Cubswin11

Rasmus just blasted one pretty far, almost halfway up the bleachers in RF.

Yeah that ball was crushed, he just might be the real deal

I don't know if it was poor audio or what, but during the introductions in the Brewer game the stadium seemed quite empty and very quiet.

The Machine, he didn't even square that one up 100%

The new scoreboard for the ESPN telecasts this year is [expletive] stupid Harang off to a nice start here

Dusty Ball! Edmonds batting fifth is a bit puzzling I would think they would want to bat him 6th and McGhee 5th to break up the lefties. Also I think Zaun or Gomez should be hitting 8th with Escobar moving to 2nd as he isn't going to get as good of pitches batting 8th as he would with Braun backing him and the fact that Escobar should be in the lineup more regularly than Gomez or Zaun.

Hopefully the Rox can get off to a nice start this season as well! I think they are good, but I can't get on the Rockies are a top NL contender wagon when Greg Smith will be starting their second game of the season. I see the Brewers winning 2 of 3.

Per the Braves.com message board their lineup will be Melky Cabrera, LF Martin Prado, 2B Chipper Jones, 3B Brian McCann, C Troy Glaus, 1B Yunel Escobar, SS Jason Heyward, RF Nate McLouth, CF Derek Lowe, P That's a pretty deep lineup

That sinker can give us fits. Anyway, let's make some predictions about Cubs firsts. First Cubs hit: I'll say brand new Cub Marlon Byrd First run scored: Lee First opposing batter to K: Rookie Phenom Jason whatshisname First Cubs relief pitcher used in 2010: Grabow First Cubs HR: ARAMBOMB!!! Cubs win today 7-2. Book it. I agree that Lowe could make this game frustrating for us, lots of balls in play and few strikes outs. I'll give it a go First Cubs Hit: Kosuke First Run Scored: Soriano First Opposing Batter to K: Martin Prado First Relief Pitcher Used: Berg First Cubs HR: Byrd Cubs win 8-5

I have three classes today, 9:30, 12:30, and 3:30 but I am skipping out on the 12:30 and 3:30 to catch a glorious day of baseball! I will have 3 games available from noon until the start of the Cubs (2 ESPN games and Brewers on FSN WI). Next year (Will have graduated from College) I am going to do everything in my power to attend opening day wherever the Cubs may be playing.

I am pretty sure Orel Hershiser said during the Yanks/Socks game that he was going to be doing the Cubs game today.

Justin Speier was released from the Rockies today, he would be worth taking a flier on, he had a pretty solid spring and I would certainly take him in the pen over Samardzija.

Browns DT Shaun Rogers arrested after having a loaded gun in his carry on bag at Hopkins Airport. WHAT THE [expletive] ARE YOU DOING WITH A LOADED GUN (or even an unloaded gun) IN YOUR CARRY ON BAG?!? http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5048219

Yeah I was out there last week all the major sports books had them and that, 5/1 for both NL Pennant and WS IIRC.

I think our bullpen is about league average, if not a little better. Just the absence of Heilman and Gregg is a big boost. Looks alright to me. It's hard to predict how our bullpen is going to be due to the large number of unproven players as well as the general variability of bullpens in general from year to year We do have a lot of young arms in the bullpen, but I think there wil be a short leash on some of them and the Iowa shuttle will be used often. Also, if you don't have some young cheap arms out there, then people complain about paying too much for veterans in the pen. That's my biggest problem with going with a lot of young, internal, options. Lou has shown over his time here is much more strict with young players when they aren't performing and gives the vets more of a leash, so if a guy like Russell, Berg, or Caridad struggle early in only a few appearances they might be sent to Iowa for good or never be used in big situations again, while guys like Grabow (however bad he gets) will be given a lot more wiggle room. Now obviously the vets have more of a track record and if they struggle you can hope they get back to their averages and the young guys don't have established track records and it's not known if when they struggle if it's their true talent or just a string of bad luck or bad outings that isn't indicative of their true talent level. Regardless I have a feeling we will see a revolving door with 1-2 spots in the bullpen all year, often times dependent on Lou's free will and gut feelings over anything else.

Fontenot should be hitting 8th, other than that I am OK with the lineup/roster. Any word on what the lineup v. LHP is going to be? Just a guess? Theriot SS Baker 2B Lee 1B Ramirez 3B Byrd CF Soriano LF Nady RF Soto C

how did you get kemp, howard, and hanley in the same 10 team league? those guys all average first round picks in yahoo leagues Has to be a 10-team auction draft. It was on cbssports, Standard draft. I got Hanley with 8th overall pick, Howard with 13th overall, and I didn't take Kemp until the 8th pick in round 5 :shock: . Almost everybody was there in the live draft too, there were only 1-2 guys on auto.

Word. Yeah, I fully endorse that post as well. There was a point in late August I believe where Edmonds's Cubs slugging percentage would've led all of baseball if it had been eligible by itself. That's nuts. And I was one of the many who was upset that the Cubs had signed him. I've never seen anyone get that hot for that long. It's like Edmonds always got a clutch hit for us when we needed it . The fact the 2008 team still didn't win at least one playoff game (if not a series) still drives me [expletive] crazy.

My best team (I did 4 10 team H2H leagues) is probably this one C- Geovany Soto 1B- Ryan Howard 2B- Ian Kinsler 3B- Aramis Ramirez SS- Hanley Ramirez OF- Matt Kemp OF- Nelson Cruz OF- Justin Upton U- Jay Bruce Bench- Jason Heyward Bench- Milton Bradley SP- Josh Johnson SP- Yovanni Gallardo SP- Tim Hudson SP- Roy Oswalt SP- Carlos Zambrano RP- Bobby Jenks RP- Carlos Marmol Bench- Rick Porcello Bench- Ben Sheets Bench- Leo Nunez I am looking to trade from my OF depth to get another top SP. But this should be a pretty solid team.

I don't think that's a bad team for a 14 team league. Assuming you stay active all year and make some good pick ups (FA/Trade) you should be in contention to win

If he returns to 2007/2008 form, you think it would be hard for him to get $16m this offseason? In this economy? It's possible he does, but I don't think it's a lock like it would have been a few years ago. But we're talking 7 months from now, and the economy is likely past the worst stage, and teams have been very cautious for two years now. It's quite likely things will be looking up by this November, and teams that have been sitting and waiting will want to make a splash. Aramis is a very productive player, and if he bounces back this season, his resume would be terrific for a free agency. Yeah if he has a big year this year I could see the Dodgers or Angels being big players for him and he could land a 4-5 year deal in the $60-80m range.

To bad Gray got hurt so early in ST that he missed out on a chance to make the bullpen out of camp. I think he could be a decent option for us and should be up by May sometime hopefully. Hopefully with 3 leties Lou will be willing to let Marshall face both righties and lefties and go more than one inning if needed and not just relegate him to LOOGY duty.

Pitt or Xavier probably could give them a game, but yeah they aren't getting past Syracuse. That zone will kill them, they aren't a good 3 point shooting team (tonight was a giant fluke). Plus they will have Onuaku back who is better than any big man BYU has.

If Kansas State would actually miss free throws, like they did all year, BYU would still have an outside chance here. But since they decided to not miss a free throw and shoot 3's out of their asses its been over for a while.

BYU really get bailed out by some calls here, if they can't make a game of it it's their own fault.