CuseCubFan69

How long have you been holding that joker...er I mean Ace in the hand? That was almost as bad as one of my jokes. I like Ward, Blanco (as a backup 30 game guy) and Wood and Prior (if they're reasonable). If Woody wants to sign a 3 year 12 as a reliever or gets a deal to start somewhere else I wish him well. I'm not sure he would sign another 1 year deal because he's a time bomb and investing in him for a multi year deal may be extremely risky. I'm worried that the Cubs (Hendry) will think they are good and make the same mistakes they made in 2004 instead of getting impact players and giving Pie the CF job. I'm curious on how much Lou really likes Jones in CF. I don't.

Keep on Truckin!

I think these players really would want to win for the Cub fans too and imo that adds to them pressing so much.

That's how the Red Sox did it! Win game 3 and Z goes in 4.

I say it's a pretty nice time to have a 3 game winning streak.

Crazy thought. Is it possible the Cubs could dump Soriano on the Yanks if the Yanks lose ARod?

Thanks again IMB. I just went to your thread instead of the game one.

Until you do it before every pitch. Just use it once. He's a reliever and it may just be for one pitch.

I'd put junk on my shoe laces like the closer did. Tie my shoes, yeah right. No body thinks twice when you have to "tie" your shoes.

I don't get why they started the main slate during MLB playoffs opening night. Why not make a big deal of starting Tuesday, when no other sports are one. Promote the crap out of it. Have every team play. Do something. Well, anyway, I'm glad to watch the Center Ice free preview, although I don't see myself buying it unless the Hawks are solid by midseason. I watched some hockey between the Boston and Cubs games. Heard Montreal in French. Saw a sloppy shootout. Normally I'd rather see a team bottom out than finish somewhere like 10th or 11th in the conference and draft 10th-12th overall. But with all the losing, I think I'd actually prefer just missing the playoffs than seeing them draft high again. At least flirt with 40 wins this year and give reason for hope in 2008-2009. Although I'd take a playoff appearance as well. Tuesday would be a good idea. The marketing people in the NHL have to get creative and having a player like Crosby they should fully take advantage of it.

Game 4 looks good on paper... Webb is only 2-3 in day games and the wind is going to be howling out according to Sunday's forecast. Two things: 1) If the wind is howling out and Webb is pitching, that's a very bad thing. He's going to keep the ball down more than any pitcher the Cubs send down there, which means the Diamondbacks are going to hit more home runs than the Cubs in that scenario. 2) Thankfully, Webb is not the game 4 starter. Micah Owings is, and he is a flyball pitcher. If the wind is blowing out with Owings on the mound, that should be advantage Cubs. Until Owings comes up to hit!

It's tough to read that pitch, especially with 2 strikes. Imo you sit on the first pitch fastball. I know it's tough to read, but it's something you need to make an adjustment for. He kept going back to that pitch with the same results -- you need to take that offspeed stuff at the knees until he shows it's actually in the zone. That's the cat and the mouse of it. You let it (sinker) go and he throws a low fastball. You just can't let him get ahead in the count.

It's tough to read that pitch, especially with 2 strikes. Imo you sit on the first pitch fastball.

You may get that wish.

I talked to Nancy Reagen and she said it was going to be a 7-4 DBack win!

I agree, I usually HATE it when a manager trots his starter out there to start an inning with his trigger finger ready to pull him at the slightest sign of trouble. HOWEVER, usually that is because the starter has been struggling. Z, was getting much better as the night went on (I thought he was walking on a cliff the first few innings). I understand wanting to get him out with as few pitches as possible, but he was at 85. In the 6th he threw 15 pitches, and the 5th/6th/7th hitters were due up (who he had not let up a hit against) so he had a good chance of pitching the 7th and still coming out of the game with less than 100 pitches. I would have left him. But then again, I would have pinch hit DWard for Theriot in the 6th with the bases loaded. You make a good point. It's easy to criticize a manager for moves that don't work but he could have PH'd Theriot then. Maybe Ward would have hit a HR or maybe Lou would have sent someone else in there. He could have pinch hit Z with 2 down too. There were a plethora of moves made and every one had it's own little flowchart.

fastball was the right pitch. Marmol has a fine fastball, you can't throw all sliders. He just got his fastball up. I agree it was the wrong spot. Where was Soto set up?

I really hope you're kidding. This guy is far from a scrub pitcher and to just throw a blanket statement like that out there makes no sense to me. Webb is one of the best pitchers in the NL if not baseball this year, wow, just wow. You're assuming that just because he's good, he doesn't have off nights where the Cubs fail to take advantage? Wow, just wow. I actually watch the games. I've seen Webb when he's on, and he wasn't on. Maybe he wasn't on his A game, that I don't know. The game I saw him pitch which was last night was a well pitched game. I assumed nothing.

This is why there is more going on then we know. I like that Lou has confidence in Soto to call pitches and they did mention before that he's caught them all so he's aware of what to do. I think this will be a nice learning lesson for him and from what I've seen he's an intelligent kid that knows the game. But, any good hitter can hit a 95. Marmol just didn't hit his spot either, along with struggling with the slider. The difference in this game to me was that the Backs hit the mistakes 20 feet farther than the Cubs did.

Thus my point. Sit on the first pitch fastball and after that bunt.

I really hope you're kidding. This guy is far from a scrub pitcher and to just throw a blanket statement like that out there makes no sense to me. Webb is one of the best pitchers in the NL if not baseball this year, wow, just wow.

That's when they'll really need you to help support them. It's easy to root for a 2-0 lead team but screaming down 0-2 puts a little hair on your.....

If he gets traded to SD it's an easy drive to Mexico.

No, we lost last night because our hitters couldn't hit Webb....no big surprise from me. I was hoping that somehow we could pull it out, but in my heart I knew the Cubs would look like little girls at the plate....and little girls they did look like. Hopefully, tonight we'll look like men. Actually had a lot of good swings against him. None fell in. I thought the approach was ok, other than the inning of the Zambrano double. Also, did anyone think after Theriot reached 2B on the error, that the Cubs should have bunt w/ Zambrano? Granted he had the hardest hit ball to that point and hit it hard again, but if he puts a bunt down, Soriano's line drive to CF, probably scores Theriot. Yes and no. How's that for a two sided answer! If i'm the Backs....I'm thinking Z's bunting. Most of the time the ball will be a fastball and since Z is a good hitter he swung and hit it hard. Now, if Webb threw a sinker or something else for a strike or ball, I would bunt Z on the second pitch. I agree that a bunt with 2 pitchers like this would put the Cubs in position to tie the game but imo it was a pitch by pitch thing. Its very difficult to bunt against a sinker as nasty as Webb's, and his curve was on too. A bunt most definitely would have ended with a strike out. I like the decision to let Z (who had the only decent contact against Webb) swing away. A couple more inches and it would have been over Drew's head and Theriot would have scored. Maybe I wrote it wrong but I would only put Z in a hitting situation knowing it's a fastball. Look how foolish Z looked when bases where loaded and Webb treated him like a real hitter.

What about a Floyd AB. Cliff looked low and Webb beat him high for strike 3. I thought it was a great pitch.