Ok, this is a quick and easy poll.  Did you win the rights to buy NLDS tickets?  I'm curious the ratio of die-hard fans (which would include BCBers) that won. I personally did not. win 

If you didn't sign up, don't vote.

In other news, I'm curious about how many times you signed up.  (answer in the comments) Seeing as how I have to come up with 75 words and all for this poll to go through, I might as well add that I signed up with 3 email addresses.  Do the brokers just have 1000 emails and then paid some junkee/flunkee to register 1000 times?  Who knows.  All I know is I didn't get tickeets and I'm bummed.  Not pissed, because I knew it was a longshot anyways, but I'm bummed.  Personally I like the VWR better because I knew how to scam the system.  So with that in mind, I probably didn't deserve tickets anyways.  That's GOTTA be 75, on with the poll!

Poll

Did you win playoff tickets?

11%

Yes

33 votes

88%

No

252 votes

285 votes | Poll has closed

Did anyone see the latest on David Weathers and the Reds?

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080505&content_id=2648545&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Sound familiar?  It's Kent Merker and Steve Stone all over again.  "Us against the World."  Way to run your clubhouse, Dusty.

I'm so glad Dusty's in our division again.   Now if we could only beat them. 

That's all.  Go Cubs.  Seventy five words and I can be done writing.  Out.

Cubs.com is selling an odd retro jersey:

http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1825794&cp=2776267

Eckersley wasn't on the team in 1978, nor did he ever wear this (ugly) jersey.  He didn't get here until 1984, when they were wearing the blue softball tops.  

They also have the same '78 jersey for Santo, Sutter, and Sandberg.  Only Sutter of these three was around at the time.  The rest of the retro jerseys on cubs.com appear to be legit.

So I ask, if you want a retro pajama jersey, why would you get one for a player that wasn't even on the team?  Is it too much to ask for a Buckner or Kingman jersey like that?  

Weird.

Did anybody see the "Ask Paul Sullivan" feature in today's trib?  

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/askthewriter/cs-070412askpaulsullivan,1 ,6225049.story?coll=cs-cubs-headlines

Dear, Paul, for the past few years, Carlos Zambrano has always worn the blue jersey top rather than the road gray or the home pinstripes. In his first two starts of 2007, I see him in the road gray jersey. Are the Cubs no longer wearing the blue jersey or does the starting pitcher no longer select the jersey to be worn for the game? --Vince Doyle, Elk Grove, Calif.

The Cubs are no longer wearing the blue jerseys, a nod to traditional gray road uniforms of the past. They will also wear exclusively white at home. I'm not a fashion aficionado, but I thought the blue jerseys made them look like a 16-inch softball team from Albany Park. I'm happy the Cubs ditched the blues.

I didn't know this was happening.  Great news!

Deadspin had a post about MLB's Look Again Player of the Year award.  An award that goes to...

Behind every great team on the diamond, lurking in the shadow of baseball superstars, live the role players who sacrifice for their team in often unrecognized effort. Which of these role players' best deserves recognition for their contributions as the Holiday Inn Look Again Player of the Year?

Yes, it's shamelessly sponsored by Holiday Inn, and Deadspin is "dead on" in noticing that the nominees comprise the whitest ballot since the 1946 all-star game.  It's unbelievable that MLB would be so blatant about rooting for the scrappy white guy.  "Scrappy" being a word, of course, that is never used to describe a minority.

But check out the Cubs nominee.  John Mabry, are you freaking kidding me?  He was horrible and the only thing he should be nominated for is "worst bench signing of the year."  

If I had to choose a Cub that did his job well with minimal recognition, well, that's actually a hard choice to make.  Nobody was hard-nosed and did the little things well.  But if I had to choose, I'd actually choose another white guy, though his whiteness is purely coincidental.  

Bobby Howry, come on down.  Solid middle reliever, led the team in appearances.  Pitched well.  Unless you're a diehard you probably didn't know who he was.  (Anybody here at BCB, of course, is a diehard.)

In second, I'd choose Hank White.  Who is, of course, not white, but he fits the description of solid role player that did their job better than could be expected.

In 2005, I'd choose former punching bag Neifi Perez for the award.
2004, resident punching bag Glendon Rusch.
2003, Randall Simon or Mark Grudzielanek

Race aside, those would be my choices.  I guess the whole point of this is a) the award is a joke but an interesting topic of conversation, and b) John Mabry sucks.

ESPN had an article today that's sort of the antithesis to MLB's Hometown Heros promotion: the Hometown Bums.  They also have a full ballot with all 30 MLB teams as well.  

I'll save you the click and let you know that the Cubs five were Ernie Broglio, Steve Bartman, Leon Durham, Corey Patterson and Todd Hundley.

I disagree with several of these choices, and add a few choices of my own at my blog.  Yes, a blatant plug.  Check it out:

http://chicagosportsblogs.com/mikej/archive/2006/09/13/7492.aspx

thanks!

Al usually posts a ticket exchange diary about upcoming homestands, but I thought I'd post one on an upcoming road trip.  I have two tickets to Tuesday, 8/8 for Cubs at Milwaukee (7pm start).  I don't want to trade them so much as I want to sell them.  They're pretty good seats:

Section Row Seat
DB 210  4 13
DB 210  4 14

see the seating chart

I paid $45 each for them, but I'll take best offer.  If you want to trade them for seats at Wrigley, I can do that too.  I can meet you at the park for the exchange, as I'll be at the game as well.  mjohnson5@hotmail.com

thanks.

I didn't see anyone linking to today's article about Hendry and Dusty by Greg Couch in the Sun-Times.  It's a good read that brings up interesting points and I'm curious as to what the "Let Dusty finish the season" people think of it.  

http://www.suntimes.com/output/couch/cst-spt-greg111.html

Specifically

Evaluate over the break?  What's Hendry going to figure out in the next 5 days that he hasn't seen over the past 3.5 years?

 "Hendry's stall is creating a distraction and hard feelings in the clubhouse. On top of that, Baker's goals for the season and Hendry's are conflicting. Hendry needs to find out if any of his minor leaguers are usable for next year, and Baker needs to win now to save his job."

"You probably have a preference, whether Baker should stay or go. I think it's time for him to go.  But the indecision is worse than either choice. It's not fair to the Cubs, and it's not fair to Baker."

Thoughts?

The common perception among Cubs fans, critics, scouts, announcers, etc, is that Todd Walker's biggest problem on defense is turning the double play.  He makes the plays he can get to, resulting in a high fielding percentage, but the DP (and his range) is his downfall.  In turn, the Cubs allow dozens of extra outs per season.  

I came across the following study that shows otherwise.  This is from John Dewan's (formerly of Stats, Inc.) new book that measures defensive stats called the Fielding Bible.  I haven't read it yet, but the SABR-inclined statheads pretty much universally agree that his research is golden.  Here's the blog entry on the DP:

http://www.actasports.com/sow.php?id=89

The Cubs were tied for 2nd in the fewest amount of DPs missed in 2005, with 10, right behind the Sox.  Interesting, no?  

The Cubs wrapped up their three-game series tonight in Cleveland with a rain-shortened win, giving them two out of three.  I was in attendance for game one of the series, and I've got some thoughts on the experience on my blog.  

http://chicagosportsblogs.com/mikej/archive/2006/06/21/7309.aspx

In regards to Dusty Baker's job status, there seems to be three camps here, and I'm interested in seeing how the numbers break down.

 So here's a poll.  

1.  Fire him now - There's no sense in having a lame duck manager.  He'll ruin the kids, he's responsible for the poor fundamentals, send a message to the fanbase, etc.
2.  Fire him at the end of the season - there's no point firing him now, or what I like to call the "do you want another Jim Essian or Bruce Kimm" excuse.
3.  Give him an extension! Let him manage a healthy team! This is all Hendry's fault!

Poll

Dusty Baker

15%

Give him an extension!

12 votes

68%

Fire him now!

55 votes

16%

Fire him at the end of the season

13 votes

80 votes | Poll has closed

The Sox won last night's game on a two-out bunt single by Pablo Ozuna in the bottom of the 10th.  Last week, Neifi tried the exact same thing, failed miserably, and Cubs fans were ready to hang him.  Now, there was one critical difference between the two situations and that was the Sox were tied at the time while the Cubs were down by two runs.  But still, it just shows what kind of horseshoe is up the Sox butts these days while the exact opposite is happening on the North side.

Listening to the Cubs games, I'm noticing a lot more of what sounds like "right field sucks" being chanted.  You used to hear this all the time at the game, but it seems this tradition has died down the last several years.   Did the new bleachers renew the "rivalry"?   Did the rivalry ever go away?  Or are they simply saying "Jacque Jones sucks"?  Maybe that's what they're saying and Jacque, career AL-er, got confused.

As fun as the Cubs win today was, something is sticking in my crawl.  

I think it's poor marketing by MLB to start the season on a Monday.  Why couldn't they start one day earlier on a Sunday?  There were six games televised today and the nation is celebrating the return of baseball.  Yet, most of the nation has jobs and couldn't watch any of it.  Productivity was down across the nation as many fans skipped work or ignored work in an attempt to catch the game.  Why?  Stupid people in charge.  Then they have the gall to schedule an off-day for Tuesday.  Way to build momentum there, Bud.  Start on a Sunday and make the first or second series a four-game series.  Scheduling conflict solved, higher TV ratings, fans happy.  It's a win-win-win.  

Oh well, I'm not going to let stupid scheduling get me down.  Cubs win!  Cubs Win!  Cubs Win!

I know, sounds ridiculous, but hear me out.  Michael Barrett was Clemens personal catcher in the WBC, and caught all three of Clemens starts.  During tonight's broadcast, Jon Miller noted how well they were working together.  Think Barrett might be able to convince the Rocket to join the Cubbies on the North side?  Crazier things have happened.  

I wrote a post on the WBC and the Rocket on my blog.  Check it out.

http://chicagosportsblogs.com/mikej/archive/2006/03/16/6975.aspx

I'm sitting here listening to a co-worker complain about how hard it is to get Sox tickets this year (pre-sale is today), and I'm just laughing.  "That's what it's like to be a fan of a popular team," I'm telling him.  But this got me thinking, if a portion of the Cubs bandwagon fans (and we all must admit that there are many) jumped ship last year to the south side, will it be easier to get tickets this year for the Cubs?  I never thought the Sox winning would actually improve my quality of life, but this appears to be a distinct possibility.

I really think this is a make-or-break year for the franchise.  If they stumble out of the gate this year and pull a "1997", I think the next few years (after this one) could shift the balance to the south side (or at least closer to the 50% marker) and we could be looking at sub-20k crowds up north again.  

I was going to add this to the "McCarver" thread, but its getting stale and I thought most people would miss it.  The topic of this diary is the beloved Scooter on Fox baseball telecasts.  

When I first heard the idea of Scooter a few years ago, I thought it was crap and I didn't need it in my telecast.  But then I noticed how my toddlers immediately stopped playing with their toys and watched the screen when he came on.  Granted, they're still too young to comprehend a changeup or fastball.  (They do recognize the difference between football, baseball, and basketball, though, which I think is quite an accomplishment for 18 month olds, but I digress.)  The simple fact is, Scooter gets them interested in watching baseball, which is the ultimate goal of FOX with Scooter.  Get kids interested in the sport.  

Baseball has a lot of competition these days.  500 channels, video games, iPods, the internet.  If Scooter gets them interested in baseball while they're young, so be it.

....discuss.

My two cents?  I think he'd be a good one-year stopgap in Right Field.  Since going to Arizona, he's pretty consistent (except the fluke 2001 season), and overall pretty healthy.  145+ games in 9 of the last 10 years.  Last year, .271/.366/.459 with 24 HRs and 79 RBIs.  Better than Burnitz, at least.  I think he'd be a good number 2 (or 5) hitter in the lineup.

I prefer better, but we could do a LOT worse.  He's a little pricey, but they send us 2 mil plus take Corey off our hands and I do it in a heartbeat.  

Anyone notice who was missing from MLB's all-Latin-American team (announced before game 4 of the Series last night)?  Thats' right, Sammy Sosa.  In case you missed it, the team was as follows:

OF:  Manny Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero, Roberto Clemente
3b:  Edgar Martinez
SS:  Alex Rodriguez
2B:  Rod Carew
1B:  Albert Pujols
C:  Ivan Rodriguez
P:  Juan Marichal, Fernando Valenzuela, Pedro Martinez
RP:  Mariano Rivera

I agree with the whole team, except the exclusion of Sammy.  He should have taken Vlad or Manny's place.  And Pujols is a bit young to make such a team, don't you think?  If this event happened last year, you can bet Palmeiro (and probably Sosa) would have been involved.  My my, has Sosa fallen.  Comments?

I've been reading Al's site for over two years, and I love his perspective of the game and the little community that his site attracts.  Keep up the good work, Al.  Over the last two months, I've been writing my own blog on Chicago sports.  I don't write much about the Cubs because the market is saturated with Cubs blogs.  Just about anything I could say on a day-to-day basis will seem redundant if you read more than one blog.  (I mostly have been writing about the Bears.)  That said, I put up a review of the 2005 season on my site.  Check it out, and feel free to leave comments.  Thanks!

http://www.chicagosplogs.com/mikej