TBone

Dusty single-handedly put this organization behind by about five years. Some say he's not responsible for Prior's issues, and I disagree wholeheartedly. He pitched that dude into the ground. Can you imagine had he limited a young pitchers pitch count, the likelihood that Prior wouldn't have walked and we had him and Z as the 1-2 punch? Had we won the series in 04, I wouldn't have much of a leg to stand on in my complaints. However, we didn't even make the playoffs in 04 and we wound up minus 2 of the top 3 or 4 pitchers this organization's brought up in my lifetime. I still blame Rigs for Woody's issues, but maybe they go back further than that. Irregardless, Dusty's a horrible manager. In 2004, I believe Moises Alou was picked off of second 3 times in the last month and a half, but he's a "player's manager" and never got on the guys. Dude, Moises has no speed...why's he getting off 2nd that much with no speed on a fly ball? That's not the only thing Dusty didn't discipline, and the organization is none the better for the lack of discipline shown in Dusty's regime. Those type of mental errors are inexcusable down the stretch for a team that's contending for the playoffs. There comes a point where you've got to discipline the players, including when they're complaining about what the guys on the TV are saying about them. Absolutely horrible managing. Yes, 2003 was the year that Cubs fans actually expected more and started booing later when the team underperformed, but the stage was set by 84, 89, and 98. We as fans had had tastes of the playoffs and 2003 was just another playoff year until we actually won a series and wound up being up 3-1 in the NLCS. If it was the other way around and we were down 3-1, the fans likely wouldn't react to an underperforming Cubs team the way they do today. Nonetheless, it shouldn't matter. An underperforming team is an underperforming team. The true fans of the team (not the corporate sponsors or the people with no emotional attachment to the team) would not have cared and likely still don't to much of an extent. However, the fans that do care, such as those that frequent this board would still be disappointed and upset when a Cubs team underperforms. It's only a person who has no pride in themself, the things they care about, or who really don't care about a team that underperforms who don't let underperforming get to them. In other words, I liked Dusty in 03 and when he was signed. By October of 04 I hated him and wanted him out. He sucks. Period. T

Hmm, his 8th inning was pretty good. Agreed. The first batter got on, but if Fonzi had a good read on the ball that could have been caught. Even if it wasn't caught, it was just a blooper that you can't do too much about. The 9th was shaky, but you don't often ask your closer to go two innings. I say it's still too early to conclude anything about Woodie and being closer, but I can't complain so far outside of his first outing. T

Nor do the < 5 inning starts by too many of the starting pitchers.

Didn't make it look easy though! I'll take it nonetheless.

Think it was over his glove, then hit him in the head

ugh!

1 out, 3-2 to Werth who has fouled off gazillions of pitches in a row.

He has more hits than Big Papi! Not to say it's not annoying watching him hit.

Call me strange, but I'd almost rather see Z up there than Pie.

Why do I have the feeling even if we score here Howry comes in and blows a save? And I posted that before I knew he was warming up.

DLee! I likee!

I just pooped my pants just a bit while consecutively throwing up in my mouth a little bit. That's never happened before. We're sure to win!

Are you kidding me? The gimp made the ugliest catch I've ever seen.

Third base ump making up for the botched DeRo homer call?

Have you seen our pitchers try to bunt?

Nice jump Fonzi.

I think there was one actual strike pitched to both Ward and Sori in those two at bats. Very nice! At least we get the heart of the order up in the 9th now.

Makeup call for calling Soriano out at first. ;)

Bunch of morons man. Lilly has definitely looked much worse than Hill. His velocity is down as well. There's already a thread on this elsewhere in the site. It's a mechanics thing w/ Hill. Lilly just has been sucking.

TBS could use a mike that has better wind protection. My subwoofer's getting a lot of action this afternoon.

That's why Blanco's awesome...his wheels make outfielders tremble. Nonetheless, I'll take the run.

Pitch count > 50 yet?

I wasn't going to drink today, but may start. Has the Master's started yet?

Not blacked out in Denver.

If Hill's indeed got a mechanical glitch, then moving him to the pen should be a good way to get him more reps to work out the muscle memory requried to fix his mechanical glitch. He can throw on the side more as well as more often, which should help that muscle memory and hopefully fix the mechanical glitch. I don't see how moving him to the pen and skipping one of his starts is going to blow his confidence to come back into the rotation once the issue is fixed--especially if he knows that's the reason. In all honesty, I'm more concerned with Lilly