Archive for October, 2008
October 16th, 2008
This guy gets to play in the World Series?
If someone would have told me in March that Scott Eyre was definitely going to be playing in this year’s World Series, I would have said “He’s a Cub, so, awesome”, but then asked “Why Scott Eyre?”
Well, after two-and-a-half mediocre seasons with the Cubs (this season: 7.15 ERA in 11.1 innings), the lucky SOB got traded on Aug. 7 to World Series-bound Philadelphia, where he decided was a good place to start pitching consistently well:  1.88 ERA in 14.1 innings.
And now that it’s October, I’m still asking myself: “Why Scott Eyre?”
I’m not bitter or anything.
October 13th, 2008
Resigning Kerry Wood and Ryan Dempster seem like musts to me, but after that what should the Cubs do for the always coming “next year”?
I think the Cardinals and Astros will be better next year, but the Brewers pitching makes them a question mark. The Cubs need to improve if they want to win the division again. If not, they’ll finish third or fourth.
I think it’s time to trade Derrek Lee despite his decent playoff performance. You always want to trade a player a year or two before you really want to and I think Lee has slipped at the plate and in the field. Either give Micah Hoffpauir a shot with the team or trade him.
Or, how about trading Soriano, putting Hoffpauir in left and acquiring a true leadoff man? You can always put Reed Johnson in left for defense in the late innings.
Or, how about giving Johnson the everyday centerfield job and have him bat leadoff? He has good plate discipline and wound up hitting better than .300 in a limited role.
The Cubs have options. They can stand pat or they can do something dramatic like sign CC Sabathia and then make a blockbuster trade for a leadoff hitter, a big left-handed bat, or a reliable lefty for the bullpen.
The Cubs also have lots of question marks. Can Felix Pie ever hit big-league pitching? Will Rich Hill return to form? Can Angel Guzman stay healthy? Can Kosuke Fukudome finish the season as strong as he started the last one? Does Jason Marquis have a future with the team? What’s the best role for Jeff Samardzija? Does Mike Fontenot deserve more playing time?
It will be a long winter, especially if the Bears continue to give us heart attacks.
October 8th, 2008
Cubs’ fan Scot Moore is selling his loyalty on eBay. I don’t know what’s worse: The fact that his loyalty is for sale (which tells me there wasn’t much to begin with) or that people are bidding on it: $455 as of Tuesday.
Yes, we Cub fans have been disappointed for a long time, but die-hards like me who used to go to games when you could count the number of people who attended will be true to the team no matter what. We’ll lament losses, management decisions and the cost of warm beer, but we will cheer on our team.
Heck, some of us even sing. Of course this year Steve Goodman’s “A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request” might be more appropriate than “Go, Cubs, Go.”
October 6th, 2008
As this picture clearly shows, this is Monday’s Rockford Register Star I am holding. Therefore, I did not throw myself in front of a truck, down a Drano milkshake, look for quarters at the bottom of the Rock River, dig out loose dirt from electrical sockets with a fork or do my Kurt Cobain impersonation after Saturday night/Sunday morning’s events in Los Angeles.
Boy, I bet that Cubs Convention is going to be a hoot!
October 6th, 2008
Alphonso Soriano has been qouted as saying that the problem with the Cubs is that they are built for a marathon (162 game season) and not a sprint (playoffs).
You could say — and many have — that Soriano should be one of the sprinters with the big bucks he’s being paid. He carried the team at times during the marathon part of the season but didn’t even get to the starting blocks in the postseason (1 hit).
Quick question: Would any of you take any two Cub pitchers from this year’s team over the healthy Mark Prior and Kerry Wood of 2003 in a playoff game?
So, as we Cub fans wait until next year, as we’ve been doing for 100 years, how should this team be retooled if at all?
Earlier I said that Derek Lee should be traded to make room for Micah Hoffpauir, but I have second thoughts after Lee went 3-for-4 with two doubles in the series finale. Maybe trade Soriano and give Hoffpauir a shot in left with Reed Johnson taking over for late-inning defense? Maybe get a dependable lefty for the bullpen?
The Cubs have a lot of flexibility if they want to add a proven post game winner and/or leadoff hitter. There are decent arms on the farm and who knows whether Rich Hill will return to form for the Cubs or whether another team is willing to gamble and make a trade for him.
I’m as disappointed as any Cub fan out there, but we’re seeing a team that has become a consistent winner with three playoff appearances this decade.
We Cub fans are all about hope.
October 5th, 2008
I’m going to put this season-ending loss on Lou Piniella. That may sound unfair when he says it’s the players who didn’t hit. Lous says you can’t win with six runs in three games, something the Cubs have done the last two years in going 0-6 in the playoffs. Well, let a “player” bat, then. The Cubs were already down 2-0 in games and 2-0 in THIS game with two outs and a runner on third in the fourth last night. The Dodgers intentionally walked the No. 8 hitter to put runners on first and third. Rich Harden struck out. Why not pinch hit? Yes, it’s only the fourth inning, but everyone knows Harden only lasts about five innings anyway. Is two more innings of Harden worth throwing away two base runners? Not for a team that is struggling so mightily to score. Also, complaints are flooding in this morning about the Cubs not having any left-handed power hitters. Well, Lou should have made sure Micah Hoffpauir was on the postseason roster. Yes, it was only 73 at-bats, but Hoffpauir led the Cubs in batting (.342) and on-base percentage (.400) and was just a couple of percentage points from the top in OPS (.934) and slugging (.534). Wouldn’t you have loved to have seen what would have happened if Hoffpauir had taken that at-bat with two out in the fourth instead of Harden? I would have.
October 4th, 2008
Â
What pressure?
If the 0-2 Cubs have anything going for them right now, it’s that all the pressure is now on the Dodgers to close the deal.
Lou Piniella and company are no longer expected to win this series. Historically speaking, they are already eliminated.
After finishing the regular season with a National League-best 55-26 home record, who ever thought that a change of scenery might actually do the Cubs some good? Â
Or, as a friend of mine put it: “If you’re not going to come home with two wins, don’t come home at all.”
OK, maybe some pressure.
October 3rd, 2008
The Cubs are 8-1 in Rich Harden’s past nine starts, the lone loss coming against the Mets when the Cubs were fielding half the Iowa team at Shea Stadium. He starts Game 3 in Los Angeles.
Ted Lilly is 4-0 in his past four starts, averaging 7 IP and twice flirting with no-hitters. He is scheduled to start Game 4 if the Cubs don’t throw up all over themselves again.
And then Ryan Dempster gets the Game 5 call back at Wrigley.
I don’t think my Cub faithful brethren are thinking about that scenario at this time.
October 2nd, 2008
Please take this gift to help your insistence on mailing it in.
October 2nd, 2008
Now can the Cubs work counts and fight their way back into the game, or will everyone step to the plate to try to hit five-run homers?
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