Here comes the offseason

 

How much longer?

It’s that time of year again. The leaves are changing and falling. The temperature is dropping and hopefully will numb the pain of the early playoff exit and we’ll all turn our attention to other sporting interests. The Bears are better than expected, the Irish have more wins than they had all of last season (that was for you, Corey), the Bulls are young and can only be better with #1 pick Derrick Rose and, if you’re in to the sport of Pailin, the Blackhawks have some young talent as well and they’ll be playing outdoors at Wrigley.

But wait… I have a feeling that our beloved Cubbies won’t allow our attention to be diverted this offseason.

Bedtime for the Brewers

With fifteen innings of no-hit ball pitched by Lilly and Zambrano over the past two games, the Cubs are riding a growing wave of confidence into the postseason.  Now all they need is to beat one of the best pitchers in the game tonight to feel unstoppable.  The bats seem to be coming back to life as well.

I feel a little bad for the Astros having to play two games in Milwaukee that were supposed to be home games for them.  Mike and Mike were asking whether there could’ve have been any other better options for an alternate site for the Cubs-Astros series.  They suggested nearby Round Rock (AAA affiliate) or the Rangers’ stadium.  It is a good point, but if the Astros had won even one of the two games (or even got a few hits for that matter), no one would probably be having this conversation.

Did anyone else hate that the anchor on ESPN kept referring to Zambrano as Zam-BRAN-o (bran as in “Raisin Bran”) during their highlights of his no-hitter? 

Empty the Bench, Lou!

Hoffpauir!

I think right now with this six-game skid, it would be kind of interesting to see what kind of a spark all of the bench players could provide if they all started at the same time.  With fearsome opposing pitchers like Cueto (8-12) and Harang (4-15) coming up, now would be the perfect opportunity to empty the bench. 

Notes 6/27/08

Yes, I was at Wrigley for the awful game on Thursday against the Baltimore Orioles.  This game was painful for me to sit through.  I am willing to take responsibility for this ugly game.  I took

5/07/08 Notes

Jon Lieber gets his first start of the year and he promptly gives up 4 HR’s in one inning.  As I am typing this, he is not yet out of the second inning, so that total could change. 

*  I really have to agree with what Cubfan1452 said 

Happy Anniversary, Lee Elia

Look, I know everyone and their sister are out there talking about Lee Elia’s rant today.. but it wouldn’t be right if

A Cubs Game For Me This Year

My wife and I are going to see the Cubs on May 11th! They are playing the Diamondbacks, who are in first in the NL West, so it should be a good matchup. I plan on taking plenty of pictures and sharing them here.

Did anyone else notice how badly Howry seemed to miss his spot on the home run pitch to Nieves?  

Reclarification

Ok, I guess that I should re-clarify myself.  I never said Dusty was a good manager.  I was just as dissapointed as everyone else at not making the playoffs in 2004.  It hurt me just as bad to watch us be terrible in the ensuing years.  My only point is that

Baker vs. Piniella

I was prompted by Manstrength’s weak defending of Dusty Baker to look at some stats that I think are are indicative of a much more well-rounded team under Piniella than what the Cubs were under Baker.  Yes, we are only 19 games into this season, and that must be taken into account.  However, 19 games is a significant chunk and I can only believe the current trends will continue.  I focused on a few stats that I had mentioned in my response to Manstrength’s post. 

Things on my mind

Dusty-  Alright, I’m not saying the guy was good.. but he’s not that bad.  I mean, lets give him some credit where some credit is due.. He was at the helm when the Cubs had back to back winning seasons for the first time since 1972.  Alright.  Seriously, give the guy some credit.  I’m not saying I was happy when Neifi Perez was starting for us any way we could find a place for him (it kind of surprised me that Dusty didn’t put him in as a starting pitcher in ’06.. I mean, he couldn’t have done any worse there than he did playing short stop.)