Web Log of a lifetime Chicago Sports Fan minus the Sox
and Hawks. Sorry..
But I love the Cubs and all things cub related and like to think I have a way with the written word. Okay, that sounded cheesy. I'll stop now.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Need another team meeting?
After Brenley "ranting" about the Cubs having more patience at the plate, they absolutely Mailed in today's game vs. the DBacks. I'm not sure which Cubs batter saw the most pitches, but clearly they did not see enough. I know that Walk's been struggling but he seems to be such a catalyst at the top of ther order, not just because he's a professional hitter, but because he takes pitches. Ronny Cedeno should not be the #2 hitter. If you're gonna give Walk the day off, Bat Neifi 2. Either way, they HAVE TO TAKE MORE PITCHES.
In other news, Left Field has become a Bismal for this team. They have got to do something to upgrade there if they seriously think they're going to contend for the Wild Card. Why hasn't the Kearns deal happened yet? How much would the Sox demand for Manny?? Could we get any use out of Jose Cruz Jr. who just got sent down by the DBacks, or could they pry Jose Guillen away from the Nats?
Whew...what a series. I'm exhausted and I didn't even play in the last two games! Okay, didn't play in the first one either, but you get the drift. I feel bad for these guys having to go another week without a day off. I know we should probably all be in a good mood, but even though we won the series, we could have just as easily swept it, OR BEEN SWEPT. Honestly, who of you didn't think it was over after the Cards tied it up in the Bottom of the 9th? I know I did. And after Barret struck out with the Bases loaded, I had ZERO faith in Neifi. Not that I'm a Neifi hater, but I had run out of faith at that point.
A couple questions- why isn't DLee getting the love from the National press? Why is he just an MVP contender and not the frontrunner? Anyone else get the sinking suspicion that they'll give it to Poo-Holes just because Bonds beat him for it the last 3 years? And then last night I heard them adding another "Contender" to the list. Can't remember who it was, but I was pissed.
So, its back home to face Schmidt who owned the Cubs last year, but allegedly he's having an off year so we'll go with that. Still would like to hear your opinion on the Polls. #1- What should the Cubs do next? #2- Who should they fire first?
Having the Klown down at Iowa, I need to have someone else's name started with K's. Our man Z is doing exactly what we needed tonight, now if Todd Walker could get the ball in the air, we'd have a one run lead, and Dlee would have come to the plate with a runner at 2nd. Question, why not have Hairston try to take 2nd on that Single up the middle? then if the Cards try to throw him out, Z can go home, or at best, no DP situation. Or, since walker had already shown a tendancy towards ground balls against this pitcher, why not have hairston running??
I like everything I'm hearing about this Kearns deal. Any news from Peter Gammons on this? Regardless of wether or not we're Buyers or Sellers (see poll), hendry NEEDS to make a deal that will make this team better for more than just a year or be fired! (See other poll). I'd love to keep Walker but I think we could do with Hairston at 2nd if we can land a Juan Pierre type of CF, then we're young all around, especially if we have Kearns and Murton. Well, back to the game.
Final thought: Do the Cardinals just take Asshole Pills before every game or do they make sure that they only sign Assholes. I am sure they are all great guys, and I never see anything bad said or written about them, ever, but they all seem like Assholes to me. Maybe I jut don't like Red
Hear that?? That's the sound of the Cubs season's last couple of Gasps. No amount of medication or Alcohol could get me excited about the upcoming Cardinal series and I have a sinking suspicion that nothing good can ever come of it. They might want to Rest all their Starters plus Dlee and Aram just for percautionary measures. But after the performances of the last two nights, I think we can safely declare this team a playoff "Pretender".
SO I've read a couple postings about what to do next and the action I can get behind is Getting rid of everyone except: PRior, Z, Dlee, and ARAm. I think you could make a good argument that Barret could be included in that bunch, but I for one would be fine with that. THink of the YOUNG talent we could fetch for a Todd Walker, or even a Greg Maddux at the Deadline. SO I've kept the old Poll up.
The more I think about it, the more I see teams like Oakland and Atlanta constanly be able to reload and reload, and the way the White Sox were able to make such "Smart" moves. (that last statement pains me) I think Hendry should be, and might already be on the Hot Seat. The Failure of the Patterson project, as documented by The Cub Reporter, shows a systemic failure that may have tainted more than just a few of our highly talented position players. But I think we can build around this team:
Prior Zambrano Mitre
Barret Ramirez Lee Cedeno Murton, but the question remains, does the Trib.Co care that much to make a Grand Overhaul, or will we stay constantly bombarded by failure and excuses, as has become the norm this year.
Okay, I know i'm not usually one to be hopefull, optimistic, or whatever, and I'm sure this will just go down as plain crazy but--- The Red Sox now need a 2nd basemen. The cubs have two of them. The Red Sox are always looking for starting pitching, the cubs have an extra one of those and the cubs NEED a centerfielder/leadoff hitter. So, here it is.
Red Sox Get: KKKKPat Sergio Mitre Jerry Hairston Cubs get: Johnny Damon+ a middle reliever, dunno who
The cubs have done business with the Sox before and this will also give the cubs the inside track on signing Damon in the offseason.
Let me know your thoughts other than: You're crazy
Did you See my man Farnsy throw down?? It looked completely unprovoked and everything, its like he wanted to let Paul Wilson and the Reds along with the Royals that '03 was no fluke!! Man I miss that guy. Does anyone think that Mitre should be sent back down? Not because he doesn't deserve to be up in the Bigs, but 12 pitchers is too many. He's not getting the work he needs, and to that point, nobody is really getting as much work as they need. You've got Rusch as your Long Reliever and then two matchup lefties, and two matchup righties. I just don't think Mitre is cut out for the bullpen. He does so well as a starter, i'd rather see him called up for spot starts but still be starting in Iowa to stay sharp. Then, maybe we could see Pie (and other teams could too for that matter)
So, the Cubs SHOULD sweep this series, but we all know what happens when we say that. Look for Aramis and D-Lee to have a big series in that tiny ballpark as long as they don't overswing because of the Ballpark.
Whoever had the idea of going after J. Pierre has it right, in fact, I think I wrote that 2 months ago, but Bargain Basement Hendry might not have the Gumption to do so. Here's the deal though, the cubs problem when they lose is usually offlense. If Hendry hasn't noticed that then well, whatever. They have GOT to get another outfield bat and a stereo-typical leadoff hitter would be even better. I love Hairston's energy but not sure if he's the leadoff hitter to make a playoff push. He could definitely be used as part of a package deal because Walk is doing just fine at 2nd. Anyways, that's it for now, still looking for Hendry to make a big move on the Who should be fired poll. But hey, if the trib. co. keeps wanting to pay him to squander 100million, who am I to object, right??
Never visit Miami in July, also, never visit miami in June or August! I say this just because it does look hot today at wrigeley and I wouldn't be out there unless I were paid millions of dollars. good game so far. I will now eat my words wherein i declared that Lee was "cooling off". It was a silly comment made in the heat of the moment of a bad loss. I'm hoping that excuse works for me even though I DON"T make millions of dollars. Now I'll pick on Hairston. Great first at bat, made wells work, but in his second at bat, he watched two fastballs go STRAIGHT down the middle. Is he getting too "pull happy"? Thats the only thing I can think of cause everything he did swing at was inside and he pulled them well into the stands. Its just a theory and hopefully my writing about it will Reverse-Jinx him back into hitting.
BTW, two polls still up. One will last only the next 6 innings. "HOW LONG WILL THE LOSING STREAK LAST"? and if anyone should be fired, "WHO SHOULD BE FIRED FIRST" Right now Dusty is leading that one, but if Hendry keeps shopping for free agents at the Tommy John clinic and Biglots, I think he might make a move on Dusty.
So, visiting the folks shouldn't usually involve a movie such as this, but dad wanted to see it so whatever. The movie starts out with Guns a blazin'!! Some absolutely histerical moments and the movie really never lets up. An akward cameo at the end and the fact that they tried to turn it into a chick flick are the only drawbacks, but overall, I give it two White Flags!
Hot Girls and Nudity are always a plus in my book and this had both. (Vince Vaughn's Girlfriend is absolutely flaming!)
I'd love to hear your comments, or if you just want to make fun of me for seeing the movie with my folks, that's cool too!
Having returned from Wedding Crashers (review to follow) to my TiVo'd Cubs game, btw, tivo is the best way to watch a cubs game, especially a maddux game where the mistakes are HR's and there are no walks. But once again, the Cub's bats are silenced by a virtual unknown. The 6th Inning summed it up. Lee and Ramirez both come up with runners on the Corners and less than 2 outs and neither could get the ball in the air to score just one run.
Now, after everything MVLee has done this year, I'm not about to start bagging on him, but it looks as if he's cooling off just a bit. he completely guessed wrong that entire at bat. I know those knee high fastballs are low, but hey if the ump calls one, you probably shouldn't watch another go by you.
So, the new POLL QUESTION is attatched, how long will this losing streak last??? Will they just drop 5 straight and nullify the latest winning streak, or will they rebound and take this series?? I guess we'll just wait and see tomorrow. Or I can just look up the opposing pitcher, and if I've heard of him, EVEN IF HE"S GOOD, the cubs have a Chance, if he's a nobody, prepare for another dozen or so Double Plays by the Bucos!
So after taking some much needed rest and swinging by Wrigley for thursdays efficient Put-Away by prior, I'm back with some thoughts. How long will this win streak last, and most importantly, when it ends, how long will the ensuing losing streak last. This team has the talent to never lose (except against the cardinals) but this Jekyl and Hyde offense is about as frustrating as anything. My only hope is that the difference between this winning streak is that the 1-2 hitters are producing and they're getting on for the big boppers. or to put it another way, the difference is that KKK Pat is no longer with the team so they're no longer over-swinging to over compensate. Plus, I love the bottom of the order. perez is like a leadoff hitter "lite" and gets things going so the lineup can turn itself over. So here's to a hopefull sweep of the Bucos! and bring on the Red Birds
I've taken a week's worth of losing pretty hard. And I'm running out of people to blame. Check out the Poll on my site and vote on who you think the cubs should fire first. I'm torn on this because I can see reasons to fire them all right now. And KK Pat was going to be on the Poll but now he's been sent down which to me means that no one, not even the Mets were stupid enough to trade for him. I'm just pissed as hell. There is no reason that this team w/ 4 aces and a triple crown candidate should be so far under .500. They are wasting time trying to field a Mediocre team around their OverRated rotation and you end up with an overrated, underperforming team. Congratulations! So I ask again, who should be fired first???
So, I'm pissed off about yesterday's game. Cmon, coming back twice only to throw a double play ball away, but at least the top of the lineup wasn't as futile as 8-9 hitters usually are.
Since Dusty has clearly lost his mind when it comes to the Center Fielder who shall remain nameless, why not try one of our two 2nd basemen in left where clearly we have a need. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't both of them play in the outfield during spring break?? and wasn't it because we had two good 2nd basemen and wanted to get them both in the lineup? and didn't Jerry Jr. play a corner OF position last year?? How come dusty has yet to notice that every time Jerry Jr. plays, he does well. Yesterday was a great example, but even when he comes in as a PH, he has a quality AB and hs had a couple of key hits.
In other News poor DLee will not have any more RBI's the rest of the year, unless he keeps hitting solo shots. Does dusty understand what the word RUN PRODUCER means??
I'm sick of it, so i'm going back to watching this lineup flounder due to nobody's fault except for the Stubborness of the Front office and the Manager.
