UMFan83

I don't know what it is about this game but I can't enjoy it. I feel completely uneasy and my stomach is churning. (its only mid-august and we have the best record in the NL its only mid-august and we have the best record in the NL its only mid-august and we have the best record in the NL its only mid-august and we have the best record in the NL )

That Aramis double would have looked great right after the Lee walk that he probably would have eventually took (with Carpenter possibly throwing 3-4 more pitches)

The best we can hope for is a 1-0 32 inning Brewers victory.

Cubs are tonight

If the Cubs won the World Series, I would not expect the Cubs to make major moves. Cubs started the season at $118M Zambrano gets a 2.75M raise Ramirez gets a 1.65M raise Soriano gets a 3M raise Lilly gets a 5M raise Fukudome gets a 5.5M raise Marquis gets a 3.5M raise DeRosa gets a 750K raise Harden will get a 3.5M raise if option is picked up Gaudin will probably get a 1M raise in arbitration Thats 25.65M in salary added right there Dempster is a FA and if the Cubs try to resign him, he's going to make significantly more than the 5.5M he made this year. Kerry Wood after a All Star mostly successful year as closer will want significantly more money than the 1.75 (+ incentives) he received this year. Howry (4M) is off the books, Edmonds (insignificant) is off the books, Lieber (3.5M) is off the books, Reed Johnson (1.3M) is off the books, Ward (1.2M is off the books) Blanco has a 3M option (made 2.8M in 08) That's 20.05M lost off the books The rest of the team is making under 1M and mostly under arbitration and won't get more than 300-500k in raises (I think) Meaning our payroll will roughly be at 123.60M for 17 players. You are then missing a reliever (can be filled in minors), number 3 starter (can resign Dempster for 10M or fill in minors), a closer (can use Marmol, fill in reliever spot in minors or resign Wood for lets say 5M guaranteed + incentives), a CF (both sides of the platoon), a LH bench player (Hoffpauir can fill this role), a backup catcher (can be found cheaply most likely) and a long reliever (not significant to speculate, but probably minors) Lets say the Cubs resign Dempster and Wood and fill the rest of the needs internally. That brings the payroll to roughly 140M, a raise of 22M just to reach status quo. Then throw into consideration the fact that the team's ownership will change hands during the offseason, I would think its completely unrealistic to suggest that the ballclub is improved with anything other then a possible trade.

yeah basically for every guy in the card system there are 20 guys in another system who don't turn out to be great players at age 30. I know. This is why I said he's an extreme example. But he certainly seems like a late bloomer. The only way to find out is to give him a chance in the bigs, and he certainly deserves to at least be on the 25 man.

I hesitate to call Hoff a non-prospect with Ryan Ludwick doing what he is doing this year. I know Ludwick is the extreme exception, but you never know.

I expected the Brewers to sweep, but I didn't expect the Nationals to go scoreless the first 15 innings of the series, even against CC and Sheets.

Cubs offense wakes up, pushes Carp out after 4 innings, Cubs win 9-2

He'll be fine....day-to-day IMO.

Anytime the Nationals want to score a run this series, that would be great. I knew this 10 game stretch would be tough. We basically have to win almost every game to avoid a potential collapse and letting the Brewers back into the division race.

That's exactly how I feel.

Are you serious Lee? Nah we don't need you to walk with Ramirez on deck. Edit: Luckily he did eventually walk

Cubs win the World Series!!!! Pigs are flying!!! Hell freezes over!!! Bob Howry throws scoreless inning!!!

Plesac is the most optimistic person I've ever seen. I think he's intentionally being optimistic because he's scared of getting Steve Stoned. For instance if Ludwick would have homered there he would have said something like "See I think its good for Bob to give up that HR here. If he gives up a single, you possibly lead into a big inning. Good job by Bob"

If Howry holds the Cardinals scoreless here, we will win the World Series this year.

We either beat the crap out of the ball or we just don't score in games. This is really frustrating.

Great 2 outs and two consecutive non-HR hitters up.

And Ward's awesome year continues popping up on the first pitch in a pitch almost in the dirt. As awesome as Ward was last year, thats exactly how sucky he is this year.

Can the official scorekeeper credit the manager with a loss instead of one of the pitchers?

Ugh. Tough to give up a single there the way it was hit and the fact that it was 0-2 on Albert. Ludwick is a bad matchup with Jeff.

After all that, its Samardzija

Umm so Pujols is going to tag a Howry pitch so badly that the game will end without the Cubs being allowed to hit out of embarassment.

So Howry is ready to come in....more incentive DeRosa

Hit one up the middle and lets celebrate into the night DeRo