Mizzou

Terrible throw to home there, wow!

I stole this from another site, but it's very eye-opening. Jacque Jones was traded to the Marlins on June 26th... almost. We don't know what happened, why it never went through, who rejected it, etc. What we do know is that Jacque has been pretty awesome since that day. He's hit .325 with a .368 OBP and a .456 SLG% since that day. Jacque has been slammed here numerous times, and he's been given crap numerous times at Wrigley too. But to his credit, when he was at his worst, he found a way to get through it and have one hell of a second half. Better than nearly every other ML CF-er. I thought I'd start a thread to recognize how solid he was in the second half. I didn't realize his numbers were this good, I'm sure most others didn't either. Great job, Jacque! And here's to an awesome postseason!

I'm going to be in town Thursday night, and while I love me some quarter draws, I'm staying away from Harpo's. I want to be able to watch the game, not worry about some drunk freshman stumbling into me and spilling her beer all over me. We're talking about going to Fieldhouse since they have those huge monitors and if I remember correctly, Fieldhouse is pretty low key on Thursdays. I hope the game ends right around midnight, so that'll leave me with an hour to have a few Boulevards at Quentin's.

Bad idea. That just further promotes the "us vs. them" mantra that some people avoid NSBB for. I've long maintained that having a free premium weekend would be a great way to increase the dollars. I would've signed up months ago if this would have been offered. People don't know what they're paying for until you let them see it.

9:00 start time is awesome for me. It gives me plenty of time to get to Columbia Thursday after work.

Why would you bring a sign to a Cubs-DBacks game that's directed towards Cards fans? Doesn't make any sense. Let's just worry about the game on the field, and forget about insulting Cards fans.

They're going to wait til the day before the game to announce the gametime? That's pretty stupid. Don't they realize that people have to plan their schedules around the game? One day's notice is going to make it tough for some people.

Any idea what the ticket costs are going to be? And this sucks that it's during the day on a weekday.

This thread is so awesome, how did I not see it til now? What a great story, MurtonFan!!! Did any cool games happen last year?

Nobody? Does anyone at least have a link to where I could see the video online and figure it out myself? Straight Lines, by Silverchair

You can dismiss the run differential all you like, and that's fine. But what you can't deny or dismiss is that the DBacks are 15th in the NL in Batting Average, dead last in OBP, and 13th in OPS. Their offense is awful. Will your staff continue to be as good as it's been this year? Maybe, maybe not. If you want to beat us though, it's going to have to be.

How many months of premium are you willing to bet on that? None. I'm not really interested in making bets this postseason, I just want to enjoy the ride. After looking at the Diamondbacks roster and the pitching matchups, how can you not see a sweep? The only game that we might not win is the first one, just because Webb is so good. But with the way Sori, Lee, and Ramirez are hitting, I think we'll take that one too. We should easily win game two with Lilly going against Davis. And Livan Hernandez just isn't a good pitcher at all, so if Rich has his curveball going on Saturday, that should be an easy victory. I could be wrong, maybe it will take four games to win the series, but I think we're going to sweep. The DBacks just aren't that good. Sori, Lee and Ramirez are going to ground out a lot against Webb. They can't really hurt him consistantly. The only way we win game 1 is if we see good Z and we can get a couple of timely grounders that find holes. I agree that Z is going to have to pitch a good game if we're going to win, but I think he will. I don't think that we're going to have to rely on luck to get some runs against Webb though. We have a good offense, and we're usually better against good pitchers than bad ones anyways. But the whole game comes down to whether Zambrano is on his game or not.

And the Cubs lost 16 games by 5 or more runs while winning by 5 or more 22 times. They scored 10+ 9 times and gave up 10+ 11 times. So in games where a team won or lost by 5 or more runs, the Cubs were 22-16 and the DBacks were 18-18. In games where a team put up 10 or more runs, the Cubs were 9-11 and the Brewers were 8-12. Sorry, but I'm not seeing your point here.

How many months of premium are you willing to bet on that? None. I'm not really interested in making bets this postseason, I just want to enjoy the ride. After looking at the Diamondbacks roster and the pitching matchups, how can you not see a sweep? The only game that we might not win is the first one, just because Webb is so good. But with the way Sori, Lee, and Ramirez are hitting, I think we'll take that one too. We should easily win game two with Lilly going against Davis. And Livan Hernandez just isn't a good pitcher at all, so if Rich has his curveball going on Saturday, that should be an easy victory. I could be wrong, maybe it will take four games to win the series, but I think we're going to sweep. The DBacks just aren't that good.

I was typing up some stuff to start a similar thread, but you beat me to it. Anyways, here's what I had... Brandon Webb will be starting game one. He’s obviously a stud pitcher, but he’s been better on the road than at home, so we catch a break there. He holds righties in check (.199 BAA), but lefties have actually been better than average against him (.272 BAA). In his one start against us this year, he went 7 innings, giving up 2 earned runs on 5 hits. Doug Davis will be starting game two. He’s a lefty. Uh oh. Like Webb, Davis is much better away from home. His ERA is a run higher at home (4.75) than on the road (3.75). So again, a break there. However, since he throws with his left hand, he beat us in the one start he had against us, giving up one run on just 6 hits over 7 innings back in August. Livan Hernandez will likely be starting the third game for some reason. Livan has been bad this year. Opponents are hitting over .300 against him, and his ERA has hovered around 5 all year. Micah Owings will likely start game four. Micah’s ERA is a full run higher on the road (4.96) than it is at home (3.81), so yet another break there, since he’ll be starting the first game at Wrigley. In two starts against the Cubs this year, the rookie has given up 5 runs in 10 innings. Their bullpen is good. Very good. Their closer, Jose Valverde, has been pretty lights out this year. Their offense, on the other hand, sucks. They’re 15th in the NL in Batting Average, dead last in OBP, and 13th in OPS. I like our chances a lot. I'm calling a sweep.

So the Phillies are the champs of the NL East. The Padres lost, so the Rockies control their own fate right now. They win, they play tomorrow. They lose, they go home. Regardless, we're playing the DBacks in the NLDS. Wow, as I type this, the Rockies take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 8th.

Lou should win Manager of the Year, but I think the voters will look at the money Hendry spent this offseason and say we should have won, with or without Lou. LOU???? I can't even imagine a justification. Granted he didn't blow it, but damned if he didn't try. ? His team came from 8.5 back two months ago to winning the division. Excuse me while I bow down and worship Lou for such a poor season record wise when his team should have done a lot better. He took this team from worst to first in one year. That's pretty impressive regardless of anything else. Seriously? The manager last year was Dusty so there's one problem. Also, Soriano, Lilly, Marquis(for W-L record). No it's not that impressive. What? Regardless of what that sentence means, Lou has done a very good job this year. How does he not deserve consideration for Manager of the Year?

Lou should win Manager of the Year, but I think the voters will look at the money Hendry spent this offseason and say we should have won, with or without Lou. LOU???? I can't even imagine a justification. Granted he didn't blow it, but damned if he didn't try. ? His team came from 8.5 back two months ago to winning the division. Excuse me while I bow down and worship Lou for such a poor season record wise when his team should have done a lot better. He took this team from worst to first in one year. That's pretty impressive regardless of anything else.

For my great-grandmother, who would watch the Cubs play on WGN every single day until the day she died. When we would have her over for dinner, she would sit in her car in the driveway waiting to hear the last out before she came in. I can remember my parents looking out to see her sitting there and chuckling about it. She absolutely adored Mark Grace. She never got to see them win one. For my Grandpa, who is responsible for me being this big of a fan. I remember watching games with him when I was just a little boy. I can still remember him telling me stories about Milt Pappas. For Steve Bartman. When we finally win one, no one will ever talk about him again. He can finally live his life in peace. For Ryno, Mark Grace, Andre Dawson, Sammy Sosa, Greg Maddux, and all the other Cubs greats that played for the Cubs for an extended period of time and never got to win one. For myself. I love this team, and I don't know what I'll do when we finally win it. But I hope I get to find out in a few weeks.

It was a kickoff. Devin Hester is ridiculous. Don't kick the ball in the air on kickoffs at all. Punts need to be short and high, who cares if you give up 5-10 yards. Jerry Jones needs to sign Romo soon. Paying him after he wins MVP is going to cost him even more. Picking Romo in the 5th or 6th round in my fantasy league is making me look genius so far!

If the game on Thursday winds up being the 9:00 game, I'm probably going to drive in after work and watch it with one of my few Cubs fans buddies. Probably somewhere low key like the Beanery though, so we can actually watch the game.

He's got a 3-year contract. We're stuck with him for 2 more years. Maybe we can leave him off and then he'll be so upset that he'll convince Hendry to let him out of it? Maybe?

Can we leave Marquis off the roster and then have him sign with one of our rivals next year?

So basically, for those of us who want the games to remain as tentatively scheduled (Weds Thurs on the road, Saturday Sunday at home), we should just hope for a Padres win?

I think Hill solidified his place in the playoff rotation with today's performance. What a great effort by Rich. And Marshall is probably auditioning for a roster spot right now, not sure why else Lou would pitch him.