Soul

The performance of Ludwick, Schumaker and Miles notwithstanding the key point is they're not pitchers, barring any trades the St. Louis staff is going to be their undoing. The bullpen is currently 24 of 30 in ERA, we've seen some of it and its not good, the starters are 9 of 30 in ERA - with the likes of Looper, Lohse, Piniero and Mitchell Boggs (who is 2-0 despite issuing more BB's than K's along with more hits than IP and 3 HR's in 16.1 IP!) - do you really believe this group is going to keep this up? They made Jeff Weaver into a stud. They can and will keep it up. It's late June. The fact is, they *ARE* keeping it up. And they're getting Pujols back soon, as well as possibly Carpenter/Mulder. There's reason to be hopeful in St. Louis, that's all I'm really saying. Wellemeyer is also apparently getting close to returning, though they need to be careful with his arm since he's never pitched this much. I'm also looking at the NL standings -- the reality is even if the Cards don't win the division they could very well get into the playoffs as the WC because it's looking like the 2nd place NL Central team will be better than the 2nd place team from the East (the West being out of the question barring some miracle). We could be seeing this Cardinals team in the playoffs. A NLCS between the Cubs/Cards would be bombastic on a level I don't think I've ever seen.

Incredibly stupid idea to have a game that nobody cares about determine home field advantage for the games that EVERYONE cares about. It just flies in the face of all logic and common sense. Heck, the outcome of the All Star game is more determined by who decides they'll actually grace the league by showing up than anything. You could have a top ballplayer who would have hit the game winning home run stay home with a phantom injury just because he doesn't feel like attending. And this determines home field for the most important series of the year. Plus the pitchers are obviously not going to stress themselves. It's just a glorified practice.

Also, a heinous schedule and no conference championship game. If they go to the NC game again this year and get killed, something is going to have to be done about it. I'm all for adding a championship game to the Big Ten, or else adding a +1 format to the BCS. I wish they'd just stop with all the excuses and do it. There shouldn't be a way for a team to simply slide from their conference schedule right into the Championship game with no other buffer at all.

Me too. I was born & raised in the Chicago area (and as a Cub fan), but I guess now that I live in Texas I am nothing more than a tourist when I go back to Wrigley for games. Yep, me too. Just remember, you know nothing about baseball and just come to Wrigley to see women and drink beer.

Didn't he stop taking them because MLB deemed Adderall a PED? I seem to recall he was kicking tail a year or two ago and then fell off the deep end and I read something about how he had to stop taking his ADD medication because it had a banned substance in it or something. Adderall is a fantastic drug if you have ADD or troubles focusing and paying attention. Really? If true, then that sucks. That screams "medical necessity" to me. I'm all for PED policies, but if a doctor says you need to take a medication for a diagnosed condition, then your employer needs to back off.

Seriously. If this much is at stake, then by all means get on the right meds and get turned around. I mean, if that's really the problem.

Nope hate the Buckeyes, grew up in West Lafayette. And you said essentially what I was implying. Sure Illinois hasn't lost a lot of players but they lost a lot in the players they lost. A good example of this is Purude in 2005. They only lost 3 or 4 starters total from 2004 but among them was Orton, Stubblefield and Rogers (top corner). That year Purdue had it's only losing season in 11 years with tiller. College teams lose players all the time. It's kind of how it works. I think you are in for a suprise with Illinois. But, who knows, maybe I'm wrong. Didn't Zook have another good recruiting year? I'm sure he has some nice freshman coming in and it'll depend on how quickly they adapt to the speed of the college game. He always has good recruiting years. I think people are forgetting this. They've got a ton of fresh blood on that team. You're right, alot will depend on how they adapt. They've got several pieces that were nothing but younguns last year too though, and will now be more mature college ballplayers. The talent train @ Illinois is quite impressive right now. Every college team loses players. The good programs that keep bringing in talent are the ones that survive. Remember, Ohio State wasn't supposed to be much last year because all their players left, too. They wound up in the National Championship game, because they've got the program that keeps brining in the talent.

I'm actually not sure now. I'm torn. The Crew has been playing well, but they're also burning Torres for 2 innings pretty much every time they have a lead, so that can't continue forever. If Torres can't continue his pace, that bullpen will be right back where it's always been -- horrible, and blowing leads regularly. The Cards looked like they were about to start diving when they got swept by the Royals in their own building, but then they went to Boston and for the most part took it to one of the best teams in the AL. So I don't know. I agree the Crew has the bullets to make a deadline deal, so maybe that's what puts them ahead of the Cardinals. They're only 2 games in back of St. Louis right now so that could flip/flop at any point. Then again, the Cardinals will probably be getting pieces back from injury, so that will in theory give them a boost as well.

Someone should ask Stone if Geo is still on roids now that he's not on a hot streak anymore. I mean, since he's the authority and everything.

I guess when I go to a game at Wrigley I'm just a "tourist" from another part of the country then. :roll:

Nope hate the Buckeyes, grew up in West Lafayette. And you said essentially what I was implying. Sure Illinois hasn't lost a lot of players but they lost a lot in the players they lost. A good example of this is Purude in 2005. They only lost 3 or 4 starters total from 2004 but among them was Orton, Stubblefield and Rogers (top corner). That year Purdue had it's only losing season in 11 years with tiller. College teams lose players all the time. It's kind of how it works. I think you are in for a suprise with Illinois. But, who knows, maybe I'm wrong.

I never said he was.

They play in an easy conference but they have to get by USC first. in LA. They also play in Illinois against what will be an improved Illini squad, and they had no answers for them last year at the horseshoe... The game @ Wisconsin will not be easy either. without Mendenhall you will not be improved. You should still be good but you lost a premier RB and those don't come along all to often. "You" will not be improved? :rotfl: Thanks, but I'm probably 500 miles away from Champaign and never attended the school. I think you're forgetting that much of the roster OUTSIDE of Mendenhall were young, up & coming players last year who will now be coming of age. Mendenhall will be difficult to replace, but there are alot of other areas the Illini will be improved. It's not going to be an easy game for OSU, trust me. And going into Camp Randall is never easy for any team, especially mid-season which is usually when Wisconsin starts turning it on.

Unless you go all the way back to 2000, when Ryan put up a 120 ERA+ and was an All Star for the Marlins. Long time ago though.

They play in an easy conference but they have to get by USC first. in LA. They also play in Illinois against what will be an improved Illini squad, and they had no answers for them last year at the horseshoe... The game @ Wisconsin will not be easy either.

Fewer years is better... I agree, ask again after we see his 2nd half.

Pretty clear after this series which team is the trash and which team is the class.

Well, what was the Cards' preseason rating? I'm sure they are far outpacing that at the moment. To go into Boston and beat the Red Sox 2/3 doesn't really suggest luck though. It suggests a lot of experts were wrong about them. We'll just have to see how it all plays out. I'm glad to have built up a 4.5 game cushion on them, but I'm starting to doubt that they'll fade away more than I doubt they are a good team.

Geez, how come I didn't know Hill was such a head case?

It's hilarious how much time & effort Sox fans put into obsessing over the Cubs. They care more about the Cubs than they do about their own team.

Sure he won't blast homers like he did today, but provided Lou uses him judiciously, there's no reason to think he'll automatically go into a death-slump or something like that. He might remain gimpy though. He could very well be reasonably productive the rest of the year. He's always hit very well @ Wrigley. I don't see a reason for the Wrigley faithful to jump on him too quickly if he slides a bit -- we got him for very little and he's already exceeded expectations. BTW, that 2nd homer was off a lefty, which was good to see.

Sure, there's plenty to do to keep his mind off things! Out in the bare, flooded..........barren.......fields of Iowa. :mrgreen:

Is there any doubt? What a classless piece of trash. Whenever I'm away from the TV and I start hearing beeping sounds, it's a sure bet they're doing an Ozzie interview.

Well I'm late to the party, but excellent job bhogg.

We just have to accept that the Cards aren't going to fall off. If they haven't by now, I don't think they will. We hadnt fallen off by now in 2001, but we did. I hope this is the same thing. But, at least we had Sammy Sosa to keep us alive. I guess Ludwig is that to them. They fell off last year, late. They were right there all year until pretty much the very end. This year will probably be no different. If they do drop away, it won't be for a long time yet.