sunnydoo

Off the top of my head: Brent Musberger Joe Buck Joe Morgan Tim McCarver Chip Caray

Our overall record disagrees with ya. Nats/Bucs coming to town. We could get really really hot.

Maybe you guys should go golfing more often and leave us to take care of things. :wink: Its a simple game. You throw the ball, you hit the ball, and you catch the ball. 9 runs for us 7+, while only surrendering 1 run = 2 wins. Maybe i should do highlight posts like this more often. Timing as they say is everything. :D

Nice to see an opposing pitcher meltdown in an inning. Usually this type of performance is reserved for KWood or Z.

I think the gig is up in NY. What has happened is that Ruth finally heard they were tearing down the house he built. So he is taking revenge on the Bronx Bombers. So, we are back to 2 teams Ruth is still haunting....the Cubs and the Yankees....guess its time to start cheering for my #3 choice....Go Dodgers???

And how would he go about doing that? Possible suggestions: Sports Psychologists Motivational Speakers Dirty Looks Switching Take Me Out to the Ballgame with Eye of the Tiger and as a last resort: Clubbing over the head with blunt object

Batters (7+): .223/.306/.603- 27 runs in 24 games. That is 2nd/3rd/2nd worst respectively in the NL. Pitching (7+): 4.14 ERA, .247/.321/.761. 36 runs allowed. Bullpen (Total) 0-7, 3.34 ERA, 57% Save Percentage. Only team not to win in MLB from the Pen this season. Wuertz, Dempster, Eyre, Cherry, Ohman 0-1 Howry 0-2 Run Differential 1-6: Cubs +30 Run Differential 7+: Oppo +9 To me, it looks like this team is just going through the numbers once we hit the stretch. Lou needs to teach them how to close out the deal. Discuss.

John Denver, "Some Days are Diamonds, some days are stones...sometimes the hard times wont leave you alone"

The Why is easy. On an 11 man staff you have 5 starters and 6 relievers. Last year the avg NL pen ate 504 IP or 84 innings per reliever. Grant it, the number is moved around a bit b/c of roster moves, trades, and Sept callups, but that is the pace they are on. If you have a Loogy, they only will throw in the neighborhood of 40 to 45 innings per year. That means that the other 5 guys in the pen go over 90 IP on average. That number is important because most people consider 80 to 85 appearances or 90+ IP for a reliever as keys to major arm problems. There have been a number of studies done on pitchers showing poor performances the years following from tired arm syndrome b/c of abuse in IP as a reliever and in the number of appearences they make. On 12 man staffs where you have 7 relievers, dividing that out is 72 IP per person. Subtracting the 40 to 45, you are on a pace for about 77 IP per pen person, which is more manageable. However, that 12th pitcher comes at a cost b/c you are giving up a position player that can help out if your team is positionally challenged, injury prone, or needs help in the late innings with specific PH duties. The Cubs are pretty well set with versatility in positions. Likewise they have Z and Marquis who can PH in x inning games. The problem for the Cubs are the number of day to day injuries they manage to pile up, the most recent examples being DeRosa, ARam, and Soriano. If you have 1 or 2 people with nagging injuries + 8 you put on the field + the back up catcher, then you only have at most 1 player to pinch hit from either side- which makes the situation to be absolutely perfect for you to use him. If it doesnt work or isnt the right situation, then you have to deal with the consequences. Also double switching or defensive substitutions are very limited. For some 11 is the way to go. For others its 12. I prefer 11 pitchers and 14 hitters. I also think that 3 lefties in our pen is way way overkill.

Loogys are a crock, especially on a 11 man staff. Good for Lou, ship Wills buttocks out somewhere.

The problem with his dive if you watch the replay was that he took the wrong angle on the ball. Izturis or Cedeno would have looped back to make that play on Edmonds ball. Theriots dive was towards the bag. The other play that should have been made was the IF hit behind the 2b bag. Several other people on the team could have thrown him out, Theriot just wasnt one of them.

Ya, Theriot had an awful game. He missed 3 or 4 balls that Cedeno or Izturis would have made plays on. (Of course its tough to complain when Cesar misplayed that ball in the 9th). But ya the little range and no arm was on display tonight. I have seen him in the minors, and he really was never better than average there. Dont know if he can do it everyday at SS, but if we are going to play him everyday, then i would recommend we put DeRosa at SS and Theriot at 2b.

Yankees also. Sometimes the Dodgers. Dont worry about the high class thing bdutts. There are several commy RedSux fans over here who have been giving out Kool Aide, who wouldnt know class if it came up and introduce itself to them. What am i talking about? How about the guy who tried to throw pizza on a player a couple of weeks ago in the stands in Fenway (think it was Vlad Guerrero as intended target...you know he is soo anti-Boston) or the idiot who threw an entire beer in Jose Guillen's face (its one thing to dump a beer and quite another to throw it in someones face). Ya, sooo much class from that bunch this year.

[sarcasm] he gets a free pass though because he is doing a wonderful job this year with the entire pitching staff. He is truly one of the greatest pitching coaches of our time and is not culpable in any of the injuries over the years to our other starters. Additionally it is not his responsibility as pitching coach to change a pitchers mechanics once they get to the majors. This would be too taxing and upseting on the pitchers and they may never be able to throw another fastball over 75 mph. His job is to just set up the hitter scenario/approach and to sit back in the dugout and enjoy.[/sarcasm] :roll:

kurkijan and gammons have been talking about z's new motion from his 2nd outing on. it is so noticeable now that even Steve Phillips has stopped chasing women to comment on it. now if we only had someone to go out there and fix it. while we are just 4.5 out now and its not exactly panic time yet, this mess is being brought to you by the architect of all the previous disasters- Jim Hendry. He should have been fired last year, but definitely will be this year if the team doesnt pull out of it and new ownership is on board.

Moyer 87, Krukow 80, and Trout in 83 and 84 where the 80s occurences. Heredia almost did it out of the pen a few years ago.

other- George Bush

hehe, you correctly parked that curve ball. The other Cub that did it besides Mad Dog was Grover Alexander- a righty. Also very interesting is that the Yankees (Niekro/Clemens), Cubs (Maddux/Alexander), and Red Sox (Young/Grove) are the only teams ever to have 2 people hit 300 while in uniform with them in the Modern Era. I dont think that is going to be broken anyway soon unless Glavine or Johnson get traded.

positive: bullpen has 3.57 era negative: 0-6 (one of only 4 pens w/o a win- Fla, Philly, and LA of Ana), 50% save opportunity, and absolutely no consistentcy other than Wuertz and Cotts.

Speaking of CP, he cost his team the game tonight with baserunning screw ups on consecutive plays in the 9th inning. So glad he is doing it to someone else now.

Only 2 lefties have done it in the Modern Era: Hippo Vaughn 17-19 Dick Ellsworth 63 Who was the lefty who won his 300th with us?

That was the April HR record he tied tonight at 14. Has 6 more to go to catch Sammy at 20 for all time one month with 6 games to do it in. Not sure he can do that, but wouldnt bet against him...he is absolutely en fuego. BT showed the pace he is on right now...400 hitting, 300+ rbis, and over 125 hrs. thats just crazy numbers. And he made two great plays in the field tonight. Best line though was Stuart Scott, can he pitch?

This isnt even close: Joe McCarthy then a ways back Frank Chance then everyone else.

I dont think i have seen this said anywhere. Hendry and Piniella have always stated that they were going to start with 12 and evaluate it in late April depending on injuries, effectiveness, and the team. With the injuries to Soriano, ARam, and DeRosa, i cant see us going with 12 right now.

Loogy status = Cop out. Either you get guys out or you dont. It shouldnt be a mystery, you probably have been facing opposing batters since you were 9 years old. 504 ip was how many the typical NL pen avg last season- meaning the 6 bp guys should be averaging about 84 innings each (injuries and call ups change the number to keep it usually a lot lower). But using a loogy will get the number over 90 which is the red line danger zone for most relievers. If you go with 12 pitchers, then maybe its ok, but still 3 lefties i have to question. Also giving up quite a bit in the way late inning switches and offensive moves (but with Z and Marquis maybe). I still favor having the 14th bat over the 12th pitcher, especially given our proclivity in the nagging injury department and the long grind of the season on everyday players. Package Ohman and Jones to the AL Central (detroit or cleveland) and get a real prospect.