MasterBlaster

Hitting isn't really the problem, Lou needs to find a way to get them taking walks again. I think the team forgot that you can walk to first base. They have no patience and are swinging at anything and everything, I was shocked that Randy Johnson didn't pitch the 8th inning last night, I thought he was going a CG for sure with his low pitch count. And I'm very concerned about our horrid road record. If they don't figure this out then we aren't going to be enjoying a long run into the playoffs, it'll be a quicky like last October. I think the general buzz earlier in the year when the Cubs were flirting with a .500 road record, that they 'can't win on the road', it was silly to say that in May, but they are trending hard towards being losers on the road, it simply can't be laughed away anymore.

Yes. He's got blistah on his fingah. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well you know how that goes. first its a blister then it gets all infected with flesh-eating bacteria and gets all black and rotted, then they amputate his arm. career over. If I had a nickel for every time that happened...

catchers don't usually wait to hear the call, they often just throw on down to the base, perhaps in part to help sell the pitch as a strike. also, there's no reason you couldn't still have an umpire standing behind home plate if a computer is calling balls and strikes. he needs to be there anyway to make safe/out calls, and you just put a little bug in his ear that tells him to say ball or strike. you wouldn't even know that a computer was involved. I prefer a little zap of electricity into the umps scrotum. 1 zap for a strike, 2 zaps for a ball.

Ron Santo calls him Little Babe Ruth all the time now.

Sorry, MojoPin and I got a little carried away. I thought it was hilarious. But seriously, for balls and strikes, I would like the umpires removed as soon as possible except for emergency situations. The technology might not be fast enough yet, but the K-zone they show on TV makes umpires look stupid on a pretty consistent basis. Such a critical facet of the game should be as consistent as possible. The only thing I wonder is how they overcome the fact that technically, the strike zone is a different size based on the hitter. It's supposed to be from the letters to the knees, which due to players of different heights and stances, can look way different from one guy to the next. You'd have to define the zone in a more objective way, such as the zone begins 24 inches off the ground and ends 42 inches off the ground in terms of height, and maybe that's something that needed to happen anyway I don't see how you'd ever call safe/out with machines. There are way too many possible angles and timing issues. You'd have to have umpires somewhere, if not on the field then in the replay booth. Motion trackers, pressure sensors and cameras could compile the data and make the judgment call within a split second.

Insane as in outrageous? Or insane as good? Both, although I get the feeling he is doing it the same way that Clemens and Bonds were. No way. :yahoo: of course, you shouldn't question a tony larussa-led ballclub. At one time, he did coach McGwire and Canseco when they were pumped up. At this point I think everyone managed a few juiceheads. I was going more on the published reports that surfaced last year. HGH? Yep, that and take a look at his head now. It is almost Polancoi :lol: sh. Placido Polanco: http://www.bestweekever.tv/bwe/images/2008/01/vespabeard.jpg

Troy Glaus is a dead ringer for George Michael: http://www.poster.net/michael-george/michael-george-photo-george-michael-6234338.jpg

Can Bradley play the field? I thought Texas has had him DH all year. I don't know what the health of his knee is.

Thankfully, IR is finally coming to MLB in August, according to the reports I read a few weeks ago. Although in a limited form, this is a step in the right direction. My ultimate vision of Baseball is to completely remove human Umpires from the game entirely, even behind home plate calling balls & strikes. With today's technology, there simply isn't a need for a human to judge any facet of the game. We have the cameras and sensors available to accurately call balls & strikes, to make perfect home run calls, check swings and judgments down the line. I don't buy into the concept of 'The Human Element' to the game, in fact it's this human element that ruins the actual game itself (other than the players and fans of course) from time to time. Really, what is so great about wrong, or flat out bad calls? That's what people mean by Human Element, it means that calls are going to be wrong sometimes. All this does is spur on heated, and sometimes entertaining exchanges between managers and self righteous Umpiring crews, in which the final outcome is always the same, that the Umpires were right according to them. Calls can't be reversed by Managers or Players, so it's like talking to a Camera anyway. We don't watch Baseball to be entertained by the Umps, even though I think alot of them believe that with the way they interact within the game. For example those emphatic strike 3's, or taking off the mask, turning around and yelling at the dugouts. It's ridiculous. Get rid of the Umps and there won't be a need for people to yell from the dugouts just how much they suck.

no, not really. yeah, in the beginning of the season, people wanted to see cedeno get the majority of the playing time. is anyone still beating that drum though? i think everyone here wants theriot to have the majority of the playing time. i think some of you just make things up. That's sugar coating the amount of hatred and vitriol Ryan Theriot recieved on a daily basis as little as 2 months ago. http://www.northsidebaseball.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=47570&hilit=theriot Theriot still has a short fuse with many on this board (I've been lurking for years), and when he makes a fielding error he's still skewered and blamed for Cub lossdom.

Jason Marquis in RF for Kosuke tonight plz. I'd also love to see Derrek Lee bust out of his power slump, he hasn't homered since June 20!

This thread gives me stress.

owned= Drew

Demp in relief is required to load the bases before even thinking about outs.

lulz

Just look at the neck on that guy

Should have been Carlos Lee in that spot. Oh well.

White Sox dog? Awful throw? Quentin should have been able to gun down Tejada at that distance. It's not like it was hit deep in the alley or at the warning track. He was able to set up for the throw even. It was average distance. Even a good outfielder throws a player out from there lie what, 5-10% of the time? The 3rd baseman could have ran out and caught that ball.

We get to see the Apatosaurus unleash his freakish power, awesome.

White Sox dog? Awful throw? Quentin should have been able to gun down Tejada at that distance. It's not like it was hit deep in the alley or at the warning track. He was able to set up for the throw even.

hahaha...nice, love seeing a White Sox dog cost a run with an awful throw.

..Let's not I thought it was the 'in' thing to make fun of the Win stat. edit: Awesome they are booing Papelbon again.

C'mon, lets get Edinson Volquez the Win!

He did that on purpose!!!

That was absolutely wicked.