Another "fabulous" outing by Neal Cotts tonight. Lefties are now hitting .333 with 3 HRs after this knucklehead gave up a 2-run bomb to Nate McLouth which gave the lead back to the Pirates. So three runs given up in the inning on 4 hits although 3 went for extra bases.
So I'm listening to the game on the radio and I just heard Ronny talking about the Pirates having 2 lefties in their rotation and three more in their pen. Could Hendry not get his "friends" the Bucs to trade one of them? Remember the Bucs "gave" Hendry and the Cubs Aramis Ramirez and Randall Simon in 2003.
So the Cubs FINALLY score some runs tonight, but get ZERO pitching! How about getting on the same page guys?!?
What was up with Reed Johnson batting 4th tonight? The guy has single syllable RBIs (8) for the season. Was he really the best option? It certainly wouldn't have been better with Micah batting 4th tonight. I guess I was WAY wrong on this guy as he didn't take as much advantage of his opportunity as he could/should have - left 6 on base by himself today.
Did anyone else feel better having Aaron Miles up there with 2 on, down by 2 in the bottom of the 9th than Mark DeRosa? BRUTAL trade which will only get worse if he ends up in Milwaukee. His 30 RBIs for a last place Indians team would lead the Cubs by 5 over our lead-off hitter, Soriano.
Well, the skid has now reached 8 and the Cubs are now below .500 for the first time since the end of April. They are 5 games out in 4th place behind Dusty's Reds. That says it all as far as I'm concerned.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Lefty-Lefty Advantage...for who?
Isn't there supposed to be some kind of advantage for a left-handed pitcher against a left-handed hitter? I'm not a big proponent of this philosophy which is one of the big reasons I wasn't at all impressed with Hendry's off-season. All he did was make the line-up more left-handed, but not necessarily better. That's not what this post is about though...
What is the point of a lefty in the pen if he CANNOT get left-handed hitters out...EVER? San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez had a HUGE series against the Cubs when they were in town a couple weeks ago. He hit 4 HRs and drove in all but 3 of the Padres runs in that series which the Cubs still swept. However, since that series Gonzalez had gone 3-for-25 and was 0-for-3 until coming up in the bottom of the 7th. So Lou brings in the lefty...the only one we have in the pen...Neal Cotts. On a 1-2 pitch, Cotts throws a 92mph 4-seam fastball right down the middle and Gonzalez hit a BOMB to the opposite field. Nobody hits HRs in Petco, but Gonzalez "miraculously" defied the odds as a lefty and hit it 30 ft farther than D-Lee's short-of-the-warning-track fly in the top of the 8th. Lefties are hitting .294 off our lefty with 6 BBs and 2 HRs. The 6 BBs are just an absolute killer although the bombs aren't helpful either. Lefties have a .500 OBA and slugging .467 which is nearly 100 points higher than against righties. Those numbers held true again tonight - 2 lefties, 1-for-2, 1 HR; 2 righties, 0-for-2.
GET COTTS OUT OF HERE - throw the Jeff Fasero tarp over this guy Lou!
What is the point of a lefty in the pen if he CANNOT get left-handed hitters out...EVER? San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez had a HUGE series against the Cubs when they were in town a couple weeks ago. He hit 4 HRs and drove in all but 3 of the Padres runs in that series which the Cubs still swept. However, since that series Gonzalez had gone 3-for-25 and was 0-for-3 until coming up in the bottom of the 7th. So Lou brings in the lefty...the only one we have in the pen...Neal Cotts. On a 1-2 pitch, Cotts throws a 92mph 4-seam fastball right down the middle and Gonzalez hit a BOMB to the opposite field. Nobody hits HRs in Petco, but Gonzalez "miraculously" defied the odds as a lefty and hit it 30 ft farther than D-Lee's short-of-the-warning-track fly in the top of the 8th. Lefties are hitting .294 off our lefty with 6 BBs and 2 HRs. The 6 BBs are just an absolute killer although the bombs aren't helpful either. Lefties have a .500 OBA and slugging .467 which is nearly 100 points higher than against righties. Those numbers held true again tonight - 2 lefties, 1-for-2, 1 HR; 2 righties, 0-for-2.
GET COTTS OUT OF HERE - throw the Jeff Fasero tarp over this guy Lou!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
What are these guys doing???
Not a great day for Chicago baseball! What in the world went on today? The Sox set the tone early with a 20-1 shellacking at the hands of their rival Twins AT HOME! Not to be "outdone" the Cubs put together another absolutely pathetic offensive effort losing 3-1. The Cubs have now lost 4 in a row after winning 5 in a row. Ah...consistency...gotta love it.
That has been the trick for the Cubs...consistency. I heard a startling stat today. The Cubs are hitting .294 in their wins while hitting .193 in their losses. Well, the 3 game sweep at the hands of their rival Cardinals didn't go against these stats. Tue night's game was a JOKE offensively. Joel Pineiro threw an MLB season low 92 pitches in his CG 3-hit shutout. Last night, at least they scored...although it was just once and lost again 2-1. Much the same tonight going down 3-1 so overall they completed their 3-game anti-sweep losing 8-2. YEP two whole runs in 3 games combined. Who were they facing? The 1965 Dodgers with Drysdale, Koufax, and Claude Osteen (all three had less than 2.80 ERA)? Nope...the 2009 Cardinals who do have Chris Carpenter although he was making his first start in a month, but Joel Pineiro and Adam Wainright? Unless you're a serious baseball fan, you probably never even heard of these guys and yet they were able to TOTALLY dominate our Cubbies. Wainright came within 2 pitches of pitching the second CG of the series, but D-Lee muscled a jam shot into short right to bring the tying run to the plate. Fortunately for the Cards, Milton Bradley was the supposed potential tying run. LaRussa brought in Franklin to throw those two pitches, Bradley who is on pace to drive in 38 runs this year in total (Pujols drove in his 38th today!) did hit the ball hard, but right at Schumaker in RF to end the "threat".
But which team had the worse day? That has to go to the White Sox. It started all well and good as Kenny Williams finally came off his LONG vacation (where was he all off-season?) to work a deal with the Padres for Jake Peavy. With Contreras struggling and Colon still kind of iffy plus Floyd and Danks struggling, adding Peavy would have been a HUGE lift for the pitching staff. Don Cooper seemed REALLY excited in an interview I heard this morning. After taking the first two games from the Twins in their 3-game series with their rival, the Peavy news just seemed to be the cherry on the top of a great week. So what happened after that? Well, they went out and got DESTROYED 20-1 in front of the home folks. Yikes! That's the worst home loss in a baseball game in my recollection and tied the worst in Sox history.
My daughter's baseball coach is a Sox fan. I asked him tonight if he had seen the Sox game or heard the result. In typical Sox "fan" fashion, he had no idea. When I told him they lost 20-1 to the Twins today, his next question was curious. "Who pitched?" he asked. I said "lots of guys!" Colon started and left after 2 innings and 8 runs although only 1 run was earned after a Betemit error on a sac bunt helped the Twins push 7 across in the 2nd inning including a bomb from former Sox Joe Crede.
But as bad as that was, it wasn't the worst thing to happen to the Sox on this day. Shortly after the game was over, the Sox learned that Jake Peavy had rejected the trade to the Sox (maybe he was watching the game). Peavy has a no-trade clause so he can choose his next team. In his statement he said "Right now, this [San Diego] is the best place for me and my family." Tough day Sox fans.
That has been the trick for the Cubs...consistency. I heard a startling stat today. The Cubs are hitting .294 in their wins while hitting .193 in their losses. Well, the 3 game sweep at the hands of their rival Cardinals didn't go against these stats. Tue night's game was a JOKE offensively. Joel Pineiro threw an MLB season low 92 pitches in his CG 3-hit shutout. Last night, at least they scored...although it was just once and lost again 2-1. Much the same tonight going down 3-1 so overall they completed their 3-game anti-sweep losing 8-2. YEP two whole runs in 3 games combined. Who were they facing? The 1965 Dodgers with Drysdale, Koufax, and Claude Osteen (all three had less than 2.80 ERA)? Nope...the 2009 Cardinals who do have Chris Carpenter although he was making his first start in a month, but Joel Pineiro and Adam Wainright? Unless you're a serious baseball fan, you probably never even heard of these guys and yet they were able to TOTALLY dominate our Cubbies. Wainright came within 2 pitches of pitching the second CG of the series, but D-Lee muscled a jam shot into short right to bring the tying run to the plate. Fortunately for the Cards, Milton Bradley was the supposed potential tying run. LaRussa brought in Franklin to throw those two pitches, Bradley who is on pace to drive in 38 runs this year in total (Pujols drove in his 38th today!) did hit the ball hard, but right at Schumaker in RF to end the "threat".
But which team had the worse day? That has to go to the White Sox. It started all well and good as Kenny Williams finally came off his LONG vacation (where was he all off-season?) to work a deal with the Padres for Jake Peavy. With Contreras struggling and Colon still kind of iffy plus Floyd and Danks struggling, adding Peavy would have been a HUGE lift for the pitching staff. Don Cooper seemed REALLY excited in an interview I heard this morning. After taking the first two games from the Twins in their 3-game series with their rival, the Peavy news just seemed to be the cherry on the top of a great week. So what happened after that? Well, they went out and got DESTROYED 20-1 in front of the home folks. Yikes! That's the worst home loss in a baseball game in my recollection and tied the worst in Sox history.
My daughter's baseball coach is a Sox fan. I asked him tonight if he had seen the Sox game or heard the result. In typical Sox "fan" fashion, he had no idea. When I told him they lost 20-1 to the Twins today, his next question was curious. "Who pitched?" he asked. I said "lots of guys!" Colon started and left after 2 innings and 8 runs although only 1 run was earned after a Betemit error on a sac bunt helped the Twins push 7 across in the 2nd inning including a bomb from former Sox Joe Crede.
But as bad as that was, it wasn't the worst thing to happen to the Sox on this day. Shortly after the game was over, the Sox learned that Jake Peavy had rejected the trade to the Sox (maybe he was watching the game). Peavy has a no-trade clause so he can choose his next team. In his statement he said "Right now, this [San Diego] is the best place for me and my family." Tough day Sox fans.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
May 19th Update
I wanted to do an update on the most recent happenings associated with the posts on my blog. I'll go through each of the most recent posts one at a time here so read the ones that interest you and feel free to respond/comment as you see fit.
Well, I simply must start with the Blackhawks. Does anyone else feel like the Hawks have the Red Wings right where they want them? Even though the Hawks are down 2-0, I feel like they are really "right there" and could easily take the next 4 games to win the series in 6. After being a non-factor in Game 1, Towes obviously came to play tonight scoring both of the Hawks goals. Khabibulin stepped up pretty well tonight saving 35 shots. Unfortunately, he was only 1-for-2 in OT and the Hawks fell 3-2. My daughter was hoping the Hawks would duplicate her soccer team's performance over the weekend. They were down 2-1 late in the game but were able to tie it in regulation and were able to pull it out in OT. The Hawks got it half right. Now they come home to a rockin' UC and will take back the momentum from the Wings. This whole thing kind of reminds me of the 1980 Olympics with the Wings playing the role of the "unbeatable" Russians while the upstart Hawks are the USA.
Now on to the Cubs...what the heck was THAT tonight against a reeling Cardinals team? Weren't the Cards coming off a home sweep at the hands of the 1st place Brewers while the Cubs were coming off a 4-1 homestand? That's not what it looked like to me. Did they really get completely dominated by Joel Pineiro? 3 hits? Really? 3 lousy hits! Where was the patience at the plate this team has exhibited most of the year? Pineiro pitched his first complete game of the season while throwing only 92 pitches. He came in with an unremarkable 4.17 ERA but after 9 innings of shutout ball, dropped it to 3.48. On a good note, they only left 1 guy on base. Of course, it is easier to let only 1 guy on base when 3 guys reach base with no walks to go with their 3 measley hits. Bradley hit into a DP to eliminate one of the runners and then Soriano was picked off to eliminate another; hence "only" one runner LOB. Wow!
How can you explain such a lousy effort against your #1 division rival? I just don't get it. You can't blame Lou for the lineup this time either. Other than Aramis being out with his injury, the rest of the lineup would have to be considered their best lineup. You really need to take advantage of those rare days when Phat Albert doesn't do anything too. Pujols was 1-4 and left 3 runners on base tonight. Too bad.
Cubs fans vs. Sox fans update. CSN is advertising this week as rivalry week with the Cubs in St. Louis and the Sox home facing the Twins. Cubs vs. Cards drew 41,374 while the Sox vs. Twins drew all of 26,696 on a GORGEOUS Tuesday evening. Where's all the Sox fans? Too busy watching the Cubs lose on WGN tonight? Hey Sox fans, double-bonus as I'm sure you didn't even notice - the Sox won tonight! By the way, just to put that pretty pathetic attendance figure at The Cell last night in perspective...the Cubs drew 23,441 to Miller Park with 24-hour notice on a rescheduled game that was supposed to be played in Houston but was moved to Milwaukee due to the hurricane in Houston. The game date was September 14th so don't tell me how last night was a school night because the game at Miller Park was a school night too.
Lee vs. Hoffpauir update. Maybe watching Hoffpauir play well in his absence clicked something in D-Lee's head. Lee has gone 6-11 in his last 3 games since coming back to the starting line-up and has even drove in 3 runs in those 3 games. Of course, the Cubs are 1-2 in those games. Hmmm. I was hoping Hoffpauir would take a little more advantage of his opportunity than he actually did, but he still did pretty well while being thrown into the starting line-up like he was. I'd still like to see him play more consistently but if just the threat of his being there and ably fill in is enough to help D-Lee produce, that works too.
I hope you are all enjoying my posts. Please be sure to comment as much as you can so I know you're "listening". Thanks!
Well, I simply must start with the Blackhawks. Does anyone else feel like the Hawks have the Red Wings right where they want them? Even though the Hawks are down 2-0, I feel like they are really "right there" and could easily take the next 4 games to win the series in 6. After being a non-factor in Game 1, Towes obviously came to play tonight scoring both of the Hawks goals. Khabibulin stepped up pretty well tonight saving 35 shots. Unfortunately, he was only 1-for-2 in OT and the Hawks fell 3-2. My daughter was hoping the Hawks would duplicate her soccer team's performance over the weekend. They were down 2-1 late in the game but were able to tie it in regulation and were able to pull it out in OT. The Hawks got it half right. Now they come home to a rockin' UC and will take back the momentum from the Wings. This whole thing kind of reminds me of the 1980 Olympics with the Wings playing the role of the "unbeatable" Russians while the upstart Hawks are the USA.
Now on to the Cubs...what the heck was THAT tonight against a reeling Cardinals team? Weren't the Cards coming off a home sweep at the hands of the 1st place Brewers while the Cubs were coming off a 4-1 homestand? That's not what it looked like to me. Did they really get completely dominated by Joel Pineiro? 3 hits? Really? 3 lousy hits! Where was the patience at the plate this team has exhibited most of the year? Pineiro pitched his first complete game of the season while throwing only 92 pitches. He came in with an unremarkable 4.17 ERA but after 9 innings of shutout ball, dropped it to 3.48. On a good note, they only left 1 guy on base. Of course, it is easier to let only 1 guy on base when 3 guys reach base with no walks to go with their 3 measley hits. Bradley hit into a DP to eliminate one of the runners and then Soriano was picked off to eliminate another; hence "only" one runner LOB. Wow!
How can you explain such a lousy effort against your #1 division rival? I just don't get it. You can't blame Lou for the lineup this time either. Other than Aramis being out with his injury, the rest of the lineup would have to be considered their best lineup. You really need to take advantage of those rare days when Phat Albert doesn't do anything too. Pujols was 1-4 and left 3 runners on base tonight. Too bad.
Cubs fans vs. Sox fans update. CSN is advertising this week as rivalry week with the Cubs in St. Louis and the Sox home facing the Twins. Cubs vs. Cards drew 41,374 while the Sox vs. Twins drew all of 26,696 on a GORGEOUS Tuesday evening. Where's all the Sox fans? Too busy watching the Cubs lose on WGN tonight? Hey Sox fans, double-bonus as I'm sure you didn't even notice - the Sox won tonight! By the way, just to put that pretty pathetic attendance figure at The Cell last night in perspective...the Cubs drew 23,441 to Miller Park with 24-hour notice on a rescheduled game that was supposed to be played in Houston but was moved to Milwaukee due to the hurricane in Houston. The game date was September 14th so don't tell me how last night was a school night because the game at Miller Park was a school night too.
Lee vs. Hoffpauir update. Maybe watching Hoffpauir play well in his absence clicked something in D-Lee's head. Lee has gone 6-11 in his last 3 games since coming back to the starting line-up and has even drove in 3 runs in those 3 games. Of course, the Cubs are 1-2 in those games. Hmmm. I was hoping Hoffpauir would take a little more advantage of his opportunity than he actually did, but he still did pretty well while being thrown into the starting line-up like he was. I'd still like to see him play more consistently but if just the threat of his being there and ably fill in is enough to help D-Lee produce, that works too.
I hope you are all enjoying my posts. Please be sure to comment as much as you can so I know you're "listening". Thanks!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Cubs Fans vs. Sox "fans"
So what is the difference between Cubs fans and Sox fans? In my experience, it's all about the focus between the two fans. Cubs fans really only keep track of the Cubs with an outside interest in the Sox. Sox fans seem to have MUCH more interest and derive much more excitement from Cubs' losses with a little more than secondary interest in the Sox. I have had conversations with supposed Sox fans that don't even know all five if the Sox starters. Really? But you know what made it worse...they knew the Cubs rotation including the order they pitch. Regardless, there is definitely a rivalry between the two ball clubs, but I think the rivalry between the fans is even more intense.
This whole cross-town rivalry thing for me dates back to 7th grade. I took a bus to my new Catholic school in 7th grade where I met several new kids. One of them lived in a different subdivision and it turns out he was a Sox fan while all of my friends all cheered for the Cubs so this was the first time I ever had to deal with someone like that. I was picked up before he was so I was on the bus when we picked him up. I took great pleasure letting him know that the Cubs won their game the day before and he did the same when the Sox won. I would have the whole bus yelling "Cubs WON!" and he was primarily on his own countering us. Even when the Cubs lost, it was nearly as fun if the Sox lost as we would all yell "Sox LOST!" and doubly fun when both happened. I still remember his name...weird.
As I increased my base of friends, I expanded to know more Sox fans. When I was in high school, my best friend had another friend that was a Sox fan. The year was 1983 and if you know much Chicago baseball, you know the Sox crushed the competition on their way to a 20-game division victory over the Royals. At the same time, the Cubs were scuffling along to "just miss" the playoffs by 19 games. That was a long summer at my friend's house. I remember this particular kid was pretty handy (actually worked at Handy Andy - remember that store?) and he had built himself a light kind of in the shape of a wagon wheel. In each of the spaces between the spokes (there were 20), he had different White Sox pennants. It was pretty cool even though they were Sox pennants.
In high school I befriended a guy who turned out to be a Padres fan. Really? A Padres fan in the NW Chicago burbs...how does that even happen. Well, the year was 1984 which ended up not being a good time to have a friend who was a fan of the Padres. The night Sutcliffe struck out Joe Orsulak and the Cubs clinched their first playoff berth in 39 years, I wrote the names of all the Cubs' players, numbers, and a Cubs logo in permanent marker on my Levis for school the next day - I didn't care if I got a detention (which I didn't). Our Homecoming Dance was Saturday night during Game 4 of that fateful playoff series. I spent more time walking out to my car checking the score (no internet cell phones back then!) on the radio than I did with my date (don't remember her name - must not have been a baseball fan).
In college, I again expanded my friend base and ended up becoming friends with more Sox fans. They weren't fanatical and they also didn't despise the Cubs so it wasn't much of a problem. I did get to know even more Cubs fans in college too and they were fanatical - I remember their names. When the Cubs clinched the division in 1989, I remember all of us were dialing the phones like crazy trying to get tickets not that we had the money to pay for them, but what's a couple days worth of food compared to a Cubs playoff game? I picked up my girlfriend (now my wife) at the Amtrak station at school. There was a whole bank of pay phones and the TicketMaster number was toll-free so I had two phones going at the same time. No luck however and neither did my friends.
Now I get to deal with my adult friends and neighbors and their kids. Just as I was brought up as a Cubs fan thanks to my father, my friends' kids are growing up as Sox fans based on their own father. Nothing wrong with that I guess. But here's the question...how did these guys end up as Sox fans instead of Cubs fans to start with? A couple of the guys I know that are Sox fans grew up on the north side which would logically mean they "should" be Cubs fans so what happened? Either they switch alliances just to be different or they had some other reason. I have heard Sox fans argue that most of the people attending Cubs' games are not true Cubs fans...rather they are only interested in the exerience. While I agree there are plenty of people there to get the experience...particularly the Friendly Confines which many people refer to as the biggest beer garden in the US. That may be true, but most of the people in the stands do pay attention to the game as you can tell by watching the game - they know when there is a big spot in the game; when to stand up and cheer. The Cubs continue to draw more and more people each year, but where are the Sox fans? Even in their World Series season, they still hardly drew more than average and couldn't even sell out their final regular season homestand. Does anyone think that could have happened with the Cubs at Wrigley? Didn't think so.
So what about Wrigley Field? I have been visiting ballparks throughout the country over the last few years with my family. All 5 of us are headed to the Midwest ballparks this August for our 3rd annual baseball vacation. Two years ago, we visited Detroit, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Last year, we saw the end of Shea and Yankee Stadium as well as Philadelphia and Boston. So we saw some old and saw some new parks. I know it might be blasphemy and before my visits to the new "old school" parks I would have agreed, but I think it may be time to knock down the Friendly Confines and build us a new old school park similar to those in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. We haven't made it to Baltimore yet, but we will eventually and I know Camden Yards is where it all started back on the right track after all the lousy cookie-cutter artificial turf stadiums built in the 70s. I've also been to Turner Field in Atlanta which I also really liked. Tough to beat the locationin Wrigleyville so they'd have to tear it down and put the new park up in its place. I'd be willing to sacrifice a season of playing ball at The Cell on the southside; heck, maybe two seasons. THEN we could put to rest all the talk about how the Cubs only draw more fans than the Sox because of Wrigley. Would anyone like to make that bet if both teams played at The Cell? Didn't think so. Did you see how many butts were in the seats for that make-up game against Houston last year that was held in Miller Park in Milwaukee? The Cubs drew 25,000 there with 24-hour notice. Not bad, huh? Those are Cubs fans my friend.
This whole cross-town rivalry thing for me dates back to 7th grade. I took a bus to my new Catholic school in 7th grade where I met several new kids. One of them lived in a different subdivision and it turns out he was a Sox fan while all of my friends all cheered for the Cubs so this was the first time I ever had to deal with someone like that. I was picked up before he was so I was on the bus when we picked him up. I took great pleasure letting him know that the Cubs won their game the day before and he did the same when the Sox won. I would have the whole bus yelling "Cubs WON!" and he was primarily on his own countering us. Even when the Cubs lost, it was nearly as fun if the Sox lost as we would all yell "Sox LOST!" and doubly fun when both happened. I still remember his name...weird.
As I increased my base of friends, I expanded to know more Sox fans. When I was in high school, my best friend had another friend that was a Sox fan. The year was 1983 and if you know much Chicago baseball, you know the Sox crushed the competition on their way to a 20-game division victory over the Royals. At the same time, the Cubs were scuffling along to "just miss" the playoffs by 19 games. That was a long summer at my friend's house. I remember this particular kid was pretty handy (actually worked at Handy Andy - remember that store?) and he had built himself a light kind of in the shape of a wagon wheel. In each of the spaces between the spokes (there were 20), he had different White Sox pennants. It was pretty cool even though they were Sox pennants.
In high school I befriended a guy who turned out to be a Padres fan. Really? A Padres fan in the NW Chicago burbs...how does that even happen. Well, the year was 1984 which ended up not being a good time to have a friend who was a fan of the Padres. The night Sutcliffe struck out Joe Orsulak and the Cubs clinched their first playoff berth in 39 years, I wrote the names of all the Cubs' players, numbers, and a Cubs logo in permanent marker on my Levis for school the next day - I didn't care if I got a detention (which I didn't). Our Homecoming Dance was Saturday night during Game 4 of that fateful playoff series. I spent more time walking out to my car checking the score (no internet cell phones back then!) on the radio than I did with my date (don't remember her name - must not have been a baseball fan).
In college, I again expanded my friend base and ended up becoming friends with more Sox fans. They weren't fanatical and they also didn't despise the Cubs so it wasn't much of a problem. I did get to know even more Cubs fans in college too and they were fanatical - I remember their names. When the Cubs clinched the division in 1989, I remember all of us were dialing the phones like crazy trying to get tickets not that we had the money to pay for them, but what's a couple days worth of food compared to a Cubs playoff game? I picked up my girlfriend (now my wife) at the Amtrak station at school. There was a whole bank of pay phones and the TicketMaster number was toll-free so I had two phones going at the same time. No luck however and neither did my friends.
Now I get to deal with my adult friends and neighbors and their kids. Just as I was brought up as a Cubs fan thanks to my father, my friends' kids are growing up as Sox fans based on their own father. Nothing wrong with that I guess. But here's the question...how did these guys end up as Sox fans instead of Cubs fans to start with? A couple of the guys I know that are Sox fans grew up on the north side which would logically mean they "should" be Cubs fans so what happened? Either they switch alliances just to be different or they had some other reason. I have heard Sox fans argue that most of the people attending Cubs' games are not true Cubs fans...rather they are only interested in the exerience. While I agree there are plenty of people there to get the experience...particularly the Friendly Confines which many people refer to as the biggest beer garden in the US. That may be true, but most of the people in the stands do pay attention to the game as you can tell by watching the game - they know when there is a big spot in the game; when to stand up and cheer. The Cubs continue to draw more and more people each year, but where are the Sox fans? Even in their World Series season, they still hardly drew more than average and couldn't even sell out their final regular season homestand. Does anyone think that could have happened with the Cubs at Wrigley? Didn't think so.
So what about Wrigley Field? I have been visiting ballparks throughout the country over the last few years with my family. All 5 of us are headed to the Midwest ballparks this August for our 3rd annual baseball vacation. Two years ago, we visited Detroit, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Last year, we saw the end of Shea and Yankee Stadium as well as Philadelphia and Boston. So we saw some old and saw some new parks. I know it might be blasphemy and before my visits to the new "old school" parks I would have agreed, but I think it may be time to knock down the Friendly Confines and build us a new old school park similar to those in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. We haven't made it to Baltimore yet, but we will eventually and I know Camden Yards is where it all started back on the right track after all the lousy cookie-cutter artificial turf stadiums built in the 70s. I've also been to Turner Field in Atlanta which I also really liked. Tough to beat the locationin Wrigleyville so they'd have to tear it down and put the new park up in its place. I'd be willing to sacrifice a season of playing ball at The Cell on the southside; heck, maybe two seasons. THEN we could put to rest all the talk about how the Cubs only draw more fans than the Sox because of Wrigley. Would anyone like to make that bet if both teams played at The Cell? Didn't think so. Did you see how many butts were in the seats for that make-up game against Houston last year that was held in Miller Park in Milwaukee? The Cubs drew 25,000 there with 24-hour notice. Not bad, huh? Those are Cubs fans my friend.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Tom Verducci - irresponsible journalism
I have been a long-time SI subscriber and I coincidentally just renewed for another year earlier this week (free t-shirt and Bears fleece - cool!). Well after reading some of Tom's article in this week's SI, I may be asking for a refund (after I get the free t-shirt and fleece). Tom linked Sammy Sosa in with all the other TRULY busted MLB steroid users in his article on Manny Ramirez. Here's the quote from Tom's article:
Of the 15 players who hit the most home runs from 1993 through 2004, Ramirez is the 10th to be connected to performance-enhancing drugs by positive tests, the Mitchell Report or news reports, joining Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Rodriguez, Mike Piazza, Mark McGwire, Gary Sheffield, Juan Gonzalez and Mo Vaughn in the rogues' gallery. (The five not associated as such are Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, Jeff Bagwell and Carlos Delgado.)
Does he know something none of the rest of us know? And when I say "know", I mean KNOW, not guessing or speculating. Sammy was not involved in BALCO, was not in the Mitchell Report other than being included in a list of players that didn't respond to a questionnaire sent to his lawyer by Sen Mitchell, and has not been linked in any way, shape or form to any doctors, clinics, clubhouse attendants, or even Jose Canseco. So what's up with including him in this list of dirty players in the cover story for a major sports magazine?
I remain baffled as to why the Cubs organization treats Sammy the way they do. Sammy helped bridge the gap between lovable losers and playoff contenders. He carried the Cubs for 10 years when they had NOBODY else. He had arguably the greatest single season ever that was not performance enhanced by drugs (1998 and heck, what about 2001?). He brought in HUGE revenue for this franchise that helped get them over the hump of a big market team with a small market mentality.
Since he left so unceremoniously following that final game in 2004, he has hardly been mentioned in this town. He hit more HRs than Mr. Cub himself and yet, his number remains to be given away to the weakest of ball players including a former 5th starter that has never made a playoff roster (Jason Marquis) and now to the latest knucklehead free agent (Milton Bradley).
As much as I love Ryne Sandberg and begged for his inclusion in the HOF, his numbers are NO WHERE NEAR what Sammy's numbers were. Yet nobody (I'm not positive as I cannot find a way to check) ever wore Sandberg's #23 following either of his two retirements. It's a travesty that the Cubs are treating Sammy with so little love. If no love, how about at least a little respect?
Of the 15 players who hit the most home runs from 1993 through 2004, Ramirez is the 10th to be connected to performance-enhancing drugs by positive tests, the Mitchell Report or news reports, joining Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Rodriguez, Mike Piazza, Mark McGwire, Gary Sheffield, Juan Gonzalez and Mo Vaughn in the rogues' gallery. (The five not associated as such are Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, Jeff Bagwell and Carlos Delgado.)
Does he know something none of the rest of us know? And when I say "know", I mean KNOW, not guessing or speculating. Sammy was not involved in BALCO, was not in the Mitchell Report other than being included in a list of players that didn't respond to a questionnaire sent to his lawyer by Sen Mitchell, and has not been linked in any way, shape or form to any doctors, clinics, clubhouse attendants, or even Jose Canseco. So what's up with including him in this list of dirty players in the cover story for a major sports magazine?
I remain baffled as to why the Cubs organization treats Sammy the way they do. Sammy helped bridge the gap between lovable losers and playoff contenders. He carried the Cubs for 10 years when they had NOBODY else. He had arguably the greatest single season ever that was not performance enhanced by drugs (1998 and heck, what about 2001?). He brought in HUGE revenue for this franchise that helped get them over the hump of a big market team with a small market mentality.
Since he left so unceremoniously following that final game in 2004, he has hardly been mentioned in this town. He hit more HRs than Mr. Cub himself and yet, his number remains to be given away to the weakest of ball players including a former 5th starter that has never made a playoff roster (Jason Marquis) and now to the latest knucklehead free agent (Milton Bradley).
As much as I love Ryne Sandberg and begged for his inclusion in the HOF, his numbers are NO WHERE NEAR what Sammy's numbers were. Yet nobody (I'm not positive as I cannot find a way to check) ever wore Sandberg's #23 following either of his two retirements. It's a travesty that the Cubs are treating Sammy with so little love. If no love, how about at least a little respect?
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Lee vs. Hoffpauir
So does D-Lee have compromising pictures of Lou or what? Why did the Cubs rush D-Lee back into the lineup even following the negative MRI? Hoffpauir was doing a FINE job filling in for D-Lee while he was out. In less than 2/3 of Lee's ABs, Hoffpauir has the same amount of hits, doubles and HRs and is only 4 behind in RBIs. Hoffpauir has struck out half as many times, has a BA over 100 points higher, and an OBA 83 points higher than Lee. Hoffpauir is nearly 200 points higher than Lee in SLG and considering Lee has hit 3rd or 4th all year, his pathetic .337 SLG is KILLING the team chances to score runs and/or have the big innings they are capable of having.
I just don't know what else Lou has to see from Hoffpauir to get him in there more and rest Lee more. Check out the comparison for yourself at this link.
I have to give it up for Milton Bradley. He is really starting to hit the baseball. After that mammoth HR he hit on Tue night, he motioned to his ear to try and hear some cheers for a change. It was a bit of a hot dog move, but I had no problem with it as he has been hearing a lot of BOOS thus far and should have heard some cheers after that bomb gave the Cubs the lead for good on Tue against the formidable Jake Peavy. He increased his modest hitting streak to 7 games last night with a bunt single although he did break his RBI streak at 5. You have to give D-Lee some "credit" there as he went 0-for-4 batting ahead of MB limiting his RBI chances as he left no runners on base last night.
Is Geo Soto coming out of his season long slump? Soto was 2-3 with 3 2-out RBIs last night to be the latest Cub to steal the show. Last night's 3 RBIs gave Soto 7 for the season after he had 86 last season. Again, the Cubs are now 5 games over .500 and they have done it with smoke and mirrors thus far. Lee, Bradley, and Soto have all sucked thus far with each hitting below .200 and Aramis has missed 15 games so how are they scoring ANY runs? Theriot and Fukudome have been amazing so far and Soriano is, well, Soriano - a lead-off hitter that's tied for 2nd in the NL for HRs. Even the bullpen has started throwing strikes and getting people out. Maybe this team can be as good as everyone thought if the other guys pick it up too.
GO CUBS!
I just don't know what else Lou has to see from Hoffpauir to get him in there more and rest Lee more. Check out the comparison for yourself at this link.
I have to give it up for Milton Bradley. He is really starting to hit the baseball. After that mammoth HR he hit on Tue night, he motioned to his ear to try and hear some cheers for a change. It was a bit of a hot dog move, but I had no problem with it as he has been hearing a lot of BOOS thus far and should have heard some cheers after that bomb gave the Cubs the lead for good on Tue against the formidable Jake Peavy. He increased his modest hitting streak to 7 games last night with a bunt single although he did break his RBI streak at 5. You have to give D-Lee some "credit" there as he went 0-for-4 batting ahead of MB limiting his RBI chances as he left no runners on base last night.
Is Geo Soto coming out of his season long slump? Soto was 2-3 with 3 2-out RBIs last night to be the latest Cub to steal the show. Last night's 3 RBIs gave Soto 7 for the season after he had 86 last season. Again, the Cubs are now 5 games over .500 and they have done it with smoke and mirrors thus far. Lee, Bradley, and Soto have all sucked thus far with each hitting below .200 and Aramis has missed 15 games so how are they scoring ANY runs? Theriot and Fukudome have been amazing so far and Soriano is, well, Soriano - a lead-off hitter that's tied for 2nd in the NL for HRs. Even the bullpen has started throwing strikes and getting people out. Maybe this team can be as good as everyone thought if the other guys pick it up too.
GO CUBS!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Bandwagon Jumpers
So what about all these bandwagon jumpers for the Hawks and the Bulls? Obviously both teams have increased in popularity over the last 12 months. The Bulls were supposed to compete for the Eastern Conference championship last season but had a supremely disappointing season leading to the firing of the coach that helped bring them back into relevance with three straight playoff appearances. Some serious luck came their way when they surprisingly won the coveted NBA Draft Lottery and made the RIGHT choice bringing Derrick Rose into the mix. Derrick helped lead the Bulls to an 8-game turnaround getting them back in the playoffs as the #7 seed.
The Bulls' epic playoff series with the defending champ Boston Celtics will go down in history as the best first-round (if not THE best) playoff series ever. All the experts say that just having that playoff experience will help the young Bulls develop as a perennial contender for years to come. They were a couple of shots or a couple of referee calls away from upsetting the #2 Celtics and moving on to face the very beatable Orlando Magic. But the extra media attention and being in the limelight for an extra month brought along what most call bandwagon jumpers. "True" or "die hard" fans tend to despise these people as they only come along when the team has success, but aren't there when the team really needs them to get over the hump. To me, the more people at the games means more noise at the UC which only helps out the home team and that's what I want. Eventually (I hope) the Bulls will start to get some actual calls especially at home...that's what all the experts are saying about Derrick Rose. Can you imagine what this kid would have done with 5-6 more FTs per game? I'm looking forward to that time.
The Hawks saw an absolutely INCREDIBLE transformation this year. It "helped" that they haven't been relevant since 2002's playoff appearance. They made HUGE strides last year thanks to their two AMAZING rookies (Kane and Towes), but floundered a bit down the stretch and missed the "cut" for the playoffs. They did NOT falter this season though, did they? The transformation started when Dale Tallon moved from the radio booth to the front office as GM in 2005. He then picked up Towes (#3 overall) and Kane (#1 overall) in the first round in 2006 and 2007 and the Hawks were on their way. With the death of their long-time and ultra-cheap, stubborn, and arrogant owner "Dollar" Bill Wirtz and the ownership change to son Rocky Wirtz along with the hiring of ex-Cubs President John McDonough, the franchise transmformation was complete. But wait, who doesn't love Savoir Faire? When the Hawks decided to fire him only 4 games into the season this year, I was scratching my head. Well, what do I know? Joel Quenneville was the final piece so he actually completed the transformation.
Getting the home games back on TV helped build a more consistent following. This was THE BIG decision behind getting this team the support they needed to get them over the hump. You can literally watch every single Hawks game on TV and nearly all in HD (that helps too - NHL in HD is the BEST). How did this not make sense to Dollar Bill?
The home attendance and revenue numbers for this season have been ASTRONOMICAL. What a perfect storm to redevelop a fan base. With that totally nuts Game 6 at the UC, the Hawks exceeded 1 million fans and that does NOT count the Winter Classic at the Frozen Confines. The Hawks set an NHL club record by attracting an average of 21,783 to their 40 home dates at United Center (not including the 40,818 who filled Wrigley Field for the Winter Classic) this season. Chicago is averaging 22,578 fans per game through their first five home contests of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. How can that be with all the fans they should have lost with everyone staying home to watch the home games? Ya...nice logic there Dollar Bill.
So where did all these people come from? This goes back to my original point. Are all these people coming out of the woodwork only here because the team has been so successful? Or were they always there keeping an eye on the team to see when the franchise cared as much as they did? Speaking for myself, I'm going with the latter. I've always followed the Hawks but not as closely as I have these last two years. It REALLY helps me since I don't have season tickets and only get to a couple games a year to have the games on TV. Having THE BEST announcers on the planet doing the games, REALLY helps too. Eddie O and Pat Foley are simply amazing. Eddie O's analysis of Kane's 3rd and pretty much game and series clinching goal on Mon night was so insightful. Amazing! And that's why people like to watch. I can't find any current revenue numbers for this season, but last year's merchandise revenues were up 175% so this year should be right in that same area. Season ticket sales increased 300% from last year to this year too.
So I say WELCOME BACK fans...WELCOME BACK!
The Bulls' epic playoff series with the defending champ Boston Celtics will go down in history as the best first-round (if not THE best) playoff series ever. All the experts say that just having that playoff experience will help the young Bulls develop as a perennial contender for years to come. They were a couple of shots or a couple of referee calls away from upsetting the #2 Celtics and moving on to face the very beatable Orlando Magic. But the extra media attention and being in the limelight for an extra month brought along what most call bandwagon jumpers. "True" or "die hard" fans tend to despise these people as they only come along when the team has success, but aren't there when the team really needs them to get over the hump. To me, the more people at the games means more noise at the UC which only helps out the home team and that's what I want. Eventually (I hope) the Bulls will start to get some actual calls especially at home...that's what all the experts are saying about Derrick Rose. Can you imagine what this kid would have done with 5-6 more FTs per game? I'm looking forward to that time.
The Hawks saw an absolutely INCREDIBLE transformation this year. It "helped" that they haven't been relevant since 2002's playoff appearance. They made HUGE strides last year thanks to their two AMAZING rookies (Kane and Towes), but floundered a bit down the stretch and missed the "cut" for the playoffs. They did NOT falter this season though, did they? The transformation started when Dale Tallon moved from the radio booth to the front office as GM in 2005. He then picked up Towes (#3 overall) and Kane (#1 overall) in the first round in 2006 and 2007 and the Hawks were on their way. With the death of their long-time and ultra-cheap, stubborn, and arrogant owner "Dollar" Bill Wirtz and the ownership change to son Rocky Wirtz along with the hiring of ex-Cubs President John McDonough, the franchise transmformation was complete. But wait, who doesn't love Savoir Faire? When the Hawks decided to fire him only 4 games into the season this year, I was scratching my head. Well, what do I know? Joel Quenneville was the final piece so he actually completed the transformation.
Getting the home games back on TV helped build a more consistent following. This was THE BIG decision behind getting this team the support they needed to get them over the hump. You can literally watch every single Hawks game on TV and nearly all in HD (that helps too - NHL in HD is the BEST). How did this not make sense to Dollar Bill?
The home attendance and revenue numbers for this season have been ASTRONOMICAL. What a perfect storm to redevelop a fan base. With that totally nuts Game 6 at the UC, the Hawks exceeded 1 million fans and that does NOT count the Winter Classic at the Frozen Confines. The Hawks set an NHL club record by attracting an average of 21,783 to their 40 home dates at United Center (not including the 40,818 who filled Wrigley Field for the Winter Classic) this season. Chicago is averaging 22,578 fans per game through their first five home contests of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. How can that be with all the fans they should have lost with everyone staying home to watch the home games? Ya...nice logic there Dollar Bill.
So where did all these people come from? This goes back to my original point. Are all these people coming out of the woodwork only here because the team has been so successful? Or were they always there keeping an eye on the team to see when the franchise cared as much as they did? Speaking for myself, I'm going with the latter. I've always followed the Hawks but not as closely as I have these last two years. It REALLY helps me since I don't have season tickets and only get to a couple games a year to have the games on TV. Having THE BEST announcers on the planet doing the games, REALLY helps too. Eddie O and Pat Foley are simply amazing. Eddie O's analysis of Kane's 3rd and pretty much game and series clinching goal on Mon night was so insightful. Amazing! And that's why people like to watch. I can't find any current revenue numbers for this season, but last year's merchandise revenues were up 175% so this year should be right in that same area. Season ticket sales increased 300% from last year to this year too.
So I say WELCOME BACK fans...WELCOME BACK!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
How about those HAWKS?!?
I already mentioned that I don't really know enough about hockey but...it doesn't take an expert to tell you how awesome that game was last night. I was writing my blog last night during the first two periods and had the game summary up in my web browser. 1-0 Hawks, 1-1, 2-1 Hawks, 3-1 (feeling REALLY good at this point), then 3-2, 3-3 (what's going on here?), and that's where the 2nd period finished up. I'm thinking OK, we're still at home, the crowd is still NUTS, we can do this and punch our ticket to the conference finals for the first time since 1995. Then I started thinking about the 2003 Cubs - NO get those HORRIBLE thoughts out of your head man!
It didn't take long but there it was - a stupid penalty for too many men on the ice (really?). Mats Sundin made it 4-3 Canucks (what?!?). Wait! What happened to that 3-1 lead at home? NO! Officially, it was not considered a power play goal, but the tally occurred 2 seconds after the Canucks finished their power play so the Hawks 5th skater wasn't in the play yet. But wait, these guys are so resilient, it's really only me that's nervous at this point. So how do these guys do it? How do they not get nervous in BIG spots when they're down? I think maybe its because they're too young and inexperienced to really get the gravity of the situation. You know? Too dumb to be scared! Whatever it is...it worked!
The 3rd period was one for the ages...UNREAL! Down 4-3 against arguably the best goal tender in the world...no problem. Then the barrage started...Burish (really? yes!) tied it less than 2 minutes later at 4-4. And then back and forth, back and forth...finally about 6 1/2 minutes after Burish tied it, Vancouver struck again to take their final lead of the series...of the season when Sedin scored his second goal of the game.
The rest of the 3rd belonged to the young Hawks. First Kane tied it at 5-5 with a great steal and wrap-around from behind the net. Really? 5 goals against Luongo - isn't he supposed to be the best in the world? Less than 30 seconds later, the Hawks drew a borderline (looked like a good call to me :)) hooking penalty and then Towest took advantage on a pass intended for Sharpe that went off the skate of a Vancouver defenseman about 25 seconds into the final power play of the series to take the lead for good. That was Towes second goal of the game matching Kane to that point. Well, last year's Calder Trophy (i.e. Rookie of the Year) winner wasn't to be equaled on this night...Kane scored the 7th goal of the game to get his very first hat trick of his 2-year career (there will be PLENTY more in the very near future for this star).
The final seconds of the period could not tick down fast enough. Tick...tick...tick...whistle...tick...tick...tick. But the Hawks would finish off the Canucks on home ice before an absolutely ecstatic crowd. What a roller coaster ride for those folks! I was going crazy at home by myself and I was only able to watch the 3rd period (couldn't have picked a better period to watch though); these people were there for the whole game. Up 3-1 and feeling pretty good...down 4-3 and sick to your stomach just a little bit...tied 4-4 and thinking "OK, here we go now"...not yet; down 5-4 and going "come on boys - let's cheer louder!"...tied 5-5 and going "now?"...then 6-5 "woohoo"...then 7-5 "WOOHOO"...then tick, tick, tick..."bring on the Red Wings (or Ducks)!"
What a fantastic season...and it ain't over yet! GO HAWKS!!!
It didn't take long but there it was - a stupid penalty for too many men on the ice (really?). Mats Sundin made it 4-3 Canucks (what?!?). Wait! What happened to that 3-1 lead at home? NO! Officially, it was not considered a power play goal, but the tally occurred 2 seconds after the Canucks finished their power play so the Hawks 5th skater wasn't in the play yet. But wait, these guys are so resilient, it's really only me that's nervous at this point. So how do these guys do it? How do they not get nervous in BIG spots when they're down? I think maybe its because they're too young and inexperienced to really get the gravity of the situation. You know? Too dumb to be scared! Whatever it is...it worked!
The 3rd period was one for the ages...UNREAL! Down 4-3 against arguably the best goal tender in the world...no problem. Then the barrage started...Burish (really? yes!) tied it less than 2 minutes later at 4-4. And then back and forth, back and forth...finally about 6 1/2 minutes after Burish tied it, Vancouver struck again to take their final lead of the series...of the season when Sedin scored his second goal of the game.
The rest of the 3rd belonged to the young Hawks. First Kane tied it at 5-5 with a great steal and wrap-around from behind the net. Really? 5 goals against Luongo - isn't he supposed to be the best in the world? Less than 30 seconds later, the Hawks drew a borderline (looked like a good call to me :)) hooking penalty and then Towest took advantage on a pass intended for Sharpe that went off the skate of a Vancouver defenseman about 25 seconds into the final power play of the series to take the lead for good. That was Towes second goal of the game matching Kane to that point. Well, last year's Calder Trophy (i.e. Rookie of the Year) winner wasn't to be equaled on this night...Kane scored the 7th goal of the game to get his very first hat trick of his 2-year career (there will be PLENTY more in the very near future for this star).
The final seconds of the period could not tick down fast enough. Tick...tick...tick...whistle...tick...tick...tick. But the Hawks would finish off the Canucks on home ice before an absolutely ecstatic crowd. What a roller coaster ride for those folks! I was going crazy at home by myself and I was only able to watch the 3rd period (couldn't have picked a better period to watch though); these people were there for the whole game. Up 3-1 and feeling pretty good...down 4-3 and sick to your stomach just a little bit...tied 4-4 and thinking "OK, here we go now"...not yet; down 5-4 and going "come on boys - let's cheer louder!"...tied 5-5 and going "now?"...then 6-5 "woohoo"...then 7-5 "WOOHOO"...then tick, tick, tick..."bring on the Red Wings (or Ducks)!"
What a fantastic season...and it ain't over yet! GO HAWKS!!!
Monday, May 11, 2009
What drives me crazy...MLB
Does it drive you crazy when...a hitter takes this HUUUUGE swing on an 0-2 pitch to strike out? What about all the gauking they do when they hit ANYTHING in the outfield? What about slowing down to look over their shoulder as they pull in to 2nd base? Or when they should slam the bat down on a dropped 3rd strike?
I guess I'm OLD SCHOOL but, what happened to shorten up and just make contact? What about drop the bat and run? What happened to picking up your 3rd base coach as you approached 2nd base? Doesn't he have a PERFECT view of the entire field? Or put the pressure on the defense to make a throw and catch to get you out? Isn't it the "little things" that are supposed to make the difference in a close game? If it is, then I don't know how either team wins a close game because nearly every single ball player in the entire MLB does every one of these things seemingly every chance they get.
These strikeout totals today are just absolutely out of control. In 1998, Sammy Sosa won the NL MVP with CRAZY good numbers including 66 HRs, 158 RBIs, and 134 runs scored. He was 2nd in HRs but led in RBIs and runs. Did you know he also led in Ks with 171? That's OK - he certainly wasn't alone as Bobby Abreu finished 10th with 133 Ks. In 1978, Dale Murphy led the NL in Ks with 145 while two guys tied for 10th with 103.
So what am I trying to say? There have ALWAYS been guys that strike out a lot; it's just that today, EVERY guy seems to strike out a lot. If you look at the league leaders year-by-year, there are a LOT of Hall of Famers (Reggie Jackson, Willie Stargell, Mike Schmidt, and Mickey Mantle just to name a few) on that list so striking out, even if you do it a lot doesn't make you a bad ball player. It's just that the art of choking up and putting the ball in play has been replaced by the mentality that "chicks did the long ball". There seem to be so many times when you see a guy up with the bases loaded chasing 1 run trying to hit the walk-off granny instead of just getting a 2-run single to simply win the game without the extra flare.
How many long singles off the wall is Aramis going to hit for the Cubs while admiring his warning track power? That would maybe happen to me once...ONCE. This guy seems to do it at least once a month. I don't necessarily mind guys admiring a cannon shot that lands in the upper deck or out on Waveland or Sheffield, but when the ball is caught or maybe lands in the basket or first couple rows in the bleachers, RUN!
Don't these guys learn in Little League that you are supposed to listen to your base coaches as it is much slower to run with your head turned all the way around? I've been coaching my kids now for 7 years now and I've been preaching that since t-ball. It only happens on our team every once in a while now, but you see it in every game in MLB - guys craning their necks into RF as they are approaching 2nd base deciding whether or not to try for the most exciting play in baseball - the triple. Had they been hustling out of the box, they'd be there, but admiring the long fly ball from the box and then turning your head around holds them to a double. Ah, what could have been especially if there's less than 2 outs.
And didn't the White Sox push toward a pennant and eventual World Series title on a dropped 3rd strike? OK - so the ball never hit the ground, but still...had AJ just done what every other ball player does and whip the helmet to the ground and walk out to his position rather than drop the bat and run, that World Series title may have never happened. Instead he was called safe at 1st and the momentum of the series swayed heavily toward the Sox and they took full advantage.
It's the little things boys that make the difference in the game. You already know this and yet, you still do it all wrong. What's up?
I guess I'm OLD SCHOOL but, what happened to shorten up and just make contact? What about drop the bat and run? What happened to picking up your 3rd base coach as you approached 2nd base? Doesn't he have a PERFECT view of the entire field? Or put the pressure on the defense to make a throw and catch to get you out? Isn't it the "little things" that are supposed to make the difference in a close game? If it is, then I don't know how either team wins a close game because nearly every single ball player in the entire MLB does every one of these things seemingly every chance they get.
These strikeout totals today are just absolutely out of control. In 1998, Sammy Sosa won the NL MVP with CRAZY good numbers including 66 HRs, 158 RBIs, and 134 runs scored. He was 2nd in HRs but led in RBIs and runs. Did you know he also led in Ks with 171? That's OK - he certainly wasn't alone as Bobby Abreu finished 10th with 133 Ks. In 1978, Dale Murphy led the NL in Ks with 145 while two guys tied for 10th with 103.
So what am I trying to say? There have ALWAYS been guys that strike out a lot; it's just that today, EVERY guy seems to strike out a lot. If you look at the league leaders year-by-year, there are a LOT of Hall of Famers (Reggie Jackson, Willie Stargell, Mike Schmidt, and Mickey Mantle just to name a few) on that list so striking out, even if you do it a lot doesn't make you a bad ball player. It's just that the art of choking up and putting the ball in play has been replaced by the mentality that "chicks did the long ball". There seem to be so many times when you see a guy up with the bases loaded chasing 1 run trying to hit the walk-off granny instead of just getting a 2-run single to simply win the game without the extra flare.
How many long singles off the wall is Aramis going to hit for the Cubs while admiring his warning track power? That would maybe happen to me once...ONCE. This guy seems to do it at least once a month. I don't necessarily mind guys admiring a cannon shot that lands in the upper deck or out on Waveland or Sheffield, but when the ball is caught or maybe lands in the basket or first couple rows in the bleachers, RUN!
Don't these guys learn in Little League that you are supposed to listen to your base coaches as it is much slower to run with your head turned all the way around? I've been coaching my kids now for 7 years now and I've been preaching that since t-ball. It only happens on our team every once in a while now, but you see it in every game in MLB - guys craning their necks into RF as they are approaching 2nd base deciding whether or not to try for the most exciting play in baseball - the triple. Had they been hustling out of the box, they'd be there, but admiring the long fly ball from the box and then turning your head around holds them to a double. Ah, what could have been especially if there's less than 2 outs.
And didn't the White Sox push toward a pennant and eventual World Series title on a dropped 3rd strike? OK - so the ball never hit the ground, but still...had AJ just done what every other ball player does and whip the helmet to the ground and walk out to his position rather than drop the bat and run, that World Series title may have never happened. Instead he was called safe at 1st and the momentum of the series swayed heavily toward the Sox and they took full advantage.
It's the little things boys that make the difference in the game. You already know this and yet, you still do it all wrong. What's up?
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Da Bulls!
OK so what do you do with the Bulls this offseason? While the #7 seeded Bulls Here's a team that played in the best playoff series in the history of the NBA (at least in the first round, but close if not the best). While the #7 seeded Bulls battled the #2 Celtics all the way to the end in their 7-game series, let's try to keep this in perspective...the Celtics weren't exactly at full strength while missing KG and Leon Powe. But the Bulls weren't at full strength either with Luol remaining out with the most debilitating stress fracture ever. He didn't play after 15 minutes in a game on 2/28 at home in a pretty big W against the Houston Rockets. Counting that W, the Bulls finished the season 15-7 without Luol going from 8 games under .500 and nowhere near the playoffs to ending up #7 and finishing at .500 (41-41). Hmmm...
As far as I'm concerned, there's only one untouchaBULL on this roster. Derrick Rose has a chance to be very special. Is he the next MJ? NO!!! There is no next MJ, so let's stop even trying to find one. But D-Rose is going to be VERY, VERY good. The two most exciting aspects of this kid (and let's not forget he's 20!) is his head (not much ego with this kid) and his eagerness to learn. My biggest hope is that he goes back to watch tape of the Celtics series and watch all the little things Rondo did (well, all the LEGAL stuff anyway) - rebounding, defense, better ball handling, and limited turnovers. Rose can certainly be much better than Rondo as he is bigger, stronger, younger and quicker.
What about Coach Vinny Del Negro? In my opinion, the worst part about turning the season around to make the playoffs and then going 7 with the Celtics is that the Bulls management will be all but obligated to keep Vinny for next year. We can only hope they don't extend him over the summer. Do you really want such a totally inexperienced coach developing your franchise player? Not me! But we're stuck with him for another season at least.
What do you do about the guards? Gordon is an unrestricted free agent starting July 1st. Hinrich is under contract for a reasonable salary as his contract was front-loaded - $9 million next season and $8 million the season after that. Gordon proved pretty invaluable in this Celtics series - tough to argue that. Hinrich also proved pretty valuable as well. Salmons can play the 2 guard spot also and he's making under $6 million next season in the last year of his current contract.
Although Pax has been able to dump ridiculous contracts in the past, with today's economy and pending 2010 free agency, we're stuck with the ultra-soft (too bad we're not talking about toilet paper) Luol Deng at least for next year. This guy other than a short stretch after originally returning from a different injury, looked lost out there most of the time. He doesn't go to the hole at all and his stats were down in EVERY category this season. And while all of that sounds bad, the worst part is that the Bulls played their best basketball when he was wearing a suit and cheering from the sidelines. The newly acquired Salmons jumped right in to Luol's spot and played better D and was way more effective on the offensive end as well.
Pending 2010 free agency...most teams are putting themselves in position to make a run at next summer's unprecedented free agent class including LeBron, Dwyane, Bosh, Amare, Joe Johnson, and Dirk among others. Salmons is done after next season too so you can add him to the list. So if you are quick to say "sign Gordon to whatever he wants" aren't you knocking yourself out of signing these bigger stars? Do the Bulls have a legit shot at getting LeBron? Nope! He'll either stick around in Cleveland where he's a god right now or sign with Jay-Z and the Nets with an outside shot of going to the Knicks. What about the other guys - particularly Dwyane, Bosh and Amare? I think the Bulls have a shot at all three of these guys - Dwyane is, like D-Rose from Chicago, Bosh has already expressed interest in coming here to join D-Rose and Amare was nearly traded here during the season.
Can Dwyane Wade and D-Rose play together? Their games are pretty similar and both should have the ball in their hands most of the time so how compatible would they be on the same team? They don't exactly play the same position, but Dwyane has the ball in his hands more than most 2-guards. He has a much better handle than Ben Gordon and also attacks the basket better too. So if you think they can play together and think you have a good shot at getting him in here, then you can't resign BG.
What about getting Bosh or Amare NOW? Bosh is stuck in the Great White North (OK, so Toronto's weather isn't much worse than here) and the Raptors know he isn't coming back so why not work a trade before losing him for nothing to the highest bidder in 2010? Pretty much the same situation in Phoenix who missed the playoffs this year. As much as I like Brad Miller as a wiley veteran, Chris Bosh or Amare would obviously be a HUGE upgrade. Now you just have to put together a decent package to get either of them that would have to include Brad Miller.
The play of Tyrus and Joakim really allows the Bulls some flexibility. Both of these guys played really well down the stretch and Joakim took it to another level in the Boston series. The one question mark here is why Vinny limited Tyrus' playing time in the playoffs even with a short bench. That was a very perplexing sub-plot for me. Now if Joakim could start next season in better shape, he could start being effective before January. I'd like to see Joakim dunk the ball a little more rather than attempt so many tip-ins on the offensive glass and I'd like to see Tyrus play with a little more consistent passion as it can be disheartening to see the most athletic player in the league get beat down court by another PF. Tyrus also needs to drive to the hole a little more and rely less on the 15-18' jump shot.
So how about this for a 2009-10 lineup as follows?
Starters:
Should be an interesting off-season...The Bulls have already had somewhat of an interesting off-season. Gar Forman (currently director of player personnel) is said to be taking over Pax's GM role while Pax gets promoted to a new position and basically be Gar's boss. Will Gar be more aggressive with trades? We have all heard the numerous deals the Bulls were supposedly close to pulling the trigger on only to have something hault the deal. While we'll never know what really happened to those deals or even if they ever existed in the first place, a lot of criticism has been placed on Pax that he overvalues this own players and limits his trade possibilities because of it. Will this change allow the Bulls to take more risks and really get another star in here to play next to D-Rose? I sure hope so!
As far as I'm concerned, there's only one untouchaBULL on this roster. Derrick Rose has a chance to be very special. Is he the next MJ? NO!!! There is no next MJ, so let's stop even trying to find one. But D-Rose is going to be VERY, VERY good. The two most exciting aspects of this kid (and let's not forget he's 20!) is his head (not much ego with this kid) and his eagerness to learn. My biggest hope is that he goes back to watch tape of the Celtics series and watch all the little things Rondo did (well, all the LEGAL stuff anyway) - rebounding, defense, better ball handling, and limited turnovers. Rose can certainly be much better than Rondo as he is bigger, stronger, younger and quicker.
What about Coach Vinny Del Negro? In my opinion, the worst part about turning the season around to make the playoffs and then going 7 with the Celtics is that the Bulls management will be all but obligated to keep Vinny for next year. We can only hope they don't extend him over the summer. Do you really want such a totally inexperienced coach developing your franchise player? Not me! But we're stuck with him for another season at least.
What do you do about the guards? Gordon is an unrestricted free agent starting July 1st. Hinrich is under contract for a reasonable salary as his contract was front-loaded - $9 million next season and $8 million the season after that. Gordon proved pretty invaluable in this Celtics series - tough to argue that. Hinrich also proved pretty valuable as well. Salmons can play the 2 guard spot also and he's making under $6 million next season in the last year of his current contract.
Although Pax has been able to dump ridiculous contracts in the past, with today's economy and pending 2010 free agency, we're stuck with the ultra-soft (too bad we're not talking about toilet paper) Luol Deng at least for next year. This guy other than a short stretch after originally returning from a different injury, looked lost out there most of the time. He doesn't go to the hole at all and his stats were down in EVERY category this season. And while all of that sounds bad, the worst part is that the Bulls played their best basketball when he was wearing a suit and cheering from the sidelines. The newly acquired Salmons jumped right in to Luol's spot and played better D and was way more effective on the offensive end as well.
Pending 2010 free agency...most teams are putting themselves in position to make a run at next summer's unprecedented free agent class including LeBron, Dwyane, Bosh, Amare, Joe Johnson, and Dirk among others. Salmons is done after next season too so you can add him to the list. So if you are quick to say "sign Gordon to whatever he wants" aren't you knocking yourself out of signing these bigger stars? Do the Bulls have a legit shot at getting LeBron? Nope! He'll either stick around in Cleveland where he's a god right now or sign with Jay-Z and the Nets with an outside shot of going to the Knicks. What about the other guys - particularly Dwyane, Bosh and Amare? I think the Bulls have a shot at all three of these guys - Dwyane is, like D-Rose from Chicago, Bosh has already expressed interest in coming here to join D-Rose and Amare was nearly traded here during the season.
Can Dwyane Wade and D-Rose play together? Their games are pretty similar and both should have the ball in their hands most of the time so how compatible would they be on the same team? They don't exactly play the same position, but Dwyane has the ball in his hands more than most 2-guards. He has a much better handle than Ben Gordon and also attacks the basket better too. So if you think they can play together and think you have a good shot at getting him in here, then you can't resign BG.
What about getting Bosh or Amare NOW? Bosh is stuck in the Great White North (OK, so Toronto's weather isn't much worse than here) and the Raptors know he isn't coming back so why not work a trade before losing him for nothing to the highest bidder in 2010? Pretty much the same situation in Phoenix who missed the playoffs this year. As much as I like Brad Miller as a wiley veteran, Chris Bosh or Amare would obviously be a HUGE upgrade. Now you just have to put together a decent package to get either of them that would have to include Brad Miller.
The play of Tyrus and Joakim really allows the Bulls some flexibility. Both of these guys played really well down the stretch and Joakim took it to another level in the Boston series. The one question mark here is why Vinny limited Tyrus' playing time in the playoffs even with a short bench. That was a very perplexing sub-plot for me. Now if Joakim could start next season in better shape, he could start being effective before January. I'd like to see Joakim dunk the ball a little more rather than attempt so many tip-ins on the offensive glass and I'd like to see Tyrus play with a little more consistent passion as it can be disheartening to see the most athletic player in the league get beat down court by another PF. Tyrus also needs to drive to the hole a little more and rely less on the 15-18' jump shot.
So how about this for a 2009-10 lineup as follows?
Starters:
- Derrick Rose (duh!)
- Salmons (could be a very effective 2-guard that can score and play D)
- Luol (can he come back and be the player we saw in 2006-07?)
- Bosh/Amare (I think you go get one of these guys)
- Noah
- Tyrus (3/4)
- Gordon (can you sign him to another 1-year deal?)
- Hinrich (not sure you can keep him if you trade for Bosh or Amare as he may be part of the deal)
- Tim Thomas (this guy could flourish in Vinny's O-first philosophy)
- Aaron Gray (needs to lose some weight and show a commitment to being an NBA player)
Should be an interesting off-season...The Bulls have already had somewhat of an interesting off-season. Gar Forman (currently director of player personnel) is said to be taking over Pax's GM role while Pax gets promoted to a new position and basically be Gar's boss. Will Gar be more aggressive with trades? We have all heard the numerous deals the Bulls were supposedly close to pulling the trigger on only to have something hault the deal. While we'll never know what really happened to those deals or even if they ever existed in the first place, a lot of criticism has been placed on Pax that he overvalues this own players and limits his trade possibilities because of it. Will this change allow the Bulls to take more risks and really get another star in here to play next to D-Rose? I sure hope so!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
I was going to say...
Well, after watching Lou leave Dempster in too long again I was planning to complain about it again, but now you see Lou's dilemma - the bullpen SUCKS! After playing a great game with a score of 3-2 going into the bottom of the 7th with Micah going deep with a 2-run, 2-out HR (did you see that D-Lee?) to bring the Cubs within a single run, Lou decided to leave Dempster in there even though he was over 110 pitches before the inning started. After getting the lead-off hitter in the 7th, Dempster gave up a bomb to Craig Counsell (ya, that's what I said!) on the first pitch followed by an even bigger bomb by Ryan Braun which went from chasing one run to chasing 3. Then it got REALLY bad as the bullpen was called upon to put out the fire, but all they did was pour gasoline on it instead. Neal Cotts is THE WORST left-handed reliever in the history of the game (well, maybe Jeff Fasero would have something to say about that) as he continues to SUCK against lefties - .308 BA with 6 walks including another one today. Did Lou bring him in to walk the left-handed Prince Fielder to then face the right-handed JJ Hardy? Don't think so, but that's just what he did. That's OK, he's an equal opportunity bad reliever - JJ Hardy stroked a single following the walk to Prince Fielder.
Today's relievers combined for 1 2/3 innings, 7 ERs, including 6 walks. Newly recalled (and hopefully even more newly demoted) Chad Fox (he now has a 135.00 ERA!) joined Cotts with 2 ERs and ZERO innings pitched. Maybe these guys just don't know what the root word "relief" means in reliever because they aren't really relieving anything other than the Cubs' chances of winning the game.
So let's see...today's game combined three of the posts I have done this week. Micah Hoffpauir IS seemingly taking advantage of his opportunity to play in place of the injured D-Lee going 2-5 today with a 2-run HR to move his BA up to .298 and more importantly, bring up his RBIs to 11 (just 4 behind Lee's 15 in just over half the ABs).
Second, was Lou's poor handling of the pitching staff. This one kind of cancelled itself out with the ultra-poor effort by a horrific bullpen, but it was clear to me that Dempster was done after 110 pitches through 6 innings. Lou left him in there as he doesn't trust his pen but after back-to-back jacks, he still had to go to the pen.
Third is Hendry's terrible off-season. Jim, WHERE'S the bullpen? There's one lefty in there which is OK, but not when the lefty we have cannot get lefty's out! Let's hope Freel is going to help even out the bench as DeRosa certainly could have done although he was a late scratch before the game today with a hammy.
The good news is that they are still 3 games over .500 and just 2.5 games behind the Cards as they lost again tonight too. I think the Cubs are finding that the rest of the division isn't just going to bow down and let the Cubs walk away with the division as yes, they're only 2.5 out, but they're in 4th place behind the Cards, Reds, and Brewers. It's too early to panic other than about that bullpen. What are you going to do about it Hendry?
HOW ABOUT THOSE HAWKS?!?
Today's relievers combined for 1 2/3 innings, 7 ERs, including 6 walks. Newly recalled (and hopefully even more newly demoted) Chad Fox (he now has a 135.00 ERA!) joined Cotts with 2 ERs and ZERO innings pitched. Maybe these guys just don't know what the root word "relief" means in reliever because they aren't really relieving anything other than the Cubs' chances of winning the game.
So let's see...today's game combined three of the posts I have done this week. Micah Hoffpauir IS seemingly taking advantage of his opportunity to play in place of the injured D-Lee going 2-5 today with a 2-run HR to move his BA up to .298 and more importantly, bring up his RBIs to 11 (just 4 behind Lee's 15 in just over half the ABs).
Second, was Lou's poor handling of the pitching staff. This one kind of cancelled itself out with the ultra-poor effort by a horrific bullpen, but it was clear to me that Dempster was done after 110 pitches through 6 innings. Lou left him in there as he doesn't trust his pen but after back-to-back jacks, he still had to go to the pen.
Third is Hendry's terrible off-season. Jim, WHERE'S the bullpen? There's one lefty in there which is OK, but not when the lefty we have cannot get lefty's out! Let's hope Freel is going to help even out the bench as DeRosa certainly could have done although he was a late scratch before the game today with a hammy.
The good news is that they are still 3 games over .500 and just 2.5 games behind the Cards as they lost again tonight too. I think the Cubs are finding that the rest of the division isn't just going to bow down and let the Cubs walk away with the division as yes, they're only 2.5 out, but they're in 4th place behind the Cards, Reds, and Brewers. It's too early to panic other than about that bullpen. What are you going to do about it Hendry?
HOW ABOUT THOSE HAWKS?!?
Friday, May 8, 2009
To BOO or Not to Boo
I hear a lot of whining by players, coaches and even other fans about Booing. Well, if you know me, you already know my opinion on this, but for those that don't, here you go. Let me just say that I don't bottle up my feelings and nobody sitting in my section says to themselves "gee, I wonder what that guy thought about that play". If I pay good money to see a PRO sports event (NOT applicable to college or high school), I have an expected level of performance and that level is pretty high and not only associated with the players, but also the refs/umps and entertainment. If any aspect does not meet my expectation, then I let them know with a loud and boisterous BOO. I have had Bulls season tickets for 10 years now so I have seen some HORENDOUS baseketball. When the people that sit in front of me show up, I try to warn them anout the pending BOOs.
If players and refs don't want to hear me boo, they have lots of choices. First, they can find another line of work - good luck with that. I often hear the argument from players that "I don't come to your office to boo you". No, you probably don't but that's because you don't pay my salary where the fans do pay the players' salary. Second and the most preferred would be for them to actually play or call the game better. I don't do nearly as much booing at baseball games at not towards the umpires as I find that they're all pretty good. Sure, there are bad calls here and there and the balls/strikes calls aren't always as consistent as I would like them to be which sometimes illicits a Boo, the calls are typically pretty good. However at NBA games, the officiating is just plain AWFUL. I have written emails to most of the sports writers in this town to err my complaints and most of them agree with me. I always hear that Jordan always got all the calls and now the officials are making up for that with this team. Ya, like that makes a lot of sense. There is one other alternative I can think of to booing. How about allowing feedback for each ref/, each player, and each coach?
Well, this isn't about booing officials as most people don't have issues with that well, except the officials maybe. This is about booing the home team players. So is it OK to boo the home team or not? I certainly think so. Again, I paid good money to see a game and root on my home team. I mentioned in my bio that I'm fanatic and as such, I allow bad games from my home teams to ruin my day/night. So if I start to see a bad mood on my horizon, I feel the need to express myself. And its not like I am the only one booing although I may indeed be the loudest. They don't let us fans communicate directly with the players so all we have is to clap when we're happy and boo when we're not. I truly don't see a problem with that. What am I hurting their feelings? Doesn't the multi-million dollar contract make up for that a little bit? This is Chicago baby! You want to earn our respect and admiration? PLAY HARD! It really isn't that difficult of a formula. You play lackadaisical, you WILL get booed. If it isn't me, it will be plenty of other people.
Short of that, I don't see that I even have a choice but to BOO. How else am I going to express my opinion? Provide constructive feedback to the offending party? It's not just about the BOO for me either - I am all about yelling as well as sometimes it seems that they really need to no precisely what I am displeased with. Now, I have three kids and I often have 1 or more of them with me and even when I don't, I am sensitive to my language in front of the younger fans that may be present, so I do keep the language clean. Most of the time, I get laughs from the people sitting near me.
A sub-category of BOOing is heckling and this is typically limited to the opposing team and their fans. I'm pretty good at this too. My first recollection of heckling was funny, but not terribly effective. My dad had my brothers and I at the Cubs' game in the LF bleachers. The Cubs were battling the Astros in a day game back in the early 80s. In those days, Jose Cruz (not Jr) was patrolling LF for the Astros. We were a little young to be taking part in the heckling, but I'll never forget the chant they used - "Fe Fi Fo Fum, Jose Cruz is a {bleeping} bum!" Well, he had a career day against the Cubs that day (3-for-5, 2B, HR, BB, 5 RBIs, and a SB in a 14-12 Cubs loss) and I have to think the hecklers in those LF bleachers had a heck of a lot to do with it. See, I learned from that - there are some guys where you can get in their head but there are a LOT of guys that focus that much more just to stick it to the hecklers. Reggie Miller falls in that category - just ask Spike Lee and the Knicks. How about LeBron in that game where Chris Bosh's girlfriend and her friend started razzing him and the Cavs came back from a 17-point 4th quarter deficit? LeBron went for 24 in the quarter.
I do have to give my brother some props for the best heckle ever. The funny part is the guy he heckled was actually a fan for the opposing team (Portland Trail Blazers) at the United Center. How do we know he was a fan for the other team? Because he was wearing a Brandon Roy jersey - one of the expensive ones. Now most pasty white guys (myself included) wear some sort of shirt under the NBA jersey since it is a tank top but this guy did not. Well my brother shouted at him "put a shirt on pasty!" Not only did everyone around us know exactly who he was talking about, but the guy must have heard him as he walked out righ then. Now that would be funny enough, right? But no...there's more. the guy comes back a few minutes later wearing a t-shirt under his jersey. Priceless! See you can heckle for good too!
If players and refs don't want to hear me boo, they have lots of choices. First, they can find another line of work - good luck with that. I often hear the argument from players that "I don't come to your office to boo you". No, you probably don't but that's because you don't pay my salary where the fans do pay the players' salary. Second and the most preferred would be for them to actually play or call the game better. I don't do nearly as much booing at baseball games at not towards the umpires as I find that they're all pretty good. Sure, there are bad calls here and there and the balls/strikes calls aren't always as consistent as I would like them to be which sometimes illicits a Boo, the calls are typically pretty good. However at NBA games, the officiating is just plain AWFUL. I have written emails to most of the sports writers in this town to err my complaints and most of them agree with me. I always hear that Jordan always got all the calls and now the officials are making up for that with this team. Ya, like that makes a lot of sense. There is one other alternative I can think of to booing. How about allowing feedback for each ref/, each player, and each coach?
Well, this isn't about booing officials as most people don't have issues with that well, except the officials maybe. This is about booing the home team players. So is it OK to boo the home team or not? I certainly think so. Again, I paid good money to see a game and root on my home team. I mentioned in my bio that I'm fanatic and as such, I allow bad games from my home teams to ruin my day/night. So if I start to see a bad mood on my horizon, I feel the need to express myself. And its not like I am the only one booing although I may indeed be the loudest. They don't let us fans communicate directly with the players so all we have is to clap when we're happy and boo when we're not. I truly don't see a problem with that. What am I hurting their feelings? Doesn't the multi-million dollar contract make up for that a little bit? This is Chicago baby! You want to earn our respect and admiration? PLAY HARD! It really isn't that difficult of a formula. You play lackadaisical, you WILL get booed. If it isn't me, it will be plenty of other people.
Short of that, I don't see that I even have a choice but to BOO. How else am I going to express my opinion? Provide constructive feedback to the offending party? It's not just about the BOO for me either - I am all about yelling as well as sometimes it seems that they really need to no precisely what I am displeased with. Now, I have three kids and I often have 1 or more of them with me and even when I don't, I am sensitive to my language in front of the younger fans that may be present, so I do keep the language clean. Most of the time, I get laughs from the people sitting near me.
A sub-category of BOOing is heckling and this is typically limited to the opposing team and their fans. I'm pretty good at this too. My first recollection of heckling was funny, but not terribly effective. My dad had my brothers and I at the Cubs' game in the LF bleachers. The Cubs were battling the Astros in a day game back in the early 80s. In those days, Jose Cruz (not Jr) was patrolling LF for the Astros. We were a little young to be taking part in the heckling, but I'll never forget the chant they used - "Fe Fi Fo Fum, Jose Cruz is a {bleeping} bum!" Well, he had a career day against the Cubs that day (3-for-5, 2B, HR, BB, 5 RBIs, and a SB in a 14-12 Cubs loss) and I have to think the hecklers in those LF bleachers had a heck of a lot to do with it. See, I learned from that - there are some guys where you can get in their head but there are a LOT of guys that focus that much more just to stick it to the hecklers. Reggie Miller falls in that category - just ask Spike Lee and the Knicks. How about LeBron in that game where Chris Bosh's girlfriend and her friend started razzing him and the Cavs came back from a 17-point 4th quarter deficit? LeBron went for 24 in the quarter.
I do have to give my brother some props for the best heckle ever. The funny part is the guy he heckled was actually a fan for the opposing team (Portland Trail Blazers) at the United Center. How do we know he was a fan for the other team? Because he was wearing a Brandon Roy jersey - one of the expensive ones. Now most pasty white guys (myself included) wear some sort of shirt under the NBA jersey since it is a tank top but this guy did not. Well my brother shouted at him "put a shirt on pasty!" Not only did everyone around us know exactly who he was talking about, but the guy must have heard him as he walked out righ then. Now that would be funny enough, right? But no...there's more. the guy comes back a few minutes later wearing a t-shirt under his jersey. Priceless! See you can heckle for good too!
Cubs Aquire Ryan Freel for Joey Gathright
The Cubs have just acquired Ryan Freel for Joey Gathright. Freel gives them more infield depth as he can play 3 of 4 infield positions, and can also play a pretty good CF and could play the other 2 outfield positions.
The trade of Gaithright was enabled by the fact that Hoffpauer and Fukodome have played as well as they have. Add in Reed Johnson, and there's a log jam in the outfield, with no where for Gathright to go, and the fact that freel can play the outfield as well, this is really a win for the Cubs.
Freel you may remember played for the Cincinantti Reds for several years as was a real pain for the Cubs as he could play just about any position and is rather fast on the base paths.
Freel has not had a good start to the year this year batting only .133, slugging .133, and an OBP of .350. Freel has been on the DL since April 26th, ailment unknown right now.
The trade of Gaithright was enabled by the fact that Hoffpauer and Fukodome have played as well as they have. Add in Reed Johnson, and there's a log jam in the outfield, with no where for Gathright to go, and the fact that freel can play the outfield as well, this is really a win for the Cubs.
Freel you may remember played for the Cincinantti Reds for several years as was a real pain for the Cubs as he could play just about any position and is rather fast on the base paths.
Freel has not had a good start to the year this year batting only .133, slugging .133, and an OBP of .350. Freel has been on the DL since April 26th, ailment unknown right now.
Quick 5/7 Update - part 2
I meant to add one more thing to my update...Milton Bradley finally heard some cheers yesterday after being booed (and rightfully so) throughout the homestand over the weekend. Of course the cheers he heard last night occurred in Houston's Minute Maid Park (a.k.a. The Juice Box) after he struck out with 2 men on in the first inning. He was also cheered when he struck out looking in the 8th with runners at 2nd and 3rd and nobody out.
Has anyone seen a different approach from MB after starting the season hitting just over half the Mendoza line (now hitting .143 after 1-4 last night raised his average)? He did drive in his 3rd run of the season - to put that in better perspective of how HORRIBLE that is...Soriano (the Cubs' lead-off man) had 3 RBIs just last night and he now has 17 to tie Fontenot for the team lead. Don't you HAVE to try something different when you're struggling this badly and killing your team with your complete lack of production? His RBI single in the 3rd was only his second hit with runners on base and first with RISP.
He'll need to pick it up for the Cubs to do anything significant this year (i.e. win a playoff game/series).
Has anyone seen a different approach from MB after starting the season hitting just over half the Mendoza line (now hitting .143 after 1-4 last night raised his average)? He did drive in his 3rd run of the season - to put that in better perspective of how HORRIBLE that is...Soriano (the Cubs' lead-off man) had 3 RBIs just last night and he now has 17 to tie Fontenot for the team lead. Don't you HAVE to try something different when you're struggling this badly and killing your team with your complete lack of production? His RBI single in the 3rd was only his second hit with runners on base and first with RISP.
He'll need to pick it up for the Cubs to do anything significant this year (i.e. win a playoff game/series).
Quick 5/7 Update
Mr. April got his first post-April hit today in the Cubs' win to sweep the Astros
With Lee out today, did Micah take advantage? You bet he did starting with a 2-out RBI single to drive in the first run of the game. He also had another hit and a walk to improve his BA to .313 and OBA to .370. He now has 9 RBIs in 48 ABs. Keep it going Micah!
Although Bradley went 1-for-4 to increase his BA and drove in a run, he struck out in another BIG SPOT in the game that nearly cost the Cubs. With nobody out in the 8th, the Cubs had 2nd and 3rd while holding on to a 2-run lead. A simple base hit would have provided a bit more cushion but Bradley struck out looking as did Mike Fontenot and Geo Soto to end the inning with no damage. Luckily, they came through in the 9th to get some insurance runs before the bullpen tried to give it away with 3 runs allowed themselves.
Cubs WIN! Cubs WIN! So other than the give-away game against Tim Lincecum on Tue, the Cubs have now won 6 of their last 7. Not bad, but they're still chasing the Cards who continue to play well without their best pitcher - Chris Carpenter. I guess you just attempt to keep it giong and hope the Cards come back to earth a little bit.
With Lee out today, did Micah take advantage? You bet he did starting with a 2-out RBI single to drive in the first run of the game. He also had another hit and a walk to improve his BA to .313 and OBA to .370. He now has 9 RBIs in 48 ABs. Keep it going Micah!
Although Bradley went 1-for-4 to increase his BA and drove in a run, he struck out in another BIG SPOT in the game that nearly cost the Cubs. With nobody out in the 8th, the Cubs had 2nd and 3rd while holding on to a 2-run lead. A simple base hit would have provided a bit more cushion but Bradley struck out looking as did Mike Fontenot and Geo Soto to end the inning with no damage. Luckily, they came through in the 9th to get some insurance runs before the bullpen tried to give it away with 3 runs allowed themselves.
Cubs WIN! Cubs WIN! So other than the give-away game against Tim Lincecum on Tue, the Cubs have now won 6 of their last 7. Not bad, but they're still chasing the Cards who continue to play well without their best pitcher - Chris Carpenter. I guess you just attempt to keep it giong and hope the Cards come back to earth a little bit.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Steroids in MLB
Well, with Manny getting busted for steroids today, I guess now's the time to throw in my 2-cents on the subject. As you can tell from my screen name (i.e. 21daman), I am one of the lonely remaining Sammy Sosa fans. Do I think he MAY have done steroids or some other performance-enhancing drugs dating back to 1998's historic HR record chase with Mark McGwire? Yes, I do, BUT you have to admit the only reason anyone can think that is based purely on speculation and circumstantial evidence including the timing. He has NEVER been mentioned in any context of steroid use including all the infamous cases such as BALCO or the Mitchell Report.
Did his numbers spike during the steroid era? You know they did! Guilty, right? Did he get caught with a bottle of the now-banned substance Andro? Nope. Innocent then? He wasn't involved in BALCO or named in the Mitchell Report. Must be innocent? But then he showed up in front of Congress and acted like he didn't know a word of English while speaking through his attorney. Very suspicious...so which is it?
In this country, you're guilty until proven innocent in court, but NOT in the court of public opinion. In the court of public opinion, it's all about hype and who speaks the loudest and/or most often. How about that Favre signing in Minnesota? Oh ya, that was COMPLETELY wrong! If you watched SportsCenter at all on Wed, you saw every other story was about Favre and how it was basically a foregone conclusion that he would be playing for the Vikings this season and yet, not so much. So, if you had a vote and it was time to vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame with Sammy on the ballot, would you vote for him? If so, don't you feel like you have your head in the sand if you don't believe he did steroids to help boost his numbers? If not, why not? What REAL evidence are you basing your decision on?
OK, so forget the HOF, why haven't the Cubs retired his number? Sammy absolutely carried the Cubs for a LONG time and put "butts in the seats". His numbers from 1998-2001 are absolutely ridiculous and his numbers shortly before and after that 4-year span, he was pretty darn good too. Sammy played 15 years for the Cubs and finished his time here as the all-time leading HR hitter. Greg Maddux only pitched 9 seasons for the Cubs including the beginning and twilight of his career (i.e. NOT the best years of his career) and Mad Dog still got his number retired last weekend. Yes, since Sammy's untimely dismissal from the Cubs, a couple of not-so-deserving players have donned the #21 - Jason Marquis and now Milton Bradley. Now MB is supposed to turn it around and be pretty good for the Cubs, but Marquis was signed as a #5 starter and wasn't even included on the playoff roster in 2007 or 2008 (maybe that was teh problem - naaah!).
So first, how do the Cubs as an organization that gained SO MUCH from Sammy not show him ANY respect by keeping guys out of the #21 jersey? Second as a player, how can you wear that number knowing what Sammy meant to this orgamization for so long? It's not like the Cubs reitred Santo's #10, Billy Williams' #26, or Sandberg's HOF #23 right away either. I truly believe the time will come when the Cubs finally retire Sammy's #21, but I guess that time isn't quite yet.
I'll expand more on my steroid thoughts in future posts. What are your thoughts?
Did his numbers spike during the steroid era? You know they did! Guilty, right? Did he get caught with a bottle of the now-banned substance Andro? Nope. Innocent then? He wasn't involved in BALCO or named in the Mitchell Report. Must be innocent? But then he showed up in front of Congress and acted like he didn't know a word of English while speaking through his attorney. Very suspicious...so which is it?
In this country, you're guilty until proven innocent in court, but NOT in the court of public opinion. In the court of public opinion, it's all about hype and who speaks the loudest and/or most often. How about that Favre signing in Minnesota? Oh ya, that was COMPLETELY wrong! If you watched SportsCenter at all on Wed, you saw every other story was about Favre and how it was basically a foregone conclusion that he would be playing for the Vikings this season and yet, not so much. So, if you had a vote and it was time to vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame with Sammy on the ballot, would you vote for him? If so, don't you feel like you have your head in the sand if you don't believe he did steroids to help boost his numbers? If not, why not? What REAL evidence are you basing your decision on?
OK, so forget the HOF, why haven't the Cubs retired his number? Sammy absolutely carried the Cubs for a LONG time and put "butts in the seats". His numbers from 1998-2001 are absolutely ridiculous and his numbers shortly before and after that 4-year span, he was pretty darn good too. Sammy played 15 years for the Cubs and finished his time here as the all-time leading HR hitter. Greg Maddux only pitched 9 seasons for the Cubs including the beginning and twilight of his career (i.e. NOT the best years of his career) and Mad Dog still got his number retired last weekend. Yes, since Sammy's untimely dismissal from the Cubs, a couple of not-so-deserving players have donned the #21 - Jason Marquis and now Milton Bradley. Now MB is supposed to turn it around and be pretty good for the Cubs, but Marquis was signed as a #5 starter and wasn't even included on the playoff roster in 2007 or 2008 (maybe that was teh problem - naaah!).
So first, how do the Cubs as an organization that gained SO MUCH from Sammy not show him ANY respect by keeping guys out of the #21 jersey? Second as a player, how can you wear that number knowing what Sammy meant to this orgamization for so long? It's not like the Cubs reitred Santo's #10, Billy Williams' #26, or Sandberg's HOF #23 right away either. I truly believe the time will come when the Cubs finally retire Sammy's #21, but I guess that time isn't quite yet.
I'll expand more on my steroid thoughts in future posts. What are your thoughts?
Blackhawks Win in OT
Well, what did you expect tonight at the UC? With the Bulls Derrick Rose dropping the puck tonight, OF COURSE there just HAD to be OT. I enjoy watching the Blackhawks particularly when they're playing at the UC (THANKS Rocky!) and even more particularly when I can watch them in HD. BUT I will not pretend I know enough to blog about the Hawks. I'll just say they are VERY young right now and they are only going to continue to get better so the Wings and the rest of the NHL better hurry up and get their Cups before the Hawks start their run - maybe it's already too late...
GO HAWKS!!!
GO HAWKS!!!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Hendry - not good
So, how is the Cubs' offseason looking so far? Well, if you're interested in the Cubs winning, the offseason (not unlike virtually every other offseason in team history) isn't looking too good, is it?
The BIG free agent signing was Milton Bradley. Milton was coming off an unbelievable season last year - some would call it a career year and rightfully so. Well, how's he doing so far? Hmmm...not too good unless you're a pitcher on the opposing team. Let's just say he makes D-Lee look like Albert Pujols by comparison.
Milton started off the season 0-10 before hitting his 1st HR as a Cub for his first hit and first RBI too in his 4th game of the season. So much for a fast start...that's OK "it's still early" - MAN do I HATE that stupid saying! His next "anti-hitting streak" would last another 14 at bats before his second hit. His second and last RBI (for all you non-math students out there, he has only 2 more RBIs than you and me!) so far this season came in his 14th game and was also a solo HR. He's now hitting .128 - what's it called when you're barely hitting halfway to the Mendoza line? I don't know, but it's NOT good.
So Hendry put all his "eggs" in Bradley's offseason basket. Why? Here's a guy with a history of injury (CHECK - he's started 14 of the Cubs' 27 games) and is a total headcase (CHECK - he's been suspended pending appeal for a run-in with an umpire on a terrible called 3rd strike in the Cubs' 9th game of the season). It's like a self-fulfilling prophesy as most experts totally expected exactly this from Milton; of course, the experts also thought he'd hit a little bit too so they were wrong there. Great.
So who else was even available that would have been better? Well, gee, who could possibly be doing better than hitting .128 with 2 RBIs through the first month of the season? Let me think...how about nearly EVERY player in MLB and probably half the Minors too? But seriously, how about some real names of guys Hendry not only could/should have signed, but also given a shorter commitment and less money? Keep in mind Hendry gave Bradley 3 years for $30 million - $10 million per season for 2 more years after this one (if we get through this one!).
Raul Ibanez - how about 12 HRs, 21 RBIs, and .351 BA? He signed a 3-year $31.5 million deal with the defending World Series Champs - Phillies.
Bobby Abreu - how about .344 BA, 12 RBIs, and 11 freakin' SBs without being caught once? He signed a 1-year $5 million contract with the Angels.
There are MANY players Hendry could have brought in here besides Milton Bradley. Can you imagine what the Cubs' record would be right now with Ibanez batting 4th in this lineup? Holy cow!
There's an addage out there saying "addition by subtraction" which typically means you got rid of a problem player and it actually made your team better. Well, what's the addage when you give away your best player for NOTHING and replace him with even less? You know I'm talking about DeRosa, right? And his "replacement" Aaron Miles. That's what I like to see from my big market baseball team - cost-cutting when you just passed the 100-year anniversary of the last time you actually won the World Series. What the HECK was with this Hendry move? My initial thought was that Hendry was stockpiling Minor leaguers to make another run at Peavy or Brian Roberts, but neither came close to materializing so this must be a cost-cutting maneuver and logic dictates that the money saved by getting rid of DeRosa was given (ya, completely GIVEN as he hasn't earned a wooden nickel as of yet) to Milton Bradley. Doesn't that count as a double HORRIBLE move?
As dense and in his own world as Lou is, I'm sure he's with me ripping Hendry for this HORRIBLE bullpen. Hendry didn't give Lou much to work with out there in the pen. He's got a lefty in Neal Cotts that cannot get lefties out, so what's the point there? Lefties are hitting .308 against Cotts with a .462 OBA. WHY is he still here? Chad Gaudin was supposed to be the steal of the Rich Harden trade. Well, where is he now? GONE! AND Hendry and the Cubs are still paying the guy anyway - "here's $2 million; go away". Rather than focus on improving on last year's nice run as a late inning reliever, they decide to focus on making Samardzija a starter too. Total disaster thus far.
i don't remember Hendry signing any Tommy John guys this year though. So that's a start. But for the umteenth time, he still did nothing to get the Cubs a REAL lead-off hitter which you just know is going to bite us come playoff time if not earlier.
Who would have thought John Paxson was the best GM in town 6 months ago? OK - Dale Tallon is doing a fine job with the Blackhawks so he's probably #1 with Pax at #2. But both Kenny Williams and Jim Hendry are WAY down the list. Maybe Angelo moves up to #1 with that unbelievable Cutler signing though. Hendry's done - time to retire and let someone else give it a shot. You had your chance and couldn't get it done...NEXT!
The BIG free agent signing was Milton Bradley. Milton was coming off an unbelievable season last year - some would call it a career year and rightfully so. Well, how's he doing so far? Hmmm...not too good unless you're a pitcher on the opposing team. Let's just say he makes D-Lee look like Albert Pujols by comparison.
Milton started off the season 0-10 before hitting his 1st HR as a Cub for his first hit and first RBI too in his 4th game of the season. So much for a fast start...that's OK "it's still early" - MAN do I HATE that stupid saying! His next "anti-hitting streak" would last another 14 at bats before his second hit. His second and last RBI (for all you non-math students out there, he has only 2 more RBIs than you and me!) so far this season came in his 14th game and was also a solo HR. He's now hitting .128 - what's it called when you're barely hitting halfway to the Mendoza line? I don't know, but it's NOT good.
So Hendry put all his "eggs" in Bradley's offseason basket. Why? Here's a guy with a history of injury (CHECK - he's started 14 of the Cubs' 27 games) and is a total headcase (CHECK - he's been suspended pending appeal for a run-in with an umpire on a terrible called 3rd strike in the Cubs' 9th game of the season). It's like a self-fulfilling prophesy as most experts totally expected exactly this from Milton; of course, the experts also thought he'd hit a little bit too so they were wrong there. Great.
So who else was even available that would have been better? Well, gee, who could possibly be doing better than hitting .128 with 2 RBIs through the first month of the season? Let me think...how about nearly EVERY player in MLB and probably half the Minors too? But seriously, how about some real names of guys Hendry not only could/should have signed, but also given a shorter commitment and less money? Keep in mind Hendry gave Bradley 3 years for $30 million - $10 million per season for 2 more years after this one (if we get through this one!).
Raul Ibanez - how about 12 HRs, 21 RBIs, and .351 BA? He signed a 3-year $31.5 million deal with the defending World Series Champs - Phillies.
Bobby Abreu - how about .344 BA, 12 RBIs, and 11 freakin' SBs without being caught once? He signed a 1-year $5 million contract with the Angels.
There are MANY players Hendry could have brought in here besides Milton Bradley. Can you imagine what the Cubs' record would be right now with Ibanez batting 4th in this lineup? Holy cow!
There's an addage out there saying "addition by subtraction" which typically means you got rid of a problem player and it actually made your team better. Well, what's the addage when you give away your best player for NOTHING and replace him with even less? You know I'm talking about DeRosa, right? And his "replacement" Aaron Miles. That's what I like to see from my big market baseball team - cost-cutting when you just passed the 100-year anniversary of the last time you actually won the World Series. What the HECK was with this Hendry move? My initial thought was that Hendry was stockpiling Minor leaguers to make another run at Peavy or Brian Roberts, but neither came close to materializing so this must be a cost-cutting maneuver and logic dictates that the money saved by getting rid of DeRosa was given (ya, completely GIVEN as he hasn't earned a wooden nickel as of yet) to Milton Bradley. Doesn't that count as a double HORRIBLE move?
As dense and in his own world as Lou is, I'm sure he's with me ripping Hendry for this HORRIBLE bullpen. Hendry didn't give Lou much to work with out there in the pen. He's got a lefty in Neal Cotts that cannot get lefties out, so what's the point there? Lefties are hitting .308 against Cotts with a .462 OBA. WHY is he still here? Chad Gaudin was supposed to be the steal of the Rich Harden trade. Well, where is he now? GONE! AND Hendry and the Cubs are still paying the guy anyway - "here's $2 million; go away". Rather than focus on improving on last year's nice run as a late inning reliever, they decide to focus on making Samardzija a starter too. Total disaster thus far.
i don't remember Hendry signing any Tommy John guys this year though. So that's a start. But for the umteenth time, he still did nothing to get the Cubs a REAL lead-off hitter which you just know is going to bite us come playoff time if not earlier.
Who would have thought John Paxson was the best GM in town 6 months ago? OK - Dale Tallon is doing a fine job with the Blackhawks so he's probably #1 with Pax at #2. But both Kenny Williams and Jim Hendry are WAY down the list. Maybe Angelo moves up to #1 with that unbelievable Cutler signing though. Hendry's done - time to retire and let someone else give it a shot. You had your chance and couldn't get it done...NEXT!
HELP WANTED - properly dealing with a pitching staff
Does Lou have ANY clue how to run a pitching staff? Maybe he's scared to use a weak Hendry-provided bullpen, but C'MON LOU (that's gonna be my new phrase)! For the second day in a row, he left his starter in there too long. What's Harden's history? Why would you let him go beyond 7 innings so early in the season when he hasn't pitched over 6 innings all season? VERY predictably, Harden loses it a bit giving up a first pitch single to Bourn and after falling behind 2-0 on Berkman, he hits a 2-run shot to change the game from "coast" mode with a 5-run lead, to a 3-run lead. Lou continues to leave him in there long enough to give up a single on an 0-2 pitch to Carlos Lee meaning the potential tying run is now in the on-deck circle and you have to go to the bullpen anyway but now you've given up a good part of your cushion.
Luckily for the Cubs, Marmol and Gregg were able to keep it together to earn a Hold and a Save respectively and keep the Cubs in the win column - W flag time baby!
By the way, does anyone else think Larry Rothschild is one of the most over-rated pitching coaches in the history of the game? What has this guy ever done? Look at Big Z...when is he EVER going to turn into the CONSISTENTLY dominant pitcher we all believe he can be? Does he take any responsibility for all the arm problems we have seen over the years? If not, what exactly does a pitching coach do? I'm not sure he can really claim he has taken a single pitcher beyond what their talent forecasted. Have you ever heard Dempster giving him credit for making him an All-Star pitcher last year after initially converting from starter to closer? Is he going to be able to help Harden stay healthy for an entire season? Doubtful. Develop Angel Guzman into the pitcher he was projected to be? What about Samardzija? Apparently Larry was doing much for him since he just got sent down to AAA to make room for Chad Fox. Isn't he the guy that blew his arm out "permanently" under the watchful eyes of Dusty and Rothschild a few years ago. I believe he was coming back from arm surgery in 2005 and Dusty was being so careful with him that he made 11 appearances from April 5th to April 25th before blowing out his elbow. I remember thinking he should sue the Cubs, Dusty and Larry for negligence by prematurely ending his career. I guess I would have spoke to soon (not a surprise) since he's now back after making 3 relief appearances last season. He's 38 to boot! I'm sure he'll do a great job anchoring that bullpen - ya, anchoring it to the bottom of Lake Michigan.
Luckily for the Cubs, Marmol and Gregg were able to keep it together to earn a Hold and a Save respectively and keep the Cubs in the win column - W flag time baby!
By the way, does anyone else think Larry Rothschild is one of the most over-rated pitching coaches in the history of the game? What has this guy ever done? Look at Big Z...when is he EVER going to turn into the CONSISTENTLY dominant pitcher we all believe he can be? Does he take any responsibility for all the arm problems we have seen over the years? If not, what exactly does a pitching coach do? I'm not sure he can really claim he has taken a single pitcher beyond what their talent forecasted. Have you ever heard Dempster giving him credit for making him an All-Star pitcher last year after initially converting from starter to closer? Is he going to be able to help Harden stay healthy for an entire season? Doubtful. Develop Angel Guzman into the pitcher he was projected to be? What about Samardzija? Apparently Larry was doing much for him since he just got sent down to AAA to make room for Chad Fox. Isn't he the guy that blew his arm out "permanently" under the watchful eyes of Dusty and Rothschild a few years ago. I believe he was coming back from arm surgery in 2005 and Dusty was being so careful with him that he made 11 appearances from April 5th to April 25th before blowing out his elbow. I remember thinking he should sue the Cubs, Dusty and Larry for negligence by prematurely ending his career. I guess I would have spoke to soon (not a surprise) since he's now back after making 3 relief appearances last season. He's 38 to boot! I'm sure he'll do a great job anchoring that bullpen - ya, anchoring it to the bottom of Lake Michigan.
D-Lee - #3 Hitter?
So what do you all think of our very own Derrek Lee? Personally, I think he is ULTRA over-rated, that is if anyone thinks all that much of him these days other than Lou Piniella. But if you read the comments from The Lou blog, you already know this. Actually, if you have ever talked to me about D-Lee, you already know it too.
While he may be finally out of his DP funk from 2008, he is still just simply NOT clutch and that is a TREMENDOUS flaw for your #3 hitter. Here's a Cubs team that led the NL in runs scored last year, but the #3 hitter in a career high number of plate appearances couldn't manage even 100 RBIs. How is that possible? I'll tell you how...NO POWER! D-Lee finished with a very respectable .291 BA, but managed only 20 HRs in a hitter friendly home ball park. Hmmm. To me, BA is the most overrated stat in baseball. It is not about how many hits you get in a game; its how many runs you score. To that end, the #3, 4, and 5 hitters have the biggest responsibility to drive in those runs. Sometimes you just need a single, but a lot of times you need extra bases so while he hit a respectable .308 with RISP, he only drove in 63 runs in over 180 plate appearances. Now, I won't compare him to Albert Pujols because, as much as it pains me to say it, he's just the best ball player in the game right now although he plays for the mortal enemy (sorry White Sox, I know the Cubs are your mortal enemy, but we just really aren't that concerned about a team we play 6 times a year) Cardinals. But let's compare him to Ryan Howard, shall we? Hey, it's my blog! Ryan Howard batted a smooth .320 with RISP and drove in 90 runs in 223 PAs. For all you anti-math guys out there, that's 27 more RBIs in just 43 more PAs. Further examination shows D-Lee had only 1 HR with RISP while Howard had 12. As a matter of fact, out of D-Lee's pathetic 20 HRs in 2008, only 5 of them were NOT solo while Howard hit 26 out of his 48 HRs with runners on base.
So while Lee hit for a .291 BA, he only drove in 90 RBIs while Howard "only" hit .251 but drove in 146 RBIs. How do you like BA now for an offensive stat?
Just for Rob...since you couldn't lay off protecting your boy D-Lee in my The Lou blog, here's another stat for you...while D-Lee is "average to slightly above average in rbi opportunties", he's tied for the team lead (Ramirez has been hurt and Bradley has been AWFUL) in RBIs with the likes of little Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot (my personal favorite Cub), and Mr. April (a.k.a. Kosuke Fukudome). Even with Fukudome's inflated salary ($11.5 million), if you add all of them together (Theriot - $500K, Fontenot - $430K), they still don't surpass D-Lee's ($13 million).
So, is it D-Lee's fault he just isn't that good? A little, right? But what about the knucklehead that has implanted him in the #3 or #4 spot in the lineup since he's been here? Ya, you know who I'm talking about...The Lou! How long can you live off a career year that happened 4 years ago? That's ancient history at this point, isn't it?
My thanks to the Cot's Baseball Contracts blog for all the salary data - http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/chicago-cubs_112114177768677294.html.
While he may be finally out of his DP funk from 2008, he is still just simply NOT clutch and that is a TREMENDOUS flaw for your #3 hitter. Here's a Cubs team that led the NL in runs scored last year, but the #3 hitter in a career high number of plate appearances couldn't manage even 100 RBIs. How is that possible? I'll tell you how...NO POWER! D-Lee finished with a very respectable .291 BA, but managed only 20 HRs in a hitter friendly home ball park. Hmmm. To me, BA is the most overrated stat in baseball. It is not about how many hits you get in a game; its how many runs you score. To that end, the #3, 4, and 5 hitters have the biggest responsibility to drive in those runs. Sometimes you just need a single, but a lot of times you need extra bases so while he hit a respectable .308 with RISP, he only drove in 63 runs in over 180 plate appearances. Now, I won't compare him to Albert Pujols because, as much as it pains me to say it, he's just the best ball player in the game right now although he plays for the mortal enemy (sorry White Sox, I know the Cubs are your mortal enemy, but we just really aren't that concerned about a team we play 6 times a year) Cardinals. But let's compare him to Ryan Howard, shall we? Hey, it's my blog! Ryan Howard batted a smooth .320 with RISP and drove in 90 runs in 223 PAs. For all you anti-math guys out there, that's 27 more RBIs in just 43 more PAs. Further examination shows D-Lee had only 1 HR with RISP while Howard had 12. As a matter of fact, out of D-Lee's pathetic 20 HRs in 2008, only 5 of them were NOT solo while Howard hit 26 out of his 48 HRs with runners on base.
So while Lee hit for a .291 BA, he only drove in 90 RBIs while Howard "only" hit .251 but drove in 146 RBIs. How do you like BA now for an offensive stat?
Just for Rob...since you couldn't lay off protecting your boy D-Lee in my The Lou blog, here's another stat for you...while D-Lee is "average to slightly above average in rbi opportunties", he's tied for the team lead (Ramirez has been hurt and Bradley has been AWFUL) in RBIs with the likes of little Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot (my personal favorite Cub), and Mr. April (a.k.a. Kosuke Fukudome). Even with Fukudome's inflated salary ($11.5 million), if you add all of them together (Theriot - $500K, Fontenot - $430K), they still don't surpass D-Lee's ($13 million).
So, is it D-Lee's fault he just isn't that good? A little, right? But what about the knucklehead that has implanted him in the #3 or #4 spot in the lineup since he's been here? Ya, you know who I'm talking about...The Lou! How long can you live off a career year that happened 4 years ago? That's ancient history at this point, isn't it?
My thanks to the Cot's Baseball Contracts blog for all the salary data - http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/chicago-cubs_112114177768677294.html.
Mr. April
Most people say April showers bring May flowers... Well I say April RBIs bring May slumps for our very own Mr. April - Kosuke Fukudome. After tearing it up AGAIN in April with a .338 BA, .461 OBA, and .592 SLG, he is now 0-for-May. PLEASE do NOT tell me "it's early" because games in April/May count exactly the same as games in September.
Does anyone remember Mr. April's stats from last year? Luckily, I have them right here for you - .327, .436, .480. Very similar to this year, don't you think? And we all know what happened last season...his stats went down every month through the end and yet, what did Lou do come playoff time after a .178 BA in September? He started Fukudome and batted him #2 in Game 1. What?!?
So far, Fukudome is right on schedule...a bad schedule!
Does anyone remember Mr. April's stats from last year? Luckily, I have them right here for you - .327, .436, .480. Very similar to this year, don't you think? And we all know what happened last season...his stats went down every month through the end and yet, what did Lou do come playoff time after a .178 BA in September? He started Fukudome and batted him #2 in Game 1. What?!?
So far, Fukudome is right on schedule...a bad schedule!
The Lou
What in the world was that lineup against last year's NL Cy Young Award winner? This whole left/righty thing is killing me! Did anyone look up Lincecum's numbers against lefties and righties? Lou went with mostly lefties yesterday (forget that they were mostly AAA players for a second), yet a simple check of the stats shows righties hit .279 off him this year while lefties .197. Does Lou even have a computer? Someone should let him know about www.baseball-reference.com (THE BEST website in the history of the world, by the way) where you can check every stat imaginable. That's a HUGE disparity, don't you think? Maybe something Lou should have been aware of, right?
WHY bench Theriot when he's ON FIRE as he has been all weekend? This is just another big mistake by Lou benching a guy when he's seeing the ball so well. Dusty used to do the same thing. It's like he made a calendar last week and regardless of the situation, he's going with it. Let's see if Theriot can get it going again tonight in Houston.
WHY did Sean Marshall go out there to start the 8th inning? He had a very gutsy effort going to that point and everyone "knew" Marshall was done after finishing up the 7th; everyone apparently except Lou. So very predictably, Marshall goes out there and promptly walks the first batter and allows a single to the second batter. THEN Lou goes to the pen and sticks Samardzija in a jam instead of letting him start the inning fresh. I've got nothing else to say other than that was really STUPID Lou.
Is it me or is Derrek Lee the LEAST clutch player to ever sign a $65 million contract? I'll have another Post dealing with DP Lee as there is too much to say here.
Let's face it...Lou gave away this game. I thought it was called "get-away day" not "give-away day" referring to the fact the Cubs were traveling to Houston right after yesterday's game. Too bad the fans had to pay full price for this give-away. It was a sham from the very first pitch.
WHY bench Theriot when he's ON FIRE as he has been all weekend? This is just another big mistake by Lou benching a guy when he's seeing the ball so well. Dusty used to do the same thing. It's like he made a calendar last week and regardless of the situation, he's going with it. Let's see if Theriot can get it going again tonight in Houston.
WHY did Sean Marshall go out there to start the 8th inning? He had a very gutsy effort going to that point and everyone "knew" Marshall was done after finishing up the 7th; everyone apparently except Lou. So very predictably, Marshall goes out there and promptly walks the first batter and allows a single to the second batter. THEN Lou goes to the pen and sticks Samardzija in a jam instead of letting him start the inning fresh. I've got nothing else to say other than that was really STUPID Lou.
Is it me or is Derrek Lee the LEAST clutch player to ever sign a $65 million contract? I'll have another Post dealing with DP Lee as there is too much to say here.
Let's face it...Lou gave away this game. I thought it was called "get-away day" not "give-away day" referring to the fact the Cubs were traveling to Houston right after yesterday's game. Too bad the fans had to pay full price for this give-away. It was a sham from the very first pitch.
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