kente777

I hope the Cubs are patient tonight. (excluding Soriano)

Huh?? Is that fuzzy math?

that is very joe morgan-esque hall of fame worthy Well, we didn't last night and we lost so it must be true.

That reminds me. I forget which inning it was that Lee was on first and A-Ram struck out but the ball got away and Lee went to 2nd. A-Ram started to run to first but it looked like he was told by the home plate ump he was out. Why couldn't he advance on a dropped 3rd strike? Lee was on first. I think you can only take first if there was no runner on first when strike 3 was called. Duh...thanks...I knew I was missing something obvious. Hey, man, I don't know about you, but my mind was really fried today here at work. These late games are killers. I've got to get up at 4:00 A.M. to throw papers and then report at 6:30 at my "real" job. Tomorrow I'm gonna be a zombie....so I can feel your pain! If the Cubs win tonight, it will be worth it.

That reminds me. I forget which inning it was that Lee was on first and A-Ram struck out but the ball got away and Lee went to 2nd. A-Ram started to run to first but it looked like he was told by the home plate ump he was out. Why couldn't he advance on a dropped 3rd strike? Lee was on first. I think you can only take first if there was no runner on first when strike 3 was called.

I hope you get the ticket(s) and I hope you will use them!!

Agreed, seemed everybody new he was going to be pulled. I respect "Z" bat as a pitcher, but a ph mentality was needed, it was a bit of a pressure situation for a pitcher. I'll go with that. Although Z actually hit the ball fairly well. It's not like he put up a bad AB. Bah, I'm just going to say you score 1 run in 9 innings you aren't going to win many of those games. Z had 3 AB's. The first was a double; the second was a line out to the SS with Theriot on 2nd (should have bunted); the third was a strikeout with the bases loaded (top of the 6th). And actually, Z looked pretty bad on that last AB. I know, but he did hit the ball pretty hard there. I'm really not arguing that it would have been good to PH. I don't know what I'm saying -- give me a break I'm upset right now :wink: I really don't think you go with a PH there. Z had only pitched 5 innings with a low pitch count. However, he probably should have kept him in one more inning. It was a tough call and I'm glad Lou gets paid to make those decisions. True. If we can just win tonight the sky will look a heck of a lot brighter. I'm kind of in a holding pattern until 9pm tonight. So win tonight, Cubs. Amen!

I think Soto looked pretty good last night. He was pretty patient. I'd keep him in!

Agreed, seemed everybody new he was going to be pulled. I respect "Z" bat as a pitcher, but a ph mentality was needed, it was a bit of a pressure situation for a pitcher. I'll go with that. Although Z actually hit the ball fairly well. It's not like he put up a bad AB. Bah, I'm just going to say you score 1 run in 9 innings you aren't going to win many of those games. Z had 3 AB's. The first was a double; the second was a line out to the SS with Theriot on 2nd (should have bunted); the third was a strikeout with the bases loaded (top of the 6th). And actually, Z looked pretty bad on that last AB. I know, but he did hit the ball pretty hard there. I'm really not arguing that it would have been good to PH. I don't know what I'm saying -- give me a break I'm upset right now :wink: I really don't think you go with a PH there. Z had only pitched 5 innings with a low pitch count. However, he probably should have kept him in one more inning. It was a tough call and I'm glad Lou gets paid to make those decisions.

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. I would have pinch hit with Ward for Zambrano with the bases loaded. That would have been going to the pen early, and Zambrano had gotten a hit, but I saw that as a chance to blow the game open and I would have put the best hitter I could up there and hope for the best from the bullpen. That was my first thought, too. But then I realized Z had hit th ball well the first time up so you might as well leave him in and take your chances. And really, it almost paid off. Stupid freaking midget.... Zambrano stuck out with the bases loaded. The line drive he hit that Drew caught was in his 2nd AB. Theriot was on 2nd with nobody out. On that play, I would have liked to see Z show bunt to draw in the infield and then swing away. Try to pull the ball to at least get Theriot to 3rd with one out. Oh well...let's get em tonight! Yep, as soon as Z got behind I knew he would K. Webb made him look silly, too.

Agreed, seemed everybody new he was going to be pulled. I respect "Z" bat as a pitcher, but a ph mentality was needed, it was a bit of a pressure situation for a pitcher. I'll go with that. Although Z actually hit the ball fairly well. It's not like he put up a bad AB. Bah, I'm just going to say you score 1 run in 9 innings you aren't going to win many of those games. Z had 3 AB's. The first was a double; the second was a line out to the SS with Theriot on 2nd (should have bunted); the third was a strikeout with the bases loaded (top of the 6th). And actually, Z looked pretty bad on that last AB.

Right now BP puts us at 30% chance of winning this series. Let's beat these odds, damn it!!

I'm honestly not worried about Z. He showed me last night he could handle the pressure. I'm more worried with our offense and how we'll do against this lefty tonight.

You're cheating. I asked how you felt now. :wink:

If you are right, I will give you one month of free premium!!

Has anyone's mind changed about the outcome of this series? I was really hoping we could have pulled that out last night. But now the pressure is on us tonight. Can we handle it? Anyone think this series goes to the D-Backs?

Yes, he was on, but not his best. He had bouts of wildness and his sinker was starting to get up around the 5th inning. If we are going to advance, we better learn to hit good pitchers. The numbers from our big 3 were sick last night.

Badnews, My assessment last night was that Webb pitched a good game, but not great. I felt like we had our chances. After the 3rd inning, Webb's sinker was not as good as in the earlier innings....and I felt like the Cubs took many "right over the plate" pitches. I think Webb was hitable last night, and I felt like we blew an opportunity.

Tell me you still feel like we're gonna win this series.

He had some hittable pitches but I thought he did a very nice job. It's amazing how good a pitcher looks when the hitters swing at garbage and take meatballs right down the middle of the plate. If yesterday is any indication today we're going to be kissing Doug Davis's ass talking about what a masterful pitcher he is. That's what I'm really afraid of. A junky, slow ball lefty in a must-win game for the Cubs??? Ugh. Ken

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. Biggest blunder by Lou, IMO, was not bunting. You got a tough pitcher who's not gonna give up a lot of runs. Man on 3rd with 1 out would have been nice, especially since Sori hit it out of the infield.

Did Webb just pitch that great or were we tight last night? It seemed to me that Webb was vulnerable. He looked really good in the first 3 innings, but from that point on, I felt like our offense just sucked. Tonight is a must win. We lose tonight, I don't think we win the series.

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. We had our chances, but we didn't capitalize.

Way to slay the strawman. Care to link me to a single post in the history of this board where someone opined that experience is irrelevant? All other things being equal, I'll take the more experienced guy. But major league baseball teams generally overemphasize "experience." So when there's actually a decision between an experienced guy and an inexpercinced guy, rarely are "all other things equal." (If they were, the inexperienced guy wouldn't even be considered) And I'll take the more talented, inexperienced guy every.single.time. Uh, people say that on this board all the time. Link? People say inexperience is vastly overvalued. And it is. I've yet to see anyone make a serious case for experience being irrelevant. Here's your link: viewtopic.php?t=44592 And btw, just because people don't use the word irrelevant, doesn't mean they don't think it is. If someone says experience is not a factor (which the link will show), that is the same as saying it is relevant. Something that is not a factor, is irrelevant -- same thing. Listen, I'm not here to prove or disprove what people said about certain things. Most of the posters on this board, do not really value experience. I do. I think it is an intangible. No, you cannot objectively measure it, but it is a factor. I think it was a factor with Marmol last night. Hopefully, he got the butterfly's out of the way and he'll be dominant from here on out.

Way to slay the strawman. Care to link me to a single post in the history of this board where someone opined that experience is irrelevant? All other things being equal, I'll take the more experienced guy. But major league baseball teams generally overemphasize "experience." So when there's actually a decision between an experienced guy and an inexpercinced guy, rarely are "all other things equal." (If they were, the inexperienced guy wouldn't even be considered) And I'll take the more talented, inexperienced guy every.single.time. Uh, people say that on this board all the time. Link? People say inexperience is vastly overvalued. And it is. I've yet to see anyone make a serious case for experience being irrelevant. We just had a discussion a few days ago. I got rebuked for mentioning that I thought experience in the playoffs was a factor. Can't remember the link, but I'll try to find it.