people watching... I can't wait for the season to get going and for the first game on CI with Pat behind the mic. Yes, it's definitely different from back then, but the goals should still be higher. If this team's focus is just on getting to the playoffs, I'm not sure that will be enough to show they are heading in the right direction. Look at last year, 40-34-8, with 239 GS and 235 GA. That wasn't much different than the 7 seed Calgary, which went 42-30-10, with 229/227. If that's good enough to make the playoffs, and that's what the Blackhawks do, I'm not sure I'd say they truly took a step forward. Obviously it would be better than missing the playoffs, but this team probably needs to be a bit more like last year's Dallas team if they truly want to keep the momentum going.

I'm not so sure. Just making the playoffs may not cut it. They made the playoffs earlier this decade and it didn't do anything for the longterm health of the organization. They can't just sneak in as some 7th seed and get shellacked. People are going to be watching this year, and if they aren't good, people will be disappointed.

I'm pretty sure they were $1.5M over and Lang was set to make $4M. So that doesn't leave a lot of room. That's why I say the most likely scenario is a trade involving Khabi. $2.5m is a fair amount of space, but I think he was referring to next year, when they will clear Khabi and Havlat as well. I don't think there are any better centers currently available to sign.

I would say it's not a carbon copy Reds team, but there are plenty of similarities to raise doubts about their future. They've got a couple good young players, but they are hardly poised for great things.

The only one I'd worry about is Zambrano. They aren't scheduled to face Dempster. So, that's not a problem. Zambrano is on tap to pitch the last game of that series on Wednesday. Which means the Mets would see him that day and if they end up with the wildcard, again on Tues/Wed the next week in Game 1. The problem is you either throw Z against the Mets Wed or possibly not at all after this weekend. I'm not sure how the Tue/Wed thing works, but if you push Z on Friday, he can't go on Tuesday because that will be on short rest. I wouldn't worry about Harden, because he most likely won't pitch til game 3 or 4, if what we read is accurate. I still think Harden in Game 1 is a good idea, allowing him to pitch game 5 if need be on 5 days rest, or be ready to go in Game 1 of the NLCS. I don't really understand why all the beat writers are just projecting the rotation from now until the end of the season and carrying that over to the postseason. Lou changes rotations and lineups all the time, why does everybody think he's going to keep this constant for a month?

Are you implying that his mixed emotions could have had some sort of negative effect on the team?