TheDude

I encourage everyone to print out the photo CaliforniaRaisin placed in his sig and send it here: The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball Allan H. (Bud) Selig, Commissioner 245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor New York, NY 10167 Phone: (212) 931-7800 Renteria needs to sit several games for that cheap shot. At least he injured his hand delivering it.

The Cubs don't suck. Only half the Devil Rays suck. The Cubs are underachieving and the Devil Rays are going through growing pains with all their young talent. If only they had pitching. The Yankees are right there as well.

There is no solid read on Granderson yet. Last year's OPS was a dismal .773. This year he's at .905. He's 26 years old. Not sure if he's peaking with a career year in his years 26-28 curve, or if he is establishing a breakout production standard for his next 2-3 years.

He has hit quite a few "almosts" though. The power will come around eventually, I'm not too worried about. I'm glad he's out of the leadoff spot though, I think that will help boost his numbers and help him out with a little more protection. not too sure why people believe this still. his career numbers prove fairly concretely that soriano is at his best when leading off, with his numbers dropping off significantly in other spots. also, when given his contract, hendry promised him the leadoff spot. not sure why I have to keep explaining it. career line before 2006 in the 1 hole was an OPS around 845. career line in the five hole is 836. the only reason his career stats are so good in the one hole as compared to most other places in the lineup is because he had his career year batting in the one hole. its really that simple. it has nothing to do with comfort. and what does "comfortable batting leadoff" mean anyway? he likes having "guys who can handle the bat" hitting after him? he likes following the pitcher/pinch hitters? or perhaps, he gets too juiced up with men on base and has recognized he lacks a certain quality......oh the word for it escapes me right now....when there are alot of runners on base. You probably have to keep explaining it because your numbers are using selective data to warp the situation. Why choose the 'five hole' only to represent moving further down in the lineup? Career OPS by lineup slot: 1 - .887 2 - .419 3 - .762 4 - .618 5 - .836 6 - .833 It's not even close. Lead-off is far and away better than any other slot, especially the power slots of 3-5 combined.

isn't ward hitting .167 as a pinchitter? Yes, but with a .400 OBP.

Len and Bob had Hendry on the telecast yesterday and Hendry confirmed that Pie is up to stay for the year, having done everything that was asked of him in the brief time he was sent back down to AAA.

10 game winning streak started today. 85 on the season.

Personally I will take less Murton for more Floyd if it also means less Jones and less Izturis. I'm not buying the lack of PT for Barret over the long-term though.

I can't even watch the games anymore. Last night I turned on the game at 8:30-ish, saw the Cubs were already down 3-0 in the 2nd inning, and turned it off. I knew the game was over. This team is impossible to figure out.

I must have missed the part where Lou didn't actually make any of the mistakes I listed on the first page. How sophomoric of me. They aren't mistakes, they are nitpicks using the benefit of hind-sight. This thread doesn't exist if Izturis or Jones gets a hit. Expecting Lou to pinch-hit for Izturis is wrong. How many current managers would have pinch-hit in that situation? Any? Izturis isn't a good hitter, but that situation is just fine for him. All you want is the ball in play to score a run, even just a ground ball, and Izturis does that fairly well. Marshall was under 100 pitches and in control of the game. I don't understand why he should have been taken out because someone reached base. People would then cry that Lou doesn't have faith in his younger players and isn't giving them a shot. And why would Ward be a better choice than Jones in the 9th? Both are lefties and Jones had better numbers than Ward against the pitcher (albeit in such a small sample). This "mistake" is just fan disapproval for Jones showing up.

It's possible both are true. Hendry will give him starts to prove health, thus enabling a trade. Hendry couldn't trade him while he was on the shelf.

I'm sure he is crying in his beer at your loss.

The voice of reason strikes again. OBP is OBP. The folks that have questioned the Soriano signing attacked his OBP, but usually were willing to relent if his OBP could match the '06 total. It's only May, but he's right there.

Story is almost a month old, anyone have anything more recent?

Time to drive home from work. When I get there and turn the game on, I expect to see an 8-run bottom half. :evil:

meaning his game WHIP is a solid 3.00 Coming along nicely. Nah. It's 4.00, because he did hit a batter.

Good news! Zambrano didn't walk anybody!

Marquis also has back-to-back games with zero walks. Hopefully the team sees the correlation.

On the plus side, if we get a push-pull (offense improves, staff regresses) that yields a null sum and the wins/losses fall according to the run differential expectation, that puts the team in good shape for the division or the wild card.

Just a thread to give props to the Cubs pitching staff. -Fewest Runs Allowed in the NL, 3rd in MLB (behind Oakland and Boston) -4th in ERA in NL (6th in MLB). -6th in walks in NL (11th in MLB). While this isn't outstanding, given the Cubs recent history this is a vast improvement. The K numbers are down from previous Cubs staffs, but if fewer K's equates to fewer walks, I'm pretty sure we'll all gladly take it. We all expect Zambrano and the 5th starter to get better, and Marquis and Lilly to get worse. Here's hoping it's a wash and Cubs can keep up this level of pitching overall.

You are aware that the top 2 CF on the depth chart hit lefty, yeah? If you want a right-handed hitter to play CF, the only option is Theriot, generally considered last resort.

The only problem I have with this research is that it has elements of a chicken-and-egg set of results. Marquis' starts factor into those depressed numbers, so you can legitimately ask whether it's the cause or the effect. But Marquis' starts aside, in general all those teams with the worst offenses you cited have faced very good pitching for up to half the games played this year: -St. Louis has 15 games against Cubs, Brewers, Mets -Pitt. has 14 games against Cubs, Brewers, Dodgers -SD has faced Chicago and LA -Hou and Cin. both have faced Chicago and Milwaukee All of these teams have faced top 5 NL (Mets, Dodgers, Brewers, Cubs, Padres) pitching numerous times. Now I don't think anyone expects Marquis to keep this up, but Marquis' deserves credit for those starts he has sparkled in thus far this year.

:-s

These aren't the thoughts and comments of the manager (other than the direct quote about Theriot). These are the speculations of a beat writer. Who cares?

The good thing is that none of these hitters go up to the plate back-to-back, and guys with more plate discipline hit around these guys. I think the Cubs have a great blend of hitting styles. While the team doesn't have a Giambi/Abreu type, guys like Theriot, Murton, and DeRosa walk at a decent rate. And what's going on with Ward? 12 ABs and 7 walks.