Crash

Well at least our 3 best hitters are coming up in the 9th.

Um, Macias didn't pitch hit for Hairston. Macias came in for Hairston in CF an inning or two ago. Maybe hairston is hurt. Either that or Dusty got fed up with Hairston's approach. Well Hairston was 1-3 with a walk so I think it was probably an injury. I know Dusty doesn't seem to like Hairston but I don't think he would waste a bench player in a one run game unless it was because of injury.

Um, Macias didn't pitch hit for Hairston. Macias came in for Hairston in CF an inning or two ago. Maybe hairston is hurt. Either that or Dusty got fed up with Hairston's approach. Well Hairston was 1-3 with a walk so I think it was probably an injury. I know Dusty doesn't seem to like Hairston but I don't think he would waste a bench player in a one run game unless it was because of injury.

Um, Macias didn't pitch hit for Hairston. Macias came in for Hairston in CF an inning or two ago. Maybe hairston is hurt.

Please tell me this is sarcasm. Um, no. This team has underachieved all season, and by clinging to the hope that the Cubs are only 4.5 games out of the WC, we're giving up the opportunity to trade retreads like Remlinger, Blanco, Garciaparra, Walker, and Burnitz to a real contender, and rebuild our farm system. Mark it down. This team is not going to the postseason. And wishing like hell for it to happen won't make it so. Oh please. You aren't going to rebuild the farm system by trading Remlinger, Blanco, Nomar or Burnitz. There is not a player there that will net anything more than garbage. With Walker you have a player that signed for next year and is very productive for his position. Why get rid of him? And does the farm system really need "rebuilding"? I mean we already have several young players glued to the bench that could be outproducing the current starters. The problem isn't the farm system it is the manager.

Not at Wrigley it isn't. Not at most ball parks in fact. I don't care where it is. If a fan wants to keep a homerun ball the other fans shouldn't try to pressure or threaten him to throw it back. Then dont go to Wrigley. Every place has its traditions and pressures. Just because it has gone on for a long time doesn't make it acceptable behavior.

Not at Wrigley it isn't. Not at most ball parks in fact. I don't care where it is. If a fan wants to keep a homerun ball the other fans shouldn't try to pressure or threaten him to throw it back.

I wish the fan had kept the ball. Throwing balls back is one of the stupidest traditions in baseball.

Well at least Hill's strikeout totals seem to be translating to the big league level.

Pathetic isn't the word. It was unluckly. Hill tripping over the base and Burntiz missing a homer by two feet.

I could see an argument that we not be buyers and just roll the dice on the rest of the season. See what happens and not trade anything valuable from the farm system. But really the Cubs don't have a reason or the players to becone sellers. -The Cubs don't really have any contracts they want or need to dump. The only big salary on the Cubs for 2006 that isn't attached to a long term building block player is Maddux's 9 million. And from all reports the team isn't even considering trading Maddux. -The Cubs don't have any player that could net a legit prospect yet isn't part of the team's long term plans. Only Lee, Ramirez, Prior, Zambrano, and maybe Barrett or Walker could get a good return and for obvious reasons they won't be traded this season.

Or how about getting a LEGIT CF who can hit, field, and run, and put Hairston in LF, where he is abit more comfortably, defensively. Actually I would much rather get a power hitting left fielder and keep Hairston in center. Even ignoring the fact that getting a slugging left fielder is a heck of a lot easier than getting a CF who can do all you ask, putting Hairtson in LF just means we are going to continue to get subpar production for that position. Hairston in CF and a league average LF is better than Hairston in LF and a league average CF.

Listening to Bud Selig talk about the World Cup of Baseball during the homerun derby reminded me how bad an idea the World Cup really is. For what basically amounts to a publicity stunt for the MLB we are going to be risking the best players on our teams. As much as we here on the board get worried about Dusty and pitch counts just think what could happen in this tournament. Does the manager of Venezuela keep Zambrano in for 120+ pitches because he is smoking the team from Japan? Would an American pitching coach know enough about Kerry or Mark's mechnics to know when they are starting to loose it and risking injury? Do Derek or Aramis wear down in September because they had to start their season earlier than they are used to? This world Cup is going to kill one teams chances next year and all so Bud and MLB can waist our time with more exhibitions that don't have anything to do with winning the World Series.

Heck, you can justify it because manager should do what is best for the National League. With that said, if D. Lee is nursing an injury than you sub him out. Other than that D. Lee plays the whole game at first and Albert hits every time in the DH spot. I don't care to see Jason Bay or anyone else on the bench bat at the expense of Albert or D. Lee. You get into very dicey territory when the manager of a division rival (Larussa) risks the best player off another team (D. Lee) for 9 innings in an exhibition game. I mean how would Card fans feel if Dusty was managing and he had Carpenter throw 8 innings with 120 pitches to "do what is best for the National League".

Was there a reason Nefi and Hollandsworth needed to bat there? Up 8 in the 8th inning you would think it might be a nice time to get Murton and Cedeno some at bats.

Murton was in the on deck circle.

I think Stone of a few years ago was better. His work last year in the booth and this year on the radio seems to be a lot more bitter and personal. But I do agree about Len and Bob. I think they do a fairly good job of pointing out a failing on the field. I have lost count of the number of times Len has referenced the Cubs troubles with getting on base. And both have bemoaned the lack of paitence some Cubs hitters have shown. But as you say, they do it in a rather subtle matter without mocking the players as I think happened to often last season.

I couldn't agree more. I never thought Stone's knowledge of the game was any better than average. Sure he would try to predict pitches, but other than that he wasn't very indepth about his analysis. And I do think some fans want the color man to be very personal in their criticism. They want the anouncers to say what a fan might yell from the bleachers. Stoney is probably in the best place he could be now. He has weekly segments on a radio station built around sports broadcasting that has more to do with fans venting and personal insults than actuall analysis. Stoney is an entertainer more than he is a solid source of information.

The prior two games in the series were bad. But I won't get mad at the team for this one. They tried and just couldn't get the bounce when they needed it.

Three hart hit balls and the only one that isn't an out has to deflect off the pitcher.

It hasn't been the same problem, though. There were a few weeks in there when his command of the zone was good and he was putting the ball in play, but they were mostly weak groundouts. I still think Corey's getting closer to coming out of it. If he could get a fair strike zone and didn't have to consistently swing at pitches outside of the zone, that would go a long way. And if he can change his swing so he can keep his bat more level while going through the strike zone, that would also help a lot. I don't trade him. I'd move him to the 7th spot, but not trade him. I agree. Put him in the 7th hole and leave him there for the rest of the season. I think LF is a much more pressing need than CF. At least in CF we get some good defense from Corey. LF is an offensive position and frankly it would be much easier to find a LF that can hit and give us Holla/Dubois level defense than a CF that will give us good defense and offensive punch. And we already have a more an adequate leadoff hitter already on the team. His name is Todd Walker. Unfortunatly Dusty thinks "protecting" Aramis in the lineup is more important than putting a decent hitter ahead of the hottest hitter on the planet.

Oh we can more than contend with Patterson. But Dusty right now is not putting Patterson in a position to even succeed. Dusty should sit him for a few games. Let him catch his breath. And then exclusivly bat him in the 7th hole. Don't put the pressure of leading off on him and don't try to turn him into something he is not. I think it's at the point where Corey just isn't going to be successful in Chicago. He's the new LaTroy Hawkins. Getting rid of 30+ year old reliever who had a bad couple of years is different than getting rid of a 25 year old CF who as recently as last year had stretches of brilliance. Put Corey in a low presse part of the lineup and stop trying to turn him into Lou Brock. I think he can be an above average player (maybe not a star but well worth having around) for us but not if Dusty, the media and the fans keep trying to play with the kid's head. His play is unacceptable it's that simple. If you ask me, he deserves to get booed. Booing him also doesn't help him break out of it. He knows he's played bad, all booing does is to help continue his poor play and drop his trade value. Not every player the fans boo out of town can net Jerome Williams and David Aardsma. I agree. If nothing else the Cubs fans should want to try everything they can to get Corey going so he at least has some trade value.

Oh we can more than contend with Patterson. But Dusty right now is not putting Patterson in a position to even succeed. Dusty should sit him for a few games. Let him catch his breath. And then exclusivly bat him in the 7th hole. Don't put the pressure of leading off on him and don't try to turn him into something he is not. I think it's at the point where Corey just isn't going to be successful in Chicago. He's the new LaTroy Hawkins. Getting rid of 30+ year old reliever who had a bad couple of years is different than getting rid of a 25 year old CF who as recently as last year had stretches of brilliance. Put Corey in a low presse part of the lineup and stop trying to turn him into Lou Brock. I think he can be an above average player (maybe not a star but well worth having around) for us but not if Dusty, the media and the fans keep trying to play with the kid's head. His play is unacceptable it's that simple. If you ask me, he deserves to get booed. I will boo a guy who doesn't try on a play or who is a massive jerk in public. If I thought Corey was not trying his hardest or was a Bonds level jerk I would be fine with booing him. But at this point booing is just counter productive.

Oh we can more than contend with Patterson. But Dusty right now is not putting Patterson in a position to even succeed. Dusty should sit him for a few games. Let him catch his breath. And then exclusivly bat him in the 7th hole. Don't put the pressure of leading off on him and don't try to turn him into something he is not. I think it's at the point where Corey just isn't going to be successful in Chicago. He's the new LaTroy Hawkins. Getting rid of 30+ year old reliever who had a bad couple of years is different than getting rid of a 25 year old CF who as recently as last year had stretches of brilliance. Put Corey in a low presse part of the lineup and stop trying to turn him into Lou Brock. I think he can be an above average player (maybe not a star but well worth having around) for us but not if Dusty, the media and the fans keep trying to play with the kid's head.

Oh we can more than contend with Patterson. But Dusty right now is not putting Patterson in a position to even succeed. Dusty should sit him for a few games. Let him catch his breath. And then exclusivly bat him in the 7th hole. Don't put the pressure of leading off on him and don't try to turn him into something he is not.