sunnydoo

speaking of ARod, did you guys see him flying around from 2b last nite...looked like he was 10 years younger and moving on in a hurry. as for Sammy: that K was the 2234 of his illustrious career. needs only 364 more to pass Reggie Jackson for the All Time lead. If he stays healthy, no reason why he cant have that by 2009.

Ya, and those 2 bad seasons he had...one he was an all star in and he played hurt for over a month and the other was attributed to him coming back from TJ which takes 18 to 24 months to recover from. .274/.336 may not set the world on fire, but its no reason to consistently flame a SS that does well in the field. He is 6th in average of SS with over 100 ABs and 7th in OBP for the National League. As for Myers, i will wait and see what the doc says. he says he has strength in his shoulder, so it wont be a complete tear of anything.

Why not? Everyone after Cesar Izturis is doing the same thing...he at least is coming off TJ surgery.

You guys are way off base for this kind of thread which is totally ridiculous. Two storied managers- both with 1100+ wins in their careers, both with NL pennants in the recent past (one won a WS, the other lost), both former all stars with 18+ years of service in the bigs- and we get the same result. Instead of maybe thinking the problem is with them, maybe we should take a good hard look in the mirror to see what is the same...Hendry, Rothschild, Tribune Mgt, and Wrigley Field and maybe doing something about them.

His baserunning is HOF stuff, i just cant tell you what those letters stand for on a family friendly board. So sick of seeing him get thrown out and doing stupid stuff on the basepaths (him and Jones for that matter). I thought for sure he was gone when the catcher threw behind him at first in the 6th or 7th after his horrifically stupid play in the 5th. Definitely graduated the Moises Alou academy of baserunning. You can have a perfect OBP but it doesnt account for bumpkin if you act like a pumpkin (head) on base.

*Obligatory Response Jesus Saves.

Of the 3 lefties, i would have chosen Ohman b/c he needs the most work. But at this point, it doesnt really matter...not much difference between the 3- they all suck. I am just glad Lou was able to talk some sense into Hendry about how stupid it is to have 3 lefties in the pen. On a side note, i never have trusted Cotts. He is a lifelong Cardinals fan, which means he definitely has a screw loose somewhere.

I am a diehard Eagles fan, and thats very much not the case. McNabb has been hurt most of the past seasons. Some guys are just continually bit by the injury bug (see Floyd), and it may be time to explore options. Our division is not the greatest in the world. A run of the mill NFL team would do well in it. We run the West Coast offense, and it doesnt take tremendous effort to run it...only the ability to complete a high % of passes and the ability to read the defense. Our defense was a sore spot for us last year. Adding Briggs would fill a definite need area and if we could get some picks for next year or the following year, it would really make sense for us to do it. Since the days of Buddy ball in Philly, we have always pushed defense over offense, which is one of the reasons we have had pretty good success. The fans also have tremendous confidence in Andy Reid and Tom Heckert in getting the stuff done that needs to get done, so if they do it, they would do it with most of the fans blessing as something good for the team even though we lose a "star."

The truth. Edmunds has post concussion syndrome, the same thing that cut short Aikman's career in football and did in that catcher (forget his name, Matheny maybe?) this past off season. Not funny, but after years of highlight reel catches, age has a way of catching up with ya. I think he should have hung it up, his reflexes are shot at the plate and it shows.

No. If you are going to have a situational pitcher, then you are going to have to perform in a situation, and he clearly is not. RISP is a typical situation where you would see a LOOGY come on to get a tough out. 6.75 BB per 9 is totally unacceptable after you take the IBBs out of it. Or are you advocating that Lou should just use him with no one on at the beginning of an inning late in the game to face one batter then leave? You can also take a look at 43 BB in 63.2 IP in 141 games with runners on, which is 6.12 BB per 9. LOOGYs arent supposed to pitch a lot of innings so they really wouldnt have a large sample size to draw from. Typically they will throw between 30 and 50 innings per year because they will only face one or 2 hitters at an occasion. 36 IP in 110 games for his career is more than a large enough sample size. 4.50 per 9 bb this year and 3.86 for his career vs lefties. 3.0 per 9 bb this year and 5.79 for his career vs. righties. 3.75 per 9 bb walks this year and 4.87 for his career overall. Looking at the Cub relief staff, Eyre, Cotts, Wuertz and Dempster all have walk ratios from 4.5 to 4.65 and we wonder why there is a continual bullpen problem. Only Howry's 3.11 is stellar.

Ok, here is my other problem with Ohman split off from the bullpen thread. Would one of the Ohman apologists riddle me this? As a situational pitcher, he is brought in to face batters, usually with runners on in dire situations. Lifetime numbers for Ohman are terrible. He has 33 walks with RISP in 36 IP. That is god awful for a relief pitcher. 6 of those are IBB, but 27 is still ridiculous nonetheless. This year, its 4 walks in 3.2 IP with RISP. LOOGYs need to get the people they face out, not walk them and add to the problems. If he is going to be put in the situation as a reliever with runners on base in scoring position, then he needs to do his job...and he isnt. He is also terrible this year being brought in with the bases empty or at the start of an inning, which you label as misuse. His ERA is 5.63 in 8 IP in that type of situation. Need to get rid of him and move on

No way the Brewers lose today though. Ramon Ortiz is going for the Twinkies. He is the worst starter in the majors, and by a large margin. Brewers are going to light him up early and often.

And I will tell you why you are wrong. As a situational pitcher, he is brought in to face batters, usually with runners on in dire situations. Lifetime numbers for Ohman are terrible. He has 33 walks with RISP in 36 IP. That is god awful for a relief pitcher. 6 of those are IBB, but 27 is still ridiculous nonetheless. This year, its 4 walks in 3.2 IP with RISP. LOOGYs need to get the people they face out, not walk them and add to the problems. If he is going to be put in the situation as a reliever with runners on base in scoring position, then he needs to do his job...and he isnt. He is also terrible this year being brought in with the bases empty or at the start of an inning, which you label as misuse. His ERA is 5.63 in 8 IP in that type of situation. Need to get rid of him and move on.

Lets Go Twinkies... Need a win by the Twins tonight, b/c they have no shot tomorrow.

i hope the official scorer takes his prerogative in this case and names Wuertz winner in this game...Booby doesnt deserve it. Cubs Win.

Just telling you how Lou is thinking based on his comments to the media, especially with SNY the other night. And i dont buy that a closer is less valuable than a 5th starter. You have to look at the people involved, not the roles they play. If you can get better production out of a closer with just a little drop off in the rotation, then you should go for it. Not that this should be the shining example, but since Manuel has been villified, look at what Lieber has been doing as the 5th starter in the Phillies rotation. Lieber has a 2.20 era in 6 starts. Myers has a .96 ERA with 5 saves and 1 win out of the pen. If you can get some type of production out of the 5th starter role by a Marshall, a Miller, or even a Dempster, why not do it? At least this way, Lou wont have a stroke, heart attack, aneurism, or end up killing Dempster b/c of the way he is throwing. Kind of reminds me of the love/hate thing Williams and Zimmer used to have.

I know i got a few people going yesterday in the game thread over the Guzman medical problem deal. You could just see the way it was headed by the way Carrie wrote the article. The reason Lou is upset with Dempster is not necessarily the numbers he has put up. Lou is upset b/c as a closer your job is to go out, challenge hitters, throw strikes and get the last outs of the game. Dempster has continually been out there screwing around (not unlike Mitch Williams), biting at the corners, and trying to sneak his way through the final outs. Lou is simply looking for a different type of closer. I dont blame Dempster necessarily in this mess. First, its not his fault, he is a converted starter so he may just not have the mentality for it. Second, we can still probably trade him high for some help down the line if Guzman, etc do a good job out of the pen. Third, if Miller is unable to find the form in his return, Dempster might be a good option to reenter the rotation as a starter. Now as i said in the Game day thread yesterday, the reason you put Guzman in the closer role is because of the continual problem with cramping he has. This is the 3rd or 4th time this has come up and they havent been able to solve it yet. At most as a starter, he could probably give you 5 or 6 IP out of the 5 slot in the rotation 30 times a year. But with a 97 mph fastball among other things, he probably does have the stuff for a closer. With that stuff and with him being as effective out of the pen as he has been, why not let him have a shot at influencing 50 games a year while he does have direct control until the end? It would certainly could help with his cramping issue as well, running him many times in short sprints vs. long sprints where he has had issues. The one negative he did have was walking guys. But with changing his position on the rubber, it seems to have positively changed that ratio and his total is way down this year. I applaud this move.

I am guessing we go to Texas for Otsuka or Gagne. Their season is pretty well shot now that Blalock is down and probably done for the year (3 months is a lot of time to lose). JJ, Murton, or maybe even DeRosa back to them, although i think it is June 1st or 15th that we have to wait to do that, should get that deal done. Texas outfield is the Bermuda Triangle right now. No one has a single clue what is going on out there. Sosa is the only thing resembling a major leaguer out there at the moment. Lofton has no idea at this point.

Looks like Salty wins the backup job: Atlanta Braves: Activated pitcher Mark Redman from the 15-day disabled list; optioned catcher Brayan Pena to Richmond of the International League (AAA). No, when Harrelson comes on, the tv goes off. safer for everyone that way.

i also like Angel. He got a bum deal with the injury last year. Dusty is real high on him too. Was talking him up on the game monday night. Still just a kid, hope he can keep on keeping on. Like i said in the Game thread...May 18th and our most effective hitters in the lineup are Pagan and Theriot. Who would have thought that before the season started?

I love that quote, i really really do. He may be the lone Mohican in the world who really believes that. I know Lou doesnt.

its a recurring medical problem that has happened throughout his career. some guys have blisters, some guys have cramping issues...just saying that it makes more sense to use him in short runs vs. long runs if they cant get it fixed.

if dempster would have blown that, Lou would have gone to jail for murder....i really believe that. was just waiting for him to go Jim Mora on that reporter from SNY yesterday. still a pretty funny press conference.

Arms and legs both.

no. plenty of blame to go around. i blame our bench coach the most for having Theriot (who has little range) being out of position for a DP ball that would have given us the game. If you look at mets.com and Delgado's ground ball chart, leaves little wonder where Ryan should have been and clearly wasnt.