This is great baseball. Today the Cubs fell behind 5-0 as the Strohs got to Marquis early on cheap runs. Then we came back. It was the bottom of the order that lead the charge back, capped by a D Lee 3 run dinger. The Strohs tie it with a solo in top of next inning. We were tied but losing big mo. Cubs came right back and got the lead. With the bases loaded 1 out Rameriz makes a diving catch on a Carlos Lee line drive. The next guy makes an out and we dodged a huge bullet.
DeRose played right and made 2 really nice catches. One was so high the camera man lost the ball and only showed the sky. There were 2 on and it looked like a big problem until DeR caught it over his shoulder on the track. Sweet. Another time he made a real nice play running toward the line right where the wall comes out to the field. It ain't easy to play right on a windy day and he did a great job.
The bullpen went 5 innings and gave up no runs. I bet even Lou liked that!
Brewers already had won but that doesn't matter the way we are playing. They have not been playing very well and have to be looking over thier shoulder. My Cubbies are playing good ball.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
LaRussa = Jackass
Was Tony LaRussa asleep in the dugout when he sent Aaron Rowand to the plate with the bases loaded? I like Rowand and he is a pretty good center fielder who happens to be awesome at running into stuff, but he's no Pujols. It pains me to say it, but Albert's destruction of Lidge's career in the 2005 NLCS has to rank in the top ten coolest baseball moments that I've watched on TV. At the time, Lights Out Lidge was best closer in the game with the nastiest slider, but since that bomb got dropped on his head, he's Kyle Farnesworth without the ass kicking factor.
This leads me to be even more pissed off about the "Now it counts" rule. The tie game in Milwaukee was consequence of bad luck, but it was the right decision. There were a lot of other ways to avoid it, like adding 2 or 3 pitchers and telling manager to not use pitchers for 1 batter. Now the World Series champion could be determined by Devil Ray Carl Crawford's home run in an exhibition game. Since when do the Devil Rays matter, except to guarantee Yankee and Red Sox 15 wins a year.
I just thought of a better way to determine the 7th game of the World Series. If the series is tied 3-3, I say we take inspiration from the soccer World Cup and solve it with a skills challenge. Take each teams 5 best players and fly them to Las Vegas and see who can hit more dongs off of a pitching machine chucking those dimpled orange balls. At least then it won't be determined by a manager making a point with a player or a Devil Ray, and ESPN would love it because Berman gets to do a few more "Back, Back Back's".
This leads me to be even more pissed off about the "Now it counts" rule. The tie game in Milwaukee was consequence of bad luck, but it was the right decision. There were a lot of other ways to avoid it, like adding 2 or 3 pitchers and telling manager to not use pitchers for 1 batter. Now the World Series champion could be determined by Devil Ray Carl Crawford's home run in an exhibition game. Since when do the Devil Rays matter, except to guarantee Yankee and Red Sox 15 wins a year.
I just thought of a better way to determine the 7th game of the World Series. If the series is tied 3-3, I say we take inspiration from the soccer World Cup and solve it with a skills challenge. Take each teams 5 best players and fly them to Las Vegas and see who can hit more dongs off of a pitching machine chucking those dimpled orange balls. At least then it won't be determined by a manager making a point with a player or a Devil Ray, and ESPN would love it because Berman gets to do a few more "Back, Back Back's".
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Solid Up the Middle
I'll have to admit, I was very skeptical of the Hendry trade of Barrett 3 1/2 weeks ago, but maybe it wasn't just a personality dump. Thanks to stat of the week, I saw these numbers:
Padres Record with Barrett starting: 2-8
Padres Record with Baird starting: 6-1
Cubs Record with Hill starting: 7-3
Cubs Record with Bowen starting: 5-3
There were also numbers about how many more passed balls and wild pitches Mr Barrett allows than the other 3 catchers. I understand that the sample size is small, but these numbers are remarkable. I typically evaluate all field players worth exclusively with offensive production, but it appears that this may be a big mistake with catchers. For example, I was listening to a game against the Nationals in which Hughes mentioned that Cubs catchers were 0 for their last 36! Man, that tells you that Big Z and Marquis are better hitters than these guys, which I guess is a good thing so that they can be on base for our power hitting lead-off hitter.
Padres Record with Barrett starting: 2-8
Padres Record with Baird starting: 6-1
Cubs Record with Hill starting: 7-3
Cubs Record with Bowen starting: 5-3
There were also numbers about how many more passed balls and wild pitches Mr Barrett allows than the other 3 catchers. I understand that the sample size is small, but these numbers are remarkable. I typically evaluate all field players worth exclusively with offensive production, but it appears that this may be a big mistake with catchers. For example, I was listening to a game against the Nationals in which Hughes mentioned that Cubs catchers were 0 for their last 36! Man, that tells you that Big Z and Marquis are better hitters than these guys, which I guess is a good thing so that they can be on base for our power hitting lead-off hitter.
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