XZero771679666304

Yeah, it would be all but over. Of course, I won't feel any manner of peace until the thing is clinched.

Man, when the clock struck midnight on the Cubs' exclusive negotiations with ARam, I thought for sure he was being fitted for an Angels jersey. Thank god.

I am not the least bit surprised. I always suspected it.

Yeah, but a Cubs win coupled with a Milwaukee loss tomorrow would spell almost certain doom for the crew. With Z going for the Cubs and Cappy going for the crew, I think tomorrow could have a lot to say about how the rest of the season plays out. The Brewers will play the Cards while the Cubs will go to Miami. I think we have to leave tomorrow at least 2.5 up. That Reds series scares the crap out of me.

You could have made a case that he wasn't prior to 2007, but not anymore.

:lol: Yeah, that guy is either an idiot, ignorant or has a severe case of denial. Wrong on just about every count. Most of the guys over there are okay, but brewcrewin07 is totally whacked out.

Not much. You can't understate just how good Fielder and Braun have been. It's hard to see them being much better. Fielder will probably be as good, but Braun is probably going to regress at least a little bit. Having a full season of Gallardo will be a big boost, and perhaps Parra. But I don't see their offense getting much better. I just think the Cubs underperfomed this year. Only in September have we seen what was expected out of the offense all year. It's going to be a tight one in 2008, but I see both teams winning 90+ instead of the low to mid-80's.

Is he serious? What luck! We haven't won squat in almost 100 years! Gimme a flippin' break!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, there is some of that over there. Actually it seems to be the same guy. But I will remember his words when we win the division next year as well. To be totally honest, I'm more optimistic about 2008 than I am about 2007.

There ya go. How could I have forgotten.

I love it. Scott Thorman was up at bat with one thing on his mind, and all Cordero had to do was keep it away from him. Then Miller pops up when every one knew he had to take at least two strikes. Weeks boots a sure dp ball. The Brewers have no one to blame but themselves.

That has to hurt. :D

Followed quickly by another: Because clearly Ramirez, Lee, Soriano and Floyd have never been regarded as home run hitters. This stuff is almost funny.

Here's another gem: Yeah, like the Astros and Cards? Two roasting hot powerhouses right there. And the Astros gave them a probably the three worst starters they could have. Oh, and when they played the Reds, they got the ass end of the rotation while we got Harang and Arroyo. What luck the Cubs have.

That pitch was disgusting.

Neither am I. Is there a reason for it that I am missing?

Exactly. People can see luck wherever they want to if they want to badly enough. I love it. To illustrate how ignorance is directly involved in this, in the 9/19 Brewers thread, some of their posters were talking about how it was a good decision to run on Soriano under normal circumstances, and implied strongly that Sori didn't have a very good arm. That'll happen when you start focusing on individual plays and being ignorant of reality.

Moreno will want nothing to do with him and his image.

I can understand, but I'd be more excited if I didn't believe he is going to split as soon as he's eligible either way.

Cards will beat the Brewers once. They have a tendency to lose big, lose big, then win one. If the Cards were to sweep the series, I'd use a Cardinals avatar for the remainder of the regular season.

My only real chance is Arizona. Of course, If the Cubs were to make it to the World Series and win one or both of the first two, I would ditch work and fly to Chicago just to be there, even If I had to stand on the street outside Wrigley.

I really think he's going to be our #5 next year. But I can wait to hear about him until the offseason.

Hopefully the Cubs will be able to set a precedent and rough up Duke tomorrow to set a new mark.

I understand it. He'll give you great numbers, but in 120 games or fewer. PLus he's difficult to get along with. The way I see it, he has three options: 1. Sign with a team where his shtick will not overshadow everything else and may pay him what he will ask for: NYY, Boston. 2. Sign for a lot less to play for a team where he will be a huge distraction, but will put butts in otherwise empty seats. At a huge discount. 3. Retire.

I hate attributing anything to luck. You could say the Braves were lucky that so many Brewers hard hit balls were right at guys. By the same token, the Brewers were lucky in the same way (most notably Escobar scalding the ball right at Counsell to end the bottom of the seventh). The Braves might have been lucky that Diaz caught that ball Hardy hit. The Brewers might have been lucky that Cox left a gassed Hudson in the game, and that they got a couple bloops and a walk with the bases chucked. Or you could say that the law of averages evens this stuff out over the course of 162 games. One day your weak grounder is a hit, the next your scalded ball is right at a defender. Bloopers fall, screamers get caught. It's baseball. Perception causes people to view one team as being luckier than others, but perception is really all it is. Bias. With that in mind, a strong case could be made that the Brewers have gotten about as much out of their talent as they could reasonably expect to, while the Cubs have gotten much less. I could get up on my soap box and tell the world how much better the Cubs' Pythagorean record is than the Brewers, in spite of woeful underproduction from the big three. I could say that the Cubs should really have a 5 or 6 game lead. And I might be right. But there are so many variables at work here, that you can't just make statements like that. You have to trust that the actual record is a reasonable approximation of how the teams have played.

Crap.