hawkeyecub

94. His spot is due up 3rd this inning so it depends on what happens, but I would definitely send him back for the 8th.

I never could imagine when I would truly root against the Bears, but if Rex gets another job and starts against the Bears. I might. well, the meatballs rooted against grossman and the bears, so i could see myself doing the same at that point. if rex were available, the vikings might have been wise to give him a look. Travaris while not good showed quite a bit of potential last year and could turn into a average to above average QB. SO why would they throw that away to sign a guy who had chances to prove himself, couldn't, and wasn't resigned. This is true. I'm beating the same drum again but look at Tarvaris' second half last year. He was absolutely awful his first 5 games but showed a lot of improvement down the stretch with no receiving options while Rice was injured. By first-year QB standards the last 7 games were very successful. Since then he's done nothing but raise his stock in the eyes of the staff and front office. The local media and even the more unbiased national guys who have been in have constantly talked about how much better he looks this year in camp. Add in that they took him in the 2nd round, he has more physical skills than Rex and is much, much more familiar with the offense and there's no way they would take him and elevate him to starter. If there was any interest they would have pursued him this spring rather than Gus.

Was he ever touching the base?

Yeah it's right. So is the .182 average after a 3-1 count. He does have a .667 OBP in that spot though. He's also hitting .300 after an 0-2 count and .295/.358/.536 after a 1-2 count. He's hitting .364 with a .667 SLG in 66 AB's on the 1-2 pitch.

Yeah it's right. So is the .182 average after a 3-1 count. He does have a .667 OBP in that spot though.

Ask and you shall receive.

you know, teams DO win 1-0 games in MLB and it isn't undeserved.... I agree, but if the offense continues to look as bad as they have most of the game to this point, I wouldn't put this game in that category. Offense is one part of the equation. If you pitch well enough and play defense like we have to shut them out, you deserve the win.

Alfonso is locked in.

Very good pitching, some outstanding defense and our only run came on some heads up baserunning and situational hitting. Every cliche has come to life.

I don't understand the aggressiveness against a pitcher who is 2 starts removed (before tonight) from getting off the DL. IDK who's gameplan this was, but it is stupid. The Cubs need to make Carpenter throw atleast 4 pitches per batter, not 2. This offense seems to be much more of a feast or famine type than they were in the first half. Much more reminiscent of 07 than of this season's unbeatables. Check P/PA second half vs. first half. What are they? How many hands do I have ??? :wink: Oh I took your statement as if you were saying that you had the numbers there was quite a difference (or little difference).

I don't understand the aggressiveness against a pitcher who is 2 starts removed (before tonight) from getting off the DL. IDK who's gameplan this was, but it is stupid. The Cubs need to make Carpenter throw atleast 4 pitches per batter, not 2. This offense seems to be much more of a feast or famine type than they were in the first half. Much more reminiscent of 07 than of this season's unbeatables. Check P/PA second half vs. first half. What are they? pitches per plate appearance I know that, I'm wondering what the difference is between the two halves.

I don't understand the aggressiveness against a pitcher who is 2 starts removed (before tonight) from getting off the DL. IDK who's gameplan this was, but it is stupid. The Cubs need to make Carpenter throw atleast 4 pitches per batter, not 2. This offense seems to be much more of a feast or famine type than they were in the first half. Much more reminiscent of 07 than of this season's unbeatables. Check P/PA second half vs. first half. What are they?

I liked BB, but he has a ways to go before he is a Chad Johnson or Larry Fitz for that matter. Part of me is upset the Bears didnt give him the salary the Vikings did, but then again I dont really think he was irreplaceable. Well that's good because I've never seen anyone say he is or ever will be Chad Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald. Again as far as the #1 argument, his production and career path would rank him inside the top 25 WR's in the game. I think people have this idea that a #1 WR has to be in the level of Moss, Owens, Fitzgerald, Chad, etc... Just like when people say "he's not a starting NFL QB" about practically everyone outside of the top 10 QB's in the league. Well there are 32 teams. He's paid what the market dictated. If the Vikings didn't give him that coin, someone else was going to come close. There aren't dozens of WR's with his tools, production and at his age who become free agents. It's really not a big deal. It's not like you're locked into bad contracts in the NFL and can't wiggle out. They had tons of cap space and a glaring need so they paid what they had to to get the deal done. The Vikings (Brezinski) are wizards about always coming in way under the cap. It's nice to have an owner that will actually spend. it's definitely nice to have an owner that will spend, but the bears and pack have still dominated the division over the last several years and done it cheaply. the vikings have made some key acquisitions the last few years but it's gotten them relatively nowhere. they're definitely a defense that rivals what chicago and green bay will put on the field, but they may have the worst starting qb in the nfl, regardless of who wins chicago's starting job. berrian's a good receiver, but if he thinks that jackson will get him the ball more effectively than grossman, orton, or griese did last year, he's in for a rude awakening. Well you can't spend your way to major success in the NFL. The Bears and Packers have been better because they drafted better. Some of the drafts with Tice in charge were just awful. Since Childress has stepped in they have drafted much, much better. That has also coincided with some nice free agent acquisitions to put them in position where they should make the playoffs and could get deep. Chilly hooked his wagon to Tarvaris. This season will show us if he can get the job done or if we've wasted a few years with some really nice talent on defense, the o-line (at least 3/5ths) and the backfield. He made major progress last year and was a first-year starter. I'm cautiously optimistic that he can be solid this year with some more help on the outside and another year under his belt.

I liked BB, but he has a ways to go before he is a Chad Johnson or Larry Fitz for that matter. Part of me is upset the Bears didnt give him the salary the Vikings did, but then again I dont really think he was irreplaceable. Well that's good because I've never seen anyone say he is or ever will be Chad Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald. Again as far as the #1 argument, his production and career path would rank him inside the top 25 WR's in the game. I think people have this idea that a #1 WR has to be in the level of Moss, Owens, Fitzgerald, Chad, etc... Just like when people say "he's not a starting NFL QB" about practically everyone outside of the top 10 QB's in the league. Well there are 32 teams. He's paid what the market dictated. If the Vikings didn't give him that coin, someone else was going to come close. There aren't dozens of WR's with his tools, production and at his age who become free agents. It's really not a big deal. It's not like you're locked into bad contracts in the NFL and can't wiggle out. They had tons of cap space and a glaring need so they paid what they had to to get the deal done. The Vikings (Brezinski) are wizards about always coming in way under the cap. It's nice to have an owner that will actually spend.

That's pretty funny to hear, because the Vikings finished 28th in pass offense last year. I don't think I'd consider it a good thing that they let receivers improvise more when they're bottom-feeders in the pass game. Whatever they're doing up there, last year it didn't work. They were almost totally reliant on their admittedly great run game. When that didn't come through, they lost critical games and ended out of the playoffs. Personally I don't think just Bernard Berrian would do it for them. But him, along with other acquisitions + another year in the same system, probably will. They also had a first-year starter at QB and (when Rice was injured) had Troy Williamson, Bobby Wade, Robert Ferguson as their top 3 WR's. You could have the best scheme in the history of football and you weren't going to have a productive pass offense with that group. This year we'll see. Berrian is a major upgrade, Tarvaris has that first year under his belt, Sidney Rice (along with Aundre Allison) are in their second year, Wade gets to be a slot guy again where he can be successful. The group overall still doesn't have enough to be great but they do need to make teams pay for completely selling out against the run. The scheme wasn't all that special. It was basically load up on Peterson and he'll carry us all to the promised land. I'm sure Tavaris will be better with experience. The D is improved as well from what I can tell. I'm pretty sure the Vikes are a playoff team, how far they go depends on alot of things that can't be known right now. Berrian's a good receiver. He wanted to be a #1 all along, so good for him. You're right. We'll see -- if he can justify that salary ;) You're right the scheme was nothing special. I was just saying that I don't think the passing numbers are an indictment of what the WR's were coached to do differently than the Bears. The personnel simply wasn't there for any of that to be a factor. As far as the salary goes, the Vikings overpaid but they had to. They had a glaring need for anything resembling a #1 WR and had the cap space.

That's pretty funny to hear, because the Vikings finished 28th in pass offense last year. I don't think I'd consider it a good thing that they let receivers improvise more when they're bottom-feeders in the pass game. Whatever they're doing up there, last year it didn't work. They were almost totally reliant on their admittedly great run game. When that didn't come through, they lost critical games and ended out of the playoffs. Personally I don't think just Bernard Berrian would do it for them. But him, along with other acquisitions + another year in the same system, probably will. They also had a first-year starter at QB and (when Rice was injured) had Troy Williamson, Bobby Wade, Robert Ferguson as their top 3 WR's. You could have the best scheme in the history of football and you weren't going to have a productive pass offense with that group. This year we'll see. Berrian is a major upgrade, Tarvaris has that first year under his belt, Sidney Rice (along with Aundre Allison) are in their second year, Wade gets to be a slot guy again where he can be successful. The group overall still doesn't have enough to be great but they do need to make teams pay for completely selling out against the run. yea, your right. BB has NEVER had a ball hit him right int the hands and drop it the way Troy Williamson did. I'm sure he has. He's also never made near the amount of plays or catches that Berrian has made nor the amount of mind boggling drops. In 3 years Williamson had 79 catches for 1067 yards and 3 TD's. Last year Berrian had 71 for 957 and 5 TD's in an similarly terrible pass offense. Troy had 18 catches for 240 and 1 TD. Honestly I see the Bears a fair amount but obviously not when the Vikes are playing at the same time. I know a lot of Bears fans complained about drops from him, I never saw a ton of them so I defer to you guys on that. I have seen him make some incredible catches in big games and beat some very good corners. Although people debate him being a #1, he was one of the top 25-30 WR's last year in receptions and yards and 35 in TD's in a terrible offense. Any way you slice it he's an enormous upgrade on everything we had last year and is probably a top 25 NFL WR right now.

Weak. His platoon partner has a 1.346 OPS in five more AB's since the All-Star Break.

That's pretty funny to hear, because the Vikings finished 28th in pass offense last year. I don't think I'd consider it a good thing that they let receivers improvise more when they're bottom-feeders in the pass game. Whatever they're doing up there, last year it didn't work. They were almost totally reliant on their admittedly great run game. When that didn't come through, they lost critical games and ended out of the playoffs. Personally I don't think just Bernard Berrian would do it for them. But him, along with other acquisitions + another year in the same system, probably will. They also had a first-year starter at QB and (when Rice was injured) had Troy Williamson, Bobby Wade, Robert Ferguson as their top 3 WR's. You could have the best scheme in the history of football and you weren't going to have a productive pass offense with that group. This year we'll see. Berrian is a major upgrade, Tarvaris has that first year under his belt, Sidney Rice (along with Aundre Allison) are in their second year, Wade gets to be a slot guy again where he can be successful. The group overall still doesn't have enough to be great but they do need to make teams pay for completely selling out against the run.

Wow, thanks Tony for increasing our chances of winning.

Beautiful piece of hitting Aramis! Come on Kosuke you've got to get the job done here.

Ye of little faith. The outside strike zone that the ump has had today was perfect for Howry.

Bob will get the job done today.

I'd much rather see Fontenot here. Even if Ward gets on you have to run for him.

Holy cow, nice move Albert. Even if he steals that base it allows us to put Ludwick on and go after Glaus.

He got away with that 1-2 splitter.