IowaCubsFan

Anything coming from the players is going to be nothing more than some lazy-arse spin.

This season has proved Hendry's talents are vastly overrated.

What's one more year of a contract where we only pay Baker, what is it, $4 million? The Cubs ate far more than that to unload Sosa, so I don't know what's so magic about 2006. This franchise is getting worse, not better. Leaving Dusty in there for another season only will make the team that much worse.

In the words of John Wayne, this is ri-[expletive]-diculous! Fire Baker. NOW.

"We're making progress. See how we won that ninth inning there?"

Why not Grady Little?

Is Ricky Henderson available? Hey, I heard Jamie Moyer is available.

What are they saying? I don't have the radio on. They said that our entire offense was slumping together. And that we couldnt even score runs against below avg pitchers. They also mentioned that our defense has been horrible and if we have another losing streak like this one "That will be the end of the 2005 Chicago Cubs" (Pat). "another" streak? I would argue this is the end of the 2005 Chicago Cubs.

What are they saying? I don't have the radio on.

Hey guys; I just wanted to let you all know I'm having a couple grilled cheese sandwiches right now. They're quite delicious; fix yourself one or two and maybe you'll forget about this abomination of a baseball team for a short time. :D

If Z really pulled himself out, it's a bush league move and representative of the fact that he isn't the professional we hoped he'd be at this point. Regardless, it's also a sign that Baker is quickly losing this team.

Well, it's time for Law and Order: Criminal Intent with the ever-creepy Vincent D'Onofrio.

I'm watching Family Guy. It's excellent as usual.

I'm pretty sure Benny could recognize the squeeze play.

this was excellent... and waaaaaaaaaaayyyyy too true... I dunno...I'm pretty sure Benny could have beaten Macias and Hollandsworthless to first base, especially if he was chasing some buxom secretary or nurse or something.

I'm optimistic about my MVP 2005 team being 72-18 and Wood and Prior being a combined 32-2 right now.

Odds on Dusty saying, "We're just in a bad slump right now." following the game: 100%

Love is not the word I'm thinking of at the moment.

I hate this team. Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate!!!!

Didn't take him long to get used to the "Dusty Baker System." Coming soon to a Tom Emanski video ad near you.

There are things that distinguish winning teams from losing teams in baseball. Solid pitching, timely hitting, well-played defense, and a knack for doing the unexpected are all traits you see in winners. But there's one intangible factor nearly all winning teams have, a factor that teams can't practice for yet is essential to their success in this game: Poise. Poise affects every single facet of the game, and it has a huge impact on how a team handles adversity that will surely raise its ugly head throughout a 162-game season. Championship teams have poise; The Yankees have it. The Cardinals have it. The Red Sox last year sure as heck had it. The Cubs don't have it though, and they really haven't had it under Baker since Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS. In fact, the Cubs have shown progessively less poise as time has progressed since that day of infamy. By the end of last season, Baker's team collapsed like a house of cards, and players were calling the TV booth during the game to complain about the perceived negative coverage they were getting. Little has changed since last year. Despite having two forty homerun hitters in his lineup and two potential Cy Young winners and a Hall-of-Famer on his pitching staff, the team still plays like the Bad News Bears out there for the most part; booting easy ground balls, swinging at first pitches, and making ridiculously stupid mental mistakes. How could a team with that much talent be so bad? The answer is poise. All you need to do is look at the increase in negativity, finger pointing, and snippyness among the Cub players since Baker came to town. I mean, you had a potential league MVP last week chiding our fans for booing the player of another team. Excuse me? Where would Derrek Lee get the idea that fans aren't supposed to boo a pitcher like LaTroy Hawkins, who caused those same fans so much heartburn? Oh yeah, that would be Dusty Baker, who last year during the Cubs' epic collapse said, "Real fans don't boo." The fact is this talented team doesn't succeed because they're always looking for excuses in their failures instead of addressing them directly. Patterson not a good leadoff hitter, even though he's not a leadoff hitter? Well, he's just not getting enough support. Hawkins failing in the closer's role, even though he's a setup man? Fans are being too negative. Not scoring any runs? Well, it's just bad luck. Poise erodes when you enable people to fail, and Baker is the biggest enabler of them all.

That was freakin' ridiculous. Perhaps if this team had a productive offense, or a manager that could set a lineup properly, we wouldn't have to sweat out games like this.

I'm actually glad that the Soriano and Dunn deals didn't go through. The last thing the Cubs need is a player that swings for the fences. Lawton gets on base and will be a spark for this offense. There's no reason this offense can't start scoring runs. NOW. LF Lawton 2B Walker SS Garciaparra 1B Lee 3B Ramirez RF Burnitz CF Hairston C Barrett Baker has everything he needs on offense to make this team a winner. If the Cubs fail to make the playoffs now, it's on him.

I'm glad to see they won, but why does it have to be such an adventure lately?

If there's one thing this game proves, it's that the Cubs are not a playoff-caliber team. There's no point in trying to shore up the bullpen or pick up an extra bat, because it will not help as long as Dusty is still managing. The fact that this team has struggled against the Memphis Redbirds, the Giants and the D-Backs is enough proof to show that Jim Hendry should either do nothing at the trade deadline or start unloading veterans. Regardless, he should make a statement by firing Baker NOW.