vance_the_cubs_fan

Why is Soriano playing keystone copesque defense today?

What's the over/under on how many days pass before Eyre gets into a game again? I'm going 6.

Might as well let him finish and save the rest of the pen.

Time to stretch!

FINISH HIM!

I want a jersey shirt where the front looks like the front of the gray road jersey. I wish they made those. Years ago, I had a Sandberg one during the days of the old Cuba script. I wish I could find one of those again.

That would be fantastic! Magic number reduced by one...and hopefully by two at the end of this game.

At this stage of the season, it's probably a good idea to get our SP's out early when the bullpen is good and rested.

Pretty good inning from Shark. Let's add some runs!

If we were on ESPN, that fly ball would have prompted Bartman footage.

88 pitches for Snell.

We need a hit to bring Zambrano in and then I can start to feel confident about this game.

from every account i've read, brooks robinson is the best defensive 3B of all time. santo was very good but not great. still, it's pointless in arguing between the two of them because they both clearly belong in the hall of fame. i never said that santo was as good, just in the ballpark. and ronnie's offensive superiority exceeds robinson's defensive superiority. robinson played on winning teams and had longevity on his side, but santo was just a much better hitter and usually that's what gets people into the hall. I've made this post before, but here goes about Santo in the HOF. Right now the HOF lists 13 players that have been inducted primarily as 3B. Three of those were inducted from the Negro Leagues. If Santo were added to the other ten, there would be eleven third basemen in the HOF. So, how would he rank among these other greats? In other words, I wanted to answer the question if Santo would lower the quality of player in the HOF. Here's what I came up with. Santo's 342 homeruns would rank him third among HOF thirdbasemen behind only 500 HR club members Mike Schmidt and Eddie Matthews. Santo's 1331 RBI would rank him fourth among the current HOF third sackers. His .277 BA might be one of the knocks on him as six of the ten HOF third basemen have hit over 300. However, there still would be four HOF thirdbasemen with lower batting averages. Santo has five Gold Gloves. Only two HOF thirdbasemen (Schmidt and Robinson) have more, and six have none. Santo's 954 Fielding % ranks him at sixth would be middle of the pack. Santo scored 1138 runs which places him in the middle of the pack at fifth. His 362 OBP would rank him sixth and his 464 SLG would rank him fourth. Finally, his OPS+ of 125 would rank him fifth and his 324 Win Shares would be fifth on the list as well. There's not a single category that would rank him in the lower third. Most metrics place him squarely in the middle of the pack among HOF thirdbasemen. The case is clear that Santo belongs and there really shouldn't be any argument.

Is it though? Public squabbles aside, Stern likely realizes more than most just how much Cuban has done for the NBA in that area of the country. His support shows the other owners that whatever incidents have happened with Cuban as an NBA owner, the benefits have far, far outweighed the negatives. He's the Manny of sports franchise owners. I think he is more like the Jerry Jones of the NBA That's probably an accurate analogy. Cuban like Jerry is a bit of a maverick, but isn't completely off kilter. Both owners want to win and don't mind spending money to do so. Both are well liked by their players and both have detractors because neither will avoid the spotlight or shy away from controversy.

Zambrano is already at 50 pitches. He'll have to have a few more quick innings to go deep into this one. Snell is at 45 pitches already, so both starters could face an early exit.

A lot would depend on what we get for Lee. If I could afford Teix and add an extra good player by trading Lee, certainly. But if it's just swapping Lee for a very expensive Teix, probably not.

Roast's 24 hours has passed, so I guess Burnt can pick whenever.

The NYT has an article on Cuban's bid for the Cubs today as well. Link And this part is great! That might be sig worthy. But, more along the lines of why I personally like Cuban...this is noteworthy. and then this is interesting...

If Cuban buys the Cubs, I'm throwing a party!

It's been awhile since anyone has mentioned Jericho Jones in these threads. How's my boy doing?

Yeah but think of how many we would be ahead if we had only not come out cold after the AS break. or if the braves werent completely worthless right now. we better have a decent lead by mid september, cuz the last 2 weeks has collapse written all over it. In a couple of weeks, we'll get our three games versus the worthless Braves, so I'm not too worried. But then they'll play like the Braves of the mid-90's. And why would they suddenly do that? You expecting Smoltz and Hudson to return by then and the Angels to trade them Teixeira back? Why so pessimistic? If you can't enjoy this season, there may not be any hope for you.

Yeah but think of how many we would be ahead if we had only not come out cold after the AS break. or if the braves werent completely worthless right now. we better have a decent lead by mid september, cuz the last 2 weeks has collapse written all over it. In a couple of weeks, we'll get our three games versus the worthless Braves, so I'm not too worried.

Still four games ahead of the Brewers and five ahead of the Cardinals. I really like this position.

Ryan Howard with a HR. 2-0 Phillies.

Dare I say it....magic number 48.