Little Slide Rooter

He misplayed a ball. If it was Kosuke or Theriot or someone everyone would be saying he misplayed it, but since it's Soriano he was hotdogging it. Kosuke and Theriot dont make a habit of dumb crap like that.

So we basiaclly have 2 more innings to do something, because weve never gotten a damn thing off of Matt Capps.

Im not going to lie. The Pirates deserve this one. And of course we'll probably rely on Marquis for the series. Super.

Christ Soriano. Now this innings bound to get ugly.

I know its the lefty lefty thing, but I dont know how I feel about Cotts vs. the heart of their lineup in a 1 run game.

Geovany Soto.

Too bad Cotts is going to hand Shark the loss that Zambrano deserved.

Good thing were going to have to exhaust our pen with Marquis pitching an early one tommorow.

Thank god. When did Z become the weak link in our pitching staff?

Im thinking hes done.

Good thing we have a well rested bullpen.

Zambrano isnt fooling anyone this evening. August really hasnt been his month.

Hopefully our ace has settled down. These guys seem to actually want to win tonight. Good thing Woody didnt break a sweat last night.

and depressing to know that if we go 2-3 in the first round of the playoffs, the season is over. no kidding...all playoff series should be 7 games. You guys are making me nervous and it's not even September yet. I've been nervous the whole season! Its a Cub fan thing. We could be up by 5 in game 7 of the World Series with nobody on, 2 outs and 2 strikes and be thinking now how will we blow this one.

Micah Hoffpauir-Chicago

Newark Bears St. Louis Cardinals. 23-2 1.89 ERA .94 WHIP

That wouldn't sell as many tickets. I like how the graphic looks like a fearful Braun fleeing being devoured by a blind and hungry Pujols. I was thinking something else, but it wasnt appropriate.

yay! Okay, this is unacceptable. The Cubs have been outscored by five runs in the sixth inning of the last 14 games. They really need to do something about that. Also, I hate working when there's a game on WGN, since those are the only games I get. Calm down, the 6th inning is when Lou lets the players take a coffee break. All players due up that inning are required to end their ABs as quickly as possible in order to join the rest of the players. The 7 runs were scored by players who wished to end their quick ABs with HRs instead of just striking out. Oh, okay, thanks. That clears it all up. The 6th is when Marquis traditionally falls apart.

If The Cubs win both of their games, Id be OK with wither the Brewers or Cards sweeping this 2 game set. If the Brewers win, the Cards are pushed to 10 games back, essentially making this a 2 team race. If the Cards win both, the Brewers end up 7 back, which is quite comfortable. Of course, The Cubs have to win both games.

Zambrano>Snell. Cubs>Pirates. This is not to say that its impossible for the Pirates top steal one from us, but it does say that we should win this game. I dont care how good Snells been lately. I dont care how good Ryan Doumit and Nate McClouth are. We have a better team, top to bottom. Win.

What's the record when Bob pitches a scoreless 8th? 0-0

If good Kosukes back for good, that'll be just super.

I think that Lous finally found a decent role for Howry. When we have a big lead vs. an awful team.

Should they shut down the Royals because they haven't done well for 20 plus years. I don't think so. I have been to their ballpark and it is really beautiful. They add a really great family, small town feeling at the ballpark. That is something the MLB needs from some teams. Why should they have a team when they can't be competitive, can't draw fans, can't keep their good players, etc etc. Having franchises like the Royals and Pirates casts a dark cloud over the MLB. Other small market teams have proven you can win with a small payroll, but these 2 teams can't even figure out a way to do that. Hell, the Twins traded away arguably the best starting pitcher in baseball for nothing and still found a way to compete for the umteenth straight year. I dont know about liquidaing the franchise, but there should be some rule against owners who have no interest in building a contending team. Theres a difference between teams like the Giants and Padres who are clearly having an off or rebuilding year and these teams like the Pirates and Royals that are constantly in a rebuiling phase, and everytime they bring up a successful player, they cant wait to trade them. Other teams like the Orioles and Blue Jays seem to eb perenially bad, but at least they try, and attempt to keep there players around and sign free agents. When guys like Mark Grudzielanek and Gil Meche are considered big free agent signings, theres something wrong with your organization.