Warren Brusstar

Provus said he was holding his lower leg. That's probably a bruise or an ankle (and not a huge deal).

Dear Z: 3 run bomb, plz.

How bad? Left the game

Ugh. Derosa hurt.

And some people -- no matter how bad the head coach is flushing their alma mater's/favorite university's basketball program down the toilet -- refuse to acknowledge the possibility that the head basketball coach is an abject failure. Stubborness prevails indeed. I have no idea what this reference is to but it seems like a sick burn. ohhhhh Pman has his nose so far up Bruce Weber's behind that I have no idea how he can even watch the games. Nice, [expletive]. The fact you were dead wrong on Choi really still bothers you, doesn't it? I don't blame you for being bitter, you looked like a fool. Of course not. I've certainly been wrong before and I'll be wrong again. I just think its funny listening to the president of the Bruce Weber Apologists lecturing others about stubborness. You need to get over your past failings And you need to actually acknowledge your own. Sorry, this is a baseball board, not an Illinois basketball board. I can separate those things. So, in other words, blind stubborness is accepted when discussing the Illinois basketball coach, but not the Cubs. Gotcha.

And some people -- no matter how bad the head coach is flushing their alma mater's/favorite university's basketball program down the toilet -- refuse to acknowledge the possibility that the head basketball coach is an abject failure. Stubborness prevails indeed. I have no idea what this reference is to but it seems like a sick burn. ohhhhh Pman has his nose so far up Bruce Weber's behind that I have no idea how he can even watch the games. Nice, [expletive]. The fact you were dead wrong on Choi really still bothers you, doesn't it? I don't blame you for being bitter, you looked like a fool. Of course not. I've certainly been wrong before and I'll be wrong again. I just think its funny listening to the president of the Bruce Weber Apologists lecturing others about stubborness. You need to get over your past failings And you need to actually acknowledge your own.

And some people -- no matter how bad the head coach is flushing their alma mater's/favorite university's basketball program down the toilet -- refuse to acknowledge the possibility that the head basketball coach is an abject failure. Stubborness prevails indeed. I have no idea what this reference is to but it seems like a sick burn. ohhhhh Pman has his nose so far up Bruce Weber's behind that I have no idea how he can even watch the games. Nice. The fact you were dead wrong on Choi really still bothers you, doesn't it? I don't blame you for being bitter, you looked like a fool. Of course not. I've certainly been wrong before and I'll be wrong again. I just think its funny listening to the president of the Bruce Weber Apologists lecturing others about stubborness.

Yes. With Zambrano starting game three. Well, you'll likely get this exact same matchup again.

What did he do?

And some people -- no matter how bad the head coach is flushing their alma mater's/favorite university's basketball program down the toilet -- refuse to acknowledge the possibility that the head basketball coach is an abject failure. Stubborness prevails indeed. I have no idea what this reference is to but it seems like a sick burn. ohhhhh Pman has his nose so far up Bruce Weber's behind that I have no idea how he can even watch the games.

41 pitches through 2 innings for Ollie. Get into that bullpen, boys.

And some people -- no matter how bad the head coach is flushing their alma mater's/favorite university's basketball program down the toilet -- refuse to acknowledge the possibility that the head basketball coach is an abject failure. Stubborness prevails indeed.

If anything, you could say that Cedeno is being (inadvertently) sent up for failure by getting a disproportionate amount of his PAs against lefties when he has (at least in the majors) tended to hit righties better. Agreed. Lou has never seemed to get that Cedeno can't hit LHP.

Ronny's IsoP (Isolated Power, SLG-BA) is .03 higher, and his IsoD (Isolated Discipline, OBP-BA) is .017. The power difference is basically the difference between Soto and Lee this year. The major difference right now between the two is that Theriot gets quite a few more singles, basically, to prop up the OBP and SLG with batting average. The OPS difference overall is quite minimal. I would almost always give a statistical advantage to the guy playing everyday over someone spot starting/pinch hitting on very rare occasions. Thus, I don't think it's all that fair to compare the two statistically. Looking closely at Cedeno's splits, his best month was directly following Spring Training, where he more than likely saw more regular at bats. As the season progressed, his stats trended downward as he saw less and less at bats. Granted, he most certainly wouldn't have been able to match what he did in March/April all season long, but it makes perfect sense that someone's timing starts deteriorating when they receive limited plate appearances over the course of a long season. With that said, there aren't many good utility infielders floating around and I don't know how much more anyone could expect from any replacement for Cedeno. I don't think anyone could have predicted what Fontenot has done this season, and I don't think you can predict that same production next year. I think it depends. With a player like Ronnie, the limited at-bats aren't taking advantage of a massive platoon split, so I think it's reasonable to think he'd be better with full-time play. In other circumstances -- Reed Johnson, Matt Murton -- the overall numbers look better in part time play because a disproportionate number of at bats come with a huge platoon advantage. Neither Murton nor Johnson has looked as good in full time play when they are required to face RHP 70% of the time.

100% not true.

?? If the Brewers win the WC, game 4'll be on at 9:30 central. That's 7:30 pacific. I seem to have forgotten that it would be Cubs Dodgers if the Brewers won the WC :oops: . The point stands - 930pm local time to start a game? Game 4 would be in LA. So it would be 7:30 local.

No. Cedeno has had a reverse-split (i.e. he's better against RHP) every single year of his major league career.

Lineups: A. Soriano lf R. Cedeno ss D. Lee 1b R. Johnson cf M. DeRosa 2b C. McGehee 3b K. Fukudome rf H. Blanco c S. Marshall p J. Reyes ss L. Castillo 2b D. Wright 3b C. Beltran cf C. Delgado 1b R. Castro c R. Church rf N. Evans lf J. Santana p I'm giving myself props for calling the McGehee start.

My guess - Soriano Cedeno (SS) Lee ARam DeRo (RF) Johnson McGehee (2B) Blanco

If that's true then why did they modify their rotation for the rest of the regular season to be: Marquis Marshall Zambrano Harden Dempster Lilly Marquis/Marshall I think that's right and I have no idea why Phil Rogers thinks that's setting up to be Dempster in Game 1. If he has inside information, great. But if he's using that order to read the tea leaves, doesn't it suggest Z/Harden/Dempster/Lilly?

If the Mets are the first-round opponent, I think Dempster as anchor is a huge mistake. Has Lou forgotten that Dempster's two worst outings last year were against the Mets?

I couldn't disagree with this more. We have a bigger obligation to win the World Series. Set your teams up for the postseason, and then worry about fielding the best team after that. Losing teams don't worry about this stuff when they're playing all the kids from their farm system at the end of the year...why should a contending team worry about it? I'm not saying we should run out scrubs every day...but I don't think we should put the obligation to be competitive at the end of the season over the obligation to be competitive in the postseason. Maybe that's not what he's saying...but it's just one of those baseball idioms that drives me nuts. Banedon, I think all Lou is doing is letting the commissioner and the other playoff teams know that he will not lay down against teams who are still contending, which really is every teams responsibility. I think he fully understands the importance of resting players and getting to the World Series. I see his statement as nothing more than a politically correct statement meant to cover his butt. Whatever marginal gain there is by resting regulars is more than overcome by the possibility of forcing the Mets to throw Santana on Sunday (and limiting him to only one start in the NLDS).

Because batting order doesn't matter. Especially when you've got a lineup full of productive hitters. True. The bigger issue is that our first baseman has a .703 OPS. The Cubs have been winning despite Lee for quite some time.

Huh? What? You say that they could have just decided this two or three days ago because pretty much everyone knew Ike was going to drill Houston and in all likelihood the city wasn't going to be in any condition to host a couple of baseball games today and Monday, and that you don't know what the heck you are talking about? Shocking. Please explain how anyone whatsoever has been prejudiced by this decision or its timing. I'll wait for your response. (Obviously, impatient message board posters who think they have a right to know exactly what's going to happen immediately think they've been prejudiced. They haven't been.)

OMG! This is shameful! Bud Selig should be fired immediately! Drayton McLain is a selfish jerk! Huh? What? You say that the games are scheduled for Sunday and Monday and the first 20 pages of this thread are filled with a bunch of hysterical, petulant whiners? Shocking.