CubsWin

Man, Prior sucks. He can't even ground out right.

The man's got great legs.

Yeah but he threw 22 pitches in the 1st inning alone. This game is over.

So will I because then I'll really know the game is over.

Because there are so many stupid Dusty Principles that we can no longer keep track? Like, just go with it, dude. :) Because Dusty was talking about Enrique Wilson.

Prior sucks. Or the Colorado offense is so much better than the Cobs because they know how to take a pitch. Either one, take your pick.

Something tells me that won't be an issue. If the Cubs fail to make-up any ground before September, and they keep running out the likes of Burnitz & Co. everyday, then perhaps the Cubs fans who still think this regime is doing well will change their mind. If the argument is you can't use kids when trying to contend, then what would be the defense for not using kids when you can no longer pretend that you are contending? But even if they fail to make up any ground, they will still be able to say they are "in the race" until there are very few games left, at which point many casual fans who still back the Cubs brass won't care what happens. I'm waiting for the same to dopes to wait for this team to finish with 83ish wins and argue for keeping Dusty around because he's the first manager in a long time to lead the team to three consecutive +.500 seasons. Hey, CP20, what about the non-casual or serious fans who still back Hendry despite not agreeing with him sending Murton down? Or did you mean that only fans that don't pay enough attention and aren't really serious about the Cubs winning would still think Hendry is a GM worth having? And, MPC, just a friendly word of advice, be careful who you call "dopes" on this board. Name-calling and insulting entire sections of Cubs fans just because you disagree with them tends to be poo-pooed around here.

This is about as close to a must-win game as a team can get in August. Go Cubs!

Here is where we stand. The Cubs need to lose 6 fewer games than the Phillies, Astros, Nationals and Marlins the rest of the way. They need to lose 4 fewer games than the Mets and 1 fewer than the Brewers. The Nationals and Mets square off in New York. The Mets have Jae Seo (4-1, 1.35) going against John Patterson (7-3, 2.44). Seo has been nearly unhittable since coming up while Patterson got rocked by the Astros 2 starts ago, but has sandwhiched that bad game with 2 great ones. Looks like an excellent match-up. Go Mets! The Phillies have rookie Robinson Tejada (3-2, 2.71) at home against Kip Wells (6-12, 4.62) and the Pirates. Robinson has been very good of late, but he threw 114 pitches his last time out, easily the highest amount of the season for him, so maybe that will have an effect on him today. One bright spot is the last time Kip faced the Phillies, he had a complete game, 4-hit, shutout in which he struck out 12 and walked 3. Here's hoping for a repeat of that performance. Go Bucs! The Marlins host the somewhat-surging Dodgers (winners of 5 of their last 7), but they have A.J. Burnett (11-6, 3.04) going against the rookie D.J. Houlton (4-6, 5.31). Over the last month-and-a-half, Houlton has lowered his ERA from 6.33 to 5.31. His last two starts were quality ones. Lets hope he can do it again and that D.J. prevails in the battle of initialed pitchers. Houston has lost 5 of their last 6 all at home, and it doesn't look to get any easier today as they throw rookie Ezequiel Astacio (2-6, 6.66) against Brewer lefty Doug Davis (9-8, 4.20). In 2 starts against Houston this year, Doug is 1-1 with a 3.65 ERA. He is coming off of consecutive quality starts against St. Louis and Cincinnati. Anybody else remember the Brewers beating the Astros twice in Houston at the end of the '03 season to help the Cubs clinch it? Go Brew Crew! Let the scoreboard watching begin!

It aint pretty, but its better than an empty bottle...

Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on how these other teams do. Bottom line, the Cubs need to lose 6 fewer games than the Phillies, Astros, Nationals and Marlins, 4 fewer games than the Mets and 1 fewer than the Brewers. Can that be done? It all depends on how the teams ahead of them play. One thing is certain, if the Cubs don't get hot, it won't matter.

I realize that being tied with the Brewers this late in the season can leave a taste in your mouth a lot like a flat, warm Pabst Blue Ribbon, but at this point, I'll take every Houston loss I can get, thank you very much...

And the D-backs are pounding the Cardinals tonight just for good measure. A good night for Cubs fans.

Whereas your statement is accurate that the season is probably done for the Cubs, I'm not too interested in what is probable anymore. It is painfully clear what is probable. The team is 5 back in the loss column with 41 games to play, it doesn't take a genius to see what is probable. I'm interested in what is still possible. And the fact that there are 5 teams to climb over isn't as bad as you are making it out because 4 of those teams are in the same division and will be playing each other a lot in the last 40 games. They could cancel each other out. Having those 4 teams go .500 against each other will actually make it easier for the Cubs to pass them. So the number of teams isn't really the issue. The Cubs winning enough games to pass them is. Who is hot amongst those 5 teams? If Houston loses tonight, they will have dropped 5 of their last 6 all at home. The Phillies just split a 4-game series at home against the Nationals, which is exactly what we wanted them to do. Ditto for the Nats. The Mets just got shut out by Pittsburgh at home and are 4-5 over their last 9. The Marlins are the hottest team of the bunch having won 4 of their last 5, but in their last 11, they are just 6-5. Any one of them could get hot and if they do it will be that much tougher for the Cubs to catch them. Thats why it is not probable for the Cubs to make the playoffs. And if the Cubs fail to get hot, then it doesn't much matter what the other teams do. However, funny things happen in baseball and they happen quite often. Hey, sorry for the "raining on the parade" commentary. I'm hoping as much as the next guy that the Cubs can do this and win the Wild Card... but I'm also keeping an eye on realism, which is that, when there's 5-6 teams between you and the leader(s), that makes the climb seem twice as much as just the games-back deficit. No problem, Hawks. And the key word is that the 5 teams to climb over only seems like a big problem. Again, the fact that the 4 NL East teams play each other so much and the fact that the Cubs have so many games left against Houston makes this thing doable. The problem is being 5 back in the loss column with only 41 to play, that and the Cubs have yet to get hot over a long stretch of games which is exactly what they will have to do to have any chance of winning this thing. Its official. Houston loses at home again. Way to go, Brewers. Shades of '03.

One more out to go in Houston.

Whereas your statement is accurate that the season is probably done for the Cubs, I'm not too interested in what is probable anymore. It is painfully clear what is probable. The team is 5 back in the loss column with 41 games to play, it doesn't take a genius to see what is probable. I'm interested in what is still possible. And the fact that there are 5 teams to climb over isn't as bad as you are making it out because 4 of those teams are in the same division and will be playing each other a lot in the last 40 games. They could cancel each other out. Having those 4 teams go .500 against each other will actually make it easier for the Cubs to pass them. So the number of teams isn't really the issue. The Cubs winning enough games to pass them is. Who is hot amongst those 5 teams? If Houston loses tonight, they will have dropped 5 of their last 6 all at home. The Phillies just split a 4-game series at home against the Nationals, which is exactly what we wanted them to do. Ditto for the Nats. The Mets just got shut out by Pittsburgh at home and are 4-5 over their last 9. The Marlins are the hottest team of the bunch having won 4 of their last 5, but in their last 11, they are just 6-5. Any one of them could get hot and if they do it will be that much tougher for the Cubs to catch them. Thats why it is not probable for the Cubs to make the playoffs. And if the Cubs fail to get hot, then it doesn't much matter what the other teams do. However, funny things happen in baseball and they happen quite often.

A very quick bottom of the 7th for the Astros. Helling threw 9 pitches.

Way to go Damien Miller!

Not a bad off day for the Cubs. Washington and Philly split. The Mets lose. The Marlins won, but you can't get everything you want, can you?

Macias is terrible, there's only been a couple non-catchers in the NL worse than him this year that have near as many PA's as him. He's terrible compared to bench players too. CPatt, That is simply not true. I just did a check of every team's stats. I quit after looking at the first 9 teams because every one of them had at least one player (non-catchers, mind you) who was comparable to or worse than Jose Macias has been this season. We might like to believe that there are enough good players out there such that Macias wouldn't make any major league team if cut from the Cubs, but that simply isn't accurate. Those that have faulted or continue to fault Hendry for having Macias on this roster are simply mistaken and apparently haven't done their homework in this regard. Macias has played the middle infield, 3B and some OF for the Cubs and has hit .294/.312/.353 in 119 ABs. Here is a short list of players who play the same positions for other teams, have comparable or worse numbers and have a similar amount of ABs or more. Marlon Byrd. Jamey Carroll. Quinton McCracken. David Newhan. Pablo Ozuna. Timo Perez. D'Angelo Jimenez. Jose Hernandez. Corey Sullivan. Desi Relaford. Every one of those players has more ABs than Macias this season except for Jimenez who has just 14 less than him. Also, most of those players have performed considerably worse than Jose has this season, and I only checked about 1/3 of the league. There was generally one per team and often times more. To say that "there's only been a couple non-catchers in the NL worse than him this year that have near as many PA's as him. He's terrible compared to bench players too" is simply not the truth. I already did the legwork a week or so ago. Going by Runs Created, Macias only had 5-6 non-catchers that were worse than him in the NL with at least 100 PA's. Grissom, Mondesi, Guzman, a dodgers OF(can't remember which, Grabowski?), and at least one Rockie. I'll do it again to see if anything has changed. I don't know from runs created, but if OBP and SLG are the criteria, there are several others that are worse than Macias.

Macias is terrible, there's only been a couple non-catchers in the NL worse than him this year that have near as many PA's as him. He's terrible compared to bench players too. CPatt, That is simply not true. I just did a check of every team's stats. I quit after looking at the first 9 teams because every one of them had at least one player (non-catchers, mind you) who was comparable to or worse than Jose Macias has been this season. We might like to believe that there are enough good players out there such that Macias wouldn't make any major league team if cut from the Cubs, but that simply isn't accurate. Those that have faulted or continue to fault Hendry for having Macias on this roster are simply mistaken and apparently haven't done their homework in this regard. Macias has played the middle infield, 3B and some OF for the Cubs and has hit .294/.312/.353 in 119 ABs. Here is a short list of players who play the same positions for other teams, have comparable or worse numbers and have a similar amount of ABs or more. Marlon Byrd. Jamey Carroll. Quinton McCracken. David Newhan. Pablo Ozuna. Timo Perez. D'Angelo Jimenez. Jose Hernandez. Corey Sullivan. Desi Relaford. Every one of those players has more ABs than Macias this season except for Jimenez who has just 14 less than him. Also, most of those players have performed considerably worse than Jose has this season, and I only checked about 1/3 of the league. There was generally one per team and often times more. To say that "there's only been a couple non-catchers in the NL worse than him this year that have near as many PA's as him. He's terrible compared to bench players too" is simply not the truth.

He's not treated as what he is. He isn't treated as a guy to fill in in emergency situations. Instead, he's the first [expletive] bat off the bench in crucial situations, not to mention spot starting EVERYWHERE. I also think that his double-play ratio leads the team. Not good. I agree that he's not a great player, but there are a lot of guys on this team that have been worse. He's not even close to possessing the lowest OPS on the team (Blanco, Patterson, and Nomar are worse), and really isn't that much lower than Holla, Neifi, and Hairston. Not enough? He also possesses better OBP than Neifi, Holla, Blanco, and Dubois (at least when he was here). Again, I'm not saying Jose Macias is a good baseball player. I won't even argue he's an average one. I guess if there are only a handful of non-catchers in the NL that are worse than he is, they must be all Cubs, and I guess that would explain a lot about this season. Bob and TripJ, I have never understood the overreaction to acquiring Macias and the ongoing, outright hatred of him as a player. The moment the Cubs traded Wilton Chavez to the Expos for Jose, the condemnation of Hendry and that trade began. Macias was immediately labeled "worthless". If we look back on that trade now, one would have to say that Hendry got the better of the deal. What has Chavez done? Nothing. So the trade got the Cubs something for nothing, that seems to be Hendry's trademark. Has that something been misused or overused by his manager? In my opinion, yes. Does that mean that Macias is "worthless" as a baseball player? Uh, no. He brings some athleticism, adequate defensive versatility and a history of being able to get a hit off the bench or otherwise. Is he a great player? No. Is he good? Not really. Is he a valuable 25th man? Yes. Is OBP and OPS the only valid measure of a baseball player? No. I could be wrong and I don't mean to start anything here, but it seems like those that continue to call Macias "worthless" are only doing so because they don't want to admit that their knee-jerk reaction to his acquistion was inaccurate. There is just too much evidence that suggests he is not "worthless".

I agree. No one knows exactly what it will take to win the wildcard. But I don't think people are saying it is definitely going to take 90 wins. I think that is just their opinion. I think it is possible for 88 wins to take it as well. The Astros have been cooling off lately. In their last 13 games, they have gone 5-8 after having gone 15-2 in their previous 17 games. During their incredible hot streak, many Cubs fans here were saying that the Astros would never cool off and that they were going to run away with the wildcard. I wonder if they have eaten their crow yet. Hmmm.....

That's the problem. When teams ahead of the Cubs play eachother, we're guaranteed of gaining on one team. But the Cubs are also guaranteed of staying the same distance behind the other. Makes it harder to catch. Just have to hope those teams play .500 against eachother for the Cubs to have a realistic chance. Of course, the Cubs have to keep winning, which has proved problematic over the first 120 games of the season. Not necessarily. Lets say the Mets take 2 of 3 from the Nats and then the Nats turn around and take 2 of 3 from them. Both teams are standing still at .500 giving the Cubs a chance to pass them. It still comes down to the Cubs winning their games. That will be and always has been the bottom line. If they don't put together a really good streak like 28-13 to finish out the year, I'd like to see Hendry make a play for Joe Girardi as manager next season.

Now, by no means am I saying that Cedeno is going to have as good of a career as B.J. Upton, but... This is Cedeno's first year at AAA. This is Upton's 2nd (he played 69 games at Durham last season). Cedeno is hitting .366/.414/.546 this season. Upton's numbers are .304/.390/.498. Cedeno has 9 errors in 58 games. Upton has 46 in 121. Of course, Cedeno is a year and a half older than Upton, and Upton's numbers have been more consistent throughout his career (Cedeno has only put up good offensive numbers the last two seasons). And we all know Upton's "tools" are remarkable while Cedeno's pale in comparison as do most minor leaguers. But it does make you feel a little better about Cedeno's future when you compare his numbers this year to B.J.'s. Question: Is Cedeno's 58+ games at AAA this season enough to know what he is capable of? Should he play more in Iowa next season?