UMFan83

I don't know why people are so passionately defending Ryan Theriot...he's a below average SS who can be replaced but isn't a big enough hole that he absolutely has to be replaced. To be honest, I don't care about his OPS, OBP or whatever. I care about his defense and his baserunning. I would like to replace Theriot with someone who can play above average defense and have at least a .700 OPS.

Funny...I just saw the replay of Lou taking Z out, and I'm pretty sure it looked like Z, with his back to Lou walking off the mound, said "F*** you" under his breath, and then Lou responded with "what did you say?"

Dammit, somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that. Thanks for pointing that out.

Can anyone with ESPN Insider post some excerpts from their Scouts, Inc. Bears/Packers game preview, specifically their final conclusion/prediction. My Insider account just ran out.

Either way, I'd just like them to play Jake Fox in LF over Bobby "I have no future in Major League Baseball" Scales. I'm not big on tanking unless you are fighting for a top 5 pick. Where the Cubs are at, they have an opportunity to draft a player with more talent than the pick they're drafting at simply by being willing to pay for a player that other teams ahead of them can't afford to. So IMO it doesn't matter. I just want this team to have a winning record for the 3rd year in a row. We'll likely finish with 79 wins or more in 6 of the last 7 years, which if you keep things in perspective (aka how the Cubs did in the decade prior to this one), it's a good thing. Still, they should be like the Yankees and Red Sox and making the playoffs 9/10 years.

I thought all USA needed to clinch a spot was a draw in either of the next 2 games. A draw would put the USA at 17 points, and Costa Rica has 12 points, so if they won their last 2 and USA drew and lost, and Mexico and Honduras both end up with more than 17 points (Mexico has 15, Honduras 13), then USA would still finish 4th. If USA draws to finish with 17, and Costa Rica fails to win 1 of their 2 last games, the most points they can end up with is 16.

Well we've won 4 of 5. The 2007 Rockies won 14 of 15 in their famous comeback to the playoffs, which means the Cubs need to win the next 10. Do it. Sadly, even if we did that, we'd probably still be 4-5 games out of the WC lead. Oh well.

Just for fun I did a mock World Cup drawing using teams currently in a position to make the WC and used discretion when applicable (i.e. Argentina over Costa Rica) and then used random number generator to select the team (yeah I'm bored and a bit weird). Anyways, these were the groupings, just for fun: Group A: Germany Slovakia North Korea Paraguay Group B (FIFA Ranking): England (7) Croatia (9) United States (11) Ivory Coast (20) Group C: Netherlands Denmark Australia Ecuador Group D: Italy Bosnia and Herzegovina South Korea Cameroon Group E: Brazil Switzerland Japan Chile Group F: Argentina France Mexico Tunisia Group G: Spain Russia Honduras Algeria Group H: South Africa Serbia New Zealand Ghana Of course USA draws the most impossible grouping just like in 2006. Anyways, just thought I'd share.

If we can go 1-2 through that stretch, I'll be content. I'd be glad to be in a position to get to 2-2 for the first quarter of the season with a win against Detroit and go from there (there's that Lovie-speak again). Damn this sounds like last year with @ Indy, @ Car, vs. TB to start the year. We were saying just win 1...and while we did win just the 1, it was against the hardest team of the 3, and we completely blew the other 2 games, so 2-1 or 3-0 should have been the result. Together, those 3 games look imposing, but if you just break them down 1 by 1 you will realize it's not all that bad. Do we have a decent chance of beating GB? I'd say it's somewhere around 50/50, how about at home vs. Pittsburgh? Probably 45/55, in Seattle? 55/45. So the chances of winning just 1 are pretty good, and winning 2 of them is probably a 50/50 chance or better.

24 more games until Kevin Gregg is no longer a Cub and can go screw up someone else's team.

That didn't take long. They must have seen the Cubs winning and had to ensure the streak continues. Probably the most fascinating streak in sports

Do you go about each day saying things like "get ready to be in a terrible car crash" or "get ready to get fired" or "get ready to have the waitress screw up my order?" This made me laugh imagining that happening.

Hoffpauir becomes the 7th Cub with double digit home runs this year, with 2 other Cubs (Fontenot and Soto) stuck on 9, and another with a very outside shot (Theriot with 7). Imagine having 10 players with double digit HRs.

8 baserunners in 4 IP for Z.

A rare instance where the 1st and 3rd, 1 out sac bunt works.

How many times has Theriot screwed up the transfer this year? I feel like it's happened at least 5-6 times.

I personally think having Lovie calling the plays will have the biggest positive effect on the defense, including Marinelli. Lovie was shown in past jobs to be able to think outside the box and be creative when calling plays.

We scored 7 runs in the first?? I thought the game started at 7.

I'm in the mood for predictions...game, season, doesn't matter. Here are mine. NFC North Z-Minnesota Vikings 11-5 X-Chicago Bears 10-6 Green Bay Packers 9-7 Detroit Lions 3-13 Not gonna do the other divisions, but I'll say that the NFC Champion comes from someone other than the biggest favorites Minnesota, Giants and Philly As for the game... I think GB should be the favorite in the game, being at home and all, but something about Lovie at Lambeau... Bears 27 Packers 23 Suck it Packers fans.

Didn't Ortiz do the same thing when he was slumping earlier this year? Desperation move...

I'd prefer not to be the favorites, so I like being the 2nd or 3rd pick in the division. Hopefully we will prove them wrong. It's kind of cool for fans of the top 3 in the NFC North (wait there's a 4th team?) to be so confident, if not cocky about their teams. It should be a fun year if we can all stay bunched together. Division games between the 3 will all be huge.

Griffey is perhaps the hardest guy to get an autograph of in the game today. Don't even bother with sending it to him through the mail. According to sportscollectors.net Griffey has written back 2 times out of 70 in the last 11 years. The same person said they got him twice and yet, didn't include a picture for either one. Don't waste your card or stamps. I would still try calling the Mariners and explaining what you are wanting to do. Griffey always seemed pretty down to earth to me. He probably doesn't handle his own mail which is why he never autographs cards and sends them back. I doubt it would work but a phone call can't hurt. Since its not for profit and not for yourself it could happen. And what you would get from them is a package with a schedule and a few things tossed in. Because honestly what would prevent everyone or anyone from doing this? Plus Griffey is not very autograph friendly at all. Your best bet is to get on Ebay and try and buy a certified autograph of Ken. I could see the media relations dept taking an interest in this and asking the OP to send the card to them so they can personally bring the card to Griffey to sign. I've heard of teams doing random acts of kindness like this in the past, but the OP would still have to be quite lucky/catch someone on the right day.

As of this afternoon, Derrek Lee is (NL Ranks) 7th in the league in HRs (31) 6th in the league in OPS (.953) 4th in the league in SLG (.575) 4th in the league in RBIs (96) 19th in the league in OBP (.379) 20th in the league in BA (.298) He is on pace to... Drive in the most runs of his career (Has 96 RBI, all time high is 107, on pace for 117) Hit the 2nd most HRs of his career (Has 31, high is 46, on pace for 37) Have the second highest OPS of his career (.953, high is 1.080, 2nd highest before this year was .913) Have the second highest SLG of his career (.575, high is .662, 2nd highest before this year was .513) Have the third highest OBP of his career (.379, high is .418) Have the third highest BA of his career (.298, high is .335) Before this season, his 2nd best overall year was probably 2007, but certainly unless he slumps mightily, this will be his 2nd best year, only outshone by a ridiculous 2005 season. And this is his age 33 season. Amazing, and despite a lost year for the team its something to enjoy from this year. Hopefully he can keep it up next year.

Am I the only one that sees that the Cubs are 10th in the league in runs scored and wonder how in the hell they aren't lower?

My guess would be: -Doesn't have enough money to keep the team competitive (you think he can afford a payroll bigger than 130m?...you think he can afford a payroll AT 130m?) -Any attempts to raise revenue are radical and met with extreme anger from fan base. -Umm...I'm not sure why else.