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Wednesday Morning Headlines
2008-09-24 15:45:00
Run Johan run! Even the reporters don't care Cubs not real worried about Mets The only question remaining for the Cubs over the final five regular-season games is how manager Lou Piniella will slot his starters for the first round of the postseason. No matter which way Piniella goes, it's bound to generate some controversy. "I think we all just want the ball," left-hander Ted Lilly said. "I haven't asked the other guys what they feel about where they're slotted, but everyone wants a chance to hit and pitch and be involved some way." After the Cubs lost 6-2 Tuesday night to New York at Shea Stadium, leaving the Mets 11/2 games behind division-leading Philadelphia and one game ahead of Milwaukee in the wild-card race, the focus shifted to enigmatic right-hander Carlos Zambrano, who makes his final regular-season start Wednesday . of Course everyone wants to talk about Zambrano Z Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano, honored Tuesday as the National League Latino MVP Pitcher of 2007, was pr...
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Tuesday Night Game Thread: Cubs @ Mets 6:10 CT/7:10 ET
2008-09-23 23:30:00
"No pen! I'm done with the pen. I dunno. . . you think maybe the guy in the third row? Looks like he coulda been an athlete. . . Is it time for the playoffs yet? Let's see. Clinch division title? Check. Secure home field advantage throughout the NL playoffs? Check. Injure Carlos Beltran? Check. Make Mets ' bullpen look stupid? Check. Send Mets fans running despondently towards ledges? Check. Um. . . how come we're playing tonight again? Sean Marhsall versus (gulp) Johan Santana. It's David versus Goliath. Jerry versus Tom! Daffy versus Bugs! Let's hope Pie does something spectacular that warrants being included on the post-season roster. Lineups to come.
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Tuesday Morning Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-23 14:03:00
Hey, we won! And not only was Marquis not completely useless, he was kinda helpful. Oh, and we clinched homefield advantage Marquis, who once again will be the odd man out in a playoff rotation, was a one-man demolition crew Monday night in the opener of a four-game series at Shea Stadium, the Cubs' last before the orange-and-blue monstrosity will be destroyed. He smashed a grand slam during a six-run fourth inning that sent him to his 11th win and the Cubs to a 9-5 victory, assuring the Lou Crew of home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs. "It's a step," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "It's an important step. You can see that home field has been very important all year." And aaaaaahhhhh, sweet, sweet karma (not irony, Alanis. See the difference?) The Mets, in danger of a second straight late-season collapse, dropped 21/2 games behind Philadelphia in the NL East and had their wild-card lead reduced to one game over Milwaukee. They have ace Johan Santana set ...
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Monday Night Game Thread: Cubs @ Mets 6:05 CT/7:05 ET
2008-09-22 23:12:00
Okay then Is anyone else as bored with this last week as I am? I just . . don't. . . care. I want, nay, I NEED, a break from caring. Apparently, though, we're supposed to care, because these last few games still affect who we play. Here are the current wild card standings as of right now: Mets    - 0 Brewers - 1.5 Astros  - 4.0 And the whole thing shakes out like this: We play the DBacks (Ach--I don't want them)if they win the West and Milwaukee wins the WC. We play the Dodgers if THEY win the West and Milwaukee wins the WC We play the Phils if they win the WC. We play the Metsies if they win the WC. So I know we've been discussing this all weekend, but I thought I'd put it all together in one place. I don't care who we play, as long as it's not the Mets, Phils, DBags or Dodgers. Tonight it's Jason Marquis againt some kid named Jonathan Niese. Meh. Whatever. Lineups and (maybe) chat to come.
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Monday Morning Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-22 13:29:00
From the Sun-Times: Cubs not putting crappy team out there every day. The lineup will look different tonight when the Cubs open a four-game series in New York. ''We're going to play a regular lineup,'' Piniella said. ''We'll have to play as representative a team as we can. I can't let all these [regular] guys sit.'' Piniella understands the integrity issue involving the playoff races, but he has other reasons for spacing out rest for his players. Decisions have yet to be made about the playoff roster, and the starting rotation carries questions of a different sort -- such as, will Carlos Zambrano or Dempster be the Game 1 pitcher? ''I'm not making any comment as to what our rotation will be,'' Piniella said flatly. What is certain is that the starters will be shortened in each of their last regular-season turns. Dempster threw only 67 pitches Sunday, with his next start scheduled for Friday in Milwaukee. From the Trib: Phil tells us what we already know. The Cubs mi...
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Sunday Morning Headlines/Game Thread Cards @ Cubs 1:20 CT/2:20 ET
2008-09-21 12:31:00
Cubs win From the Daily Herald: It felt good to a Cubs team that won last year's Central title after digging a huge hole for itself early in the season before furiously rallying to win the division on the final Friday of the season, only to go three-and-out to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the division series. This year, the Cubs got out in front early and stayed there. The clinching victory was No. 93 against 60 losses. "You know what I like about this year's team?" asked manager Lou Piniella after enduring numerous champagne showers. "We played ahead all year. You've got to learn to play ahead. It's not easy. And the second thing is our September schedule was a playoff schedule. You're not going to find a rougher schedule than we've been through this September. That's a tough finishing schedule. "It wasn't easy. That's why I've been preaching caution all along." ... "We're enjoying it," said Lilly, who reached 16 victories for the first time in his career. "We're celebr...
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2008 NL Central Champion Chicago Cubs
2008-09-21 00:18:00
We did it. Use this diary for celebrating, posting photos, play-by-play coverage of the locker room celebration, and discussion of why Ronny Cedeno, Jim Edmonds, and Jason Marquis should NOT be on the post-season roster.
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Cubs vs. Cardinals Game Thread: 3:55 ET 2:55 CT
2008-09-20 21:16:00
Today could be the day.  The Brewers lost last night, so the Magic Number is at 1.  All that stands between the Cubs and the playoffs is Joel Piniero and the Cardinals . As Umbra said yesterday, the last time the Cubs had back-to-back postseason appearances was 1907 and 1908.   We're watching history happen here, folks.  Let's put yesterday's game out of our minds.  It doesn't matter.  Today could be the day. And if we lose again, well, you can always comfort yourself with a whole bunch of booze. Today's game is on Fox.  Or maybe not.  You may also get to see Brewers/Reds or Twins/Rays.  And you can also watch Game day cartoons.
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Saturday Morning Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-20 10:00:00
Zambrano throws yes-hitter From the Trib: Cubs manager Lou Piniella had to walk a fine line Friday. On one hand, he expressed sympathy to starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano, whose grandmother died this week, forcing Zambrano to make a quick trip to Venezuela on Wednesday. He returned Thursday. On the other hand, Piniella wasn't pleased with Zambrano's comportment as he tried to remove Zambrano from the game after just 1 innings on the way to a 12-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field. As Piniella neared the mound, Zambrano began to walk off, a no-no in Piniella's and most managers' worlds. "It's not the easiest thing in the world," Piniella said of Zambrano's situation. "I didn't get him in trouble out there. All I expect when I take a pitcher out of a ballgame is wait and stay on the mound, give me the baseball. No more and no less." So Z, what have you to say for yourself? For his part, Zambrano was making his first start since no-hitting the Astros on Sunday ni...
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Game Thread: Cardinals @ Cubs: 1:20 P.M. CT/ 2:20 P.M. ET: Team of Destiny
2008-09-19 18:00:00
With a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and a Cincinnati victory over the Brewers this evening, the Chicago Cubs could win the division in back-to-back years for the first time in...well, ever.  It hasn't happened to the Cubs since baseball went to the division system in 1969.  Before this, the Cubs didn't win back-to-back pennants since winning it three times in a row in 1906, 1907, and 1908. That's a long time to not be very good at baseball.  So for your convenience, I've created a list of things that happened between 1906 and 1908: Things you didn't Know Happened from 1906 to 1908 1.  Albert Einstein develops the theory of relativity, writes it on a napkin.  It takes two years to make out all the smudges. 2.  President Theodore Roosevelt develops the 'Roosevelt Corollary' that says that only America can invade South American countries without provocation.  So shove it, Europe! 3.  Henry Ford releases the Model T.  It runs o...
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Friday Morning Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-19 12:46:00
Chicago Cubs: Great team, or the greatest team? From the Daily Herald: Wrigley Field, a place that had just been partying like it was 1999, suddenly was nearly void of noise. Out of the dugout popped Cubs manager Lou Piniella for a quick chat. "Lou went out there and asked Kerry what he wanted to do," Soto said. Their conversation went something like this: "I'll get three strikeouts," Wood told his skipper. "No, just get three groundballs," Piniella said. End of discussion. And three batters later, it was end of threat. And a few minutes after that it was end of game as Derrek Lee drove in pinch runner Jason Marquis with a single to center to cap a crazy day that saw the Cubs' magic number to capture the NL Central crown reduced to 2, courtesy of their 7-6 win. "The beauty of baseball is you never know what's going to happen until that final out," Piniella said. "It was a heck of a ballgame, and I can say that because we won. "It's uplifting to us and it's deflating to the oth...
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Game Thread; Brewers at Cubs, 2:20 p.m. EDT/1:20 CT: Sex Jokes
2008-09-18 18:30:00
The key to cutting the magic number in half is that-a-way. Harden. Bush. Too easy. Yes, I'm 8 years old. Insert (heh) your best joke below. Innuendos aside, Rich (or "the butt all the ladies and gd/carl swoon over) is making his second start since the whole discomfort thing. Against St. Louis a week ago, he gave up two runs and five hits in six innings, acknowledging his velocity was down but also saying people shouldn't put emphasis on that, as long as he's changing speeds. Hey, however you get it done. The Brewers have Bush (Revenge of the Nerds reference), who is starting on just three days rest. He's winless against the Cubs in two starts this year, getting rocked to a total of 13 combined runs. And the Brewers used 38 pitchers out of the bullpen last night, so here's hoping the Cubs get on the big green scoreboard early and often. Today's game is unfortunately on Comcast. But those who are watching in Chi-city will fill everyone in, or the cartoons on Game day will also sh...
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Thursday Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-18 12:22:00
Cubs don't want to clinch at home From the Daily Herald: Marquis, who was coming off 3 quality starts in a row, hadn't pitched since Sept. 6, and it looked like it took him awhile to get fully with the program. So did the long layoff hurt Marquis? "I knew you were going to ask that," Piniella said to a reporter. "Look, I don't know if it did or not. But the 2 walks didn't help." Piniella was talking about back-to-back walks in the first inning that preceded a 3-run double by Prince Fielder. Marquis and Piniella more or less peacefully coexist, and that's about it. When it comes time to skip somebody in the rotation for something other than health reasons, No. 5 starter Marquis usually is the guy. "Like I say, any starter will tell you they like the routine of getting the ball every five days," Marquis said. "Sometimes outside circumstances don't allow it. You've got to deal with it. You've got to find a way to still go out there and make pitches. "It took me a few hitters t...
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Game Thread; Brewers at Cubs, 8:05 p.m. EDT/7:05 CT: Ain't We Lucky We Got
2008-09-18 00:00:00
Pretty good time to be a Cubs fan right now. Rather than wonder when the other shoe will drop, once again I'm choosing to enjoy all this. I mean, magic number is four, the Brewers are self-imploding, Captain Cheese lost again to the Cubs last night, Veggie Burger Prince got caught looking on one of the sickest pitches I've seen this season, Z THREW A NO-HITTER, Tru Blood is awesome, House is back and the Black Keys concert is less than a month away? Yep, no complaints here. Hell, I don't even have anything bad to say about tonight's starter, Jason Marquis. He's won four of his last five decisions. Not bad for a No. 5 guy. Marquis goes up against Ben Sheets, whose time is dwindling for the Brewers. Same could be said about Milwaukee. Game is on WCIU, or for the rest of us, ESPN! Rock! Lineups a'comin.  
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Wednesday Morning Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-17 12:29:00
Cubs get to CC, hold on late From the Daily Herald: The Cubs hit Sabathia hard early, handing the Milwaukee ace his first National League loss after 9 wins. "I think we have to feel very special because everybody knows who CC is and what he has done in the National League," Alfonso Soriano said. The Cubs scored once in the first on doubles by Soriano and Derrek Lee. It became 3-0 in the third on singles by Ryan Theriot and Lee, followed by Aramis Ramirez's line 2-run double into the left-field corner. Soriano's line drive home run to left in the seventh off Sabathia made it 4-2, and the Cubs got a big insurance run in the eighth on pinch hitter Henry Blanco's RBI single. Prince Fielder hit 2 home runs for the Brewers but struck out looking at a wicked Kerry Wood slider in the ninth inning with the tying run at third. "I don't think anybody could have hit that pitch, not after four (fastballs) at 97," Lee said. "I think I kind of got away with one there," Wood said. "It looked l...
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Tuesday Night Game Thread: Brewers @ Cubs 7:05 CT/8:05 ET
2008-09-16 23:54:00
I'm sending good thoughts of more home runs to Lee Wow things have changed in the last week.  This time last Tuesday Cubs fans were in a collective freefall, mostly because the team was in a collective freefall.  And only the less than mediocre playing of the Brewers seemed to stand in the way of the greatest meltdown in baseball history. Of course a few days off, followed by 18 innings of 1 hit baseball and you can actually feel the confidence rising.  But before we all get all high and mighty acting like we're entitled to this (which we are, but I don't really feel like becoming a Yankees fan) there are still 13 (maybe 14) games to get through, no off days and the division title is still 6 magical numbers away. Tonight starts what was supposed to be a tough stretch to end the season.  Milwaukee is in town for a 3 game series.  Yost is gone so the Cubs might have to win this one straight up, and with CC Sabathia pitching that's not easy. In fact the Br...
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Tuesday Morning Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-16 09:29:00
Ted: We love you. Ronny: It's not your fault Flirtatious Ted gives no-no a whirl In the end, he decided it wasn't for him. From the Daily Herald: Lilly joked Sunday about the tough act he had to follow, and for a while it looked like his stuff was good enough for the Cubs to make it two no-hitters in two days. As it was, the Cubs set a major-league record. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 1 hit is the fewest allowed by one team over two games in baseball history. Lilly admitted to thinking about the no-hitter. "About in the sixth," he said. "I knew even at that point there was a lot of work to do. It doesn't get any easier the closer you get. I had fun out there. I made pitches. Guys made some great plays and made it interesting." Of greatest interest to the Cubs was the job they did in this makeup series, which became necessary because Hurricane Ike blew through Houston over the weekend. The Cubs improved to 90-58, putting them at 90 for the first time since the 1998 c...
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Monday Game Thread: Cubs @ Milwaukee Astros 1:05 CT/2:05 ET
2008-09-15 18:41:00
Okay, let's see (drums fingers, looks around) game thread . . . game thread. . . game thread. . . Oh hey, did you guys hear that Z threw a no-hitter last night? Yeah, it was pretty sweet. Lineups: 1. A Soriano, LF .290 2. M Fontenot, 2B .298 3. D Lee, 1B .292 4. A Ramirez, 3B .279 5. M Hoffpauir, RF .333 6. G Soto, C .288 7. J Edmonds, CF .254 8. R Cedeno, SS .286 9. T Lilly, P .164 1. R Abercrombie, CF .319 2. M Loretta, 2B .275 3. M Tejada, SS .286   4. L Berkman, 1B .326   5. H Pence, RF .272 6. J Castillo, 3B .292 7. D Erstad, LF .282 8. H Quintero, C .224 9. B Moehler, P .024 As the poor, down-trodden Astros are still being forced by the very unfair MLB to play in Milwaukee , which is not only far away from their homes but north of the mason-dixon line, of all things, they'll probably get no-hit by Lilly today. Que sera sera. Since a lot of people have trouble keeping up with the chat at work, we'll probably just do a regular game thread.
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Monday Morning Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-15 10:19:00
Well done, Big Z Move over, Milt Pappas Cecil Cooper, you can suck it. You have only Drayton McLane to blame. From the Daily Herald: Zambrano pitched the first no-hitter for the Chicago Cubs in 36 years, returning from a sore rotator cuff to shut down the Houston Astros 5-0 Sunday night in a game relocated because of Hurricane Ike. "I guess I'm back!" Zambrano woofed. Pitching for the first time since Sept. 2, and cheered on by thousands of Cubs fans, Zambrano stopped a Houston team that had not played since Thursday. The storm forced baseball to move two games from Texas to Miller Park and the weary Astros arrived only hours before the first pitch. The Cubs, meanwhile, faced a short bus ride. Plenty of their faithful followed them up I-94, once again turning the Brewers' ballpark into "Wrigley North." This was baseball's first neutral-site no-hitter, the Elias Sports Bureau said. "It was a long travel day and Hurricane Ike," Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. "That's what I put...
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Sunday Night Game Thread: Cubs @ Milwaukee Astros 7:05 CT/8:05 ET
2008-09-14 23:19:00
Back On Track Thank God we finally have some baseball again. (We're not going to talk about the Bears game---Matt, I'm looking at you---because it's only going to make me mad). According to cubs.com, this game is on WGN and features Zambrano and his reincarnated arm against Randy Wolf and his horrible red goatee. Lineups and chat to come.
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Sunday Morning Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-14 12:11:00
Wrigley North Play Ball! From the Daily Herald: Look for right-hander Carlos Zambrano, who hasn't pitched since taking himself out of a game Sept. 2 because of shoulder pain, to start for the Cubs tonight. Jason Marquis is the likely starter for Monday. The Astros will be the home team for both games, and the Brewers say tickets will range from $25 to $60. They urge fans to go online at brewers.com and use the "print at home" option to avoid long lines. The Brewers said seating will be in the field and loge levels only. The Astros had been hopeful of getting one or two games in this weekend or today and Monday at Minute Maid Park, and they seemed adamant in their opposition to playing at Miller Park, which is about 90 miles from Chicago. But no other options emerged. The Cubs did not want to travel through bad weather to get to Houston. Other options mentioned since last week were St. Louis, Atlanta and Tampa Bay. Hendry diplomatic From the Trib: The Cubs waited all day to get a...
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Saturday Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-13 14:05:00
Break good or bad for Cubs? From the Trib: "Now we're looking at bringing a pitcher back on his fourth day instead of the fifth day, so it probably will cause us some problems," Piniella said. "Our preference would have been to play, believe me, and Houston is hotter than a pistol. But we wanted to keep playing." Because the Astros insist on doing everything possible to play at Minute Maid Park instead of a neutral site, that won't be possible. The Cubs took their unscheduled day off Friday and are set to return Saturday for an afternoon workout at Wrigley Field. ... The games will be played sooner or later, but what effect will they have on the Cubs? "I can tell you three or four games after we come back and play," Alfonso Soriano said. "A lot of guys are tired, but at the same time we can lose our rhythm. So it's probably 50-50. Sometimes we take one day off and we're not the same the next day." In any case, the Cubs are eager to get back to work. "It'll be nice to run aroun...
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Post-pwnd Game Thread: Chicago Cubs @ Houston Astros, TBD
2008-09-12 18:00:00
So there was supposed to be a game today between the Jason-Marquis-led Chicago Cubs, and the Houston Astros.  Unfortunately, the game has been postponed due to horrible weather- Hurricane Ike is expected to make landfall sometime tonight or Saturday morning. So I'm turning this into an off-base diary. In Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire, Hurricanes Hardly ever Happen First Base A perhaps new-ish version of Will It Blend? Second Base This man deserves a high-five from all of us! Now, I don't want to say I'm personally biased in favor of Mike Fontenot because he and I are approximately the same height, because that would be a lie.  I'm personally biased in favor of Mike Fontenot because I made a sign for him that I forgot to bring to the game, so I feel guilty. But Mike Fontenot deserves some recognition for how well he has played. He has a higher VORP than Kosuke Fukudome, even though he has less than half the plate appearances.  He has a higher OPS than anyon...
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Friday Morning Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-12 12:34:00
Cubs begin new series winning streak From the Daily Herald: The Cubs' 3-2 victory Thursday night over the Cardinals gave the Cubs two out of three in this series, putting them 5 games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central. Once again, the Cubs (88-58) excelled in two of three aspects of the game, pitching and defense, while the hitting struggled. The Cubs got a quality start from Rich Harden (5-1), who worked 6 innings after having not pitched since Aug. 29. Kerry Wood ended the game by getting the dangerous Albert Pujols to pop out. Wood stranded two and earned his 30th save in the process. The Cubs also got big catches from Alfonso Soriano in left field and defensive replacement Kosuke Fukudome in right, who robbed Felipe Lopez at the wall in the eighth. "What an exciting finish to a baseball game," Piniella said. "I've said all along, when we pitch well, we play good defense and timely hitting. The only thing that's been missing here of late has been t...
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Game Thread; Cubs at Cardinals, 8:15 p.m. EDT/7:15 CT: Two in a Row?
2008-09-12 00:15:00
Hadn't seen you in a while. How have things been? Is it possible? Putting together back-to-back wins? It's asking for a lot, I know, but crazier things have happened. As seen above, tonight marks the return of Rich Harden (or, for the girls/GD/carl, An ass accompanied by Rich Harden). This is his first start since August 29, and his "discomfort." Hopefully all is well. Cards counter with former Cub/current dummy Todd Wellemeyer. Of course, this game isn't what is on everyone's mind. After the jump, what everybody is worried about. Should be an interesting weekend.
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Thursday Morning Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-11 12:44:00
Lilly kicks ass, takes names From the Daily Herald: Lilly pitched 8 innings of 1-run ball before giving way to Kerry Wood, who made things interesting by giving up a 2-run homer to Ryan Ludwick and getting his 29th save. Not only did Lilly seemed to get stronger as the night went on, he seemed to energize himself in the second inning when he crashed into Cards catcher Yadier Molina while trying to score from third base on a grounder. Lilly was out, but eventually, so was Molina, who had to leave the game in the fifth because of a bruised left thigh. On top of it all, Lilly claims not to have known about Piniella's comments of the previous night. "He might be over 100, but he's still got a lot of fire in him," Lilly said when informed. Piniella laughed when informed of Lilly's "compliment." During his own postgame session, Piniella heaped praise on his pitcher, who improved to 14-9. "Lilly's stolen bases this year," said Piniella, whose Cubs improved to 87-58 and stayed 4 games ...
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Game Thread; Cubs at Cardinals. 8:15 p.m. EDT/7:15 CT: I'm Sailllllllling A
2008-09-11 00:15:00
"But you've got to get your damn shirts rolled up and go out and kick somebody's ass! That's what you've got to do! Period!" So go do it already. Quit talking, start producing. All this is getting kind of ridiculous, don't you think? It's also a little warming/disheartening/funny/sad that as the Cubs have lost eight of their last nine, during that same span their magic number has dropped eight games. Lilly/Looper tonight. Game 's on Comcast (thankfully?)
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Wednesday Morning Headlines/Open Thread
2008-09-10 15:26:00
"You can't do this to me" Lou's had alls he can takes and he can't takes no more From the Daily Herald: "We're playing like we're waiting to get beat," Piniella said as he stood behind his office desk, his voice rising. "You don't have enough big of a lead in September to play ball like that. Teams that play baseball like that invariably get caught no matter how big their lead. You've got to stay aggressive. You've got to do the things that you've done all year. "We're not executing. We're making mistakes, and we're getting beat. And I'm getting tired of watching it, to be quite honest with you. That's not the way we played all year to get to where we are now. And I know we're trying. But truthfully, trying isn't good enough." But for the good part, we'll go to the Sun-Times, since they print swear words: ''We had many chances today again and we had many chances Sunday against Cincinnati, and it's the same result!'' he said. ''If we had played ball like thi...
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Tuesday Night Game Thread: Cubs @ Cards 7:15 CT/8:15 ET WGN
2008-09-09 22:36:00
Time for some tough love. Listen up, jerks. This little show you guys are putting on where you try to make the stretch run interesting and exciting is bullsh*t. It's not interesting. It's not exciting. It's not fun. We're all sick of it and we're sick of you. Specifically, we're sick of the following: - The deer-in-the-headlights looks we get from you, Derrek, after you (inevitably) hit a WAG to the SS every at bat. Not to mention the WAGs themselves. - Your decision to stop hitting the ball, Kosuke, once you fully saturated the Chicago t-shirt market with self-references. Don't think we don't know who's really behind the "Horry Kow" shirt. - The fact that you exist, Jim Edmonds. And that you can't hit above .232. - The lineup card, Lou. Specifically, the fact that we keep seeing "Ronny Cedeno," "Mike Fontenot," and "Jim Edmonds" written on it lately. - That REEDZ is barely getting any playing time! - The sad realisation that I can't really continue to defend you anymor...
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Tuesday Morning Don't all Flip Out Headlines
2008-09-09 15:32:00
Panic Time! Dave van Dyck gives us all reason to worry obviously someone has stock in Prozac Panic: Ugh, that schedule: toughest of any National League contender. All 19 remaining games are against teams with winning records and all those teams have postseason hopes, making none of them pushovers. And only six of the games are at the supposed Friendly Confines, which haven't been all that friendly of late. Even worse, the Brewers have three left against Pittsburgh, which they have beaten 11 of 12 times. Not to panic: The Cubs ended August with baseball's second-biggest lead, which is why you play 162 games. Sure, there are six games remaining against the Brewers, but the Cubs swept the last four-gamer-in Milwaukee. Cubs fans can take heart from the 2005 champion White Sox, who had a 71/2-game lead on Sept. 9 which slipped to 11/2 on Sept. 24. It's almost impossible for the Cubs not to win at least the wild card. And not to be outdoneGordo gives us more reasons to panic seriously...
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