Transmogrified Tiger

The stuff about the bipolarity of Arizona's bullpen is an explanation to why they've been able to outperform their pythag, but it's not a reason why that should continue. Bullpens, regardless of their composition and quality, are the most wildly unpredictable components of a team. Using bullpen ability/composition to explain why they'll continue to outperform their RS/RA is just playing roulette with the small sample size of reliever's workloads. Even more so in a 5 game series. Even more so when they have 73 IP from Brandon "BABIP" Lyon thus far as one of their 3 bullpen aces.

The game was in Missouri, was it in Columbia, no, but it was still a road game for IL. It was in a major city nearly equidistant from the schools. The crowd was split down the middle exactly. Illinois wore their home uniforms. It was like a bowl game, neutral for both sides. I don't know why I'm continuing to talk about it since it really doesn't matter, but it is what it is.

Nitpick, Illinois/Mizzou was a neutral game. Right now, they're grouped in with a bunch of teams in the minds of pollsters. They'll either get forgotten for a while or shoot easily into the Top 25 depending on how they fare against Wisconsin.

I'm so sick of seeing this nonsensical distinction. With the exception of today and the Sept. 14 game @ St.L, every single one of his blowups in "non-save situations" have come in high-leverage spots (i.e. tie games in the 9th or 10th inning). It's utterly absurd to think that Dempster's approach when pitching in a tie game in the 9th or 10th inning is different than it is with a 1 run lead in the ninth. He's been bad in all kinds of high-leverage spots and it's blissful ignorance to pretend like his failures in those situations are somehow irrelevant to whether he's the best option in a "save" situation. Yep. Dempster overall: .240/.319/.394/.713 Dempster close and late: .239/.325/.388/.713

I mean you're record is consistent with the number of points you've scored. You're dead last in points by a huge margin, it's not like you went up against the number one scorer for the week a couple times. That's what I was getting at.

You haven't even been unlucky. How do you only have 100 points after 3 weeks?

How in the world is Boston College pushing the Top 5? That's insanity.

Faurot is going to be absolutely rocking this Saturday night. Typically the Gold Rush doesn't go as well as Blackout, but there is going to be lots and lots of noise regardless.

The two 3-0 teams face off as well as the two 2-1 teams. Braylon Edwards has me off to a strong start.

Here comes Michigan State. A TD, a pick, and a FG tie them with Wisconsin at 34 with 12 mins to play.

Wow, the Big XII North strikes back. I was already terrified of Mizzou's trips to Boulder and Manhattan before they beat around the two best teams in the conference.

Indiana is laying the lumber to Iowa in Iowa City. 21-0 approaching halftime.

is that game on tv here? and im with you, i hope illinois wins. Big Ten Network, which I can see once I get off work. I'm limited to the ESPN scoreboard page right now, since this computer doesn't even have Flash to run gamecast.

Wow Aurelius Benn. 7-3 Illini

Here we go Illini/Rebels/B12, here we go

Yeah, Peoria was a prospect wasteland this year. Hernandez was the only reason to pay attention to them for most of the year.

:(

Murton, Marshall, Theriot after they trade Wilson?

Lou loved his work in last year's postseason though. It all depends on whether Lou thinks he's seen enough. He keeps putting him out there which tells you Lou thinks Monroe is ready to help. In my view, he's still the best option in CF against a LHP. That says far more about the lack of any other credible option than it does about him, of course. I don't care how bad he's been in his limited sample with the Cubs; Jacque Jones should never, ever start against a LHP. Ever. (And for those of you ready to interject Pie into the conversation: v. LHP in the majors - .111/.158/.111 v. LHP at Iowa - .190/.250/.286 He's not a credible option either) It's probably too late to consider DeRosa as the CF v. LHP, but I wouldn't mind that. Cedeno and Theriot could play 2B and SS. So who do you dump from the roster to get Monroe on there? Pie? Cedeno? Fontenot?

Well, that would be Lou's fault for using Hart incorrectly then. He's clearly shown he can be thrown into a close game. Ohman has shown the opposite. I too would love another LH pitcher, but you gotta take the best 25, and Ohman's not among them. it's limited duty, but Hart's OPSA for lefties is 0.071 Lefties touched him up pretty good at Tennessee and Iowa this year.

Ryan said it was because Brazil was good enough to get shots at close range, and that Scurry was one of the best in the world at reaction saves. He was obviously wrong.

Anyone see the quote from McClung after the game? "It's not the first guy I've hit, not the first walk. Why do you think Tampa traded me?" McClung said. "It happens sometimes with me. The ball just gets out of my hand and flies away."

I'm not going to turn this into semantics. No other catcher in baseball is even close when it comes to giving up SB, especially Kendall's performance as a Cub. He gets run on the most often, he throws out the fewest, and it's because everyone knows he simply doesn't have the arm to do it any more. To ignore the very tangible effect that will have over Soto, who's done everything you could possibly ask out of a catcher, is insanity. Bonus fun fact: Kendall's also in the bottom 5 in passed balls. Nice laydown. That isn't "semantics", but a gross exaggeration. Good grief, did you really think I meant that every single baserunner we allow with Kendall catching gets to second? I've reiterated the point several times now. He's the worst catcher in baseball at throwing out runners, teams know this, and they are running on him more than any other catcher in baseball because of it. This leads to a lot of people getting free trips to second base. A lot more than Soto, who's shown an ability to throw more than 1 out of every 11 baserunners out, and who's also pounded the crap out of the ball for the last 6 months. It's a very easy decision on who should be catching. Nope, I didn't believe it because it wasn't true. It was a gross exaggeration and those kind of statements don't help your arguments. it just makes you seem overly emotional and less rational. The idea that me using a hyperbolic statement to help illustrate(with statistics and comparisons to other players) the nature of just how awful Kendall is at throwing out baserunners makes me look overemotional and irrational is hilarious. You're making strawman arguments and when prodded to the point you don't have an argument other than "Lou made the decision and I trust him".

I'm not going to turn this into semantics. No other catcher in baseball is even close when it comes to giving up SB, especially Kendall's performance as a Cub. He gets run on the most often, he throws out the fewest, and it's because everyone knows he simply doesn't have the arm to do it any more. To ignore the very tangible effect that will have over Soto, who's done everything you could possibly ask out of a catcher, is insanity. Bonus fun fact: Kendall's also in the bottom 5 in passed balls. Nice laydown. That isn't "semantics", but a gross exaggeration. Good grief, did you really think I meant that every single baserunner we allow with Kendall catching gets to second? I've reiterated the point several times now. He's the worst catcher in baseball at throwing out runners, teams know this, and they are running on him more than any other catcher in baseball because of it. This leads to a lot of people getting free trips to second base. A lot more than Soto, who's shown an ability to throw more than 1 out of every 11 baserunners out, and who's also pounded the crap out of the ball for the last 6 months. It's a very easy decision on who should be catching.

As a Cub: Barrett gave up 32 steals, 7 CS, for a 17.9 CS% in 52 starts Kendall gave up 50 steals, 5 CS, for a 9.1 CS% in 47 starts