soccer10k

Seconded.

It could be worse...Neifi could be starting.

Makes sense. Novoa would be able to give them more innings than Aardsma and a move was desperately needed, regardless of Wuertz's outing last night. I'm just hoping that out starters start to go deeper in games. I'm worried about our Pen being burned out by June! Thats why I think we should carry an extra pitcher, as proposed in a thread in Baseball Discussions. That way we have an extra arm to go to until we get our pitchers going deeper in games.

Why don't we just keep the extra pitcher and have that pitcher be Glendon Rusch? Then we wouldn't have to worry about him pitching except in blowouts.

Is there anyway we can start this game an hour early. Cause I don't want to wait another 80 minutes for the game to start. I'm itching to watch my Cubbies win.

he's a clubhouse cancer. he's lucky to be playing at all! :twisted: I have to eat crow so far this year because I was one of "those people" who said to trade Walker because we need better defense. Shows how much this arm-chair GM knows.... :x I don't think I ever said to trade Walker, but I was definately a proponent of a platoon at second. Save some of that crow for me.

I lurk a lot, but I don't say much. Alou's hissy fit was the turning point. If he keeps his composure, like a veteran is supposed to, the Cubs go to the World Series. He didn't go near that wall in the three years he was with the Cubs, and the one time he decides to, he has a hissy at a fan. Nice, poised, playoff-hardened, World Series experienced veteran play there....NOT! Moises Alou and Alex Gonzalez...the two reasons why the 2003 Cubs did not go to the World Series. And Prior goes blameless for allowing an Alou hissy fit to rattle him? Way to be a pro there Mark....NOT! Should Alou have kept his cool? Definately. But I understand why he reacted the way he did. Your home fans are supposed to help your team (re: Jeffrey Maier) not hurt it. Had I been Alou, I probably would have reacted the same way. And how do you know that Prior came unglued after that play? Like rrudd2 said later, Prior came back to get an easy double play ball to Alex Gonzalez who botched it. That was the turning point. It's one thing to get angry like Alou did, that's just his personality. But we had Alex Gonzalez on that team for his DEFENSE because god knows he left a lot to be desired when he was in the batters box. I blame Alex Gonzalez for the outcome of that game. Prior should not be blamed for that. He kept his cool after Alou went crazy. I don't think it really mattered after Gonzalez booted that ball. The series was over right then.

As a parent you are responsible for monitoring your kid's internet activity. Nice try. But isn't this supposed to be a child friendly message board? I know I got a message taken off and a message from a mod when I questioned A-Rod's sexuality with a nickname. What's the difference between what I said and your avatar? Nothing. You can't control your kids accessing a PG rated message board. What's the difference? Personally, I don't think there is much, but it seems there are things the powers that be tolerate and things they don't. I was called a "d*ck" w/o the * in another thread and the mods didn't say a peep other than to "drop it" to me. It's not like the rules are enforced here, other than selectively. I wouldn't read too much into the mods actions. No, I can't control a kid accessing a message board. A parent can and it is their job, not mine. I didn't think my comment was too bad either. And d*ck isn't the worst thing somebody could see. A girl like the one in your avatar is what a kid could see at the ballpark anyway and that's not including the cheerleaders. What's the big deal about that?

As a parent you are responsible for monitoring your kid's internet activity. Nice try. But isn't this supposed to be a child friendly message board? I know I got a message taken off and a message from a mod when I questioned A-Rod's sexuality with a nickname. What's the difference between what I said and your avatar? Nothing. You can't control your kids accessing a PG rated message board.

But at the same time, you have to figure that Aramis will hit. Pierre should hit a little better. Jones I'm not sure about. But a drop off from Barrett will be nullified by an increase in production from Aramis. Maddux will have his poor outings but I think he'll be better this year. And I see no reason why the bullpen would have a significant drop off. They will have some bad outings, but at the end of the season I expect our bullpen to be the best and most consistent part of our team.

I'm sorry Mr. T&A. Some people don't wish to subject their kids to scantily clad women at a sporting event. BTW, they're not 18 and able to legally decide for themselves. If the ballpark wasn't a family venue, I'd say go for it. Girls dancing on the dugout doesn't enhance my baseball experience, only those pathetic individuals not happy with the women in their lives (if they exist). You buy a baseball ticket to...watch baseball. :shock: Amazing. Revolutionary. So are you saying the NFL and NBA aren't family venues. I'd say drunks shouting obsenities is more an affront to my children than those women. No, the NFL and NBA aren't family venues. If drunks are shouting obsenities, you need to ask them to keep it down. I've never had a problem with it. If you let them carry on in front of your children, that's your problem. You've never sat in the bleachers have you? And you actually don't think the NFL is a family venue? I'm guessing you don't like PG movies either. Not to try to disprove your point Vance because I do agree with you about the cheerleaders, but you've obviously never been to an Oakland Raiders game. I don't know about the other stadiums, but a Raiders game is hardly what I would call a family venue.

You beat me to the drunks cussing point Vance. BLAST!!

That's an excellent point. I'm too young to remember, but don't you think there was a big controversy the first time cheerleaders were at basketball or football games? Especially as they progressively wore less clothes. I don't think its a big deal. Vance kind of touched on this, but what is worse, some cheerleaders or a bunch of drunk fans hurling obscenities at the opposing team's players the whole game?

Hopefully not after Walker went 4-5 yesterday.

That doesn't sound like fun.

I've heard simulated beer is quite stale. I would stay away, even if it costs zero simulated dollars.

I find myself looking forward to this post in every game thread. Not kidding. I agree. Mainly because we are awesome.

But we are also on pace for 341 more runs this year than last year. Home runs with more men on base.

Haha. Anyone have stats on how Kerry Wood does in simulated games? Also when we know who the batter is can we get stats between Kerry Wood and the batter?

I understand it's early but I really love the sweep of the Cardinals last weekend. I think that meant a lot for a young team. If we can take two out of three against them next weekend in St Louis, that would be huge as well. Overall, I think our starting pitching needs to improve, mainly Z. I like that we are able to score 11 runs without hitting a home run. I understand the importance of the home run, but I felt we relied on it way too much. I think Pierre will be better as a leadoff hitter than anyone we have had in the past couple years (Kenny Lofton comes to mind but he was only here for a couple months). The young guys, Murton and Cedeno, are producing. The bullpen has performed like we expected it to as well. I'm impressed by the start but we need to keep it up.

Raising the mounds would only make it harder to hit the ball. Not sure what you mean. You guys give baseball executives way too much credit. By the way, I'm not basing my opinion on what some may call a wild goose chase, and personally I find some of the comments in this thread condescending and insulting. I was making an observation based on what I've seen after personally watching parts of nearly 50 different games on mlb.tv. If it keeps up all year and certain pitchers end up with say 5-10 homeruns can I post a painting of an ostritch with his head in the sand? Would that be appropriate? Fixed. Sorry about the mistake. I was typing quickly and didn't check what I wrote. Lowering the mound then. I see what you are saying, but I don't think you can use less than two weeks of a baseball season to say that the ball is juiced. But if these early season home runs aren't a trend but the norm, then by all means point it out to me and say "I was write and you, soccer10k, were wrong." This goes for just about anything. Two weeks just isn't long enough.

You make an excellent point. I for one would hate to see our bullpen get run down. That is the last thing we need. If we can rely on our starters to go 5-6 innings, our pen should be able to do the rest.

I agree. I wouldn't necessarily want them at Wrigley, but if the Reds think it will help the team and bring more fans in, more power to the Reds.

It stopped raining for yesterday's home opener. Like I said, I want to go see a game anyway just to see how our minor leaguers look but it would be nice to get to see Prior making a rehab start.

I think it all depends. I know that Sheets made both of his rehab starts for the Brewers with farm teams that were on the road. The first was in Jackson, Mississippi on the road for the AA team. The second was in Iowa on the road for the Brewers AAA team. I think it depends on the team and the situation. Wood should be through with his rehab by then, but there is a chance you could see Prior or Miller. Maybe you'll get a chance to see Rusch by then as well. :) Oh god I hope not. Not that I wouldn't want to see Rusch off the Major League team, I just don't want to see him pitch.