jersey cubs fan

I would be a bit surprised if the Yankees looked at any middling NL starters to fill their rotation. They've been burned repeatedly with guys coming from the NL and not fulfilling their expectations with the Yanks, notably, Pavano, Johnson and Wright.

I don't believe this team is as feast or famine as it used to be, but still, it carries over some of the many characteristics. Going back to comparisons with the Mets, the Cubs have scored 0 or 1 run 8 times this year, the Mets have been held that low just 4. Likewise, the Cubs have been held to 4 or less 23 times this year, the Mets have done so 18. That's just 27.2% of the way into the season. If trends hold those spreads will widen substantially. Maybe some people think it's unfair to compare the Cubs to the best offense in the league, but personally, I'm only interested in seeing this team be the best. The Cubs are 7th in OBP, 7th in SLG and 7th in runs scored right now (although 5th in R/G). They are scoring and pitching well enough to be a little over .500 overall, but those 0 and 1 run outings, where they are predictably 1-7, really hurts. There are all sorts of weird categories where the team is substantially below .500 though, so it's not like this is the primary issue. It's just symptomatic of the fact that many issues are hovering over this team, and they aren't just a rejiggered bullpen away from running away with the title. As for luck in 1 run games, or blaming the bullpen, of the Cubs 10 1-run losses, in only two of them did they score an above average 5 runs. It's hard to blame pitchers or luck when you are scoring 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 runs and losing by 1. When you score that little (below average) you are supposed to lose. And of course, you can't erase all the early season losses, so the Cubs bad start now means they have to play .591 ball if they hope to get to 90 wins, a real stretch when you see even their pythagorean record doesn't bring them to that type of pace.

Not really much of an analysis, with a bunch of "seems" "mights" and "ifs". It's not entirely off the mark though. The issue I have is more about how they got here, and the motivation behind some of the moves. It's a lot of reshuffling without a lot of substance, trying to be passed off as big developments.

I don't want to roast him myself. I'm annoyed with some of his tendencies, but I can live with him as manager. The key remains Hendry and the roster.

So you don't have a problem with the team being under .500 during his tenure? The bottom line is Hendry has done a terrible job putting together a ballclub.

OH please, give me a break. What an absurd post. Who is acting like that? Seriously, ridiculous. I'm acting like a dumbass irresponsible idiot endangered many lives and killed himself, and a father wants to try and blame others and make some money at the same time. That's what's happening right here.

I see a guy trying to profit off his son's death. Probably doing the same things he did when his son was alive, by blaming others for his kids' failings. so the bar shouldn't be held accountable for their negligence? I don't really see negligence on their part. He chose to drive. I'm sick of people blaming others for their own ignorance.

That's only because we keep bringing in the same type of players.

I see a guy trying to profit off his son's death. Probably doing the same things he did when his son was alive, by blaming others for his kids' failings.

I still have a problem with Goodell's ex-post facto enforcement of the new zero tolerance policy, regardless of how the Tank issue ends up. It's a sign of a leader a little too drunk on power, and I'm not sure how well that bodes for his future. At some point he could force the union into breaking with the league on these issues and think about a work stoppage.

I honestly don't think it's that bad, but it could get that way if they don't turn things around here quickly. Just as the offense seemed to be stabilizing with some relatively decent consistent run totals, they go back to back with 1 run outputs. There is always going to be a danger of slipping back into that feast or famine thing if they don't start getting regular production out of their most important hitters. I really don't think they can afford to get much further under .500 between now and the all star break. They really need to stop losing series (4 of the last 5) and have to put a stop to the 3 games losing streaks.

Ummm, I bet they don't do that and there are plenty of people who filed frivolous lawsuits who aren't involved with the Cardinals organization.

That inning was the proverbial "pitcher fighting himself" inning. Wells would throw a first pitch curve to the perfect spot on the outside corner. Or he'd let one fly that ends up looking like a pitch out. He wasn't just nibbling when he walked two guys, he was missing by a wide margin, which is pretty much the only way you can walk the always jumpy Michael Barrett late in a close game. Very high and outside, very low and inside. He was all over the place. I actually got excited thinking there was a good chance he'd throw such a bad pitch that even Izturis couldn't try and swing. To be fair, the DP pitch was probably a strike, but I still think you have to make him throw 2 in that situation.

But wasn't he at about 95 and wasn't that about the limit during his rehab? 4 of the previous 6 outs were in the air, and a couple balls went pretty deep. It wasn't inevitable, but I know I wasn't expecting much more out of him. He had thrown 92 pitches in his previous start, but that was a strong 8 innings of a blowout game. The start before that, he threw 97 pitches. By my count, he was at 87 pitches through 6 and had retired 10 Padres in a row. I don't see any reason why he couldn't be trusted to go another inning. My bad, I was subtracting the pitches leading up to the HR away from his 100+ total, forgetting that he stayed in the game after that. I wasn't keeping track during the game, but I thought it was time to pull him. Regardless, I'm still pissed Izturis swung on 3-1. A K and Marshall is out of the game. A walk and the Cubs are up 2-0. I really wish somebody hit for him there. If anything you need a deep fly there, and Izturis is not good at those.

But wasn't he at about 95 and wasn't that about the limit during his rehab? 4 of the previous 6 outs were in the air, and a couple balls went pretty deep. It wasn't inevitable, but I know I wasn't expecting much more out of him.

I think there is room for worrying about more than one player. Soriano, Lee, Barrett, they've all come up short of expectations.

I believe it centers around the organization "be aggressive" philosophy. The Cubs stress agressiveness over intelligence. The intelligent thing to do is accept a walk when the pitcher isn't giving you hittable strikes. The Cubs tell their guys that "it's called hitting". That wasn't just a Dusty thing, Hendry has stressed it since he was the minor league coordinator. The Cubs want to "be aggressive", "make things happen" and "put pressure on the defense." To me that pretty much equates to making pitchers' jobs easier and running into outs.

Obviously the Cubs just need more LH threats.

He's making $650,000. I would have liked to have seen the Cubs sign Cruz and Floyd, FWIW. IMO we already have Jose Cruz in Angel Pagan. they are very similar, accept Cruz is much better at playing baseball. I got you all beat in the Cruz/Floyd 'I told you so' sweepstakes. when Maddux's trade to the Dodgers became inevitable, I lobbied for him to be the player the Cubs acquired, for the exact reasons stated above. He really would have been a nice piece to the OF puzzle. He is in no way comparable to Pagan, or I should say, Pagan is not comparable to him. If the outfield was Soriano, Cruz/Jones, Floyd/Murton, I think this offense would look significantly better. He's always hit LH pitching well and is raking this year.

Lee's power remains a concern. He's now on pace for 12 HR. I'm guessing he'll end up with much more than that, but he'd have to really turn it on to even flirt with 30 this season. He hasn't hit much since the first game against the Nationals, May 4. His OPS has dropped 132 points since that date. He's had a 4/5 day against Philly and the big homerun against the White Sox, but other than that, he hasn't done much. The Cubs are 7-10 during this time. Obviously that's not all the offense's fault, and Lee's struggles are partially due to the neck thing, but they began before that, and they really need him to turn it back on. I think the early BABIP success was unsustainable, as was the AVG. He is still hitting .373, but he probably won't end the season anywhere near that mark. They need his power to at least get back to pre 2005 levels.

Marshall was a little wild, but looked good overall. Murton and DeRosa were the only hitters to show up to the game. Pagan was brutal, Lee and Ramirez went up hacking. The game turned in the 7th. Barrett and Murton walked. DeRosa popped a single into the bermuda triangle, which forced Barrett to hold before going to third. Bases loaded, 1 out. Wells had been missing spots by 1-2 feet. It's a 3-1 count and he grounds into a 4-6-3 DP, ending the inning. Marshall had been up next, but I think would have been pinch hit for if it got to his spot. He was at about 95 pitches, which is where Lou has been pulling many guys this year. The fact that Marshall's pitch count has been somewhat limited in his rehab made me believe he should have been pulled. 4 of his last 6 outs had been via the air. He struck out Greene, then gave up a single/hr, ballgame over.

One thing Lou has surpassed Baker in is that gut. I don't know if it was the jacket or not, but when I saw him go get Wuertz, he looked as fat as I've ever seen a baseball manager. That thing was a good 3 feet in front of his face. My lord. Is the old man's body wearing down under the stress?

I must have missed the part where Lou didn't actually make any of the mistakes I listed on the first page. How sophomoric of me. They aren't mistakes, they are nitpicks using the benefit of hind-sight. This thread doesn't exist if Izturis or Jones gets a hit. Expecting Lou to pinch-hit for Izturis is wrong. How many current managers would have pinch-hit in that situation? Any? Izturis isn't a good hitter, but that situation is just fine for him. All you want is the ball in play to score a run, even just a ground ball, and Izturis does that fairly well. Marshall was under 100 pitches and in control of the game. I don't understand why he should have been taken out because someone reached base. People would then cry that Lou doesn't have faith in his younger players and isn't giving them a shot. And why would Ward be a better choice than Jones in the 9th? Both are lefties and Jones had better numbers than Ward against the pitcher (albeit in such a small sample). This "mistake" is just fan disapproval for Jones showing up. Lou has pinch hit for Izturis before. Lots of managers have, and would. A ground ball causes a DP so that's exactly what you don't want? That makes no sense. Marshall is coming off rehab and hasn't gone very deep into games.

Not only that, but I specifically called the DP on the 3-1 pitch and lamented the fact that Marshall would be going out there for another inning when I felt he was tiring. Had Izturis just struck out, a pinch hitter takes Marshall's place and he's not out there the next inning. Izturis swing 3-1 when Wells was missing his spots by a matter of feet was the turning point in the game.

I interpreted that to mean when Dusty screwed something up, it stayed screwed up. he just made one mistake over and over and over and over Showing up?