soccer10k

I have no problems with Lincecum's theatrics on the mound.

Thank you, sir.

COME ON DLEE!!!

Thank goodness I'm not at this game.

That's because Armando Benitez is not a very good pitcher.

He has the potential to be very, very good on any given night.

Lincecum just smoked DLee there.

Not anymore. :wink:

Holy crap the bottom of the second was quick.

Fontenot doesn't have a prayer against Lincecum.

This is awesome. I love it when our pitchers can't throw strikes.

Marquis is not off to a good start.

Stellar inning by the Cubs.

Pie is not allowed to bat anymore apparently, but Fontenot and his sub .600 OPS since the break gets to. Hell I would have been happy with Floyd Pie Ward in the OF if it means DeRo is at 2nd and not Fontenot. Yeah, I think Fontenot has long passed his useful period. But since he was hot 2 months ago, Lou is overlooking the fact that he has been awful for well over a month. Players do slump. Surprising, I know. He's been slumping since the beginning of July. He put up a .480 OPS in July and has a .592 OPS in August.

I really need to get to SF for a game at AT & T. my best friend went and was thoroughly unimpressed I've lived within a couple of hours of SF for 3 of the last 8 years and this will be my first trip to the park. I've heard nothing but good things, and I'm pretty pumped to see it firsthand. I heard it's pretty sweet too. I've only been to Candlestick. Candlestick is a horrible stadium.

Like I posted before, Marquis was even better with the Cardinals his first two years that what he has been with the Cubs this year. The Cardinals are too lucky to have him struggle that badly for a year with them, though. There would have been some sort of divine intervention that helped him right his path. They already had turned him around. He posted ERA+ of 82 and 75 in his final two years with the Braves. 2004 and 2005 have nothing to do with it. Marquis having a down year in 2006? Possible. But being the worst starter in the NL? Very unlikely. And for the Cardinals, no less? Inexplicable. I think you're missing the point, man: the Cards are protected by a magical aura that prevents them from suffering from the problems and distractions that normal, mortal teams are exposed to. Marquis 2006 season defies logic. Is this even debatable? Why do 04 and 05 have nothing to do with it? The Cardinals took a well below average pitcher and turned him into an above average pitcher for two seasons.

Like I posted before, Marquis was even better with the Cardinals his first two years that what he has been with the Cubs this year. The Cardinals are too lucky to have him struggle that badly for a year with them, though. There would have been some sort of divine intervention that helped him right his path. They already had turned him around. He posted ERA+ of 82 and 75 in his final two years with the Braves.

Like I posted before, Marquis was even better with the Cardinals his first two years that what he has been with the Cubs this year.

They are an average team when Barry is playing. The rest of their offense isn't all that special.

It's sad to us because it's so ridiculous how this keeps happening. You can feel free to come up with counter-examples from our own team though. :wink: Matt Clement, Joe Borowski, Sammy Sosa, Jon Lieber, Mark Bellhorn, Ryan Dempster, Michael Barrett, and I'm sure many, many more. don't forget aramis ramirez And year one of the Glendon Rusch era. More than cancelled out by Years 2 and 3. (That's our own fault, by the way. Stupid Hendry.) Ok, Derrek Lee, Ted Lilly, JASON MARQUIS, Matt Murton, Jacque Jones, Eric Karros, Mark Grudzielanek... Ted Lilly went from the AL to the NL so his ERA was expected to drop. Jason Marquis should be an example about the Cardinals. He put up ERA's of 5.04 and 5.53 his last two years in Atlanta before putting up a 3.71 and 4.13 his first two years with the Cardinals which were also his first two full years as a starter. Matt Murton is still young and has an OBP over .400 and OPS over .950 in his career at AAA. Jacque's slugging was a bit up last year and his OBP was right about career norms. He wasn't that much better than he was in Minnesota. Eric Karros was only a bit better in Chicago than he was in Los Angeles the year before. You're really reaching with some of these examples.

It's sad to us because it's so ridiculous how this keeps happening. You can feel free to come up with counter-examples from our own team though. :wink: Matt Clement, Joe Borowski, Sammy Sosa, Jon Lieber, Mark Bellhorn, Ryan Dempster, Michael Barrett, and I'm sure many, many more. Sammy Sosa is a horrible example. The others I'll give you though.

It's sad to us because it's so ridiculous how this keeps happening. You can feel free to come up with counter-examples from our own team though. :wink: Matt Clement, Joe Borowski, Sammy Sosa, Jon Lieber, Mark Bellhorn, Ryan Dempster, Michael Barrett, and I'm sure many, many more. don't forget aramis ramirez ARam had already put up a .300/.350/.536/.886 line in Pittsburgh at the age of 23 and came to the Cubs at 25. Bad example.

C - Soto deserves a legitimate shot. SS - Theriot's line of .290/.352/.376/.728 would be seventh out of twelve SS in the NL which is fine if you have other hitters in the order. CF - Pie, like Soto, deserves a legitimate shot. LF/RF - Ditto for Murton. There's no reason to believe he can't repeat his .809 OPS from 06 if given consistent playing time. 2B - DeRosa. Obviously, if these guys underperform then the Cubs will be in need of another bat. But if Murton and Soto can produce the lineup will be fine. EDIT: Just playing a devil's advocate here. Yes, guys deserve shots. But the fact is, they need something close to guaranteed production in at least one of those spots. Ideally they would have played Murton all year and would know a heck of a lot more about what he might bring next year. I agree. CubinNY made it sound like the Cubs had complete scrubs at those positions who had no business starting. It would be good to see an upgrade at one of those, though.

I just signed up for the hell of it and I'm number 51646 on the list.

isn't that, like, the definition of inconsistent? Like, no it isn't. Telling me a player has been consistent doesn't tell you anything about his production because you could be consistently good or consistently bad. All that matters is that your performances don't fluctuate. A pitcher who allows six earned runs every single time he takes the mound is a consistent pitcher. A pitcher who allows 1 earned run every time out is also a consistent pitcher. I would classify an inconsistent pitcher as one who has two bad outings followed by a good outing followed by a bad outing followed by three good outings, etc. Because Z was bad for two months and then good for two months means he has been, for the most part, consistent. His good outings were mostly lumped together in June and July whereas his bad outings were lumped together in April and May To use some of the stats that Lord of Khemennu used: Z's average game score on the year: 53.9 Z's standard deviation of game scores: 19.3 But to look at it further: Z's average game score in first 12 starts from 4/2 - 6/1: 44.2 Z's standard deviation of game score over that time: 16.7 That shows that he was still a bit inconsistent but no more so than Marshall or Hill and I believe LoK said that "People should shut up about Hill's inconsistency" which would lead me to believe that a StDev of 16.7 isn't too bad. Now let's look at Z from 6/6 - 8/3 Z's average game score in next 12 starts from 6/6 - 8/3: 68.25 Z's standard deviation of game score over that time: 9.95 Yes, 9.95 which is far better than any starter on the Cubs. That is what I would call consistent.