Northside For Life

Even when they win they lose

2006-04-20T13:09:00.000-05:00

I’ve always considered watching baseball as a form of therapy. No matter what goes on in my life, what kind of stress I may be enduring- and lately there’s been quite a bit of stress- its comforting to know that I can flip to a game on TV and escape reality for a few hours a day or night. Although this is true for all sports, I find baseball to be the most therapeutic. I’m not sure if it’s the pace of the game or what but it just puts me at ease. But for all the therapeutic qualities baseball has, if you watch the Cubs on a regular basis like I do, sometimes they’ll make you feel like getting real therapy.

For instance last night I came home at around 10:30 after a long day at work followed by three and a half hours of graduate level statistics (I’ve felt like Chevy Chase in that classic SNL skit, “Nobody said there would be math involved”). All I wanted to do was get home, crack open a beer and veg out in front of the TV with the Cubs game on. Thank God for these west coast games!

Anyway I pick up the game in the 4th with the score tied 2-2. According to reports of the game, Sean Marshall did pretty good in this start, although his command wasn’t all there so he ran up his pitch count and was gone after 5 innings. They put in David “the Aardvark” Aardsma who apparently hasn’t given up a walk this year in AAA and he promptly issues 3 walks and gives up 2 runs in the inning. Fantastic job, Aardvark. Sit down.

In the middle of the 7th I flipped to ESPN News to catch a few highlights and scores as well as to avoid the unwatchable commercials on Comcast. I flip back to game just in time to see D-Lee rolling around on the ground holding his wrist.

Oh. Shit.

The replay showed him getting bowled over by Raffy Furcal (and you thought Furcal only screwed the Cubs during the offseason) followed by him rolling around in pain. Not a good sight. To make matters worse, Eyre hurt his knee during his belly flop to catch the ball. Two players hurt separately on the same play. When was the last time that happened? Only the Cubs.

At this point I thought the game was a lost cause. Down 2 on the road and with the franchise player out for who knows how long. The Cubs of the past would have folded right here. Instead, they slapped the ball around in the next inning, and with the help of a couple of errors by Dannys Baez and Jason Repko, they scored three runs-all with 2 outs mind you- to take the lead. The bullpen, which has been pretty solid, sealed and the Cubs took it 5-4. It was a pretty encouraging come-from-behind win. The Cubs of the past couple of seasons would have been hard-pressed to win a game like this without hitting two or three homers. That this team is using speed and timely hitting is truly refreshing. But I can’t shake the worry of D-Lee’s injury being serious.

X-rays of his wrist proved inconclusive and reports are saying that he’s flying in to Chicago today for further evaluation. Hopefully it’s just a sprain and he won’t have to miss too much time. The trouble with this type of injury is that it will affect the way he swings the bat for a considerable amount of time after he returns. Even coming back from a mild sprain takes some time. So even in the best case scenario- wrist sprain with no DL time- this injury is probably going to set D-Lee back a few weeks in terms of offensive production. I know a D-Lee recovering from injury is better than some of the options we have right now, but it still sucks nonetheless.

Renaissance Man

2006-04-18T14:30:00.000-05:00

Greg Maddux is 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA in his first three starts.

Let that sink in for a minute.

40-year old Greg Maddux has won his first three starts of the season for the first time in 11 years.

The man is in midseason form already. I don't know if it was the Dog's new offseason workout program or the fact that its a contract year and he's not ready to retire, but Doggy has been pretty amazing to watch. Last night he went 8 strong against the Dodgers, and with the help of the Closing Canuck, closed out L.A. in about 2 hours, enabling the pen to get some rest and me to get a full nights sleep. All in all a good day.

Of course there's talk of Mad Dog pushing 20 wins and being in contention for the Cy Young. What is he, Roger Clemens now? I don't know about all that as I'm sure he'll have his days where he's going to get rocked, but the Dog is on top of his game and looking very much like the Greg Maddux of the mid-'90's. If he keeps this up, he'll definitely crack 15 wins this year for sure. And that my friends, is a very good thing.

Other notes:

-Kerry Wood had an encouraging bullpen session in L.A. yesterday. He's scheduled to pitch a couple of simulated games and then a minor league rehab start sometime in the next couple of weeks. He's set to return to the Cubs sometime in the first two weeks of May. Yeah, kinda vague but that's the Cubs for you.
-Mark Prior also threw a bullpen session yesterday in Arizona. Apparently he's making good progress and should be throwing BP in the next few days. He's set to return sometime in May as well. Maybe.
-Wade Miller is said to be a couple of weeks behind Wood in his rehab, so the end of May might be a good prediction for his return.
-Todd Walker is absolutely killing the ball. And he hasn't bad in the field at all, including some rangy plays he made last night. I don't know what else the man has to do to secure an everyday spot in the lineup.

Questions answered. Sort of.

2006-04-17T16:42:00.000-05:00

Right now the Cubs pitching staff consists of a crafty veteran who is aging like fine wine, a talented young hothead who isn’t on top of his game at the moment, and three question marks- two young ones and a journeyman. Those three question marks were the starting pitchers during the Cubs’ three game series with the Pirates. Granted the Pirates are once again terrible and the Cubs seem to have the deed to PNC Park because they own the Pirates there, but these three put in some solid performances.

Marshall was pretty impressive Friday night, giving up 3 in 5 innings before being pulled- an inning or two too early in my opinion- for Michael Wurtz who promptly crapped the bed. Williamson came in and was lights out for the next two innings. Wurtz’ performance was good enough to earn him a bus ticket back to Iowa. I didn’t see much of Marshall’s start save for his final inning of work, but I did listen to first few innings of the game on the car radio and he seemed to be doing quite well. The thing I like most about Sean Marshall is his poise and composure on the mound. He doesn’t carry himself like a rookie and it shows in the way he pitches. A pleasant surprise in the rotation to say the least.

Another pleasant surprise was Jerome Williams’ performance on Saturday. He gave up only 1 ER in 6 innings and kept the walks to a minimum, something that his killed him in the past. A great outing by Williams, who’s standing was kind of iffy after a horrible spring training. Yet another Ronny Cedeno throwing error (great arm, shit for aim) and Freddie Bynum’s loafing around in right allowing for a double to be turned into a triple contributed to both Pirate runs. Zach Duke seemed like the second coming of Sandy Koufax and the Cubs could only plate one run in the loss. It was a bit of a tough one to swallow, but at least it appears as if Jerome will do just fine.

Sunday’s starter was the biggest question mark of all – G Unit Rusch. He’d gotten bombed his last two starts against the Nati, but against the Pirates he was on point, cruising through the first five innings without giving up a run, warning track fly balls, or a ton of walks. He did give up a three run bomb to Craig Wilson but it was still a vast improvement over anything else he’s done so far this year. I figured he’d bounce back against the Pirates, now it remains to be seen if he can continue to deliver solid starts.

Despite their solid performances, I’m not so sure these questions marks have been answered yet. Williams has looked good in relief and in his one start and that’s very encouraging. Marshall is young and doesn’t have a whole lot of experience, but he’s got moxie and good stuff and has been pretty decent in his two starts. I need to see more from him before deciding if he’s legit or if he needs more seasoning in Iowa. But as of right now the future looks bright for Sean. G-Unit, well I’m not to sure about him. A couple more good starts might be needed to keep him in the rotation. Once Wood and Prior come back (God I’m really starting to hate that phrase) only one of these three is going to stick around as a starter. As of right now I’d go with Williams over Rusch and Marshall.

Other notes from the series in the Steel City:

-Todd Walker continues to silence doubters with his bat. The guy has been on fire at the plate and he hasn’t really been bad in the field. Although I don’t really mind the arrangement Dusty has now, with Walker getting most of the starts, I’d have him in there for the vast majority of starts, regardless of who’s pitching. It’s also worth mentioning that the Cubs are 4-0 when Walker’s in the lineup. Go with the hot hand Dusty.

- It’s a shame about Angel Pagan and his knee/hamstring injury. Just when he got his big break, made it to the show, and was starting to make a name for himself on the Cubs. This injury could very well put him out for the year. A damn shame.

-What’s the deal with Pittsburgh fans booing A-Ram and cheering after he got beaned? The guy was traded three years ago. I don’t get it.

- Speaking of A-Ram, he had a nice game yesterday, going 2-4 with a homer and three ribbies. Hopefully he’s starting to get out of his funk.

- And hopefully Lucky Pierre gets out of his as well.

- I’m also hoping we don’t see too much more of Freddie Bynum.

- One of the parks on my short list of parks to visit is PNC. It looks awesome on TV and I’m sure its even better in person. It’s a shame they have such a beautiful park in the Pitt and they have such a shitty team play in it. Oh well, at least they have the Steelers.

Mad Dog 320

2006-04-13T11:09:00.000-05:00

Things weren’t looking too hot for the Cubs at the start of yesterday’s game. You had Mad Dog pitching against a Red’s team that had gone deep 6 times the day before and has given the Dog fits the last couple of years. On a day when the wind was blowing out to right no less. On top of that, A-Ram and Jaques were both out, replaced by Neifi and Angel Pagan who was batting 5th for some reason. Also in the line-up was Hairy Jerry (in because of the lefty Claussen) batting 2nd and Barrett batting cleanup. A Dusty Special. The game had the makings of a slugfest, and the Cubs looked to be short a couple of guns.

Instead, Mad Dog turned another masterful performance, pretty much shutting down the Reds offense over 6 innings. The Cubs played small ball as the Reds got ready for the upcoming World Cup by booting the ball all over the infield. The ‘Nati made 5 errors in the game –including 3 by 3B Edwin Encarnacion- and Dusty must have stole some notes from Whitey Herzog’s notebook by using the double steal not once, but twice. With the Mad Dog dealin’ and Pierre and D-Lee stealin’ the Cubs took the game 4-1 and Mad Dog earned his 320th career victory.

And that brings us to today. It sounds odd to call a game in April important, but that’s just what this particular game today is. It’s already been said that the Cubs need to get off to a fast start this season to keep pace in the NL Central and so far they’ve been doing just that. The Cubs need to take advantage of their fairly easy early schedule and keep their momentum going until the supposed big guns (Prior, Wood, Miller) return to the fold. So beating the Reds today and taking the series is exactly what the team needs to keep the mo going.

The Cubs have the advantage with Z taking the mound today. He looked great in his last start against the Reds but unfortunately got a no decision. If he could stay on his game today and pitch a good 6 or 7 innings, then the Cubs should be in great shape. The Reds counter with Eric Milton, who’s well on his way to breaking the all-time record for homeruns given up. The Cubs have owned him the past couple of seasons, and with the wind blowing out again today, there could very well be a few dingers coming off Cub bats, even if A-Ram sits out again with his strained ass cheek.

Let’s get ‘em.

Bum Rusch

2006-04-12T11:33:00.000-05:00

Nothing kills momentum more than staring at a 9-0 deficit to the Cincinnati Reds on 6 homeruns, no less. Glen “G-Unit” Rusch just didn’t have it yet again yesterday, giving up one homer after another in his 4 innings of work. Well at least “Charles” Bronson Arroyo didn’t take him yard again.

Oh wait…

I’m afraid that’s going to be the story of the Cubs this year, at least in the early going, inconsistency in the starting rotation. A few good outings followed by a couple of absolute disasters. As far as G-Unit goes, I’m not sure what the team should do with him. He didn’t look good in the spring, and his two starts against the Reds have been awful. Maybe it’s just that the Reds have his number? Maybe it was the conditions he was pitching in? After all, it’s not good to be a flyball pitcher in a launching pad like GBP or at Wrigley on a day in which the wind is blowing out (as it was yesterday). Maybe he’ll settle down and give a better performance against a team other than Cincinnati. I’d give him one, maybe two more starts to show something before demoting his ass to the pen and bringing up someone like Angel Guzman or maybe Rich Hill.

To top off the fun that was yesterday’s 9-2 rout, the Cubs have a couple of injuries to report. Jaques Jones strained a hammy running in the outfield and A-Ram strained his ass (right glute actually) while taking a swing. Both are day-to-day, although knowing Aramis this injury will linger for about 3 months and he’ll become even slower than he usually is, if that’s even possible. Look for Angel Pagan and Neifi in the lineup today.

Today the Cubs send Mad Dog to the hill to face the Medium Red Machine. Mad Dog has become somewhat of a slow starter the last few years, but was impressive in his first start of the season last Friday. Hopefully he can keep the ball down on these guys as the wind will probably be blowing out again today. If he can do that, he’ll be in good shape. Mad Dog’s lifetime record against the ‘Nati is 17-16 with a 3.65 ERA, although the Reds have given him a hard time during the last three years. During that span his record is 1-4 with a 6.75 ERA. The Reds counter with Brandon Claussen who is 1-3 with a 7.91 ERA against the Cubs.

Prior Watch - Day 10

2006-03-03T13:16:00.000-06:00

There is progress on the Mark Prior front as he continues to throw off a mound. Prior threw "close to 50 pitches in two separate sessions and made some progress" yesterday according to Larry Rothschild. He's penciled in for a start during the second turn through the rotation, no later than March 11.

Wait a minute....why is this even news? Oy.

Classic Now

2006-03-02T10:20:00.000-06:00

The World Baseball Classic has begun, with the Asian teams starting off the tournament. Despite all the jingoism and the commercials proclaiming "For country, for baseball" this tournament smacks of a contrived money grab by Major League baseball. What with the poor timing of the event, a lot of the major stars dropping out, Asian teams wearing uniforms with old English script on the front, and some of the dumb rules set in place (pitch counts, mercy rule) it's really nothing more than a glorified exhibition under the pretense of "globalizing the game of baseball". Never mind that baseball is already quite "globalized", with its intense popularity in the Caribbean and South America, as well as historically strong popularity in Asia. The game did this all by itself without the need of some bs tournament which has the thrown together appearance of the rec leagues I used to play in (only our games weren't televised on ESPN).

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of a World Cup-style baseball tournament. Get every country to put together teams of their best players and battle it out to see which country reigns supreme. But if you're going to use major leaguers, do it after the season, in November. The timing of this tournament couldn't be worse. Most players aren't in game shape, and many are dropping out for fear of injury. Not to mention the fact that you're screwing up a few teams' spring trainings by taking away their players for almost an entire month. For instance the Cubs are without their two catchers for the majority of spring training. How much of an effect this will have on the pitching staff is unknown, but it certaintly doesn't help. This most definitely would have played better in November.

But despite all these negatives I've just mentioned I'm still going to watch. And to be honest, I'm kind of excited about the whole thing. Even if the WBC really is contrived, and I've yet to see a real reason why South Africa, the Netherlands, and Italy are in this thing, it's still baseball. And after a long winter, any baseball on TV is great. To me a worldwide tournament featuring major league players is a lot better than watching a spring training game featuring a bunch of guys I've never heard of playing in their batting practice jerseys in a tiny ballpark in the middle of the desert. But that's just me. Even there is nothing really "classic" about the World Baseball Classic it'll still be interesting to see how fast the Domincan team will reach the mercy rule, how well the Cubans will fare, how many Cubans will defect and get immediately signed by the Yankees, and if the Venezuelans can ride their pitching to the title. If nothing else, it's real baseball. Well, sort of. Either way its a lot better than the alternatives in sports television (save for the NCAA's). I'm going to enjoy this.

Prior Watch - Day 4

2006-02-25T00:16:00.000-06:00

Northside For Life's continuing coverage of the annual Mark Prior spring training saga:

After spending Thursday discussing how he he couldn't figure out who was behind all the bum shoulder rumors, Prior took the mound on Friday and made a few pitches. About 20 to be exact. And he wasn't exactly letting 'em rip, although one has to consider that this was his first time on a mound this year. He had to get used to being on the hill, had to make friends with the mound-become one with it. This takes a little bit of time you know.

Again, the Cubs and Prior insist that getting Mark loosened up is a process. Apparently a very slow, deliberate process. At this rate, he'll be ready just in time for the All-Star break. The Cubs' spin on this is that his offseason routine was slowed down due to serious illness back in December, as well as trying to have him follow a program that will reduce his spring aches and pains. Um, ok. Meanwhile everyone else on the team is letting it rip. Well as long as Prior is ready for his first start in April, and comes out pitching like the Mark Prior we've all come to know and love (you know, the 2003 version) then he could train however the hell he wants to. You know this wouldn't be an issue if it weren't for those pesky rumormongers. Then again, it wouldn't give bloggers like me material to write on either. I mean, Prior Watch 2006? It's comedy gold. You have to have fun with it. Either that, or just live with the angst and crippling fear of having to worry about a young millionaire's golden arm without knowing what's really going on. Thinking that his health is the key to the season. Um, no. Fuck that.

Without the ongoing concern over Prior's health status, what other fun stuff could I write about? I guess I could always rip on Dusty. He's been dropping some beauties lately, such as:

"Joe Black told me years ago, because I had a little dilemma going on with myself, and he said, 'Remember, you're a hitter, not a slugger,'"

For some reason the name Joe Black brings to mind that stupid movie with Brad Pitt and a mailing-it-in Anthony Hopkins. Dusty's dilema now however is who to play at second base. He made it seem like it was Walker's job to lose, only to turn around and pimp Jerry Hairston for the position. Never mind that Dusty was regularly calling him out in the press most of last year. In fact Jerry was the only player Dusty ripped in the media. And now he's talking him up. Altough I like Hairston's moxie, I don't know about have to watch him play everday. If Dusty decides to go that route, he might want to invest in a GPS device to help Jerry navigate the bases. And then of course there's Neifi. And we all know about Dusty's love for the guy. I'll just leave it at that. Don't want to jinx anything.

Meanwhile, Kerry "Splintered" Wood also took the mound today, and made a few throws. Apparently both he and Wade Miller, who is also coming off labrum surgery, have been making good progress in camp and are "feeling good". Take it for what its worth.

Prior Watch - Day 2

2006-02-22T11:24:00.000-06:00

Northside For Life's continuing coverage of this year's Mark Prior spring training saga:

Yesterday Prior issued his second denial in a week, stating that his arm is feeling fine and that he'll begin throwing off a mound on Thursday. According to him, "It's a process to get ready for the season. It's not just show up and go to work." For the past couple of years Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild has maintained that Prior is on a different, more deliberate training schedule than the rest of the Cubs pitching staff to slowly work his arm into shape. So apparently getting Prior's arm into pitching form is akin to starting a '71 Dodge Charger on a 10 degree day after its been sitting out all night in the cold. In other words, it'll be a while. Grab your Snickers bar and sit down.

Getting Mark into shape is a process damnit! Or so they keep telling us. We'll just have to wait until he actually takes the mound on Thursday and makes some pitches. Then wait with baited breath as Rothschild, Hendry, Prior and maybe Baker tell us that he's feeling good. Then maybe we can call off this year's Prior Watch.

In the meantime, Prior seems to be getting kinda annoyed with all the attention him and his golden right arm have gotten during his time in Chicago:

"Everybody wants to find something wrong. ... I'm not going to sit here and defend or validate anything. There have been a lot of rumors in my career. There's really not much I can say about it. That's people's opinions."

And...

''I think McNabb said it best, some people like you, some people don't like you and for whatever reason, a lot of those people have voices."

That's what happens when you're hearlded as the Cubs' "Pitching Jesus" only to continuosly have problems. When that happens people are inevitably going to talk, Mark. You're just going to have put on your big boy pants and deal with it.

In the meantime Northside For Life will keep you posted anything and everything Prior. The man on the inside, Manny the Hot Dog Vendor, hasn't had anything new to report, but rest assured he'll be keeping his eyes and ears open. Well after he's done dumping out the hot dog water anyway.

A Stiff Brees

2006-02-21T16:29:00.000-06:00

Its kind of odd to see an NFL post when spring training is just getting underway but I just couldn't let this one go.

The San Diego Chargers are letting QB Drew Brees test the free agent waters. And of course, fans and radio talk-show hosts in Chicago are clamoring for the Bears to go out of their way to sign him. Given that the Bears designated QB of the future Rex Grossman can't seem to play more than 3 games a year, this would seem like a good idea. However:

1) Brees is coming off shoulder surgery after separating it while doing his best Plasticman impression in the season finale.
2) The Bears are likely going to have him compete for the starting job with Rex Grossman. Why would he agree to that when he could sign with a variety of teams that need a starting QB and would garauntee a starting spot (like the Jets, Dolphins, Saints, Raiders, Bills, and Lions to name a few).
3) The Bears could better use that money to cover other more pressing needs, like another WR, a TE, or maybe adding depth to their cornerback position.

Talk about Brees all you want folks, the Bears aren't getting him. Nor should they even bother.

Prior Watch - Day 1

2006-02-21T14:42:00.000-06:00

It's not spring unless there's rumors about Mark Prior's health. According to this BP article Prior is rumored to be having shoulder problems, corroborating an "insider" report made on 1060west back in January. Needless to say this rumor, coupled with Prior doing nothing more than towel drills and looking "weak and sick" during the first couple of days in Mesa, has incited a Category 3 shitstorm among the online Cub fan community. This response is somewhat justified given the Cub organization's handling of Prior's health status in the past. Discerning Cub fans everywhere are calling bullshit on the team's claims that Prior was seriously ill over the winter, setting back his offseason workouts to the point where his spring training work is behind schedule. Thus we see him throwing a towel rather than a baseball.

Conspiracy theories abound, the most popular being that the true extent of Prior's injury won't be revealed until after tickets go on sale this Friday. Although the corporate greed of the Tribune knows little bounds, I highly doubt this to be the case. I'm willing to bet that even if Prior really was hurt, there would still be a mass of people lined up along Waveland Ave. trying to get wristbands and the phonelines and tickets.com will be swamped Friday morning.

Personally I'm not jumping on the conspiracy bandwagon just yet. Spring training just started and there's a chance this is nothing more than the usual kid glove treatment Prior gets. I'm going to give the team the benefit of the doubt here. If by the end of the week Prior isn't throwing off a mound, then it'll be time to start worrying.

In the meantime Northside For Life will have its own insider, Manny the HoHoKam Hot Dog Vendor, keeping an eye on anything and everything going on with Mark Prior. Any updates on the condition of Prior's shoulder as well as his towel throwing sessions will be dissemnated here. Few other blogs offer this kind of access. And it's all free.

Cubs Preview: Pitching

2006-02-17T23:58:00.000-06:00

With pitchers and catchers reporting to Mesa it's now time for me to begin my preview of the 2006 Chicago Cubs. I'll start off with what every team needs to win: Pitching.

The last couple of seasons the national perception has been that the Cubs are loaded with pitching, particularly starters. This is true, although it helps if those starters actually pitched in real games (cough Wood and Prior cough). Last year's vaunted pitching staff was just average, finishing 9th in the NL in team ERA with the only solid season coming from Big Z. Not exactly the powerhouse rotation people make it out to be. Unless you count simulated games, in which case the Cubs were among the league leaders in simulated starter ERA. Oh wait, that doesn't count for anything?

Let's take a closer look at the starters:

Z - Formerly Big Z, Carlos Zambrano came into camp a lot lighter after a Jared-esque diet. So given his new svelte frame, he'll be known as Z around these parts. Z had a solid '05, going 14-9 with a 3.26 ERA. Along with the Mad Dog, Z was a workhorse logging 223 innings. We all know and love Z for being excitable -ok, sometimes a complete spaz- on the mound but as he's gotten older the big guy has gained more control over his emotions. His stuff is awesome and he has asserted himself as the true ace of the staff. I fully expect Z to make the leap this year into elite status. 18-20 wins isn't out of the realm of possibility, as well as equal billing to the wonder that is Mark Prior. And speaking of Prior...

Mark Prior - Mark had an up and down season last year. It started in spring training with the now annual "Mark Prior Spring Training Health Issue" in which he experienced elbow inflammation that set him back in his preparation for the season. Fortunately for the Cubs, he only missed one start in April, and was ON as soon as he came back. Then in May he took a line drive off his pitching elbow that caused him to miss about a month. His first start coming off the injury was against the White Sox and he was once again ON. However after that start he was more off than anything. He didn't pitch terribly, but you could tell he wasn't himself. He did finish with 11 wins but it was an unsatisfying season, both for Mark and Cub fans. Of course, this year we're once again experiencing the annual Prior health issue, this time the issue being rumors about a bum right shoulder coupled with the fact that the Cubs have been very slow in letting Prior cut loose in spring training. Supposing Mark is ok and he starts the season on time, he should be ON. And if that's the case, the Cubs will have a very fearsome 1-2 punch in the starting rotation.

Mad Dog - Watching Greg Maddux finish out his career with the Cubs, you can't help but wonder how different things would have been had the Trib actually opened up their wallets and paid the man what he asked for (and deserved) following the 1993 season. He's back with the Cubs now, sure, adding to his impressive collection of baseball records. But to think we missed out on watching him in his prime, watching him be Greg Maddux, well that just sucks. But he's here now and given some of his comments, isn't ready to pack in just yet no matter what Dusty says. No, he's not the Mad Dog who straight up dominated with the Braves in the '90's, but he is consistent. He'll give you 200 innings and 12-15 wins. Take it to the bank. Granted, it takes him longer to get in a groove nowadays, and you can expected him to get tagged in early April. But once the weather warms up, he too is ON. And that my friends, is a good thing.

Glendon Rusch - Glen is the prototypical swingman, equally good as a starter and as a reliever - although he was quite shaky out of the pen in '05. Dusty blew it early on last year leaving Rusch in the 'pen and having Dempster start. Further proof that Dusty may be a players manager, but he can't define roles worth a damn. Once he had these two switch places, they blossomed. Now Rusch isn't going to blow you away, but he's a serviceable lefty. His career numbers (57-86 4.88) aren't anything to get a chubby over, but he's been pretty decent during his time in Chicago. I'd pencil him in for about 8-10 wins if he's kept as the starter over the course of the season.

Jerome Williams - Jerome was acquired last year from the Giants along with David Aardsma for LaTroy Hawkins. Given how horrible Hawkins was during his time with the Cubs, I'd say this trade was a steal. Even if Jerome bombs, this still was a steal. At times last season he looked pretty good, other times he would be cruising along and then give up the one big inning, and then everything would unravel. Williams has promise, after all he started a playoff game in '03 for the Giants at the tender age of 21. Weight and personal problems have affected his performance on the field but sources say all that's behind him. Remember the guy's only 24, the same age as Z and Prior. According to some he has tremendous upside. If Jerome could live up to the potential he displayed for the Giants he could be a very nice surprise for the Cubs this season.

Splintered Wood - What can be said about Kerry Wood's arm that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan? It's bombed out and depleted. Wood yet again had a season cut short due to arm problems. This winter he went under the knife to clean up his labrum. He is set to return to action in May, although its yet to be determined whether or not he'll be a starter. My money is on him being in the rotation. The effects of labrum surgery on a pitcher vary. Some say they don't successfully return to top shape until the second season after surgery. Then again, this was only for a cleanup so that timeline could be shorter. Matt Morris had the same surgery a couple of seasons back and was pretty decent upon his return. It remains to be seen how he'll bounce back, but to be honest I'm not expecting big things from him this season and I'm not expecting him to be around in '07. I'm afraid the Kerry Wood that struck out 20 in a game and handcuffed the Braves in the '03 NLDS is long gone. I think Wood can still be a successful major league pitcher, but I highly doubt he'll be as dominant as he once was.

Now the bullpen was a serious weakness on this team last year. Outside of Ryan Dempster, everyone else seemed to douse the mound in gasoline and then toss lit matches on the ground when they pitched. Despite the grumblings about a poor offseason from fans, you have to give Hendry props for going to work on the pen. Let's start off the bullpen preview by taking a closer look at Hendry's two pickups:

Scott Eyre - Signed as a free agent for a sum of money that exceeded even his own expectations, Eyre will likely share LOOGY duties with Will Ohman. Eyre has had an average career overall, although he was solid with the Giants last season, leading to the rise in his market value. Hopefully he doesn't blow up like other relievers Hendry has signed in the past.

Bobby Howry - I really liked this signing. I watched a good bit of Indians baseball late last season as they made the White Sox collective buttholes pucker during the final month or so. During that time Howry was practically untouchable. His addition should really help the Cubs pen this year.

Ryan Dempster - Ryan Dempster was surprisingly good last year in the closer role, good enough to look like the first true, reliable closer the Cubs have had since Tom Gordon back in '01. Dempster does have the tendency to walk batters frequently, not a good thing if you're a reliever, but more often than not he was able to get out of the jams he put himself into. His penchant for allowing walks does make for pretty interesting -if not gut wrenching- ends to games but he's shown he has the mental makeup and ability to get the job done in the closer role. That's more than what can be said for Hawkins and Antonio Alfonseca, two of the previous three closers the Cubs have had the last four years.

Will Ohman - Ohman was decent in '05 as the Cubs LOOGY. Outside of his one disastrous outing in Yankee Stadium, he quietly had himself a solid season. Pairing him up with Eyre should give the Cubs a good lefty combo.

Michael Wuertz - Frequently called Michael "Worst" by some of my friends, Wuertz wasn't half bad last year. He went though some rough stretches, but I think this was due more to his youth and wavering confidence than anything else. He does possess a pretty wicked slider, and with a little major league seasoning he could be an integral part of the '06 bullpen.

Scott Williamson - Williamson was coming off Tommy John surgery (again) last season, so his numbers are limited. However he looked halfway decent during his short time with the Cubs and if he returns to his previous form he could give the Cubs a championship caliber bullpen. Of course, for some reason this means the Cubs are looking to trade him. I mean its the logical choice, right? There's that old saying, you can have too many good pitchers and you have to get rid of some if that happens.....um wait....That doesn't sound quite right. Maybe in the alternate universe the Cubs' management lives in it does, but Williamson provides some much needed depth. Hopefully the Cubs will do the right thing and keep him around.

Roberto Novoa - Two things about Roberto Novoa jump out at you when you watch him pitch: He throws really hard, seems to sweat profusely at all times, and the darkness of his skin is in the Wesley Snipes category. OK that's three, but that's all I can really tell you about Novoa. He was a bit inconsistent last year, and is still relatively young so he may turn out to be a serviceable arm out of the bullpen. Or not.

Other bullpen candidates include Rich Hill (big curveball, not much else), Todd Wellemeyer (out of options and not that great) John Koronka (eh...Let's move on) and Angel Guzman (who appears to be doing his best Kerry Wood impression the last few years. Unfortunately he's doing the "Wood on the DL" rather than "Fireballin' Kerry".)

Overall the Cubs appear to have a good bit of pitching depth provided pitchers stay relatively healthy, something that hasn't happened around here the last few years. Depending on their health and availability the pitching staff could be dominant or middle of the pack just like in '05.

The Bitter End

2006-02-17T22:44:00.000-06:00

So Sammy Sosa announced through his agent that he's hanging it up at age 37. Well sort of. Basically no one is offering a guarnteed roster spot and millions of dollars, so he's decided to take his massive ego and go home. He's not filed on the retirement list, but he's not going to play anywhere either.

Not for no stinkin' $500 grand anyway. Sammy don't play that, see?

Despite the picture I've posted on the left, I'm not going to bash the man. Rather that picture represents what I feel was the moment the downward spiral began. That Easter Sunday in Pittsburgh when Salomon Torres nailed him in the coconut. After that Sammy seemed to dig his feet in halfway to the on-deck circle when he came up to bat and really wasn't the same ever again. Later that year was the cork incident. He got past it as the Cubs went on to win the division. Sammy hit a couple of monster homeruns early in the NLCS \and then disappeared. As did the Cubs.

The next year the fans' love affair with Sammy began to fall apart. Sammy was swinging out of his shoes on every single at bat. He was striking out in key situations while swinging for the fences. He whiffed at the freaking Home Run Derby! He hit a long drive to right field in Pittsburgh, did his little home run hop, and then watched the ball bounce off the wall and back into play. Due to his premature hopulation, he was held to a single on what should have been a two bagger. After the game he dismissed the play arrogantly, essentially saying that was his style of play, deal with it. He started getting booed at Wrigley, where he previously could do no wrong. As the K's piled up, the boos got louder. And to top it all off, he left the park during the first inning of the team's last regular season game, then lied about it. On Fan Appreciation Day to boot. And booted he was, shipped off to the Orioles in an acrimonious Trump-like divorce. From hero to pariah in the course of one season.

We'll all remember Sammy for helping breath life back into baseball during that magical 1998 season. But as the homers piled up, Sammy's head swelled to massive proportions. He brought monster numbers to the table, but along with it a monster ego and thus began believing his own hype. This is the point in the movie where the musical montage featuring Paul Engermann's "Push It To The Limit" comes on, with Sammy blowing kisses, hitting homers, breaking records, making curtain calls, making piles of dough, getting married in a humongous mansion and then taking everybody to his massive backyard to see the new pet tiger he just bought. Everything got bigger and bigger. Eventually Sammy wasn't on the Cubs. He WAS the Cubs.

Everybody remembers that loud ass, merengue and salsa playing boom box he had in the locker room. There wasn't a postgame interview in the locker room where you wouldn't hear that damn thing in the background. Teamates -Mark Grace in particular- hated it, but he just played it louder. For a while he started to sulk, wanting to be traded to the Yankees. The Trib thought better than to trade their main gate attraction and instead signed him to a massive contract that ended up biting them in the ass years later.

Yeah Sammy Sosa left here under bad terms. I was one of the biggest Sammy Sosa fans you could find. But as the years went by, the man started to lose his luster. We began to see him for the arrogant asshole he was underneath all the smiles and blown kisses.

However I'm going to look past that for a minute. Past all the steroid bullshit too. Let's look at what Sammy did in a Cub uniform and let's give him at least some respect.

Sammy Sosa was one of the most electrifying players the Cubs have ever had. He definitely was their biggest superstar. Yes you can make a case for the all-time greats like Ernie Banks, but they played in a different era, before superstations, SportsCenter and the internet. They weren't necesarily nationwide household names The Cubs had never really had a Prime Time player of Sosa's magnitude before. Even in the down years, Sammy played his ass off, starting all 162 games and slamming homer after homer, driving in runs by the truckload. Maybe he became too fixated on the homerun, but you have to admit he was exciting to watch. He was the rare breed of player who made you stop whatever you were doing whenever he came to bat. Even if you'd had about 6 beers in the last hour and your bladder was about to burst, you held on until the at-bat was over. He brought an energy to the park that very few Cub players have.

Most everybody hates Sammy now. A lot of people will say "Oh I always knew he was an ass. They should have traded him when he still had value", "He was a clubhouse cancer. I'm glad he's gone". Chances are you might have thought he was an ass during his peak years, but you loved him nontheless. You loved the bombs onto Waveland. You were digging it when he would blast out of the dugout to take his place in right field. You cheered him on when he ran the bases with the American flag after 9/11. At one point you know you loved Sammy. You rocked the 21 jersey. You bought the bobblehead. You chuckled at his goofy-ass Pepsi commercials. It's fine to be disappointed after all that's happened. The cork. The steroid suspicion that will never be confirmed. The attitude. The way he left. But don't forget how he made you feel from 1998 through 2003. At that time he was The Man. He was the face of the Cubs. There's no taking that away.

Now he's retiring because he's not wanted. No press conference, no farewell tour. No Sammy Sosa Day at Wrigley. Not yet anyway. Just a statement from his agent saying he doesn't want to play. After all the years of adulation and fame, he goes out like a punk.

What a damn shame.

Cubs Promotional Schedule*

2006-02-11T16:36:00.000-06:00

I got this from a Cubs e-mail group. Too good not to share:

Cubs Promotional Schedule

April 7: Home Opener and raising of the "Attendance Flag" to commemorate the magical 2005 season in which the Cubs were a bigger draw than any of their hated rivals. Not being raised: World SeriesChampions flag.

April 8: Presentation of the "Nice Neighborhood" rings to members ofthe 2005 squad in commemoration of their capturing of the city's heart by playing in such a cute little part of town. Not being presented: World Series Champions rings.

April 9: Home Opener Weekend festivities conclude with the Cardinals completing a sweep of the Cubs at Wrigley.

April 24: Win a Mark Prior autographed picture! 100 lucky fans willreceive a 5 x 7" photo signed by the Cubs' 11-game winner!

April 25: Turn Back the Clock I with throwback jerseys, old-time music and special guests and relive the magic of the Cubs' epic loss to the Florida Marlins in the 2003 NLCS.

May 13: Turn Back the Clock II with authentic 1984 uniforms jerseys and an even-more-authentic loss to the 1984 NLCS champion San DiegoPadres.

May 14: Precious Moments figurine doll to the first 10,000 female fans.

June 15: Kerry Wood bobblehead day. The first 10,000 fans will receive a bobblehead doll of the Northsiders' all-time leader in simulated strikeouts!

June 16: Turn Back the Clock III - Kick off a rematch of the Cubs' most recent World Series appearance as they welcome the Detroit Tigers and try to beat them for the first time since 1945. Fans with goats receive free admission.

June 30: Cross-town Amnesty Day - All managers and first 25 players on the White Sox active roster will receive a complimentary win.

July 1: Turn Back the Clock IV - 1906 World Series rematch. Authentic memorabilia will be given out to lucky Cub fans, as will an authentic1906-style massacre of their lovable losers.

July 2: Lovable Loser Day - First 15,000 losers get to fall in love with the Cubs even more as they are handed yet another staggering loss at home by yet another area team that has built something more substantial than their own ticket-scalping empire.

July 14: Harry Caray Day, featuring an all-star tribute to the late and beloved former White Sox and Cardinals announcer.

August 1: Nine Games Back Day - First 10,000 fans in attendance to correctly explain what "Nine Games Back" means receive a Cubs t-shirt.

August 19: Playoff Day. Come out and root for the Cubs as they stand on the brink of elimination against the Cardinals with forty-one games still left to play in the season. First 20,000 fans wearing Cubs gear receive a White Sox t-shirt.

September 2: Turn Back the Clock V - Cubs fans, come out and party like it's 1989 in this showdown against the 1989 NLCS champion San Francisco Giants!

October 1: Final Home Game / Wait 'Til Next Year Day - First 39,538 fans get 1st chance at more expensive tickets for next year.

*For the humor impaired, this is intended as a joke. I'm not sure who wrote it...most likely a White Sox fan.

Identity Crisis

2006-02-11T16:33:00.000-06:00

No, I don't have an ID crisis, but my blog does. A lawyer friend of mine paid a visit and read some of riveting posts (yeah right) and warned me about possible repurcussions from the makers of Kool Aid drink, since Kool Aid is a registered trademark and whatnot. Granted the odds of someone from Kool Aid finding this ad and having a problem with it are slim, but to avoid the hassle and the ceases and desist order I'll just change back to the original Northside For Life.

So there.

Miller Time

2006-01-24T13:52:00.000-06:00

As most of you know, Wade Miller has signed with the Cubs, a one year $1 million contract. Miller is this year's Hendry Reclamation Project. Every year Hendry goes bargain bin shopping for a pitcher coming off major surgery. If you recall he signed Dempster in '04 right after he was coming off shoulder surgery. He's had others who haven't fared succesfully (Mike Sirotka) did ok until Dusty made them blow their arm out (Chad Fox) or its too early to tell (Scott Willamson).

I like this move by Hendry though. Miller is a proven pitcher who had some great years with the Astros. Once he comes back -May at the earliest- he can help out in the pen or maybe even fill a spot in the rotation. If he bombs out, well no biggie since he was a cheap pick-up. If he does well, it'll be a great boost to the pitching staff and could lead to Hendry trading one of the youngsters (Williams, Hill or someone else) for some help elsewhere.

Either way a pretty decent pick up.

Swilling the Blue Kool Aid

2006-01-20T15:35:00.000-06:00

Yes my dear readers (all 3 of you) I'm still around. Lately I've just been too occupied with work, family stuff, grad school and my crack habit* to actually post stuff on here. By the time I get some time to sit down and post on a news item or something going on in the wide wide world of sports it's old news and/or it's been done to death elsewhere.

I mean really, would you care to read the 1,365,987th post about the supposed Prior-Tejada deal? What more could I possibly add to that anyway?

I was going to do a write-up on how the Bears' "vaunted" D failed to show up for the game last Sunday but I woke up with a nasty migraine the next day and by the time the pain subsided I just really didn't feel like writing about it anymore. And I mean really, would you care to read about that? Didn't think so....

But fear not dear readers. I have a semi-interesting post for you guys today. Not to mention I've got a few ideas for more moderately interesting posts in the near future. I just noticed this blog is still in the "newbie" category among Cubs Blog Army sites, even though I started it last April. Then again I kinda quit posting during the middle of last summer, so that's probably the reason why I'm still in the newbie pool which is only fair. It's better than being in the "Retired/Rarely Updated" pool. But looking at the other newbie blogs I notice that some are either closed or folks quit posting last July. So it's time to move up in the world, like for instance "Regularly Updated". But for that I'd have to actually update regularly, right? I'm sure it'll help me increase my readership to at least 6 readers. We can only hope.

That said, I've gotten a couple of questions about the new title of the blog. Apparently it gives the impression that I'm one of those "lemming" type fans that continue to go to Wrigley no matter what, never find fault with anything management does, and has the whole sunny/ lovable-loser/wait'll next year attitude about them. Apparently those who are eternal optimists are part of the Cub Nation "cult" that "swills the blue Kool Aid." The jaded, somewhat bitter Cub fans point to good folks such as Al Yellon at BCB (the Jim Jones of this cult given how some folks talk about him) as "pollyannas" and crayon eaters and whathaveyou. Needless to say, I find this highly amusing.

So am I one of these people? Is this site a homage to Hendry, Dusty, and all things Cubdom? Am I going to pick the Cubs to win the World Series every year?

The answer is no, no, and no.

I love the Cubs but I have issues with the direction this team has taken since 2003. But that's another story for another day.

The way I see it, every serious sports fan has in a way drank the Kool-Aid at some point in their lives. It doesn't matter if you're Ronnie Woo Woo or Chuck** you have drank the Kool Aid. When you invest a good deal of your time, money and emotion into a sports franchise, when you're buying all the gear, going to games, watching them on TV, or at least following their progress throughout the season, you have drank the Kool Aid. When you deck out your house in Cubs memorabilia or you have a Cub-related blog, you have drank the Kool Aid. You may be down on the team now, but you got hooked on them once and there was no turning back.

To me drinking the Kool Aid goes beyond whether you think Dusty is a great manager or you can't wait 'till he gets fired. It doesn't matter if you're overly optimistic about this team's chances in 2006 or you refuse to accept any more of the bullshit emanating from Clark and Addison, the fact that you follow this team closely and consider yourself a devoted fan means you've drank the Kool Aid.

At least to me it does.

Because really, if you hated the Cubs that much, there's a team on the South Side that plays ball too. I think they just won the World Series too. You could go root for them if you want. Granted you'll join the largest legion of mulleted morons this side of St. Louis but at least their management does whatever it takes to win. But I digress.

Still here? Can't pull yourself away from the Cubs can you? How else to explain the large following of a team that hasn't won a championship in damn near a century? A team known around the world for losing. Yet they have one of the largest fan bases in MLB and we all come back year after year. It's either because you grew up in a family of Cub fans, you grew up watching them on WGN and fell in love, or you just like rooting for historically shitty teams so you could bask in the sweet afterglow of victory once they won it all (like some people who rooted for the Red Sox until 2004 and then jumped ship to the Cubs who are now the cursed team du jour for them). Or you're just a masochist. Or you're one of the Wrigleyville poseurs who enjoys going to Wrigley because it's the biggest and best bar in Wrigleyville and they just happen to play baseball games there. No matter who you are, at some point you drank the proverbial Kool Aid and there was no turning back.

Cub fan for life. For better or worse. Mostly worse.

So that's what this site is all about. The Cubbie Blue Kool Aid is about being a fan no matter what. I'll have a more positive outlook than some of the other writers out there, but I won't be sugar coating anything either. It's just a blog about the Cubs from yet another fan who fancies himself to be a writer. So read on. Feel free to take a sip of the Kool Aid. This one is spiked for your enjoyment.

*I don't really do crack. Anymore. Crack is whack.
**I don't mean to pile on Chuck at Ivychat, I was just using him as an example of the jaded Cub fan. I actually enjoy reading his posts and it's one of the few Cub blogs I read regularly. Someday I'll make a list of my favorites. Not that you'd care or anything.

Jaque Jones. Why?

2005-12-20T21:34:00.000-06:00

The good news: It appears the Corey "Toolman" Patterson Era is over in Chicago.

The bad news: He was replaced by his mirror image, Jaque Jones. For 3 years and $16 mil no less.

What the hell Jim Hendry?

I've been behind Hendry despite the bad rap he gets from most Cub fans on the internet. But this move has me scratching my head. Unless he's got something up his sleeve and is going to get something of value for the Toolman. What that could be is anyones guess.

Seriously, who is Jaque Jones? A quick perusal of his stats for the last couple of seasons reveals this: BA hovering around .250, 20-something homeruns, 70-80 RBI's, an OBP in the mid .300's and over 100 strikeouts a year. It's pretty much the same type of numbers the Toolman brings to the table. Did I mention that the Cubs will be paying $5 milldoh a year for this? On the positive he has had seasons where he's hit above .300. The bad news is that was two years ago.

Let's see what the scouts say*:

Jones has tremendous bat speed that can drive a fastball a long way. In late 2003 and last spring, he looked like he was increasing his patience and selectivity at the plate, but often looked overeager during the summer. When he slumps, Jones tends to swing at virtually anything near the dish early in the count. He will get himself in a hole and his at-bats will last a matter of seconds. As his salary increases, he will need to improve in these areas to remain an everyday player for a good team. Greater patience would generate a better on-base percentage, as well as better power numbers, because he'd be swinging at better pitches to hit.

Funny, the same could be said about the Toolman.

A smart, aggressive baserunner, Jones isn't blindingly fast, but can steal the occasional base. He's one of the best-fielding corner outfielders in the game in terms of range, but continues to have trouble finding his release point on throws. One might fly to the backstop, and the next might roll to the cutoff man. His throws aren't consistent enough to play right field in many stadiums besides the Metrodome, which has a shallow right-field fence.

So the guy swings at everything and can't throw. It's bad enough we have a noodle-arm in center, now we have a guy who has a wild arm in right. Fantastic. Here's how the scouts projected him in 2005:

There's a lot of talent in Jones' body, and he has demonstrated the work ethic and attentiveness required to still improve. An emotional man, Jones could benefit from a more peaceful 2005. If he can combine his raw power and bat speed with a little more patience and a higher on-base percentage, he could become a borderline All-Star talent. If he doesn't progress, he could wind up platooning somewhere.

Well judging by his 2005 numbers, he didn't progress much. They were almost exactly the same as his '04 production. Yet he's not platooning anywhere. He's the new RF for the Chicago Cubs. Outstanding.

The silver lining in this is that Jones has demonstrated good work ethic and a desire to improve. The same has not been said of the Toolman. So maybe there is room for Jones to improve. Maybe he'll turn things around, cut down on the strikeouts and go back to hitting for better average.

I have my doubts.

*Scout analysis from ESPN

Random Thoughts

2005-12-16T15:29:00.000-06:00

Some random thoughts on a frigid Monday:

Does anyone else realize the official start of winter is still 2 days away? What's up with these single digit temps and all this snow? I just found my testes in the office parking lot after a frantic search. Apparently they froze off. That's how cold it is. That said, I can still take the cold better than that pussy Mike Patrick*.
Da Bearssss!!! Very nice win over Michael Vick (and the Falcons) last night. Urlacher was his usual self, the defense kept Vick and Falcon running game in check, and the banged-up secondary stepped up big. How about that hit Mike Green put on Jenkins to force that INT (and subsequent Jim Mora Jr. meltdown)? Jenkins was absolutely blown up. But of course the big story was Lovie's QB change after halftime, bringing in Rex Grossman after Orton stunk up the joint in the first half (2-10 12 yds.). You could see the energy level in the stadium rise up when Rex jogged on the field. He followed up the standing O from the crowd by driving the Bears to the goal line and cashing in on a fumbled INT by the Falcons to put the Bears up by 10. Overall Rex looked pretty good. Sharp, decisive throws, and just a general swagger about him that had been missing at the QB position. We still have to give props to Mr. Orton. He didn't exactly carry the Bears to a 9-4 record, but he did well enough not to screw it all up. You can't ask much more from a rook. People tend to forget this kid is merely a rookie. The fact that the Bears were 9-4 with him under center every Sunday is pretty amazing. But he's not the guy that's going to take the Bears to the next level. Frankly I don't know if Grossman is either, but I feel much better having him under center come playoff time. If he can provide some offensive spark and give the Bears some semblance of a passing game, we can truly start talking Super Bowl in this city.
Did anyone else notice the little "pizza place" montage they had on at one point coming in from commercial? It led to Mike Patrick saying something along the lines of "MMM, Chicago deep dish pizza. Send a couple our way" even though the pizza shown was clearly a thin crust. Idiot. And what is it with these stupid montages? Do they always have to show a pizza (or hot dog) place in Chicago? Geno's Cheesteaks in Philly? Fisherman's Wharf in San Fran? 8 Mile in Detroit? Someone make it stop.
And speaking of ESPN Sunday Night Football, this was the first full game I've watched on the network this season. There's 3 reasons for that: 1) The match-up sucks, 2) My girlfriend will start bitching about me watching football for an entire Sunday (she's not completely conditioned yet) and most importantly 3) The ESPN Sunday Night crew is quite possibly the worst team of commentators in the history of televised sport. These guys (and girl) are simply brutal. It was bad enough watching Kyle Orton do his best Jonathan Quinn impression without having to listen to these clowns. I wonder if the military forces the Gitmo prisoners to sit and watch these games with audio at full blast. That is pure torture. I know I'd much rather have a bag on my head, be stripped naked and forced to take pictures with that retarded Army chick than sit though 3 hours of Patrick, Theisman, McGuire, and Kolber. Thank God they're breaking them up after this year.
The Colts finally lost. And we can stop hearing the talking heads debate whether Tony Dungy should sit his starters or go for the perfect season. Regardless they're still going to win the Super Bowl anyway.
Staying on the football theme, I'm sure you all heard about that NAACP peterhead who came out and called Donovan McNabb a sell out among other things. What the hell? It's one thing for McNabb to get bashed by some blowhard, conservative, white football analyst, but now he's being slammed by a man of his own race- a race relations "leader" no less? And then people wonder why black people can't get ahead in this world. It's because whenever a black person becomes succesful and gets away from the black stereotype - in this case playing style of all things - some asshole has to come in and try to tear them down rather than support their progress. I mean seriously, McNabb is a star. He's getting paid and defining himself in a position that is open to racial debate (which is ridiculous in itself). Why not let the man continue to make strides in erasing the whole "black quarterback" thing? In not other sport is race even mentioned in the context of what position a person is playing. How is it a good idea to call him an Uncle Tom and suggest he share his money with some loudmouthed idiot who talked himself off the team? Like it's his fault Jeff Lurie is too cheap to pay his other star players. Let the man be.
And by the way, isn't it time for the NAACP to change its name? Last I checked, we stopped publicly calling people "colored" about 40 years ago.
Nomar is a Dodger. I wish him well, as he was one of my favorite players on the Cubs. I have refused to join the "Crap on Hendry" campaign, but you mean to tell me that it's ok to give Neifi Perez a 2 year deal but you couldn't at least offer Nomar another incentive-laden 1 year contract? When you don't have a proven SS and you don't seem to be able to get one on the open market? What sense does that make? I realize Nomar may well be damaged goods, but why not take the chance? The Dodgers are. And oh, they got Furcal too. I don't get it.
Cuba gets banned from the World Baseball Classic by the US government. Of course this looks like the work of the very vocal, very annoying South Florida Cuban faction. You know, the same folks who brought us the Elian Gonzalez mess. They'll do anything to spite Fidel Castro, including disrupting the anticipated world championships. Yes, Fidel is a prick but people this is baseball. Why let your political agendas ruin one of the more intriguing storylines in this tournament? Funny how they didn't make a big deal about the Cuban team playing the Orioles a few years back on U.S. soil (Baltimore). But the WBC is a marquee sports event. What bigger stage to further your anti-Castro agenda, and at the same time put a damper on a very cool event. Thanks a lot guys.
It's been mighty quiet on the free agent/trade front for the Cubs. Meanwhile the Sox keep getting better....
Why do I have a funny feeling that this Miguel Tejada stuff is going to blow over and he'll still be with the Orioles? Jose Vidro may be a more realistic option. I could live with him at 2B or possibly SS.
Has anyone heard the Albert Pujols radio ad for the WBC? Someone should take away his valium.
One guy not doing WBC ads: A-Rod. Listen, dude you can't please all of the people all of the time. You being the overpaid, pretty boy that you are, somebody is going to bash you for choosing to play for either the U.S. or the D.R. You could have kept it real and played for the monster D.R. squad or played for the country you've lived all your life in and played for the U.S. But no, you chose "Non of the above" to appease Madison Ave. Apparently $25 million a year doesn't buy you a good set of cojones. It's too bad, since most real baseball fans already don't respect you. By staying on the fence and not choosing sides, you gave them even more reason to dislike you when you were merely trying not to step on anyone's toes.

*Mike Patrick repeatedly bitched about how cold it was last night, going so far as to wear a blanket and Broncos ski cap during the game. Suzy Kolber was out on the sideline and is a woman, bitched about the cold far less than Patrick did. For more Patrick bashing, go here: Fire Mike Patrick

Got Pierre? Oui.

2005-12-07T10:44:00.000-06:00

Well, the offseason is looking a little brighter now that Hendry has pulled the trigger on a deal for Juan Pierre. Not a bad trade considering what was given up: Sergio Mitre, Ricky Nolasco, and Renyel Pinto. All 3 are highly regarded prospects, but you gotta give something up to get something in return. Mitre showed flashes of brillance last season (back-to-back shutouts of the Blue Jays and Marlins) but I'm not sold on him, especially after he fell off the planet late in the season. Best to trade him now while his stock is still somewhat decent. Nolasco and Pinto are still a year away from coming up to the show. Either one of these cats could pull a Dontrelle and set the league on fire with the Marlins, but I can live with that if Pierre can replicate his 2002 though 2004 performance. Don't be put off by his dismal numbers last year. This guy is still young and has some talent. He's exactly what the Cubs have needed since the 2003 season ended: a prototypical table setter. So now Pierre will get to play his home games at Wrigley, where the fans will no doubt show him love. I just hope he doesn't serenade them with his lame-ass rapping.

So what's next? There's talk about Lugo and Huff, as well Soriano, Mench, Kearns, and even Zito's names being bandied about. Let's see what else Hendry can come up with this week. But locking up Pierre goes a long way towards erasing the sting caused by losing Furcal to the Bums.

Time for a change at QB?

2005-12-05T23:45:00.000-06:00

Nice win for the Bears yesterday. Nothing beats watching Brett Favre get his ass pummeled into the ground repeatedly on a Sunday afternoon. Yet even though the Bears have won 8 straight, are pretty much a lock for the playoffs, and might even have a first round bye, their offense has been tough to watch these last few weeks. For all the hype and national media love Kyle Orton has been getting, his game seems to have been going backwards these last few weeks. Having poise and good pocket presence will only get you so far. At some point he's going to have to stop "managing" the game and start making plays. Start putting the ball where his receivers can catch it. Develop a good sense of timing with his number 1 wideout Muhammed. The kid needs to move on to the next level because the Bears can't keep counting on the defense smothering the opposition and scoring a touchdown or two while Robbie Gould adds a couple of field goals for good measure. At some point -soon- this Bears offense will have to start scoring some points to compliment the defense or they'll be one and done come January.

That being said, maybe it's time to bring Rex Grossman into the fold. When the subject of sitting Orton first came up a few weeks ago, I was 100% against the idea. Orton was winning games (OK the defense and the running game were winning the games. Orton was just there. But still...) and there was no need to mess up whatever rythm the offense had in favor of a rusty QB who really hasn't proven anything in the NFL yet. I mean, hell, Orton has started more games this season alone than Rex has in his 3 year career! But watching the Bears offense revert to its old, inept form these past few weeks has changed my perspective. Why not start Rex? He might bring some spark to the passing game and I feel a tad better about having him at QB if the Bears are down than having Orton throw passes behind his receivers for three straight downs and hoping Nate Vasher can run back another INT for a TD. However it's going to take a Bears loss coupled with a crappy performance from Orton to force Lovie's hand. Hopefully he'll make the change before its too late.

The One That Got Away

2005-12-05T23:23:00.000-06:00

By now most, if not all Cub fans are aware that prized SS Rafael Furcal took the money and ran to L.A. to play for that mess of a team otherwise known as the Dodgers. Go to any of the team message boards, e-mail lists, and blogs and you'll find a mixed reaction to this. Some feel that Jim Hendry did all he could and wasn't going to overpay for Furcal's services. Others act as if the team will now endure a 90 loss season because Furcal wasn't signed. And of course there are a few calling for Hendry's head. Even though it's only December.

I myself have mixed emotions about this deal. On the one hand, I realize Furcal isn't the be all end all of shortstops. A savior he is not. If anything, I think he is a tad overrated and $13 mil a year over 3 years is a bit much to pay for a player of his caliber. I can see why Hendry folded after the Dodgers went that high, especially since he still has holes to fill in the outfield. On the other hand, Furcal is still a pretty good player, better than any other free agent options at short, as well as better than anything the Cubs have at the moment. He would have solved the leadoff problem, had a good OBP, and had a fair share of steals, as well as providing some good glovework at short. But is he worth $13 mil? Shouldn't the Cubs have broken the bank in an effort to win the World Series. I mean it's been 97 years, what's another couple of million a year right? Then again, it is the Tribune we're talking about here. I'm sure Hendry is on some sort of a budget.

In the end, it might for the best. It's still early and there are still plenty of players for Hendry to choose from, altough they will likely come via trade rather than the FA market. Pierre, Julio Lugo, Aubrey Huff, Kevin Mench, Adam Dunn, and Austin Kearns are some of the names being associated with the Cubs this week. It stings to lose out on the Furcal sweepstakes, but it's still only December and way too early to panic. Let's wait and see what Hendry can come up with.

Furcal Watch

2005-11-30T10:40:00.000-06:00

The papers in Atlanta are saying Raffy Furcal is leaning towards signing with the Cubs. Right on!

I also wanted to make a correction in reference to my comments on Billy Wagner. I wrote that his "expiration date was two years ago" before realizing that he had 38 saves for the Phillies last season. The lesson, as always: I'm an idiot.

That said, I still think the Mets overpaid him. But that's been thier M.O. the last couple of offseasons anyway.

Quick Hits

2005-11-29T15:08:00.000-06:00

-Daaaaaa Bears!

-As you all know, the Cubs addressed their middle relief issues by signing Scott Eyre (formerly of the Giants) and Bobby Howry (formerly of the Indians) to big money deals. Some feel that the Cubbies may have overpaid for these two, particularly Eyre. If you agree, I'd like to point out the Blue Jays signing BJ Ryan to $47 million over 5 years. I know closers are a scarce comodity nowadays but damn! That is easily the most expensive BJ ever. Barump bump bump!

-Speaking of overpaid closers, the Mets locked up Billy Wagner for $43 mil. I think Wagner's expiration date was 2 years ago.

-The Trib is reporting that the Cubs are expecting an answer from Furcal by the end of the winter meetings next week. Apparently it's between them and the Braves. Furcal is seeking big money, a team with a shot at winning, and a place where he feels comfortable. Well the Cubs have a good bit of money to spend, they're close to fielding a true contender, and Wrigley is surrounded by bars in case Rafa gets thirsty. It's a match made in heaven if you ask me.

-The Cubs have released ticket prices for the upcoming season. Needless to say they're pretty ridiculous but still not the most expensive tickets in the Majors.

-Does it seem odd to anyone else that ESPN hasn't really said a whole lot about Michael Irvin being found with a crack pipe in his car? According to Irvin, he was just trying to hide it from a friend of his who is fresh off of rehab. Maybe if that friend was T.O. we might be hearing more about it.

-And in other news, Ronald MacDonald was charged with stealing from Wendy's. The Hambugler was unavailable for comment.

Good Question

2005-11-16T15:53:00.000-06:00

Click on the photo for the large version.

Odds and ends

2005-11-16T10:29:00.000-06:00

I've been out of action for a while so I wanted to cover a few things that have transpired in the last few weeks:

1) In case you haven't heard the White Sox won the World Series. I know many Cub fans would rather put that out of their memory rather than to have to read about it again three weeks after the fact, but I thought I'd weigh in with my opinion. Looking around at other Cub blogs and a couple of message boards, it seems feelings are split about 50/50. Some folks rooted or at least supported the Sox in their quest to win the World Series. And of course, there are the die-hard haters who would rather stick a rusty screwdriver in their eye than watch the Sox win

Would you have seen a similar sign at US Cellular if the Cubs had won? Probably not.

it all. Fair enough. Personally, I cheered on the Sox. Call me a bad Cub fan if you like but I don't care. I don't mind the White Sox, and I was happy for them winning it all. It's always good when a Chicago team wins a title. After all, it's not like that kind of thing happens regularly in this city anyway, especially in baseball. However when they won, I wasn't exactly jumping up and down. I was happy that they won, but there was an emptiness about it. It's the same way I felt when the Red Sox won it last year. I was happy it happened, especially because the team had been through such a long drought, but it's not my team. It's not the Cubs jumping up and down in the infield. It's another supposedly cursed team from another town. Or another side of town in the White Sox case.

I congratulated my friends who are Sox fans - even the annoying bandwagon jumpers - and began to face another long winter, made longer now that I have to see "White Sox World Champions" stuff everywhere I go. And yet, after they won Sox fans still felt the need to belittle the Cubs. Even sportswriters like Scoop Jackson (and I use that term loosely in his case) felt the need to reference the Cubs after the White Sox won it all. I guess even a World Series championship isn't enough for some of these people to get over their Cubs hatred. What can you do?

2) Albert Pujols won the NL MVP yesterday. No real surprise there, since he had great all-around numbers and essentially carried his team into the playoffs. Not to mention the fact that he's been getting screwed by Barry Bonds in the MVP vote the last couple of years. Andruw Jones finished second and D-Lee, who had better all-around numbers than Mr. Jones this season, finished third. Of course had the Cubs even come close to making the playoffs, D-Lee may have had a better shot at taking the title but alas. No matter, as 10 years from now, no one will really remember who the MVP was. Hell, some people will probably forget the White Sox won the World Series. Meanwhile A-Rod beat out Big Papi for the AL MVP. I would have voted for Papi, if for nothing else, the fact that he's the most clutch player of our time. Without him the Red Sox would have even sniffed a playoff spot. Of course he got screwed by the fact that he is a full-time DH and the writers tend to factor in fielding into the voting criteria. Can't argue with the A-Rod selection though, as he had yet another monster year. Either one of the candidates is worthy. I'm sure Big Papi isn't too broken up over this. After all he's got a ring and A-Rod doesn't. And that's all that really matters.

3) Rumor has it the Cubbies are close to closing a trade with the Marlins for Juan Pierre. Supposedly the Cubs would give up some minor leaguers - not sure who at this point. Although Pierre battled injuries and slumps during a disappointing 2005 season, He would be by far the best leadoff hitter the Cubs have had since Kenny Lofton was here. Actually he would be the only true leadoff hitter the Cubs have had since Lofton. Good speed would help out this team immensely. Just ask the Sox.

4) Of course there's also the Rafael Furcal deal, but dude's asking for a 5-year deal. The Cubs are balking at this and I can't say that I blame them. It's rare nowadays to see a free agent get locked up to a long-term deal like that. 3 to 4 years with an extension later on is more agreeable. If the Cubs could lock him up for 4 years and $50 mil I'd be happy. But I'm sure the Braves could probably match that and keep him in Atlanta.

5) Another rumor involves the Cubs dealing Patterson for Brad Wilkerson of the Nationals. Wilkerson's BA and SO numbers aren't that impressive, but he did have a .351 OBP last year and a career OBP of .364.

6) Alex Gonzalez (of the Marlins, not the Game 6 goat) name has also been thrown around in rumors. The Braves are also said to be interested, so maybe that will open the door for Furcal to come here.

7) The Cubs have basically told Nomar that he's free to see other people. Personally I'd love to see him back for another year or two. I know he's an injury liability, but he seems like a really good guy, plays hard, was willing to play out of position last year, and his hitting finally came around once he came back from the DL. I think Nomar has a few more decent seasons left in him and it would be great to keep him around. Jim Hendry has said the team would resign him for the right price. Hopefully the Cubs won't be their usual cheap selves on this one.

8) Neifi?! Perez was signed to a two-year deal, much to the dismay of many in the Cubs blogosphere. I don't quite understand what all the fuss is about. Do you honestly think that resigning him means Dusty will be tempted to play him everyday? The way some people make it out, signing Neifi?! Is akin to waving a bag full of crack in front of a recovering junkie. "Put him on the bench and Dusty won't be able to help himself! 100 more games of Neifi at shortstop. Shoot me now!" Please. They signed him to be a utility guy. Look no further than the Cubs' pursuit of Furcal and possibly Gonzalez. The plan is not to have Neifi?! as an everyday player. You people are funny. By the way, the "?!" next to Neifi symbolizes the utter shock expressed by many Cub fans after he was signed. I imagine "Neifi!?" is what was uttered by fans after they found out about the signing. Followed by a steady stream of expletives.

9) Todd Walker and Glendon Rusch will also be back. Jeromy Burnitz was given his walking papers. Needless to say, I'll miss having Uncle Fester in right field.

More tomorrow.

IT'S ALIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!

2005-11-14T10:57:00.000-06:00

I'm pretty sure no one is reading this page at this point, but I decided to post this in case someone happens to stop by (I have better odds of winning the $310 million lottery jackpot but hey...).

Anyway, I stopped writing here for a while for three reasons. The first is the obligatory work and homelife is crazy. The second is the almost equally ubiquitous grad school excuse (I'm working on my MBA). The third is, that in the limited amount of free time allowed by the previous two excuses, I just didn't have the motivation to write about a frustratingly mediocre team.

However, I have a new focus with this blog. First came the name change. It will no longer be titled Northside for Life but rather Cubbie Blue Kool Aid. The name change is due to the fact that I'll be taking this blog in a somewhat different direction. Of course it will be still about the Cubs (and other stuff), but I'll actually be A) writing regularly for a change, and B) trying my best to give a bit of a different perspective from that offered at the 857 other Cub blogs on the internet. There will be analysis, there will be humor, there will be linking to stuff other people wrote (it's still a blog after all and that's what bloggers do). There will be ripping on Jay Mariotti because we all know how much fun that is. There will be praise. There will be criticism. There will be calls for Corey Patterson to be traded. Pleas will be made for White Sox fans to love their own team more than they hate the Cubs. Basically, I will try to make this blog as entertaining as possible.

That said, I'm turning on the juvenation machine right now.

Ugh

2005-07-21T15:00:00.000-05:00

Of course I compose a post about whether or not this team is a real contender, only to have Kerry Wood break down yet again last night and then have the bullpen implode today.

Outstanding.

Are They For Real? (Part 2)

2005-07-21T10:45:00.000-05:00

Every guy has known a girl (sometimes more than one) that has lead him on, batting the eyelashes, shaking the booty, being all flirty, but stopping him cold if he tries anything. Essentially a tease. Every guy has had a girl tease him only to leave him disappointed and in need of a cold shower. That girl is this years Cubs team. They'll get hot, go on a winning streak, get your hopes up, and then turn around and lose 8 in a row and have you wanting to pour a pint of beer all over yourself. Or maybe that's just me. Now they seem to be back on the upswing, winning 8 or their last 9 games (last night's loss notwithstanding) and swinging some hot bats. Granted they've beaten a struggling Marlins team, and the typically lackluster Pirates and Reds during that stretch but still, a win's a win. If the Cubs want to make any kind of run towards the playoffs they have to take advantage of their relatively easy second half schedule and rack up the wins against losing teams.

The question remains however, is the team a true contender or is it just another hot streak for a maddeningly inconsistent team. The offense has improved of late, going from 13th in the NL in runs scored before the Florida series to 5th place. The Cubs also lead the NL in homeruns, and this without Sosa or Alou in the lineup. I think there are three reasons for the offensive resurgence:

Patterson's demotion to AAA and Dusty finally coming to his senses and putting a reasonable fascimile of a leadoff hitter (Hairston) at the top of the lineup and following him with the hot-hitting Todd Walker. These guys have had great success setting the table for D-Lee and the resurgent A-Ram.
The Cubs have become more patient at the plate and are reaping the rewards. I'm not sure if its a domino effect or what, but a couple of players in the lineup worked the count to get pitches they liked and now it seems everyone is doing it.
The Cubs have faced mostly shitty pitching. You know it's true.

Of course we already saw this in the beginning of June when the team snapped off a 7 game winning streak, including an amazing 6-1 west coast road trip. Then the hitting stopped and so did the winning. I beleive this team is primed to make a run, but some improvements need to be made, namely another outfielder and some bullpen help. Looking out on the trading landscape, there isn't much to choose from. There are rumors that Juan Pierre and Adam Dunn are available, but the price might be pretty high. Those are the two best options in terms of outfielders. Scott Williamson should be starting his minor league rehab assignment soon and hopefully he'll bolster a bullpen that's medicore at best. Other than that the Cubs could take a shot at Eddie Guardado or Danys Baez, but who knows what those teams will ask in return.

It'll be interesting to see if Hendry can pull another blockbuster mid-season deal. If not, I seriously doubt this team will clinch the wild card.

Huh????

2005-07-11T09:52:00.000-05:00

Just when you think you have some kind of handle on this game....

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, mostly because I've been busy with work and other pursuits, but also because the Cubs had been atrocious. They endured an 8 game losing streak that put them far behind the Braves in the Wild Card race. During the streak their bats appeared to have left. Typical of the Cubs to go on an offensive drought and have their bullpen break down again just when the rotation gets back in order. After that horrendous 4-game sweep in Atlanta, most fans were ready to write this team off. Then they go to Florida and not only sweep the Marlins but clubbed them, scoring at leat 8 runs in each game. Where did that come from??? And where was it last week against the Nationals and Braves?

I can't figure this team out, I swear.

So where do they stand? Currently 43-44 12.5 out of first, 6 out of the Wild Card. If they get on a hot streak they could easily surge back into contention for the WC. But given this team's inconsistency both at the plate and on the mound -mostly in the bullpen- it's hard to imagine the Cubs going on a tear similar to that of Houston last year (or this year for that matter). I guess we can hope Hendry makes a deal for another OF or a proven bullpen arm -or both. But at the very least you can't write this team off. Not yet anyway.

Some quick hits:

The Cubs hitters appear to have finally figured out that good things happen when you take walks. The Cubs took 9 in yesterdays game and showed great patience throughout the Marlins series. Could this be a glimpse of things to come? Could the team finally change from a free swinging mentality to a more patient and disciplined hitting team? If so a lot of that offensive inconsistency will go away and the Cubbies will start winning more games.
There are rumors out there that Dusty is going to be fired during the All-Star break. I highly doubt it. Even if the team goes into a tail spin and ends up losing 90 games, they'll let Dusty finish the season. The Cubs have been lethargic pretty much all year, altough they seemed to have a little more fire in them in Florida. I don't mind Dusty, but this team needs a more in your face, fiery manager who'll light a fire under their collective asses. An Ozzie Guillen type. Either that or break the bank and try to lure Steve Stone into the dugout. Wouldn't that be nice?
Did anyone else get tickled when Big Z went out to pinch run for Greenberg on Saturday? There's comedy, there's high comedy, and then there's Big Z running the bases. Fortunately he didn't have to slide this time.
And spreaking of Greenberg, it must really suck to get beaned in the back of the head on your very first Major League pitch. Here's hoping he gets some better pitches to look at in his next at-bat.
I like what I see so far from that Murton kid. He appears to be living up to the hype.
I wonder how the Toolman is doing down in Iowa. No really I do. I sincerely hope he can get his shit together down there and come back to help the team out later in the year.

Good Wood

2005-06-30T14:38:00.000-05:00

Wood was dealing yesterday.

"It's a celebration bitches."

You can feel the momentum building now. First Prior comes back from the DL and dominates. A few days later, Kerry Wood makes his return -after a few Iowa rehab starts- and delivers a great performance only giving up a run on 2 hits over 6 innings. What's even more encouraging is that these two fireballers might be taking a page or two out of the Mad Dog manual. One could see them using their breaking stuff more, trying to get batters out rather than just trying to blow them away on every pitch. This could be a key to staying healthy, especially for Woody. The Cubs won their 4th straight and go for the sweep today. The tide is turning.

Baby Steps

2005-06-29T11:35:00.000-05:00

For all the bitching and moaning Cub fans (myself included) have been doing lately over Corey "The Toolman" Patterson, he has been doing at least some things right. No he hasn't done much since requesting a move to the leadoff spot - hell, he hasn't done much all year outside of hitting an occasional solo homerum - but he did leadoff Saturday's game with a bunt single, eventually scoring on Aramis' grand slam. Sunday he hit a homer (yet another solo job but hey) to break the scoreless tie. And last night he made a great catch and throw for a double play in the eigth that saved the game. Of course, he struck out badly in the bottom of the inning (again), but hey...baby steps.

Redemption? Not quite yet, but this helps.

According to Jim Hendry, the Toolman hasn't been shopped to other teams and probably won't be in the near future. So as much as he may infuriate and frustrate us fans, we're stuck with him. There are signs of improvement, but obviously he hasn't put it all together. I question whether or not he ever will get it together and be the great player we keep being told he's supposed to be. Some players have a ton of talent but it takes them years to figure out how to get the most out of that and elevate their game and their team to a higher level. The Toolman has been here for four years and most times it seems as though he's regressed. Maybe it'll be in a matter of days. Maybe weeks. Maybe in a couple of years. Maybe never. But I'll take the baby steps as long as it leads to a better player in the near future. If not, Felix Pie is almost ready. Let's see what he's got.

Welcome back Prior!

2005-06-26T22:15:00.000-05:00

Mark Prior dominated the White Sox on Sunday.

So much for rehab. Mark Prior once again proved why he is The Man by coming back and pitching 6 innings of one hit shutout ball and making it look extremely easy. Is it me or does Prior always pitch like he has something to prove when he comes off the DL? Last year he shutout the Pirates in his return, only to have Latoya blow the game for him. Earlier this year he came off the DL and handcuffed the Padres. Now if Wood can be anywhere near this impressive Wednsday, then the Cubs will be in good shape. If only they can stay healthy for the rest of the year.....

Good Times, Bad Karma

2005-06-23T15:50:00.000-05:00

I returned home from Milwaukee at 3:00 AM, drunk and disapointed by another lopsided loss. I remember mentioning how the Cubs never got blown out during the slow start this year, now suddenly every loss seems like a blowout. Despite the outcome I still had a blast in Beertown. Here's a recap of my night at Miller:

Three of my work buddies, Marc, Jack, and Martin (names changed to protect the innocent) and myself piled into Marc's brand new 300C with a cooler full of beer and a mission to get to Miller Park before game time, no small feat considering we were driving from O'Hare to Milwaukee at rush hour. Riding in the 300C on a road trip reminded me of the Delta boys taking Flounder's brother's car for a night out in Animal House. Traffic, as could be expected, was hideous so it took us two and a half hours to get to Miller Park. By the time we arrived the game had already started, but there were still a few hundred cars rolling into the parking lot, the majority of them belonging to Cub fans. Then again, the vast majority of fans at the venue were wearing blue also.

Of course as soon as we had gotten in line to get into the parking lot, Jack and Martin started the trashtalking.

"Milwaukass"!

"This is Wrigley North"!

"Where's the ivy"?

"It ain't Wrigley but it'll do"!

"The Milwaukee Sewers"!

"When was the last time you guys had a sellout? Oh yeah, last time the Cubs were here!"

Of course all of this and more was said before we had even entered the stadium. Now those one-liners are pretty funny, but what's even funnier was Brewerfan's feeble attempts at a crackback. For instance, one of the parking attendants shot back with "when's the last time you guys made the World Series? 1945"?

Now hold up. Yes it's true the Cubs have a much-chronicled history of futility. Yeah yeah yeah, we all know how long its been since they won anything significant. But, when you're team has only made it to the postseason once in it's 34 year history and hasn't finished above .500 in a decade, you have no right to talk about how the Cubs "suck". They suck, eh? Look up in the standings. Oh yeah, it's the Cubs. Now I can take grief from Cardinals fans, Red Sox fans, Yankee fans, hell even Reds and Pirates fans whose team has had a history of winning but Brewerfan wants to talk about a shitty team? You want to talk about futility look no further than the 25-man collection of fecal matter that plays 81 times a year at Miller Park.

OK, rant over.

We got in the stadium during the bottom of the second and we stood around the bleacher section watching the action until the inning was over. Well it took a while. There were runners on first and third with no one out and you could see Big Z sweatin' from a mile away. After the first run scored we decided to find some seats. We eventually found a row of four in the first row of the upper deck on the third base side. From there we watched the carnage as Big Z imploded and gave up 8 runs, the dagger being Carlos Lee's three-run shot to left field that almost it a banner with his name on it. All this within 20 minutes of our arrival. That's the kind of karma you incur when you trash talk before a game. Down 8-0 we just drank, flirted with the cute college girls next to us and enjoyed the game for what it was worth. Wrigley North indeed.

Dusty pulls the Big Z after getting torched by the Brewers.

After the game mercifully ended, a 9-4 thumping, we went off in search of entertainment. There are no bars or restaurants near this stadium, but they do keep the Friday's restaurant open until midnight, including an outdoor patio with a live band (Boo! The Band. Yup, they suck). We saddled up to a table inside the park, overlooking left field -D. Lee hit a homer there a couple of nights ago - and discussed with the waitress the fact that when the roof is open, Miller Park looks like a giant vagina. We continued drinking until last call - and got the cute waitress to join us for a drink before leaving the park for the night. We then stumbled back to Marc's 300C and found our way back home. Oh yeah, in case you were wondering Marc was the designated driver.

All in all it was a good trip despite the outcome. It was the first time the Cubs had lost at a road game I attended. Gotta happen sometime I guess.

Mahalo Jerome

2005-06-22T10:30:00.000-05:00

I have to admit I felt pretty good about Jerome Williams before last night's game. The recent acquisition from the Giants had shown some promise in Frisco -even starting a game in the 2003 NLDS against the Marlins - before injuries and family problems affected his pitching performance. He did pretty good last night, giving up only two runs - on two solo homers from Bill Hall - on three hits and striking out six in seven innings of work. His control was a little spotty at times, as he gave up four walks, but the defense helped him out with a couple of DP's and he never let the walks come back to bite him. A solid start from the native Hawaiian.

The secret to his success?

Might be the puca shell necklace.

His good start does leave the Cubs in a bit of a dilemma as far as the rotation goes. ESPN1000 reported this morning that Prior is a go for Sunday's game with the White Sox, and with Woody's return on the horizon as well, there are too many good arms in the rotation and someone may have to get sent back to Iowa. From what I've heard, it appears that Mitre will stay in the rotation and Rusch will get demoted to the bullpen, with Williams possibly having to get sent back down to Iowa. The reasoning behind this is that Rusch would be better out of the bullpen than Mitre, who has been brought up through the minors as a starter. Rusch has been pretty decent in that "swingman" role, alternating between the bullpen and the rotation. He can make that transition more easily than Mitre could. Also given the lack of effective lefties in the pen, putting Rusch there might be a good idea. I'd like Williams to stick around, but he's also a natural starter and might not make an easy transition to the pen. Either way, it's a nice dilemma to have.

As for me, I'll be making the drive up to Beertown to catch tonight's game. Big Z is on the mound and hopefully he can get out of his mini-funk and keep the good times rolling. I haven't been to Miller Park since the '03 season, the game in which Randall Simon hit a homerun and then payed for Italian sausages for the entire section where the ball landed. Speaking of sausage, I might try for the cycle tonight (eating an Italian sausage, a Polish sausage, a Bratwurst, and a hot dog). I came up one short last time, but if I'm in the mood for gorging myself I'll give it a go tonight. Go Cubs!

Quick Hits

2005-06-21T15:08:00.000-05:00

Just a few points before tonight's border battle:

Congradulations to the Mad Dog for matching Tom Seaver in career victories with 311. Both pitchers have reached that mark in 20 seasons, altough one would think Mad Dog has a good year or two left in him. Also interesting that Seaver has more career K's than Greg, but Mad Dog's got more Cy Young Awards.
There is talk about Mark Prior coming back as soon as this Sunday. I'm not sure whether I should be happy or concerned about that bit of news. On the one hand, the rotation needs him badly but on the other hand doesn't it seem a tad soon for him to be coming back from an elbow fracture (however small it was)? I know the Cubs, Prior, and Prior's dad (yeah, his dad) have always taken their time coming back from they variety of injuries he has suffered, but seriously, he's only missing a month from an injury that originally looked season-ending? If so, then more power to him. But I'd rather have Prior back at 100%, be it this Sunday or in August.
Nice 5-out save from Dempster last night. I've become convinced he's the answer at the closer position, at least for the time being.
Nice play by Neifi! on the 8th inning double play. It even made BBTN's Web Gems. He also got a couple of hits. Good to see him contributing after a rough couple of weeks.
Derrek Lee is just ridiculous. Did I mention that yet?
A trade for Preston Wilson? I'll echo the sentiments of every other Cubs blogger out there: "Oh God NO"
Trade away the Toolman? Yes please. And why the hell is his mug included with D. Lee, Aramis and Barret on www.cubs.com> cubs.com All-Star photo montage? He has absolutely no business being considered for the All-Star game.
Jerome Williams makes his Cub debut tonight. It'll be interesting to see if he's regained the form he had in his first go-around with the Giants, before his injury and personal problems took over and made him expendable for LaTroy (yikes!). Apparently the organization would have liked him to stay in Iowa for a little while longer but they need help now. Good luck Jerome.

June Swoonin'

2005-06-20T15:00:00.000-05:00

I don't like where this is going. Earlier this month I had mentioned how the tough June schedule could hurt the Cubs with their depleted pitching. However the team's winning streak at the time had me optimistic about their chances at a winning month. Well throw that out the window. A series loss against the Marlins (with two ugly blowout losses) and getting swept by the not-so-mighty Yankees has exposed this team's weaknesses in a major way.

Not having Wood or Prior is really hurting right now. Those two are stoppers. Big Z is a stopper too, but he's been erratic his last two starts. Having the big aces in the rotation healthy and ready to go helps stop losing streaks before they start. Because seriously, when was the last time anyone has seen the Cubs pitching get battered like this for so many games in a row? Not since '02 at least. But right now things are not good. Borowski is getting lit like a Roman candle. Neifi! is looking more and more pumpkin-like everyday. Corey the Toolman seems to be getting worse (if that's possible). And now they're bringing up the kid Jerome Williams a little earlier than they wanted to.

I can't say I'm surprised by the last week or so of misfortune, but it's so disappointing considering how well the Cubs opened the month. Typical Cubs, always teasing. They start a 4-game series at the vulva-shaped Miller Park today. I might make the drive to catch one of the games up there. There's still time for the Cubs to salvage a winning month and stay in the thick of the wild-card race, but as of right now it's not looking too good.

What'chu talkin' bout Willis?

2005-06-14T11:18:00.000-05:00

In the past the Cubs have had great success hitting former prospect Dontrelle Willis. Last night he came back and essentially stuck it to the Cubs, both on the mound and with the bat. And to think we traded this guy for the biggest disaster after the great Chicago fire, Antonio Alfonseca. At least we got Matt Clement out of the deal. He's doing great this year. For the Red Sox. I guess he needed to be on a team that actually scores some runs for him.

Bleh.

Imagine this guy in a Cub uniform. Oh wait...

At least Woody's on the way back. Three innings of work, but no curveballs and the fastball was barely making it into the '90's. A work in progress for sure.

At least we got him in a Cubs uniform, only

it's in the wrong city.

Oh well. We'll get 'em today.

Reel Big Fish

2005-06-13T17:04:00.000-05:00

As a devoted fan of a team, one would typically have a distaste, loathing, or downright hatred of another team or teams. The typical Cub fan professes a dislike for the Cardinals and White Sox, natural geographical rivals. Me, personally I can't stand the Cardinals and not just because I'm a Cub fan. Something about that team has always bothered me. I don't know if it's their uniforms with the stupid birds sitting on a bat, or their ugly stadium (which is meeting the wrecking ball after this year thank God) or the 50,000 yokels dressed in red that fill their stadium. I just don't like them. I don't mind the White Sox. I'll go to a few of their games, mostly because it's cheaper than Wrigley and I get to see AL teams you normally wouldn't catch on the Northside. I do dislike White Sox fans who seem to care more about what the Cubs are doing or how much attention they get rather than the fortunes of their own team. I also dislike the Padres for the obvious reason: 1984. I still remember them celebrating the 20th anniversary of that season last year by playing a game in the throwback Burger King uniforms they wore in 1984. That game just happened to be against the Cubs. Assholes. I'm glad the Cubs beat them that day and swept the series. What kind of name is Padres anyway?

And there is one other team that I have a serious distaste for. The Florida Marlins. For the same reason as the Padres. They somehow came back to beat the Cubs in an NLCS. And 2003 was a much bigger collapse than '84, including one of the ultimate stomach punch games, Game 6. Well, the Marlins are in town tonight for the start of a three game set with the Cubs. It doesn't look too good for the Cubs as far as pitching matchups go. The Fish bring out their three big guns, Dontrelle, Beckett, and Burnett. Meanwhile the Cubs counter with two younguns, Koronka and Mitre, and the old man Mad Dog. But if we've learned anything about this year's team, it's that they tend to win when it looks gloomy on paper. Mitre beat Halladay last week. Koronka beat Lowe. The Marlins have been underachieving somewhat lately so now's probably the best time to take them on if you're the Cubs. Another 2-1 series win would be nice going into the Yankee series. Let's go!

Grill the Marlins!

Red (Sawx) Invasion

2005-06-13T13:48:00.000-05:00

Well this past weekend lived up to the hype. The Red Sox came into town and it was every bit the circus I expected it to be. I had the opportunity to attend last night's game, altough I had bleacher tickets and due to some unfrorseen circumstances I arrived during the top of the 2nd. Needless to say I was stuck moving around trying to find a good vantage point for a few innings before finding a seat up around the scoreboard in center. Needless to say I picked the wrong game, as Boston clubbed the Cubs 8-1. Still the Cubbies took 2 out of the 3 in the series, which is what I was hoping for.

JoeBo reacts after ManRam takes him deep.

Well for recaps of the actual games you could go to a variety of places. I'm not going to rehash what happened on the field because chances are you already know how things went down. However here are some impressions from the game I went to yesterday:

I knew there'd be some Boston fans at Wrigley since they represent well when Boston plays down at US Comiskular Field (yeah I go to a White Sox game once in a while, and what?) but I had no idea there would be so many at Wrigley. They were out in droves. There's usually a lot of Cardinal fans whenever St. Louis is in town, but I think there were even more Red Sox fans here in town this weekend. Or at least it seemed that way. Now I know how the fans in St. Louis, Milwaukee, San Diego and every other city where there's a large amount of loud Cub fans feel. Still, the Bostonians were cool and I never get tired of the accent. They know what's it like to follow a team that hasn't won in ages and can empathize with us Cub fans. Better yet they now know what it's like to finally have their team break through and win the whole thing. And you could tell by their attitude. The fans I encountered weren't loud and obnoxious, even after their team took a commanding 7-0 lead. They also didn't have the arrogance that Yankee fans posses. They were just cool, laid back seemingly basking in the World Series afterglow. Or maybe it was all the Boston World Series Champions merchandise I kept seeing everywhere. However, as much as I've heard about how insufferable Boston fans can be, the ones I encountered at Wrigley were anything but. If anything I was a bit jealous and I'm wishing the day the Cubs play an interleague game at Fenway (probably in a couple of years) we all can go up to their yard wearing our Cubs World Series Champions gear. We can dream can't we?
What I found humurous was the bleacher denziens attempts at talking smack to Sox fans. "Red Sux!" I heard someone exclaim. "Sweep!" someone else said, even though the score was like 7-1 Boston at the time. The Red Sox fans didn't really respond. They don't have to. All they'd have to say is "Kiss the ring, bitch." Seriously, how do you talk smack to a fan of a team that's the defending World Champion? Yeah it's nice to beat them. I text messaged one of my buddies after the Cubs closed out the Sox 7-6 with a message that read simply "How bout those Cubs!". This buddy of mine is one of those who's been down on the Cubs since the season started for a variety of reasons. His reply was "Yeah but Boston got it done." How do you come back to that one? You don't. It's nice to beat them the next year but at the end of the day its just another regular season win. They could finish last this year and it won't make much of a difference. They're still the champs until October. And as a fan of that team, you can bask in the afterglow and simply flip off idiots who try to talk smack because their team beat yours in June.
Due to the fact that I kept moving around during the game, I was able to catch portions of the ESPN broadcast on the closed-circuit monitors. At one point they were interviewing Boston GM Theo Epstein. Is it me, or is Epstein the most interviewed GM in baseball? You don't even see Hendry on TV as much (locally or otherwise). The only other GM I see on TV regularly is the dishelved-looking Brian Cashman, who along with Joe Torre nowadays appears to have a guillotine hangin over his head everywhere he goes. Why is Epstein on TV all the damn time? Because the Red Sox finally pulled through? Because he's only 29 (which makes my 27-year old cubicle dwelling ass feel like a bit of an underachiever)? Is it his good looks? Is it because he's in a rock band (true story)? Frankly I'm getting tired of Theo Epstein. We get it, he's a young baseball genius. Let's see him juggle that high payroll and subdue those crazy clubhouse personalities the next couple of years. If he can keep fielding a contender than I'll be convinced he's a true genius who needs to be on TV all the damn time. Then again it could be worse. They could've been interviewing Ben Affleck at Wrigley Field.
It was a nice touch to play "Sweet Caroline" for the thousands of Red Sox fans in attendance, who sang along loudly ("so good, so good, so good!"). It actually gave me goosebumps. And there's yet another similarity between Wrigley and Fenway: They both play music that's 20 to 30 years old.
Johnny Damon is a free agent next year. The Cubs should make a serious run at him and if they're able to acquire him, trade Corey "The Toolman" Patterson somewhere else while he still has some value. I want Captain Caveman in center for the Cubs next year.

My next game is Tuesday night against the Marlins. Of course last time I went to see the Cubs play the Marlins, it was Game 6. Sorry, still not over that one.

Mets pick up Graves

2005-06-07T11:52:00.000-05:00

Just saw a headline on ESPN's website saying the Mets picked up former Reds closer Danny Graves. I'm surprised the Cubs didn't pick him up. I mean, they still have the arsonist reliever position open since they traded LaTroy, I figured they'd get Graves to fill that role. Oh well.

Sosa vs. Burnitz

2005-06-07T11:06:00.000-05:00

I meant to do a stats comparison between the Cubs' old RF, Sammy Sosa, and the new guy in right Jeromy Burnitz at the end of each month. You know, for shits and giggles. Well I've finally gotten around to doing that.

Here is Sammy's current stat line :

AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
157 16 37 7 1 5 17 16 24 1 .236 .311 .389 .699

This is Burnitz's stat line:

AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB AVG OBP SLG OPS
218 29 57 13 2 8 34 18 41 3 .261 .314 .450 .764

Granted Burnie has played in 15 more games than Sosa (due to Sammy's foot injury) but it is clear he is doing a bit better than Sosa so far this year. So for all of those who still carry the torch for Sammy (you know who you are) the Cubs would be no better off with the Dominican Dumbass playing in right. If anything Burnitz has been playing the Sosa role well, towering home runs and lots of strike outs, altough he has been a slightly better contact hitter than Sammy thus far. All this without the showboating and hops after hitting a homerun.

Sammy who?

Are they for real?

2005-06-03T15:41:00.000-05:00

The Cubs are on a roll. Can't say that I'm surprised. Why? Two reasons: First, pretty much every MLB team will get hot at some point in the season. For example the Pirates won six in a row last month. And the Royals just finished sweeping the Yankees. It happens. Second, this team was due for a hot streak. There is just too much talent -even with all the injuries- to continue struggling the way they were.

There are a few keys to their succes of late:

The offense, led by Derrek (MVP) Lee, a resurgent Aramis, Jeromy Burnitz, and a solid Neifi! Perez. There are too many bats in this line-up to stay in an offensive funk. Even better, they've become more disciplined at the plate and aren't just waiting around for someone to hit a 3-run homer to do all their scoring. It's pretty refreshing.

"...and BOOM goes the dynamite"

The bullpen has pitched decently. The various roles are now better defined, with Wuertz as the setup guy and Dempster doing a good job as closer (like I said he would, suckas). Also getting rid of LaToya was a huge plus. Even if those two prospects don't pan out, it was still a great deal. Hell I'd have traded LaToya for a gift certificate to Target if given the chance.

The starting pitching has remained solid, despite the loss of Prior and Woody's absence. Mitre has done pretty well and that Koronka dude wasn't that bad (not to mention his girlfriend was pretty hot). And Glendon Rusch is freaking awesome. Where did this guy come from? I mean he was 1-12 with the Brewers in '03 the Rangers released at the begining of the '04 season. The Rangers! Because we all know they're loaded with pitching down there. He comes here and has been outstanding as a starter. And now 5-1 with a 1.96 ERA? It doesn't get much better. At the same time though, I keep waiting for the bubble to burst.

So long sucka!
They've been playing crap teams. Well at least until the San Diego series. They hosted the Astros and Rockies last week, the two worst road teams in the league, and they played a fading Dodgers team. Still, those are the teams you have to beat. However a 3-1 series win against the best hometeam in the NL (Padres) is pretty damn impressive.

So there you go. All those pessimistic, supposed Cub fans who were lamenting a lost season after only 30 games must now sing a different tune. At the very least, this team is making things interesting. And Dusty Baker is actually looking smart for a change. However I'm not buying my playoff tickets yet. This team has quite a few question marks:

The starting rotation consists of Z, Mad Dog, Rusch, and......um......who? Woody should be back soon but he has a glass arm so who knows how long he'll be around or how effective he'll be. Mitre has stunk up the joint during his last two starts. Koronka was O.K. in L.A. Nothing spectacular, but good enough to get a win. I have to see more of him to get a better gauge. He goes up again tonight against the Blue Jays. But it's looking like the rotation is going to be pretty shaky for a while.
Corey Patterson. While the rest of the team has been hitting the cover off the ball, Corey swings and misses at balls in the dirt with guys in scoring position. I don't know about this guy. The talent is obviously there, but he's inconsistent and just hard headed. Of course this has been discussed to death on various blogs so I won't get into it here. I think Marc Silverman of ESPN 1000 said it best when he said he heard Corey was a 5-tool player but he only saw one tool out there and it was none other than the center fielder himself.

The incredible strikeout machine

The schedule in June is killer. Games against the Padres, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Marlins, Yankess, and the pesky Brewers. You could easily see another "June swoon" this year. Not to mention most of the team's games against the Cardinals are in the second half. That could be a problem.
Neifi! might turn into a pumpkin. He's been kick ass so far, but who knows if he'll run out of gas.

All together now....Neifi!

Despite these questions, I think this team has enough talent to at least contend for a wild card spot. I don't see them catching the Cards. I mean when those guys lose a big gun like Rolen and keep -pardon the pun- rollin', you just know there's little to no chance. But I like the Cubs' chances at making it a fun summer.

Cubs pull off another one

2005-05-18T16:21:00.000-05:00

The Comeback Cubs? Say it ain't so!

For the second day in a row the Cubbies rally in the 9th off of Jose Mesa. After getting shut out for the better part of the game, the Cubs get a run off of Kip Wells in the 8th, and then two more off of "Senor Smoke" in the 9th to take a 3-2 lead. After yesterday's flawless save Dempster decided to bring out the gas can to the mound again today, loading the bases before getting a force out and then a double play to end the game.

Another great 1-run win for the Cubbies who come back home to face Ozzie Montana and the White Sox.

Speaking of comebacks, it appears Big Z will be a go for the weekend series against the Sox, starting Saturday's game. According to cubs.com Z had a good bullpen session today, throwing hard with no pain. It's reassuring to hear that Z is going to be alright after this elbow scare.

Go Cubs!

It was only a matter of time....

2005-05-18T16:14:00.000-05:00

Well someone finally went out and did it. That's right, it's FireDustyBaker.com! I wonder if they have T-shirts.

Apparently this domain name was purchased last year and the owner began posting his thoughts 10 days ago. While I've had my issues with the Dust Buster's management since last season, I'm not jumping on the Fire Dusty bandwagon just yet. I'm going to wait and see how this year pans out.

Cubs sign Enrique Wilson....woo-flippin'-hoo

2005-05-18T13:40:00.000-05:00

So the Cubs picked up Enrique Wilson and signed him to a one-year deal in an effort to solidify the Cubs bench.

Great, another reclamation project.

Remember the "Lemons"? The 2003/04 Cubs bench players' nickname? This year's group will be called the "Hoovers". Because they suck.

Witty I know.

D-Lee to the rescue....again

2005-05-18T12:46:00.000-05:00

The Cubs played their typical game last night in Pittsburgh: Good pitching performance from Mark Prior and batters consistently getting on base only to be stranded there because nobody could drive them in. Going into the 9th inning, the Cubs were down 3-2 and had to face Jose Mesa who had converted his last 23 save opportunities. It looked like yet another excruciating Cub loss until Jerry Hairston turned on Mesa's first pitch fastball and drove it into left for a double. Then came D-Lee. He already had driven in the Cubs two runs for the night. The next thing he drove was a Mesa pitch out of the ballpark. 4-3 Cubs as Lee comes through again in the clutch.

Hairston and Lee celebrate after Lee's 9th inning homer.

Where would this team be without this guy? Seriously?

Ryan Dempster came in and closed out the Pirates with an easy 1-2-3 inning. When was the last time that happened?

It was a good win, and possibly a turning point game. This could easily give the Cubs some positive momentum going into this weekend's series against the Sox and beyond.

But why am I so concerned with this team still? Lee is going above and beyond what anyone expected him to do. Without question he has carried this team so far this year. He's been the only one that consistently steps up in the clutch. Aramis (a.k.a The Musketeer) got the big contract at the begining of the season and has subsequently disappeared. He hasn't gotten into the groove with the bat and he's had to deal with some nagging injuries (groin and hamstrings). Corey has been Corey, great one night, abysmal the next three, Burnitz has done about as well as was expected-if anything he's been a pleasant surprise so far this year. And that's about it.

This team has some real problems driving in runs, worse than last year. For instance, last night before the 9th inning, the top four batters in the order had reached base 8 times. only 2 scored. Come on. That's why you have Prior telling the media he feels as if he has to pitch a perfect game because the run support isn't there. The same goes for all the starters on the staff. Sure they'll go out there and pitch great most of the time, but now they have the added pressure of having to pitch a shutout or near a shutout everytime because the bats won't be there to back them up. It sucks. Last night Lee put the team on his back and did everything, but you can't possibly expect him to do it all year. Someone else has to step up. Someone else is going to have to bring all those runners home. Hopefully this is just a funk that the team will get out of.

Unfortunately as I write this, the Cubs are down 2-0 in the 7th to Kip Wells and the Pirates. Kip Wells!

Damn.

In the Army Now

2005-05-17T16:27:00.000-05:00

This blog received a blurb and inclusion in the Cubs Blog Army , a site featuring links to various Cub-related blogs. My writeup looks like this:

Northside for Life
May 11, 2005

'Til death do us part has another meaning at this blog.

Northside for Life - Blue.
"Northside for Life contains the rantings and musings of yet another crazed Cubs fan who has never given up despite goats, Steve Bartman, and Kerry Wood's bum arm. Here I sit, waiting for the magical year when the Cubs take it all. In the meantime I'll write my impressions on the good, bad and ugly (bad and ugly being very prevalent with this team of late) aspects of Cubs baseball." - Blue

Northside for Life got started in April, but took a sabatical due to work, illness, and vacation. But, its proprietor is feeling better and has been updating regularly for the last week or so. "Blue" lives in the second city and has the opportunity to occasionally take in a game. His current post is a recap of last night's game which he attended. He has also posted about a few of the games he recently saw in Florida. Head on over and give it a good looking over.

Feels good to get some sort of feedback on what I write here (seeing as how all 3 of my regular readers do not bother to post comments. Maybe my writing sucks that much). One minor quibble though: I was never sick. Busy as hell yes, but never ill (except maybe mentally but that's a whole 'nother story). If you want to visit the CBA or any of the affiliated sites, just click on the links on the righthand side of the page. Check 'em out, as many of them are more insightful than some of the drivel I write here.

White Flag Time?

2005-05-17T11:03:00.000-05:00

The Cubs begin the week in 4th place with a 16-20 record. Not too terribly bad but not too great considering the talent on this team. Yeah there's been injuries, but the team has played well enough to win more than 16 games. There are a variety of reasons for it of course, the injuries, the bullpen, the inconsistency of the starters, the inconsistent bats. But you look around some of the other Cub blogs, listen to the callers on sports radio, and already the doom and gloom is setting in. "Oh the Cubs are done." "Wait 'till next year, again." "The season is over."

I think Bluto Blutarsky of Animal House fame said it best: "It ain't over until we say it is!"

After all, it's only freakin' May!

16-20 on May 16th. 7.5 games out of first, 5.5 out of the Wild Card lead. It's a bit of a hole, but there is still time to make up ground. Last year the Astros were further out (something like 8 games) of the Wild Card later in the season (I want to say July) before they turned it around. And we all remember that, since the turning point was the Cubs-Astros series at Wrigley where Barrett had his little vendetta with Roy (Lee Harvey) Oswalt. The Astros won that series and the tide turned. But I digress.

I'm not too worried about the Cubs chances. Yet. But I am starting to get concerned. Peter Gammons placed the Cubs first on his list of early season disapointments (found here: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=2061052). Yet its early enough still to where I can hold out hope for a turnaround.

Here's how it can be done:

The four big starters that are currently active (Prior, Z, Mad Dog, and Rusch) have to hold down the fort. This team is not going to score a ton of runs, so the pitching has to be on point. Right now they're averaging about 5 runs a game. That's good enough to win consistently with good pitching. Just ask the White Sox. They haven't exactly lit the league on fire with their bats but their starters have kept them in games. That's what the Cubs starters need to do. Right now the staff ERA is 4.35, 9th in the NL. Given the talent in this group it should be a lot better.
The bullpen needs to improve. Easier said than done considering this group. Borowski is on his way back which should help. So should Williamson once he gets off the DL. Jim Hendry needs to make a move here and get some help for this bullpen. Of course its way too early to make a deal, as teams don't typically start looking seriously into trades until late-June into July. But if Hendry wants to make a move for a reliever, he needs to make sure he's getting some quality. Lest we forget the Alfonseca deal. We got Alfoncseca and Clement in exchange for some prospects that included Dontrelle Willis. Seemed like a good trade at the time. Clement was a solid starter in the couple of years he was here and is now kicking ass in Boston (we should have kept him) and Alfonseca turned out to be the worst relief pitcher in Chicago Cubs history. Oh and Dontrelle? He's only been lighting the NL on fire this year, as well as having solid seasons the past two years in the majors. Yeah I know the Cubs need to win now, but you can't toss some great prospects to some other team where they'll flourish while the guy we pick up bombs.
Try and get another bat. It wouldn't hurt. Maybe a true leadoff hitter if possible.

Like I said, the Cubbies have dug themselves in a hole here in the early going, but it's nothing a good 8 or 9 game winning streak can't change. The team just needs to get rolling...soon. Otherwise we'll be waiting 'till next year yet again.

D. Lee rhymes with M.V.P

2005-05-12T12:14:00.000-05:00

Derreck Lee is the motherlovin' truth man! This guy is amazing. Triple crown anyone?

Bombs Away

2005-05-11T11:01:00.000-05:00

I actually had the opportunity to attend last nights game between the Mets and the Cubs, thanks to some free tickets from my boss. Sitting in the first row of Section 505 I witnessed one of the better played Cub games of the season, a 7-0 win. Some thoughts:

Watching the game I got a 2004 flashback, as the team scored 5 of its 7 runs by way of the long ball, including three solo shots. Now I don't have any problem with the team hitting lots of homeruns, but I'd hate for them to be dependant on the long ball for scoring like they were last year. Right now it looks like they're headed in that direction yet again.
Corey Patterson hit two homers, giving him 8 for the season. Further proof that he has no business batting leadoff. Right now Corey has a .294 OBP-kinda low for leadoff-has attempted only 2 stolen bases, and is second in the team with 8 HR's, all of them solo. Dusty should have Corey in either the 3 or 6 hole and have him crank some of those homers with runners on base. Corey has shown again and again that he has the slugger mentality, even when hitting leadoff. In that case drop him in the order and have Hairston, who has a better OBP anyway, bat leadoff. Speaking of Hairston, why the hell is he batting 8th?
The Mad Dog pitched a gem, giving up only three hits while striking out 10 in 6 and 2/3. It's always a thrill to see him pitch in person and he was finally given some good run support (not that he needed it).
Jason DuBois should play everyday. Period.
This was the Cubs' largest margin of victory since Opening Day at Arizona. 31 games in between blowout wins. Wow.
I heard Sammy Sosa got placed on the 15-day DL, right before his return to Chicago, so he'll be staying in Baltimore during the Orioles upcoming roadie. How convenient. I'm glad I fought off the urge to buy tickets to that Sox-O's series.
It took forever for Dusty to realize LaTroy Hawkinseca isn't a closer, but only one game to take him off the setup role. It's now long relief for him. Good move Duster.

No relief

2005-05-10T10:09:00.000-05:00

Man.

What do I write today?

The Cubs lost 7-4 to the Mets last night in a game that ended around midnight after a couple of long rain delays. I had tickets for this game but sold them because I was kind of in a cash crunch. I'm glad I did. I tuned in about an hour after the game was supposed to start to see they were in a rain delay with the Mutts up 4-0. I guess Leicester didn't do too well. No surprise there, I couldn't see this guy as a starter. When I tuned back in a couple of hours later the game was in the bottom of the 5th, Cubs still down 4-0. They tied it in the 6th, the highlight being Barrett's towering 3-run homer. After that they once again crapped the bed.

LaTroy came in to pitch the 8th. After yesterday's rant about how he could only function as a setup guy, I was anxious to see him prove me right. With one out in the inning the asshole gives up a homer to Doug Meinkdrfhdsjkfvich (you know, the first baseman). Dusty says he's snakebit. I think it's time we started shopping him around to another team. I mean yeah, every pitcher is going to have a day where they get taken out of the park or they give up a couple of runs. It just seems like that's everyday for LaTroy.

However with the Cubs down 5-4 I don't give up hope. Braden Looper isn't exactly lights out. The Cubs strand another runner in the 8th so up comes the newly appointed closer, Dempster. In my rant yesterday I mentioned how Dempster should have been the closer from the start. Maybe he'll prove me right. Wrong. He gets killed by singles and igives up two runs. 7-4 Mets. As the second run of the inning crossed the plate I turned off the TV.

This team is not playing well. They're not getting blown out, which means the starting pitching has been decent. The bullpen sucks and the offense just isn't there. They're getting harder and harder to watch.

"Put that coffee down! Coffee is for closers"

2005-05-09T11:46:00.000-05:00

In my last post I discussed the Cubs' recent losing streak. Of course a big part of that streak was due to the abysmal performance of the bullpen, including LaTroy Hawkins who took two of the losses. The most frustrating of those was Friday's game against the Phillies where Troy made that bad throw to first. Yes it was an incredibly dumb play and yes it was yet another in a long line of blown saves for Troy but I think a lot of fans tend to forget one thing:

LATROY HAWKINS IS NOT A CLOSER.

The man himself has been saying it since the day he signed with this team. He's not a closer. He's never done well in the role, doesn't like it, doesn't want it, he just plain is not the man for the job. There's a certain mentality that goes along with being a closer and Troy simply doesn't have it. Put him in the eigth inning and he's fine. Put him in the ninth in a tie game and he does reasonably well (except for last week in Milwaukee, but the Brewers just dinked him to death. They didn't really hit the ball well but they did hit it to the right spots). Put him in the ninth with any kind of lead and its a disaster waiting to happen. So do I blame LaTroy for what goes on late in Cub games? No. I did once, but now I've come to a conclusion that many others should realize as well: This man can't close. Dusty is just setting up the team for failure by continuing to put him out there in save situations. Yeah LaTroy has good stuff. Yeah he can get guys out. Just not in the ninth with a lead. He'll always make that one bad pitch that gets hammered either out of the park or off the wall. And if it doesn't go out the park, Troy falls apart and lets the guy score.

So what do the Cubs do? Dusty has put Ryan Dempster in the closer's spot for the time being, which is what I think he should have done at the begining of the season. Dempster has proven to be a servicable starter, altough he's prone to the one bad inning where the other team knocks him around for a few runs. He does get a lot of K's, but also gives up a good amount of walks. If he can cut those down, he could be good in that role. Could be.

The other option is the return of Joe Borowski. Yikes. I love JoeBo because he's a real gutsy, blue-collar guy, but who knows how he'll do coming off surgery. Plus he just took a line drive off the knee down in Iowa (I swear this guy has become a ball magnet) so who knows how long it'll be before he comes up. And when he does I'm sure Dusty's not going to thrust him into the closer's role immediately. Or so he says. I don't trusty Dusty anymore.

Michael Wuertz has said he wants to close. That's pretty ballsy and I like it. He wants the ball in that situation and wants to shut the other team down. That's half the requirement for being a closer. A good set of cojones. Unfortunately the other half involves actual pitching and Wuertz is too inconsistent to be trusted. He's still young though, he could possibly be there later on.

Billy Bob Thornton a.k.a Mike Remlinger. I don't know about him closing. Too eratic.

Kerry Wood? Dusty will make him throw his arm off as a starter before he ever gets sent to the pen.

So what's left? Go outside the organization. There's Octavio Dotel, but he's another LaTroy. Great setup guy, but when put in as a closer he's the ultimate arsonist. There's that Baez kid in Tampa, but I don't know if they're willing to trade him. They say that Affedlt (I know I screwed up the spelling) kid in KC is good, but he's hurt right now and who knows what the Royals will want in return. Another option would be to again raid the divisional AAA team otherwise known as the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jose Mesa. Of course we could probably send down a couple of good prospects for Mesa and then watch him turn into Antonio Alfonseca, Lord knows he's got the look down already.

By the way, Jon Leicester is starting today. That should be interesting.

Skid marks

2005-05-08T23:36:00.000-05:00

Baseball is a game of streaks. Some streaks are favorable, such as Derrek Lee's 18-game hitting streak, and others are on par with a brown stain in your shorts, such as the Cubs 7-game losing streak. Losing streaks happen over the course of a baseball season. The Cubs have not had a streak that bad since 2002, a season in which they lost 95 games. The big reason for that is the great starting pitching the team has had the last couple of years put a stop to these streaks after a couple of games. But during this streak, the team has just found ways to lose that are just excruciating. Wood only goes 3 innings before he breaks down again (did his warranty expire yet, or can we still trade him for another model?) . Mark Prior looks good the next day before he gets lit up like Richard Pryor by Mike Lamb of all people. Zambrano pitches a great game but the team only scores one run for him and Corey Patterson throws his helmet at an umpire when he gets tossed for arguing. The next day Roberto Novoa, who arrived in the Kyle Farnsworth trade and wears the Farns' old number 44, did his best Farns impression and walked in the winning running. A walk-off walk. The day after that Hawkins gives up a bloop single for another Brewer walk-off win. The next day, Prior pitches a gem, only to watch LaTroy throw it off of Jose Offerman's helmet and into the stands, allowing two runs to score....the tying and go-ahead runs mind you. The "Ooooooh Noooooooo!" that came out of Ron Santo was up there with the one he let out after Brant Brown dropped that flyball in '98. At 6 games, the streak is as ugly as Will Ferrell running naked down the street in Old School. And guess who's throwing out the first pitch and singing "Take Me Out to The Ballgame" the next day? None other than Frank The Tank himself. Even Ferrell's best Harray Carey impression can't spark any life into this team, as they phall phlat against the Phillies, 4-1.

Of course all streaks come to an end sooner or later. Today, Big Z was on the mound and he was taking no shit from no one. He dominated, and again the Cubs could only manage to give him 2 runs to work with-solo dingers from Neifi and Aramis-but that was enough. And in the ninth Dusty did the right thing and left him in to close out his own game, which he did effectively even though he let the tying run get to third. 135 pitches later, Big Z was still bringing it nasty style, strking out Jose Offerman to end the game and doing his patented fist pump, as well as a cool looking bald headbump with Barret. Cubs win 2-1, and the skid is over.

Now it looks like Dusty is going to put Dempster in as the closer for now and go with either a four man rotation or bring someone up from the minors (Mitre maybe? Guzman?) The team is having a hard time producing runs (again) and that worries me, altough Aramis had a good day with the bat. If we could have him and Lee going strong and get some guys on base in front of them, the Cubbies should be ok. Borowski should be coming back soon and he's looked good in Iowa, which is encouraging. All this team has to do is tread water for the time being until Wood, Walker and maybe Nomar come back, and until Hendry makes a move of some sort (and he will make a move). Once that happens the team should be in a good position to challenge for the Wild Card (I gave up on the division title at the begining of the season).

Let's hope the Cubs can put together a seven game win streak now. That would really help. If they do, I'll go streaking through the streets of Naperville, Old School-style.

Or not.

Game Report: Pirates vs. Cubs 4/24/05

2005-05-08T23:22:00.000-05:00

Today (actually this was a couple of weeks ago but I'm just now getting around to writing about it) is my first game of the season at Wrigley. It's also my 27th birthday (hooray for me!). Tickets to the bleachers was my birthday gift to myself. Can't think of a better way to spend a birthday, can you?

I usually don't like going to Wrigley in April, with the exception of Opening Day, because the weather just plain sucks most of the time. On this day the temps were in the low-'50's and it was sunny and clear out. It was a major improvement over the day before where the temps were in the '30's with below freezing windchills and flurries blowing about. I left home around 11 in the morning and drove into the city, arriving in Wrigleyville around 12:30 (yeah I live pretty far). I drove around looking for a parking space before finding an open slot on Clark just north of Irving Park Rd. Walked the few blocks to the park and got in close to 1:00. Of course by that time most of the bleachers are filled so I ended up having to sit way up in the centerfield bleachers right under the scoreboard. No biggie though, as the view was still great. I got the game as well as the city skyline to my left. Pretty cool.

The game itself was pretty good. Kerry Wood was on the mound and gave up two runs early, but then settled down and was dominant. Until about the 5th inning. In the bottom of the 5th, he comes up to bat and pops out. At the top of the 6th, he's gone, inexplicably replaced by Glendon Rusch. Um, what? Where the hell is Woody? Of course I'm sitting there worried thinking he injured himself again. No one else around me seems to care and are busy talking about corporate finances (the too-well-dressed-for-a-ballgame grey hairs in front of me) or what Sheila said to Darcy about Rob at the bar last night (the chatty bitches behind me that talked about everything except the damned game going on in front of them). Of course it turned out to be that pesky bursitits again. Which later turned out to be Woody's strained shoulder after he went only 3 innings his next start. *Sigh*.

The offense was provided by the long ball. First a Neifi solo shot followed later in the inning by a monster 3-run homer by Burnitz. That was it until the 9th when Patterson scored to make it 5-2. Chad Fox came in and closed out the Pirates fairly easily, only to come back the next night and blow out his elbow.

Still, the Cubs won. A day in the sun, with ones you love, and a Cubs win? That's the best birthday present of all.

Game report: Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Devil Rays 4/20/05

2005-05-08T22:38:00.000-05:00

What? A Devil Rays game report? Yeah well...

I went on vacation to Florida for a week in April. My girlfriends grandparents live in Tampa and were celebrating their 50th anniversary. My parents live in Orlando and I haven't seen them in almost a year so I figured it was a good time as any to visit. Checking out the sports landscape in the area I noticed the Devil Rays had a home series against the Rangers while we were there. Now Rangers-Rays isn't exactly a marquee matchup but I'd never been to Tropicana Field and I wanted to mark that park off on my list. That and the fact that the cheapest ticket there is $5 clinched the deal.

Now the Tampa Bay Devil Rays play their home games at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg-not Tampa. It's a bit of a drive but the traffic was light so we got there pretty quickly. As most know, Tropicana Field was originially built as the Thunderdome (or some such stupid name) in the early-'90's to attract a Major League team from another city. They piqued the interested of the White Sox and Giants but those two teams essentially used Tampa as bait to get new stadium deals out of their respective cities. The Bay eventually got their own Major League team, starting play in 1998. The Devil Rays joined the ranks of the Major Leagues along with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Of course the D-backs went on to make 3 playoff appearances and win one World Series since then. The Devil Rays have become one of the most irrelevant teams in professional sports.

At first glance, the Trop looks like some sort of UFO just crashed into the side of I-275. The roof is slanted at an almost 45-degree angle and is somewhat transparent, so it looks like the thing is glowing. Parking was cheap and fairly easy. The best thing about this stadium is the Florida Walk, a palm-tree-lined sidewalk that is covered tiles that depict a seascape. Pretty damn cool. We bought tickets for "The Beach", the $5 bleacher section, and walked in. Once inside, it looks like you're walking through a mall and not a stadium. A large statue of a Rays player stretching out to catch a ball looms from the ceiling. Stores and restaurants line the concourse. The walk to The Beach seemed to be as far as a walk to Clearwater, given that we had to go up two levels and walk to the other end of the stadium. Once there we could see why these seats were $5. It was a set of metal bleachers perched high above the leftfield fence, with a fake sand and palmtree motif in the concourse behind it, as well as a Tiki bar-type place. But hey, for $5....

By the time we got to our seats the game was in the second inning and the Rays were up 1-0. Looking around the stadium one could see the vast emptiness of the place. There were about a dozen or so people in our section, and about maybe 10,000 in the entire stadium. The place was a sea of blue seats. Not surprising considering the match-up and the fickleness of the Florida fan. My girlfriend and I watched as the Rangers took a 6-1 lead on a Mark Texieira grand slam. The place got so quiet you could hear pins drop. Even the jumbotron imploring fans to "get loud" and make some "NOISE!" didn't help. God, I hate places where the fans have to be told when to cheer.

The game got uglier as the Rangers took a 10-2 lead and the Rays were dropping infield fly-balls, and making all kinds of mistakes. It was really starting to look like Major League and I was starting with my Bob Eueker impressions. I wanted to move down closer to get a better look at the "action" but the girlfriend was bored with the whole thing and we left somewhere around the 5th inning. Of course that's when the Rays started mounting a furious comeback. I checked the scoreboard on the way out and it was 10-5. By the time we had left the stadium and were on the Florida Walk the announcers on speakers said the score was 10-7. Great, we decide to leave just as the Rays decide to make a game of it. The Rangers eventually won the game 12-10, but we missed out on what appears to be an entertaining high-scoring game. Or at the very least those listless Rays fans would have gotten loud and made the place feel like a real ballpark.

On a sidenote, I had forgotten that former Cubs SS Alex Gonzalez is now the Ray's 3rd baseman. I was reminded when he came up to bat in the 3rd inning and his face came up on the Tron. My girlfriend was surprised that he was in Tampa, especially since just a few days before she had asked about where he was playing (I wasn't sure but I thought I rememmbered him being in Tampa.) She commented on how "rough" he looked, beard stubble and longish hair. Of course he looks rough I said. Look where he's playing. Two years ago you're playing for a storied team, your home games at one of the best ballparks anywhere, on a playoff team on the brink of the World Series. And then your error in Game 6 sparks a massive Florida rally and your team loses the game and eventually the Series to the Marlins. Then the next year your team is picked to win the World Series, only you're traded midway through the season for Nomar Garciaparra. Well at least it's Nomar, right? Only instead of getting traded to the eventual World Champion Red Sox, you get sent to that baseball black hole known as Montreal, where they constantly live out of a suitcase because they're not sure where they're going to play next. Then after the season the Expos move to Washington where they're welcomed with open arms, but they don't really need you anymore so you end up signing with that other baseball black hole, Tampa. Now you're playing your home games in front of a small crowd of people in this ugly-ass looking shithole of a stadium where the fans won't even get loud when the Tron tells them to and if they do it's probably because the Red Sox or Yankees are in town and they're rooting for them. I'm sure Alex spends his downtime at his beachfront home drinking and contemplating how turning that double play in the NLCS could have changed his life. But hey, at least he's getting paid.

After that rant I wonder how my girlfriend puts up with me. I'm also sure I've pissed off any Devil Rays fan who reads this. Then again, I doubt anybody in Florida is reading this shit anyway...

But check off Tropicana Field from my list. My MLB ballpark list now stands at 5. Sad I know, but I'm working on it!

M.I.A.

2005-05-08T21:34:00.000-05:00

Yes I know the last post on this here blog was written on April 11. I don't think all 3 people (and I'm being generous) who read this thing actually cared. But I'm back and better than ever (not hard to do given my limited content so far).

There are various reasons for my absence, the two major ones being work and a weeklong Florida vacation. I also had to study for a final exam (grad school) and am in the begining stages of starting a business. That and all the other daily bullshit I deal with is why I hadn't really had time to post. That said, I have watched and/or listened to as many Cubs games as I could during that period of time, so I've done a good job of keeping up with the team. And during that time the team has mostly played like crap (including the 7 game losing streak I'll talk about later).

During my time away from this blog the Cubs have lost Todd Walker, Nomar, Woody, and Chad Fox. The last one pissed me off more than anything because it was clearly Dusty's fault. The man has Fox close out a game against the Pirates (my first game of the season by the way) and all things seem to indicate that Fox is the new closer. However, the next day in the paper I read about how Dusty won't be pitching Fox on back-to-back days to conserve his arm, seeing as how Fox has had a history of elbow problems and is coming off major surgery last year. Fair enough I say. So guess what Mr. Baker does the following night? He puts F0x in during the 9th inning with the Cubs up 10-3. Fox is completely flat, walking guys and then giving up a three run homer. Obviously the man has nothing and needs to be taken out. Nah, Dusty leaves him in there to get the final out even though the man is clearly laboring out there. I'm at home beside myself wondering what in the hell Dusty is thinking. Is he going to leave this guy in until A) the Reds tie the game at 10 or B) Fox throws his arm off. Of course we all know the answer is B as two pitches after this thought came into my head Fox blew out his elbow. Thanks a lot Dusty. Of course the Wood thing is just a kick to the groin (ours, not Nomar's) as well. We should just drop the pretenses and make this guy the closer. Seriously. Who else do the Cubs have anyway? Have Woody pitch one inning (or maybe even two) every few days. Come in there and just let 'er rip. I think we could actually hold on to a few of those 1-run leads. Granted Wood would have to get rid of the starter's mentality and cut down on the walks he tends to give up early in the game, but hey, this could be the key right here. What's that you say? We'd have to find someone to fill his spot in the rotation? Well we have to do that right now for the next 6 weeks, while he sits on the bench and shaves people's heads. At least as the closer he'd be of more use to the team than the DH (Designated Hairstylist. Yeah, I know that was lame).

Also during my M.I.A time I was able to sample some Devil Rays baseball. More about that in a later post. All I'm going to say is I'm glad I live in a city with a real MLB team (and I root for the Cubs, so that should tell you right there).

The White Sox have the best record in baseball. I love Ozzie and all, but where did that come from? And will it last? I kind of doubt it, but they don't seem to ever lose no matter what, so I'm starting to get some faith in that team. That and the sinking feeling that they're going to seriously kick the Cubs' ass in interleague play this year.

Wasted Effort

2005-04-11T16:32:00.000-05:00

Dempster pitched a great game today, only giving up one unearned run in 6 innings. Too bad the Cubs couldn't bring anyone across the plate.

They lost 1-0 to the Padres.

They had a few scoring opportunities but again weren't able to get the clutch hit. Kudos to San Diego pitching on the shutout.

Already I'm hearing the "If Sosa and Alou were here we would've scored a couple of runs".

Bleh.

How many shutouts did we have last year with those two on the team? Oh yeah, 12.

Tomorrow is another day. Prior is scheduled to make his first start. Let's see what happens.

Chores and baseball

2005-04-09T23:12:00.000-05:00

Watched today's game while cleaning out my kitchen. Yes the man of the house doing the cleaning. And the cooking (altough half the time my lazy ass will order takeout). What does my woman do? Sleep.

I'll give you a little insight into my living situation. I live with my girlfriend (and soon to be fiancee once I get around to proposing) and her 12 year old son. She works nights, so she sleeps during the day. Couple this with the fact that I work full time (during the day like all the other normal people) and am currently attending grad school, and a lot of the little household chores pile up and get put off for the weekend.

And a lot of times I'm the one doing them.

So some weekends I find myself catching up, doing laundry, fixing stuff up, vacuming, etc. Not a problem during February and March, since there is very little sports going on and the weather sucks anyway. But once baseball season starts I'm forced to multi-task.

So at 1:20 pm today I found myself wiping down countertops, sipping on a beer, and keeping an eye on the game. How's that for multi-tasking?

Domestic duties aside, today's game was a good one. Big Z was lights out, going 7 and 1/3 and only giving up 1 hit and walking 2. There was an "oh shit, not again" moment in the first inning when Big Z started shaking his right arm and called out Dusty and head trainer Rick Reed to the mound. They talked for a little bit, and Z threw a couple of warm-up pitches. He had an "this ain't too bad" expression on his face during the warmup toss (Gotta love how Z wears his emotions on his sleeve. He must suck at poker though) and then gave Dusty and Reed an "I'm cool" head nod. Dusty and Reed returned to the dugout and Z went on to blow away Junior Spivey on three straight pitches.

Apparently Z got a cramp in his arm. According to Dusty, this has happened before and is no biggie. Just the words I wanted to hear. Don't need another pitcher on the shelf with arm trouble. Altough I think that if Z screwed up his arm, he'd be hard-headed enough to just pitch through it until his arm fell off.

Dusty put LaTroy in in the 9th inning to close the game. It was a non-save situation but I'm guessing the Duster wanted to give Troy a confidence booster after blowing the game yesterday. Troy actually got through it 1-2-3, altough Spivey took him to the warning track in leftfield for the final out. Had the wind been blowing out that would have been yet another gopher ball given up by Troy. With 2 outs no less. Despite that Troy did a good job preserving a one-hit shutout and dealing the Brew Crew their first loss of the season. Hopefully this easy inning will go a ways towards giving the man enough confidence to improve his performance as a closer.

I'm not counting on it.

Arrrgh!!!

2005-04-08T16:29:00.000-05:00

Top of the 9th, Cubs have a 3-2 lead over the Brewers in the home opener. Out comes the closer by default, LaTroy Hawkins.

"Fasten your seatbelts, folks" announces Pat Hughes. Indeed.

Troy gets ahead of the first two hitters, then tries unsuccesfully to peck away on the corners before retiring them. An easy 1-2-3 for Troy? Say it ain't so.

He gets to two strikes on Junior Spivey before giving up a single. Troy never makes it easy.

Troy gets to two strikes on Lyle Overbay before Overbay shoots a grounder down the line for a double. Spivey scores. Tie game. Yet another blown save from Troy.

New year, same bullshit.

Fortunately, he gets Carlos Lee to fly out to center before exiting the field to a chorus of well-deserved boos.

Damn!

Random Thoughts

2005-04-08T09:55:00.000-05:00

The home opener of course is today against the hot-hitting Brewers. It'll be a good chance to see if Woody is over his shoulder issues. I'm thinking he'll have a good day. My fearless prediction for Woody's line: 7 IP 6 H 2 ER....Cubs win. That's not too much to ask for is it? Unfortunately I'll be missing out since I'm going on vacation soon and have a bunch of work to finish up. I had planned on taking half a day off of work, head over to Wrigley and see if I could score a standing room ticket. Now I'll have to settle for listening to Pat and Ron on 720. *Sigh*
The other staff ace, Mark Prior, had his minor league rehab start last night against the Alberquerque Isotopes (when did they move out of Springfield?). It didn't go well as he gave up 7 earned runs over six innings, altough 5 of those runs came in the first. For the night he threw 88 pitches, 57 for strikes and struck out 7. Take out the first inning and it's not too bad of a start, especially when you consider that he hasn't gotten much work in the spring and the Isotopes' home park is considered the Coors Field of the Pacific Coast League. The Cubs haven't released word of whether or not Prior will start next week against the Padres. It wouldn't be a bad idea to give him another Iowa start for him to work out the spring training kinks and be 100% ready for MLB action. Give that April 12 start to Glendon Rusch and have Prior take the next turn.
Another case of Premature Hop-ulation? Remember last year when Sammy Sosa hit a long drive to right field in Pittsburgh, did his signature home-run hop, only to watch the ball carom off the high right field wall and bounce back into play? The homer hop limited Sammy to a single and a good bit of ridicule. Sammy made it worse when he refused to "apologi" for it after the game. Fast forward to last night at Sammy's "new house" at Camden Yards. Sammy hits a long drive to left-center, does the hop, and watches the ball bounce off the warning track and into the stands for a ground rule double. Lucky for him it went out of play, otherwise he might have only gotten one base out of it and made himself look an ass yet again. You would think Sammy would have a better grasp on the dimensions of his new house so that this kind of thing doesn't happen. What I really want to see is Sammy do the hop but have the ball fall short of going out and then get thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double. Preferably at his new house in front of all those fans he's so desperate to win over. I'm not bitter or anything. Honest.
Speaking of ex-Cub sluggers, I heard on SportsCenter that Moises Alou is having calf trouble again and might go on the DL. Better with the Giants than with us I say. Given his injury-prone past and the fact that he played the last two years injury-free, it seems as if he was due to have some sort of health issue. I really liked Alou when he was here and didn't really agree with letting him go, but at the same time I understood the logic. Looks like Hendry made the right choice on this one.
I love listening to sports talk radio. I spend about 2 hours a day commuting to and from work, and I'll usually have my radio set to WMVP AM1000, or ESPN Radio. Their hosts are for the most part pretty knowledgable and offer some good insight altough other times they seem to be kind of short on material and tend to nitpick and overanalyze. That said I pick up some good knowledge by listening to this station. However, I cringe whenever they have fans call in with their opinions. Yesterday evening was no exception. The show I was listening to, hosted by Jeff Dickerson and Mike O'Golnick (sp?) had the hosts ask callers for their opinions on the Cubs and White Sox after both teams finished their first series of the season. Kind of premature in my opinion seeing as they've only played 3 of 162 games but whatever. Of course here comes some "woe is me" Cub fan calling about how the season is over, the pitching staff sucks, the team can't hit for power because Sosa and Alou are gone, the Cubs can't come back because they lack power hitters who could hit big homeruns late, blah blah blah. "Wait 'till next year" this moron says. All this after 3 F*CKING GAMES! And I know there are other fans out there already thinking of stepping out on the ledge because the team has started 1-2. Let's not consider the fact that Maddux doesn't pitch well in April or that Dumpster has no business being in the rotation. The Cubs can't hit, huh? They only tagged the Snakes for 16 on opening day, and have been showing good discipline at the plate altough a lot of their hits didn't find the gaps the last two games. But that kind of stuff happens. Of course Dusty has already started with his questionable strategic choices (pinch hitting Neifi Perez instead of Dubois or Hairston for example). People please, CHILL THE F*CK OUT!. Let the season progress and let things fall into place. Let the rotation get sorted out once Woody and Prior start pitching again, Mad Dog gets in his grove, and Dumpster is put in the bullpen where he belongs. Let the hitters get in their groves too. This team will not have as much trouble consistently scoring runs as they have in the past. Yeah they're not going to score 5 or more everyday, but we won't see the feast or famine act we did last year with a 13 run game followed by struggling to get 1 run the next day. Give the team some time.

D'backs 8, Cubs 3

2005-04-07T09:55:00.000-05:00

Cubs dropped another one in Arizona last night, making them 12-21 all time at the BOB. It seems the D-backs have the Cubs number, beating them 2 out of 3 to open this season, and beating them 4 out of 6 last year during thier 111-loss season. Granted those games were early in the year before Arizona's season went down the toilet, but it still sucks to lose a season series to the worst team in the majors.

Last night's game marked Ryan Dempster's first start since July of 2003 and altough his stat line indicates otherwise, he didn't have too bad of a start. Dempster struck out 7 in 3 and 2/3, and had pretty good location. His major problem was not being able to close out the Diamondbacks after getting 2 outs in the inning. Arizona scored 5 of their 7 runs off of Dempster with 2 outs. I like what Dempster brings to the staff but I'm not sure if we wouldn't be better off having him in the pen and bringing Glendon Rusch into the starting rotation.

As for the offense, the Cubs showed good patience at the plate and made good contact. The problem was damn near every ball they hit was at an Arizona fielder. There were a few line drives hit on the button that were caught by D-backs, including a screaming line drive by Barrett that ended up being a double play. D-backs pitcher Brandon Webb also did a good job with his sinker, forcing a good amount of ground ball outs.

The Cubs come home now to face a Brewers team that essentially trashed the Pirates in two games at PNC. We got Woody, Big Z, and the Mad Dog going in that series so that's a plus. I expect nothing less than the Cubbies to take 2 of 3 from the hot-hitting Brew Crew.

Another rough April start for the Mad Dog

2005-04-06T09:39:00.000-05:00

The Cubs lost last night 5-4 with Greg Maddux giving up five earned over five innings-including 2 homeruns to Luis Gonzalez. I can't say that I'm surprised, as I had the over-under on runs given up by the Mad Dog at exactly 5. Maddux has become a slow starter-in terms of season performance, not pitch speed Poindexter- as he has gotten older. During the last three years, Greg has been 6-6 in the month of April with a 5.10 ERA. He's 8-4 and 3.42 in May during that timeframe, and it seems as though he gets better as the weather gets warmer, judging by his 10-2 and 2.43 in July and 8-5 with 2.60 in August. So expect a few more rough starts until Mad Dog gets in his groove-and the umps start giving him the corners again.

Speaking of Luis Gonzalez, anybody else find it odd that he hit 57 homeruns in 2001 and hasn't really come close to that since? Or even before for that matter? Hell, the second most he's had was 31 in 2000. This from a guy who wasn't really a power hitter the first seven or so years of his career. Then all of a sudden he's blasting 57 out the park in one season. After that season his power numbers dropped back down to the mid-20's for homeruns. Reminds me of Brady Anderson.

Cubs off on the right foot.

2005-04-05T10:14:00.000-05:00

Well the Cubs win the first game of the season, a 16-6 rout over the Arizona Diamondbacks. I watched most of the game and was pretty impressed with the Cub offense. All you heard in the last few months is how were the Cubs going to put up runs after losing Alou and Sosa. Well it appears the Cubbies have answered that question. Now I don't expect them to light up the scoreboard every day, and it's only one game out of 162, but I feel pretty good about the team's ability to produce some runs.

Big Z, Carlos Zambrano, looked decent altough he was a little wild at times. It didn't help that home plate umpire Dale Scott squeezed him on a few close pitches. I still think Dusty should have just let him work out of that bases-loaded situation. The Cubs were up six, and they didn't seem to have any trouble hitting the ball, especially considering the fact that they went on to score 7 more runs in the game. Then again, Scott's calls were starting to get to Zambrano and he was letting his emotions get the best of him, eventually getting himself thrown out of the game after Dusty went to get him.

What's the deal with Big Z anyway? The last two years we read about how he has matured and is going to do a better job at keeping his cool, only to see him have a meltdown when the slightest thing goes against him. Let's see, last year he flipped out at Jim Edmonds after he homered off him, plunking him on his next at-bat and getting thrown out. Then he threw his hat to the ground in disgust when Todd Walker cut off a throw to the plate. And now he gets thrown out of the game on OPENING DAY. Don't get me wrong, I love Big Z to death. The kid is young, has a great arm, and is only going to get better. He is easily going to become a 20 game winner pretty soon, maybe even this year. But he has to keep his emotions in check. It's ok to be fiery and competitive, but it becomes a problem when your game is undercut by your emotions. And that's what happens to Big Z. The ump doesn't give him a couple of strikes, he loses it. There's an error on the field. He loses it. He throws a bad pitch and it gets knocked out of the park, he becomes a wreck. Z needs to learn to deal with these things and pitch through them because until Woody and Prior show that they can stay consistently healthy he is the staff ace.

Opening Day

2005-04-04T16:27:00.000-05:00

So it's finally here, Opening Day. I'm sitting at work watching the beloved Cubbies take on the Diamondbacks down in PHX. So far so good, as they scored two in the top half of the first inning. I'm thinking the way they opened this game might be a sign of what to expect from this revamped Cubs offense. All hits were singles, the first RBI was on a Nomar groundout, and good baserunning from Corey. Last year's Cubs team swung for the fences at every opportunity. In this instance, the Cubbies relied on good contact hitting to produce some runs. I like it.

Well having gotten the OD update out of the way, maybe I should tell you a little more about myself. I'm originally from Chicago and have been a Cub fan for as far back as I can remember. I moved to Puerto Rico in my teen years but was able to follow the team on WGN. Now after college I moved back to the Chi and continue to bleed Cubbie blue to this day.

I got the idea for this blog after stumbling upon a number of Cubs blogs, notably the Cubs Blog Army and thecubdom.com. The plan is to keep a daily log of my favorite baseball team and post thoughts about them, as well as sports and life in general. There'll be some rants, raves, some analysis, and maybe some incoherent ramblngs now and then. In essence a little bit of everything.

This is my first blog so it may not be very polished at first. Some posts will just be random thoughts and ramblings. But I'll try to keep it entertaining and lively.

Till next time....