Little Slide Rooter

Edmonds seriosuly needs a break. Why do we even bother getting runners on base?

Any relation to Johnathon Niese??? You know, the guy who's pitching for the Mets tonight??? :D Yeah, him too. Whatever the hell his name is, hes having trouble getting outs.

Backe really hates us. David Nieses major league debut isnt exactly going the way hed dreamed as a little kid.

Promising start to the game there. Now lets see if the offense has awoken.

According to the score, Lou anounced that Harden will not get another start until a week from thursday. No pain or sorness or anything, Lou just feels that we have enough of a lead that he wants to give him a break and keep him fresh. Also, Gaudin unavilable until Friday with a sore back.

Kosuke hits for the cycle. Top that. Ronny Cedeno goes 5-5 with 5 grand slams, closes the game pitching 3 perfect innings, shakes his fist in the general direction of Milwaukee, causing the Brewers to lose, and later declares himself the King of the World, a nomination the United Nations quickly approves. I still think Theriot homering is more bold. How about this: Zambrano takes a walk. -Edmonds takes a called strike and doesnt have words for the ump -Soriano doesnt botch a defensive play -the heart of the lineup produces -Someone hits a walk off home runs and mimics Jose Valverdes save celebration. As a result, smoke actually comes out of Valverdes ears.

Kosuke hits for the cycle. Top that.

Good thing its a night game then. They should be nice and full by 7:05 Prince doesnt get full.

Brilliant move by Manual. Send a lefty to make his major league debut vs. a team that eats lefties for brunch. Maybe its just a thank you to Yost for putting in Gagne yesterday.

well, considering he thought the cubs weren't hot in august, my guess would be that, no, he doesn't realize that. 20-8 in August. Absolutely pathetic. Also we lost the 1st game of every month beside June, so losing game 1 of September isnt exactly crushing.

My only problem with Theriot near the top is his propensity for bad base-running I also have an issue with DeRosa and Soto being buried in the bottom of the order My suggestion of Edmonds at #4 was just to "break up the righties" Yeah, Theriot's CS and base running is poor. Give him the red light and let him keep getting on base at the top of the lineup. The only thing I really don't like is having Soto bat 8th. But Theriot is a fantastic #2 hitter if you can curtail that base running. I love Theriot, but seriously, the kid needs to be chained top the base until the ball hits the bat.

Matt Craig is a completely different hitter since he returned from the Spanish American War. The only reason Craig didnt make the majors earlier is because he never got along with Frank Chance very well.

Hopefully Lou has shoved an offensive enema up their collective anal crevices.

Aside from that 1 game when he had 2 doubles and a triple, Edmonds really hasnt been much better than Fukudome lately. hes something like 4 for his last 30.

or better still... Theriot SS Lee 1B Soriano LF Ramirez 3B Soto C DeRosa RF Edmonds/Johnson CF Fontenot 2B

The Astros could prove to be a scary team. Whether they are or not, at 8.5 out of the WC, they think they are contenders, and besides The Cubs, all their games are vs. Pittsburg, Cincy, Atlanta, Colorodo, and Florida, and while thats not exactly a cake walk, its a lot easier than both ours and the Brewers schedules.

The bleeding stops today.

Your post doesn't make sense to me You say their schedule is easy but they play 13 of their 24 games against teams over .500, and 6 against an under .500 team that isn't necessarily a pushover. Then you say that if we take care of business (presumably you mean win at least half of our games), we will be rooting for a team that has a better shot of catching us over a team that is virtually unable to catch us under any circumstances. :confused: I know, its confusing. I just want the easiest rout in possible. We've had a few divison titles. If we get the WC, w get the WC, and if that means facing the Mets instead of the D Bags I'll take it. I just want to win the whole damn thing. As soon as the magic number for a PO spot is down to 0, then we can focus on the division.

Phils have a relatively easy schedule ahead of them. They have 4 vs. the Brewers and 3 vs. the Mets. besides that they have 6 vs. the Marlins. 5 vs. the Nats, and 6 vs. the Braves. As long as we can take care of our own buisness these next 2 weeks, we might end up rooting for the Brewers during their series with the Phils.

Cliff Lee shuts out White Sox 5-0 for his 20th win. Not a proud day for Chicago baseball.

2005-18 game winne 2006-slowed up a bit 2007-lost the strike zone, spent a big chunk of the year in the minors 2008-20 game winner-on a sub .500 team, sub 3.00 ERA, 1 of a 2 man race for AL CY Young with K Rod Granted, Rich Hill hasnt been around as long,and hasnt had rthe success that Lee already has, but its proof that you can turn things around despite a lost season.

Yes, because there's a wild card now. The 1969 Cubs would have won the wild card if it existed. So basically, as long as we win 7-8 and the Phillies and Mets both lose 7-8 this month, were in.

By no means am I saying its going to happen, and this isnt a chickn little moment, but from an absolutely hypothetical standpoint, if the Cubs did end up stroking it in the end, would the collapse be bigger than 1969?

Scott McClain got called up by the Giants today. Not Cubs related at all, but I didnt think it needed its own thread, but the guy seems to get a call up every other year, and he has to be 40 by now.

What does an overachieving fofense have to do with their pyth record? Not sure what you're talking about Ryan Theriot Derosa Edmonds Johnson Fontenot All key contributers who are playing wayyyy above expectations. If those guys return to where we expected them to be, how much better is this offense than last year? Better,m but not significantly better. How about if Lee and Fukudome perform where we expected them to be? And you're overlooking a huge upgrade to the offense at catcher. It went from being a complete black hole last year to being one of the top 2 or 3 in baseball, and it wasn't totally unexpected. Lee and FUkudome? You really think it's realistic that they "snap out of it"? I don't. I think it's pretty clear by now that Fukudome is not good and Lee is declining in a big way. That's a poor example. I think it's much more likely that guys like Theriot, Derosa, and Edmonds to fall back to where they should be. Will it happen? I don't know, but it should be a concern. And I know Soto is an upograde, that's why I said the offense would still be better than 2007, just not signifcantly better. I mean, think about it. The 2007 offense was very mediocre. So what has changed since then? Soto is the one definite upgrade. Fukudome is a downgrade in RF (offesnively), Derrek Lee is performing way under his 2007 numbers, and then center field is the last position that is different. My point is that 3 of the 4 biggest upgrades (2008 Theriot over 2007 Theriot, 2008 DeRosa over 2007 DeRosa, and the CF platoon over the 2007 CF situation) could revert back to 2007 ways in an instant. ALl I'm saying is that it concerns me that on paper, this offense is very close to the 2007 offense in terms of players. Lee yes, Fukudome, probably not. I think he was better off with a manager who punched him in the face for sucking rather than calling him in for a meeting. I dont know why Lou just cant accept the fact that hes a number hitter, not 2, not a 6, not a 7.