vance_the_cubs_fan

Jake, It was great meeting you last week in Mississippi. Congtats on SL hitter of the week. How has your approach changed since the Cubs began to have you learn different positions? Is your preparation different than it was when you were primarily a catcher? Good luck on the remainder of the season.

Ok. Hancock's day is a world-class POS. I hope this one gets laughed out of court.

Someone should photshop Bud Black driving the sweeper now.

This season is swirling the bowl.

With Hoffman coming in, we're toast.

Nope. Sorry.

I think we lose. The Cubs batters will not be able to hit out of fear that David Wells might eat them.

Tickets are no longer available. I've accepted an offer. Thanks to everyone.

Jesus Christ! Can we get the good Rich Hill back?

Oh well...that's all Peavy is gonna need.

Floyd looks crippled in RF.

I've gotta bad feeling about this game.

I'm having a bad feeling about what might happen here.

Hill needs to get some control.

Yikes!

Wow...that was close.

From Phil's point of view, the rumor of moving Dempster to the rotation now (assuming he shows some competency) would assure that the Cubs have 4 starters under control in 2008: Lilly, Marquis, Hill, Dempster. The 5th will be some combination of Samardzija, Marshall, Prior or Veal. I would think that Holliman and Gallagher should be ahead of Shark and Veal on that list. While Holliman is off to a good start this year, I'm not sure if we should be considering him a future starter. Unless his stuff has greatly improved, he doesn't really appear to be anything special. He was really good the other night. I'm not sure if it was indicative of all his starts, but he was quite impressive. Just on performance, Veal and Shark have a ways to go.

I Heart Sammy!

From Phil's point of view, the rumor of moving Dempster to the rotation now (assuming he shows some competency) would assure that the Cubs have 4 starters under control in 2008: Lilly, Marquis, Hill, Dempster. The 5th will be some combination of Samardzija, Marshall, Prior or Veal. I would think that Holliman and Gallagher should be ahead of Shark and Veal on that list.

At the bottom of this story, you can find some infor about Josh.

I don't know what kind of future he has, but he was hitting the ball well over the weekend.

Ooh, a 'back injury' would be awfully convenient right about now. You can't pull fat.

I have two extra tickets to see the Cubs play the Marlins next Wednesday. I bought these from a friend who is a season ticket holder, but then my wife who has never sat in the bleachers for a game, decided she wanted us to sit in the bleachers so I bought tickets there. These tickets are section 532, row 1. The face value on each ticket is $14. If you'd like them, let me know. PM me your best offer. Don't be shy. If your best offer is $1 and that's the best offer I get, these are yours.

Someone asked me to keep tabs on Sean. His fastball topped out at 94. He used it pretty consistently between 91-92. Also, he had several pitches throughout the game which registered 88-89 mph. I wasn't sure if this was a variation of his fastball or if he was throwing his change-up too hard. It could be the difference between his two-seamer or his four seamer. I didn't get to stay around to ask him after the game, or I would have. Also, my seat was a little to the right of home, so at times I had trouble determining if he were throwing a curve or a change-up. I could see a good break sometimes, but other times, I wasn't always sure. Either way his offspeed pitches were in the 73-78 mph range. It was also obvious the Braves were sitting on the fastball. The hardest hit balls off of Sean tonight were outs off his fastball. He narrowly escaped disaster in the fifth when the final out was a nice running catch at the wall by Fuld. When he was locating his pitches for strikes, he looked phenomenal. The second inning is a good example of this. When he struggled with his control, he labored somewhat. I definitely saw what has made him a good pitcher in regards to mixing his pitches. While his end result was good, which seems to always be the case with Sean, I don't think he was at his best tonight. This was one of those nights where his line could have been much worse if some of those hard hit balls had found holes in the outfield, but at the same time, the single that scored a run in the third could have very easily have been a groundball out had it been six inches more to the left and he might have only allowed a run. He definitely lost some of his control and labored in the fifth, but to Sean's credit he worked out of it and kept his composure. Also, the umpire seemed to have a pretty tight zone. Pitchers on both sides appeared to get squeezed a bit, except on a strike three call on Kroeger which led to Listach getting an early exit. I have a more detailed pitch record that I jotted down on the back of a roster if someone wants to know more. It has a few gaps, but I tried to socialize when the Smokies batted and then watch carefully as Sean pitched. Overall, I was impressed. It was clear that Sean had a plan that he sought out to execute. His control was his biggest issue in the innings in which he struggled. He was facing a good fastball hitting team and at times he struggled to throw strikes so he had to let them swing away at the fastball. I can see where when the control is working, he's going to be a great pitcher. He's a bulldog on the mound and that is going to bode well for him. I wish I could watch him much more.

Some might argue that this was Edmonds' favorite catch. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/EE/images/uploads/marquis_grope.jpg