UMFan83

3 run double for Wilson, Pirates lead 6-4. The Cardinals still have no closer. It was on an 0-2 pitch with 2 outs in the ninth.

Is anyone else not surprised that CC is struggling. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think CC is among the best 5-6 pitchers in baseball.

Whelp, Meph was right.

Cliff Lee not off to a good start defending his Cy Young award.

Thanks to Extra Innings free preview, I can watch the Reds/Mets on the Mets network, the Reds network and ESPN.

Is that actually coming out? All I hear are rumors. The second that app comes out I'm going to buy a slingbox. I wasn't too sure about streaming video on the iPhone, but then I bought that NCAA tournament app and it was pretty damn good quality.

Well if he is a Tar Heels fan, your talking about a National Championship game vs. the first of 162 regular season games. Or maybe he's about to win his bracket. In that case, $$$ vs. 1/162

I swear people have been saying that it's been Weeks' make or break year for the last 3 seasons

Haha remember in 2005 when the Cubs were tearing the cover off the ball in spring training and everyone was talking about how awesome the Cubs offense was going to be that year and then the season started and everyone struggled. Players are going to hit in Arizona, and do yourself a favor and don't take anything from spring numbers, because every single year you will end up looking like a fool. I'm actually more worried about the Cardinals. Every passing day I think about their team more and think about how dangerous they could be.

If the Cubs built a new park... The stadium would be much more caneverous and the upper deck of the park would likely be much farther from the field than it is now. Ballparks are simply not built with overhangs anymore, not with luxury boxes as popular as they are. This would leave the cheap seats miles from the ballpark, and the stadium would become much less noisy as it is now. Granted the effect isn't as big in baseball parks as it is in indoor arenas, but this is something we've all but lost with the modern ballpark. Wrigley still has it. Along the same point, the luxury boxes would be the number one priority for the Cubs. They would do everything possible to ensure that the luxury boxes are as spacious and luxurious as possible. The Cubs would likely find a way to incorporate Cubs traditions like the rooftops into the ballpark. However, I don't think the Cubs are trilled with the idea of rooftop owners and only receiving a portion of the revenues. They would probably find a way to "create" rooftops outside the field, and control ownership of those rooftops, making the whole idea cheesy. Meh, I could go on...I'm just completely against a new Wrigley. Sure its not the most comfortable, its cramped, its smelly, it lacks some amenities that fans in almost every other park enjoy. I hate missing 9 outs of a game everytime I want to goto the bathroom unless I'm in the bleachers. But there are certain things that Wrigley has that are impossible to duplicate with a new park. Places like Fenway and Wrigley are so rare in today's game. All other parks are giant generic monsters poking out of the cities skyline. Wrigley is unique that it fits nicely into the neighborhood. It's no different than the 7-11 across the street or the 3 story brownstone across the street. Once Wrigley and Fenway leave, we'll never get places like this back. So I am of the opinion to enjoy what we have as long as we can.

Not sure I love this move. Gaudin pitched decently yesterday in NY, getting away from Arizona where breaking balls go to die. I wanted him to make this team because I thought he'd be a viable 6th starter in case Harden or someone else goes down. Now we will have to go to Heilman, and that will significantly shorten our pen, as the only pen guys I trust are Marmol, Gregg and Heilman. I would have at least gave him a shot. Patton didn't impres me enough to think that he could contribute this year. How many Rule 5 picks have played for teams expected to compete for a championship. If I were the decision maker, I would have kept Guzman and Gaudin and sent Patton back while keeping Shark at AAA. Now that I think about it, I guess Shark could be a good 6th starter callup, but I think Heilman would be quite upset about being passed up for a rotation spot if someone goes down.

Zambrano has said a lot of strange things this spring, starting with his being a White Sox fan comment to this now. Would it be really hard to gut the clubhouse and build a bigger more modern one? I am not sure how it would affect the foundation of the actual ballpark to start digging large underground holes under the park. I assume if it was easy, it would have been done already.

HAHA bitter Packer fan face, I LOVE IT! I realize I am really late in reading this, but after being called a Packer fan I have never been so offended. Well with that ridiculous comment I could only assume you were a Packer fan. If thats not the case, then it must just be that you dont know much about the Bears or football. Really? Is it that ridiculous to be concerned that the upgrade at quarterback might not help enough to offset the poor group of receivers, questionable offensive line, and average and aging defense? It is also reasonable to doubt that Cutler will be a perennial All Pro with the Bears. I hope it happens, but I don't think it's the slam dunk like most seem to think. I must have missed the quote from Angelo where he said that the Cutler move was going to address every hole the Bears have and that there would be no other moves for the Bears. You realize that camp doesn't start until July right? There is no reason to bring up the other holes on the team when evaluating this move. We filled the biggest hole the team has had for decades, and your first reaction is to attack the Bears for not filling all their holes in one move?

If NSBB held an award for Mr. Irrational Panic, I'd be a strong contender. That said, even I refuse to worry until the season starts. Even after the season starts, a bad April is not the end of the world. If you want proof, look at Lilly last year. In April, people were prefering Marquis starts over Lilly. People were worried about his velocity being lower than normal, and people began to speculate whether he was washed up. By the end of the season, people were upset that Ted didn't get to pitch in October because he was our best pitcher over the last 6 weeks of the season. Even if Harden is not ready now, he'll be ready at some point.

fixed

Not many more days for us to fall back on the spring training excuse. Yeah but the fact it still is, and because of the WBC, Lilly hasn't thrown as many innings as he'd like to prepare for the season. How do we know he wasn't testing stuff last night, trying to work on locating his fastball, etc. When the season starts, you'll likely see a different gameplan than we've been seeing.

He got hit pretty damn hard. Even some of the balls that didn't go out were hit pretty hard. Like others have said, he got behind a lot of hitters, and was throwing in the upper 80's. He's gotten the least work of any of the Cubs starters, so its not the end of the world, but I still would have rather seen more out of him.

Another 3 run HR given up by Harden. 8-1 Yankees. 3 2/3 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 3 HR, 3 BB for Harden I believe.

Another hard hit ball off Harden.

Yeah that's why I'm not terribly worried about Harden's ineffectiveness so far. Not like its as easy as snapping your fingers and he is on the team, but I know that Hendry will probably make a run at him, especially if there are rotation issues.

Yay Harden saved from giving up another run by Soriano's arm.

Thank you Cub pitchers for offering to throw BP to the Yankee hitters this weekend. That's 5 HRs given up in 12 innings by the Cubs pitchers.

And another long HR given up by Harden.

Wow that was a bomb given up by Harden. 4-1 Yankees.

Well Soriano is swinging the bat well heading into the season. Just missed a HR by a few inches in his first AB, and hits a HR in his second AB.