Soul

This is a Dustyesque rationalization of a negative statistic. No it isn't. They ran well last year. Have the same people + a healthy Benson. Have focused most of their offense on the passing game. Dusty has nothing to do with it. So they're really not trying that hard to gain yardage when they hand the ball off? No, they just aren't putting any sort of emphasis on the running game. Last year they would repeatedly go to the run, even when the opposition knew they'd run. Occasionally, they'd be stuffed for no gain, but they'd keep at it and rack up yards. This year, if they don't gain 10 yards on a run play, the next play is a deep pass. They averaged 40 more yards per game and a full yard more per rush, and that was against stacked boxes last year. They are clearly capable of running the ball well. I suspect they will as the season goes on. Didn't they have 150 yards rushing against the Bills? And a pretty good amount the game before too? It's true they don't seem to be running the ball as well this year, but it's not a total collapse. And last night was just being down by 20 points----teams generally must throw when they're down, though they don't have to throw all long passes into double coverage like we did.

Don't you wonder if sweet Lou is thinking to himself, "dammit! should have waited a couple more weeks!" ?

I never hate on a new guy. Piniella gets the benefit of the doubt just like anyone else should. That said though, if the Cubs are really going to try and trade Zambrano for ARod like the rumors are suggesting, then I've got to wonder where the pitching is going to come from. Piniella had a great experience with ARod last time because that Mariners team was pretty solid-----complete with a Hall of Fame starter anchoring the rotation.

I just don't know why they kept throwing deep balls into double coverage. They needed to settle down a bit with some control throws. Obviously it's hard to know if it was all Rex, or all Turner, or a combination of both, but I've got to say it looked like those were just alot of designed longer routes being run. When your QB struggles, you've got to find a way to get him back into rhythm. We didn't do that last night, and that was disappointing. Also, the Mike Brown injury......he could be finished.........with basically no quality depth to sub for him now (although I must say Todd Johnson looked good last night).

LOL, otherwise known as "OH CRAP, I'M FIRED!!" 8)

I'm not sure what you are saying here. But, I'd go with Pie in CF if they somehow ended up with guys like ARod, Cabrera, etc. If not, then CF is a place where they need to find guaranteed improvemenent in production. If you want to go with Pie, then that's fine. I admit the point I'm trying to make is a little difficult. I'm just trying to say-----you can't make policy that tries to anticipate something that can't be anticipated. We'll wind up with some bench player in CF for 1 year because we "think" Pie will be ready to be an all-star in '08. We've seen this before---the guy you have in the minors turns out to be a dud, and you're left with another gaping hole in the lineup. Just make a solid decision for '07, and go with it. If that means you commit to Pie, then great. Do it. If that means you bring in a veteran on a multi-year deal, then fine go for it. But don't tip-toe around, saying Pie's not ready, and we can't sign anyone good because we're waiting for Pie-----and then you wind up with nothing.

I will only say this: tip-toeing our CF strategy around Felix Pie would be a mistake. There's no evidence proving he will ever be a great major league ballplayer. Solidify CF for the here & now. Let the Pie chip fall where it may. That's the only way it should be done. No "stop gaps" waiting for a player who may never arrive.

Great discussion, but a bit premature considering word out of SF is Piniella is heading west. Not saying it will happen-----just saying it looks like 2 teams consider Piniella to be in the bag, so something has to give.

Old Trap-Game as that is likely to light a fire under them and motivate them to kill anyone else. I think that's where I come down too. It's close though. You feel better in the moment if you lost to a good team. But losing to a good team puts that doubt in your mind-----maybe the Seahawks wasn't all it appeared.....maybe we'll have trouble in the playoffs against the good teams, etc. If you beat the Giants and Pats on the road, then I think everyone probably writes off a trap-game loss to, say, the Dolphins. I don't want to lose to a divisional opponent though, even if we are playing mostly 2nd teamers by that time. If those final games are meaningless, I'm hoping Lovie at least plays the starters for a little while. I'll take the injury risk this time around---I think we need to stay in rhythm heading into the playoffs.

Lou is not a brave choice, he's just the opposite. He is in fact the safest possible choice, which is why I predicted he'd be Hendry's favorite. Lou is the safest non-Girardi choice. Naw, Lou is safer. Girardi only managed one season and got fired. He's not officially proven yet. Lou's been around forever and had some good seasons. Girardi would give Hendry a lot of good will. Not hiring Girardi would piss a lot of people off. Lou is probably one of only a few guys that would placate the masses that would be pissed about Girardi not being here. And his big nameness is also the only competition for Girardi's story, as it pertains to PR. I'm not going to be upset if it's Lou. I'll give him a chance. He better not turn from short-tempered Lou into nice, cuddly Lou just because he's coming to the Cubs though. I've seen that movie before, and I don't like it. I'd rather have Girardi, because he did fairly well with an under-talented team which is what we have right now. Plus he might be able to survive the inevitable Hendry firing, which will be happening fairly soon. I don't buy that the fact he was fired by the Marlins means anything. Maybe he just wouldn't put up with their nonsense. Owners and GM's aren't always right, as every Cub fan should know.

Ahh, the life of a backup QB in the NFL. I could do that gig for a couple years. Hold a clipboard, rake in a few hundred grand per year..... Here's a question for you all. Let's assume the Bears are going 15-1 during the regular season. Do you want that loss to be against a legit team like the Patriots? Or would you prefer the old trap-game loss to a team like the Cardinals or the 49ers?

It certainly looks like you were right. Could this be another piece of the Hendry M.O.? Hire a high-profile, well-known manager to take all the heat away from the poor personnel decisions.

I don't know if any of this is serious, but Mike and Mad Dog need to own up if it is. Seriously, there is a certain level of criticism that athletes need to learn to take, especially in a big market. But there is also a line that should not be crossed. Some might think it's "entertainment" to drag a guy through the mud on the public airwaves. I do not. Most of the NY media need a wake up call. It's unfortunate that it had to happen like this... What did they say about Lidle on Monday? I tend to tune out the soap opera stuff, so I'm also unaware of what was said. I find it unlikely that any media personalities will come out asking forgiveness for raking an athlete over the coals, however.

Wow, yeah reading that article it certainly sounds like Piniella is close to getting the job. *shivers*

Yeah, that Cabrera guy is a hack. ..and Cabrera :) You know what I meant, smarty pants.

Jason Stark said this morning on Mike & Mike that the Girardi interview went very well and "allayed any fears" the Cubs had about the Florida situation. However, he also said that the Cubs are very intrigued with Piniella, and that it's his job of choice. I think it's still Piniella in the lead. Seriously? Wow, I'm totally misreading the situation then. I had Piniella/Cubs pegged as a total mismatch of personalities---something that would never happen. I also didn't figure Piniella would be terribly interested since the Cubs were one of the worst teams in baseball this year. I've always thought this was Girardi's job as long as he explained the Florida situation in a way that made sense. The Cubs have had a pretty good experience with Joe over the years. He's obviously got good managerial skills as evidenced by taking the Marlins to a nearly .500 record with basically no players outside of DTrain.

What if you scored on an error? Outpitch and outhit are pretty useless phrases. An error would be defense, no? I agree they are useless -that was my point. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, in a manner of speaking. If you shut down the other team's hitting, then they say "see? good pitching stops good hitting." If you got blasted, then they just say your pitching stunk. Still, that never stops the pundits from rolling out that particular catch phrase every playoffs. "Good pitching stops good hitting!" Well yeah----because if the other team gets hits, then your Cy Young pitcher just plain stunk.

Unfortunately for Miami, they don't have Marino to lift them to a victory over the Bears this time. Still, I don't think the Bears will be undefeated. Like most people, I'm circling that 3 game road trip as the most likely place where the Bears drop a game. Of course it usually doesn't happen like you think it would :)

Let's hope that Manning Jr. isn't suspended. There's not a lot of depth in the secondary with Harris out. Regarding the secondary, I have a feeling that its (lack of) depth won't tip the scales for the AZ game, and there's a bye-week after that, so as long as Harris is better in three weeks, it should be okay. Right, but if the NFL hires Bob Watson to hand out the suspension, he'll wait until the worst possible time to do it and give Manning Jr. 6 games. Hopefully Johnson and Worrell stay healthy on special teams. Does it matter at all that the charges were dropped on all the other guys for lack of evidence? Those were just normal dudes who hang out with RMJ. There's no way they dropped the charges because of celebrity. I'm starting to wonder if this whole thing really happened like everyone was so sure it did. If that guy really got a beat down from Manning and his friends, I highly doubt the charges would just have been dropped mid-stream. Starting to sound more like a DA who is out to get Manning Jr. Once RMJ cops a plea, all of a sudden the case itself evaporates. Maybe there wasn't much of a case to begin with.

Son of a %$# :x Anyone that thinks that the problem with the Cubs is Tribune ownership just doesn't get it. get what? explain yourself? I dont' care if they authorized a 90+ million dollar payroll. They have no interest in brining in compentant leadership that will spend it wisely. They have also been terrible managing the leadership/vision of the farm system. I disagree. I think they THOUGHT MacPhail would be a big winner here. he has a long baseball pedigree and some success in Minnesota. They can be criticized for not putting him on the hot seat earlier, but I almost think, by the sound of his resignation, that he felt a lot of heat from above for a while now. IMO, the Tribune gave him what was required to win, he and his hires (and their hires) just failed miserably at it. The best news for us, as fans, is that the Hendry was "his guy" and hopefully will be on a MAJOR hot seat this season. Philosophy and farm system is not the fault of the Trib, aside from not firing MacPhail. That's all baseball operations- which means it's a management issue (Andy), not ownership (trib). All the trib really does is budget and hire the president. From there on down, that's the President's responsibility. The Tribune doesn't care about baseball, and therein lies the problem. You can't run a ballclub effectively in committee. Providing the cash isn't the whole story. Anyone who doesn't realize this------well, they're the ones who don't "get it."

I have a feeling Hendry is gonna do some big things this off season....knowing his job is in serious jeopardy. Don't count on it. Agreed. What bargaining chips does he have to work with now? He's completely drained the minor leagues, and his major league ballclub is chok-full of junk nobody wants or bad contracts. The Trib's not going to open the coffers so he can spend his way out of this hole, that's for sure.

I'm going to be at the game this weekend. No letdowns now! This is going to be fun. I wouldn't expect the return of Jauron to be much of anything. We're much happier with Lovie than we ever were with Dickie and his "sacks don't matter" crew.

You're gonna have a hard time coming up with your reverse jinx for this next week... :D I'm waaay ahead of you. Let's just say it will involve the Curse of Dick Jauron... I can hardly wait.

Of course. You've got to like ANYONE's chances. Because there's no good teams out there that anyone can have confidence in to dominate. I'll bet the odds makers are in hell right now, LOL. Who can say they've got the upper hand? Certainly not in the NL. All those teams are basically sitting at home watching most years. You know, I like parity. I really do. But there's two kinds of parity: good parity, and bad parity. This is bad parity.

I think it's time to give up some props to Wade Wilson too. Finally a good QB coach, and it's paying off. And the pass blocking against a heavy-blitz scheme. It was just a thing of beauty tonight. We even started to run the ball a little bit, too.