Soul

Maybe so. But it's pretty tough to be "clutch" when the umps cut your head off and crap down your throat.

Wait until the league does nothing about it, then we'll see what's really bogus.

No. The fact of the matter is MLB's stupid rules allow this sort of stuff to happen. It's unfair, but it's not anti-Cubs. The first pitcher to hit a guy almost always gets away with it (Hudson). Lilly plunking Renteria was kind of blatant. Personally I think they should have left it there, and then it's done. But due to the rules, the ump felt he needed to toss Lilly, and when a pitcher is tossed by an ump, MLB's punishment often comes down on that player, regardless of what Cox or Hudson did. As for Renteria, you can make a case that what he did more or less follows the guidelines of what is acceptable, it's similar to what ARod did a couple weeks ago and he wasn't punished. I think that if Lilly gets a suspension, then out of fairness MLB should suspend Renteria. But then you get into the debate about equivalency between starting pitcher suspensions and position player suspensions. The best option is no suspensions, except for the umps, and a cleaning up of these stupid rules about how to handle ejections/warnings. They're out to get us goony. You know it! Stop trying to be rational 8-)

I can't believe anyone is going to go back and blame Lou for all this. Jesus. Talk about blaming the victim. As for not going crazy, Christ the last time he did that everyone thought he should be fired for being a senile old man. What's he supposed to do? Why don't we just have an online poll, stop all action, and wait for everyone to chime in what they want Lou to do in each given situation. Will that finally make you happy?

How many NBA championships has Jerry Colangelo won? Yeah just for the record, I wouldn't be upset with Colangelo either, but if Cuban has faults then certainly it wouldn't be fair to ignore the financial handling of the Diamondbacks, which most agree was a poor job by Colangelo. Every candidate's going to have some warts. Steinbrenner's buried in warts, but also buried in championship trophies. The questions for me are 1) Has the guy won, did he successfully build a winning franchise, and 2) Is he the kind of guy who won't rest, won't accept defeat, won't just put in the time to reap the profits. Cuban's a clear yes to both those questions.

Plus he's got the upcoming games to deal with. He's already stretched thin as it is. He's got to have someone who's arm isn't dangling by a couple nerves in case Zambrano or Hill has a bad outing (God forbid). Lou was totally taken out by Wolf and his stupidity. It was only a matter of time before the Braves took the lead in that game. Nothing could reasonably be expected from a manager who has just had his balls cut off, beyond what he actually did, which was try to patch together 9 innings with a shaky bullpen with already tired arms and no upcoming days off.

No tin foil hat required, I'm afraid. It's been clear for years some umps just don't like the Cubs. I find it difficult to believe Selig doesn't have some deep-seeded angst towards us, though he would never let it show. He's from Milwaukee and they've had to sit and watch the Cubs get ratings and attention that they never could get for decades. If you listen to some of the radio announcers in Milwaukee and Madison, it becomes obvious that the Cubs' fanbase and success really burns Brewer fans. They hate it, resent it -- I find it difficult to believe somewhere inside Selig doesn't share those feelings. Don't think Brewer fans aren't laughing and celebrating over this. Selig? He's a Brewer fan.

*cues twilight zone theme* Yes, ESPN. Find a way to deflect blame like the tools you are.

there you have it. all soriano's fault for being so good. My God. I feel like the world just turned upside down. Did we just get transported to bizarro world or something? Yes, let's blame it on Soriano for 'amping up tensions' with his homers.

Probably the worst post I've read here in a while and that's saying a lot. other than "contending" what has cuban done? he makes a fool of himself publicly by running his ignorant mouth. no owner in all of professional sports is despised more by his peers than he is. he accrues more league fines than anyone else...oh yeah, his teams perennially disappoint. in fact, two of the biggest choke jobs in sports history (outside ny v. bos) have come at the hands of teams in his control in the last two years. the only thing good about mark cuban is watching that stupid look on his face as the teams he puts together gag in the clutch. if he didn't baby his players and let someone who knew a thing or two about run the team (without his constant moronic interjection), maybe they'd get their act together. cuban would bring us a world of attention, and he'd spend the money to keep us in the mix, but the guy's a jinx and we already got one of those working against us, we don't need another. We shouldn't want Cuban because he's a jinx? I like how your first post criticizes the Mavericks, even though they had the best record in the NBA this year. Laughable logic. I'm far from the foremost expert on NBA ball, but I know that he turned around a team that was the laughing stock pf the NBA at the time. He was able to regain a fanbase in Dallas, get a stadium built for what was a lowly franchise & have players want to come to the Mavericks and play. Edit to add: laughing stock = constant losing, no fan base and the Roy Tarpley saga Agreed. I realize we're engaging in opinions here, but I just don't see any way someone could conclude Cuban's not a winner, not a good owner. Why? Because he talks back to people? Because he won't let refs and the league treat his team poorly? Because he doesn't behave "correctly." To me that's ridiculous. Let's look at results, let's look at where the team came from, to where it is now. So he gets fined? So he goes out there and spouts off sometimes? I could care less about that. Why would anyone with a franchise in our position (i.e. in dire need of a new, positive, winning direction) care about ruffling a few feathers? Ultimate silliness. But again, IMHO.

That's in, you're done means there will be no more plunking. It wasn't until after that that Wolf changed his mind and decided to throw Lilly out. It was more than just a wrong signal, it was complete umpire incompetence. Alright, I didn't take it that way during the game, but admittedly my head was showing visible signs of imminent explosion.

Well, that's about the most popular reason to hit a guy, behind hitting a guy because they hit one of yours. True. If I'm an ump before yesterday's game, there's no way in hell I'm not saying to myself that there's going to be a retaliation, and the Cubs should be treated equally to the Braves the night before --- I.E. warning issued, not immediate ejection. It's simply unforgivable to tilt the playing field like that so totally to one team. Then to follow it up with nothing being done for Renteria. God I'm so mad right now. I've got work that needs to be done today, too!

more here. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070611&content_id=2019342&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc I hope somebody askes Wolf why he decided that with 2 strikeouts in the first inning, nobody on and an 0-2 count would be a perfect time for Lilly to hit a batter. people keep saying this and I don't know why. it was a 2-0 pitch. I have no doubt in my mind it was intentional, just as there is no doubt in my mind Hudson's was intentional. that element isn't even needed to question exactly what the umpires were thinking and coming to the conclusion that they were out to screw the Cubs. what someone should ask is why Tschida wasn't "expecting it" the night before. if you're going to pre-judge one team, you should pre-judge the other. what also must be asked is why Wolf issued warnings, then decided to kick Lilly out after escorting Renteria to first. I was wondering that too. But when I heard the audio, even when Wolf was motioning like it was a warning, he was saying "that's it" and then "you're done" a little afterwards. Seems like Wolf just made the wrong signal, which just adds to my opinion he's not a real solid ump. Actually I think he sucks to all unholy hell, but hey what can I say I'm trying not to put my fist through a wall right now.

Just to defend Barret, that pitch was maybe 55 feet and then flattened out...that is a 50/50 pitch to catch for almost all catchers. Do not blame Barret because of his recent miscues - it was simply a horrible pitch I'm not going to throw Barrett under the bus, despite his general poor play this year, when obviously the cause of this thing is the umps. Place blame where it initially came from, not the resulting problems. That would be like blaming a store owner for not selling enough product the day after his store was ripped clean by a band of thieves.

He played in the SEC. It's nothing new to him. LOL, that's probably why he barely blinked when it happened 8-)

Yeah, he's a total jerk. The umps enabling his ridiculous behavior? That's even worse. I'll bet the league doesn't do squat to him either. They'll just let it slide. If it was a Cub delivering a blow to the face? WHOA! HEY! 10 GAME SUSPENSION!!!!! Give me a freaking break. As if we didn't already have enough problems. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. 100 years of failure -- yes, it's mostly on the Cubs being a bad baseball team. But it certainly doesn't help having to beat the opposition, the umps, and the media with their constant "curse" ranting all year long, either. To get to the World Series the Cubs must do the equivalent of probably winning 2 World Series in a row for any other club. Just pathetic.

Welcome to the bigs, Fontenot. Bet you didn't realize it was a league of blatant favoritism, cheating, and umpire incompetence, eh?

Even more of a screw up: the league hiring Wolf in the first place. And Tschitta too.

That's awesome. The umps will never allow us to see the postseason. That much is now obvious.

Nope. He had it clean. Looked like Renteria even overslid the bag anyway. He was out, plus he delivered an obvious intentional blow to the FACE of Fontenot -- who had nothing to do with any of this. The umps raped us out of this series, it's very simple. They quite simply stole 1, maybe 2 games from us. I want to know which hotel Wolf and Renteria shacked up at after the damn game.

Might want to change your sig bro. :-) LOL, nothing like a wild-eyed, crazy Michael Bien to start off your day after another night of Cub horror. Thanks bro :wink:

There's no question in my mind the umps jobbed us out of that series. Now we'll probably go on a losing streak because our bullpen is shaky, and now, quite gassed. This is completely, totally, and in all other ways, ridiculous.

I've got better things to do than watch us get jobbed by the refs. Goodnight everyone.

Now I'm even more angry because rather than galvanizing the team we're just letting Renteria and his Braves roll over us.

You said it brother. Hope he's out for the year. Jerkoffs.