Soul

Because he's a good pitcher? Again, 6.61 ERA away from spacious Dodger stadium this year. It looks like we might be catching him on the rebound.

He's hitting .305 with a .397 OBP You'd think with how often this happens, people would stop assuming things without looking them up. Our brains aren't wired to watch the games, then go back and recall a certain player's at-bats in certain situations with any degree of accuracy. Hell, my brain's not wired to have breakfast and then recall what I had 4 hours later.

Notice we stopped hitting when you stopped working? Hmmmmm.

Nope. Popout. ballgame.

A little premature, to be sure.

Well if we lose 1-0 we didn't deserve to win anyway.

Dorsey has no idea what he's talking about.

I disagree, especially for the bolded part. Hendry thought he was getting a 40/40 guy who still had room to improve, because Hendry doesn't understand the concept of prime years and past your prime decline. Hendry thought he was getting a leadoff hitter who could justify his spot at leadoff with a bunch of stolen bases because Hendry had been looking for a base stealing leadoff hitter for years. He also thought he was getting a great athlete who was going to get better and better in LF over time. But if he was just a basestealer he wouldn't have commanded that kind of money. Even a basestealer + defensively good wouldn't have put the price in that league. It was the first '40' that made him ridiculously expensive. Where did I say he was just a basestealer? It was the 40/40 thing, the combination of speed and power, and what Hendry envisioned to be ever improving defense. I'm not trying to get in your grill about it. I just think the power bat was a much bigger factor, that's all. I probably didn't word my original statement in the best way.

That is a debatable point on if it actually does give the Cubs the best chance to win. It's almost certainly not an easy enough decision either way to call it a dis-service if they decide to do it the other way. Because of his bad wheels we've seen him whiff on pop flies (in St. Louis) that, Reed Johnson, for example would have caught. Granted it wasn't in the bottom of the ninth, but, its going to happen again and with the Cubs luck, its going to cost them the game. True, but it's the same situation as Milwaukee had with Ryan Braun last year. If you take him out, and then the opposition hits a home run to tie the game, now one of your best hitters is out of the ballgame, and both Reed Johnson and Jim Edmonds are in your lineup. That doesn't spell good things for winning the ballgame in extra innings. It's close to decide if the glove now is more important than the bat later. I'd probably keep Soriano in, but I could see why somebody would take him out right now for a defensive replacement as well. I think it really is close enough to be based on how he is hitting/fielding that day, and to decide on a game to game basis. According to Lou though, he's not doing that. He said he simply won't do a late-inning replacement for Soriano. He even jumped down a reporter's throat for asking about it. I can see the other side of the argument though. If you pull him out, and the save is blown, you've just taken out one of your biggest bats and best chances to get the lead back. No question about that.

Do you really want Soriano's and Beltran's contracts on this team? No, but what if the Mets picked up a decent chunk of it?

I disagree, especially for the bolded part. Hendry thought he was getting a 40/40 guy who still had room to improve, because Hendry doesn't understand the concept of prime years and past your prime decline. Hendry thought he was getting a leadoff hitter who could justify his spot at leadoff with a bunch of stolen bases because Hendry had been looking for a base stealing leadoff hitter for years. He also thought he was getting a great athlete who was going to get better and better in LF over time. But if he was just a basestealer he wouldn't have commanded that kind of money. Even a basestealer + defensively good wouldn't have put the price in that league. It was the first '40' that made him ridiculously expensive.

Lowe's past 5 starts have been abysmal. Would be very nice to capitalize on that and get the sweep. Let's go!

More f-bombs than Kosuke taking BP with the wind blowing out. Haha, yeah. If there was a way to measure per capita F-bombs on the internet, DodgerBlues would surely rank very, very high.

Even Edmonds himself probably knows that he is done. But he's not stupid enough to retire as long as someone else is stupid enough to give him a job. Exactly, if he retires he doesn't get what is left of his 8 million! I know 8M would keep me in the game. But what if he doesn't officially retire, just no team gives him a job this year. He still gets his full salary, right? I wonder if anyone would pick him up if Hendry cut him. He's kind of like Mahoney in Police Academy, he can't quit because he'd lose his money (or, like Mahoney, go to jail), but he's trying to get himself fired (kicked out) so he doesn't have to such anymore. That's my point. If the Cubs DFA him and no one picks him up, he still gets his money as long as he doesn't officially retire this year, right? Yes. The Cubs would have to pay the minimum salary for the remainder of the year and the Padres would be stuck with the rest of it. Seems to be little reason to keep him on the team then. The hope that Edmonds will recapture past glory appears to be fading, or completely faded.

You're right, that has been shocking. They've been able to cover for it, otherwise there would be a lot more talk about Buerhle's collapse.

'69? What about '89? The Cubs and Mets rivalry was really second only to the Cubs/Cards rivalry on the north side from the 60's until '93. I was three I'm old enough to remember. In the 1980's the Mets were every bit as hated as the Cards in Chicago. It's kind of a shame that the reorg has destroyed that rivalry. Mets/Cubs in '84 is my first memorable rivalry moment as a Cub fan. There were bench-clearing brawls, suspensions, the whole bit. It was just amazing. Think Bulls/Knicks in the Jordan years, only baseball.

Just unbelievable how immature some of the umps are. I guess it goes to show you -- even at the highest levels people are essentially the same. They still crave attention, act badly sometimes, make mistakes, etc.

About the only thing I can agree with is that Sori should be pulled in the 9th inning in a close game for better defense. Other than that, Sori needs to be playing because his bat is bombastic. I can disagree with Lou on something without concluding that he's a total idiot in every area. I wish a few more people in Chicago were willing to make that distinction. As for Sori himself, his defense is what it is. Hendry knew exactly what he was getting -- he got paid because of his bat. Few players command big dollars because of their glove. The contract isn't great. But Sori's proven every bit his worth at the plate IMO. This comes down to some better management of him as a ballplayer, fitting him better into the team. The one thing I'm really worried about is exactly what Lou implied a few days ago: that Sori might be hiding another injury. If that's the case, then I really want to hear the Sori bashers who are calling him "lazy" back up their statements when he's going out there every day with a bad wheel.

What is it with Jims in this town anyway?

It was a good start. Weather happens. You still need to win, whatever it takes on a particular night. If Sean got a few breaks because of the wind, fine. So did Kuroda.

That one is very funny. I usually like to let that site sit for a few months, let the stuff recycle for a bit, then re-visit. It's a good time with the Dodgers in town. It's probably no secret that's how I would post when the Cubs lose if there were no language rules on NSBB. I laugh because I see myself in some of those posts.

Can't disagree. I'm in the boat with a lot of others. I can't claim to have great technical basketball knowledge though. It just seems to me like Rose is a more solid choice. If we were picking #2 I'd be very happy with the prospect of getting Beasley.

Soriano's smart to not feed into it. It's better for everyone. And Brenly's comment was out of line, though I still generally like him.

I'm going to blow my brains out if I see another strikeout/throwout on a 3-2 hit-and-run tomorrow.

Here's the link to the Dodger Blues game thread for tonight. http://www.dodgerblues.com/fanforum/nfphpbb/viewtopic.php?t=13961&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=24 Pick it up right after they post the picture of Lasorda singing the stretch. LOL! I love that site. By the way, in case you don't know.......*defnitely* not safe for work.