bcl412

If Lee is back to his 2005 form, this team might be scary good. And that is without Soriano playing yet.

I think 2005 Lee might be back.

Seriously, when Z throws strikes how does anyone ever hit him. He makes the ball look like a whiffle ball.

I really hate bloop singles.

Bob just said the Reds lost a chance to put points on the board. I've lost all respect for him.

Fogg's out is a payback for that double.

yeah i don't know if anyone can beat rusty kuntz. His parents had no soul

On pace for 32 runs. Keep it up.

I wonder if this has something to do with why it looked like he couldn't catch up with any of Harang's pitches?

This is why: .175/.230/.298 Don't forget: .335/.418/.662 (Lee's 2005) I was pretty sick, too. At the time Lee was one of the best players in baseball, (if he keeps up what he has done so far this year he still is). Soriano, right now, is playing like one of the worst players on the team. It seems like we have gotten more production from Theriot and Fontenot than Soriano.

Tampa Bay wouldn't do that, unless the Cubs added a guy like Marshall or Gallagher along with Murton. But if the Cubs are interested in a guy like Brignac, then it would make some sense. I still couldn't see them taking those two for Longoria or Upton.

I'm a fan of good baseball players who don't cheat to be good baseball players, even if they play for a rival ( I want them to fail miserably when they play the Cubs though. So I like to watch David Wright. He's pretty good at baseball.

whew, at least I wasnt the only one to notice the mispellings that existed on top of the dreadful grammar. props to the wolfman irony I'm not one to usually criticize someone's grammar. But, if you're going to do it, you should do it without using sentence fragments, and you should capitalize your sentences. Not to mention, "whew" isn't a word. I'm just saying, you might want to watch what you criticize other people for. You just might be doing the same thing yourself.

Pedroia hit 182/308/236 in the month of April last year. Chris Young through May 3rd: .202 .255 .383 Tulowitzki through April 25th: .185 .274 .246 Josh Fields through 23 games: .218 .274 .333 Each of these guys had cups of coffees (~80 PAS)the year before and were bad then as well. That's just from guys who got rookie of the year votes last year. The only ones to start well were Braun, Delmon Young, and Reggie Willits. Pie hit .362 .410 .563 in AAA last year. I'd say he has a clue. Are you telling me he has nothing left to work on at the plate? That is just ridiculous...the massive holes in his long swing are glaring and nevermind the fact he doesnt have a good idea of the strike zone at all He is talented but still very raw.....he knows what he needs to work on now, and if he doesnt he probably wont ever stick up here Where do you think Pie has a better chance of getting the coaching he needs to work on those things? In Iowa with minor league hitting coaches or in Chicago with Gerald Perry and Alan Trammell on the coaching staff? I could see if he had mediocre success or minimal time in AAA. But he has hit .306/.362/.484 in nearly 800 ABs in Iowa. You can't expect your rookie players to just come in and be great. Compare it to other sports. How many NBA players come out of college (pretty much the NBA's and NFL's minor leagues) and just tear up the league. Same with the NFL, there is a certain period of adjustment that a player needs to make in order to play at the top level of competition in every sport. Yeah there are players who do really well right off the bat, but not that many. That's why the people who do really well off the bat are famous.

I think the Cubs should get the DH and the rest of the teams have to bat their pitcher. That way the Cubs won't have to deal with RISP situations with the pitcher batting.

I just want the wind to blow out tonight and in tomarrow. I think if Z is on it doesn't really matter which way the wind blows, and since they'll be facing Fogg the Cubs should smack him around. And Lilly needs all the help he can get.

I don't know who you're talking to but I didn't once consider this as "helping" Pie by benching him. I'm suggesting benching him because he isn't hitting the baseball and Reed Johnson is. The manager's job is to put players in a position to succeed and give the Cubs the best chance to win every day - that would be Reed Johnson. The manager's job is to put the players on the field that would give the Cubs the best chance to win more games overall. Short term fixes to sacrifice long-term development is not the way to do that. Pie has no more he can learn in AAA. He adjusted to and mastered that league. He needs time to adjust to the major leagues, and the Cubs need time to evaluate him in their long-term plans. Neither is accomplished by benching Pie or sending him down. Pie has initially struggled for a few months at every stage of development. Once he adjusts, he's been a phenominal player, on all levels. The important thing right now is to not have a knee-jerk panic reaction and stunt his development even more just to get a below average offensive performance from CF for a month instead of a poor one. It could even be argued that his defensive value over Johnson makes up most of the offensive difference. The whole problem I have with it is what you just eluded to: you don't have this significantly better option to go to. You're getting only marginal, short term extra offensive production in Reed. It's really not that much more. And in return, you guarantee that Pie won't be productive in the 2nd half, so you're basically saying it's going to be Johnson all year unless a trade is made. You're locking yourself into the production of Johnson, essentially. Doesn't seem wise to me, but what do I know. IMO, Pie has looked overmatched in one game, that was last night against one of the better pitchers in the NL (Although he was having an off night he is still pretty good). Based on just watching him play, I think he is learning how to be patient with his at bats and to be more selective with what he swings at. His first few games he was swinging at everything, and then he started taking pitches that were down the middle in an attempt to adjust. Last night he was late on everything in his first couple of at bats, which means he was struggling to pick up the ball out of the pitchers hand. Then he started swing at pitches that were just out of the strike zone and high (pitches you have to swing a little bit sooner on if your going to hit, thus your judgement of where the ball is going to be will be a little off.). My point is he clearly has the talent to hit the baseball, we've see that throughout the minors, he just needs to learn to adjust to MLB pitching. I think it is clear that he is attempting to learn. Based on his talent levels, I think he will get it but he has to get playing time. It isn't like were gaining a whole lot with playing Johnson right now so I say take a little less production now and and have a chance at getting some great production in the future. On the topic of Soriano's injury, maybe time off will get him back on track but I love the fact that Murton will get some good playing time.

If they boo'd him while he was a Cubs, why wouldn't they boo him now. Oh, I knew he was gonna get hammered tonight, still annoys me. Not quite as much as when he'd get booed for anything but a HR while he was a Cub. I didn't see it, but if people were booing Bako, that does kind of make me laugh, just for the bizarrity of it. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Paul Bako era is less remembered then the Corey Patterson era. Paul Bako>God

Give Bako the steal!!!

I think Lou has visions of Colorado in his head It's because enough is enough. And memories of games like the Mets game last year. We don't need that crap. Lou seems to have more of a take no crap attitude, at least it seems this way with him pulling Wurtz and Hill early in his last games

Is DeRosa a great outfielder or the greatest outfielder of all time. PS I would love Corey and Bako to be involved in a DP

I think Lou has visions of Colorado in his head

Standing ovation for both. I think they threw roses

I've been thinking this too, he hasn't looked that bad the last few games

It really took a turn