entbird79

Here are some pictures from the Iowa Cubs game last night. Before the game http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/IMG_4210-2.jpg EP http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/IMG_4206-2.jpg O'Malley http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/IMG_4211-2.jpg O'Malley did a nice job of getting out of jams last night http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/IMG_4224-2.jpg EP Doubles http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/IMG_4235-2.jpg He can really fly http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/IMG_4236-2.jpg Cedeno with a needless sac bunt http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/IMG_4238-2.jpg Ward smoked a double down the first base line http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/IMG_4239-2.jpg ...and he hustled into second ahead of the throw http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/IMG_4241-2.jpg Walker made a great grab in CF http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/IMG_4259-2.jpg Principal park http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/IMG_4265-2.jpg Fireworks on Friday and Saturday nights http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/IMG_4281.jpg

Wow, I didn't realize they were such close teammates. =D>

Is there a rule stating that we need to use every player on the roster before the 9th? I understand that we have been going into extras a lot lately and Z didn't give us enough innings, but man. It seemed like Lou was switching people out every other at-bat there. Another thing, why was every one of our hitters swinging out of their shoes when all they needed was a weak single or a fly ball to score the winning run. I'm sick of seeing Derosa almost falling down on swings in extra innings. Pie could have scored on a weak grounder through the infield, and we can't even manage that.

I'm stuck watching the game with the Brewers announcers, I think they've talked about Z's comments about their offense at least a half a dozen times already.

His reported potential long-term deal is worthy of suicide. I sure hope Rich Hill doesn't turn all Z on us and ask for market value when he reaches FA, the greedy SOB!

That was my first thought when I heard about this. Don't remember where I heard it, but I thought I hear of some significant venom from Guillen toward Cotts. Was Cotts the one that didn't bean someone and Ozzie flipped on or was that someone else? Now that I think about it, it may have been a rookie.

Here are those pictures of Eric. http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/ICubs018.jpg http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/ICubs019.jpg

Why would you want any of them? Because they're all miles ahead of Pierre? In Salary? And talent. Taking what those 3 will likely make in FA, as well as the multi-year contracts they would demand I would play Pie at league minimum. I honestly don't think he will be that much worse than them and he can play center nearly as well as any of them right now. He will probably struggle, but he has shown the ability to adjust throughout his career. If I was Hendry I would offer Pierre arbitration if he accepts you have him for one year and give Pie another half a year at AAA. If he declines you take the draft picks and put Soriano at 2B, with Pie in CF.

Why would you want any of them? Because they're all miles ahead of Pierre? In Salary?

Where's Scott?

Awesome. Great pics! Entbird, would it be ok for me to use one of your pics as an avatar? You absolutely can, thanks for asking! If you want full size pictures just PM me and I'll set you up. Glad you like them. Erik

They look almost like twins. I have another picture of Eric with his helmet off, and you can really see it. I'll post it if I have time tonight.

Yes this is Pie. He's a good looking athlete. If you haven't seen him play on the field I think you would be impressed with his speed and strong accurate throwing arm. It will be nice to see some assists next year from the OF if he is called up.

Here are a few pictures of Pie, Patterson, and of course Auggie. I was sitting quite a ways away, so I'm sorry if they are a little grainy. Pie with a nice hit http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/ICubs001.jpg http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/ICubs002.jpg Patterson Scoring http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/ICubs003.jpg You know I had to get one of Auggie! http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/ICubs004.jpg Pie's Long HR to dead center http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/ICubs005.jpg http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/ICubs006.jpg Patterson bunting for a hit in the bottom of the 9th http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/ICubs007.jpg Pie is excited about it http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b145/entbird79/ICubs008.jpg All in all it was a fun game, it seems like Eric and Felix already get along well and both have competitive fire. It was good to see the kids play hard through the whole game and come back to win it in the 9th with a walk off single. I hope you liked the pictures![/img]

I've got some pictures from the IA game last night that I'll try to put up if they are any good. From the screen on my camera I think I have a pretty good one of Pie's laser HR to center. Pie looked good at the plate and in the field last night making some nice running catches in center. He definitely has the fire and competitiveness in him, you could see it in the way he was playing last night; he's going to be special. EP looks like he has a clue at the plate and is able to recognize a pitch which is a good sign. I didn't see much out of him on the field. There was a ball hit to him in which he had to dive for but didn't come up with the ball cleanly. Other than that it was a fun game, and good to see IA come back.

Who couldn't build a good run with Wood, Prior, Z, Lee, Aram, and Barrett......

I disagree with people saying it's all Dusty and the Cubs' fault. But I think you're just as wrong for saying Dusty shares no blame. The leadoff thing played a huge role. It was an example of the Cubs obviously not noticing his weaknesses, and putting him in a spot that would shine a light on his faults and ignore his favorables. Obviously you are wrong when you say his average will always be low and his SLG will always be low. His OBP will always be low, but in 2003 his .298 AVG and .511 SLG showed they didn't always have to be low. Corey could be a guy who hits .280/.320/.500 without changing a whole lot. He could still rack up the Ks. You're allowing his 2005 to completely erase his others years, when in fact, a happy medium between 2003 and 2004 is both very possible and acceptable. But the Cubs wanted him to hit .300 at the expense of power, which makes no sense because a lot of his ability to hit for some average despite the K's is his ability to hit homeruns. They completely went back on their original plan not to ask him to be a slap hitter. They screwed him up. Maybe he would have screwed himself up eventually. And I definitely never liked his approach in the first place. But when the team already stresses such an approach, it's tough to fault a guy for failing to fix his problems. I failed to see a difference no matter where he hit in the line up. It was the same old Corey flailing away at curves that bounced before the plate, and at balls that were above his eyes. I never saw him act like a lead off hitter. Did you ever see him shorten his stroke to put the ball in play? What was his swing like with 2 strikes, did he try to take that outside pitch and dump it into left field, or was he trying to put it in the RF bleachers? Maybe it was the move to lead off that screwed him up, but it appeared to me that he was already on that slippery slope, and the move to lead off was another bump in his road. Corey seemed more than willing to move to leadoff. I think he would have done anything at that point to reverse the direction that he was already headed. That said I would have liked to keep him and use him off the bench in a platoon and for a defensive replacement. There is no way that his value could have been lower than it was at the trade. He will do better this year with the O's; there is hardly a way that he couldn't.

Is there some point to continuing to call him "Slappy" over and over in each post you make? Try the cubs.com message board, the 12 year olds that post over there will probably think it is hilarious. wow, I completely agree...

That's a cool story. I saw my cousin last night and he showed me the picture that he took of himself and Ryan on his cell phone. My cousin said that Ryan and his friends were running up a huge bar bill, and he asked his boss who it was. So he introduced them. Here's where it gets a little fishy for me, not that I don't think my cousin is telling the truth, but Ryan said that we had those two players ready to go, with contracts, they were just waiting to announce it. I don't know if Ryan was just pulling his leg or what. :oops: I wish I would have been there I would have been firing off a lot more questions about Hendry, Baker, FA's etc. My cousin is a cubs fan, but not to the level that most of us here are. :)

Well...I did see the autograph as he got it for my uncle. So he was there. Other than that I don't have a link or anything to back up what he told me. My cousin isn't a big baseball fan so he didn't even hardly know who the guys were that he was talking about.

Disclaimer...I have nothing to back up the rumors in this post other than hearing it from my cousin. I'm not stating this as fact. Do players know who their team is going to sign in the off season anymore than we do? The reason I ask is my cousin was out in a club in Denver the other night and ran into Ryan Dempster. He didn't know it was him, but when he asked why all of his buddies were speaking French, he said it was because he was Canadian. He said I'm Ryan Dempster. He got his autograph and what not, and Ryan told him that we were going to sign Furcal and AJ Burnett. Now I have nothing to back this up as I was not there myself, but I just thought I would ask all of you what you thought. If players have any more idea about who we are going to sign than we do, or do you think he was just throwing it out there. Obviously he doesn't know that we are going to sign them, since only the FA's themselves would know that, but would he have a good idea about what direction the team wants to go in? Especially since he has already had negotiations for his own contract? Just thought it would be some interesting conversation.

Aramis looked pretty good getting a double in his first at bat tonight. I don't buy the fact that he's taking it easy because he's hurt. I don't doubt he has issues, but he should at least be hustling. That's not going all out, but it's running through first base on every hit. Nomar is supposedly still coming back, but I don't see him dogging it down the line. Aramis looked great last year, and he needs to be a little more like that, and a little less like Manny.

Agreed. I also agree that they should shut him down. I do have to say though that even if he is shut down tomorrow and has surgery he probably won't be ready for spring training. This is the Cubs we are talking about. We'll pin our hopes on wood coming back and having a strong year ala Matt Morris, and something will happen that he can't start until the end of May. By that time 1-2 of our other starters will be hurt. It's just the way it is. :cry:

We tried to warn you to delete this thread! :evil: