Wednesday, August 24, 2005

California 6- Florida 2

I'm not going to comment about the Cubs game, because I didn't get to see much of it, except for the Kyle Farnsworth performance at the end. I think it's safe to say that Kyle did not kick a fan down the Wrigley tunnel. It's pretty bad when Kyle Farnsworth makes your hitters look pretty bad.

Anyway, my title tonight refers to the Little League World Series game I watched tonight. Here's an article about it. Basically there were bad calls that went against both teams. As a former umpire, that's a horrible situation. Both sides team up against you, the umpire, and you're in the doghouse the rest of the game. But this game turned real ugly. At one point, one coach accused the other team of having an extra player out of the dugout. Please. At another point, one coach accused the other team of "bad sportsmanship." Again, please. I was happy to hear Gary Thorne say, "Well, this game has turned, to well Little League." It was a pretty good statement to describe the constant arguing between the COACHES of both teams. The pitcher for California, I thought was real cocky, but he kept his cool on the mound and I never saw him saw a single word to the umpire. My dad, if we would have watched the game, would have said it reminded him of me when I was younger. And that isn't good. It means that there was a lot of complaining and not enough playing and actually enjoying the game.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Cubs 10- Braves 1

Playoffs baby, not really. This win does nothing to change the fact that Baseball Prospectus Playoff Odds dropped the Cubs under 1%. This season is basically over, so I have a list of things that I would like to see to help things for next season:

1. Ronny Cedeno comes up and playes EVERY day at shortstop. He should get a chance to play shortstop next season and it could start in September.

2. Nomar plays a couple of games in left field. This is about the only thing that would keep Nomar in Chicago for about $5 million. Anything more, see you later. If he wants to play shortstop, I would give him $2 or $3 million. Basically I'm saying that I hope Neifi doesn't get to play as much as he did last year.

3. Back to #1, if you read this article, Dusty doesn't want to take Neifi out because he has been playing so well. Neifi's offense has put him squarely between Adam Everett and Royce Clayton, not two superstars. Neifi deserves another defensive bench spot, nothing else in my opinion.

4. Matt Murton plays more.
Ben Grieve gets to pinch hit.
Adam Greenberg gets to actually hit.
Jermaine Van Buren pitches in key 8th inning situations.

5. The Cubs beat the Cardinals and the Brewers and the Astros every game. And every Cub fan boos Lance Berkman unmercifully.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Ready to Put the Nail In

Another loss, 4-2 tonight from the Braves. I like how Dusty Baker talks about this being his favorite time of the year. Well this year is just about over. You absolutely cannot lose 2 out of 3 to freaking Colorado and expect to compete for a Wildcard. Thankfully next week class starts again so I can have that to distract me from everything.

Go Cubs.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Cubs 4- Astros 2

Carlos Zambrano was the man tonight. He even hit a homer to cap off his amazing pitching performance. Nomar was injured during a botched double play attempt. This is what I wrote on Cub Reporter: "1. Lower back stiffness could be related to the groin injury. If you remember from the surgery, Nomar had some abdominal problems too. The adductor longus and rectus abdominus insert into the same pelvic bone. His abs. probably became weaker due to underuse after the surgery. One of things physical therapists will always tell you to do for your back is to work on your abdominal muscles. They work together to keep your pelvis in a good alignment. One run would have scored on that play anyway. There was nobody out." Just my opinion.

And in other news, Mark Prior says he has pitched better after getting hit in the elbow. Huh? Whatever that means. Honestly when I saw that injury, I thought his career might be over, but good for Mark. Go Cubs.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Cubs 4- Astros 1

A good win in really a must win situation tonight. Maddux came up terrific, which he has been the last 3 starts to grab his team leading 10th win. As many have said in the Chicago media market, Greg Maddux deserves to do just about whatever he wants to do, in terms of retirement and all of that. He definately deserves to stay around next year.

In other news, Glendon Rusch will stay in the rotation in the time being. I agree with this decision if it means that Rich Hill will not be a starter again this season. Rusch was lights out at the end of May, early June. The one thing that doesn't make sense is skipping Jerome Williams' spot in the rotation. They could have pitched Williams on his regular spot on Friday and skipped Rusch this weekend. One of the things talked about last night, was the limited pitch count that Rusch had. Oh well. I guess that's why I don't make these decisions. Another must win tommorrown night.

Astros 12- Cubs 4

It's hard for me to get upset these days, when you find out your best friend of 10 years won't be headed to Iraq anytime soon. So tonight, instead of watching the rest of the 5th inning fiasco, I went out to his place and had a couple of Miller Lites around a fire. It was a much better time than the game.

Kerry Wood as closer? He definately looked good on Sunday against the Cardinals. Here's my position and one of the problems I have had with Dusty. For your bullpen to work, you need defined roles. Ryan Dempster is the closer and if he wants to walk 4 guys in a row, he still has the right to be the closer by his performance this season. Kerry Wood is perfect for the 8th inning for now. In 2006, after he has the shoulder arthroplasty and gets everything cleaned up, he goes back to being the Cubs #3 starter as he goes injury free to the World Series. That's my wish anyway.

Friday, August 05, 2005

Mets 9- Cubs 5

What a crapper this game was. I haven't posted much lately because I've either been in Milwaukee, like last weekend or trying to get a bunch of things done during my last week at work. Anytime I do leave, see July 4th weekend or last weekend, things go to crap for this team. So we'll try again next week as I take a week away from the Cubs in Wisconsin.

The game tonight was just disheartening (sp?). Poor defensive plays, no heart, sans Lee and Ramirez. Freaking Neifi smiling with Carlos Beltran in the 8th. The same Carlos Beltran who stole second up 4 runs in that same 8th, followed by David Wright who did the same thing. Was Lee even holding these runners on?

Tommorrow is a new day and Greg Maddux can put together one last great stand to show this team what it takes to play good major league baseball. Let's throw inside to Beltran and Wright. This might have been the thing to light a fire under their butts, we'll just have to see.

Go Cubs, hopefully we're still playing in 2005.