dalgreen

The way the eighth inning has gone for this team this year, we better get three or four runs here in the 7th.

That's standard baseball with a two-run lead. You trade the run for the out with only eight outs left. If you play the infield in, you increase the chance for a hit, that would mean a 2-1 game with a man on. 6-0, you play the infield in to prevent the game from being further out of reach.

Neifi is a pioneer of suckitude. He is always blazing a trail of new and inventive ways to fail. Derrek needs a day off, IMO. Then Derrek should have hinted at that. Oh, wait. He did. Dusty has been very un-Dusty-like in that regard this year. Any other year and he would not have been riding Lee and Burnitz this hard. Dusty either ignores or is oblivious to the obvious sometimes. I think the Almighty could blast a message into a stone wall with lightning right in front of him and he would disregard it if he didn't agree. Are you kidding? Dusty can't catch a break. People earlier were talking about the bad lineup he's tossed out there today. Do you really think there would be lots of people okay not having Lee and Ramirez in the lineup? A good bench and you could get away with that. A bad bench and you can't. THe guy can't catch a break from some people.

Back to the original. Do we need a leftfielder? Because of our Manager we can't answer that question. We can spend money and block kids but we can't answer the question. What was your point? Holy cow. My point was that you said no deal would help, and that's insane. There's always a deal that can help any team, regardless of who they already have. The right deal isn't always available, but there's always spots on your team that you can upgrade. You're saying a deal won't help us and that's plain wrong. You're saying Manny Ramirez wouldn't help? You'd rather have Murton in LF everyday, than Manny? I see, you're saying we can trade Murton for Ramirez and that would help. My point is Dusty isn't working out. When we get injuries he plays part-time vets and doesn't look at help from kids (ala Braves, Cards or any other team with a Manager with a brain) but, point taken. Trade Murton, Gerut and Macias for Manny Ramirez. Piece of cake! You really seem to have fallen into the one-dimensional thinker that many blame Baker of having. Do you really see no need whatsoever to improve the bullpen? If the score is left at 1-0 yesterday, maybe, just maybe we can get one or two runs. Once it got to 3-0 or 6-0, the game was over. Please, stop thinking it was just the kids in Atlanta that got them in first place. One, the Nationals are having a monumental collapse, and two the Braves pitching is not nearly as bad as the Cubs. If playing the kids is the answer to everything, why is Colorado so bad?

Have to be a buyer. We're 3 behind Houston and we play them 10 more times. You have to at least address OPS in LF and/or bullpen help - if not for 2005, then for 2006. Got to buy regardless if Nomar and Williamson are back or not. What part of Murton's .483 .543 .552 1.095 doesn't warrant a start against a righthanded pitcher? Do we need a leftfielder Hoops? I know it's hard to believe, but the Cubs were shut out even with Cedeno and Murton in the lineup. It has been apparent when our 2-5 hitters don't get on base and drive in runs, we get shut down. Our bullpen has been the biggest reason why we're consistently inconsistent.

It's hard to take any criticism of this team seriously if there is no talk about the bullpen. The bullpen relievers have 20 losses this year. Playing Murton and Cedeno does not impact the bullpen's ineffectiveness. Murton and Cedeno started yesterday and we still were shutout.... again, the bullpen allowed the game to get out of reach.

I think it's okay to despise a guy, but you should also be able to acknowledge ones skills, too. I don't like Joe Morgan the announcer, but I also understand why some say he's the greatest second baseman. Defensively, people need to remember how many games Morgan had to play on astroturf vs. Sandberg playing on thick Wrigley grass. I get a kick out of people who never saw Morgan play critique him. That's like people saying Jordan was the best of all time who never saw Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson (pre- 1990), Bill Russell, George Mikan, etc... I can't stand Morgan as an analyst, but he is no worst than the second greatest second baseman in my lifetime. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt regarding his committment, but if he doesn't call and congratulate Sandberg then he is a Johnson. Let's not forget that it's not just Sandberg getting in so would he be that petty to skip out on Boggs and Gammons, too? Never mind. Dumb question.

Is Murton hot because he's facing lefties or would he be hot no matter who he bats against? Before answering, he's struck out five times in 10 at-bats against righties. Hasn't he also gotten 3 hits in those 10 ABs? I'll ask again, is he hot because he's facing lefties or would he be hot anyway? I like Murton a lot, and would hope some of the vets would learn his plate discipline. I also don't want him in a position to be overmatched. As I said yesterday, I wouldn't have a problem with him facing a rookie righthander or a below average righthander. So, would he be playing considerably less under this scenario vs. the way he's being used now? I'm just glad that we're seeing two lefties this series. Again, I go back to my desire to get a true everyday leftfielder....the same desire I stated last off-season.

Is Murton hot because he's facing lefties or would he be hot no matter who he bats against? Before answering, he's struck out five times in 10 at-bats against righties.

Fair enough. I wouldn't have been in favor of an announcement. It was wrong, but technically it's wrong to throw a baseball onto the field of play, too and I don't want an announcement made for that, either. I hate the word sucks was chanted, but I think that's what happens when you have some people drinking beer for five or six hours. I think an announcement could've made things worse.

I wonder if you'll have that same opinion if you're watching your son/daughter play and overhear parents saying they suck. Are you seriously, and I mean seriously, comparing labeling professional athletes who make millions and play at the highest level with peoples young children including my future son or daughter? If I overheard someone mentioning that my 8 year old son "sucked" that would surely be different in my mind, than fans chanting derisively when an opponent comes into the game to bat or pitch. Once again, are you SERIOUSLY making this leap in argument? Yes, I'm absolutely serious. Hawkins had family members present for the games. Again, booing, okay, the "Haw-kins" "Haw-kins" chant okay. "Hawkins sucks" not okay, whether his folks were there or not. My point is I don't think his family views him as a "million dollar player", but family. That's what I was comparing it to. Plus, what's the overall purpose other than showing that we had a bunch of drunk people in the stands Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning. I don't know about you, but thus far, I view Derrek Lee as one of the most classy individuals. When he says anything negative, I generally have to listen.

I don't know how you took my post as a personal dig. If so, I apologize. But when you said, "What's Murton going to say?", that in effect means you think he's not telling the truth when he says he says he gets to analyze the game and gets analysis from vets. Do you or do you not believe him when he says that? I also know quotes are vanilla-coated, that's why it baffles me when people get so upset at Baker's ridiculous quotes. Okay, you know about the Braves system, but would you have stayed with Johnson when he went 1-30 or would you have gone another route? I'm just saying it's easy for us on here to second guess because our decisions never get played out. I still don't know how much more Murton would play in your scenario (not against a #1 or #2 starter) than what he gets now. He'll start at least two games in the AZ series since they'll be tossing lefties. I just believe Murton was telling the truth about learning some things when he sits the bench. If you think he was lying or just being polite, so be it. I just don't know why you would totally discount what he said, though.

I wonder if you'll have that same opinion if you're watching your son/daughter play and overhear parents saying they suck.

Really? You think they'd do that and that it would work? Wouldn't all of that just contribute to drawing attention to it, like in your last sentance? This is one of those things that is just unfortunate. I doubt there's really anything that can fix it. I'm just saying if Dusty was that insulted by it, if he truly feels that it detrimentally affects his ability to bring players to Chicago, then he could have had an announcement made at the game to address those who actually were being insulting. Laying down a quote in the paper doesn't ensure that those same people will get the message. Why is it that you single Dusty out when he didn't say anything nearly as negative as Lee and Dempster, who seemed a lot more insulted?

I disagree. When a player is young like Murton and is developing, it is best that he gets to play everyday and to develop and mature as a player. You don't learn much sitting on the bench. He will have to hit righties some day, he needs to play now. You probably need to read the story from yesterday's game. According to Murton, it sounds as if he's learning a lot in games when he sits. Well what's he going to say? I need to play against Righty's but Dustbin won't let me? Of course he's gonna say he's learning alot. He's a rookie with no pull. Just like a little lemming in an office that never contradicts the boss. Also, I really don't see Francouer and the rest of the bunch sitting in Atlanta and watching. They play, and they play alot. further, it's not like Holly's tearing it up in the least bit. I love when fans can only retort, "what's he going to say" when what is quoted doesn't coincide with their argument. Yeah, there's no way Murton learns anything while on the bench even though cameras have shown him talking with players. Yeah, the kids in Atlanta are playing, but so is a dinosaur like Franco. I wonder if you'd even know their names if we hadn't played the Braves? I wonder if you were the manager and they went 1-30 would you had stayed with them or benched them? See, our decisions never get seen so we don't get to critique your ideas. I don't like Hollandsworth and it ticks me off that he's still striking out on pitches he struck out on eight and nine years ago. But I'm done griping about Hollandsworth because I did it ever since he was promised more playing time by Hendry and Baker. I also recognize that Murton's success so far has been because he's hitting only against lefties. His five strikeouts in 10 at-bats against righties leads me to believe that he should slowly get worked in against righties. I don't want to see him against Schmidt, Clemens, Oswalt, Carpenter, etc.

You're of course assuming that bad results from a ballplayer means they're not trying. I thoroughly dislike Jose Macias, but I don't think he purposely tries to make outs. I don't have a big problem with booing, but I do hate that fans would chant a guy sucks.

I thought the "Haw-kins" "Haw-kins" chant was fine. You hear that style of chant at hockey games and basketball games. The "Hawkins sucks" chant was ridiculous. I'm willing to bet the people that didn't see anything wrong with the "Hawkins sucks" chant probably have never had that said to them with their family in the stands watching. To put it in better perspective, if you have a son or daughter playing a game and a parent told you, "your kid sucks" would you be okay with that? And spare us the, "My kid doesn't make millions of dollars" argument.

Come on. If you were Kenny Williams would you give up a "stud" AA player for Neifi Perez? I'm all for making trade proposals, but at least make it realistic.

I disagree. When a player is young like Murton and is developing, it is best that he gets to play everyday and to develop and mature as a player. You don't learn much sitting on the bench. He will have to hit righties some day, he needs to play now. You probably need to read the story from yesterday's game. According to Murton, it sounds as if he's learning a lot in games when he sits.

No one should be surprised that the players were disappointed in the Cub fans reactions to Hawkins. After all, Hawkins was a well liked guy in the clubhouse. Everybody needs to remember the chant really started after midnight after many, many people had lots of beers by the seventh inning, or 5-6 hours of being there. The "Haw - kins" Haw-kins" chant probably wouldn't have disappointed the Cub players, but when you chant "Hawkins sucks" that to them goes over the line. And as hard as it is to admit, Dempster was probably right. Most of those chanting were probably cheering more for him to stink it up, than for the Cubs to rally.

There isn't a source for minor league splits. Last year you could find some at USA Today, and that required a lot of search. Let me approach this a different way then....Ron and DJAXX have probably seen Murton play the most, but can anyone comment on his ability to hit RH pitching...He obviously did an adequate job this season or his average wouldn't have been so high at AA, but I'm wanting to know the specifics. How does he handle a tough slider from a rightie? Fastball high and tight from a right hander?...etc. I was able to catch a couple of games earlier this season when they visited Mobile, but I'd say less than 10 AB's just isn't an adequate sample size. I wouldn't have a problem with Murton facing right handers like Tomko. But I'm not too sure he's ready to face guys like Schmidt, Carpenter, Morris, or others. You can't compare AA right handers with some of the good ones in the NL.

This issue may have been a non-issue if Wuertz doesn't hang a slider. I'm not a great fan of Holla, anyway. I don't know why he would've been such a better option than Gerut. A slow roller somewhere gets you a run, a flyout to medium/ deep outfield, gets you a run, a fielder's choice gets you a run. Based on the way Holla's been hitting, I have little faith in him that he would've brought home the run. I don't think the choice was as obvious as you're making it.

I see many posters having some of the same problems that Baker has: playing favorites. Walker deserves some blame for last night's loss and Friday night's loss. Anytime a position player goes 0-4 or 0-5 or leaves guys on base and the team loses they deserve some blame for the loss. I don't care if your name is Walker, Lee or Perez or Macias or Ramirez.

I like Murton from what I've seen. I also realize his great numbers are a product of seeing only lefties. You're right it is about patience. I've also seen him look bad against some right handers. But I would like to see what he can do against the righties. And, yes, he's faced righties before in his career, but for people to compare the right handed pitching at AA to the majors is ridiculous.

That's the smart move. Gerut is a better hitter against RH than Hollandsworth. To be honest, with Gerut and Murton on the roster, there's no reason for Hollandsworth to get any more than a spot start in CF. I haven't looked at the numbers but my guess is that Holly is the better hitter in PH situations than Gerut is. Gerut should have already been in the game in CF anyway instead of our Panamanian service station employee. And if Holla strikes out or pops up? Hits into a double play? After all, he is very prone to all of the above. Better yet, what if Gerut had hit a sac fly? Perhaps Baker should've pinch hit for Perez in the eighth, too? I don't get the criticism for that move unless it's just another chance to take a shot at Baker. The choice between Gerut and Holla is not as obvious as others that Baker misses.