RyCubsFan

Two and a half hours to go. Been looking forward to the game all day...really hoping they can play.

I love Theriot and all, but that lineup would be better off with DeRo at 2B and even an average producing RF. Maybe long term, you'd rather have Theriot at 2B than DeRo, but yea. DeRo at 2B and average RF > Theriot at 2B and DeRo in RF That lineup is a wet dream though, either way, with ARod at SS. I'll take it every day of the week. Yeah, but Theriot's cheap. Then again, Murton in RF would be cheep too. I'd take Pie in CF next year too. Trade Jones in the offseason. Having Soto, Pie, and either Theriot or Murton in the lineup allows you to afford going after Arod.

Here's a case where Ryan hitting 9th hurt them. Wouldn't you rather he single with one out, so the pitcher can bunt him over? He'd be on 2nd with 2 outs and the leadoff man coming up. Instead he's on first.

I'm pulling for the Cards in that game. Despite the Cards little run, I still think its going to come down to the Cubs and Brewers. They are the more talented teams.

Matt's been pretty good of late too....as has Ryan (tonight excluded)

Apparently Lou noticed Pagan's mental lapses as well. Pie up, Pagan to the DL! (according to the transactions page at least)

He'd only have to pass through 1 team (Pittsburgh) and since Hendry and the Pittsburgh G.M. are friends, my guess is that Pittsburgh wouldn't claim him. How would he only have to pass through one team? I thought every team got a crack at it. Cinci would claim him for the purposes of the trade. Only teams in the NL with worse records than Cinci (Pitt) could make a claim on him before Cinci.

Was thinking the same. Seems like he hasn't hit any homeruns since April though, when he started out hot.

Well, we need a leadoff hitter...At least that's their thinking. We have one. He's that little guy who's been playing SS for us. How bats second? I'd probably bat Murton there and start him in right field. When Murton's not playing, you could put Fontenot there (playing him at 2nd and DeRosa in right). 1. Theriot ss 2. Murton rf 3. Lee 1b 4. Ramirez 3b 5. Floyd lf 6. DeRosa 2b 7. Kendall/Soto c 8. Pie cf 9. Zambrano/Lilly/Hil/Marshall/Marquis p Bench: Jones, Fontenot, Kendall/Soto, Cedeno, Pagan

On Soto's Power... It's not like he's hitting cheap shots. From last night's Iowa game notes:

I thought it was going to be somewhat close the first time I saw it (and was wondering why Soriano did it) but when I saw the replay I could see that if Soriano runs at full speed all the way and slides into the bag, the throw definitely would have been late. Soriano would have easily made it had he not pulled up with the injury.

Did I mention that Pie had an assist at home plate last night for Iowa??

Any word yet?

I will say that I found great relief from my frustration in Wood's relief. That was certainly great to see!

The bullpen by and large though has been very good. You can find several examples of how they held the opposition scoreless. What I questioned last night was Piniella using Ohman in that situation. You play the hot hand...Ohman has not been hot recently. I would never have put him in there.

The thing is, Kendall was lambasted around here for his Cubs start (1 hit in first 15 ABs), and Soto chants have been relentless. I think this thread is just correction for fans appreciating Kendall's recent performance, and there is nothing wrong with a little positive energy. Yes his OPS as a Cubs is still only .721, but it's a hell of an improvement over Hill or Bowen. And while the team has only played 5 games in August, that August line of .357/.471/.571/1.042 looks like shiny candy compared to the rest of the year. I appreciate Kendall's ability to get on base (even if he hasn't done so much of the year). I agree that he'll probably get on base more than any other option the Cubs have a catcher. However, he has two major problems: 1. He has no power. 2. He has no arm. It just so happens that Soto has nearly 20 homeruns in AAA, and he has a decent arm. While Soto probably won't get on base as much as Kendall this year (and that's debateable), he will hit a few more homeruns. That power is desperately needed in our lineup right now. I'd go with a Kendall/Soto tandem, and I'd try to send down Hill. If we lose him, we lose him...

Some of the blame goes to the infielders on this one. They needed to let him know that the runner was tagging. The only way that is on the infield is if they're telling him "no tag". Pagan also looked awful tracking Reyes' triple. And the replay showed Derek Lee shouting to the outfield. The only reason he knew at all is that he finally heard DLee.

Did anyone else find last night's game particularly frustrating?? I had a really bad night! lol I found it frustrating for the following reasons: 1. Glavine was given a very big strike zone. He was getting calls on pitches that simply were not strikes. As a result, it forced out hitters to swing at pitches that weren't strikes. Both Lee and DeRosa made outs on pitches that normally they wouldn't have swung at. It really made it tough to beat Glavine...and I think it was unfair. 2. Soriano's injury came at a time when we finally had a scoring chance. We had strung together two hits and DLee was coming to the plate. Could the inning have been a repeat of the two out rally against Maine the previous day? We'll never know. It was a free out for Glavine. 3. Defense from our catcher and CF. Pagan made two errors essentially in CF that cost us. Kendall has no throwing arm and the Mets were running at will. Why this was frustrating? We have Soto and Pie ready in AAA. 4. Ohman's performance. We finally had some momentum...we had cut the lead from 5-0 to 5-3. Ohman comes in and gives up 3 straight hits. Why was Piniella even pitching him with Ohman's recent struggles? 5. Luck on balls in play. We had several line drives off of Glavine that simply couldn't find holes. David Wright made several nice snares, and there were also a few hard hit balls to center. Every ground ball that the Mets hit though (including Glavine's) seemed to find holes. ....but that's the thing about baseball I guess. It can be a very frustrating game! Here's hoping the Cubs rebound today.

After Pagan had a big Spring last year, I (like many on here) was hoping that he'd suddenly break out and be like "Beltran," who I believe he compared himself to. I like underdogs...heck, isn't that inherent in being a Cubs fan?? I'm beginning to think that Pagan is rather clueless on the field, however. He made three mental errors last night: First, he dropped the ball when he was trying to throw home to get Milledge. He was rushing the throw and lost concentration...is my take on it. Second, he once again forgot the number of outs in the inning. This is the second time he has done this in a matter of weeks. This time...after he made the catch...there were 3 outs, yet he stayed on the field, as if it was the 2nd out. While this mistake didn't cost us, a similar type of mistake could in the future. Third, he took his time to throw to 2nd when Castillo was on first and tagged up. He didn't catch the ball ready to throw, and he started slowly throwing it into the infield. He should have been aware that there was a good chance that Castillo would tag, caught the ball in ready position, and come up firing. This mental error probably allowed Castillo to get into scoring position. Maybe it was just a bad night for Pagan, as it was for other players. He did have a nice hit at the plate. However, he likely cost us a run...maybe 2...last night with his mental mistakes. I'm ready for Pie.

I vote for Dempster today. And the ump too.

Here here. I think Lilly's going to have a good one.

Or Cedeno or Fontenot ...heck even Hill probably!

Can we release him tomorrow, pretty please??? We'd me much better off.

Good start!

He just isn't very good. Hmmmm...he has been for most of the year.