UMFan83

He's a [expletive] 21 year old rookie! And Starlin's a 25 year old, 3 time all star with a career line of .284/.325/.410. So maybe we shut the [expletive] up and give them both the benefit of the doubt. With a combined line of .258/.299/.367/.666 over the last 3 seasons (1671 PA).

Glad we could revive Ryan Howard's career

So 2 hits today through 6 after 0 yesterday... Do something Maddon #firemallee

I keep forgetting people that think this way exist You know who has been saying this for 4 years, he just writes more eloquently

Yes a 3 game series in mid july of the first quasi "go for it year" proves that Kyle was right all this time

i remember you also saying some random win against the dodgers was the turning point in the season and that we'd all remember it Sorry I don't believe anything so positive ever came from him

See and we have now gotten to the point where I'm not sure if this is sarcastic or not. I wasn't being sarcastic. It's almost like it's possible to put a bad run of baseball into perspective and not assume that this is the best we can ever play.

We were struggling offensively way before that game. The difference is the pitching was overachieving and has now come back to earth

No it's just a bad weekend imo but obviously things are trending downward so while its concerning its not hot garbage level yet They're about to be 5-8 in a stretch against the White Sox, Braves, Reds, and Phillies. It's not just one bad weekend 1-The game isn't over yet 2-yeah not a great stretch of games but the sky isn't falling and we've proven to be a lot better of a team. My biggest concern is that of the regulars half of them (Fowler, Castro, Soler and Russell) have hit well below expectations, 3 of them have hit about at expectations but probably all 3 have hit slightly worse than we hoped (Rizzo, Bryant, Montero) and 1 player better than probaly expected (Coughlan). And of those eight, 5 of them and trending downwards (I'm giving Soler and Russell a break because they've both had better abs and hitting ball better lately) including the 2 best overall hitters. So i want to better understand why pretty much an entire offense is underachieving and if anything showing signs of getting worse. We've all seen entire offenses slump before but it's rare when its for this extended period of time. I know people think the hitting coach thing is a meatbally scapegoat but how else do you explain it? Part of it may be a lot of young hitters getting used to the majors but that doesn't explain the extended slumps of Castro, Rizzo, Fowler and montero before his injury. If it's just a really unfortunate coincidence that everyone is slumping at once then it should correct itself and we will be fine and eventually play better. If it's terrible coaching, not finding mechanical flaws, not properly preparing hitters for the pitchers they are facing, then a change has to be made to see if it helps at all. Because it can't get much worse

I don't want to hear about his hamstring injury. If he wasn't healthy don't pitch him

No it's just a bad weekend imo but obviously things are trending downward so while its concerning its not hot garbage level yet

Man even when Rizzo hits the ball hard its a bad luck liner right into a DP

Bryant king of the Warning Track Power ® this weekend

Hmm well I guess maybe having Schwarber starting yesterday might have helped...imagine that

Cubs making it really difficult to decide whether we need help in the pen (Friday), hitting (Saturday) or a starter (today)

Why does it seem like every game lately is on ABC? I thought there were only like a handful of games on the station this year or were most of them intended to be concentrated in July for some reason

This is year four. And it is the only year currently being contested. We hope this is a long window of success. We have good reason to believe it has a good chance to be. But the idea that we're locked in and on cruise control is vastly overstated. People love easy-to-understand narratives like "We were bad, now we're OK and young, so tomorrow we'll be great." But it's never that easy. We could be like the Rays, where our first good team was our best. We could see the 2016 Cubs knocked off-course by a couple of poorly-timed injuries. We could see the front office's magic touch on cheap pitching evaporate. Russell could never adapt to the big leagues. Schwarber could Richie Sexson his forearm. The Cardinals and Pirates could continue their excellence for five more years and lock us out. The future looks good, but it isn't nearly enough of a guarantee to justify passing over the present entirely. Yes and if the Cubs listened to you 4 years ago we'd likely be a less than elite team full of veterans and no payroll flexibility

and we see who is drinking that cool-aid from the morning.. its over this year. give up already 1-why the [expletive] did my edits turn out like that? 2-im really sorry to everyone that had to read me when I acted like this and made the board unreadable

This is the second time I've read someone say we are 5 games over .500 today. Are we giving up on today's game already?

Cubs are 5-5 in their last 10 and 11-10 in July and just finished a winning road trip. Not a great stretch of baseball at all but they aren't exactly in a tailspin either. Oh, and their they're 6 games over .500

That doesn't make any sense? Doing what exactly? I'd take our team over the next 10 years over theirs

super frustrating. i despise that attitude. I wouldn't go as far as saying who cares but I don't see the need to panic over a bad stretch of baseball. Even if we fall short this season has been awesome overall and has reawakened my love of the Cubs. Big picture it's a young core that is 100 times more likely to get better than not so the lows to me aren't nearly as bad as they were in the years we had veteran win now teams

Not sure if Hamels is making a compelling case for trading for him or for scrapping the SP plan and getting a bat

Don't worry we'll play some +.500 teams again soon

wait, cubs people are going to be watching a game at wrigley? no way Yeah I hear high members of the front office and possibly the owner will be in attendance for his start.