Soul

Houston must have acquired him solely for the purpose of pitching against us. He sucks against anyone else.

I don't know where you're getting that impression. The people calling for Miller to be removed want Guzman in his stead, not Prior. IMO Guzman represents our future more than Prior at this point. That's why I'd like to see him get some starts. As for Marky Mark I think it's best we not count on him for anything anymore. Which the Cubs appear to be doing.

How do we feel about Jacque hitting 2nd? I was hoping that Murton would be our 2 hitter - ?

The Cubs paid for at least some of Miller's rehab, right? Maybe that's playing into the decision-making a little bit.

I'm not sure if describing the position of the majority of the people posting in the thread as "ludricous and assinine" is really "adding some sanity" Vance. As for hating it...yeah, MLB is the biggest culprit, no question...but your position is like saying you can't hate the yankees when they buy up every possible free agent...Actually, yes I could hate them...and its neither ludricous or assinine. And while it may somehow benefit their current subscribers...it hurts all those who aren't...so I can dislike them for that too if I so choose......now at the end of the day, the right thing happened and its available to both customer bases....that's all I care about....I could care less whether anyone has DirecTV, Cable, or an freakin coathanger antenna. You could hate DirecTV, but that hatred would be misplaced since they didn't force anyone to do anything. Indeed, it was DirecTV who actually didn't complain when MLB decided to offer renewal for cable companies. They're still paying the $700 million, but without exclusivity. A better argument can be made for DirecTV's good citizenship than for them being "scumbags." You can bet your bottom dollar cable wouldn't be willing to do that.

Thanks, hopefully it will still work out. We could have provided the kill shot yesterday though.....kind of disappointing we didn't although as you say it's not the end of the world. I don't want to face the Heat 1st round, but I was thinking maybe it's better to face them in the 1st round when Wade still isn't fully back than in the 2nd round, when his shoulder might be stronger. Then again, the Heat have been playing well without him and with Shaq doing his best Roger Clemens impression (taking most of the season off so he can swoop in just in time for the playoffs).

He is. I don't understand why some people are so up in arms over this situation. It's hardly a straight platoon. Murton has gotten four of the six starts so far in left field, and the Cubs have only faced a lefty in one of those games. How many times has he been yanked for Theriot as a "defensive replacement" in about the 7th inning? Not only should he get the majority of the starts, but he should finish the games. He's not terribly slow and Theriot isn't much better in LF (if at all). It's a move that's been made a few times and, imo, is just wasting our already thin bench. He's been put in as a pinch-runner for Floyd a couple times. I'm for that, because it will limit our exposure to a Floyd injury. I'm not sure how many times he's been put in as a defensive replacement for Murton -- that would be a poor decision since Murton's better defensively in the outfield. Wasn't Theriot playing RF yesterday? Could have sworn I saw him out there----struggling with a fly ball again.

I don't think it's cost us a game yet. I'm more concerned with Soriano hitting leadoff than Murton not playing every inning. There have been a couple times Soriano has hit doubles with 2 outs and nobody on because he was 3rd up after the bottom of the order. Soriano's going to hit, and hit for power --- and all those RBIs are just going to grow wings and fly out the window. Heck, hit Murton/Theriot 1st. I'd take a platoon of those two and alternate them at leadoff rather than throwing Soriano RBIs down the toilet.

REMOTE CONTROL. Greatest. invention. ever. Color TV is useless to me if I have to get up to change the channel. No remote = way less television, perhaps even none. Amen. While I'm sure HDTV is great, I don't think I remember thousands of people bitching for the last 20 years that their TVs just weren't worth watching because of the "poor quality"...and I know I do remember many people on this board saying how much they liked the EI package and how it was worth 2X what they were charging for it...this was last year...before any of this DirecTV mess. I was attempting to center in on the invention of color TV, which I believe was invented much earlier than it was actually implemented. The comparison between the two inventions is quite striking. For years, many programs continued to be broadcast in black-and-white, and while people would still watch, slowly but surely more and more households purchased color TVs. As the installed base of color TV went up, the demand for color programming also went up. The exact same dynamic is in play here, IMO. Once you go HD, you'll not want to watch SD, though you still will of course watch it. And make no mistake, you will eventually go HD. It's just a matter of price points now -- mine was reached when good HD sets came under $2,000. Yours may be lower, but at some point very soon that point will be reached. The next time you visit Circuit City there might not even be SD sets on display.

I agree with you, but I acknowledge Lou will probably give Miller the starts. I don't think Lou is overly protective of veterans, but I still don't see him pulling the plug after 1 bad start. I'd like him to though. Miller's velocity never came back, and that's the thing hardest to predict about shoulder injuries. I invite everyone to harken back to the early 2000's, when Miller's fastball was 95 MPH or higher. When he got into trouble he could rear back and blow pitches by hitters. Wade got into trouble again today, and like 5 years ago, he tried to rear back and blow fastballs by hitters. Except now they rolled in at 88 and got pounded. Obviously that's not going to make it. If it isn't distressing enough to know Miller's lost nearly 10 MPH on his fastball, then it should be the clincher that he hasn't learned to adjust to his new, lower velocity.

Well at least I know where you're coming from then. Don't you think it's a little myopic to expect everyone else to feel the same? I own a HDTV, it's the single most significant advancement in on-screen technology in the past 50 years as far as I'm concerned. I'm sorry you don't feel that way, but the ranks of those who *do* is growing everyday and will continue to. You are quite welcome to continue watching baseball the same way you always have. Who has ever tried to stop you? As for me, I find HDTV to be so awesome I have difficulty even watching a SD program now. The more HD, the better. What is premium today will be standard tomorrow.

Had DirecTV not gotten involved, we'd still be stuck with MLBEI as it was in the 1990s. Now, DirecTV subscribers can enjoy numerous improvements that have put the service at the cutting edge of in-home sports viewing. Once "MLBEI 2.0" was assured, I didn't give a damn one way or another whether cable got the rights back. Now that they have, it's more money for MLB, which is always a good thing. DirecTV boasts excellent service, and, unlike cable, has shown a penchant for innovation that has pushed the sports packages far beyond the dreams of cable's most staunch supporters. There are some bum installers out there, but overall, people are pretty damn pleased. You really ought to sign up ... the people praising the new offerings here can't all be DirecTV shills. Blah blah blah DirecTV sucks. No one had a problem with EI the way it was, was just fine. Your favorite company screwed things up for tons of people. They are scum buckets to the worst degree. Though I really blame mlb largely for thier complete stupidity and lack of interest in keeping thier fans happy. DirecTV can go to hell, they'll never get a penny of my money and Im sure there are plenty of other people who feel the same. Yeah whatever. They made an offer to MLB which was accepted. Oh evil, EVIL! :roll:

The stuff I saw from him today looked very much like a long reliever, not a starter. Fastball in the mid-to-high '80s, a loopy curve, location that leaves something to be desired at times.....that's a reliever at best. By contrast, Gooz has starter stuff. Dynamite fastball, killer off speed stuff. Only lack of experience counts against him, and the BP is a terrible place to gain starting experience. The 5th starter spot is the perfect place from which to develop a hot young arm who just needs some more starts to figure out how to use his stuff against major leaguers. Any way I look at it, Gooz should be that 5th starter not Miller.

Theriot didnt exactly have a great game today either but no one is railing on him. DeRosa is going to put up similar if not better numbers than last year. He's been great everyone has good games and bad games. Im pretty happy with what Mark has been able to do so far. A bold prediction considering most professionals project a modest regression. I'd actually recommend holding the BandWGNs in the garage until the end of April for everyone outside Lee & ARam........and they're beyond BandWGNs now anyway. Not that anyone will listen to me, but that's my 2cents.

16 point deficit. It's over gentlemen. Strange that the Bulls pick tonight, after getting such a great opportunity from the Cavs earlier in the day, to play as bad as we've seen in a long time. Perhaps they don't feel facing the Heat in the 1st round is a problem.

Another in a long line of 3rd quarter badgazms. Blah, big time opportunity going by the boards tonight.

4K's today, looked totally lost. Let's hold the BandWGN in the stable for just a bit longer.

Gooz needed to be the 5th starter out of camp, as he by all rights earned the job in ST over Miller & Prior. Pray Lou realizes he already has a better pitcher ready to take the spot. No more Miller plz.

Blah, we lost. Oh well. Just thinking back to last night when the Bulls dominated the Pistons with half our good players available??? That gets me over it.

He got lifted for Theriot, because Cubs used Theriot to steal 2nd base for the go-ahead run. It was a good move in my opinion. I don't mind that move. I question the move to Howry. Lou is still trying to learn the ballclub too, I guess I have to give him the benefit of the doubt. We're probably going to see more of this for a couple more weeks.

Nooooo!

YEAH~! :x

Gooz should have been the 1st pitcher brought in, not the 3rd. Like it or not, much of this is on Piniella.

Gameday died out. I totally have no idea what's going on, LOL. Sounds craptastic though.

Hell yeah, let Dunn come up with 2 on again!