Well, what do you haters have to say now? Well, I'll tell you because I was one of the haters...notice I said "was" because this was a HUGE win for this franchise, this coach (actually all three of our head coaches), and this QB. I still HATE the Bears GM Jerry Angelo as this team is put together with duct tape and paper clips, but this coaching staff put together a pretty amazing game plan to take advantage of the tools and players currently at their disposal. The downside for me of the 8-3 record to date is that the status quo will remain...and while Lovie and Martz and Marinelli (those are the 3 head coaches on the staff) have pulled this thing together, I believe this is happening despite what Jerry Angelo has done to this roster not thanks to his efforts but now is not the time to spotlight this major deficiency.
Let's face some facts though...the Bears did face one of the easiest schedules to date as their opponents had a combined winning percentage of .370 going into today's game...that's really pretty pathetic. And the only team with a winning record they had beaten before today was the Packers on Monday Night Football. The Packers probably played one of their worst games of the season with a TON of really stupid penalties and practically gave the game to the Bears, but it was still a win; a divisional win; a BIG win against their #1 arch rival too.
But that was really it as far as Ws against good teams...you can say "what about Dallas?" but they were a TOTAL mess when they played...you can say "what about the Vikings?" but they were even more of a mess. If not for a just terrible rule forcing receivers to "complete the process", they would have lost their home opener against the lowly Lions. You have to wonder what might have happened had they lost that game...actually, you don't "have to wonder" as we're way past that game now. When they lost the game against the Giants most people (again, myself included) wrote them off for the season as they fell to 3-1. They only lost 17-3 although Cutler would tell you (if he remembered any of it) it seemed much worse that that and showed how seemingly flawed this team really was.
They came right back the next week to demolish a HORRID Carolina Panthers team with their backup QB Todd Collins throwing 4 picks and only 6 receptions to his own guys. But the next two games really turned the tide against them with home losses to so-so teams Washington and Seattle back-to-back. Brutal!
The bye week seemed to come at the perfect time so the Bears coaching staff could regroup. They were 4-3 going into the bye and not at all firing on all cylinders. The big question on everyone's mind...could these pretty arrogant coaches REALLY take a look at their personnel and REALLY put together a game plan that "gives them the best chance to win". How many times have we heard this from Lovie over the years about his head-scratching personnel decisions?
But then came another terrible team in winless Buffalo and they barely eeked out a W up in Toronto in front of a bipartisan crowd (not fair to the Bills who were supposed to be the home team) with a BIG pick late in the game turning a sure game-clinching TD on a slightly underthrown pass into the game-winning drive for the Bears...another W and they were now at 5-3.
Next up were the reeling Vikings that were imploding at the time but that was still Brett Favre and Adrian Peterson and a division rival. They took pretty good care of them with a nice game plan and they totally shut down Favre (4 turnovers) and AP (averaged 3 ypc and no TDs). Nice W, but the 5-3 Bears were actually slight underdogs AT HOME against the 3-5 Vikings...so I wasn't the only hater out there; it seems not many people in the entire country believed in them.
Next up was a trip to Miami. The Dolphins were 5-4 but their 4 losses came to the Jets, Patriots, Pittsburgh and Baltimore while the Bears at 6-3 had lost to the Redskins, Seahawks, and Giants. So again the team with the better record was an underdog and again the underdog Bears won the ballgame. But the breaks continued to fall the Bears' ways (I'm referring to their easy starting schedule and the Packers' play in their first game) when all three of the Miami QBs were knocked out in their previous game (a W at home against the Titans) leaving 3rd string Tyler Thigpen as the starter against the Bears. He was WAY out manned by one of the NFL's best defenses and the Bears had their first shutout and a tie atop the NFC North at 7-3.
Surely now they'd be favored at home...I mean they were 7-3 and playing at home although they were playing the red-hot Philly Eagles and no, they were not the favorite AGAIN as a 3-point underdog. I had heard the Bears were 3-0 against Michael Vick (or is it Mike Vick now?)...well, after a nearly perfect game by the hometown Bears, they are now 4-0 against Vick and even more importantly 8-3 and ALONE at the top of the NFC North as the Packers were losing in Atlanta on a last second field goal.
Do I wish we had a better offensive line? HECK YA! Cutler was sacked 4 times in that first half (none in the second half!) with a couple of them happening without an interior D-lineman getting a finger laid on them by our O-line. But with this newly transformed Mike Martz O, they mix things up enough to keep the defenses way off balance. They had huge play after huge play this afternoon in the Fox game of the day with two first place teams facing off. Cutler has been pretty close to amazing as of late making many, many, many more good decisions than bad since the bye week and is now actually taking advantage of his amazing athletic skills by running for big chunks of yardage when flushed out of the pocket...this instead of forcing the ball into a tight spot for a pick or holding onto the ball for a sack and maybe a fumble. The D and the newly ball secure conscious Jay Cutler along with the new run-oriented (ya, I said it!) offense are the keys to the turn-around.
So in my opinion, EVERYTHING is clicking MUCH better now with this team. Are they world beaters? No, but they don't have to be...they don't have to beat the world; they just have to win the majority of their remaining games to get into the playoffs and see what happens. Certainly teams that have looked worse than these Bears have gone to the playoffs in the past and have done some serious damage when they got there so all you can really do now is continue to learn and get better and try to be peaking come playoff time.
GO BEARS!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
First Road Win for Bulls
How about that for a nice start to the Bulls infamous (or should it be notorious?) circus trip? The starters didn't exactly dominate as Rose was the only one that finished on the plus side of the +/- stat. Can I say thank goodness for the bench?!? Kyle Korver, who took a commercial flight well after the rest of the team took off on their charter to get to Houston (if you think YOU don't have enough leg room in the back of a commercial airplane, imagine being 6'7" back there!) led the Bulls with a +23 as he gutted out 26 min with a sore knee. Brewer and Asik were both +16 on the bench as well. Again, CJ Watson continues to struggle but didn't do any damage to the Bulls with a 0 in +/- although he had 2 steals. Joakim had the worst +/- at -18 and again struggled in the second half. I can't find a split on 1st/2nd half, but I believe for the second time in two games, he had about 8 boards in the first half and no more than 2 in the second half. Is he healthy? Doesn't seem like it to me...
Well, how about those 6-3 Bulls without their prized free agent signing as Boozer hasn't set foot on the court in uniform (he looks nice in his suits though) leading their Eastern Conference in scoring?!? And you thought Coach Thibs was a defensive-oriented coach and were worried about the offense... Don't get me wrong...I've liked the "new" defense as they seem to be able to get stops when needed and their rotating MUCH better than Vinny had them doing last season. But they are still giving up too many points overall and a lot of that has to do with their inability to adequately guard the 3-point line. Anyway, I can't believe the Bulls are leading the conference in scoring and I'm pretty sure that hasn't happened since the "glory days".
Tough test tonight going up against a very veteran savvy Spurs team with a seemingly rejuvenated Richard Jefferson. The Spurs have an NBA-best 8-1 record (tied with New Orleans). Of course, they were off last night while our Bulls were busy battling the Rockets down to the wire.
Well, how about those 6-3 Bulls without their prized free agent signing as Boozer hasn't set foot on the court in uniform (he looks nice in his suits though) leading their Eastern Conference in scoring?!? And you thought Coach Thibs was a defensive-oriented coach and were worried about the offense... Don't get me wrong...I've liked the "new" defense as they seem to be able to get stops when needed and their rotating MUCH better than Vinny had them doing last season. But they are still giving up too many points overall and a lot of that has to do with their inability to adequately guard the 3-point line. Anyway, I can't believe the Bulls are leading the conference in scoring and I'm pretty sure that hasn't happened since the "glory days".
Tough test tonight going up against a very veteran savvy Spurs team with a seemingly rejuvenated Richard Jefferson. The Spurs have an NBA-best 8-1 record (tied with New Orleans). Of course, they were off last night while our Bulls were busy battling the Rockets down to the wire.
Monday, November 15, 2010
So where are they now?
Well, if you're like me and you LOVE the Bulls, you're probably feeling pretty good right about now. Of course, that can all change after this ruthless 7-game circus trip that includes 3 back-to-backs and a stretch of 4 games in 5 days all in different cities.
As my son just pointed out, our Bulls are leading the league in blocks, #4 in rebounds without Boozer (actually that Wizards game was the first time they were out-rebounded), #2 in rebound %, #6 in ppg, #4 in field goal %, and #8 in opponent turnovers. Other than that lousy game with the Knicks, they've played pretty well as they're only other losses came on the road against a pretty good OKC team and in OT in Boston. And they were totally in both of those games to the very end and actually could have won that Boston game had the refs blown the whistle on Rondo's reach-in to finish the 4th.
Rose vs. Wall - part 1b...I say 1b because they did face off once in the pre-season too. Well, call it 2-0 in favor of our Derrick Rose. While Wall showed off his athleticism, he just isn't quite the basketball player that Derrick is yet. He's flashy and gets on SportsCenter, but doesn't seem to have the hoops IQ Rose has right now. He seems to have a nice head on his shoulders like Derrick (other than dance thing Wall did on opening night in Washington).
Anyway, we've got Boozer coming back in a few weeks (hopefully) and then about 6 weeks for the team to get acclimated with each other before taking on The Three Am-EGOS. That's the Bulls biggest free agent signing since...ummm...EVER! And he hasn't played yet and the Bulls are 5-3 atop the Central Division. If they can just survive this circus trip with a 3-4 record, they'd still be above .500 when they come back. And if they can just remain at or near .500 until Boozer gets back, that would be KEY.
Don't get me wrong...Taj has been FANTASTIC in Boozer's place, but think about how much stronger the bench will be when Taj is added. If we don't see Kurt Thomas ever again, I'll be happy with that. Actually, maybe he can be out there in Orlando to help protect Rose from Dwight Howard who inflicted some damage on our PG not once, but twice last season. I'd prefer that didn't happen next time around with Orlando. With the surprising emergence of Omer Asik, Thibs will have LOTS of options on that front line depending on match-ups with Noah, Asik, Boozer, Deng, and Taj. Both Taj & Boozer can play some C for a more athletic front court; Deng can move to the 4 when Thibs wants to keep some extra scoring while running a 3 guard lineup. And we've already seen a bit of Noah and Asik on the floor at the same time with a twin towers setup.
As I told my son, I'm remaining "cautiously optimistic"...that's all I can do right at the moment as I've had my heart torn out of my chest by Chicago teams my whole life.
GO BULLS!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
How about that team in South Beach?!?
WOW! The supposedly almighty Miami Heat who were supposed to challenge the 1995-96 Bulls record of 72 regular season wins has now lost their 3rd game. They're are just a touch behind the Bulls' pace...NOT! That Bulls team didn't lose their third game until after Christmas leaving them with a 23-3 record to that point. The supposedly unbeatable Heat are now 5-3 or just 1/2 game ahead of spurned Cavs who are 4-3 without LeBron (more on him later).
Tonight's loss happened at home against a seemingly undermanned Jazz team. They blew a 19-point half-time lead and led by as much as 22 points. Paul Millsap, who ironically allowed the Jazz to not resign Boozer, scored a career high 46 points with 33 in the second half including a very Reggie Miller like 11 points in the final 28 seconds to tie it at the regulation buzzer. The Heat allowed 84 points after halftime. That's an incredible number!
First LeBron...while he did finish with a triple double, where the heck was he in the OT? He stood around and watched Dwyane Wade score all 10 of the Heat's points in OT which wasn't quite enough as the Jazz scored 12 and won 116-114. Wade scored a team high 39 on a pretty impressive 12-23 shooting and I say impressive because his running mate in LeBron shot 5-18. Both guys made their living at the line as usual as LeBron was 10-11 and Wade was 12-16. By the way, LeBron who has been mentioned by some as a potential Defensive Player of the Year candidate through 7 games (must be the same guys that voted for Derek Jeter to get the Gold Glove this year - what a joke!) failed to close out on Andrei Kirilenko who hit the "big 3" in OT to give the Jazz the lead they would never relinquish. Oops!
Bosh & Millsap...so who was "guarding" Millsap during his 33-point outburst after halftime? Well, Bosh is supposed to be the South Beach PF which is the same position Millsap plays...hmmmm. I didn't see the whole game, but I watched some of the first half and then the entire OT. I think Bosh had 6-7 boards early in the first half...well, he finished with 9. Big 3, huh? He did exceed his pathetic season averages with 17 (14.4) and 9 (5.4), but didn't do much in crunch time either except one nice block in OT.
Heat depth...for a game that went into OT, the bench really didn't do much scoring only 24 points (only 4 guys) while the Jazz had 7 bench players combine for 28. With no real center on the team and with Bosh's lack of D inside, the Jazz outscored the Heat 58-38 in the paint...combine that with being outscored 24-18 from the arc too. LeBron tied Deron Williams of the Jazz with a game high 14 assists, but the next highest assist total on the Heat was Wade's 3...not exactly great ball movement.
Lastly and most importantly for us Bulls' fans...the Heat have now lost 3 games and I mentioned this yesterday...the first two losses were to teams with dynamic point guards...well, chalk up #3 as the Jazz are led by the very dynamic Deron Williams. January 15th...put it on your calendar if it isn't already on there...Heat @ Bulls!
It is still WAY early and you don't win (or lose) an NBA title in November, but for the MANY, MANY fans out there hating on the Heat for the way The Three Am-EGOS handled their free agency, you must all be LOVING this...I know I am. My hope is that the team just implodes with so many egos over there including Pat Riley who undoubtedly will be coming down to the bench if they continue to lose games like this...I mean they blew a 19-point halftime lead...AT HOME!
Other NBA Notes
Did you see the Indy game against the Nuggets? The Pacers shot 20-21 from the field in the quarter including 8 3s. The only miss came with under 10 seconds left in the quarter by rookie McRoberts on a long 3 at the end of the shot clock. They had a 10-point lead at halftime and scored 54 in the 3rd quarter which extended their lead to 37 at that point. They won 144-113...yikes! Tough trip through the Midwest for Carmelo after a tough 2-point loss to the Bulls last night.
Tonight's loss happened at home against a seemingly undermanned Jazz team. They blew a 19-point half-time lead and led by as much as 22 points. Paul Millsap, who ironically allowed the Jazz to not resign Boozer, scored a career high 46 points with 33 in the second half including a very Reggie Miller like 11 points in the final 28 seconds to tie it at the regulation buzzer. The Heat allowed 84 points after halftime. That's an incredible number!
First LeBron...while he did finish with a triple double, where the heck was he in the OT? He stood around and watched Dwyane Wade score all 10 of the Heat's points in OT which wasn't quite enough as the Jazz scored 12 and won 116-114. Wade scored a team high 39 on a pretty impressive 12-23 shooting and I say impressive because his running mate in LeBron shot 5-18. Both guys made their living at the line as usual as LeBron was 10-11 and Wade was 12-16. By the way, LeBron who has been mentioned by some as a potential Defensive Player of the Year candidate through 7 games (must be the same guys that voted for Derek Jeter to get the Gold Glove this year - what a joke!) failed to close out on Andrei Kirilenko who hit the "big 3" in OT to give the Jazz the lead they would never relinquish. Oops!
Bosh & Millsap...so who was "guarding" Millsap during his 33-point outburst after halftime? Well, Bosh is supposed to be the South Beach PF which is the same position Millsap plays...hmmmm. I didn't see the whole game, but I watched some of the first half and then the entire OT. I think Bosh had 6-7 boards early in the first half...well, he finished with 9. Big 3, huh? He did exceed his pathetic season averages with 17 (14.4) and 9 (5.4), but didn't do much in crunch time either except one nice block in OT.
Heat depth...for a game that went into OT, the bench really didn't do much scoring only 24 points (only 4 guys) while the Jazz had 7 bench players combine for 28. With no real center on the team and with Bosh's lack of D inside, the Jazz outscored the Heat 58-38 in the paint...combine that with being outscored 24-18 from the arc too. LeBron tied Deron Williams of the Jazz with a game high 14 assists, but the next highest assist total on the Heat was Wade's 3...not exactly great ball movement.
Lastly and most importantly for us Bulls' fans...the Heat have now lost 3 games and I mentioned this yesterday...the first two losses were to teams with dynamic point guards...well, chalk up #3 as the Jazz are led by the very dynamic Deron Williams. January 15th...put it on your calendar if it isn't already on there...Heat @ Bulls!
It is still WAY early and you don't win (or lose) an NBA title in November, but for the MANY, MANY fans out there hating on the Heat for the way The Three Am-EGOS handled their free agency, you must all be LOVING this...I know I am. My hope is that the team just implodes with so many egos over there including Pat Riley who undoubtedly will be coming down to the bench if they continue to lose games like this...I mean they blew a 19-point halftime lead...AT HOME!
Other NBA Notes
Did you see the Indy game against the Nuggets? The Pacers shot 20-21 from the field in the quarter including 8 3s. The only miss came with under 10 seconds left in the quarter by rookie McRoberts on a long 3 at the end of the shot clock. They had a 10-point lead at halftime and scored 54 in the 3rd quarter which extended their lead to 37 at that point. They won 144-113...yikes! Tough trip through the Midwest for Carmelo after a tough 2-point loss to the Bulls last night.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
DA BULLS!
Did any of you see the Bulls game tonight? Big W! Especially considering their pending departure on their stupid annual circus road trip following two more home games that they seemingly must win (Golden State and Washington are next up).
Anyway, the Bulls and Nuggets went back and forth throughout the game and the Bulls iced it with Deng going 1-for-2 (missed 3 of his 4 FTs down the stretch!) with one second left. He hit the second of two and Coach Karl called a timeout, brought the ball to the timeline and called a play to throw in an in-bounds pass for a wide open layup at the buzzer to close the game out 94-92. Guess what the spread was…3 of course! The Bulls were up 4 (i.e. covering) and then gave up a non-contested layup to win by 2 (i.e. NOT covering). Interesting…not at all surprising (I actually thought immediately about the spread as soon as that layup happened).
If you watched the game, what do you think of the supposedly proposed Noah for Anthony deal now? Anthony scored 32, but Noah was a total beast going for 13 points, 19 boards and 4 HUGE blocks. Gibson had 16, 6 and 5 blocks! I think the Nuggets’ price is going to come down as the season goes on…they saw what the Raptors and Cavs got for prized free agents (i.e. absolutely NADA) and their new management can’t end up with nothing…AND Carmelo MUST sign his extension BEFORE July 1st which is when the current CBA expires and the expected contract limits will be about ½ what they are today…i.e. Melo will be getting about half that $65 million the Nuggets are offering so he’ll be expanding his team demands beyond NY. If the Bulls can turn Luol into an expiring deal (needed to equalize the dollars), I think they can get the deal done with Taj, JJ, Omer, and a couple first rounders including the one from Charlotte which should be a pretty decent pick…that’s a HELL of a lot more than Cleveland and Toronto got for LeBron and Bosh. Obviously, I’m trying to throw logic into an NBA situation which NEVER seems to actually happen, but we’re due to sneak in something like this (remember how the Lakers stole Gasol, why can’t we do the same with Carmelo).
1. Rose
2. Brewer (he’s been getting better and better which I think means healthier and healthier)
3. Carmelo
4. Boozer
5. Noah
6. Bogans
7. Korver
8. Watson (NOT a big fan…reminds me of Pargo)
9. Scalabrine (he’s growing on me)
10. There will be some extra guys coming back with Carmelo, plus they could get John Lucas III and Kyle Weaver to fill out the rest of the roster, but WHO CARES with those starters and top 2 coming off the bench?
With tonight's win, the Bulls moved into a tie atop the Central division with the LeBron-spurned Cleveland Cavs. Scott Skiles' division favorite by many Milwaukee Bucks are off to a slow start at 2-5. This is nothing new to Skiles who once led the Bulls to a 47-35 record and 2nd place in the Central after an 0-9 start in 2004-05 so don't count them out as the Bulls top competition this year within the Central.
South Beach Update
By the way, for you guys scoring at home, the 1995-96 Bulls didn’t lose their 2nd game until game 12 to go 10-2; the Heat lost their 2nd in game 6 to go 4-2. They are now in 3rd place in their division at 5-2. To beat that Bulls record and go 73-9 which some predicted, they just need to go 68-7 which is a .907 winning percentage. They have played two teams so far with dynamic point guards - Rondo's Celtics and Paul's Hornets...guess what - lost BOTH. Gee, do you know any other teams around here with dynamic point guards? January 15th at the UC baby!
LeBron leads the NBA in turnovers with 33 and Wade isn’t too far behind him with 25. Bosh is averaging 14 ppg and 5 rpg…not exactly All-Star numbers and identical to Michael Beasley’s numbers…Taj Gibson is averaging 15 ppg and 6 rpg for the Bulls. How much longer will Bosh be smiling as he completely disappears into the background? Big 3?!? HA! It will be tough to make the All-Star Game with those lousy numbers.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Is the Old Big Z Back?
I know the Bears just won a HUGE game against their arch rival in a game they were a 3-point underdog even though they were 2-0 just like the Packers AND playing at home…HUGE! And obviously the Cubs are WAY done, but I left ESPN on after the game and Baseball Tonight came on. They threw a stat up there about Zambrano that shocked me. With tonight’s 1-0 win over the Padres, that was Z’s 10th straight start giving up 2 runs or less in at least 5 innings. That’s a Cubs record for the “live ball era” (i.e. since 1920). So here are his stats over this last 10-game period:
10 GS 7-0* 64 IP 41 hits 9 ER 1.27 ERA
*The Cubs blew all three of his no-decisions Those are some pretty sick numbers…as much as most everyone believes the Cubs REALLY blew it with their #1 starter entering the season by demoting him to the pen so early in the season (after only 4 starts!) and then suspending him for over a month while sending him to anger management classes, it is even harder to argue with the results. Of course, there is definitely a “no pressure” factor in play here as the Cubs have been out of it for a LONG time so there really isn’t a lot of pressure right now, but I’m not sure I buy that completely. I think he puts an awful lot of pressure on himself and while that's not completely the same as playoff type pressure, it is still at least some pressure.
My question is - do the Cubs really know how much they need this guy? Did they have a premonition this season was going to end up in the dumpster and did this to get Z back to being the Z they signed to that $90 million contract a couple years ago? Nah....I don't believe that. I still think they TOTALLY screwed that up this year and have gotten VERY lucky with how it has turned out.
That's it for now...tick tock...another year of "Wait 'til Next Year" is about to wind down this weekend...next up is the pending manager signing screw up.
DA BEARS!!!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Now Its Over!
Well, the White Sox made a nice run this year, but are going to fall pretty far from the division title they seemed poised to get just over a month ago. They were last in first place on August 11th and are now 9 games behind those pesky Twins after being swept at home by those same rivals. The series this week was UGLY for the Sox too as they didn't just lose; they were destroyed and on their home turf. I read yesterday that one local writer is calling The Cell Target Field East as the Twins are now 12-2 in their last 14 games here. That is NOT good!
Let's face it...the only reason the Sox even made their unlikely run in the first place had more to do with their schedule than anything else as they simply feasted on the weak NL teams they were blessed to play this summer going 15-3 in inter-league play which was the best record for any team this season. The Twins on the other hand were 8-10 so that works out to a substantial 7-game advantage in the standings for the White Sox. Luckily for the Twins, they get to play the White Sox just as many times as interleague where they more than made up that 7-game deficit going 13-5 against the Sox. The AL Central is the biggest overall difference between the two teams with the Sox going 30-36 while the Twins dominated their division with a 43-20 record with winning records against all four of the other teams. That folks is what a division winner should look like...you shouldn't be able to feast on other teams while losing to your closest rivals and still win the division against those rivals.
So while the Sox entered this series in a "must sweep" mode as they were 6 games back to start ended up with an apocalyptic scenario instead...they got swept. With 16 games left, the Twins "magic number" is 8 which is the smallest for any of the divisions. That means any combination of 8 Sox losses and Twins wins finishes off the Sox officially, but everyone knows they're done already including the Sox themselves. This was as demoralizing a sweep as we've seen in Chicago since the 97-win 2008 Cubs (how long ago does that seem right now?) were swept by a steroid-aided, Manny-led Dodgers team in the NLDS. Too bad for Kenny Williams and the Sox they didn't get the steroid taking Manny from 2008 because they certainly paid for that guy with the nearly $4 million contract they picked up from the Dodgers. Instead, they got another Juan Pierre type singles hitter without the wheels. Manny is hitting .293 for the Sox since the trade, but in his first 14 games and 54 plate appearances in those games, he has ZERO home runs, ZERO extra base hits, and worst of all ZERO RBIs! WOW!
Kenny Williams chose to ignore the bullpen issues facing his team and put all his waiver-deadline eggs and nearly $4 million of his boss' money in the basket of an aging slugger. Was that his final move as Sox GM? Most "experts" feel like the Ozzie/Kenny show is just about done with the two clashing several times in the last 12 months...most notably over the signing/not signing of Jim Thome...and one of them is probably out the door. Will it be Ozzie or Kenny or maybe both? The Sox chose to not sign Thome to be their everyday DH and instead go with a committee approach which failed so miserably that they were almost forced to sign Manny at the waiver deadline. Thome made about $1.8 million for a full-season in Minnesota while the Sox paid Manny nearly $4 million for about 30 games...hmmm...sounds like someone screwed up BIG TIME to me. Of course, had Manny been Manny at the plate rather than just with his hair (pretty hypocritical of the Sox to allow him to keep the dreds) and helped push the Sox over the top to take the division from the Twins, most people wouldn't have worried about the money. Instead Thome continues to be a major force for the Twins while Manny again has ZERO RBIs in 14 games here. So it was Ozzie this past off-season that very emphatically stated he didn't want Thome but it was Kenny who put up Reinsdorf's $4 million for Manny...so who goes and who stays?
You can add in that Kenny brought in Edwin Jackson who has been amazing with the exception of his last start (3-1 with a 2.94 ERA in 7 starts), but he also brought in Jake Peavy who is 10-6 with a 4.11 ERA and only 20 starts pitching 127 innings in well over one year and about $18 million; he's also guaranteed another $37 million over the next 3 years. Of course, he gave up Daniel Hudson for Jackson who has really shined for the D-backs going 6-1 with a 1.67 ERA in 9 starts and he gave up Clayton Richard for Peavy and all he's done is go 17-10 with a 3.80 ERA in 42 starts pitching 246 innings for the Padres. On the face so far, those trades were HORRIBLE for the Sox as they gave up a 23-year old for a 27-year old and a 27-year old for a VERY expensive and injury-prone 29-year old. Forget Manny, these two deals do it for me...fire Kenny!
Has Jerry had enough of Ozzie's antics? Maybe even more importantly, have his players had enough? Is it not working any more? Have they tuned him out? I feel like you have to blame the manager at least a little bit for the losing. They have only been to the playoffs in two of the last ten years...that's kind of pathetic as even the lowly Cubs have been there 3 times in the same timespan. Granted they did win the World Series only 5 years ago...isn't that the grace period though...5 years? They haven't won a playoff game since winning the World Series in 2005 either. It may be time to start over from scratch here Jerry. The Twins are back and seem to be here to stay especially now that they have their own baseball park which should bring in a LOT more revenue and allow them to spend more money on the team's payroll. That was the one advantage the Sox enjoyed over the Twins and that seems to be gone now too.
Let's face it...the only reason the Sox even made their unlikely run in the first place had more to do with their schedule than anything else as they simply feasted on the weak NL teams they were blessed to play this summer going 15-3 in inter-league play which was the best record for any team this season. The Twins on the other hand were 8-10 so that works out to a substantial 7-game advantage in the standings for the White Sox. Luckily for the Twins, they get to play the White Sox just as many times as interleague where they more than made up that 7-game deficit going 13-5 against the Sox. The AL Central is the biggest overall difference between the two teams with the Sox going 30-36 while the Twins dominated their division with a 43-20 record with winning records against all four of the other teams. That folks is what a division winner should look like...you shouldn't be able to feast on other teams while losing to your closest rivals and still win the division against those rivals.
So while the Sox entered this series in a "must sweep" mode as they were 6 games back to start ended up with an apocalyptic scenario instead...they got swept. With 16 games left, the Twins "magic number" is 8 which is the smallest for any of the divisions. That means any combination of 8 Sox losses and Twins wins finishes off the Sox officially, but everyone knows they're done already including the Sox themselves. This was as demoralizing a sweep as we've seen in Chicago since the 97-win 2008 Cubs (how long ago does that seem right now?) were swept by a steroid-aided, Manny-led Dodgers team in the NLDS. Too bad for Kenny Williams and the Sox they didn't get the steroid taking Manny from 2008 because they certainly paid for that guy with the nearly $4 million contract they picked up from the Dodgers. Instead, they got another Juan Pierre type singles hitter without the wheels. Manny is hitting .293 for the Sox since the trade, but in his first 14 games and 54 plate appearances in those games, he has ZERO home runs, ZERO extra base hits, and worst of all ZERO RBIs! WOW!
Kenny Williams chose to ignore the bullpen issues facing his team and put all his waiver-deadline eggs and nearly $4 million of his boss' money in the basket of an aging slugger. Was that his final move as Sox GM? Most "experts" feel like the Ozzie/Kenny show is just about done with the two clashing several times in the last 12 months...most notably over the signing/not signing of Jim Thome...and one of them is probably out the door. Will it be Ozzie or Kenny or maybe both? The Sox chose to not sign Thome to be their everyday DH and instead go with a committee approach which failed so miserably that they were almost forced to sign Manny at the waiver deadline. Thome made about $1.8 million for a full-season in Minnesota while the Sox paid Manny nearly $4 million for about 30 games...hmmm...sounds like someone screwed up BIG TIME to me. Of course, had Manny been Manny at the plate rather than just with his hair (pretty hypocritical of the Sox to allow him to keep the dreds) and helped push the Sox over the top to take the division from the Twins, most people wouldn't have worried about the money. Instead Thome continues to be a major force for the Twins while Manny again has ZERO RBIs in 14 games here. So it was Ozzie this past off-season that very emphatically stated he didn't want Thome but it was Kenny who put up Reinsdorf's $4 million for Manny...so who goes and who stays?
You can add in that Kenny brought in Edwin Jackson who has been amazing with the exception of his last start (3-1 with a 2.94 ERA in 7 starts), but he also brought in Jake Peavy who is 10-6 with a 4.11 ERA and only 20 starts pitching 127 innings in well over one year and about $18 million; he's also guaranteed another $37 million over the next 3 years. Of course, he gave up Daniel Hudson for Jackson who has really shined for the D-backs going 6-1 with a 1.67 ERA in 9 starts and he gave up Clayton Richard for Peavy and all he's done is go 17-10 with a 3.80 ERA in 42 starts pitching 246 innings for the Padres. On the face so far, those trades were HORRIBLE for the Sox as they gave up a 23-year old for a 27-year old and a 27-year old for a VERY expensive and injury-prone 29-year old. Forget Manny, these two deals do it for me...fire Kenny!
Has Jerry had enough of Ozzie's antics? Maybe even more importantly, have his players had enough? Is it not working any more? Have they tuned him out? I feel like you have to blame the manager at least a little bit for the losing. They have only been to the playoffs in two of the last ten years...that's kind of pathetic as even the lowly Cubs have been there 3 times in the same timespan. Granted they did win the World Series only 5 years ago...isn't that the grace period though...5 years? They haven't won a playoff game since winning the World Series in 2005 either. It may be time to start over from scratch here Jerry. The Twins are back and seem to be here to stay especially now that they have their own baseball park which should bring in a LOT more revenue and allow them to spend more money on the team's payroll. That was the one advantage the Sox enjoyed over the Twins and that seems to be gone now too.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Lets Talk Baseball
White Sox vs. Twins
It got pretty ugly out at The Cell tonight. After the Sox took the lead 3-2 in the 6th, they gave the lead right back in the 7th and the Twins didn't look back. Their D and their bullpen really let them down tonight. The nail-in-the-coffin play tonight was a 3-run double that usually reliable CF Alex Rios dropped a ball with the bases loaded after he initially broke in on the ball that went over his head. But you can't simply point at that play as the reason the Sox lost tonight...there were several reasons. First Sox MVP candidate Paul Konerko struck out in the bottom of the 7th with the bases loaded and only 1 out. The Sox were down just 4-3 so all they needed was a fly ball there to tie it up. That shouldn't have hurt all that much either as RBI-machine Manny Ramirez was up next. Unfortunately Manny wasn't being Manny, at least not the Manny they were hoping to be getting for their near $4 million as he also struck out to end the inning. Manny has now played in 11 games for the Sox and has the same number of RBIs as I do - ZERO. He has matched his RBI total with his extra base hits - ZERO. Getting those two guys in that situation seemed to energize the Twins while deflating the Sox. The bullpen Kenny Williams should have been looking to improve, gave up 5 runs in that fateful 8th inning. So in a must sweep series against their bitter rival Twins, they didn't exactly get off to a very good start. The Sox are now 7 games back with just 18 games to play and appear to be just about done now.
Cubs @ Cardinals
How about those Mike Quady led Cubbies? They are now 13-7 under Quade and are playing the part of spoiler which is all they have left at this point after being officially eliminated yesterday as they have taken two straight from the rival Cardinals who are now in the same position as the Sox - 7 games behind the division leading Reds.
Aramis Ramirez decided today that there's NO WAY in the world he would get a contract that would come close to the $16.6 million he'll get from the Cubs by implementing his player option.
Bob Melvin is the latest managerial candidate to be interviewed by Jim Hendry. Really? Chris Wedge and Bob Melvin...these are the guys we're looking to make the new manager of a team dying to end their 102-year World Series drought? I know Ricketts came out and said we don't need a big name to help fill the seats at Wrigley, but that doesn't mean they should scrape the bottom of the barrel, does it?
Of course, I still just don't get why Jim Hendry gets to make this hire. He's hired the last two managers...what makes Tom Ricketts think the third time will be the charm? Is anyone ever going to ask Ricketts why this guy still has a job or what it might take for him to finally lose it? I mean if finishing in 5th place with the top payroll in the entire NL doesn't finish him off, what finally will? Is he now going to sign someone to a 3- or 4-year deal? And what if it doesn't work out again next year and it certainly doesn't seem like the new manager is going to have a roster able to compete so odds are it won't work? Will Hendry get fired then only to leave behind another bad contract?
Speaking of the Cardinals and GMs not making the right move...they traded a well-liked Ryan Ludwick on July 31st of this year. The Cards were 1/2 game up on the Reds at the time and 12 games above .500. They are now 7 games back and only 6 games over .500...OOOOPS!
As I discussed in an earlier post, the Cardinals got rid of their long-time GM Walt Jocketty just one year after guiding the Cards to a World Series win. Jocketty is now with the Reds guiding them to their first division title and first playoff appearance since the strike-shortened 1995 season. Coincidence that another playoff appearance follows so soon after the Reds brought in Jocketty? Don't think so...
Yankees @ Rays
Two straight extra inning games in an ultra-important late season series. The Rays took game 1 when Carl Crawford's replacement Reid Brignac who was only in there because Crawford had been ejected in the bottom of the 9th hit a walk-off HR to break a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the 11th. That win put the Rays 1/2 game up on the Yankees for the AL East division lead. Well, tonight was a totally different story...not just with the result but also the overall "style" of the game as the Yankees won this time 8-7 but also in extras.
AL
The red-hot Twins are very quietly creeping up behind the Yankees and Rays for best record in the AL. Right now, they stand only 1 1/2 games behind the league-leading Yankees. The Yanks have 17 games left while the Twins have 18 games left...we'll see how it goes.
Rockies vs. Padres
How is it that every single September the Colorado Rockies will themselves back into the pennant race? Well, they're at it again although they've now lost two straight to the NL West leading Padres. The Rockies are 10-4 in September and are now only 3 1/2 games out of first place. As late as August 25th, the Rockies were only 2 games over .500 and 11 games out. They are now 13 games over .500 and it wouldn't surprise anyone if they snuck into the playoffs yet again.
The Padres are another great story. Here's a team the nobody gave a chance with the second lowest payroll in all of baseball. Well, all they've done is led their division pretty much from mid-April to now where they currently hold a 1 1/2 game lead on the Giants.
I'm now officially a Twins fan and after watching the Bears barely squeak by one of the worst teams in the NFL at home, I can't wait for the Hawks and Bulls to start back up.
It got pretty ugly out at The Cell tonight. After the Sox took the lead 3-2 in the 6th, they gave the lead right back in the 7th and the Twins didn't look back. Their D and their bullpen really let them down tonight. The nail-in-the-coffin play tonight was a 3-run double that usually reliable CF Alex Rios dropped a ball with the bases loaded after he initially broke in on the ball that went over his head. But you can't simply point at that play as the reason the Sox lost tonight...there were several reasons. First Sox MVP candidate Paul Konerko struck out in the bottom of the 7th with the bases loaded and only 1 out. The Sox were down just 4-3 so all they needed was a fly ball there to tie it up. That shouldn't have hurt all that much either as RBI-machine Manny Ramirez was up next. Unfortunately Manny wasn't being Manny, at least not the Manny they were hoping to be getting for their near $4 million as he also struck out to end the inning. Manny has now played in 11 games for the Sox and has the same number of RBIs as I do - ZERO. He has matched his RBI total with his extra base hits - ZERO. Getting those two guys in that situation seemed to energize the Twins while deflating the Sox. The bullpen Kenny Williams should have been looking to improve, gave up 5 runs in that fateful 8th inning. So in a must sweep series against their bitter rival Twins, they didn't exactly get off to a very good start. The Sox are now 7 games back with just 18 games to play and appear to be just about done now.
Cubs @ Cardinals
How about those Mike Quady led Cubbies? They are now 13-7 under Quade and are playing the part of spoiler which is all they have left at this point after being officially eliminated yesterday as they have taken two straight from the rival Cardinals who are now in the same position as the Sox - 7 games behind the division leading Reds.
Aramis Ramirez decided today that there's NO WAY in the world he would get a contract that would come close to the $16.6 million he'll get from the Cubs by implementing his player option.
Bob Melvin is the latest managerial candidate to be interviewed by Jim Hendry. Really? Chris Wedge and Bob Melvin...these are the guys we're looking to make the new manager of a team dying to end their 102-year World Series drought? I know Ricketts came out and said we don't need a big name to help fill the seats at Wrigley, but that doesn't mean they should scrape the bottom of the barrel, does it?
Of course, I still just don't get why Jim Hendry gets to make this hire. He's hired the last two managers...what makes Tom Ricketts think the third time will be the charm? Is anyone ever going to ask Ricketts why this guy still has a job or what it might take for him to finally lose it? I mean if finishing in 5th place with the top payroll in the entire NL doesn't finish him off, what finally will? Is he now going to sign someone to a 3- or 4-year deal? And what if it doesn't work out again next year and it certainly doesn't seem like the new manager is going to have a roster able to compete so odds are it won't work? Will Hendry get fired then only to leave behind another bad contract?
Speaking of the Cardinals and GMs not making the right move...they traded a well-liked Ryan Ludwick on July 31st of this year. The Cards were 1/2 game up on the Reds at the time and 12 games above .500. They are now 7 games back and only 6 games over .500...OOOOPS!
As I discussed in an earlier post, the Cardinals got rid of their long-time GM Walt Jocketty just one year after guiding the Cards to a World Series win. Jocketty is now with the Reds guiding them to their first division title and first playoff appearance since the strike-shortened 1995 season. Coincidence that another playoff appearance follows so soon after the Reds brought in Jocketty? Don't think so...
Yankees @ Rays
Two straight extra inning games in an ultra-important late season series. The Rays took game 1 when Carl Crawford's replacement Reid Brignac who was only in there because Crawford had been ejected in the bottom of the 9th hit a walk-off HR to break a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the 11th. That win put the Rays 1/2 game up on the Yankees for the AL East division lead. Well, tonight was a totally different story...not just with the result but also the overall "style" of the game as the Yankees won this time 8-7 but also in extras.
AL
The red-hot Twins are very quietly creeping up behind the Yankees and Rays for best record in the AL. Right now, they stand only 1 1/2 games behind the league-leading Yankees. The Yanks have 17 games left while the Twins have 18 games left...we'll see how it goes.
Rockies vs. Padres
How is it that every single September the Colorado Rockies will themselves back into the pennant race? Well, they're at it again although they've now lost two straight to the NL West leading Padres. The Rockies are 10-4 in September and are now only 3 1/2 games out of first place. As late as August 25th, the Rockies were only 2 games over .500 and 11 games out. They are now 13 games over .500 and it wouldn't surprise anyone if they snuck into the playoffs yet again.
The Padres are another great story. Here's a team the nobody gave a chance with the second lowest payroll in all of baseball. Well, all they've done is led their division pretty much from mid-April to now where they currently hold a 1 1/2 game lead on the Giants.
I'm now officially a Twins fan and after watching the Bears barely squeak by one of the worst teams in the NFL at home, I can't wait for the Hawks and Bulls to start back up.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
What is going on here?
I thought the Cubs new owner Tom Ricketts was supposed to be a real Cub fan. If so, WHAT in the world is he doing? Even if he isn't a fan of the Cubs like the rest of us, WHAT in the world is he doing? With the 3rd highest payroll in all of baseball only behind the Evil Empire NY Yankees and their arch rival Boston Red Sox leaving the Cubs with the highest payroll in the National League, how do you tolerate the 3rd worst record in the NL ahead of only the dismal Pirates and their MLB lowest payroll less than 1/4 that of the Cubs and the Arizona Diamondbacks who are far less than 1/2 the Cubs payroll? Oh, maybe because there are multiple people responsible for that dismal failure and its hard to put the blame on just one person...NOPE...one guy put this team together from top to bottom and that is Cubs 9-year GM Jim Hendry. He hired the manager (his second managerial hire in those 9 years), he signed all these guys to way over-priced and way over-extended contracts, and he traded/gave away some key personnel from the 97-win team from 2008 (DeRosa and Wood were replaced by Aaron Miles and Kevin Gregg). Hard to believe that was just 2 years ago, isn't it?
The Cubs have played slightly better or at least with what seems like a little more heart under former third base coach and current interim manager Mike Quade, but going 9-6 isn't exactly turning things around is it? Ya, they swept the Washington Nationals...sorry Mike, no parade for that even though that was the Cubs first sweep since taking 3 straight from the lowly aforementioned AZ D-backs back in early July. Kind of came back to reality in losing 2 of 3 to Dusty's first place Reds. They bounced back to take 2 of 3 from the even more lowly Pirates and a sub .500 Mets. So color me not quite impressed. Even so, how would the season have turned out had Hendry had the guts to tell Lou to stay home during his first visit to see his ailing mother and stuck in Quade? I seriously doubt they could have overtaken the Reds for the division or contended for the Wild Card, but maybe they could have made it competitive instead of the total embarrassment this season has turned into.
Ricketts has come out saying that the team's payroll is certainly tied to attendance...well Tom, the attendance is certainly tied to the team's performance. Cub fans are stupid...no arguing that, but we aren't dumb. When the team quits on the season, that's when the attendance starts to drop. 4 of the 5 lowest attendance dates at Wrigley this season have come in the last 10 days. And the numbers reported are tickets sold, NOT butts in the seats because I can tell you the attendance numbers announced on game day are WAY higher than the actual number of people in the ballpark. Well, Ricketts still gets that ticket revenue right so what does he care? Well, if your butt isn't in a seat at the ballpark, you can't spend a ridiculous amount of money on the food including Ricketts' own bison dogs. THAT is where he is now feeling it in the pocketbook.
So while I was shocked he didn't fire everyone after a disappointing 2009 season ended with no playoffs, I just figured he's the new guy and wants to get his feet wet and see what's going on rather than just come in and clean house. I didn't agree with that philosophy as he was supposedly involved with the team prior to finalizing the purchase deal this past off-season and should have known this was coming like most of the rest of us. But after Lou announced he was retiring at the end of the season (didn't quite make it) and the team just tanked I thought that heads were definitely going to roll now. Nope, business as usual for the Cubs. Ricketts came out and said Hendry was the GM going in 2011 and there was no word at all on Cubs team president (who?) Crane Kenney (former Trib guy remained team president following purchase). I have NO CLUE what this guy even does, but I know as team president of a major market MLB team, he must be compensated pretty well (he's a lawyer you know).
WHY keep these two guys? They've had 9 years to break the curse and bring a World Series to the north side. Instead we got to watch the Red Sox break the "curse of the Bambino" ending their 86-year World Series drought and the White Sox celebrate on the south side following their 88-year drought during that time frame and still nothing with an absolutely mind-boggling 102-year drought...and now the team is in reverse at full steam with about $120 million in contracts for 2011 and no starting pitching (how's Dempster look as a #1 or even a #2 right now having given up 14 runs in his last 7 2/3 innings?) and no bullpen or 1st baseman (and WHY didn't they try Colvin at 1B knowing they still have 3 highly paid outfielders for 2011?). Zambrano seems to have figured some things out...where was the anger management last year when he was taking out Gatorade machines left and right? Was it Lou or Hendry that made the fateful decision to can the season back in April by sending Z to the bullpen? If it was Lou, Hendry should have put a stop to it - how in the world can you put an $18 million pitcher into the pen as a middle reliever after only 4 mediocre starts? Anyway, NOW is the time to dump them both. Why allow Hendry to make the ultra important new manager hire now? He had his chance and blew it TWICE with Baker and Piniella. Of course, I think the bigger mistake of the two was hiring an aging and nearly retired Lou ahead of the up and coming Joe Girardi back in 2007. How might things be different right now if Joe were leading the team in 2007 or 2008? If things go south with the roster (and it's hard not to think that right now), are you then going to fire the GM and put someone else in place who may want to bring in his own manager? Is that really going to be cheaper than cutting Hendry loose now, bringing in a new GM and letting that person hire HIS guy as manager to start with?
I'll reiterate what I said in late July...NOBODY has spent more money for less playoff wins in the last 7 years - total Cubs payroll from 2004-2010 was $769,201,597 for an average of nearly $110 million per season and ZERO playoff wins. What else is there to know really? The Cardinals fired their longtime GM Walt Jocketty following the Cards' 3rd place finish in 2007. What did they do in 2006? They won the friggin' World Series!!! That was their 2nd World Series appearance in 3 years and when they finished 3rd in the NL Central (the Cubs are friggin' 5th right now!) just a year removed from winning the World Series, they fired their GM! See Tom, good organizations don't tolerate losing...don't you want to have a good organization? So where is Walt Jocketty now? He was out of work for about 3 months before being scooped up by the Cincinnati Reds. He started as a consultant in January 2008 and was then hired as GM in April 2008. Just a quick refresher...the Reds are now in 1st place in the NL Central 6 games ahead of the Cardinals and 19 1/2 games up on our 5th place Cubs. The FIRST PLACE Reds payroll is less than HALF the Cubs payroll too!
What is it going to take to get this guy out of here Tom? If you want to change the culture of these no longer lovable losers, it starts from the top. Well, you bought the club so that's the very top; Lou retired so that's near the top...it is time to get rid of the guys between you and Lou...that's Hendry and Kenney.
The Cubs have played slightly better or at least with what seems like a little more heart under former third base coach and current interim manager Mike Quade, but going 9-6 isn't exactly turning things around is it? Ya, they swept the Washington Nationals...sorry Mike, no parade for that even though that was the Cubs first sweep since taking 3 straight from the lowly aforementioned AZ D-backs back in early July. Kind of came back to reality in losing 2 of 3 to Dusty's first place Reds. They bounced back to take 2 of 3 from the even more lowly Pirates and a sub .500 Mets. So color me not quite impressed. Even so, how would the season have turned out had Hendry had the guts to tell Lou to stay home during his first visit to see his ailing mother and stuck in Quade? I seriously doubt they could have overtaken the Reds for the division or contended for the Wild Card, but maybe they could have made it competitive instead of the total embarrassment this season has turned into.
Ricketts has come out saying that the team's payroll is certainly tied to attendance...well Tom, the attendance is certainly tied to the team's performance. Cub fans are stupid...no arguing that, but we aren't dumb. When the team quits on the season, that's when the attendance starts to drop. 4 of the 5 lowest attendance dates at Wrigley this season have come in the last 10 days. And the numbers reported are tickets sold, NOT butts in the seats because I can tell you the attendance numbers announced on game day are WAY higher than the actual number of people in the ballpark. Well, Ricketts still gets that ticket revenue right so what does he care? Well, if your butt isn't in a seat at the ballpark, you can't spend a ridiculous amount of money on the food including Ricketts' own bison dogs. THAT is where he is now feeling it in the pocketbook.
So while I was shocked he didn't fire everyone after a disappointing 2009 season ended with no playoffs, I just figured he's the new guy and wants to get his feet wet and see what's going on rather than just come in and clean house. I didn't agree with that philosophy as he was supposedly involved with the team prior to finalizing the purchase deal this past off-season and should have known this was coming like most of the rest of us. But after Lou announced he was retiring at the end of the season (didn't quite make it) and the team just tanked I thought that heads were definitely going to roll now. Nope, business as usual for the Cubs. Ricketts came out and said Hendry was the GM going in 2011 and there was no word at all on Cubs team president (who?) Crane Kenney (former Trib guy remained team president following purchase). I have NO CLUE what this guy even does, but I know as team president of a major market MLB team, he must be compensated pretty well (he's a lawyer you know).
WHY keep these two guys? They've had 9 years to break the curse and bring a World Series to the north side. Instead we got to watch the Red Sox break the "curse of the Bambino" ending their 86-year World Series drought and the White Sox celebrate on the south side following their 88-year drought during that time frame and still nothing with an absolutely mind-boggling 102-year drought...and now the team is in reverse at full steam with about $120 million in contracts for 2011 and no starting pitching (how's Dempster look as a #1 or even a #2 right now having given up 14 runs in his last 7 2/3 innings?) and no bullpen or 1st baseman (and WHY didn't they try Colvin at 1B knowing they still have 3 highly paid outfielders for 2011?). Zambrano seems to have figured some things out...where was the anger management last year when he was taking out Gatorade machines left and right? Was it Lou or Hendry that made the fateful decision to can the season back in April by sending Z to the bullpen? If it was Lou, Hendry should have put a stop to it - how in the world can you put an $18 million pitcher into the pen as a middle reliever after only 4 mediocre starts? Anyway, NOW is the time to dump them both. Why allow Hendry to make the ultra important new manager hire now? He had his chance and blew it TWICE with Baker and Piniella. Of course, I think the bigger mistake of the two was hiring an aging and nearly retired Lou ahead of the up and coming Joe Girardi back in 2007. How might things be different right now if Joe were leading the team in 2007 or 2008? If things go south with the roster (and it's hard not to think that right now), are you then going to fire the GM and put someone else in place who may want to bring in his own manager? Is that really going to be cheaper than cutting Hendry loose now, bringing in a new GM and letting that person hire HIS guy as manager to start with?
I'll reiterate what I said in late July...NOBODY has spent more money for less playoff wins in the last 7 years - total Cubs payroll from 2004-2010 was $769,201,597 for an average of nearly $110 million per season and ZERO playoff wins. What else is there to know really? The Cardinals fired their longtime GM Walt Jocketty following the Cards' 3rd place finish in 2007. What did they do in 2006? They won the friggin' World Series!!! That was their 2nd World Series appearance in 3 years and when they finished 3rd in the NL Central (the Cubs are friggin' 5th right now!) just a year removed from winning the World Series, they fired their GM! See Tom, good organizations don't tolerate losing...don't you want to have a good organization? So where is Walt Jocketty now? He was out of work for about 3 months before being scooped up by the Cincinnati Reds. He started as a consultant in January 2008 and was then hired as GM in April 2008. Just a quick refresher...the Reds are now in 1st place in the NL Central 6 games ahead of the Cardinals and 19 1/2 games up on our 5th place Cubs. The FIRST PLACE Reds payroll is less than HALF the Cubs payroll too!
What is it going to take to get this guy out of here Tom? If you want to change the culture of these no longer lovable losers, it starts from the top. Well, you bought the club so that's the very top; Lou retired so that's near the top...it is time to get rid of the guys between you and Lou...that's Hendry and Kenney.
Bring in a fresh perspective and let's win a World Series before I die and before you die too!
Monday, August 30, 2010
MLB Ball Park Review - U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago)
This was our fourth ball park review of the year. We did take several days "off" between our third and fourth games as our annual baseball trip took us to the west coast this year - specifically, San Francisco, Oakland and Seattle. This fourth game was "local" for our family as we live in the Chicago area. My dad's company had an outing at "The Cell" this past Friday night against the NY Yankees, a.k.a. The Evil Empire and we decided to take advantage and use this game as our 17th ball park visit.
We knew the trek to get to "The Cell" would be rough on a Friday evening as rush hour definitely peaks right when we had to be on our way AND on a Friday during summer, you can add in all the people heading all over town for the weekend. The fact the Sox were taking on the Yankees which is #1 in road team for attendance made things a little touchy even as we arrived near the ball park. For those that don't know, the south-side White Sox ball park is not in the best neighborhood in the city so you try to park close. Unlike the north-side Cubs, the Sox do have several parking lots and even allow and encourage tail-gating. We were hoping to get to the park early enough to partake in some tail-gating, but that was out the window shortly after we hit the road. We were down there about an hour before the scheduled first pitch and were feeling pretty decent about that...that is until we tried to get to the parking lot. Apparently all the cash lots near the ball park were full already and with very little assistance and really weak signage, we did finally make our way to a lot on the other side of the expressway (NOT desired!) and paid the same price they charge for the lots near the park - $23! You couldn't even see the park from where we were so now, we're off to a bit of a bad start. We were still in our seats well before the first pitch and even got to see the big trophy presentation...for the first time ever, the Lombardi Trophy (Bears '85), NBA Championship Trophy (Bulls '98), World Series Trophy (Sox '05), and the Stanley Cup (Blackhawks '10) were all together...that was pretty cool!
This was our 17th ball park visit in the last 4 years and I've been to 4-5 other parks over the years on top of that...well, I felt like I've never been to a baseball game they way the entrances are setup at The Cell. Instead of walking directly into the park from street level, you go up an escalator and then walk across a bridge to enter the ballpark...weird and awkward. As we didn't arrive very early for the game and due to the size of the crowd (reportedly 38,596 - 8th largest crowd of the year), I didn't get a chance to walk around much. There was the one big thing I've seen in these newer parks...the wider concourses allow you to move around fairly easily. I had the jumbo grilled hot dog with grilled onions and that was quite tasty...most comparable to the Wrigley Field hot dog prepared the same way. I know The Cell is infamous for some of their more unique cuisine, but I didn't partake in any of that so I cannot comment.
Following the initial run the Yanks scored in the top of the 1st, the Sox led the whole game yet I got the feeling that the Sox fans were just sitting around waiting for their team to implode. Sox starter Freddy Garcia had not been pitching too well lately after starting 8-1 as he took his 6.97 ERA in August into Friday night's game. The best description I can say about the crowd was "cautiously optimistic" as they were pretty quiet most of the night until the Sox put a 4-spot up in the 4th to make it a 9-2 game.
As you know, I am a Cubs fan so we were going to be winners either way on this one...if the White Sox won, that would be good because we would extend our baseball trip winning streak to 4 games and if the White Sox lost, well, the White Sox lost and that would be good too. Well, the White Sox put a hurting on Yankees starter AJ Burnett and won the game 9-4 making us 4-0 on this year's trip and 13-5 overall...just a reminder, we started our first season at 1-4, so we are 12-1 since! It was actually a Cubs win at Wrigley at the end of our first trip that started off that run too.
I''m sure it had a lot to do with where we were sitting (LF bleachers), but we couldn't see much of anything beside the field in front of us. It looked like The Cell was equipped with a pretty nice and info-filled scoreboard, but it's location was quite curious...mounted much too low just above and behind the RF bleachers. Don't think because we had lousy seats that we didn't pay a "pretty penny" for the tickets...when the Yankees come to town, the game is understandably considered a "premium game" which allows the Sox to charge much more for the tickets to this game. We paid $48 per ticket for these seats which was face value which is what I pay for my Cubs seats which are upper deck box seats at Wrigley Field at the ballpark with the MLB's highest average ticket prices. Did you know the White Sox have FIVE different prices for these seats - Mon = $17, Regular = $34, Prime = $38, Premier = $48, and Cubs = $59. We also sat 3 rows behind home plate in Oakland for $48 per ticket and we could see everything from there.
This park had two things going for it though...the opening ceremony with the four different championship trophies was very cool as I mentioned before. In addition following the end of the game, the Sox saved the best for last...the post-game fireworks show. Since the Sox didn't hit any HRs during the game, we had to wait until after the game to see the fireworks. Well, they did NOT disappoint with the fireworks show...VERY COOL and pretty long too as they were able to play 5-6 80s songs (felt like I was back in high school again) during a show that rivaled a pretty good one from the 4th of July. It was really that fireworks show that pushed The Cell up as high as I have it on my list.
As you can see, I didn't really like The Cell as I rated it the lowest out of all the newer ball parks; maybe if we sat somewhere else and were able to see the scoreboards, I might have rated it a little higher. But considering how much we paid for these tickets, I had higher expectations. OK, so here is my updated ball park ranking to date:
1. Comerica Park (Detroit)
2. PNC Park (Pittsburgh)
3. Jacobs Field (Cleveland)
4. Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia)
5. Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City, MO)
6. Safeco Field (Seattle)
7. Fenway Park (Boston)
8. Miller Park (Milwaukee)
9. AT&T Park (San Francisco)
10. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
11. Busch Stadium (St. Louis)
12. Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees – pre-2009)
13. Wrigley Field (Chicago)
14. U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago)
15. Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (Oakland)
16. Metrodome (Minneapolis)
17. Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
Next up is going to have to wait until 2011 as now we are done for 2010. So that will make 17 parks out of 30 leaving us with "only" 13 left...not sure what we're going to do next year either but we'll start talking about it after the start of 2011.
What were you thinking Kenny?
By the way, good thing they picked up Manny on waivers instead of addressing their bullpen issues because they very clearly have issues scoring runs...NOT. How did Kenny let the Twins pick up Fuentes? Even if you don't think you need the guy, don't you have to at least block your rival from getting stronger? Maybe Kenny was at that comedy club a little longer than Ozzie's son reported and he just missed this one. I mean the Twins lost their closer before the season started and in the last month have added two in Matt Capps and Brian Fuentes so that problem is seemingly solved. Of course, the worst news for the Sox is that Justin Morneau is on the comeback trail and could bring his .345 BA, 18 HRs, and 56 RBIs back to their lineup without having to add to their payroll as the Sox did with the addition of Manny.
We knew the trek to get to "The Cell" would be rough on a Friday evening as rush hour definitely peaks right when we had to be on our way AND on a Friday during summer, you can add in all the people heading all over town for the weekend. The fact the Sox were taking on the Yankees which is #1 in road team for attendance made things a little touchy even as we arrived near the ball park. For those that don't know, the south-side White Sox ball park is not in the best neighborhood in the city so you try to park close. Unlike the north-side Cubs, the Sox do have several parking lots and even allow and encourage tail-gating. We were hoping to get to the park early enough to partake in some tail-gating, but that was out the window shortly after we hit the road. We were down there about an hour before the scheduled first pitch and were feeling pretty decent about that...that is until we tried to get to the parking lot. Apparently all the cash lots near the ball park were full already and with very little assistance and really weak signage, we did finally make our way to a lot on the other side of the expressway (NOT desired!) and paid the same price they charge for the lots near the park - $23! You couldn't even see the park from where we were so now, we're off to a bit of a bad start. We were still in our seats well before the first pitch and even got to see the big trophy presentation...for the first time ever, the Lombardi Trophy (Bears '85), NBA Championship Trophy (Bulls '98), World Series Trophy (Sox '05), and the Stanley Cup (Blackhawks '10) were all together...that was pretty cool!
This was our 17th ball park visit in the last 4 years and I've been to 4-5 other parks over the years on top of that...well, I felt like I've never been to a baseball game they way the entrances are setup at The Cell. Instead of walking directly into the park from street level, you go up an escalator and then walk across a bridge to enter the ballpark...weird and awkward. As we didn't arrive very early for the game and due to the size of the crowd (reportedly 38,596 - 8th largest crowd of the year), I didn't get a chance to walk around much. There was the one big thing I've seen in these newer parks...the wider concourses allow you to move around fairly easily. I had the jumbo grilled hot dog with grilled onions and that was quite tasty...most comparable to the Wrigley Field hot dog prepared the same way. I know The Cell is infamous for some of their more unique cuisine, but I didn't partake in any of that so I cannot comment.
Following the initial run the Yanks scored in the top of the 1st, the Sox led the whole game yet I got the feeling that the Sox fans were just sitting around waiting for their team to implode. Sox starter Freddy Garcia had not been pitching too well lately after starting 8-1 as he took his 6.97 ERA in August into Friday night's game. The best description I can say about the crowd was "cautiously optimistic" as they were pretty quiet most of the night until the Sox put a 4-spot up in the 4th to make it a 9-2 game.
As you know, I am a Cubs fan so we were going to be winners either way on this one...if the White Sox won, that would be good because we would extend our baseball trip winning streak to 4 games and if the White Sox lost, well, the White Sox lost and that would be good too. Well, the White Sox put a hurting on Yankees starter AJ Burnett and won the game 9-4 making us 4-0 on this year's trip and 13-5 overall...just a reminder, we started our first season at 1-4, so we are 12-1 since! It was actually a Cubs win at Wrigley at the end of our first trip that started off that run too.
I''m sure it had a lot to do with where we were sitting (LF bleachers), but we couldn't see much of anything beside the field in front of us. It looked like The Cell was equipped with a pretty nice and info-filled scoreboard, but it's location was quite curious...mounted much too low just above and behind the RF bleachers. Don't think because we had lousy seats that we didn't pay a "pretty penny" for the tickets...when the Yankees come to town, the game is understandably considered a "premium game" which allows the Sox to charge much more for the tickets to this game. We paid $48 per ticket for these seats which was face value which is what I pay for my Cubs seats which are upper deck box seats at Wrigley Field at the ballpark with the MLB's highest average ticket prices. Did you know the White Sox have FIVE different prices for these seats - Mon = $17, Regular = $34, Prime = $38, Premier = $48, and Cubs = $59. We also sat 3 rows behind home plate in Oakland for $48 per ticket and we could see everything from there.
This park had two things going for it though...the opening ceremony with the four different championship trophies was very cool as I mentioned before. In addition following the end of the game, the Sox saved the best for last...the post-game fireworks show. Since the Sox didn't hit any HRs during the game, we had to wait until after the game to see the fireworks. Well, they did NOT disappoint with the fireworks show...VERY COOL and pretty long too as they were able to play 5-6 80s songs (felt like I was back in high school again) during a show that rivaled a pretty good one from the 4th of July. It was really that fireworks show that pushed The Cell up as high as I have it on my list.
As you can see, I didn't really like The Cell as I rated it the lowest out of all the newer ball parks; maybe if we sat somewhere else and were able to see the scoreboards, I might have rated it a little higher. But considering how much we paid for these tickets, I had higher expectations. OK, so here is my updated ball park ranking to date:
1. Comerica Park (Detroit)
2. PNC Park (Pittsburgh)
3. Jacobs Field (Cleveland)
4. Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia)
5. Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City, MO)
6. Safeco Field (Seattle)
7. Fenway Park (Boston)
8. Miller Park (Milwaukee)
9. AT&T Park (San Francisco)
10. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
11. Busch Stadium (St. Louis)
12. Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees – pre-2009)
13. Wrigley Field (Chicago)
14. U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago)
15. Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (Oakland)
16. Metrodome (Minneapolis)
17. Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
Next up is going to have to wait until 2011 as now we are done for 2010. So that will make 17 parks out of 30 leaving us with "only" 13 left...not sure what we're going to do next year either but we'll start talking about it after the start of 2011.
What were you thinking Kenny?
By the way, good thing they picked up Manny on waivers instead of addressing their bullpen issues because they very clearly have issues scoring runs...NOT. How did Kenny let the Twins pick up Fuentes? Even if you don't think you need the guy, don't you have to at least block your rival from getting stronger? Maybe Kenny was at that comedy club a little longer than Ozzie's son reported and he just missed this one. I mean the Twins lost their closer before the season started and in the last month have added two in Matt Capps and Brian Fuentes so that problem is seemingly solved. Of course, the worst news for the Sox is that Justin Morneau is on the comeback trail and could bring his .345 BA, 18 HRs, and 56 RBIs back to their lineup without having to add to their payroll as the Sox did with the addition of Manny.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Good Bye Granpda Lou!
Here I am again for the second straight post saying good bye to another Cub...this time Manager Lou Piniella after he announced his sudden retirement today. Arguably, he's been retired since last July when he gave up on a winnable division, but as of August 22, 2010, it is now official...Grandpa Lou is GONE!
There was a lot of irony or coincidences or as Lou called them, Cubby occurrences with today's festivities. Today was the day the Cubs chose to honor Braves manager Bobby Cox who is making his final appearance as a manager here at Wrigley Field (completely official now with the Cubs NOWHERE near the playoff picture). I don't know when the Cubs announced the fact they would honor Cox (is it weird that an opposing team would be honoring him while still managing against them?), but my guess is that it was quite some time ago when the Cubs had not yet been eliminated from the playoffs (actually, they still probably haven't been officially eliminated). Anyway, so the Cubs chose to honor the opposing team manager on a day when their own manager announced his own retirement due to personal reasons related to his mom's health. Many people, myself included were wondering why Lou didn't just stay down in Florida with his sick mother a couple weeks ago when he took some time off to be with her...why want a couple weeks and hang on watching (OK, maybe managing...) this lousy team? The GM is dumping his players left and right and he's "stuck" with all these rookies, so why come back? He had the perfect excuse with the sick mother...stay home and be done with this!
In a bit of pathetic irony, the Cubs lost today's game (I was there unfortunately) 16-5 to the Braves which gives Lou bookend losses to the same team by the same score to start and end his final season as manager. Some similarities between the two games were LONG bombs hit by Braves rookie Jason Heyward although he actually hit two dead into a 15-20 mph wind today. Heyward also had 4 RBIs in both games. One big difference was the Cubs' starting pitching...in the Opener, former #1 starter Carlos Zambrano gave up 8 ER in 1 1/3 innings while today it was primarily the bullpen giving up the runs (although Wells was charged with the first 2 runs as he started the 7th) as the Braves scored 11 runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. Did Lou really come back to manage a bullpen with guys like Justin Berg, James Russell, Tommy Diamond, and Marcus Mateo? Diamond was the diamond in the rough today only allowing 1 run but at least it was unearned. Berg was the victim of some more HORRIFIC Cubs' defense although somehow all 5 of the runs he gave up were deemed earned. Actually, he was on the mound or responsible for 8 total runs as he inherited bases loaded and allowed all three to score on THE worst defensive play of the season (and that's saying a LOT with this lousy team - more on this later). Mateo finished it off with 2 more runs in the 9th raising his ERA to 11.37. Lou came back to manage these guys?!?
The Braves have seemingly been inspired by knowing this is Bobby Cox' last season as they've pretty much come from nowhere (literally NOBODY picked them to finish higher than 3rd in the NL East) to lead their division right now. I don't think they'll have enough juice to hold onto their current 2 1/2 game lead with the Phillies getting healthy and surging up from behind them. Their big key is their ridiculous 44-17 record at home which leads the entire MLB. The Cubs were in the same boat this year with their manager almost certainly retiring at season's end and look what they've done - today's loss leaves them 21 1/2 games behind the Reds in the NL Central. Want some more irony? How about the fact that the first place Reds are managed by Dusty Baker? The Reds payroll is just a little more than half that of the Cubs. Irony can be so ironic...
Much of the ridiculously large crowd (announced at over 37,000 although take it from someone that was there, NO WAY - lots of no-shows!) seemed to be cheering Lou each time he came out of the dugout to make pitching changes including a fairly surprising double-switch in the 7th. I have to say I was NOT one of theidiots people cheering for Grandpa Lou. WHY would anyone cheer for this guy? His trip to Chicago was a complete and utter failure! I know he said he feels like he raised the bar, but WRONG again Lou...the bar was already raised when you arrived big guy. I know he recently came out and said he didn't really understand what he was getting himself into when he was brought in to manage the Cubs to a World Series win. What did we get instead? We did get a surprise visit to the playoffs in Lou's first year which ended quite unceremoniously with a 3-0 sweep against the D-backs in the first round of the playoffs...not to worry...we weren't even supposed to be in the playoffs in 2007. In 2008, Lou led the Cubs to the best record in the NL with 97 wins..NICE...but another 3-0 sweep ended that season much more abruptly and Lou's managing had a LOT to do with that sweep. How does Fukudome start game 1? How does Ted Lilly (a.k.a. Bulldog for his tenaciousness) NOT get a start in that series? How does Z get a start? Other than what proved to be a total fluke with a no-hitter on 9/14, Z had given up 5, 8, 3, 6, 5, and 9 runs in 6 of his final 8 starts heading into the playoffs...not exactly the run you were hoping for although he kept it "going" by giving up 7 to the Dodgers in game 2. Harden pitched well in LA, but no O finished off the Cubs. The team played very tight - Dempster walked 7 in less than 5 innings in game 1, the 4 errors by the entire infield in game 2, and 0 RBIs by their 3-4 hitters in Lee and Ramirez. Unfortunately, the 97 wins in 2008 was Lou's best "moment" as Cubs manager as he couldn't even helped the Cubs earn a single playoff game win, let alone series win or World Series ring. Lou's record as Cubs manager finished up at 316-292 which is above .500, but we were past that point weren't we? I thought so, but apparently Grandpa Lou didn't.
So now, the dreaded interim manager tag goes to Mike Quade. He has never managed in the bigs before, but he did manage well over 2000 games in the minors including 4 seasons at AAA Iowa. What happened to Alan Trammell? Hendry said he "made a decision in the process moving forward that Alan would not be considered for the managerial job after this year." Yikes! As I have mentioned before, NOBODY else "gets it" and it will take an ex-Cub to get this thing turned around. That leaves just Joe Girardi and Ryne Sandberg as I'm not aware of any other ex-Cub candidates. Bob Brenley won a World Series with the D-backs a few years ago and he would seem to know what he was getting himself into having been the Cubs television broadcaster for the last several years. I like what he has to say on TV and maybe out of any of the other candidates, he might actually "get it" so I'd throw him in there as the #3 candidate. As I've also said before, we've gone the "experienced" route with the last two disappointments...Girardi has some experience including a World Series ring as a manager and 3 more as a player ('96, '98, and '99 Yankees). He won the manager of the year award in 2006 while managing basically an entire minor league Florida Marlins team to a near .500 record and is now in his 3rd year as Yankees manager so he has proven he can coach young kids AND also handle big name, big money guys too...sounds PERFECT as that's just what the Cubs will have next year.
So the hope for me starts with Tom Ricketts firing EVERYONE ($145 million payroll is on pace for 96 losses and STILL nobody has been fired!) including Crane Kenney, Jim Hendry, and ALL the coaches. Then I hope the Yankees hold on to win the toughest division in baseball but fail to win the AL pennant again...then the Yankees don't renew Girardi's contract and the Cubs jump on that opportunity...he brings in Ryno, Mark Grace, and Greg Maddux to help him take this fairly young (all of a sudden!) team to the "promised land". Grace and Sandberg should certainly be able to work with this HORRIBLE defense (do you think Grace could help Colvin become a pretty good 1B?). Do you think Maddux could show Marmol how to throw strikes? What about teaching Samardzija a second or third pitch? What about Zambrano? The Cubs have him for at least 2 more seasons so lets try to make the best of a poor situation and it definitely starts with the coaching and atmosphere in the clubhouse.
What a TOTAL DEBACLE today at the "friendly confines"! Did it get off on the wrong foot by honoring a manager whose team has pretty much tormented the Cubs during his 25 years as Braves manager? Maybe...shouldn't knowing today's game was officially the end of Lou's tenure have made up for that though? If it did, it certainly wasn't obvious...Cubs starter Randy Wells gave up a lead-off HR to Omar Infante who would touch 'em all twice for his 5th and 6th bombs of the season (i.e. not exactly a power hitter folks). Wells was charged with 7 runs, but didn't get a lot of help. His defense was atrocious and the relievers did little to relieve anything as I mentioned above. I haven't seen worse 3B play than Aramis displayed since attending an Iowa Cubs game last summer and watched Bobby Scales look more like a matador than a 3B. Aramis was only issued with 1 error on a terrible throw on an easy DP ball right to him where he stepped on 3rd and threw a one-hopper to Xavier Nady at 1B. Another hard hit ground ball that went right at him was called a hit (nice for Aramis; not so nice for the pitching staff) but helped lead to 4 runs in the 7th for the Braves which broke open a 5-3 game. He also played matador when his old buddy D-Lee hit a ball to his right that he failed to get a glove on for a bases clearing 3-run double (Lee's first RBIs and first "hit" as a Brave). I mentioned above that the Cubs made the worst defensive play of the year in the 7th inning. With the bases loaded, Alex Gonzalez hit a flare to short LF...Cubs rookie 20-year old SS Starlin Castro broke back to the ball immediately while Cubs veteran LF Alfonso Soriano must not have because Castro beat him to the spot but neither player got a glove on the ball...it was a flare so it didn't go far, but Soriano overran the ball so Castro had to retrieve the ball...no communication at all on the infield as Gonzalez was frozen between 1st and 2nd while the runner from 1st rounded 3rd...Castro didn't know what to do with the ball and the hesitation cost the Cubs a run that even the scoreboard operator didn't get for a few minutes...they did get Gonzalez out for the 3rd out of the inning, but the runner from 1st scored before they got the out so that run scored too. So for those of you scoring at home...that's a 3-run single with no error!
So GOOD BYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE GRANDPA LOU! I for one will NOT miss you AT ALL. Enjoy your retirement...now you can wear your 1977 Yankees World Series ring all you want!
There was a lot of irony or coincidences or as Lou called them, Cubby occurrences with today's festivities. Today was the day the Cubs chose to honor Braves manager Bobby Cox who is making his final appearance as a manager here at Wrigley Field (completely official now with the Cubs NOWHERE near the playoff picture). I don't know when the Cubs announced the fact they would honor Cox (is it weird that an opposing team would be honoring him while still managing against them?), but my guess is that it was quite some time ago when the Cubs had not yet been eliminated from the playoffs (actually, they still probably haven't been officially eliminated). Anyway, so the Cubs chose to honor the opposing team manager on a day when their own manager announced his own retirement due to personal reasons related to his mom's health. Many people, myself included were wondering why Lou didn't just stay down in Florida with his sick mother a couple weeks ago when he took some time off to be with her...why want a couple weeks and hang on watching (OK, maybe managing...) this lousy team? The GM is dumping his players left and right and he's "stuck" with all these rookies, so why come back? He had the perfect excuse with the sick mother...stay home and be done with this!
In a bit of pathetic irony, the Cubs lost today's game (I was there unfortunately) 16-5 to the Braves which gives Lou bookend losses to the same team by the same score to start and end his final season as manager. Some similarities between the two games were LONG bombs hit by Braves rookie Jason Heyward although he actually hit two dead into a 15-20 mph wind today. Heyward also had 4 RBIs in both games. One big difference was the Cubs' starting pitching...in the Opener, former #1 starter Carlos Zambrano gave up 8 ER in 1 1/3 innings while today it was primarily the bullpen giving up the runs (although Wells was charged with the first 2 runs as he started the 7th) as the Braves scored 11 runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. Did Lou really come back to manage a bullpen with guys like Justin Berg, James Russell, Tommy Diamond, and Marcus Mateo? Diamond was the diamond in the rough today only allowing 1 run but at least it was unearned. Berg was the victim of some more HORRIFIC Cubs' defense although somehow all 5 of the runs he gave up were deemed earned. Actually, he was on the mound or responsible for 8 total runs as he inherited bases loaded and allowed all three to score on THE worst defensive play of the season (and that's saying a LOT with this lousy team - more on this later). Mateo finished it off with 2 more runs in the 9th raising his ERA to 11.37. Lou came back to manage these guys?!?
The Braves have seemingly been inspired by knowing this is Bobby Cox' last season as they've pretty much come from nowhere (literally NOBODY picked them to finish higher than 3rd in the NL East) to lead their division right now. I don't think they'll have enough juice to hold onto their current 2 1/2 game lead with the Phillies getting healthy and surging up from behind them. Their big key is their ridiculous 44-17 record at home which leads the entire MLB. The Cubs were in the same boat this year with their manager almost certainly retiring at season's end and look what they've done - today's loss leaves them 21 1/2 games behind the Reds in the NL Central. Want some more irony? How about the fact that the first place Reds are managed by Dusty Baker? The Reds payroll is just a little more than half that of the Cubs. Irony can be so ironic...
Much of the ridiculously large crowd (announced at over 37,000 although take it from someone that was there, NO WAY - lots of no-shows!) seemed to be cheering Lou each time he came out of the dugout to make pitching changes including a fairly surprising double-switch in the 7th. I have to say I was NOT one of the
So now, the dreaded interim manager tag goes to Mike Quade. He has never managed in the bigs before, but he did manage well over 2000 games in the minors including 4 seasons at AAA Iowa. What happened to Alan Trammell? Hendry said he "made a decision in the process moving forward that Alan would not be considered for the managerial job after this year." Yikes! As I have mentioned before, NOBODY else "gets it" and it will take an ex-Cub to get this thing turned around. That leaves just Joe Girardi and Ryne Sandberg as I'm not aware of any other ex-Cub candidates. Bob Brenley won a World Series with the D-backs a few years ago and he would seem to know what he was getting himself into having been the Cubs television broadcaster for the last several years. I like what he has to say on TV and maybe out of any of the other candidates, he might actually "get it" so I'd throw him in there as the #3 candidate. As I've also said before, we've gone the "experienced" route with the last two disappointments...Girardi has some experience including a World Series ring as a manager and 3 more as a player ('96, '98, and '99 Yankees). He won the manager of the year award in 2006 while managing basically an entire minor league Florida Marlins team to a near .500 record and is now in his 3rd year as Yankees manager so he has proven he can coach young kids AND also handle big name, big money guys too...sounds PERFECT as that's just what the Cubs will have next year.
So the hope for me starts with Tom Ricketts firing EVERYONE ($145 million payroll is on pace for 96 losses and STILL nobody has been fired!) including Crane Kenney, Jim Hendry, and ALL the coaches. Then I hope the Yankees hold on to win the toughest division in baseball but fail to win the AL pennant again...then the Yankees don't renew Girardi's contract and the Cubs jump on that opportunity...he brings in Ryno, Mark Grace, and Greg Maddux to help him take this fairly young (all of a sudden!) team to the "promised land". Grace and Sandberg should certainly be able to work with this HORRIBLE defense (do you think Grace could help Colvin become a pretty good 1B?). Do you think Maddux could show Marmol how to throw strikes? What about teaching Samardzija a second or third pitch? What about Zambrano? The Cubs have him for at least 2 more seasons so lets try to make the best of a poor situation and it definitely starts with the coaching and atmosphere in the clubhouse.
What a TOTAL DEBACLE today at the "friendly confines"! Did it get off on the wrong foot by honoring a manager whose team has pretty much tormented the Cubs during his 25 years as Braves manager? Maybe...shouldn't knowing today's game was officially the end of Lou's tenure have made up for that though? If it did, it certainly wasn't obvious...Cubs starter Randy Wells gave up a lead-off HR to Omar Infante who would touch 'em all twice for his 5th and 6th bombs of the season (i.e. not exactly a power hitter folks). Wells was charged with 7 runs, but didn't get a lot of help. His defense was atrocious and the relievers did little to relieve anything as I mentioned above. I haven't seen worse 3B play than Aramis displayed since attending an Iowa Cubs game last summer and watched Bobby Scales look more like a matador than a 3B. Aramis was only issued with 1 error on a terrible throw on an easy DP ball right to him where he stepped on 3rd and threw a one-hopper to Xavier Nady at 1B. Another hard hit ground ball that went right at him was called a hit (nice for Aramis; not so nice for the pitching staff) but helped lead to 4 runs in the 7th for the Braves which broke open a 5-3 game. He also played matador when his old buddy D-Lee hit a ball to his right that he failed to get a glove on for a bases clearing 3-run double (Lee's first RBIs and first "hit" as a Brave). I mentioned above that the Cubs made the worst defensive play of the year in the 7th inning. With the bases loaded, Alex Gonzalez hit a flare to short LF...Cubs rookie 20-year old SS Starlin Castro broke back to the ball immediately while Cubs veteran LF Alfonso Soriano must not have because Castro beat him to the spot but neither player got a glove on the ball...it was a flare so it didn't go far, but Soriano overran the ball so Castro had to retrieve the ball...no communication at all on the infield as Gonzalez was frozen between 1st and 2nd while the runner from 1st rounded 3rd...Castro didn't know what to do with the ball and the hesitation cost the Cubs a run that even the scoreboard operator didn't get for a few minutes...they did get Gonzalez out for the 3rd out of the inning, but the runner from 1st scored before they got the out so that run scored too. So for those of you scoring at home...that's a 3-run single with no error!
So GOOD BYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE GRANDPA LOU! I for one will NOT miss you AT ALL. Enjoy your retirement...now you can wear your 1977 Yankees World Series ring all you want!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Good Bye D-Lee
If you have followed my blog, particularly last year, you know that D-Lee was the subject of my ire much of last season; he was a distant #2 to Jim Hendry for putting this mess together in the first place. Well, today I got my wish even if it happened a year late...the Cubs officially traded D-Lee. Surprisingly, they actually received 3 minor leaguers from the Braves in return including their 16th ranked player. With only 40 games left in the season, his last one of his big 5-year contract, it certainly works better that they actually received compensation beyond the the dreaded "bag of balls".
I'm a little concerned with the "cash considerations" phrase I keep hearing and reading tonight as I just don't understand that concept...it's not like the Braves are doing this huge favor, is it? Same thing with the Dodgers and Ted Lilly (now 3-0 with 1.89 ERA for them)...WHY are the Cubs paying ANY of the money owed to these traded players? Apparently, it's part of "the game" I guess as it seems to happen every time one of these trades happen so I know I shouldn't be surprised.
Here's a quick little history of D-Lee with the Cubs:
Aramis Ramirez - 281 total HRs, 143 solo (51%)
Sammy Sosa - 609, 326 solo (53.5%)
Paul Konerko - 356, 212 solo (59.5%)
David Ortiz - 343, 204 solo (59.5%)
Carlos Lee - 322, 173 solo (54%)
Adam Dun - 347, 196 solo (56.5%)
Adrian Gonzalez - 159, 89 solo (56%)
Alfonso Soriano - 309, 197 solo (64%)
I swear this is every single player I thought of and didn't leave anyone off the list that didn't help make my point. Paul Konerko has been brought up quite a bit lately as being non-clutch so I threw him in there. I find it interesting that Soriano is the only one with a higher percentage and was the closest to D-Lee's percentage since he was a lead-off hitter for so long.
Similar to how Mike Fontenot (not that there is any other comparison with these two guys) who was traded to the Giants while the Cubs were in San Francisco; D-Lee is traded to the Braves as they come to town this weekend. The Braves are hosting the Washington Nats right now with a game on Thu afternoon (get-away day!), but I doubt they'll have D-Lee fly out there just to turn back around and head back to Chicago right after that game.
So will the Cubs miss D-Lee? Most definitely; particularly rookie Starlin Castro and Aramis Ramirez who take the most advantage of D-Lee's Gold Glove ability to save them several throwing errors. The rest of the team will miss his clubhouse presence (except Carlos Zambrano maybe) and his quiet leadership. To me, it seems like he along with Aramis and Lou have all thrown in the towel already so I'd rather see him move on before passing on those thoughts to the rest of his young teammates.
So who replaces D-Lee at 1B for the next 41 games? I'd LOVE to see Tyler Colvin get a shot as I just don't think the Cubs really have anyone in the minors ready to step in (and don't say "what about Micah Hoffpauir?" because he's had his chance - he hit .239 in 105 games last year and is 0-for-7 with 4 Ks this year). The outfield remains set without Colvin as far as big contracts for 2011 - Soriano ($72 million for 4 more years) in LF, newly signed Marlon Byrd ($12 million for 2 more years) in CF, and Fukudome ($13.5 million for 2011) in RF. Fukudome may eventually be traded next year as he'll be in the last year of his contract, but it will take some time and you'd hate to have that much money sitting on the bench. BUT I have ZERO confidence the Cubs management "brain trust" will think even slightly out of the box so we'll probably see Xavier Nady over there instead...or maybe a combo with Hoffpauir. Now that Lee is gone, will the Cubs pull off the biggest coup EVER and nab The Machine who is a potential free agent and seemingly nearly unsignable by the Cards? If not, what about grabbing Adrian Gonzalez from the cash-stricken Padres?
After Lou ripped the rookie pitchers following Mon's loss, he basically apologized following Tue's loss. If you watched today (Wed) and you were paying attention, you saw 10 rookies play today including 6 pitchers and 4 starters against the NL's best team. What?!? Holy cow! Speaking of Lou, what was the point of Lou wearing his 1977 Yankees World Series ring? His Cubs are now 21 games under .500 and in 5th place in the NL Central 19 1/2 games behind Dusty Baker's Cincinnati Reds. They've already raised the white flag with the Lilly/Theriot trade at the deadline and the rumors were swirling about a potential Lee trade on top of that. So was the 1977 ring a "nah, nah, na-nah, nah - you'll never have one of these" things or what? Just like everything else Lou since last summer, I just don't get it.
Anyway, Good Bye D-Lee...regardless of everything, I wish you well and I'll see you on Sunday as I'm heading back to the Friendly Confines for the 8th time this season (yuck!). I'll be pulling for your Braves in the NL during Bobby Cox' last season but hope the Rangers win it all (I guess not if they have to face the Rays in the playoffs - yikes!).
GO BULLS!!!
I'm a little concerned with the "cash considerations" phrase I keep hearing and reading tonight as I just don't understand that concept...it's not like the Braves are doing this huge favor, is it? Same thing with the Dodgers and Ted Lilly (now 3-0 with 1.89 ERA for them)...WHY are the Cubs paying ANY of the money owed to these traded players? Apparently, it's part of "the game" I guess as it seems to happen every time one of these trades happen so I know I shouldn't be surprised.
Here's a quick little history of D-Lee with the Cubs:
- D-Lee made himself right at home here in the NLCS while on his way to winning the World Series with his former team - the Florida Marlins
- D-Lee was "stolen" from the Marlins in an off-season salary dump trade to the Cubs for Hee-Seop Choi and a minor leaguer before the 2004 season
- With the addition of D-Lee and Greg Maddux, the Cubs were the overall favorites to win the World Series - didn't even make the playoffs as the folded down the stretch
- 2003-04 was the first time the Cubs finished about .500 in consecutive seasons since 1972 which was the 6th straight season they finished above .500
- D-Lee's numbers in 2004 were nearly identical to his 2003 Marlins number, with the exception of post-season numbers obviously
- The Cubs finished with a better record than 2003, but finished 3rd in the NL Central and watched the Red Sox break the Curse of the Bambino while winning their first World Series in 86 years
- Cubs non-World Series streak reaches 96 years
- D-Lee had a HUGE year winning his only batting title to date, nearly winning the MVP (finished 3rd behind Pujols who won and Andruw Jones who finished 2nd), making his first All-Star Game, winning his second Gold Glove and earning his only Silver Slugger (tough to beat out Albert Pujols)
- The Cubs were not very good finishing 4 games under .500 leaving them in 4th place while watching their cross-town rivals break their streak by winning their first World Series in 88 years
- Cubs non-World Series streak reaches 97 years
- D-Lee broke his wrist on a freak play when Rafael Furcal (who the Cubs very nearly signed that off-season) crashed into Lee near 1st base
- Lee played a career low 50 games which "helped" push the Cubs to 96 losses and led to Dusty Baker being fired
- Lou Piniella was hired to replace Dusty Baker (should have hired Joe Girardi who was unceremoniously fired by the Florida Marlins even though he won the Manager of the Year)
- D-Lee came back from the freak wrist injury but was not quite the same player at least from a power standpoint dropping from 46 HRs and 107 RBIs in 2005 to 22 HRs and 82 RBIs in 2007
- Cubs turned it around in Lou's first season winning the NL Central just as they did for Dusty in 2003
- This time, no "magic" in the post-season for the Cubs getting swept by the Dodgers in the NLDS
- D-Lee hit .333 in the series but had zero RBIs
- Cubs non-World Series streak reaches 99 years
- D-Lee nearly duplicated 2007 regular season numbers in 2008
- Cubs won 97 games earning the #1 seed in the NL for the playoffs
- This was the first time since 1908 that the Cubs made the post-season two seasons in a row
- Cubs were again swept by the Dodgers in the NLDS
- D-Lee his .545 in the series but again had zero RBIs
- Of course, this was the dreaded 100-year anniversary of when the Cubs last won the World Series
- D-Lee was about the only bright spot from last year's 2009 Cubs team finishing with a career high 111 RBIs while hitting 35 HRs and batting .306
- The Cubs did finish above .500 for the third straight season, but finished 2nd in the NL Central and missed the playoffs
- 101 years and counting for the Cubs last World Series title
- D-Lee REALLY struggled during this 2010 season from start to "finish"; combining with Aramis Ramirez' career worst year completely doomed the Cubs
- D-Lee finished his nearly 7-year run with the Cubs hitting .251 which was his worst since 1999
- Before hitting 4 HRs against the Cards last weekend (very timely as far as this trade happening), he was sitting on 12 HRs for the year having hit only 2 in the previous 8 weeks
- Of course in "typical" D-Lee fashion, all 4 HRs this past weekend were solo shots
- Actually, 10 of his 16 HRs this year were solo leading to a pathetic RBI total of 56 through 120 games
Aramis Ramirez - 281 total HRs, 143 solo (51%)
Sammy Sosa - 609, 326 solo (53.5%)
Paul Konerko - 356, 212 solo (59.5%)
David Ortiz - 343, 204 solo (59.5%)
Carlos Lee - 322, 173 solo (54%)
Adam Dun - 347, 196 solo (56.5%)
Adrian Gonzalez - 159, 89 solo (56%)
Alfonso Soriano - 309, 197 solo (64%)
I swear this is every single player I thought of and didn't leave anyone off the list that didn't help make my point. Paul Konerko has been brought up quite a bit lately as being non-clutch so I threw him in there. I find it interesting that Soriano is the only one with a higher percentage and was the closest to D-Lee's percentage since he was a lead-off hitter for so long.
Similar to how Mike Fontenot (not that there is any other comparison with these two guys) who was traded to the Giants while the Cubs were in San Francisco; D-Lee is traded to the Braves as they come to town this weekend. The Braves are hosting the Washington Nats right now with a game on Thu afternoon (get-away day!), but I doubt they'll have D-Lee fly out there just to turn back around and head back to Chicago right after that game.
So will the Cubs miss D-Lee? Most definitely; particularly rookie Starlin Castro and Aramis Ramirez who take the most advantage of D-Lee's Gold Glove ability to save them several throwing errors. The rest of the team will miss his clubhouse presence (except Carlos Zambrano maybe) and his quiet leadership. To me, it seems like he along with Aramis and Lou have all thrown in the towel already so I'd rather see him move on before passing on those thoughts to the rest of his young teammates.
So who replaces D-Lee at 1B for the next 41 games? I'd LOVE to see Tyler Colvin get a shot as I just don't think the Cubs really have anyone in the minors ready to step in (and don't say "what about Micah Hoffpauir?" because he's had his chance - he hit .239 in 105 games last year and is 0-for-7 with 4 Ks this year). The outfield remains set without Colvin as far as big contracts for 2011 - Soriano ($72 million for 4 more years) in LF, newly signed Marlon Byrd ($12 million for 2 more years) in CF, and Fukudome ($13.5 million for 2011) in RF. Fukudome may eventually be traded next year as he'll be in the last year of his contract, but it will take some time and you'd hate to have that much money sitting on the bench. BUT I have ZERO confidence the Cubs management "brain trust" will think even slightly out of the box so we'll probably see Xavier Nady over there instead...or maybe a combo with Hoffpauir. Now that Lee is gone, will the Cubs pull off the biggest coup EVER and nab The Machine who is a potential free agent and seemingly nearly unsignable by the Cards? If not, what about grabbing Adrian Gonzalez from the cash-stricken Padres?
After Lou ripped the rookie pitchers following Mon's loss, he basically apologized following Tue's loss. If you watched today (Wed) and you were paying attention, you saw 10 rookies play today including 6 pitchers and 4 starters against the NL's best team. What?!? Holy cow! Speaking of Lou, what was the point of Lou wearing his 1977 Yankees World Series ring? His Cubs are now 21 games under .500 and in 5th place in the NL Central 19 1/2 games behind Dusty Baker's Cincinnati Reds. They've already raised the white flag with the Lilly/Theriot trade at the deadline and the rumors were swirling about a potential Lee trade on top of that. So was the 1977 ring a "nah, nah, na-nah, nah - you'll never have one of these" things or what? Just like everything else Lou since last summer, I just don't get it.
Anyway, Good Bye D-Lee...regardless of everything, I wish you well and I'll see you on Sunday as I'm heading back to the Friendly Confines for the 8th time this season (yuck!). I'll be pulling for your Braves in the NL during Bobby Cox' last season but hope the Rangers win it all (I guess not if they have to face the Rays in the playoffs - yikes!).
GO BULLS!!!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
WOW - Are They Bad!
The Cubbies suffered yet another 1-run loss - this time 1-0 in just another pathetic offensive display. That makes them a staggering 14-30 in 1-run games...that's just insane! The opposing Padres scored the lone run of the game on yet another questionable defensive play and I'm not even talking about the two errors the MLB's worst defensive team made tonight. With the bases loaded and one out, a grounder was hit to Xavier Nady who double-clutched and ended up feeding Randy Wells to get a force out at first allowing the only run of the game to score. OK - so you're probably thinking, well, one run isn't going to win this game and while you'd be wrong in this case, that certainly isn't all that strange as you definitely want to be sure not to give up a big inning at that point of the game. BUT, my problem is more with the total indecision by Nady...he didn't seem to know whether he wanted to go home, try to turn a DP, or take the play himself at 1st base. What exactly do these guys practice? The defense has been, well, indefensible ALL season long so what are the Cubs doing about it? Just like with everything else, they just stand pat and do nothing! Have they fired a single coach? Hired anyone else to help out with the D? Nope! They just stand by and watch as this season that started with such promise with a new owner (one of us;.an actual Cub fan!) continues to simply unravel right before our eyes.
The Cubs remain on pace to surpass 3 millionidiots fans (myself included several times - splitting partial season tickets) passing through the turnstiles at the quite friendly (at least to the out-of-town visiting teams) confines - the Cubs are now 27-34 at home this season. Add that to their even worse 23-36 road record and they are now incredibly 20 games under .500 at 50-70. There are only 5 teams in the entire MLB that have worse records and Cleveland is just 1/2 game behind the Cubs. I mean, we're talking about perennial doormats that don't spend any money like the Orioles and Pirates, but the Cubs' record is even worse than other doormats like the Nats and Royals this year so they've really outdone themselves this time and with no key injuries to blame like they did last year with Aramis missing significant time. Nope, this year is all about underachieving despite what Lou is saying about the rookies being given the "opportunity of a lifetime" and "none of them want to step up". I know he is really calling out his GM for the lousy pitching staff he was given to manage this year, but really...this is the way to handle that...by calling out some kids that shouldn't be here anyway? What a total JERK!
It isn't even that the Cubs stink or the way they are losing some of these games (although they have been quite imaginative in that arena) that bothers me most of all...it's actually the way the organization (and I use that term very loosely as organized they are not!) is handling it. They're in the midst of going 4-15 over their last 19 games and what do they do? They serve caviar for the pregame meal just because they took 2-of-3 from the hated Cardinals. Now I'm always happy to beat the Cardinals, but caviar?!? Are you serious?!? What's next - $1000 bonuses for taking a walk? I guess we know where at least some of the revenue from the highest ticket prices in MLB are going, huh?
Again, no firings at all of any of the management! They sent Aramis down to Iowa for a few days with his "injury" (otherwise known as horrific slump) and they sent Zambrano to anger management...but what about the knuckleheads supposedly in charge of this mess? Managers are getting fired left and right; GMs too! How low do the Cubs have to go before ANYONE gets fired? I harp on this a lot and I'm sorry, but I just don't get it...how does a guy spending $145 million for a team in 5th place 20 games below .500 NOT get fired? What about the manager? Lou was asked today after his guys went 0-for-7 with RISP if they were a little anxious...picture the typical Lou grimace and then "Hmmm...I don't know...maybe". Were you there watching the game Lou? Jon Garland is just like Ryan Dempster...a lot of soft stuff and hardly any real strikes...he counts on the hitters' impatience to swing at the change-up or slider in the dirt to get guys out...he did that to perfection against a terrible team struggling to do anything right. You would think the prized pitching coach Rudy Jamarillo would whisper into someone's ear in the dugout - "hey, let's take a couple pitches in your next AB and see how that works". Nope - guys were up there free swinging like usual all the way to the end. Garland's line says 7 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 3 Ks, and 3 BBs on only 91 pitches. That's a line Dempster would be very proud of...too bad Garland was in the other dugout tonight.
Not that the guy on the mound for the Cubs was the problem tonight. His line was very similar - 7 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 6 Ks, 3 BBs but on 122 pitches. How does one guy need 30 more pitches to allow 3 fewer hits with the same number of walks? Patience...working the count...oh ya, and 3 DPs (the Cubs turned one). Had Nady been more decisive (heck, I tell my 8-year olds on my daughter's team to "know what you're going to do with the ball if it is hit to you") back in the first inning, it could have been a DP and extra innings in a scoreless tie. The defense continues to hurt the Cubs!
Let's get back to the rookies and this supposed awesome pitching coach the Cubs have had seemingly forever. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seems that when rookies come in, they seem to start like gangbusters and then start to fall-off the longer they're here. Is that the Cubs pitching coach? That is, the longer he works with these kids, the worse they get? Just for another example, lets look at Jeff Samardzija...he was nearly lights out when he first came up:
2008 - 26 games, 2.28 ERA (debut on 7/25/08)
2009 - 20 games, 7.53 ERA (first game 4/23/09)
2010 - 4 games, 18.90 ERA (first game 4/5/10) but 10-2 for AAA Iowa Cubs
The Cubs remain on pace to surpass 3 million
It isn't even that the Cubs stink or the way they are losing some of these games (although they have been quite imaginative in that arena) that bothers me most of all...it's actually the way the organization (and I use that term very loosely as organized they are not!) is handling it. They're in the midst of going 4-15 over their last 19 games and what do they do? They serve caviar for the pregame meal just because they took 2-of-3 from the hated Cardinals. Now I'm always happy to beat the Cardinals, but caviar?!? Are you serious?!? What's next - $1000 bonuses for taking a walk? I guess we know where at least some of the revenue from the highest ticket prices in MLB are going, huh?
Again, no firings at all of any of the management! They sent Aramis down to Iowa for a few days with his "injury" (otherwise known as horrific slump) and they sent Zambrano to anger management...but what about the knuckleheads supposedly in charge of this mess? Managers are getting fired left and right; GMs too! How low do the Cubs have to go before ANYONE gets fired? I harp on this a lot and I'm sorry, but I just don't get it...how does a guy spending $145 million for a team in 5th place 20 games below .500 NOT get fired? What about the manager? Lou was asked today after his guys went 0-for-7 with RISP if they were a little anxious...picture the typical Lou grimace and then "Hmmm...I don't know...maybe". Were you there watching the game Lou? Jon Garland is just like Ryan Dempster...a lot of soft stuff and hardly any real strikes...he counts on the hitters' impatience to swing at the change-up or slider in the dirt to get guys out...he did that to perfection against a terrible team struggling to do anything right. You would think the prized pitching coach Rudy Jamarillo would whisper into someone's ear in the dugout - "hey, let's take a couple pitches in your next AB and see how that works". Nope - guys were up there free swinging like usual all the way to the end. Garland's line says 7 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 3 Ks, and 3 BBs on only 91 pitches. That's a line Dempster would be very proud of...too bad Garland was in the other dugout tonight.
Not that the guy on the mound for the Cubs was the problem tonight. His line was very similar - 7 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 6 Ks, 3 BBs but on 122 pitches. How does one guy need 30 more pitches to allow 3 fewer hits with the same number of walks? Patience...working the count...oh ya, and 3 DPs (the Cubs turned one). Had Nady been more decisive (heck, I tell my 8-year olds on my daughter's team to "know what you're going to do with the ball if it is hit to you") back in the first inning, it could have been a DP and extra innings in a scoreless tie. The defense continues to hurt the Cubs!
Let's get back to the rookies and this supposed awesome pitching coach the Cubs have had seemingly forever. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seems that when rookies come in, they seem to start like gangbusters and then start to fall-off the longer they're here. Is that the Cubs pitching coach? That is, the longer he works with these kids, the worse they get? Just for another example, lets look at Jeff Samardzija...he was nearly lights out when he first came up:
2008 - 26 games, 2.28 ERA (debut on 7/25/08)
2009 - 20 games, 7.53 ERA (first game 4/23/09)
2010 - 4 games, 18.90 ERA (first game 4/5/10) but 10-2 for AAA Iowa Cubs
Message to Tom Ricketts:
IT IS TIME TO START OVER!
Lou Piniella is gone (he can go at any time as far as I'm concerned), Larry Rothschild, Jim Hendry and Crane Kenney MUST be next. Feel free to start wielding the ax anytime!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
1995-96 Bulls vs. 2010-11 Heat (part 2)
Corrections
I messed up a few things in my post last night (I guess that's what happens when you're up typing at 1am) so I'll start with those and then finish up some other thoughts I have on this.
Point Guard comparison should be Ron Harper vs. Mike Miller
These guys are the starters as opposed to the guys I compared in last night's post (oops!) who all get added to their team's bench. Even though Steve Kerr actually played more minutes than Ron Harper, Harper was the starter for 80 of 82 games and Kerr never started. This is an interesting match-up as Mike Miller is a pretty decent offensive player although his numbers the last two seasons weren't as good as they were earlier in his career and Ron Harper is a pretty good defensive player. Maybe it is simply a matter of aging but that makes the match-up even more interesting as Ron Harper was also aging by the time the 1995-96 season rolled around. Just strictly looking at the numbers makes them nearly identical - 11.3/10.9 ppg, 4.0/3.9 apg, and 4.1/6.2 rpg (the difference here is probably because Miller plays more SF that Harper). I would argue Harper was a much better defender but Miller is a much better shooter. As I really don't think Miami is going to use Miller much for offense (Harper actually scored a little more than Miller anyway) with The Three Am-EGOS handling the ball 95% of the time, I'm going to call this a wash.
Edge Even
Heat Game Schedule
Since the Heat and Bulls are NOT in the same division, they only face off 3 times instead of the 4 I mentioned yesterday although 2 of the 3 are in the United Center (i.e. tougher road games for Heat). They still play the Bucks 4 times although the Bucks are in the same division as the Bulls. Interestingly, the Bulls are the only Central Division team not to play the Heat four times which does make it a little easier for the Heat overall as they get to play two pretty bad teams in Detroit and decimated Cleveland 4 times each. That means they "only" have to go 16-9 in those tough games I mentioned yesterday but 57-0 in the rest in order outdo the 1995-96 Bulls...I still think they will NOT be able to do it.
Edge Bulls
NBA Expansion
The Bulls also had the advantage of facing a somewhat weaker NBA in 1995-96 as expansion added two teams north of the border in Vancouver (Grizzlies - now in Memphis) and Toronto (Raptors). When teams are added, they do start from scratch, but not totally...there was an expansion draft where the new teams could draft players from other NBA teams. The Raptors picked 14 players while the Grizzlies picked 13 from current NBA teams. It's not like the new teams could pick the top players from the current teams as the teams were allowed to protect a certain number of players, but what an expansion draft tends to do is weaken the benches of all the teams. Ironically, the first player selected in that expansion draft was BJ Armstrong from the Bulls which certainly hurt their depth a bit, but apparently not too much as they went on to decimate the league to the tune of 72-10 during the regular season. With no expansion happening this year, that further hurts the Heat from exceeding that 72-win total as predicted by Jeff Van Gundy.Edge Bulls
====================================================
I meant to also discuss coaching as well as bench comparisons...
Phil Jackson vs. Erik Spoelstra or Pat Riley
This isn't much of a contest, but that's why I want to bring it up...Let's just count rings to start with - Phil has 11, Erik has ZERO (should work well combined with LeBron and Bosh also with ZERO), and Riley has 5 plus both Phil and Riley each won a ring as NBA players as well (Phil - Knicks and Riley - Lakers and they beat each other in the Finals back-to-back years). I'm not sure how long Erik will last as head coach which is why I added Pat Riley to this discussion as most everyone believes he will be coaching this team before the end of the season. So let's just play it Phil vs. Riley...they have faced off against each other in the playoffs on several occasions. Riley's Knicks "beat" Phil's Bulls in 1994 on the infamous phantom foul call on Scottie Pippen that sent Hubert Davis to the foul line in Game 5 of that series. Other than that, Phil has gotten the better of Riley each of the other times they faced each other in the playoffs - 1991 Finals (Bulls beat Lakers 4-1), 1992 EC Second Round (Bulls beat Knicks 4-3), 1993 EC Finals (Bulls beat Knicks 4-2), and 1996 EC First Round (Bulls beat Heat 3-0), 1997 EC Finals (Bulls beat Heat 4-1). That makes Phil 5-1 against Riley in the playoffs. Of course, Riley would LOVE to change that this year by taking over the Heat and keeping Phil from achieving his unbelievable 4th threepeat (more irony...I believe Riley is the one that coined the term threepeat although NONE of his teams have ever achieved it).
Edge Bulls
Bulls Bench vs. Heat Bench
This may be the biggest difference in the two teams. The Bulls bench featured the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year in Toni Kukoc along with several important role players. The Heat bench features Udonis Haslem and whoever isn't starting from my previous post. Kukoc alone is enough to give the Bulls the edge here, but let's talk a bit more on the rest of the bench. The Bulls had defensive players like Randy Brown and John Salley as well as a few other role players that would run through a wall for this team like Jud Buechler and Bill Wennington. But in addition to Kukoc, the Bulls also had sharp-shooting Steve Kerr on the bench. The Heat have Jamaal Magloire who hasn't done much of anything since leaving the Bucks following the 2005-06 season (that's 5 years ago!), Juwan Howard who is on his 9th team and also hasn't done much in 5 years, Carlos Arroyo, Eddie House, and Mario Chalmers who I discussed in yesterday's post. This one just isn't close folks...
Edge Bulls
It's the age old story...wouldn't it be cool to see how this team from this era would fair against this other team in this other era? As much as I'd love to see how these Bulls would stack up against that 1971-72 Lakers team, I'd REALLY love to see how they match-up with this year's Heat! Heck, I can't wait to see how this year's Bulls match-up with this year's Heat! At least I know that match-up IS going to happen (although not until Jan 15th) where the others will most certainly NOT happen without a time machine and I'm still working out the kinks there.
GO BULLS!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)