2011 Cubs

[CEValkyrie]

Wow. Pujols just batting over .270 with 9 Hr's and 31 rbi, but yet the Cardinals only trail Cleveland and Philadelphia for the best overall record in baseball!  and we know the Indians wont finish the way they have started.

Oh yeah. I think Marmol gave up 6 runs tonight in 1/3 of an inning to blow the win. His most runs ever out of the Cubs bullpen 

I managed to turn the game on just in time since I have Marmol on my fantasy team. Glad Pence was the one to do the damage. It's just bad baseball. I have no idea how you give up a double down the line in the 9th inning.

[Dan Michler]

Its definitely been one of those years.  Anything that can possibly go wrong pretty much has.  Wells, Cashner, Garza on the DL hasn't helped.  On paper our pitching should be pretty solid.  But, obviously that hasn't worked out so far.  Now Byrd and Soriano on the shelf also.  At this point, the entire AAA Iowa club has just about had a crack on the big league team.  You know its bad when Tony Campana has become the only guy fans can root for.  I'm not putting any blame on Quade.  There is nothing he can do.  Our fielding is the worst I've ever seen.

As for 2012:  Figure we've got C Soto, SS Castro, 2B Barney, LF Soriano, CF Byrd.  That leaves RF, 3B, 1B completely open.  I really want a top notch defensive 3B.  Enough is enough with all these errors.  At 1B, hopefully Prince Fielder.  RF you thought would be Colvin's, but it doesn't look that way anymore.  I wonder if Brett Jackson will come up later this year and get a chance to prove himself.

[CEValkyrie]

I actually think these injuries could end up being a great thing for the future of this club. This team wasn't a contender to make a run in the playoffs anyway. We need to find out what we have in the minor leagues and plan for the future. We are decent up the middle of the field. We should just change the landscape and pick up Pujols at 3rd and Fielder at 1st. We need some freaking power in this lineup.

[pdga#7648]

LMAO

with Pujols elbow, you can't have him an everyday 3rd baseman. he is just spot starting at 3rd for the Cards. I think yesterday was his 3rd game there this year.

But yes, count on Fielder being at 1st base!

[airspuds]

http://www.spamfriday.com/the-onion-lead-story-on-april-fools-on-the-cubs-of-course-hahahahaa/

[pdga#7648]

Breaking news: WGN has opted out of the rest of the Cubs season

Good news though fellow Cubs fans, Comedy Central has picked up their contract.

[CEValkyrie]

Breaking news: WGN has opted out of the rest of the Cubs season

Good news though fellow Cubs fans, Comedy Central has picked up their contract.

Yes, the Cubs suck. It's sad it took two 9th inning heroics for STL to take the series this weekend. For all the cheering the Cards had for Pujols this weekend I cannot wait for the crying and jersey burning this fall. Lebron James 2 is coming to STL.

[pdga#7648]

he should not of had any cheers. cause any smart manager doesn't even pitch to him, slump or no slump.

[Dan Michler]

Sure we've lost 8 in a row and dropped to 13 games below .500.  Sure our record is the 3rd worst in baseball.  And I'll admit our defense is worse than some high school teams.  But all that being said, we've gotten hit by the 6th most pitches of NL teams.  Not bad!  Got to focus on the positive.

I love Brett's committment to unsettling Cardinal fans even when they have the best record in baseball.  Milwaukee is only 2 1/2 out, I'd like to see them make a run this year.  They need Greinke/Marcum/Gallardo to deliver in the 2nd half.  The Cardinals can't match up with that trio of starting pitchers.  They can, however, score a ton of runs with Pujols/Holliday/Berkman all swinging the bat.  They may need to deal for a starting pitcher.  The Reds are in the same boat with the incredible offense they have, but not a whole lot of pitching.  The NL Central is shaping up to be a pretty solid race this summer.

2012 is clearly going to be the year for the Cubs   

[Dan Michler]

Anybody see this call last night that cost the Pirates the game in the 19th inning?

http://eye-on-baseball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/30908640

Just some wierd stuff.  If you are the umpire, you had to have at least had a little bit of doubt about whether that glove may have touched the runner.  And if you have any doubt on a play like that where the runner was beaten so badly, you have to call him out.  Just terrible.

I agree with Bob Brenly.  Technology needs to be utilized a lot more in baseball to get these calls right.  It wouldn't be tough or time consuming to have a replay umpire watching the camera footage and giving judgments on scoring plays, similar to college football.  Also, as Brenly constantly points out during Cubs telecasts, we have the technology to get every ball/strike call correct and it wouldn't cost us any additional time.  The argument against it being 'it would take away the charm of the human element' is an extremely weak one.  One day these things will be implemented and we'll look back in amazement that we used to have incorrect calls change the outcome of games BY CHOICE.

[CEValkyrie]

I agree with instant replay.

I have watched that play about 100 times on ESPN this morning. I can't tell if he was out of safe. The ball clearly beat him and the attempt to tag him was made before he was even close to the plate. The ump made a comment that he made the call because he swept the tag and whiffed. Baseball is a crazy game.

[Dan Michler]

Corey Patterson to the Cardinals.  St. Louis fans...enjoy!

[CEValkyrie]

Just saw Santana throw a no no against CLE.


Dan, What do you think about the Cubs bringing in LaRuss if/when the Cards fire him? I'm interested in the fact that he'd bring Duncan with him as the pitching coach.

[Dan Michler]

Just saw Santana throw a no no against CLE.


Dan, What do you think about the Cubs bringing in LaRuss if/when the Cards fire him? I'm interested in the fact that he'd bring Duncan with him as the pitching coach.

Is that like the 25th no-hitter in the last 2 seasons?

I know you love LaRussa man, and I can't deny that he's won wherever he's been, but I would have a hard time getting onboard with him being the Cubs manager.  I just don't like the guy personally.  And I don't think a new pitching coach could do 1% of what a decent defense could do to help this pitching staff.  The Cubs have the same problem as the Bears.  They have no one who can catch the damn ball.

[pdga#7648]

Just saw Santana throw a no no against CLE.


Dan, What do you think about the Cubs bringing in LaRuss if/when the Cards fire him? I'm interested in the fact that he'd bring Duncan with him as the pitching coach.

what is in the water you are drinking Brett? why would the Cards fire him?

and like Dan said, the best pitching coach can't help the Cubs!

[Dan Michler]

Fukudome to the Indians.  So long Kosuke!

[CEValkyrie]

Fukudome to the Indians.  So long Kosuke!

Sweet!

[Dan Michler]

Any time you have the opportunity to pay an outfielder $47.25M to play 3 1/2 seasons and hit .262 with 37 HR and 169 RBI, you've got to do it right?  At least we get 2 mediocre prospects and save on $750K of his salary.  What a deal....

[CEValkyrie]

And Hendry still has a job.

The good thing is we get to find out how good or bad Colvin is the rest of the season. He should be thrown out there every day for the rest of the season.

[CEValkyrie]

Dan, what is the largest lead in a divisional race to be blown? I thought this central division race was over until STL came in and swept.

I'm not saying it's going to happen but I looked at the Crew's upcoming schedule. They are not good on the road and they play in STL for 3 more. 6 games on the road then they get the Phillies for 4. These next 10 games should be interesting for the NL race.

The Cubs have 3 in late Sept @ Wrigley w/the Crew.
The next series they are @ STL for 3.

We were gone when the Hendry announcement was made. That took way to long to get rid of this guy.