UMFan83

Remember when we got tons of SOG and controlled the puck? Penalty on Chicago. I'd be amazed if Vancouver didn't score here.

Vancouver looks really really really good so far.

It was amazingly close. Nice turnover Niemi.

Wow that was as close to 2-0 as it could be without it actually being 2-0. They are destroying us again.

So is Mr. 3 rebounds Niemi

Does that help the nerves? :(

Let the rout commence. That was quick.

The Hawks should probably win this game.

I don't understand how a team with such good hitting and starting pitching can be sub .500. They aren't though. They are at .500 :) Also, consider the somewhat easy schedule we've had so far. Atlanta, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Houston, New York, Milwaukee, Washington, Arizona is not exactly a murder's row of teams. We should be at least a couple games over .500 if we are any good. That said, we've had issues with streaky hitting and especially the pen, which is why we are .500 despite great starting pitching and a decent offense. As much as I want to feel optimistic about the Cubs, I just can't with this bullpen. Z isn't gonna be in the pen forever (I can't believe I'm saying that), and there is literally no option besides maybe Marshall that I'd feel even slightly comfortable pitching the 8th inning of a tight game. The crazy thing is, we have barely had any situations where we needed an 8th inning guy pitching with a 1-2 run lead. We've only won 4 games decided within 2 runs this year, and 1 of them we took the lead in the bottom of the 8th, and another we won in extras. Once we aren't playing the Arizonas or Milwaukees of the world, I would expect a lot more tight games.

why? he gets paid and assload and hasn't come close to living up to it. I don't fault him for signing that contract. But when you do, you better understand the expectations that come with it. I don't want to hear you complain about the boos when you turn in a sub-.800 OPS, injury or not. Comes with the territory. I guess it all depends on which side of the fence you are on with regards to when it is proper to boo a player. Some people believe it is acceptable to boo a player for sucking, even if he's working his ass off every day and just can't seem to play better. Others believe its only proper to boo when it's obvious the player is giving less than 100%. By all accounts, Soriano works as hard or harder than any player on the Cubs. Despite the perception of him not caring, it's obvious he does care and wants to play well and wants to win. Yeah sometimes he'll stare at a ball that hits off the wall, but anything else he does it not a result of lack of effort or preparation, it's due to just not being good, or not yet finding the thing that's gonna get him back on track. At this point in his career Soriano is what he is, and has been for years. He's a power hitter that is extremely streaky, has trouble hitting breaking pitches, is probably a little too easy to get out in key ABs when he's not red hot, a butcher in the field, great arm, declining speed, etc. That information was blatently obvious years before Hendry signed him to that deal. If he didn't realize that was the player he was getting, then Hendry should be the one getting booed. Just my opinion though, I have no problem if someone wants to boo him for playing shitty, that's your choice. I just don't think it helps anyone.

This thread sucks so far.

Soriano is on pace for 40 HR and 113 RBIs ha. You know whats funny though: Through 80 ABs... 2009: .313/.396/.650/1.046, 10 BB, 6 2B, 7 HR, 14 RBI 2010: .325/.382/.675/1.057, 8 BB, 8 2B, 6 HR, 17 RBI Very similar starts. Hopefully this year he can stay healthy, so that he doesn't go on a season long slump from June on. Obviously Soriano is not going to change. He will come off this hot streak, and fade into a really frustrating cold spell. The hope for Soriano is that he can limit the length of that cold spell and play well enough to have good numbers at the end of the season.

Dusty used to pull this lazy type of lineup making too. Remember when Sosa was out, and Dusty replaced him with Trinnidad Hubbard, still batting 3rd?

Not to dog on Fuku, but this isn't the first season he's started out the season hot. The guy has a career 1.004 OPS in April, and his highest OPS month after that is .808, in May. By the time you get to September, his career OPS is .611. I'd love to see him with a consistently good year, but so far this season's story has started out exactly like the first 2.

I see a team that plays really good some games, and shits the bed in other games. I don't know what else that signifies. I realize the opponent has an effect on how a game is played too, but I just see too many battles for pucks lost to the other team, way too many lazy passes in our own zone picked off, etc. No one is questioning the Hawks desire to win, I believe they want this badly. I just don't always think the Hawks look prepared to play, and that's Q's job to implement the game plan, make adjustments on the fly, stress fundamentals, etc. This is the 2nd time in 7 playoff games the Hawks just looked completely shell shocked out there as the opponent had their way with them. The Canucks played a fantastic game tonight, but a Hawks team playing at their highest level makes this close enough to have a shot to pull it out. Instead we got destroyed from the 2nd period on.

It doesn't reflect well on Q that it's been a recurring theme in the playoffs to question the Hawks effort and preparedness. It's not just the fans either that have been making these observations, as evidenced by the commentators tonight.

The commentators are pretty relentless on calling out the Hawks for their effort and play. They basically saying that teams do not play this poorly in the playoffs.

Yeah I'm not sure about a sweep, but if Niemi and the team play this bad in game 2, it's not impossible. This Vancouver team looks focused. I was worried about this series getting out of hand quickly. Think about the fact that a probably lesser talented Hawks team really stunned Vancouver last year in the playoffs. Vancouver was 2 minutes away from going up 3-1 and putting an end to that series. If it wasn't for Luongo [expletive] the bed in games 6-7 the result might have been different. Since then based on quotes from the players, they have been waiting for revenge in the playoffs all year long. They think they were the better team last year and they want to prove it by destroying us. They aren't going to lose focus like we do sometimes. To add to that Vancouver improved their team since last year, and you can argue that Chicago got worse, or stayed the same (Havlat, Khabi, etc for Hossa, Madden, Niemi). I can still see the Hawks winning the series, but they need to play their best hockey for every moment of every game. The Cancuks probably want this more than the Hawks do.

Time to make up for it by turning on NHL 10 and setting the difficulty to rookie.

This logo is tailor made for that: http://www.sportslogos.net/images/logos/1/7/full/58.gif

It looks like I'll be switching to the Cleveland Boston game after this period. I can't take any more than this. This series is far from over, but I'm starting to think about how are we going to manage to cut payroll this offseason and improve the team. If we don't get it done this year, how are we going to get it down with less depth next year? Or the year after?

Me too. I think Q doesn't want to destroy Niemis confidence by pulling him, but I gotta wonder if it's worse to keep him in there. It's pretty clear that it's not his night

pull him

I think at this point we need to pretend like the score is still 0-0 and not play like we are trying to make up a 4 goal deficit. Let's face it, Vancouver is probably going to win game 1. But if we can finish this game strong at the very least we could steal some momentum before game 2. We do not want to finish this game losing by 4+ goals. With using to Vancouver for 2 afterwards, game 2 is a must must win.

I can't believe how excited I was today for this game. This is like a slap in the face.