soccer10k

This is turning into the Fred thread.

Oh Man is in for the Cubs. We actually got Prince Fielder out, it's a miracle.

The bad news is this is now an official game. Chalk one up to the loss column.

Restovich!!

The only good thing is that Rusch did it both times. It's not like Z gave up a bunch of homers.

At least we can replace Rusch rather than move to a 4-man rotation and wear down our pitchers. Research shows that a 4-man rotation would have no adverse affects on pitchers' health. It's high pitch counts that contribute to injuries. I wouldn't be surprised to see Boston try a 4-man rotation at some point this season. I don't think a 4 man rotation would work for the Cubs. Maddux is getting older and Marshall and Guzman are young. Wood and Prior will be on strict pitch counts when they come back. It may work for Boston but not for the Cubs. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2633 According to the research, you're right about making sure young arms don't throw too many pitches. Throwing too many pitches per start helped end Doc Gooden's career, for example (well, that and cocaine). But the research pretty definitively shows that a four-man rotation is no more rough on a pitching staff than a five-man. It's not that there's little difference in risk of injury; there's no observable difference. There is a big injury risk when pitchers throw past the point of fatigue. For most pitchers, that's about 100 pitches, but for young ones it can be 90-95. Dusty, unfortunately, is one of the worst managers in MLB as far as having his starters throw too many pitches. Kerry Wood and Mark Prior both threw way too many pitches per game in 2003 as did Big Z. I really expect some forward-thinking team to try a four-man rotation and watch pitch counts closely. It could work for the Cubs if Dusty weren't the manager. I'm not disagreeing with you. My point was just that it wouldn't be a good fit for the Cubs considering the young pitchers we have and the pitchers coming back from injury.

At least it isn't this bad...yet. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=260429106

We have to complete 5 full innings. The losing team needs to come to bat 5 times.

Is Marshall going on Monday then?

I just get nauseated by Jimmy Fallon period.

It will start raining in the top of the sixth. Although that would be good because it would save our pen 3+ innings of work. I'm willing to take the loss, just save our pen a little bit.

I'm sure Neifi could have given up 5 HR's today as well. He might have only given up 4 though.

At least we can replace Rusch rather than move to a 4-man rotation and wear down our pitchers. Research shows that a 4-man rotation would have no adverse affects on pitchers' health. It's high pitch counts that contribute to injuries. I wouldn't be surprised to see Boston try a 4-man rotation at some point this season. I don't think a 4 man rotation would work for the Cubs. Maddux is getting older and Marshall and Guzman are young. Wood and Prior will be on strict pitch counts when they come back. It may work for Boston but not for the Cubs.

Estes was bad, but he at least had a couple good games for the Cubs.

Get a bunch of booze in me and I would be having fun in a Cubs blowout also.

Nice prediction.

Good idea. Maybe he'll throw his arm out.

What does DFA stand for?

I made a point about that same thing a few pages back.

I started laughing after the 4 HR. Wow, Doug Davis is 2-2 on the day. This is pathetic. It's going to be one of those days.

Well, David Aardsma, you're pitching through the fifth, maybe the sixth, whether you like it or not. You don't have a choice.

Rusch is giving up home runs at a quicker pace than the draft picks are coming in.

Yeah but the Reds are in first with the best record in Baseball. It's just a matter of time before the Reds fall. I would rather have the Astros get as many losses as they can, especially as long as Clemens is "retired". We'll see. They aren't doing it with their pitching, considering a team ERA over 5.00, so someone has to stop those bats. The same thing happened last year though.

Isn't it blowing in from right field?

Maddux's pregame theory about a pitcher having the advantage over the hitter if they haven't seen each other apparently doesn't apply to crappy pitchers like Rusch.