Outshined_One

I wouldn't completely spaz out about Dopirak's and Harvey's numbers yet. The thing about Dopirak right now is that his plate discipline has improved somewhat between this season and last. His K numbers are down, as are his BB numbers. Now, given that he hasn't been a major power threat this season, I'd expect the lower BB numbers as a by-product of pitchers giving him less free passes. I don't have the dimensions of Daytona's home field nor do I have Dopirak's BABIP numbers offhand. However, from what I've seen, Dopirak's making plenty of contact this season. I wouldn't be surprised if he's just been the victim of bad luck the first half of the season. Conditions have been favorable for him to go on a hot streak and get his numbers up. We'll see if that happens this season. Of course, the other possibility is that he's been battling injuries. That would help explain why his power numbers have gone down the tubes. His IsoP is sitting at .113. Last season is was at .286. You can speculate all you want as to why. However, I'm reserving judgment until after the season is over and we have a clearer picture of what happened to him. Ryan Harvey, on the other hand, has 10 more ABs this season than he did last season as of July 4th. His lines: 2004 (AZL & NWL): 241 ABs, 43 R, 66 H, 11 2B, 0 3B, 14 HR, 48 RBI, 81 K, 20 BB, 2 SB 2005 (MWL): 251 ABs, 39 R, 66 H, 14 2B, 1 3B, 11 HR, 47 RBI, 16 BB, 66 K, 5 SB So...I'm seeing fairly similar lines here, although 66 Ks is a pretty nice number compared to where they were last year. His slightly lower HR numbers are likely a by-product of seeing better pitching. Add in the fact that his 2Bs and 3Bs are up and his power numbers seem to be as expected. Look, what Dopirak did last season was nothing short of phenomenal and should allow him to get a free pass for a season if he struggles. And to expect Ryan Harvey to basically replicate Dopirak's numbers in the MWL was putting way, way, way too much of a burden on him. Some people around here were doing that (myself included to an extent). The bottom line is that both of these guys are raw power prospects. Brian's 21 and Ryan's 20 right now; meaning both are still pretty young. The Cubs have a surplus of guys ahead of them who can play OF and 1B. The last thing the Cubs want to do with these guys is to rush them through the system. They can afford to be patient with them. If either has to repeat a season, oh well, it's not the end of the world. There's still plenty of baseball left to be played. My advice is not to get antsy about either yet.

Rotoworld has shown that it can be quite sarcastic in the past. Something tells me this is their way of taking a jab as Dusty.

Box Scores Iowa won 2-1 Box Score 2B M. Fontenot 1/3, R, 2B (13), HBP 3B S. McClain 1/3, BB, R, RBI, 2B (17) LF B. Grieve 0/3, BB RF D. Kelton 2/4 1B M. Hoffpauir 2/4, RBI PH R. Lewis 0/1 SP J. Koronka 6 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 6/2 RP B. Brownlie 1.1 scoreless, 2 H, 2/1 RP R. Rohlicek .2 perfect, 0/0 RP J. Van Buren 1 perfect, 2/0 West Tenn won 10-4 Box Score CF/RF A. Greenberg 1/4, 2 RBI 2B R. Theriot 2/5, 2 R, RBI LF M. Murton 2/5, R, 2 RBI, HR (8) 1B M. Craig 2/4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B (17), HR (7) 3B C. McGehee 0/5 SS B. Coats 3/5, R, 3B (5) RF/1B B. Sing 3/4, BB, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B (24), HR (16) PH/CF D. Bacon 2/2, 2 R, SB (22) SP C. Marmol 6 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 2/5, HR Daytona won 8-1 Box Score CF C. Walker 2/5, R 1B B. Dopirak 1/3, BB, R, 3 RBI, HR (8) 3B S. Moore 0/4 DH J. Fox 2/4, 2 R, RBI, HR (3) SP J. Mateo 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 8/2 RP R. Wells 1 scoreless, 1 H, 1/0 Peoria lost 4-3 in the 10th Box Score CF S. Fuld 1/3, 2 BB, CS, PO 2B E. Patterson 0/4, RBI RF R. Harvey 0/5 LF L. Montanez 3/5, 2 R, 3 2B (27), SB (9) DH B. Flowers 1/4, BB SS J. Simokaitis 0/3, BB SP C. Shaver 5 scoreless, 4 H, 4/4 Boise lost 7-1 Box Score LF A. Joseph 1/4, RBI, SB (2) RF C. Quinones 2/3, BB DH M. Reed 1/4, 2B (4) C J. Muyco 1/3, BB, R 1B J. Valdez 0/4 2B J. Rios 1/3, 2B (1) SP J. Yepez 4 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0/0 Mesa with an off day OVERALL: 3-2

Great day for blowouts it seems.

The average runs per game is a bit of a misnomer, imo. We've had some pretty big blowouts against some teams...and have also really sucked wind at times. I gave up hope for the division awhile ago. It's like things never click together at the right time. When the starting pitching is rocking, the offense is lifeless. When the offense is producing and effective, the bullpen turns into the gascan crew. All teams this season have these problems, I will accept and admit that. Even the best teams this season have had issues. The biggest problem is that for the Cubs, none of the bullpen, offense, and starting pitching has been consistently good this season. We'd be in the thick of things if, say, we had an offense that could score 10 runs on days when the pitching is thin. Or if we had pitching that could be counted on to hold down the opposing offense when our offense is sucking. With Wood and Prior back, I think our pitching staff will drastically improve from here on out. The bullpen guys seem to have found their roles and are getting comfortable with them, so that's a definite plus. I think this crew can be consistent. The offense just needs something, anything, to get out of its rut. A trade for a sparkplug bat to get the offense going. A bunch of the guys going out to the Wrigleyville bars to pick up some slumpbusters. A new manager who comes in and straightens everyone out. Just get these guys something to get their blood flowing. The bats need to be woken up and kept awake if the Cubs want a shot at the Wild Card.

This would be much easier to stomach if there was more than "A View to a Kill" on TV.

Ryan Langerhans doing his best Alex Cora impersonation.

Well that, plus the throw was really high. It was in and out of Furcal's glove, though. I'm guessing the slickness of the ball didn't help on the throw, either. Wow. That was a sad result to that inning.

I'm guessing the ball is kinda slippery out there.

Great, another deficit the Cubs are going to have to crawl back from. Yay.

Jerry's arm in center surprisingly pretty good.

2 BBs, there's the Kerry Wood we all know and love. Seems like it's starting to pour.

Something tells me we'll see Macias late at 3B if the rain keeps up like this. 1 pitch and one out in the 1st for Wood? BLASPHEMY! And Brenly ripping on the Corey bashers. Heh.

I've liked Davies so far this season. He's not going to blow anyone away with his stuff, but he's gritty and gets the job done pretty well. The fact that the Braves kept him over both Capellan and Meyer speaks very well of him, imo.

Why is Corey being benched a bad thing? It was more in reference to the fact that he's grabbing pine than my sadness at that fact. I do believe he would have been fine if Baker had dropped him to the 7 or 8 hole and kept him there until he showed improvement, but I digress.

Corey benched again. Ouch. Also, being rid of Chip is one of the best things of this season, imo.

Stoney's doing the CIN/SF game on ESPN2.

That was the one game in that series I wasn't at. I was at the Friday and Saturday games. I'll never forget that series, with Hollandsworth's game-tying HR followed by an extra inning win on Friday, and Pratt and Farnsworth gift-wrapping the Saturday game for the Braves (with Grandpa Franco's HR). Ugggggggggggggh. That Saturday game was Sergio Mitre's debut, where the kid pitched his heart out and showcased some incredible guts, fortitude, and sheer will to win. I remember seeing him make some of the most impressive defensive plays for a pitcher this side of Greg Maddux. I'm still bitter about that one. Yech.

Box Scores Iowa lost 12-2 Box Score 2B M. Fontenot 1/5 3B S. McClain 0/3, BB LF B. Grieve 2/4, R RF D. Kelton 2/4, R, RBI, 2B (18) 1B M. Hoffpauir 1/3, BB PH R. Lewis 0/1 SP J. Leicester 4 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 3/2, 2 HR RP C. Pignatiello 2 scoreless and hitless, 1/1 RP RP R. Rohlicek 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1/0, HR West Tenn won 14-1 Box Score CF D. Bacon 1/4, 2 BB, 2 R, SB (21) RF A. Greenberg 1/5, BB, 2 R, 3B (7) LF M. Murton 1/6, 2 R, 2 RBI 1B M. Craig 4/4, 2 BB, 4 R, 4 RBI, HR (6) 3B C. McGehee 5/6, R, 4 RBI, 2 2B (22) SS B. Coats 0/5, RBI 2B R. Theriot 1/4, R, RBI, 3B (3) C J. Reyes 2/6, RBI, 2B (7) SP R. Nolasco 9 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 6/0, HR Daytona lost 8-3 Box Score CF C. Walker 0/4, BB, R, 2 SB (34) 1B B. Dopirak 2/4, BB, R, RBI 3B S. Moore 2/5, 2B (19) DH K. Collins 2/4 RF J³ 2/4, R, RBI, 2B (18), HR (6) C J/ Fox 2/4, 2B (14), SB (2) SP Y. Ferreras 4.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 8/3 RP J. Wylie 2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1/2 Peoria lost 21-2 Box Score CF S. Fuld 1/4, RBI 2B E. Patterson 0/4 RF R. Harvey 1/4, R, RBI, HR (11) LF L. Montanez 0/4 DH B. Flowers 0/2, BB 1B D. Larsen 0/4 SS J. Simokaitis 1/3 SP G. Johnson 2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 3/1, HR Boise lost 6-0 Box Score CF D. Gregg 0/4 2B S. Hode 0/2 1B E. Puello 0/3 DH C. Gaskin 0/3 LF J. Valdez 0/3 SS J. Mota 0/3 SP M. Atkins 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1/0 Mesa lost 8-2 Box Score 2B E. Serrano 2/4, SB (5) 3B L. Rivera 0/3 RF J. Defendis 0/4 LF D. Lewis 0/4 1B R. Canzler 1/4, R, RBI, HR (1) CF R. Brown 0/4 C M. Mercedes 1/1 SS S. Baez 1/4 SP M. Pawelek 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 6/2 RP S. Bronder 3 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2/1 OVERALL: 1-5

I'm making a mental note that MILB hasn't posted the Mesa box today. When they post it, I'll hopefully remember to bump this thread to let everyone know what happened down there.

Schmidt's been struggling this year with lost velocity. The Pads just finished pounding him today to the tune of 4 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, and a 3/3 K/BB. His control has gone flying out the window this season with a 1.59 WHIP and his ERA's sitting at a comfy 5.11. His G/F ratio is also sitting at .94, so I'm sure pitching in the AL version of Coors for half of his games will do him well. He'll be an upgrade, but whether or not he'll get his stuff back remains to be seen. Sabean has shown that he's completely lost his mind this past year or so, as evidenced by his choice in FA acquisitions and the Hawkins trade. Wouldn't surprise me if the Sox somehow manage to pull this deal off without trading one of their top three prospects.

He'd be an upgrade over Hernandez or Contreras, that's for sure.

Thank you blown squeeze play.

When you run on a guy who leads baseball in CS%, you're taking your chances.

i would also like a CPatt walk off...heck i'd take a walkoff from anyone :) Seconded!