Soul

Well that helps soften the blow of the ARam DP a little.

That sucks. Might be our best opportunity just gone by the boards.

This is what, the third time this series he's blown a defensive play? Yeah, he hasn't had a real strong series defensively.

This could be the game right here.

Well, Z is settling down a little. Too bad we enjoy making crappy lefties look like Cy Young candidates.

i really havent been that pissed all year. But im so freaking pissed at hill right now. Most angry i have been all year for sure. don't be pissed at hill... he's sucked his whole career. Be pissed at Hendry for putting him on this team. Yeah, I can't be really angry at him. I just can't handle watching him anymore, he's so horrid. If he wants to play baseball, fine, it should be @ Iowa or West Tennessee.

Is your sig an actual quote or a joke? It's a joke either way, but did he really say that? Yeah, he said it in a radio interview on ESPN 1000 a few weeks back. Did he pronounce it OFFensive offENsive? If it was the latter, he'd be right. Hehe, he was talking about his hitting, which is truly sad. I posted it because of the double entendre of the word 'offensive', which makes it even funnier IMHO :)

Is your sig an actual quote or a joke? It's a joke either way, but did he really say that? Yeah, he said it in a radio interview on ESPN 1000 a few weeks back.

I'd prefer to change his title to "Ex-Cub catcher" first.

With the way we can't hit even crappy lefties, we're in deep do-do today. I can't take any more of Hill. He's horrid.

This is good, 'cuz I've got to leave soon. I'll just consider this one a win and head out 8-)

Yes, the Wrigley cleaning crew could use another hand. I completely agree.

Good. Wear out that bullpen on Saturday with another game coming tomorrow.

Babe Lilly!

Koyie Hill finally does something decent. I don't care if there's no wind, something's killing those fly balls today. That's 2 for Ram, and now Hill.

When a team hands you an opportunity like this, you must capitalize.

Jack hands us a run.

Floyd has a hyper-extended elbow so can only pinch hit for the rest of the series. I don't care if he's not hitting, I'd still rather see Pie in the OF than Ward. Ward's gotta be a defensive liability out there. I disagree. Ward's having great ABs right now, there's no way I want another black hole in this lineup, especially since we've been putting up fewer runs over the past few games.

And the Cubs emerge from the black hole at the bottom of the lineup. Sori single.

sig

That I can not say. He looked safe though. DADGUM RIGHT WE'RE PLAYING THIS UNDER PROTEST!!

Could he have possibly been out? That was a long time with the ball sitting on the ground.

Excellent post. The Cubs haven't developed any position players in a while now. The reasons are probably many, but among those are expecting players to start producing a maximum capacity right out of the gate while at the same time contiuning to play vetrans who suck. The problems with our players start much earlier than when they arrive at the majors. We tried playing guys like CPatt, that didn't help either because he was never actually developed beyond just letting him continue with his loopy, slow swing for years in the minors. That's probably the case with the majority of our positional talent in the minor leagues. There hasn't been one out of thousands in decades. I know what that tells me. Problem is down there just as much if not more than it is up here when it comes to our young positional talent.

Didn't take me long to learn that most of what Lou says is complete BS. How so? He was the everyday centerfielder. Then he started to suck terribly. You'd rather Lou play Dusty and keep underperformers in the lineup everyday just because he made some statement weeks ago? Everything is contingent on performance, period. You suck, you sit. Lou's been more consistent on this than just about any manager I've ever seen on the North Side. Eyre, Jones, Pie, Izzy.....all have grabbed bench and hard because they weren't cutting it. I'm so tired of this argument. Lou's been around long enough that he should know that all players, regardless of quality, go through bad stretches. You can't bench every player if he hits a slump. That's stupid. Pie's not in a slump, he's just not good enough yet. There's a difference, in his case. And I couldn't care less how 'tired' you get of an argument. Well, I'm glad your expert evaluation has able to determine how good Pie is at this stage in his career. It's invaluable to be able to discern the difference between a guy that's not ready and a guy that's going through the adjustment that nearly every guy does when he first hits the majors. With that type of talent, you should consider joining a ML team. As for the statement - why come out and say a player is going to be an everyday CF (or whatever) when you know you're going to yank them if they're not good right away. Has Lou never managed a rookie? Does he really think every good player to ever play was great from day 1 and never looked back? Not to mention that the general practice of moving guys in/out of the lineup trying to chase the hot streak is a stupid way to manage. It doesn't take rocket science to see he needs more development. Why do you care how Lou chooses to move along that development? You are basically calling him an idiot because he's not developing Pie the way you want him to. Just because he doesn't play him every day, right here & right now, doesn't mean squat as to whether or not he'll be a failure. Maybe he just needs more off the field instruction, which is what is happening. Who are you to say that's the death knell for the kid? As for his statement, as I said it was true at the time. I'm not sure why you keep trying to suggest it was a lie or hypocrisy just because he didn't enslave himself to it for the entire season. No, I'm not blasting Lou for not doing it my way. I'm blasting Lou b/c he's playing Pie like he plays everyone he doesn't consider a stud (Soriano, ARam, Lee) - chase the hot streak. Pie struggled over those first 2 weeks and he quickly hit the bench regularly. Replaced by Pagan and Jones. "Enslave himself to it for the entire season?" Talk about disingenuous. Pie was the everyday CF for about 3 weeks. When you bring your #1 prospect up and tell the media he's going to be your everyday CF, and 3 weeks later sharing time w/ 2 other guys - your statement is BS. I don't see why. Why does it necessarily mean he can't pull him and work with him for awhile? I just don't see the BS here.....at all. Pie's still at the prospect level, he's not an established vet. You don't see why saying someone is your everyday CF and then not starting them everyday just 3 weeks after making that statement is BS? I've read lots of your posts on this site, you're not dense, so are you just trying to be difficult? Lou knew Pie was a prospect when he made that statement and the obvious implication is that they expect Pie might struggle now and then, but he's going to be the everyday starter anyway. And that's not at all how they handled it. He struggled and was yanked right away. Lou didn't have to come out and say Pie was the everyday CF. But he did and 3 weeks later, Pie started sitting regularly. So his statement is BS. I'm not trying to be difficult. I'm asking you to apply a little perspective to Lou's comments here. He's a developing prospect. When I heard those comments I was never expecting Lou to just keep him in no matter what. Yes, he said he was the everyday CF. But given his status as a developing player, I never dreamed anyone would think that's the same as saying, for example, Andrew Jones is your everyday CF. There's the long-term future of the player to think of here, and if a judgment is made that the long-term future is best served with some off-field work for awhile, I think that's a fair method of action. Lord knows putting him back into the hands of our minor league hitting instructors isn't going to help -- they haven't produced a hitter in decades. I'm actually suprised you're all over Lou for this one. I can think of some other things that seem more.....deserving, than this.

Better win these next two against the suddenly-not-so-lowly Pirates or we'll drop out of the top 10 super quick.