brinoch

I think Hendry has earned his share of the blame, as has Baker. The player's, too, need to share some blame. The season's not over, however, and is much too early to play the blame game. It's one game. That said, I think there are valid points that must acknowledged from this offseason. 1. OF production. Burnitz has been below average, but not terrible, in terms of RF production. CF has been a mess, though I hardly blame Hendry for that. LF, on the other hand, is entirely Hendry's fault. There's absolutely no excuse for Hollandsworth to be starting for the Cubs. He's a $900,000 OF for a reason. I don't care that Dusty plays him; Hendry doesn't have to sign him. Moreover, if Dusty won't play young players and consequently gives the team a lesser chance to win, then it's incumbent upon Hendry to take corrective action or relieve Baker of his duties. Baker is Baker, and he's not going to change. Hendry needs to assert his authority. 2. Bullpen. I grant you that it's a crapshoot, but it's been terrible for three years. Just the mere fact that I write this year after year demonstrates the inadequacy of the Cubs' bullpen. Some of this blame does fall on the players themselves. Some also must adhere to Baker for placing pitchers in the wrong situations and for never taking the pitcher out at the right moment. 3. Bench. Our Bench is seriously one of the worst in baseball. Hands down. It's an embarrassment. 4. Sosa fiasco. There was absolutely no reason for what they did to Sammy -- even if Sammy lied, there was ample reason to trade him. All that was served by this PR hackjob was to denigrate a player who meant a lot to Chicago Cubs fans and reduce his trade value. 5. Rookies. At the end of the day, Hendry can overrule Baker, and that's a point that's rarely mentioned. We are team rich with young talent that is likely to at least match, if not exceed, the production from sub-par major leaguers. Neifi Perez and Todd Hollandsworth come to mind. Bringing up Cedeno and Murton is great and all, and I like rookies too, but if Baker won't play them, letting them rot on the bench is not worthwhile. Injuries, suspensions, and the DH for interleague games are a prime opportunity to give youth a trial run. The fact that Hill, Choi, Bellhorn, Kelton, Dubois, Cedeno, and now Murton have all had a cup of coffee and sat for the likes of Lenny Harris, Randall Simon, Todd Hollandsworth, Tom Goodwin, Neifi Perez and Jose Macias is ridiculous. If Baker's not going to play them voluntarily, you need to force him. If he's insubordinate, you need to fire him. Cedeno and Murton right now will outproduce Perez and Hollandsworth, respectively. Sitting them for lesser players is hurting the team.

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Also a terrible throw. Awful.

Rusch throws to second like he's been throwing to the plate. That was terrible.

Imagine that scenario in the playoffs -- only DOWN a run. Yikes.

Who ends the inning. I really don't like Macias, either.

I really don't like Hollandsworth. In case anyone had any doubts.

Aram follows up with a single.

Meanwhile, while we debate wins as a pitching metric and whether or not Wood is a weenie, Lee and Burnitz hit back to back HR's to lead off the 7th. 6-2 Reds.

Well, to be fair, no one knows him. This was his first post.

Ohman gets the job done. Phew.

At least he hustled this time. ;)

I've noticed a trend with this team -- it's anecdotal, but it seems that the Cubs start getting too anxious after a couple of games of doing well. A lot of first pitch swings tonight -- at junk, too. Burnitz, by the way, swung at junk for that DP.

Basehit. Crap. Not good enough.

Walker with a flare single. Let's go Lee!

What was that? Sheesh. Prior sees 7 pitches. Neifi, Henry and Jerry see a combined 4. That's ridiculous.

Cedeno can't be worse than this. It's just not possible. I'm in favor of Cedeno right now.

HB sees two pitches for the second out.

Ah, Neifi. One pitch, one out.

Brenly's mentioned those outside breaking pitches a couple of times tonight.

Well, I typed it quickly, but I meant: Have I mentioned recently that I don't like Hollandsworth (in a starting role)?

Tonight's performance by Hollandsworth should not be emulated by Murton. A CS and a GIDP. Yikes.

Have I mentioned that I really don't like Hollandsworth recently?

That would be so sweet.

in the baseball offseason? they show the Bulls. College basketball I buy, the Bulls and the NBA? That's not a sport. I mean sure most of the college guys can't play in it because they aren't good enough, but yeah it isn't a sport. :wink: There's too much standing around, and the terrible officiating doesn't help.