UMFan83

That was a nicely drawn up play. It got Dooling a lane to drive and he could have either drawn a foul and shoot FTs or if LeBron left his man to help, dish it to Allen for a wide open 3 attempt. You give up the layup there. Oh yeah it was definitely the wrong decision. I was just commenting on how it was a nicely drawn up play to put him in a position to have to choose.

That was a nicely drawn up play. It got Dooling a lane to drive and he could have either drawn a foul and shoot FTs or if LeBron left his man to help, dish it to Allen for a wide open 3 attempt.

LeBron doing what he does best, bricking potential game winning shots. As soon as it was clear Miami was getting the last shot, I was pretty sure we were gonna get OT.

That was [expletive] amazing and enjoyable. Great ending to a good game 1. Found myself watching this game more than Heat Celtics. Hockey is awesome. That was a perfect fake by Kopitar and an even sweeter backhanded pass to find the breakaway attempt.

People continue to suckle on Dumpster’s teat as if it were Salma Hayek’s. He gave up 6 hits, 4 walks, and 6 ERs in under 5 innings today, but it’s not his fault. Couldn’t be. No, instead the sucklers look at his sub 3.00 ERA, his still sparkling 1.15 WHIP, his anemic run support and declare him the best EVAH. I gave up this battle long ago on message boards, but the fire still burns. Dumpster puts the over in rated. If only the Cubs could somehow maroon him on Gilligan’s Island. Or at least Des Moines. One last year and perhaps, finally, we’ll be done with him. Free at last, Free at last, thank God Almighty, they’ll be Free at last. You think he sucks, but you then admit that he has a great ERA and WHIP and has had anemic run support? Which is it?

too bad Moreland is on the call. Why does Pat take the inning off? mid-game [expletive] Nice contribution. No I think that's actually the reason. Maybe he doesn't take a dump everytime he goes on his break inning, but he's been doing it every game for years. Previously Judd Sirott would take over, probably because Ron couldn't handle PBP alone, and before that it was Corey Provis, and before that Andy Masur.

Second time you've used that one today :)

Man the Padres are doing everything possible to prove they are worse than us. They even stole our 'pitchers lose complete control and walk everyone' thing that we do.

Make that 2 in his last 42!

Wow I just saw Castro walked. Hallelujah!

I wouldnt be surprised if we found out that Starlin was taking advice from Dusty behind our backs.

In years like this, I miss Ron Santo. Every single game on the pre-game show he interviewed the Cubs manager and would always ask for the lineup, and every single time when the manager was finished he would say 'sounds like a winner!'. I really wonder if he could keep up that charade with some of the lineups we've run out there this year.

Holds is essentially a fantasy stat at this point. It's gotta be W-L, mostly because of all the stupid people that still use that stat as the main tool to evaluate pitchers. But with Felix Hernandez winning the Cy Young with a 13-12 record, it seems like things are starting to change. Let's hope so. If the perspective on W-L does change completely, then RBIs will be the next one to target.

Additionally: Hawkins: racism related Bradley: racism related Jacque Jones: felt unfairly treated, might have been racism mixed in. Flames were fanned by close friend Tori Hunter. Baker: ran out of top shelf arms to wreck Silva: vocally upset that he lost his job to a more talented player(Cashner) and was strung along despite the fact that they know he would lose out. I think DeRosa, Prior, and Pierre each might have griped a bit after their respective stays. I don't recall DeRosa, Prior or Pierre griping at all. Mark Grace is the one that irritated me: "I'm not good enough to play for the Cubs but I'm good enough to play for the WS champions!" douchbag There were definitely reports of Prior being sour on Hendry/Baker and the feeling was supposedly mutual. I can't remember if there were any public comments, though. i remember an odd interview with prior on the mac, jurko and harry show back in '03 or '04 where he expressed dismay about how the cubs marketed him and also the team, but he didn't want to go into detail about specifics. thought it was kinda weird for him to say that since outside of going to a random sports authority in schaumburg to sign baseballs for kids and parents, i never thought he was over or under marketed by the team. I definitely remember him being pretty upset and whining to the media that the Cubs decided to start Prior in AAA to start the 2007 season, primarily because he was coming off a bad injury in 2006 and didn't have the velocity back on his pitches during spring training. He made some comment about making the Triple-A All-Star game and the futures game after calling himself an employee of the Cubs and has no control over their decision.

For what it's worth, if there ends up being some high priced blue chipper in the 2013 Draft, I doubt that the Padres or Twins would take them. Assuming the new CBA doesn't take that type of thing off the table. It does mostly take that off the table.

So that's what we are going to do with that cap space.....um..yay?

Nah. I'm pretty much viewing these guys like the farm teams. The end result is far less important to me than the individual performances of the relevant players. Agreed. It's why I have far more interest in this team than last years Cubs who I barely followed. Last years team only had 1-2 player worth following.

It's amazing how a hot sunny day at Wrigley on a holiday can make a game between 2 teams with a combined record of 32-64 enjoyable.

Well he should have walked that AB but he doesnt care about walking so ill take a homer. Man the Padres must blow

When the hell are one of our 3 DLed catchers going to be back?

Holy crap, Jeff Suppan is still in the league?

Why? They haven't lost a game in forever. Sarcasm? Nope... 19 game winning streak so far (including playoff). So it's been awhile since the last time they lost. Raisin was being sarcastic, not you.

I think a big part of the appeal of Theo is putting together a competent organization from top to bottom. I don't know if or how the Cubs ran their organization before but reading about how he has a huge handbook to dictate how the organization will be run, what types of things to emphasize, and keeping it consistent throughout the system with the idea of developing better players with the ability to do the things that Theo has stressed. Obviously that stuff doesnt happen overnight, and you could probably argue how much that really changes things, but on paper it sounds like something our organization will benefit from. I have definitely worried about how the new CBA effects Theo's plan, as it seemed like the thing he did well was allocate a big portion of his budget towards the draft and international signings. Now the strategic and monetary advantage he's enjoyed is downgraded significantly. He says he'll just have to find the next strategic advantage he can exploit, but what if he cant? Or what if he spends significant time doing the wrong thing, thinking it is the next great advantage? I am still 100% behind Theo and I think its idiotic for people to sour on him 2 months into his first season. We all pretty much knew this team had a chance to suck, and regardless of how you feel about this strategy, if you were behind Theo in November, you should be behind him in May. Give the guy at least 2 years to prove that he is the boy genius he was in Boston.

Thanks. I don't have ESPN Insider so I couldn't read it. 20 sounds about right for Rizzo. I know he had Bundy #1. If I may ask, where were Bauer and Cole on his revised top 25? I'll just list his entire top 25: 1. Dylan Bundy, RHP, BAL (previously 11) 2. Jurickson Pofar, SS, TEX (7) 3. Manny Machado, SS, BAL (4) 4. Travis d'Arnaud, C, TOR (6) 5. Will Myers, OF, KC (13) 6. Taijuan Walker, RHP, SEA (24) 7. Gerrit Cole, RHP, PIT (10) 8. Trevor Bauer, RHP, ARI (21) 9. Shelby Miller, RHP, STL (5) 10. Jameson Taillon, RHP, PIT (15) 11. Miguel Sano, 3B, MIN (28) 12. Archie Bradley, RHP, ARI (19) 13. Tyler Skaggs, LHP, ARI (25) 14. Bubba Starling, CF, KC (15) 15. Christian Yelich, OF, MIA (48) 16. Zach Wheeler, RHP, NYM (27) 17. Francisco Lindor, SS, CLE (35) 18. Nick Castellanos, 3B, DET (37) 19. Julio Teheran, RHP, ATL (18) 20. Anthony Rizzo, 1B, CHC (36) 21. Oscar Taveras, RF, STL (53) 22. Danny Hultzen, LHP, SEA (30) 23. Nolan Arenado, 3B COL (26) 24. Mason Williams, CF, NYY (34) 25. Billy Hamilton, SS, CIN (64) He also mentions the following to watch for in his midseason update: Jackie Bradley, CF, BOS Matt Barnes, RHP, BOS Jonathan Singleton, 1B, HOU Zach Lee, RHP, LAD Aaron Sanchez, RHP, TOR Austin Hedges, C, SD Matt Davidson, 3B, ARI

Anyone mention that KLaw revised his Top 25 prospect list to account for the start of the season. He had Rizzo at number 20, up from 36 before the season started.