UMFan83

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.

No doubt. I guess I kinda thought that they would turn it up once the games started mattering more. Edit: In other words I was hoping that their play was due to being locked into a top 3 seed from January on as well as being fatigued from the Olympics.

We are getting completely dominated right now. We don't look like we belong on the same ice as Vancouver this period

Commentators really hammering the Hawks on their sloppy play in their own zone. He's right though, tons of horrible turnovers, blind passes, etc. They are questioning the Hawks focus.

Now that is what a good PP looks like, even if they didn't score. Tons of great chances for them.

This is the game where we were too cocky. Then Monday we will be humbled and give a better effort Monday and win. Or something

I wonder if they'll consider pulling Niemi if he lets another one in in the next few minutes.

And then a penalty. Great first minute of the period.

STOP GIVING UP REBOUNDS Now I think this game is just about over.

I'm worried for this game, not necessarily for the series. I fully expected Vancouver to steal one of the 2 games in Chicago, just like I fully expect the Hawks to take 1 of the 2 in Vancouver.