Soul

Fight the Powah! Come on Matty, succeed in spite of this trainwreck.

Errors tell you absolutely *nothing* about defensive ability? Sorry TT, but I disagree. Maybe they don't tell you much about a guy's phyical ability to play defense.....but if you can't make the plays well then-----you can't make the plays. And 14 errors is so many more than many other shortstops. It's not that he's able to get to balls that others can't and they are being called errors. It's that he is just shaky on defense, like yesterday when he airmails a throw to first. Errors don't tell you anything. Sorry to break this to you. Yes they do. I don't care what "conventional wisdom" has developed to say it means nothing. If I've got a guy who continues to airmail the ball into the dugout, or muff easy double-play balls, he's not going to stay in the starting lineup very long. Especially if it starts costing me ballgames. I do agree it would be wrong to just throw Cedeno out because of what's happening only this season, under this incompetent coaching staff. What if his name was Soriano? Then I'd move him to LF 8) ....because he hits. Remember, Ronny isn't hitting, at least for the moment (hopefully he'll improve).

You are correct, sir! An amazing turn around for Mr. Jon. He actually had quite a bit of faith in this group before the season if I remember correctly. Just for the record: I hate being right when I look at the Cubs in ST and think they are going to suck.

Love Barrett to death. One of Hendry's good moves, before he lost his mind.

Few players would actually come out in the press and say "oh hell yeah blame our manager." That would be pathetic. Eyre's comments are stock for this type of situation. There's probably a "what to say to the press when your team sucks" class that players attend. If so---these are the exact sort of lines that are memorized for the test.

i bet cardinal fans world wide are bitching about this stat Few players post their best results after being down 0-2. That's part of the frustration of this team's approach. Our hitters work themselves into an 0-2 hole plenty. I'd like to see some stats on the # of times Cub hitters get to an 0-2 count vs. the rest of the league. I'll bet we're close to, or at the top, of that list.

Errors tell you absolutely *nothing* about defensive ability? Sorry TT, but I disagree. Maybe they don't tell you much about a guy's phyical ability to play defense.....but if you can't make the plays well then-----you can't make the plays. And 14 errors is so many more than many other shortstops. It's not that he's able to get to balls that others can't and they are being called errors. It's that he is just shaky on defense, like yesterday when he airmails a throw to first. Errors don't tell you anything. Sorry to break this to you. Yes they do. I don't care what "conventional wisdom" has developed to say it means nothing. If I've got a guy who continues to airmail the ball into the dugout, or muff easy double-play balls, he's not going to stay in the starting lineup very long. Especially if it starts costing me ballgames. I do agree it would be wrong to just throw Cedeno out because of what's happening only this season, under this incompetent coaching staff.

I always thought of And Justice for All as fantastically artistic----probably the most artistic of any thrash Metal ever, unless you start counting some of the underground stuff (which really isn't heard by many outside of very select circles of die hards).

Nothing will get Dusty fired, except the firing of Hendry.

Owners of the Red Sox care about baseball above all. Owners of the Cubs care about the stock price above all. There's the root cause difference right there, IMO.

Errors tell you absolutely *nothing* about defensive ability? Sorry TT, but I disagree. Errors tell you something but not everything. ARam is second in fielding pct. either in the NL or MLB and I think he's one of the worst defensive thirdbasemen in the game. Also, remember a couple of bad scoring decisions can screw your fielding pct. up. Having said that, Cedeno has been disappointing in the field, but, unlike Shawon Dunston, as another poster pointed out, I think he will get better and his defensive liabilities of today won't be talked about 5-10 years from now. I'll give Baker this, if he truly hated kids, he could've used some of the stats you used to justify sitting Cedeno. ....not by as many errors as Cedeno has over his peers. Those aren't just a few bad scoring decisions. When I said that, I wasn't referring to Cedeno but was referencing in general why # of errors doesn't always tell you everything. Like what I said about ARam. Yes, but if ARam is benefitting from Wrigley and Lee and all that, then that would suggest Cedeno's FPct & E totals are actually worse than they appear, not the other way around. I'm not saying that is the case, however. What I *am* trying to say is, many people sold Cedeno on the idea that he was an absolute stud on defense. I think it's been proven rather convincingly he is not. Maybe he is alright----or maybe there is room for improvement. I think you can say that about alot of young guys. But a defensive stud, right out of the box? That is false, in my view.

Errors tell you absolutely *nothing* about defensive ability? Sorry TT, but I disagree. Errors tell you something but not everything. ARam is second in fielding pct. either in the NL or MLB and I think he's one of the worst defensive thirdbasemen in the game. Also, remember a couple of bad scoring decisions can screw your fielding pct. up. Having said that, Cedeno has been disappointing in the field, but, unlike Shawon Dunston, as another poster pointed out, I think he will get better and his defensive liabilities of today won't be talked about 5-10 years from now. I'll give Baker this, if he truly hated kids, he could've used some of the stats you used to justify sitting Cedeno. ....not by as many errors as Cedeno has over his peers. Those aren't just a few bad scoring decisions.

No one was directly behind me It's still rude to put signs up during play---and if you do it then others will get the idea that they can, too. Security was right to tell you to wait until between innings. The rule is there for good reason.

Errors tell you absolutely *nothing* about defensive ability? Sorry TT, but I disagree. Maybe they don't tell you much about a guy's phyical ability to play defense.....but if you can't make the plays well then-----you can't make the plays. And 14 errors is so many more than many other shortstops. It's not that he's able to get to balls that others can't and they are being called errors. It's that he is just shaky on defense, like yesterday when he airmails a throw to first.

Practice your booing voice, and look for other things to do in the neighborhood before/after the game so the trip won't be a complete loss if the Cubs put up yet another stinker.

LMAO----it's so true. Pax is in his suit & tie, and it looks like they plucked Skiles from his lawn chair where he was sipping drinks. I hope he has a designated driver :lol:

I keep hearing that Cedeno's defense is good. "Hey, at least he plays good defense." No he doesn't. Ronny Cedeno: FPCT: .958 Ranks 26th E 14 Ranks near the bottom. 24 SS's ahead of him--a ton of ties at various levels. Range Factor: 4.12 Ranks 22nd Zone Rating: .834 Ranks 16th We can all argue who's fault it might be that Ronny isn't getting it done. Given the CPatt fiasco, it would be difficult to just lay all the blame at the players' feet. But the fact remains, Cedeno is stinking on both sides of the ball, not just offensively.

I'd definitely dangle Prior out there. The only thing that scares me is the Cubs organization. What if they're doing something that causes him to suck & get injured? Don't ask me what, I don't know. But there's that fear: CPatt. Nomar. What if it isn't Prior, it's the organization in some way?

It wasn't luck. It was good pitching. Remember that horrid 2002 season? The team scored 706 runs and posted a .321 OBP that year. In 2003, they weren't much better. They scored 724 runs and posted a .324 OBP. They made some strides in 2004 by improving the OBP to .328 and increasing their run output to 789, but they fell off dramatically last year with 703 runs and a .324 OBP. They weren't lucky in 2003. The pitching was so good that they won games in spite of the poor hitting attack. If you had great pitching, you might be able to get away with what Houston and the White Sox accomplished last year. But, it's risky to do nothing to improve a bad offense and assume your pitching will carry you. And right now you are seeing why that is such a risky game plan. The White Sox didn't sit on their hands after winning the World Series by living and dying on a strong pitching staff. They went out and improved the offense this offseason while also working on improving the pitching staff. Hendry had an average pitching staff at best last year. He had a horrible offense. Instead of focusing on improving the offense, he focused on speed and defense. Gee, why is this team 20 games under .500? And I'm no rocket scientist. I agree 100% with your analysis with respect to the White Sox and Astros. And I didn't know the diff between the Cubs' 2002 offense and 2003 offense was so marginal. Great post. I also agree and thanks for the responses. I would add that given the fact that our last 2 months in 2003 we actually *did* score and put baserunners on at a decent clip-----the first part of the season we must have been incredibly bad.

First of all, where are the refs in all of this? Secondly, if someone said those things to me, they'd be lucky to get out of the ICU. That Italian player is trash.

Welcome to the board! I don't think it's that much of a travesty. I voted for Tool...

Absolutely. They are a live band. The studio recordings take away everything great about the band and are only a shell of what the band is. I'd be curious to know how many of the people that have voted for the Pumpkins have actually seen DMB live and/or know that there is so much beyond the surface of their radio hits. Seems like lots of people here dislike DMB based on their opinion of other people that are fans of the band instead of making up their mind after actually listening to them theirselves. I can repsect different tastes in music but to vehemently hate DMB is just unbelieveable to me. I mean, I don't like Crash (Into Me) that much but I am aware that it isn't their only song! Too each their own though. 8) I think it's quite snobbish of you to insinuate that those who voted for the Pumpkins just aren't informed enough about DMB's greatness. I've listened to a ton of DMB at one time or another. I've never seen them live, but I haven't seen 90% of the bands in this poll live. Well, probably more than that actually. I find this kind of attitude in a lot of DMB die hards. I've got a couple friends that are incredulous when you turn down a chance to see them in concert or don't participate in a proverbial circle jerk when discussing the band. I think they've made some nice music. They aren't anywhere close to a rock band, however, and they aren't the greatest band in the world. They have a fantastic effect on the young ladies and are a perfectly suitable band to listen to on a camping trip or bonfire of some sorts. I like SP better. I agree it's a little out there to suggest you need to have seen a band live before you have the right to dislike them...

So that's 7 days in a row without a Cub loss. W00t!

Welcome to the Twilight Zone, ladies & gents. I swear there's a little creature on the wing of the plane! It's Perez for God's sake!!!! Get him off or we'll crash! LOL. Aren't those the 6 craziest words ever put together? It's like looking at a field of purple grass. Like........huh? Did someone actually say that? :shock: :shock: :?:

I need to see something from Prior. How do we know if we shut him down he won't be too weak for ST next year and we start this whole thing all over again? No, I'm against shutting Marky Mark down. He needs to come back and prove he can pitch. I'm in full Prior watch mode----no longer 100% convinced he will ever be back to what he was in '03. If he basically misses the ENTIRE SEASON this year because he got the flu 6 months ago???--then maybe I start shopping him a little in the offseason.