Soul

You are indeed correct sir: http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=FBN-DVORACEK-04-28-06

There was nothing wrong with Gould. He was automatic within 40 and a lot of his misses (40-49) came in EXTREMELY crappy weahter conditions (as was the case with the SF kick). Gould had the 29th most points from kickers last year. He was 23rd in FG%. He was 3/8 from 40-49 and his longest was 45. He didn't even attempt a 50+ because the coaches knew he didn't have any business kicking in the NFL. He got the job by default when the veteran melted down. And he was very bad at kickoffs. They need to replace him. Agreed. I'm glad the kid came in and held down the fort (somewhat) when Brien turned out to be a dud, but the fact is he's not an NFL-calibre kicker. We can do better. Not only that, but we will have better kickers than Gould in training camp. I would think it very tough for Robbie to make the team this year.

You're right Fred. But, it does put us right back where we started before Baker got here. In other words, Dusty sucks and hasn't done diddly poo other than be the beneficiary of a nice (and lucky--?) trade by Hendry in 2003. Since then, we've slid right back down into the tank circa 2002. Dusty MUST GO NOW. And don't cry for Dusty. He can take his millions and build some beach house somewhere----sip drinks for the remainder of his life and teach baseball to his kid. I should be so lucky. But he cannot be the manager of this ballclub any more.

Not by much, but Yes..he's a better hitter than Guzman or Hill. That makes him better than Hairston, too.

So what's the #%$@* deal with this guy? How do you get the most hits in major league baseball over a certain period and suck bones this badly?

Season's not over, but I wouldn't be counting on Wood suddenly turning this group into a contender, unless he brings some kind of offensive miracle with him.

When Wood comes back, is he going to provide the offense too?

Jimmy Piersall did that once..... back around '63 give or take. What is this... '63 you speak of? Back when the air was clean and sex was dirty...

I'd definitely rather see Neifi than Hairston.

Alright. Sean Marshall's a keeper. Nice work, damn.

Neifi > Hairston ? Don't dismiss it. We might be to that point.

Hairston sucking as per usual.

Very few other catchers turn that into a triple. Nice work.

28 before that ramirez homerun. Ouch.

What is it now? 23 innings? What's the record? Let's break it, what the hell.

I highly doubt a rotation of Zambrano, Maddux, Marshall, Hill, Guzman is gonna carry this "hitless wonder" team to .500, much less the playoffs. Oh, ye of little fiath !! :wink: 8) The next time Teddy Roosevelt digs a canal through Panama we can look forward to another Cubs' World Series!

We'll have one game real soon of 10+ runs. Pat and Ronny will be commenting "save some for tomorrow boys..." But alas, we won't listen.

It's not just Lee's statistics, it's his leadership and presence. Losing him is putting more pressure on other players to make up the difference. I'm not saying Lee's absence is the total reason for our downslide. It's not. But his loss goes beyond just the stats he was putting up.

I hope it's a bump in the road, but looking at it objectively I don't see the players who make this ballclub better than average. We've got Murton and Cedeno, two rooks (basically) who appear to be slowing down after hot starts. Walker has gone into the tank. Ramirez never came out of the tank. Pierre is pretty much a joke, not sure how he got to be as well-respected as he is, Jones is a little better but face it he's not going to be a large factor. Barrett has hit a huge slowdown since his hot start. We've got a starting rotation in tatters, and once Wood & Prior come back it will take time for them to work out the rust (in other words, probably August before you see anything resembling the old Woody & Prior). Miller's a question mark. The bench is laughably weak. Have I missed anything? I appreciate the desire to be optimistic, but geez----the reality is this is not in any way shape or form a contending ballclub. The real question we should be asking is how long should we put up with this charade? Baker needs to be fired, hands down. He's not even close to the manager we thought we were getting when we hired him. Barry's roids made Baker what he is, not his managing ability. Fire Baker now. Don't wait. And I don't mean fire him to try to jump back in the race, either. I mean fire him because he plain old sucks bones. And fire him to prove the organization realizes what they are trying just isn't working. From 2003 to now is a constant, downward slide.

Me too. It's gone beyond Dusty's admittedly poor starting pitching management.

I totally bought into the Corey Patterson madness way back when, too. He was going to be something special----wow. Now lookitt. Lordy. Not that we can talk. We basically exchanged CPatt for Jones. Two peas in a pod if you ask me.

But the baserunning, Vance. Think of the baserunning.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/stats/individual_player_hitting_chart.jsp?c_id=mlb&playerID=133380&statType=1 I don't really see much of a difference. Ouch. Looks like when he does try to go to the opposite field, he's 0fer. April is done now, so some of these guys need to get over the early season slumps and start producing.

The Heat are good enough to beat us, but still I found them to be wholly unimpressive. I wouldn't be suprised if they fail to make the conference finals. And, of course, if they do----the Pistons will be there and it will get really ugly. I actually don't mind Shaq so much----but it's clear he's nearing the end. And Wade, while I think he's a star, he's not on the level of a Kobe Bryant or a LeBron James. He might never be. The way I look at it, we have one glaring need. An quality inside presence. That's it. Give us that one player with a decent backup to spell him----we're a contender. We are not far away. Not far at all.

Haha. Sad but true. It really has come to that, at least until we get Woody & Prior back.