moorecg

That sounds familiar. I began brainwashing..eh..."training" my kids at birth...My wife was born and raised here...but she's to the point where she'd rather the Cubs win because she knows I'm easier to live with when they do. <----- That was at 9 months. My wife corrected one of her friends that other day when they said "...so from April till September, you have to deal with the Cubs?" My wife said, "No, its a full year thing, but the season starts in February when pitchers and catchers report." Never been so turned on in my life. I like her already...

That sounds familiar. I began brainwashing..eh..."training" my kids at birth...My wife was born and raised here...but she's to the point where she'd rather the Cubs win because she knows I'm easier to live with when they do. My wonderfully patient gal is from the Waukegan/Zion area like myself, and her Dad is a big Cubs fan, so she gets it. To an extent. I still had to remind her today though to please humor my completely bipolar, baseball-induced mania/paranoia/depression over the next 30 (and hopefully more) days. As for the office, if we lose this thing to the Cardinals, I will probably punch someone. I understand the feeling about the office....I can only guess its worse here...We represent the Cards...if they knock us out I may have to send out Resumes. I have multiple partners stopping by my office every single day wanting to talk about "How great Ankiel" looks...or about how "impressed they are with Ryan Ludwick, Brendan Ryan...Bo Hart...name your poison"...my favorite is a buddy over at TC who e-mails me every time they score, OR, when we give up a run....I guess I use the phrase "buddy" waay too loosely.

That sounds familiar. I began brainwashing..eh..."training" my kids at birth...My wife was born and raised here...but she's to the point where she'd rather the Cubs win because she knows I'm easier to live with when they do.

It's huge, but I'm really down to a point now where every game is the biggest game of the year. Last night was by far the most nervous I've been watching a game all season, and I know it's only going to get worse. x2 I think part of it, a large part of it, has to do with being here in St. Louis....every time they win a game now I hear how the "spunky" "scrappy" "heart of a champion" do gooders are just ready to take the division...it drives me nuts...and with them taking an early lead last night it was just...well...as someone said...ulcer city.

You know...to a large extent I agree with this. If the Cubs were 4-5 games up they'd be the talk of the country...we'd start getting goat stories, and black cats run before every broad cast...if we can have the media all over the Cards while we still maintain the lead I think its better for us in the long run...the pressure will be big enough in the Playoffs, no reason to seek in right now too.

Somebody needs to tell Fonzie to lay off the first pitch or two tonight...make Sheets work early....

I know...I know...OPB and OPS are really what matters...but looking at that line up...we've got one guy below .288...and no one under .270....shouldn't we statistically score some runs?

Milwaukee AB R H RBI BB K LOB Season Avg R. Weeks 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .227 C. Hart rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .280 P. Fielder 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .281 R. Braun 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .334 K. Mench lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .265 B. Hall cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .258 J. Estrada c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .282 J.J. Hardy ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .275 J. Suppan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .083 Totals 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chi Cubs AB R H RBI BB K LOB Season Avg A. Soriano lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .297 R. Theriot ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .288 D. Lee 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .311 A. Ramirez 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .310 C. Floyd rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .291 M. DeRosa 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .292 J. Jones cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .270 J. Kendall c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .298 R. Hill p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125 I honestly really like our lineup. About as good as we can do all things considered. Go Cubs!

Lineups?

Lets go Astros....Clap Clap...Clap calp clap. Any chance we get a good "team plays well after Manager Fired" series from the Stros?

If you think that was hypercritical, you've never seen me hypercritical. I was against the trade (I'm sure I never called it a horrible horrible signing), but as I said, my biggest concerns were about the likelihood of an extension and Soto being left in AAA. Kendall has been better than I expected, but it's been a month. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A New Era wrote: Has anyone else gotten an anxiety disorder reading critical over-reactive posts on this messege board all the time? Just curious. Put me in the "it was one game" camp. These players are people too. He had a lot of jitters no doubt. Think about if 40,000 fans gave you the welcome they gave kendall. You'd probably put a bit too much pressure on yourself. This will all work out soon enough. Here is one of them I was talking about...still can't find the back and forth we had on the issue...it may have been in a separate thread from the main "Kendall trade" thread....Agreed, resigning him is a very bad idea...but I like what he's given us for the cost of Rob Bowen.

As evidenced by the Cubs current ranking of 14th in BB taken among the 16 NL clubs. They've been no higher than 14th in any Jim Hendry led season (but were considerably higher during the preceding years). That last part isn't really fair. If the Cubs still had Sosa in his prime drawing walks on this team they'd be higher in the rankings, too. Sosa drew 40 less walks in 2003 compared to 2002. Add 40 more walks to the 2003 Cubs and they still come in only 9th place. Plus, part of the GM's job is to replace production. And one of Hendry's knocks is not being prepared for older players having down years. Besides, the point was to show that Hendry didn't just come into a situation where the team always ranked toward at the bottom in walks. They have been 14th, 14th, 16th, 16th and 14th under Jim's watch. Obviously he hasn't paid much attention to this particular issue, which has been the biggest issue that has held back the offense. So why were you so hypercritical of the Kendall acquisition...a guy who walks about 10% of the time since becoming a Cub? Hypercritical? My biggest problem with the Kendall trade has been the fear of Jim resigning him, coupled with the lack of opportunity given to Soto who is tearing apart AAA right now. At the time, Kendall wasn't walking much at all. He looked washed up. And at his age, given his position, career path and injury history, it looked to me to be a big gamble to hope he's return to a productive status. He started slow, got really hot at the end of July into the middle of August, when he was walking almost once a game. That pace has slowed over the past 9 games (32 PA). Frankly I think it's quite foolish to waste a .400 OBP in the 8 hole. Yeah, I think Hypercritical is a fair assessment of your initial reaction...you and I had a LONG go round in a thread a while back after he started slow in his first 4 games...I said I thought we should give it some time...and you just kept calling it a horrible horrible signing...I'd dig up the posts but I'm too lazy... As for wasting the OBP in the 8 hole...I might agree with that...but there are some who say lineup positioning doesn't matter....

As evidenced by the Cubs current ranking of 14th in BB taken among the 16 NL clubs. They've been no higher than 14th in any Jim Hendry led season (but were considerably higher during the preceding years). That last part isn't really fair. If the Cubs still had Sosa in his prime drawing walks on this team they'd be higher in the rankings, too. Sosa drew 40 less walks in 2003 compared to 2002. Add 40 more walks to the 2003 Cubs and they still come in only 9th place. Plus, part of the GM's job is to replace production. And one of Hendry's knocks is not being prepared for older players having down years. Besides, the point was to show that Hendry didn't just come into a situation where the team always ranked toward at the bottom in walks. They have been 14th, 14th, 16th, 16th and 14th under Jim's watch. Obviously he hasn't paid much attention to this particular issue, which has been the biggest issue that has held back the offense. So why were you so hypercritical of the Kendall acquisition...a guy who walks about 10% of the time since becoming a Cub?

Nope. So you're saying we've got a chance.

Hmm...I knew someone was missing. :D

I was looking for that post and just didn't find it...thanks for posting...I remember getting ridiculed for saying "Hey, he hit .295 in June, lets give him a chance...and...he's only 33...."

That's great. I love being right my one or two times a year. (Also...clicking on that link only reminds me how well worth the $5 a month Premium is....)

Does he really get to pick when he serves it or is he serving now and you're saying he "picked' this time?

If the only series we win in the next month and a half are against STL and MIL we're screwed.... I think you're a little pesimistic on the ARZ series...maybe a little on the Houston Series...quite a bit on pittsburgh and maybe a little on Cincy and quite a bit on FLA Add just one more win to each of those series and we win 20 games out of the next 36...that puts us at 85 wins...right at where the mark probably needs to be.

I just took what ESPN showed and extrapolated it out to the end of the season. They still seem to think that Jennings is going to pitch tomorrow against the Pirates, so I went with it. Yeah, not criticizing...just pointing it out....I heard on XM and I think its even on the ESPN page that he's having season ending surgery soon....still...two Jason Jennings starts probably doesn't have too much effect on the season... Also, as to the post above...I'd guess Z has to start against STL too if that series matters as much as we think it will....I'd guess maybe Gallagher would get a spot start to bump the rotation so leads off that series.

You've got gennings in there twice for Houston...he's having season ending surgery

I'd rather he start and put Marquis for the long man. I doubt they suddenly pull Marquis from the rotation now, especially since in the last month he has stopped his downward trend. Most likely true. It was going to take a lot to get the 3-year contract out of the rotation anyway. Marshall and Lilly both have 180 inning issues, and Hill could probably use a bit of a break at any moment. We're getting pretty close to having Marquis down to only a Two year contract...if he can do what he's done this year again next year the deal really won't have been that bad...we really needed the 200 innings this year.

He swung the bat pretty well yesterday. Since Lou always loves to play new guys as soon as they arrive, I'm betting the lineup looks like this... Theriot Jones Lee Ramirez Floyd Monroe DeRosa Kendall Won't be watching the first hour or so. Hopefully I can come back and see a Cubs lead. I think Monroe might PH today but I think he'll get his first start tomorrow against the lefty, Doug Davis. Theriot Jones Lee Ramirez Floyd DeRosa (Lou hates Murton and the GIDP didn't help I'm sure) Fontenot (2-4, RBI yesterday) Kendall Marshall ...is my guess Gosh does our lineup look better with Soriano in it....I wish he'd get back soon.

I'd rather he start and put Marquis for the long man. Marquis had a QS last time out.... I think he'd be great as we could use him as a spot starter to set up the rotation for different situations...e.g., letting him pitch against Houston or Pit to make sure that Zambrano faces the Cards....(not sure if thats a good thing after yesterday)

Agreed. Pie's speed and defense make him a must have bench option in the playoffs...if its late in a game and you just HAVE to get a run home from second I want Pie to be the guy running...