abuck1220

interesting...i'm surprised that your offensive edge is so big. i outhomered you 12-8 and only had six fewer hits. you do hold an 8-0 lead in steals, but i'm surprised you're up nearly 25 on offense. the nats really hurt you this week. not only did their crappy play cost you in four starts from livan/patterson, but it kept cordero from getting points. and it's a good thing you sat guillen...0-14, 5 k's, gdp...ouch! speaking of benching players...some of my decisions really look bad now. i sat three QS and nearly 50 points in perez and bedard...bedard doing his work against the yanks and bosox... :shock: and of course i dropped gonzo and his 28 point week for dellucci and his -0.25. if i had made the right calls on those, i'd be up quite a bit going into the final week w/ a three start edge. but i don't feel too great about having that three start edge because none of my pitchers are any good. i also think the cards should rest pujols, carp and izzy this final week.

so i can bench dellucci's gimpy ass, correct?

yeah, that's the problem.

Not a Howry fan? I've heard that Cleveland wants to keep Howry as their closer next year, so he may never become available. eh...relievers are so fickle. it's so tough to judge how good a guy is based on 40-60 innings. i agree the cubs need an upgrade in the pen, but i'm just wary of throwing a mulit-year deal for a bunch of cash at a bullpen arm. that being said, i wouldn't mind howry. he's been pretty consistent over the course of his career. i'm not doing backflips for him though.

I said seems and no one has pointed out all the games he's won with his bat. His defense is sub-par. Have you watched him try to turn double plays? I will never figure you guys out. I am convinced you don't watch/understand much baseball. You pillory Perez all year and the guy, while admittedly streaky and too anxiuos at the plate, has played well all year. I think if you asked knowledgebale people who has had the better year -- based on watching the game, rather than based on reviewing box scores-- perez would be an overwhelming choice over walker. The point here is not to praise Perez-- he's far from great-- it's that stats-- at least in walker and perez's cases-- have blinded stats-livers to their actual contributions. I know I am not going to change the metric minds but maybe you guys should start watching more and crunching numbers less. You might get an actual line on players that way. agreed i trust your interpretation of the game instead of unbiased numbers. and try not to act like a huge jerk in your posts. actually, keep it up so you can get banned. I guess I'm acting like a jerk because I disagree philosophically with many on this board. I'll try to be be better and only ridicule--like you did in your post-- other's viewpoints. this has got to be some kind of record for someone acting like this to not get banned. of course, i wouldn't believe any numbers you have to back this claim up, i'm just basing it one what i remember/have seen about trolls being banned in the past.

i don't want any of those players. i'd take burnett, but the cubs have more pressing issues. like team chemistry and defense at 2b and catcher. :roll:

yeah...him and ernie banks...what a couple of sucky losers. now, jim leyritz on the other hand...there's a ballplayer.

and i don't know why i ever let westbrook get away from me...

i'm trying to figure out the same thing. your pitching has been terrible, i've hit 11 hrs, and my pen has over 30 points. i can't figure out why i'm not up by 50...or even up at all for that matter... i guess my pitching hasn't been very good either...just two QS...and two wins blown by bullpens. and you'll have outstarted me 9-5 after today. i could use a good night from teix, blalock, dellucci (if he plays :evil: ) and street. damn, i'd be feeling good about things if had just left gonzo in there....

i think you're confused about what a 'soft' .300 is. alex sanchez puts up a 'soft' .300. juan pierre puts up a 'soft' .300. todd walker does not, as evidenced by his solid slg.

so last year it was the bad attitudes that kept the cubs down, and apparently, this year its the defense. what year do the cubs get around to improving the OFFENSE?

shockingly, the obp twins go down after five pitches. also surprisingly, lee hits a solo homerun. this first inning sums up why baker is a terrible, terrible manager.

When did Shelton become bloody superman?!? I thought he had been mired in a dreadful slump. he scored 20+ in two of the last three weeks...he's been pretty consistent. of course, he hasn't been this good very often. you've got three guys going tomorrow though. i think i'll end week one behind by at least 20. that seven point relief outing from batista was huge for you. the gonzo-dellucci swap is killing me! it keeps saying he's day to day, so i don't know if should sit him...i hate it when that happens!

L. Gonzalez ARI 22, 23 glad i benched gonzalez for a guy who's had four at bats this week. :evil:

mulder's trying to make carpenter feel better about his start.

maybe the worst 1-2 major league baseball has ever seen. i can't, for the life of me, figure out why lee is like 70th in the league in times at plate w/ a runner on base.

oh, i'm sure you're right. i'm just a lot more worried about your offense than i am your pitching for some reason. that, or i'm not as big on my offense as you are. and i figured i had the pen advantage because two of my guys are still in the hunt, and the third won't take any save chances off. on the other hand, toronto's playing the yankees (and the red sox next?), the nats have fallen out of it, and izzy may get some rest down the stretch.

interesting #'s... i actually think the gap between your offense and mine is bigger than the gap between your pitching and mine... the offensive totals are close despite abreu, wright and pujols having below average weeks. of course, i'm playing a man short w/ dellucci not playing. i think your offense is waaay better than mine. on the other hand, i think our pitching is a little closer than one would think. i don't have any aces like you do, but i have a bunch of #3's that usually give me six innings. the only area i have the clear edge is the bullpen. my pen has won games for me all season, and they're winning this one for me now. however, i don't feel the slightest bit comfortable, even with a 40+ point lead, in a matchup that lasts another week.

I watched a TON of games pre-2004 and although Joe had good numbers overall, he was rarely if ever a dominant closer. I can recall many many games that he closed where he allowed a hit or two and a walk and a number of the outs were line drives at someone. Don't get me wrong, I really liked Joe Borowski - it's easy to like a guy who's toiled in the minors for a long time, worked hard to get to where he wanted to be and took advantage of it for as long as he could, it's just that I personally never felt he was a closer that struck fear in opposing batters hearts. He's a great guy and a super "underdog" pitcher to root for, but the term "smoke and mirrors" definitely applied to him many times. borowski was a dominant pitcher during those two years with the cubs. he was tough to hit and struck out a bunch of guys...he just did it w/o throwing 98, so people like to say he wasn't dominant. w/o looking up #'s or thinking too hard about it, i'd bet that his two year run is better than any two year run by any cub bullpen arm this decade.

If Carp doesn't straighten out, the Cards and I may both come up short of our goals. and make me very happy...on both counts! wagner nails down a huge save for me and an even bigger save for the phils...what a comeback for them!

23 straight QS for carpenter followed by three straight non-QS/terrible starts. good thing he got all those complete games in the middle of june!

damn, matsui could have really made the yankee game a good one for me... bonds in coors for the weekend... 8-[

it's a stretch to say i'm one of those, let alone both. and good luck w/ the job, uk. keep us posted. the last time you abandoned a team, they were in the championship in two short years. :D

why further wreck Hill's confidence at this point? who's to say he'd pitch poorly? can't just not play him for the rest of the year to make sure his feelings don't get hurt. and i'd rather see him out there today than have him be asked to throw three innings after sitting for a month.

wouldn't it suck if patterson got thrown out stealing and soto didn't get his ab?