UMFan83

This would be a great game for Lou to go off. This team is in shambles. 6 runs scored this series, 14 runs given up, errors all over the place, etc.

Just because I'm in a pissy mood... What the hell is he doing walking downtown? Shouldn't he be watching the game? Jerk. it was pretty funny actually. my buddy said hey to him, and i said "they need you!" (we had just left a restaurant where we were watching the game). he looked at us all weird. he walked like ten more steps turned around and looked at us weird like "do i know those guys," and then walked like half a block before turning around and looking at us again. we were still staring at him and cracking up. The ironic this is, we really don't need him. 0-16 for Kosuke...

It doesn't matter, theres no way they would postpone a game with 2 outs in the 5th with one team winning 7-0

Just because I'm in a pissy mood... What the hell is he doing walking downtown? Shouldn't he be watching the game? Jerk.

The pitching's great, the offense is great, and Lou Piniella is teh smrat! At least the Cubs aren't getting swept! We can go 1-2 in every series for the rest of the year and avoid a sweep every time! Sounds like a plan! This will be the 4th straight series where we go L-W-L. And with Haren going on Friday, chances are the next series is off to a great start to continue the streak.

It's obvious that this is more than just a slump at this point. This team has major weaknesses. The question is, which ones are the most glaring, and which ones are easiest to address in season? I'm not saying the team is as horrible as its been playing, but its clearly not a 90+ win team. My 'Needs Improvement' list: -Starting pitching -Middle relievers -Managing (putting the best players in the game, in game situations, etc)

4 of his 7 HRs have been against the Cubs.

I cannot believe how good Volquez is. I figured the Cubs would have a decent shot at knocking him around, seeing as this is the point where advanced scouting usually finds a weakness somewhere, plus the fact that the Cubs are the first team to face him for a second time. What we've gotten instead is completely dominated. This season is starting to piss me off. It seems like we find more weaknesses on this team everyday. Lou needs to flip out or something.

Fukudome is 0 for his last 15 BTW

http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hamiljo03.shtml Still, pitching has always been the problem for them. I guess they didnt know hed get that good. Hopfully, today is the begining of his downfall and it wont matter. Can you imagine if their rotation consisted of: C. Young Volquez Danks Milwood Obviously their numbers wouldn't have looked as good in that park, but still. Young is great in the cow pasture that the Pads play in, but his flyball tendency makes me think he probably would only be a serviceable 5th guy pitching in Arlington 1/2 his starts. Meh, he had a 4.35 ERA in Arlington in 2005, which is decent for a team that plays in that park. But yeah we all know about his ridiculous FB% that works in Petco, although his GB/FB ratio was a higher when he pitched for the Rangers.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hamiljo03.shtml Still, pitching has always been the problem for them. I guess they didnt know hed get that good. Hopfully, today is the begining of his downfall and it wont matter. Can you imagine if their rotation consisted of: C. Young Volquez Danks Milwood Obviously their numbers wouldn't have looked as good in that park, but still.

Bad Z: Welcome to 2008

Uh oh.

I am assuming the staff would be cautious regarding ARam, but you never know. A hairline fracture could still be found.

I am shocked to see Ramirez in there. Great thing to see though.

I'm assuming its going to be: TV: Funk and Stacey King Radio: Swerski and Wennington It's hard to break up Funk and Wennington, but if they are keeping Stacey around, he is pretty much useless when not on TV.

Sorry, I made that confusing. I tracked runs and hits that occured from when the bases were loaded, to the end of the inning. So if the Cubs loaded the bases with 0 outs, someone doubled 3 runs home, and the next player homered, that would be 5 runs on 2 hits.

I should also have added the following. How the runs were scored: Sac Fly: 4 Walk: 4 Single: 6 Double: 4 Home Run: 2 Fielder's Choice: 2

As some may know, as of last night the Cubs have loaded the bases 24 times in 16 straight games. What they have gotten out of this has been mixed success. They have scored 38 runs total after the bases loaded, meaning that on average during their streak, they should expect to score 1.58 runs each time the bases are loaded (please refrain from pointing out all the fallacies with this math, I am well aware) Here is a look at their results: Overall (24 occurrences): 0 runs scored: 8 times (33% of the time) 1 run scored: 6 times (25% of the time) 2 runs scored: 4 times (17% of the time) 3 runs scored: 2 times (8% of the time) 4 runs scored: 2 times (8% of the time) 5 runs scored: 2 times (8% of the time) With 0 outs (5 occurrences): 0 runs scored: 1 time 1 run scored: 2 times 2 runs scored: 1 time 5 runs scored: 1 time With 1 out (10 occurrences): 0 runs scored: 4 times 1 runs scored: 3 times 2 runs scored: 2 times 4 runs scored: 1 time With 2 outs (9 occurrences): 0 runs scored: 3 times 1 runs scored: 1 time 2 runs scored: 1 time 3 runs scored: 2 times 4 runs scored: 1 time 5 runs scored: 1 time What is amazing is the number of hits that the Cubs have gotten after the bases are loaded..... 0 hits: 15 times 1 hit: 6 times 2 hits: 3 times 3+ hits: 0 times And even more strange is how poorly we've hit with the bases loaded lately: Bases loaded before April 22nd: 5 situations, 17 runs scored (3.4 runs per occurrence) Bases loaded after April 22nd: 19 situations, 21 runs scored (1.1 runs per occurrence) Anyways, just thought I'd share.

Not really. We aren't getting any calls or any breaks. We aren't scoring many runs either, in most games. The offense looks good because we explode in some games, but then like yesterday, it's struggle struggle struggle. It's weird. I'm not sure if we can call it feast or famine, because the team is still getting on base at a decent clip. It's just not getting that key hit. So bizarre that we've loaded the bases in I think 18 straight games, but we are having trouble scoring runs.

Cubs are 6-0 vs. the Pirates and 12-14 against everyone else.

Pie is 2-25 when the count is 0-1, 0-2, 1-2 and 9-24 in every other AB (not including today)

Yes and no. I still don't think this team is playing that horribly. We need another starter yes, and we need ARams bat yet. But If we were playing at 100% of our potential 2 weeks ago, we are playing at about 25% right now.

Oh and BTW, nice fake rally Cobs. I'd rather the Cubs go down 1-2-3, then even slighly get my hopes up by loading the bases with 1 out.

ok, see ya later They are playing the Cardinals right now, he doesn't mean he's switching teams. oh okay. i thought he was the guy who became a red sox fan last year, so i figured he was selling out the cubs again. my mistake. Would be a weird team to switch to