XZero771679666304

389??? that's barely clearing the fence when hit to that part of the park. That's what How Far did it Fly claimed.

If the Cubs go to the WS, I'm skipping classes and work for a week no matter the consequences. If the Cubs go to the WS, I am skipping classes, taking off work and flying 1200 miles just to stand outside Wrigley so I can feel closer to it.

I'm sure it has been mentioned, but ARam's GS was 430 feet if it was a foot. 389 my arse.

To be fair, the last Brewers/Cards series could have been very bad for the Brewers had the Cardinals' pen not been completely abysmal. St. Louis gave away at least 3 of those games more than the Brewers took them, that's for sure. Not much doubt tonight, though.

I particularly like the Brewers fan who said he'd take Suppan over Z and Dempster because of his postseason numbers. I wonder what he thinks about CC and his 7.17 postseason ERA?

Nice.

Except that it wasn't just one year. His June and July were, OPS-wise, two of his worst 3 from 2004 on. And his home/road splits have never been this unbalanced. He has a 1.061 at home and a .720 on the road. His OPS has come up a bit, but it is still lower than he has posted since 2003. IMO, the OBP gains have been a little more than offset by the SLG loss. I like that he's setting the table, but can we count on guys like Edmonds and DeRosa to keep clearing it? Don't get me wrong, I don't want Ramirez to become a hacking machine, but I like .350/.560 Ramirez a lot more than .383/.500. It's not like his OBP was poor before this season. Nor is ARam 35 years old, necessitating a change in approach. It's entirely possible that Aramis will have a big September (he has been very good in August) and make this discussion moot. But while I appreciate the increased selectivity (God knows we've been lacking it as team in recent years), I think that unless it comes with comparable power numbers, I don't think it is what is need most from him, particularly with Derrek's power AWOL. It's easy to see the Cubs leading the league in runs and ignore it, but Aramis has not been as good as he could have been so far (nor has he been bad). I do think Derrek's down year makes Ramirez's lack of power a bit more apparent.

I bolded the ones and changed the ones that I felt were wrong. On the surface it may seem that way, but he has hit for a lot less power. I like the walks, though. Additionally, he has been far more inconsistent. His home/road splits have been more unbalanced than ever, and he posted sub-.800 OPS' in June and July, two of his best months historically. His OPS is his lowest in years, but his OPS+ is right on par with recent years. I think the relative inconsistency is what is bothering me. You expect that from Soriano, but not so much from Aramis.

Wuertz is at expectation? How? He was supposed to be a decent part of our pen. And I didn't include Harden/Gaudin, but Gaudin would have to be below, not above (if you include yesterday's outing), And Harden about at expectation (the guy has had an ERA in the low 2's in previous years, and moved to the NL. He has also faced some poor offenses since coming over). I also think the sample size on Samardzija is too small to include him. And while Soriano's numbers have been there, he did miss 2 months of the season, and it hurt the team.

I never said those guys haven't overperformed, because they certainly have. But none of them have been impact guys, a la Ryan Ludwick. And while Theriot has been far better than expectation, his poor defense, poor base running (getting caught 40% of the time, multiple times at 3rd) and lack of power (he rarely puts himself in scoring position, and has only scored 68 runs in spite of being on base 210 times) takes away from that somewhat. And though some might not realize it, Soto wasn't all that great in May, June or July. Can you honestly say there have been more overperformers than underperformers? Let's see: Over: Theriot Soto DeRosa Dempster Edmonds Wood (questionable because he missed a stretch, and has always dominated) Fontenot Under: Lee (nearly .100 below last year's OPS) Ramirez (his OPS is all right, but his SLG is well down, his lowest in 5 years) Soriano (b/c of injuries) Ward Howry Hill Fukudome Lilly (slightly) And the names on the under list are a lot bigger than on the over list.

Which is about what I was trying to say. Some may look at Demp's performance as a big plus, but the net result is about the same when compared to overall expectation.

He has been a total non-factor, which is the epitome of underperformance, if you ask me.

One of the things that has surprised me this year is how the Cubs are winning so much more despite having so many key players performing below expectation. Sure, you have guys like Fontenot and DeRosa having career years, but they are really role players. Theriot is having a career year, but I would stop short of saying it has made a huge impact (his defense and god-awful baserunning have diminished his contributions, albeit slightly). Soto has been a pleasant surprise, though outside of April he hasn't been what you would call spectacular. Reed has been surprisingly good, but I am going to stop short of calling his performance totally unexpected, since he is in a platoon and posted an .869 OPS only 2 years ago, and had back problems last year. But we've got Lee having easily his worst full season since joining the team, Ramirez with his lowest OPS in 5 years, Soriano with his lowest OPS in 3 years (along with missing the most games he has ever missed), Fukudome dropping off the face of the earth and one of our best bullpen guys (Howry) has been abysmal. So pretty much all of the Cubs big name offensive guys have either been injured or produced at lower level than expected. The pitching has been great overall, and while it would be easy to say Demptser's year has been a huge boost, it has to be mitigated somewhat by the fact that they guy who were were counting on to be our #3 starter (effectively our #2) completely imploded and contributed next to nothing. Lilly has fallen off a bit from last year as well. So I guess the moral here is that it has been a total team effort. DeRosa, Fontenot, Johnson and Soto have all had hot stretches that helped mask the fact that our big guys have not been so big this season. But if Lee and Soriano wake up in September like they did last year, the Cubs should have this thing all but wrapped up by the middle of the month.

Says you. But seriously, I agree. Utley has more value than Howard because he plays middle infield, but chances are he isn't going to any better. Chase was all the rage a few months ago, but is OPS has been steadily declining since his torrid start. If the trend continues, he will finish the season with an OPS below his career average, which is over .160 lower than Albert's. In fact, Utley has been pretty pedestrian for the better part of 2 months. As for Howard, I think it is questionable at best as to whether he will ever come close to his 2006 numbers again. He is certainly no Pujols.

Err...no. The AL East is far and away the best division in the majors, and that isn't very close. Arguably 5 of the top 8 teams in the AL play in that division. Even as tough as the top of the NL Central is, the Reds and Pirates still play in it. True enough, all of the teams in the AL east have a positive run differential. And while I question whether or nor Baltimore is a good as their numbers say they are, Cincy and Pittsburgh are pretty bad (though they look a lot worse now than before the trades). That actually makes the Angels look better because they are 27-13 against the AL East this year. And yet they are only 20-13 vs. the West, and 19-12 vs. the Central, two significantly weaker divisions.

Err...no. The AL East is far and away the best division in the majors, and that isn't very close. Arguably 5 of the top 8 teams in the AL play in that division. Even as tough as the top of the NL Central is, the Reds and Pirates still play in it. True enough, all of the teams in the AL east have a positive run differential. And while I question whether or nor Baltimore is a good as their numbers say they are, Cincy and Pittsburgh are pretty bad (though they look a lot worse now than before the trades).

That's what I was thinking. They don't even know what's up on their own website. But the Cubs are better than the Angels, IMO. The Cubs play in the toughest division in the NL (maybe MLB) while the Angels play in the worst division in the AL (the only division in baseball with only one team with a positive run differential), meanwhile the Cubs have a run differential three times higher than the Angels do. In fact, if you add the run differentials of the Angels and the Rays, you get a number 34 runs short of the Cubs. In fact, there are only two teams in baseball with a run differential that is even 50% of what the Cubs diff is. The second place team in the West (Rangers), despite leading MLB in runs has a run differential of -59. Even so, the gap between them and the Angels still falls 55 runs short of the Cubs lead over the Brewers, who have a run differential of +45. Another interesting note is that while the Brewers and Cards have the 2nd and 3rd best records in the NL, the Cubs have a run differential nearly twice that of the two teams combined. Statistically speaking the pitching staffs of the Cubs, Angels and Rays are very similar, though the Angels staff is a bit lesser than the other two (The Rays and Cubs are both top 5 in ERA and WHIP, while the Angels are 8th and 7th, respectively). Offensively the Cubs (in a league that generally has lower offensive numbers) ranks 1st in MLB in OBP, 2nd in OPS and 2nd in runs. The Angels rank 18th, 21st and 16th, respectively. The Rays rank 11th, 14th and 21st. Is the AL tougher? Sure. But not enough so to make a case that the Cubs are not the most complete team in baseball. And if one were to try, it would have to be for the Rays, not the Angels. The BBTN guys shouldn't drink before broadcasts (or maybe they should do a little research, particularly on how their own company's power rankings work).

Well, the Cubs won the one game that I thought they might lose to the dirty birds, so here I am starting my fourth consecutive game thread. Saturday's game will feature Todd Wellemeyer (8-4, 4.01) http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd358/Cloudstrife219/wellemeyer24flash.jpg VS. Carlos Zambrano (12-4, 2.76) http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd358/Cloudstrife219/CarlosZambrano.jpg This match up looks favorable, especially since Welly has been getting worse as the season has progressed. But this could be the one that bites the Cubs in the arse, so let's put the hammer down (some more Edmonds homers would be satisfying). Ome more win in this series, and the Cards' division chances will be just about toast. Go Cubs!

Now that the Astros are out of town, it's time to get down to business. Today it's Braden Looper (10-9, 4.29) http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd358/Cloudstrife219/looper.jpg VS. Theodore Roosevelt Lilly (11-6, 4.35) http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd358/Cloudstrife219/Lilly.jpg On the surface it seems like an even matchup, but let's go for a repeat of Wednesday's result. It's time to put the dirty birds down. Go Cubs!

So today it's Brandon Backe (6-10, 4.72) http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd358/Cloudstrife219/Backe.jpg VS. Jason Marquis (6-7 4.68) http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd358/Cloudstrife219/marquis-throwing.jpg It's evenly matched mediocrity on the mound, but the Astros seem to have our number, so Jason needs to bring his game today. Let's try and get this one without all the lead blowing, thanks. GO CUBS!

It's the Magic Wandy http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd358/Cloudstrife219/wandy.jpg 6-4, 3.61 ERA VS. Our man Rich Harden http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd358/Cloudstrife219/richharden.jpg 6-2, 2.04 ERA (1-1, 1.11 ERA as a Cub) I'm not a fan of losing to the Astros or rain shortened losses, so I am doubly peeved about Monday's game. Let's hope the Cubs ruin Wandy's act and get back in the win column, because losing 2 to these bums wouldn't be acceptable. Go Cubs!

Did anyone else hear the Pirates' broadcast? I popped over for a bit of schadenfreude after Reed's HR, and it was hilarious. They are so bad. To summarize and paraphrase, starting after Reed's HR: --------------------------- Prolonged silence (through Sori's bomb) More silence End of the inning, top 9 even more silence "Marmol's as nasty as the come." silence silence "They're going to play that song again." "I hate that song." "it's annoying." "Very annoying." "We'll try to get out of here as quickly as possible so you don't have to suffer through too much." silence silence -------------------- If pathetic has a sound, it comes from the Pirates broadcast booth.

I can't count 2004 because that rotation never really was the rotation. Had they been healthy all season, then yes, they might have been the best rotation I've seen in my lifetime. But it was never anything more than an empty promise.

This is good. Especially to see another MLB owner publicly supporting Cuban's bid.

Griffey can't play CF anymore, and there's no point in platooning one left-handed hitter with another. He really wouldn't serve a purpose on this team. He really doesn't serve a purpose on the White Sox, either.