Soul

it's the cardinal mystique. oh yeah, and 10 bucks says the astros finish in second. They are going to be 3.5 out after tonight. They could be in first by Monday or sooner. It's makes me flippin' sick! The Cardinals don't make me sick, they know how to play good baseball when it comes down to crunch time. It's the Cubs that me sick.

Along with the outfield, shortstop & 2B at times, catcher, various portions of the bullpen. It's a minor miracle we even made a run at this thing in the first place.

More like 14-5. I'm starting to think this isn't going to be our year.

That was pretty poor by Lilly. Can't bunt now.

Dunn is quite possibly the worst defensive outfielder in major league baseball, so that's not a suprise at all.

Nicely done Fox, congrats.

If we win the division I bet you'll recant the statement. I'd rather win the division and lose in the playoffs than not be in the playoffs. Me too. I remember warning everyone not to dismiss StL a couple weeks ago...

And stop losing, too.

For future reference: never dismiss StL, even when they're 8 1/2 back in July

Because they're pretty much mediocre major leaguers.

He came very close. The wind apparently likes to help Reds hitters, while refusing to assist our home runs in the bottom of the 9th. You sure this is our home park? 8-)

Don't worry, he'll remember he sucks as soon as the Reds take off from O'Hare.

The eharmony commercials are really starting to piss me off.

All class. Oh get off your high horse. I made no comment about his dad other than hoping he'd get better.

No, I'm not real nervous for tomorrow, at least not any more nervous than usual. I think some things really need to change in this offense, not just ARam returning, but at least a couple other bats will need to really turn the heat up or it's over.

Release him now, get his ass out of Chicago, and take Pie, Marshall, Hill and Gallagher with him! To the cornfields now!!!!!! If we got rid of every player who had a slump we wouldn't be able to field a 25 man team. Pretty sure he was being sarcastic.

if the worst case scenario has him putting up a .786 ops during a slump, where do i sign up? Combined with being one of the worst regular OF's in the game? I guess I have higher standards for $14M. I'm not saying I wouldn't want him under any circumstances and he is a pretty good bet to get you around an .850 OPS. However there are things that make me hesitant and I would want them to eat some of that money. If not, I'd rather go with Murton (and Jones if necessary) and allocate that $10-$13M to Z and a possible shot at A-Rod. again, defense is not our problem, our problem is OPS. burrell provides that. i'd take him in a second. Indeed, but if you needed proof that the Cubs are in 'no spend' mode because of the sale, you are seeing a fairly solid piece of evidence to that effect right here.

If you could find a way to get me through waivers and on to the Brewers roster? Now there you might have something. They'd be doomed. 8-)

Though it may look like some trades are done for no reason, I have found when you look at it there's almost always a reason, real or perceived, that a GM does it. I doubt many GMs would really do this -- just throw guys around basically in desperation ('cuz that's what it is) to change out players and hope for magic, no real reasoning or basis for the move.

Amazing. Very nicely done.

That's a bit too broad. Soriano had plenty of cold streaks/slumps/whatever you want to call them during the two months the Cubs were dominating because he is and always has been a very streaky hitter. Yes, he's missed now, but his injury combined with Lee's slump and Aramis being hurt/out is the much larger issue. If the latter two weren't happening, or even just one of them was mashing, Soriano's absence wouldn't be nearly as obvious. Yeah - that's terrible analysis Soul and you know it. There were a lot of factors that went into our terrible start. Soriano didn't help but Z was crap too. And Soriano isn't the only player hurt or not playing well now. Mojo mentioned Lee and ARam, but our SP has been suspect recently (Marquis was good in his last outing, bad the one before it, Marshall's had 2 bad turns in a row, Z and Hill both got rocked this week - all hail Ted Lilly, eh?). When Soriano finally got hot, he wasn't the only one. Lee and ARam have been consistent basically all year, but DeRosa had a great June and good July, Jones had a good July, Fontenot had a great June, Theriot was great in July (our SS position was pathetic for 3 months). There's a lot more analysis needed. "As Soriano goes, so go the Cubs" is far, far, far from accurate. There's no other analysis needed in terms of Soriano being important to this team. Or didn't you realize there are people lurking around here who think losing Soriano meant nothing? Well, that's not what your post said. You said he was hot - the Cubs were hot, he was cold - the Cubs cooled off and "we could really use his bat." Seems to me you were saying that Soriano's performance directly correlates with and possibly even solely accounts for the results of the team. There is a correlation. You seem to be saying I'm suggesting direct cause and effect, and I'm not. If there's no correlation between the two, then one would have to be saying that Soriano is not at all important to this offense. I know Soriano's not the only reason, but I see no reason to look further than Soriano's rise and fall and relate that to our team's rise and fall, and then conclude he's a major plus for this team (my exact words).

Maybe a little pessimistic, but I know where you are coming from.

=D> Quite a change from "I'm gonna go gangbusters to make a waiver deal!!" from a couple days ago, isn't it. Ahh the shifting winds of the mind of Jim Hendry. Next time Jim, just tell the truth: the team is being sold, nobody's going to let us spend a ton of cash. It's very simple, it's the truth, and it avoids making everyone look like fools down the road.

I wouldnt say hes stunk. Hes been what we thought hed be, a decent pinch hitter/spot starter. Did anyone really think hed keep up the .400 avg. the whole season. No. He was never slated to be a star. He was`supposed to be a David Eckstine, and thats what he is so far. Pie, on the other hand was supposed to be Jose Reyes, or even a Jimmy Rollins. Granted, hes only 22, and hopefully he will be, but as of now, his only use to the big league team is as a pinch runner, and thats not how you want to use your numbe 1 prospect, and hes better off in AAA. He's junk dude, deal with it.

After Floyd's Dad gets better, Cliff will need another week of bereavement leave for the death of his power.