All things CUBS thread

Believe me, they've been checked out! There's not really anything that suggests the Cubs will be really playing well until June (Prior's injury, Maddux's sluggishness, traditional slow starts of Lee, Alou, Sosa to a lesser extent).

Alou's got some RBIs but I think he's squandered quite a few opportunities hitting cleanup so far this year. Admittedly I'm going on anecdotal evidence about Alou from another message board, I've only been able to catch the Cubs a couple times this year so far.

"I think walks are overrated unless you can run... If you get a walk and put the pitcher in a stretch, that helps. But the guy who walks and can't run, most of the time they're clogging up the bases for somebody who can run."

"Who's been the champions the last seven, eight years? ...Have you ever heard the Yankees talk about on-base percentage and walks? Walks help. But you ain't going to walk across the plate. You're going to hit across the plate. That's the school I come from."

"It's called hitting, and it ain't called walking. Do you ever see the top 10 walking? You see top 10 batting average. A lot of those top 10 do walk. But the name of the game is to hit."

"Chemistry is very important. I remember a few years ago when I was with the Giants, a guy told me there was no such thing as chemistry. I said, 'Well, there is no such thing as chemistry when you don't have any.' But for those that have it, it means a lot."

Then these on April Fools Day:

"It's funny, for so long I was so resistant to this idea of 'taking pitches.' But someone explained it to me the other day... and you know, it makes a lot of sense. What the hell was I thinking?"

"And pitch counts: man alive! Why didn't someone tell me about these things before? I really could have saved that Gary Huckabay some ulcers."

"Oh man, things are going to be different now, I swear. I've got a whole new outlook on life."

Grif Jr. just crushed one.

The Cubs hitting has been generally pretty good and they are driving in runs. Barrett has hit better than expected and the signing of Todd Walker seems pretty smart these days, so even with Lee not hitting a ton, the offseason pickups are looking smart.

The pitching has been a bit slow out of the box with Maddux and part of the bullpen not throwing very well. I think (hope) both will come around. Maddux had a shaky start last year, but settled down and had a decent year. I think that they will make Hawkins the closer within a month or so.

With or without Prior for awhile, I still like this Cubs team to be able to contend. Houston has lost Petitte for a while. Once Cinci's starters get clubbed and the bullpen gets over used, they will slip back in the pack. They got off to decent starts the past few seasons only to burn out their bullpen and head into a nose dive. St.Louis is solid, but their starters are not great.

If Prior can get back to his old self for a second have run, they will be in good shape. If Prior can't come back to normal, they might make the playoffs, but I don't know if they can make a run for the title.

Weurtz seems to have punched his ticket back to Des Moines today. Remlinger can't get back soon enough.

Dusty is going ballistic! He just got thrown out.

Even with the Cubs dropping two of three, this series with the Reds was very entertaining to say the least. If Cinci can keep that lineup healthy, they are going to raise quite a few team's ERA.

The TV dudes keep saying Maddux needs to find his "trademark location" but I'm not so sure his location is the problem. He's around the strike zone like he always is. His pitches don't look to me like they're moving like they used to -- he rolled so many 85-88 mph fastballs up there that just did nothing today. Well, did nothing until they hit the Waveland concrete, that is.

Is Clement getting punished today for Wood's actions? His pitches that I saw looked pretty good.

Losing his cool after walking Dunn was all on Wood though. Giving Wily Mo Pena somthing over the plate on an 0-2 count is just inexcusable.

Clement's looking really good today. Prior threw 35 pitches off the mound again, too.

It's funny how all the preseason predix talked about the overwhelming Cubs' staff whilst their success this season has mostly come as a result of an at times overwhelming offense.

Zambrano doesn't get as much press, but he could be just as good as any of them. The bullpen blew at least three wins for him last year. Zambrano did look a bit spooked during a couple of his playoff starts, but he was only 22, so maybe next time it won't be as big a deal.

Pitching team? In 14 games, the Cubs are hitting .291 with 30 HR and 85 runs (6.07 per game)!

For those keeping track at home, Prior's replacement is 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA and 1.34 WHIP.

Corey Patterson, 2 walks today? gahhhhh wtf is happening

The Cubs have allowed opponents a total of five runs in the last six games (and no team more than one run in any of those games). I would have a hard time thinking of another period in which the Cubs played this well in every facet of the game.

Prior will start his spring training in AZ this week, according to reports.

BP should do some investigating into why certain pitchers own certain teams like this regardless of the hitters involved.

2004: Hee Shop Choi?

Past winners:

1964: Lou Brock
1984: Joe Carter
1987: Dennis Eckersley
1989: Rafael Palmeiro

Through all of this they kept with Leon Durham until it was really freakin' obvious he wasn't going to be a star.

(In the Cubs defense, the did steal Sandberg from the Phillies and Sosa from the White Sox, so they have made a couple of good trades.)

I think Aramis Ramirez might be added to the Sandberg/Sosa list before it's all said and done.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/e/eckerde01.shtml

Moyer pitched in Baltimore for a few years inbetween. He is a weird one that really only figured out what to do when he hit Seattle in his middle 30s. Maybe Moyer needed his arm to wear out enough so that he could throw so slow.

Joe Carter is a hard one, as he was apart of that Sutcliffe deal which that year he went 17-1 as a Cub and won the division. Being a diehard fan at that time, I was bummed when they let Carter go.

Palmeiro was another hard trade, as they got Mitch Williams in that deal and won the division that year. It didn't work out in the long run, but 89 was fun. Williams would nearly give you a heart attack everytime he came into the game and eventually ran into Joe Carter and gave Phillie fans a battery chucking target for life. One of the most joyful moments watching baseball was when Williams in 89 faked putting down a bunt then swung and hit an HR, which may have been the only time he batted the whole season.

That is the one. He squared like the squeeze was on and pulled back and socked it. Zimmer pulled off some crazy stuff that year and for some reason it worked at least until they ran into Will Clark in the playoffs.

Moyer came up with the Cubs around the same time as Maddux and I think was traded to the Rangers in the Palmeiro deal. He was with the Cubs for a year or two.

HA HA HA

The week before that series, the Cubs and Cardnals played three in St. Louis, the Cub bullpen blew two chances to win games. One of those was a real shame as Zambrano pitched one of his best starts through eight and they went to the pen in the ninth and blew a two run lead.

All I want to know is why oh why isn't the Cubs/Cards game on TV tonight?

so out of the Cards first seven hitters, Pujols has the lowest average. He is even below Ray-Ray Lankkkkkkford.

Blergh.

Cubs-Cards series are just brutal for the in-game managing.

he has used his fastball in game-deciding situations but, unfortuneately for him, the decisions have gone against him. he's starting to remind me of a closer the bosox had about 10 years ago, ken ryan who could throw a fastball 96+ mph but it had absolutely no movement on it.

Steve Finley has six goddamned homeruns against the Cubs. The season series with the D-Backs mercifully ends tomorrow.

Losses like these are big if the Cubs lose the division or a playoff spot by a game or two. I would have been plenty happy if they could have scored in the last two innings and Mercker got the win.

The Diamondbacks have owned the Cubs the past few years.

Here's how important wins are as a pitching stat: Last Jeriome Robertson had 15 wins for the Astros with an ERA over 5.00. When it came time to make some decisions about the rotation once the Astros signed Clemens and Pettitte, management gave the job straight out to Tim Redding, who only had 10 wins last year, but with an ERA under 4.00.

And where is Robertson these day? In AAA for Cleveland with an ERA over 7.00.

I think he gets one or two more starts to straighten things out before the Astros go with Duckworth, who had a couple of effective starts in Pettitte's absence.

I'm derailing this thread for gygax, BTW.

I think I'm going to make an MVP Baseball rotation that consists solely of knuckleballers, screwballers, forkballers, and split-fingersersers.

http://www.ntsb.gov/events/1999/bourbonnais/amtrak5.jpg

He's in AAA right now, but we may see him again before the season is done. He actually got the first Pettitte-replacement start but couldn't get out of the first inning. I think the cooler weather in early April was hurting the knuckler.

Joe Niekro to thread.

"The Astros need some cutter (the kind with a metal sharp object, not the Mariano Rivera cut fastball)"

Mike Scott to thread.

but yeah, look at his splits, this is par for the course. you can pretty much write off April.

1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K

now if the guy had jumped onto the field and been murdered THAT would've been page one material.

plus it's front page news in the sun times, plus two articles on page 3. you don't really expect the cubs owners to be publicizing a murder after one of their games do you?

There was some crazy dude who attacked a family of Sox fans when they were on their way to a game, killing one of them - I've seen that one in the papers.

I guess I did, silly me. Up until last year, we were all told by the Powers That Be at the Tribune that their coverage of their own team would be fair and equitable. There's been an incredible imbalance in coverage of the Cubs v. Sox this year that even the sports editors at both papers now admit that they give more ink to the Cubs because they have more fans.

This murder, as I implied, would have been front page news in the Tribune and Sun-Times and continued to reinforce the stereotype about the area around US Cellular being "unsafe," while actual crime statistics show that the area around Wrigley has more crime. I mean, the Tribune BURIED the story at the very bottom of the Metro section. Boers and Bernstein and others on the Score today have been lambasting the Tribune (rightly, IMO) for this obvious corporate CYA tactic. The guy got killed outside Wrigley not 200 feet from the entrance to it, having used one of the freebie toy bats that were given away at the game as a weapon against the driver of the SUV. He was shot at one of the busiest intersections in that neighborhood at 6:00 at night. It's not like some drug deal gone bad at Stateway Gardens or in the Austin neighborhood at 1:30am. The guy was at the Cubs game, with a souvenir from the park, and was killed right in front of the park. Surely this merits more than the tiny little buried placement the Trib gave it, right?

Patterson and Walker need to lay off the high outside fastball, they made Chacon look like a genius on Saturday. Patterson's big hit on Sunday to win the game definitely makes up for it.

I'd like to see the Cubs spread a few of those big game runs around, they seem to hit for a dozen, then play tight for the next few days.

I'd lean toward Des Moines (AAA), I don't think Prior'll be throwing for the Quad Cities River Bandits any time soon

Hope Jimy didn't swear at the umps, he might get suspended, too.

If you have seen the Seinfeld episode where George goes out with a couple of guys from the Astros management, those s.o.b.'s do not mind swearing.

I expect Jimy to get suspended because apparently he bumped the ump, although he's claiming the ump bumped him.

Did you see the play that started all of it? The phantom HBP? I haven't seen a replay of it, so it's hard for me to comment on the whole situation, but Astros seemed fairly convinced that the 2B umpire had no business overruling the home plate ump on the play.

What I thought was surprising was that Oswalt didn't lose his cool until he was in the dugout. Whoever was coaching at that point (Hooton?) went out to the mound to change pitchers but didn't go to the ump first, ensuring that the ump had to come out to the mound to get the pitching change info while Oswalt was still there. Roy didn't say a word as he left the mound, didn't shout back at the ump, didn't do anything until he saw the box of gum in the dugout. He gave it a ride though, and if you'll pardon the expression, it was pretty sweet.

xpost re: seinfeld, too bad the Yanks-Astros series last year wasn't played in Houston...

If they had played the Astros-Yanks series in Houston, we wouldn't have gotten to see the Yankess get no-hit in their own house.

Costanza: You tell those sons-o-bitches that no Yankee is ever coming to Houston as long as those bastards are running things down there.

WHO HAS REAL PULL?
Managers leaving in a starter for 120-plus pitches:

MOST *
Dusty Baker, Cubs 26
Frank Robinson, Expos 25
Joe Torre, Yankees 15
Tony La Russa, Cardinals 12
Mike Hargrove, Orioles 12

FEWEST *
Clint Hurdle, Rockies 0
Jimy Williams, Astros 1
Tony Pena, Royals 1
Lou Piniella, Devil Rays 1
Mike Scioscia, Angels 1
Eric Wedge, Indians 1

(* -- among managers managing the full 2003 season)

Source: Sporting News Baseball Register

One of the most incredible at-bats I've ever seen. Alex Cora, after fouling off FOURTEEN PITCHES from Matt Clement on a 2-2 count, hits a 2 run dong to right.

Or getting shut the fuck out by Wilson Alvarez. Again.

:-(

Then interleauge play starts and things don't get much easier: 3 at ANA, 3 at HOU, 3 vs. OAK, 3 at STL, 3 at CHW.

Unfortunately, the Cubs DL could beat half the majors right now, but they should get a lot of help back in early June if all goes as planned. Kerry Wood is only expected to miss one more start as they reinstated his suspension and appeal.

Picked up tickets this morning to see Prior on the 30th in Des Moines!

http://www.detnews.com/pix/2004/05/21/sports/prior.jpg

C'mon the uniform is priceless!

Give us a report when you come back, Matt!

http://home.tiscali.de/kiskadee/hndiscog/felicity.jpg

And after getting three blisters at the batting cages last night, I might give it a try myself.

You know something's not right when Cubs fans care more about the Lansing Lugnuts than they do about a game against the Astros. .500 baseball until mid-June would be a great thing for this team.

6 games shut out
7 games scoring more than 10 runs

Is feast or famine too cliche? Live by the long ball, die by the long ball? onOFFon?

I just hope Rusch can keep pitching well, he has done OK in his couple of starts filling in for Wood.

Patterson seems to be a sucker for the outside pitch. If I was facing him, I would never throw him a strike.

I am a fool for life for following this team.

Good news...

The schizophrenic offense when into overdrive and scored a dozen keeping the Pirates from a sweep.

Mark Prior is starting Friday night.

Even a hitter of Mike Hampton's caliber probably accounts for just one win a year with his bat. Which means, yep, ESPN *does* employ at least one bigger idiot than Kruk or Reynolds.

I remember listening to Chicago sports talk after seeing the Bears get routed on Monday Night Football a few years ago by the Vikings. Harbaugh had been sacked nine times, hit every play he dropped back and the team rushed for a total of like six yards the entire game, yet every caller blamed Harbaugh for losing the game. Complete lunacy. My buddies and I had a pretty good laugh about that one.

WGN just featured a montage of 2003 Prior highlights set to REM's "I Am Superman":

Prior plunks Bonds 2003!
Prior hits a home run 2003!
Prior strikes out someone 2003!
Prior runs over Giles 2003!
Prior strikes out someone later in the season 2003!
Prior strikes out someone even later in the season 2003!
Prior celebrates division title 2003!

i hope he does well but the cubs pen blows it

*SWOON*

boldbury he's not going to pitch a full game so it should be ok.

Cubs offense manages to find new ways to not score with the bases loaded and less than two out. HOWEVER the 6th inning saw Corey Patterson get a standing ovation for taking a walk, so it wasn't a complete wash.

you really should consider getting unemployed.

The curse of Dusty lives!

Standing ovations for:
Mark Prior
Corey Patterson

Key stats:
Cubs now 1-8 after an off-day.
Cubs 1-14 with RISP today.
Borowski 1-1 in sucking ass.

BOROWSKI: Dusty, I've decided to throw in with some gamblers and lose games in exchange for money.

DUSTY: Sorry, I'm loyal. You're my closer.

BOROWSKI: Just letting you know.

FADE TO BLACK

Maddux got the win on Sunday and Hawkins got the save.

In other news, Jason Dubois rots on the bench while Jose Macias goes 0-7 today and, like clockwork, Derrek Leeee is heating up.

I liked how they worked it last year down the stretch, it was like the Tribune realized it is a big badd corporation and started going out and screwing over some other teams.

>this is why you have a decent closer. Three outs and you win the game, if you can make it happen most of the time<

You're proving the point .. A "decent" closer can do it "most of the time." Not a guy you have to pay $6-8 million for 70 innings.

Lee: .310, .387 OBP, .916 OPS, 9 HR, 44 RBI
Hee: .266, .383 OBP, .921 OPS, 12 HR, 31 RBI

Lee: $6,166,667
Hee: $310,000

Rusch and Hollandsworth have both done a good job filling in for Wood and Sosa. They are a big reason the Cubs have been able to keep pace.

I was definitely among those lamenting the Lee/Hee trade until the 6-1 win over the Pirates a few weeks back. Everyone is singing his praises at first, and the oft-discussed June transmogrification is taking place as we speak. However, I do encourage "Rodan" to work on that next year, as the "I warm up in June" thing gets worn out a bit during the April/May haul.

All that said, I really miss the HEE!! SEOP!! CHOI!! HEE!! SEOP!! CHOI!! chant they (we) got going a few times at Wrigley last year.
Fun.

Farnsworth seems to have figured it out of late, he is back to 3-3 and his ERA is getting down into the low 3's, which takes awhile as a reliever.

Beating the Cards in St.Louis is always good.

Also Pujols just jacked one :)

The last two days have been like watching playoff baseball, which is saying something for June.

but notice once again that Derrek Lee reached base safely in every single one of his plate appearances!

*sigh*

Also - wait until A-Gonz returns.

That error last night in the seventh was similar to the one A-Gonz booted in the playoff. So Tamaguchi is the bane of the Cubs.

I was feeling pretty quesy when I saw that the heart of the Cards lineup was coming up in the bottom of the eighth and Dusty wasn't going to change relievers. Baker should have gotten Hawkins up and went to him to face those guys, considering they are freaking killing everybody, you might want to have your best reliever try and shut them down.

La Russa was unaware of Kline's sixth-inning display until queried after the Cards' 10-9 victory over the Cubs at Busch Stadium.

"He did that?" La Russa asked.

Told that a television feed confirmed it, the manager cut off a news conference, saying, "Give me two minutes and I'll be standing on top of his chest kicking the (bleep) out of him."
--

Since the Cubs ain't hurting for dough, I think the upgrade to Lee over Hee is arguably worth the $6 mil, or at least not the worst way to spend it. And you don't have to wait for Lee to start sizzling: .434/.494/.803 in June.

emphasis mine!

Well, it all makes tonight's game HUGE. I'm not too discouraged by the outcome last night. Though undermined by shitty errors, the Cubs were in it the whole way, and I imagine the Birds are relieved to have won after the Cubs gave Colero the Abu Ghirab treatment in the sixth. To take two of three in that park will be very much acceptable to me.

At least going by the past couple of seasons, the Cubs/Cards may be the most heated current rivalry in the NL. Of course, I don't think a Cub fan has shot a Cards fan yet like what happened at that Dodger/Giant game last year, so maybe not.

As far as the rivalry goes, the schedulemakers made it so that the last Cubs-Cards game is July 20. Which is pretty dumb considering how made-for-TV the 5-game set last September was. Gotta clear schedule space in September for that heated Cubs-Expos rivalry, I guess.

Anyway, mattbot and other Cubs fans, did you happen to hear Santo Tuesday night when Sosa was trying to score the go-ahead run and it looked as though he would be out by plenty? Santo let loose this gutteral groan of dread (again walking on the Hughes call) only to be pleasantly surprised by the outcome of the play. Hilarious. (Perhaps this belongs on the radio/TV thread, but . . .)

Also, last night, Santo was totally befuddled by Dusty and none too happy about it. He sounded MOROSE.

gusbot: I usually can't get radio broadcasts unless I'm listening in the car, so I didn't catch Santo the other night. I was groaning too before Matheny dropped the ball.

Ordonez is a bona fide five tool fuck up.

Sox now just 1 game back of the Twins, while the Cubs are tied for 2nd, 5 behind the surging Cards.

He's always been much better in the second half the past several years. please feel free to prove me wrong.

        IP   H    BB   ER   PIT   GB/FB
7/17    9    6    0    0    103   17/4
7/22    9    4    0    2    92    13/6

298 wins. Where's Maddux's Rocketesque media circus?

Maddux: Cubs, just goes out and does his job

I think I'd take Maddux at just about any point in his career, with the possible exception of the first half of this year.

I'd take Maddux as well, though.

They probably won't catch the Cards, but if they can keep things together, they have a favorable schedule the last month or so and could win the wildcard slot.

Keep in mind Maddux is 38 and Clemens will be 42 in couple of weeks. Even at his age, Clemens still has more overpowering stuff, but Maddux has always been a crafty pitcher and just trys to get outs throwing the least amount of pitches.

I think Maddux has the physical and mental makeup to be someone who could continue to be effective for another three or four years. Maddux could end up winning 350 games, which has only been done once since WWII (Warren Spahn - 363) and Spahn was the first since Walter Johnson in the 20s.

#1 - Clemens
#2 - Maddux
#3 - Big Unit

Pedro a likely #4 depending on what's ahead.

You break down the numbers, Clemens gets the edge particularly cuz he's been pitching to lineups with DHs. Rob Neyer did an anlysis last year where he concluded the two best post-WW2 pitchers were Seaver and Clemens, order pending.

If Clemens decides to stick around for another year or two, he could be next guy to 350 wins. He is still on pace to win 20, which would put him above Steve Carlton and into the top 10 list. He might call it quits, depending on whether or not Houston decides to stand pat next year and try to make a run or start rebuilding.

Kerry Wood threw a good game tonight beating the Phillies, I hope it is the beginning of a run. I'd like to see the Cubs get on roll and get on top of the wildcard. Looks like the Giants are also going to beat the Cards.

I think for all of the people who underrate the closer position around here just need to look at this years Cubs team, who have blown eight or nine games in the ninth. Stick a 95% closer on this team, and we are still in the race.

I'm a little surprised they haven't tried Farnsworth yet.

Dempster is a LOOONG shot for anything, the Reds gave him a shot for a couple of years and he didn't give them squat and they gave up Juan Encarnacion to get him, who has continued to be a solid player with both the Marlins and this year with the Dodgers.

(I just looked up his AAA numbers)

Actually, he may not be any sort of answer for this bullpen. 10 walks and 18 hits in 20 innings, a 4.05 ERA... hmm. I wonder where I got this "solid numbers" impression?

To quote an annoying Cox commercial:

Encarnacion had a decent year last year with Florida and is good with the glove. Dempster did less than nothing with the Reds. The Reds didn't get much for Jose Guillen either. They had a ton of outfield talent, but wasn't able to turn it into pitching.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that's thought ahead to the possibility of Cubs/Cards + Bosox/Yanks LCSeseses.

Of course, if the season ended today™...

I didn't see any sign of a bum or tender ankle. He ran the basepaths hard, even had a runner roll over his right ankle as he stretched to make a catch early in the game. Didn't seem to have much of a problem judging the wind on fly balls (*cough* Grudz *cough*), and generally looked really enthused to be there.

Too bad Maddux couldn't get 300 because he pitched pretty well and his next outing will be against Jason Schmidt at SFO I think. Cubs have won 8 of 12 since the tantrum series with STL.

Going from a couple of the Ks in the highlights, Prior had some nasty stuff working.

Giving up no runs in Coors is nothing to scoff at, but he let four of six leadoff men reach base and he still isn't locating his fastball as well as he did last year.

But a promising start. And really, when Prior is the weak link (at least by ERA) of the pitching staff, it's hard to nit-pick. I just hope he's not hiding an injury.

IRONICALLY!!

Memo to Sammy Sosa:

It's time to give it up, big guy.

You're 35 years old but no longer the constellation-busting supernova of the late 1990s. Your skills have diminished to the point that you are nothing but the hole in the Cubs' scrumptious bagel of a lineup.

Despite the occasional dinger, you have left more men stranded this season than Paris Hilton.

Never that great a defender, you are now the Chevy Chase of the Cubs' outfield.

Memo to Dusty Baker:

If you insist on continuing to play Sosa, it's time to move your cleanup slugger down in the lineup as befits a man hitting only .223 since the All-Star break and only .143 in late innings of close games.

How far down?

With the production of Nomar Garciaparra added to the heavy lumber of Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee, the eight hole would be a good place to start. Except when Kerry Wood or Mark Prior are starting. Then No. 9 might be more fitting.

I'm no Sammy fan, to say the least. But this is just fucking ridiculous (in addition to being atrociously written). No one with a .900 OPS needs to be batting 8th. The solution to me at least is simple: break up Sosa and Alou in the lineup.

I would suggest that these are better places to look if one wants to critcize the Cubs lineup:
- Alou's 1.100/.657 home and road OPS inconsistency
- Patterson's .324 OBP at the top of the order
- The 7th worst team OBP in the majors
- The criminal platooning of Grudzilanek with Walker, who has the fourth-best OPS and second-best OBP of active Cubs

gezundheit!

Sammy's doing exactly what everyone expects a #4 hitter to do, hit HRs and strike out a lot. He looks worse than usual doing the latter this year, but he leads the team in HR/AB (12.6 AB per).

but Sammy's played in 80 games this year. If we make it 160, here's his stats:

604AB/158h/92r/30doubles/48HR/110RBI/78bb/.896 OBP

not bad!

But to preface a suggestion with "if you insist on continuing to play Sosa"... I mean, come on. I hate it when columnists heap hyperbole on top of ignorance.

Sosa's not the biggest problem with the Cubs offense.

A) Above expectations
B) At expectations
C) Below expectations

Personally, there is no reason at all why he should be batting #6. He is a #3 hitter if there ever was one.

1) Walker
2) Nomah
3) Sosa
4) Alou
5) Ramirez
6) Lee
7) Patterson
8) Barrett
9) Sluggy Farnsworth

If I were in charge I'd sandwich Sosa between Lee at #3 and Ramirez at #5. I don't like Sosa and Alou hitting back to back because they're just so similar. A pitcher approaches the two in the exact same way: don't throw a fastball on the first pitch, then go away away and further away until they're sitting on the bench or bitching to the ump.

And for the love of God play Todd Walker every day. Grudz's lightning left his bottle in April.

3 innings pitched, 7 hits, 5 walks, 1 hit-by-pitch, 6 earned runs.

Ouch.

Yeah, I think that online box score is wrong. Rusch gave up a single and then a dong - so two of eight are his.

Manager Dusty Baker thought about moving Sammy Sosa down in the lineup after he went 2-for-24 in Denver and San Francisco. How far he didn't say, but it could be fifth or sixth since Sosa usually bats third. He was in the No. 4 role again Tuesday night against San Diego.

Baker said he didn't make the move because of how Sosa would react.

"I considered it," Baker said. "We can't lose him psychologically and spiritually. Talk is talk. Nobody has to live with this but us. So I'll just leave it as talk."

The Cubs clubhouse seems off this year. I can't quite put my finger on it, but Todd Walker's gone to the press about his disappointment with his playing time, Sosa's batting stance and position has been questioned publicly by Dusty, and Dusty steered clear of trying to get Zambrano under control (understandable, I guess). It's not really a ch*m*stry issue, because they all play well enough on the field. Just surprising that a fair amount of bitching and moaning has oozed out of the clubhouse of the ultimate "player's manager."

What's the story w/ Sosa's stance?

There's still some debate as to whether he's always stood this far away or not, I still haven't seen a comparison between this year's stance and, say, 98-01's stance. He's always stood fairly far away from the plate because he has pretty slow hands and pitchers used to jam him inside, but it seems to me that he just hasn't been the same hitter since he got beaned by Solomon Torres last year. My amateur analysis: he's not willing to attack the ball away because he has to start lunging so early (because his hands are slow), that it leaves him exposed to the high and tight pitch that shattered his helmet last year.

He still gets really uptight and glare-y when pitchers come up and in on him.

Delayed after 6, Cubs 2, Padres 2 (courtesy of a blown call by Fat Bruce Froemming)

They were just interviewing beat writer Paul Sullivan on WGN during the delay, got in a nice jab about "Bruce Froemming screwing the Cubs for 30 years." There's some history with him and the Cubs that goes back to a Milt Pappas perfect game bid, I guess. Do a find for "Froemming" on the page.

Oh man, there's a new sheriff in town...

Umpire Bruce Froemming ruled a hard-sliding Long safe at second as Garciaparra sidestepped him before throwing the ball past first for an error. Cubs manager Dusty Baker came out to argue, and replays showed that Garciaparra's foot hit the bag.

And Froemming admitted after the game that he missed the call.

"You don't like it to happen. On the field I had him coming across the bag, I came in here and looked at the replay. I wanted to know if I had it right. I did not have it right," Froemming said.

"You don't like to miss them. But I mean I looked at the replay and it's clear that he got the bag."

Somewhat unrelated, and I know this sounds like total sour grapes and annoying homerism, but after watching the Cubs drop 2 of 3 to both the Giants and Padres, I'm firmly convinced that the Cubs are their only competition for the NL Wild Card.

"Winning, but floating just above the league floor for on-base percentage, like some mutant flounder hovering in the aquatic twilight zone. Superb pitching (2.76 ERA on the week) props them up... The slow, impatient slugger Ernie Banks is 'Mr. Cub,' but it would have been better for everyone's health if the strategic role model had remained Smiling Stan Hack, the patient, speedy third baseman. Hack's Cubs won more pennants than Banks' Cubs, 4-0, and more than Sosa's Cubs, too. Getting on base is the sine qua non of offense and the Ursines have done without it for too many decades."

I've been a Cubs fan for almost 20 years and even though they played like shit for most of that time, this year there's something different. I don't like Sammy, I loathe Moises Alou, and Dusty can't put his best nine players on the field to save his life. The team whines. Todd Walker sits. Fans boo. Everyone cries about injuries despite the fact that basically the entire team has been back to help the Cubs go 23-24 since the 10-9 come-from-ahead loss in late June to the Cards that started their spiral out of contention in the Central.

Expectations are a bitch.

On a brighter note, Patterson is playing really well and seems to be back to form that he was showing before he got hurt last year.

I'm a big Patterson fan. I've always loved guys who have great speed, and he looks like he'll just get better and better.

Joe Borowski is set to begin a rehab at AAA Iowa. Sounds like things are going well for him, and if he's throwing 92-93 like he was last year he'll be a good addition to the pen.

As much as I said I didn't like the team a few posts up, Patterson is one of my all-time favorites already. He's a good conception of the strike zone away from being an absolute terror.

I would be surprised to see Farnsworth back next year. He can peddle his "electric stuff" elsewhere for all I care.

The thing I really find troubling is ususally dependable vets like Remlinger and Mercker choking up and failing against the very teams that the Cubs need to beat to get to the playoffs.

The bullpen has cost the Cubs probably at least 10 games in the standings. The Cubs hitting has also been hot/cold and tends to score in bunches, so there have been a few really good starts by Wood and Clement that were for not.

Sorry, Carlos!

The "no hitter jinx" is the most D of all things in baseball these days. I end up wanting to punch people who bitch and moan when someone dares bring up the no-no currently happening...

This was pretty brilliant as is.

Zambrano needs to relax a bit and get into some Carlton meditation or develop some Dave Stewart death ray eyes. Carlos seems to blow a fuse every mistake like that wild pitch last night. I like that Zambrano gets into it, but last year during the playoffs he seemed to lose focus a bit.

They need to play Walker nearly every day, he just provides so much more hitting and another left handed bat in the lineup.

Did anyone see the game Sunday? Oswalt melted down, probably figured he could get away with the plunk but it was WAY too obvious. I don't know about Wood, he might have been sending a message in code or something. It was a fun game to watch, unlike the Sunday before that where they came unglued and blew the game.

Total meltdown.

Even if the Cubs make it to post season, the bullpen scares the bejezzus out of me. Borowski, Hawkins and now Farnsworth have had complete meltdowns on the field this season.

The top of the 8th today was perhaps more sick than Farnsworth's meltdown. Berkman deserves an oscar for his performance on being "hit by pitch". I don't think it touched his head, I think it hit the bat. Either way, what an ugly inning. I hope Beltran is OK, he is a class player, even if he completely demolished Cub pitching this weekend. It looked like the pitch hit Beltran right on the kneecap. OUCH!

Add these two against the Astros with the two total bullpen meltdowns against the Cardinals, the let downs against SF, LA and SD and I don't see any reason to trust the Cub relivers in a tense playoff situation.

Beware the journeyman. I remember that Mike Scioscia hit like Ted Williams against the Cubs. I swear he hit most of his career HRs in Wrigley.

This makes how many middle infielders on the Cubs roster?:

Nomar
Grudz
Walker
Ramon Martinez
Jose Macias

Ah, Dusty, I don't miss you at all.

Glendon Rusch replaced Clement.

Maddux had a good start going and was probably left in a couple of batters too long. Of course, the bullpen is so shady it wouldn't have mattered either way.

The Marlins and Astros are playing out of hand! It is probably better the Cubs had the weekend off, as they could have gotten swept.

I don't have any clue how the Giants, Marlins, or Astros are winning. Likely it has something to do with getting on base, or, you know HITTING SCOTT FUCKING DOWNS.

Missing the playoffs could finally spell the end of Moises Alou's reign of baserunning terror, that's about the only positive I can see.

Batting 2nd: Tom Goodwin (.265 obp)
Alou and Ramirez are resting, despite a day off yesterday and only three games in the last eight days. Jack McKeon plays his regular lineup because, you know, he wants to have the best chance of winning the baseball game or something.

Picked Off - T Goodwin (1st base, P Lo Duca).

There's a lot that BP's playoff odds report doesn't see, I'm afraid.

I'm off to find some beer, this is brutal.

"You try to do the best you can to win both games," Baker said. "You try to come up with a lineup that'll be strong today and not deplete them. We've got a tough grind here."

There seems to be a bit of fight left in the ole team yet.

BA .571
OBP .600
SLG .857
OPS 1.457

I love Corey, but his game tying HR was one of the cheapest I've seen, and I'm including Crawford Box dongs. A lucky win is still a win, but I don't think they played any better than usual, with the bullpen being one notable exception.

Nefti Perez must of found a box of Balco laying around in the back of a closet or something when he moved.

Garciaparra's got an injured groin, but I get the same feeling about his injury that I had about Prior's, namely that the club isn't telling everyone everything. I'd be surprised to see him back before the end of the season, really.

about 13 days ago (scrolling up thread) Clement threw 48 pitches and was pulled in the third for what was described as "muscle stiffness and discomfort in his back and neck".

I was all set to hop back on the bandwagon after the good Prior showed up and they beat Pavano in game one. Then they go and lose to David Weathers, professor emeritus in the Fogg-Downs School of Cub Bewilderment. If past performance is any indicator, they're primed for a big letdown in Pittsburgh after a quick turnaround.

These are tense days.

Maddux wins his 15th game for the 15th straight season. Now that is consistent, especially when you consider there is a strike year in that period of time.

insane

THT reports:

If the Cubs win 9 of their last 11 games, they're the wildcard winner, no matter what their rivals do. If the Giants win 8 of their remaining games, they're in the playoffs. Same with the Dodgers.

you're MAD!!!

This has been a real up and down season. As much as the sportswriters want to tag on the Cubs for not living up to expectations, considering where they are at now in the standings and the fact that neither Wood nor Prior has had much of a season is quite an accomplishment.

Would you have thought if someone told you that Prior and Wood would both miss a dozen starts each and both be inconsistent when they do pitch that the Cubs would still have a shot at the playoffs? Probably not.

Maddux signing and his consistency was a bigger signing than probably first realized. Zambrano has been really good and Clement has been solid. Finding Glendon Rusch on the MLB scrap heap and him turning in this season has been very important, he won some key games when Wood was on the DL and has won a couple of big starts in this late push.

Hawkins is just not safe to use in the 9th.

If the Cubs can't take 3 of 4 at Wrigley vs the Reds, they deserve to go home.

Oh. In BLOWN save opportunities, you said.

DUSTY: Sorry, I'm loyal. You're my closer.

HAWKINS: Just letting you know.

FADE TO BLACK

- Dusty will make it clear that it's not his problem, though wasting two outs to get Macias to 2nd base in the bottom of the 12th today is a neat little microcosm of how horrible of an in-game manager he is.
- Sosa managed to take over Alex Gonzalez's role in his absence. Kudos Sammy, your stubbornness at getting moved down in the order was an inspiring example of wanting the team to win above all else. Can't wait to see you back in RF next year.
- Hey Sarge, you suck. Losing 4 of 6 to the Mets and Reds does not bode well for your free-swinging HI OCTANE offense.
- Will pitch counts matter to anyone this offseason? Clement breaks down at the end of the season, Wood and Prior can barely put half a season together after last year's marathon outings. But I'm sure that's all coincidence curse.
- Would it tax Jim Hendry too much to go out and get batters who get on base instead of wasting time finding the perfect Tom Goodwins and Jose Maciases for Dusty to bat leadoff once a week?

MVPs: Aramis, Zambrano, Rusch
Bums: Alou, Sosa

If the Cubs would have had Randy Myers circa 93, they would have won at least ten to twelve more games this year. They need a real closer, real freaking bad.

I guess it is not quite over, but the light is growing very dim.

Damn.

This one day after ripping -- in his own subtle way -- Dusty Baker and the underachieving complainers on the team.

Very odd.

Sigh.

"You want the truth? You can't handle the truth," Stone said. "Let me tell you something, guys, the truth of this situation is [this is] an extremely talented bunch of guys who want to look at all directions except where they should really look, and kind of make excuses for what happened.

"At the end of the day, boys, you don't tell me how rough the water is, you bring in the ship. The best eight [teams] go on, the other teams go home. This team should have won the wild-card [playoff berth] by six, seven games. No doubt about it. They have the talent to do that. They're life-and-death right now."

Stone said the "defining moment" of the Cubs' collapse was their 15-7 loss to Houston on Aug. 27 at Wrigley Field when they could have extended their wild-card lead over the Astros to eight games. That game featured a confrontation between Michael Barrett and Roy Oswalt. It also included the press box phone call from Kent Mercker to complain about Stone and Chip Caray and Mercker's taunting of umpire C.B. Bucknor that netted him a suspension.

"The one game that defined this season, that allowed a team that was dead to get back in was one of the days that started a lot of problems for my partner and I, one of the best partners in the game," Stone said. "That is the Roy Oswalt game, when Kent Mercker hit him in the sixth inning. That illuminated the Houston Astros.

"They were left for dead. The Cubs beat them the first game in a three-game series, they knocked Kerry Wood out in the fifth inning, they hit four home runs [off Wood], Oswalt pitched eight innings on a day the heat factor being 95 degrees. They won 15-7, took the next two games against the Cubs.

"Instead of being buried, they got back in the race. And guess what? They're up by one game now. The Cubs had a chance to put their foot on their throat, and good teams do that. When you have a chance to eliminate a team, you don't take a personal vendetta out until that team is dead. Kill them, then you have plenty of time for personal vendettas. The Cubs didn't do that and it's coming back to haunt them."

Stone also predicted the Cubs would make some "blockbuster" moves this off-season, implying some trades would be directly tied to the team's ongoing battles with the broadcasters.

Stone is referring to any number of childish blowups both on the field and off. The team pulled a lot of that shit last year (fat Alf bumping the ump in the Cards series, Alou throwing his helmet multiple times because he's sure everyone's out to get him) but they got away with it because they were lucky to play in a very weak division.

Really, Todd? Much better?

go back to scotland you idiot.

I'm not completely dissapointed with this season. They seem to have been ready to come apart all year with injuries and somehow made it stick out until the final week. Criminy...it is the first time since Leo Durocher, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins and Ernie Banks in the early 70s that they put together back to back winning seasons. They have won 88 games, which is as much as last year...so it can't be a total failure.

Alou is gone. He is a tough hitter, but seems to be a pain in the ass. I think Nomar returning is at best a 50/50 proposition, he is just too fragile. It is almost like investing in Griffey.

Beltran would be the perfect pickup for this team, especially if they let Alou and Nomar go. I don't think he would come to Chicago, but at his age and talent level, he would be a perfect fit in that lineup with Patterson, Lee, Barrett and Ramierez, who are the core of the team outside the pitching. Those four players are a solid core of players to build a lineup, all of which perhaps have not yet peaked and all of which are pretty good with the glove.

I'll cut Sosa some slack and I think Cub fans should. A back injury really can kill a batter, just ask Don Mattingly who was never the same player after hurting his back. I don't think he will get back to the level he was at, but a winter off...he could improve on this year and still be a potent power hitter. I can't see Sammy leaving Chicago, it might happen, but not for at least another season.

I don't know what they are like off the field, but if I was Wood and Prior, I'd try to find out whatever The Unit and Clemens do for workouts in the offseason. Both of them are fragile and have missed a bunch of starts in their short career, maybe it wears them down, maybe they need to build up. I don't have that kind of knowledge to say for sure.

Zambrano needs to relax. A bit more poise and he could be the best pitcher in the NL. It is kind of wild to think that he was the one out of the four good young starters that kicked ass this season, especially after the shaky playoffs last year.

Clement needs to keep his chin up (ha!). It will work out, it isn't his fault that his record wasn't that good.

Maddux needs to come back next year and keep on the clockwork. I want to see him win 350.

Glendon Rusch deserves a good one year guaranteed deal to come back with an option for a second. He freakin earned it.

The Cubs frontoffice needs to figure out something about the closer position. They need to either find a good one out there, develop one or somehow reverse the aging process on Lee Smith or Randy Myers. Borowski and Hawkins probably blew a slew of saves and probably did more to bring the pressure down on the club than anything. I know I can't take them being there any longer in the ninth, those two bozos made me question the decency of man a couple of times this season.

Maybe the Cubs need to think radical and consider Clement for the closer spot, the guy already has the proper facial hair.

???

if he's not traded, patterson would be moved to left to accomadate beltran, which seems unwise. the cubs don't need a centerfielder, they need a corner outfielder who can match or surpass alou's punch. beltran would be an unnecessary luxury, and would leave the cubs with a weak offensive leftfied (if not outfield, depending on how beltran and especially sosa hit). plus, the yankees need carlos.

I think Alou would be a good pickup for an AL team that needs an additional big bat. He would be able to pickup at bats as a DH and wouldn't have to play the field everyday, although he is still pretty good with the glove.

Alou seems like a player that SF might go after, as he would be a good bat to put behind Bonds and they wouldn't be tied to a long term deal. I don't know if he would want to play for his father, maybe that is something they wouldn't want to do.

Cya, Chip. I accidentally caught part of the game today, it was really, really depressing. Especially knowing how many of the same aging dinosaurs could be back out there again next April.

"I'm tired of being blamed by Dusty Baker for all the failures of this club," Sosa said. "I resent the inference that I'm not prepared. I live my life every minute every day to prepare for combat."
---
"I'd want him back if ... he's got to go to work this winter," Baker said. "Get in tip-top shape mentally and physically. It's a big year for him next year."

It's hard for me to believe Sammy said "resent the inference," but whatever.

One thing is certain, though: when you start reading about negative Sammy stories in the Chicago Tribune, you know management is behind it, and they're trying to orchestrate his way out of the city, just as they did several years ago, when Sosa played martyr during his latest contract negotiations.

THEY IMPROVED!

There will be sniping on all sides about the failures of this season deep into next season. There is plenty of blame to go around.

Sosa will be in the Cub lineup next season. I can't see anyone trading for him, mostly because of his salary than his skills, although he is definitely damaged goods at this point.

If the Astros make a big playoff run, I figure they will open up the pocketbook and do what it takes to keep Beltran.

(By this I mean he'll pass 600 career HRs, not hitting .600!)

Sosa also reportedly left early Sept. 7, departing in the middle of an extra-inning loss in which he could have pinch-hit. At the time, Sosa was not playing because of hip bursitis, but he was in the starting lineup the next day.

I think BBT is right, though, the Trib pushing this story probably means a lot.

"I did the best I could. When players don't produce, the first question they ask is 'Could you have managed better?"' Baker said. "I'm always looking for stuff I could have done better. I'm a perfectionist and probably harder on me than anybody. One thing, I didn't get dumb overnight. It doesn't happen like that."

...it was a long and gradual process."

Props to Hendry for taking some of Dusty's toys away from him.

In any case, I guess I'm not ultimately surprised; Stone probably couldn't get any assurances from Cubs management that Dusty would enforce any sort of discipline on the clubhouse with respect to its relationship to the announcer booth, Dusty being the big "players' guy" he is.

Stone is a quality enough announcer to find another home, if he chooses so. I would love to have him on the South Side.

Dusty Baker, as is his style, refused to rein in his players, so the resentment between team and booth simmered. Toward the end of the year, thin-skinned Dusty got pissed off at Stone for his criticism of Baker's managerial moves, and got Cubs management to give the message to Stone that he should back off. Baker thought that Stoney was carrying out a personal vendetta against him, when all he was doing was criticizing his on-field moves.

Long story short, Dusty wins, the Cubs chickened out, and Stone apparently told them to fuck off, knowing that nothing will have changed in 2005.

Which is strange, because in '03 I thought the Cubs were playing pretty loose and carefree as well. I really think that it goes to show how a few malcontents (Sosa, Mercker, Alou, Hawkins maybe?) can fuck up team chemistry. Which, despite what SABR types might suggest, does play a role to a large degree. Like working at a miserable company vs. working at a fun company.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/baseball/mlb/10/30/bc.bbn.sosaspeaks.ap/index.html

FUCK YOU

Hmm...how does this guy pronounce his last name?

Good old Dusty.

If firing the trainer didn't work then nothing will.