XZero771679666304

Dusty has to push things to the breaking point before he makes a change.

That is how you are supposed to pronounce it.

I realy don't like infield shifts.

Great job by Jerome getting out of that. :D

Considering his OBPRISP is well above .400 and the number of strikeouts he gets, he's not the kind of guy to kill a rally with a double play. I'll take him any day of the week, thanks. I am a big proponent of OBP, but I am a bit more interested in AVG w/RISP than OBP w/RISP. Which is, BTW, .222.

Not a good job by Jerry.

Murton with another hit. That sure would have been nice last inning.

Damn GIDP. :x

Gah, Chad Tracy always kills us.

That's just stupid. I am sure Hawkins and everyone else is acutely aware of his performance without Cubs fans enlightening them. Believe it or not, knowing Hawkins sucks does not require acting like a boob.

adequate defense? I'd say he's had Stellar Defense. Ahhh, robbing Pujols of the HR in RF at St. Louis really comes to mind on that one. That was nice. But where he has really made a difference is in cutting off balls in the gap, holding guys to singles, hitting the cutoff man with strong throws, etc. He has really saved alot of runs this year.

Excellent post. Not really. What if you are trying as hard as you can't and aren't succeeding. Do you really think there is some "success" switch a player can flip when he wants to? " I am trying as hard as I can....wait, I'm getting booed! I better turn on the success!" Yeah. :roll: LaTroy did not turn into a "tool" until after being railed on, recieving death threats, etc. I would have too, If I were out there giving my all. It really stupefies me how people think that players can dictate their results by simple choice. You can choose to increase your effort and make adjustments, but when those fail to produce results there is nothing that can be done. Playing pro sports isn't like analyzing data, computer programming, or doing research or writing reports for a boss. There are a lot more variables to overcome, and nothing is guaranteed. In most of our jobs there are clear ways to complete our jobs, and very few obstacles that cannot be overcome with the appropriate amount of effort. Unfortunately, baseball doesn't work this way.

You're of course assuming that bad results from a ballplayer means they're not trying. I thoroughly dislike Jose Macias, but I don't think he purposely tries to make outs. I don't have a big problem with booing, but I do hate that fans would chant a guy sucks. Exactly. I was as frustrated with Hawkins as anybody, but I have no doubts he was trying as hard as he possibly could to succeed. Another thing some people to forget is that as competitors, most players probably care a whole lot more about how they perform than we do. I would be surprised if anyone outside of Ron Santo felt as bad about Hawkins play down the stretch in '04 and early '05 than Hawkins himself. As for his statement about not playing for the fans, I just think that was his frustration over his busting his butt and still failing, and having the fans all over him. I can tell you if I was out there putting in 110% and getting railed by the fans, death threats and threats on my family, I would definitely have a little F-you for the fans myself. Again, Hawkins was not meant to be a closer, he was always a bad closer, and had no business being one. Everyone knew this. LaTroy did not name himself closer, Dusty did, flying in the face of common sense. After what we saw last year, Dusty making LaTroy the closer this year was totally inexcusable. So who should be getting booed here? Now the booing the other night was kind of expected. I wouldn't have done it, but I won't condemn it either. The "Hawkins, Hawkins" thing was pushing it. I don't remember hearing a chant like that in baseball since the days of Darryl Strawberry. The "Hawkins Sucks" chant was totally out of line, and I have zero regard for those who did it.

Or you could just pick up the phone and talk to him. Or go downstairs. It's not like these guys don't talk to each other regularly. That would work, but I believe Dusty is probably a "Let me run the team the way I see fit, or fire me" type of guy. He's a very obstinate man.

It was an illustration of how classless fans are. Justified or not, going after Hawkins like that was wrong and unethical. The two situations are so utterly incomparable that your point -- whatever it was -- was lost. There's simply no comparison. And, I think it's disgusting that you would even compare the two. Perhaps it wasn't the best comparison, but calling it disgusting is a bit of an overreaction, IMO. Well, that's funny. Because that's exactly what I think about all of the self-righteous posters who are feigning indignation at the treatment of Hawkins. I'm not feigning anything. I was shaking my head the whole time and did not find it the least bit amusing or satisfying. It was inappropriate. And I'm glad you are such a great judge of sincerity.

It was an illustration of how classless fans are. Justified or not, going after Hawkins like that was wrong and unethical. The two situations are so utterly incomparable that your point -- whatever it was -- was lost. There's simply no comparison. And, I think it's disgusting that you would even compare the two. Perhaps it wasn't the best comparison, but calling it disgusting is a bit of an overreaction, IMO.

Cub playoff berths are incredibly rare, and the man single-handedly upchucked one last year. Is it any wonder people are after him? They should be on Dusty if anyone. Hawkins never should have been a closer, and everyone not named Dusty Baker knew that prior to last year. And in case you didn't notice, the whole team went into meltdown mode at the end of last year, but Hawk is just the scapegoat. Either way, I think the guy heard enough when he was here.

Then it's time to grow up, frankly. There's no crying in ... well, you get it. No offense, but maybe that's a sign of being grown up. This ain't Pringles Park. He's paid to win, not make judgements about the fans' morality. Believe it or not, but how a team's fans treat their players does factor in to how they feel about the place, hometown discounts, re-signing with thte team, etc. That aside, the last thing I want is for Chicago to become like Philadelphia. There is something to be said for civility.

I agree with you. that is some horrible classless action. Nonsense. The dude is obviously a mental midget. Kudos to the crowd for trying to get into his head. (Whether a guy with a 3.00 ERA deserved the treatment that he got while he was a Cub is a different story) Yup. The guy can't handle the pressure and that's why he will never/can't be a good closer. I sincerely doubt most of those mocking Hawkins are even thinking about getting in his head. IMO, they are just bunch of drunken fools mocking Hawkins because he was bad for the Cubs. There are a lot of ways to get in a guys head, this one isn't necessary, and in very poor taste.

This is the sort of crap that is going to give us a bad name. Totally inappropriate. In other news, Murton is awesome. I wonder if Dusty is paying attention.

I am probably in the minority here, but I think this treatment of Hawkins is in really bad taste. This isn't Philadelphia.

I think he might have reacted a bit more if it had. Getting hit in the tailbone really hurts.

I have a bad feeling that Derrek is on his way into a real slump. I hope I am wrong.

That looked like strike 3.

Hairston should be on 2nd, IMO.