Cubbie Swagger

Jake Fox doing his best Juan Pierre impression... I like it! Not to mention it keeps the inning alive for D-Lee with 2 on.

Hahaha that looked like a bomb off the bat but then I remembered who hit it.

What a great time this would be for Andres Blanco to hit a grand slam off of a clearly gassed Javier Vazquez. Actually I'd settle for a 2-run single.

Okay that looked like the 2008 Derrek Lee :-))

Now.

D-Lee! Man I was scared there... I thought we had a 3-0 game on our hands.

Hahaha Kosuke took a tough one. And aww... a flyout. Fukudome is having a tough night.

I wasn't aware of Lee's career numbers vs Vazquez. Gives me more hope about tonight's game. I believe coming into tonight, he was 20 for 50, with 7 doubles and 3 homers. I shoulda known based on the way he's hit him tonight.

NICE PITCH

Come on Demp, we need a big out right here.

Oh man, I thought Fontenot was gonna blow that. He seemed really out of position for some reason. Nice throw, though, Geo!

See what happens when I talk?

Maybe we haven't scored any runs, but I feel good about our chances tonight. We're squaring Vazquez up right now...

The Cubs have got to be one of the only teams that has players that sit on the bench all the time, and then get a start and hit in the middle of the order. This happened with Hoffpauir and Ward last year, and with Hoff and Fox this year...

I can understand being glad to see him on the bench due to a really prolonged slump as he's been in for some time, but to be happy in general for him to be on the bench simply because one "doesn't like him" is nuts. You're correct. It's not that I know him personally and we don't like each other... it's that I'm just not a fan of him as a baseball player, so I really don't mind seeing Hoffpauir out there instead, especially during a slump.

Huh? Fuku does not hit left handed pitching better than Reed. I meant that Fukudome hits lefties better than he hits righties. At least that was the case last year... I haven't looked at the splits for 09. It's kind of a mixed bag this year: Vs. Righties he's .275/.399/.421/.820 Vs. Lefties he's .182/.357/.545/.903 Hits for a higher average and gets on base more v/ righties. But he hits for more power against lefties. Go figure. That's sort of odd how the numbers have flip-flopped since 2008... although the difference wasn't that dramatic anyway. In 2008: vs Righties: .251/.355/.388/.743 vs Lefties: .276/.371/.354/.725

I realize that Soriano and Bradley need a day off... it just seems like an odd time to do so, when Soriano has killed the ball in Turner Field and Bradley has a 10-game streak. I'm not a fan of Soriano anyway, though, so I'm glad to see him on the bench :grin:

Huh? Fuku does not hit left handed pitching better than Reed. I meant that Fukudome hits lefties better than he hits righties. At least that was the case last year... I haven't looked at the splits for 09. EDIT: At least for AVG and OBP he hit better... his SLG was slightly worse against lefties in 08. But, considering all of his home runs came versus righties, that means he made up alot of ground with other extra-base hits.

Well... the left-handed part of our platoon actually hits left-handed pitching better... so it might not be the end of the world to let Fukudome play full time. I still hate to see Reed on the DL, though... he's one of my favorite Cubs.

My point there, is that the postseason exposes who is really good, and who isn't. Look at Soriano... he can't hit good pitching, period. I wouldn't be surprised to see him go 0-for in the 2009 playoffs (or close to it). I guess we can agree to disagree on that, though, because I agreed with everything else you said. I don't see a problem with that. :grin: I see your point, but for the record, I wasn't saying we should get another 6th or 7th reliever. I was saying we should get someone better than that... and then move people down a notch (Heilman becomes the last guy, Patton is gone, etc). Oh come on, man. Give me more credit than that :-)) I wasn't judging anyone based off of the message board consensus. I was just making a side comment that a couple weeks ago, most people would have agreed with me, but now, it seems like I'm the only one concerned about our pen still. Oh well... I just hope we can all agree that we don't want to see Neal Cotts in a Cubs uniform ever again :-)) Now that I think about it... is there any chance he would have any kind of value in a trade? Maybe someone will see what we saw in him (the fact that he had ONE good year). I would love to maybe throw him into a trade and save ourselves a prospect (in whatever deal we end up making, be it for offense or whatever).

Well, I partially agree with you. I said before that I think we should move someone else from our pen into that role. I don't think it's a good idea to go get big-name closer, but I do think it would be in our best interest to replace Patton with someone who is at least as good as the other guys we have in the pen (era in the 3's). When I was talking about people with an ERA in the 1's and 2's, I just meant someone who might have those numbers right now, who is having a good year. They don't necessarily have to keep up that pace all year... they just need to be effective and dependable. I would disagree with that. In the regular season, he might manage to just barely get out of jams... but in the postseason, I think it would be a different story. In a world series game, you can't bank on your closer walking a couple guys, throwing a wild pitch, and then finding some way to just barely close the game out. I think it's funny how fast the general consensus changes on this board. I'm not talking about you personally, because I never heard your opinion on these guys before. But, seems like a couple weeks ago, everyone here wanted to see Heilman and Gregg hung from a tree. Now, since they haven't gotten lit up lately, they are suddenly solid pitchers. I bet the next time you see Gregg or Heilman blow a game, you'll see tons of people ranting like they were before. The same is true for Soriano. When he's hot, everyone is all on his you-know-what, and when he's slumping, everyone wants him traded, benched, moved down in the lineup, etc.

Well, let me put it like this. If Aaron Heilman is NOT the last man in our pen, then we have a problem. I'm curious as to what you're referring to. On paper, we have one of the better lineups you're gonna find, and they are finally starting to produce like they should. We also have one of the top rotations 1-5 in the game... and they have pitched well all year (with some exceptions... and I do think that Harden is gonna pitch better down the stretch). I'm just not comfortable with Gregg being our closer in the postseason. Every time he takes the mound it's an adventure.

ROFL

I hope you aren't implying that he would be a downgrade from Patton.

Really? And an ERA in the 1's and 2's is also in the "David Weathers, Arthur Rhodes, and a few guys out of the Sox bullpen who might get moved if the Sox don't start winning" range. That quote was mine. And it was in response to you referring to Gregg having ERAs in the 4s and 5s. The last time he was remotely close to those numbers were in 2005 and 2006. And you really think that Weathers and Rhodes will sustain their ERAs? Weathers hasn't posted a 2.66 ERA or even in that range since 2002. Rhodes is a LOOGY, meaning he pitches only against lefties. You're buying high for relievers who are either extremely likely to decline (Weathers) or will only help against lefties (Rhodes). And keep in mind, both are 39 years old - an age where they're likely to get worse as the season progresses. As for the Sox relievers, Linebrink has been a mid-3s pitcher since 2005. Carrasco has been in the fours (3.98 one year) nearly every year in the majors. Neither is likely to sustain their current 2-something ERAs, but you're going to have to pay like they are. Thornton might sustain close to what he's doing, but again, you're going to have pay dearly for a guy with a 2.05 ERA right now. Man you're quick... I edited my post like less than a minute after posting it and you still managed to quote my mistake :-)) I do think there is a chance that Weathers and Rhodes will finish with good numbers. People do have good years sometimes... and it's not like everyone implodes once they turn 39. They could both easily have one more good season in them, at the least. With the Sox guys... it would not be the end of the world to add a reliever to our pen who has an ERA in the 3's. I wasn't even thinking about Carrasco... I was referring more to Linebrink, Dotel and Thornton. I'm sure Thornton would be hard to acquire... but the other two guys probably wouldn't require us giving up the whole farm. And considering they'd be moving from the AL to the NL, their numbers might actually improve. And really... I'm just throwing names out there off the top of my head, so don't look too much into the guys I've mentioned. It certainly wouldn't hurt our team to pick up someone who's better than Heilman and Patton, though. And honestly, I would probably give up any of our prospects not named Josh Vitters, Jake Fox, Randy Wells or Jeff Samardzija for a good reliever.