SB Nation User Blog: Schwa

A New-Age Called Shot?

Schwa — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:14:54 -0000

A New-Age Called Shot?

A day earlier, Mariners analyst Mike Blowers predicted that Matt Tuiasosopo would hit his first career home run in his second at bat, on a 3-1 fastball to the second deck in left field. Linked above is their call of his second at bat. Insane. And rest assured, this is 100% legit.

The BCB (and Cubs) Twitter Community

Schwa — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 19:54:28 -0000

In the last month or so, a bunch of posters here started using Twitter, and some of them are using it for a lot of Cubs related things. Whether it's Al updating people on who's warming up in the pen, Ballhawk's live tweeting from Waveland or daver's in-game commentary, there is slowly growing community of BCBers using Twitter as a nice supplement to game threads (which can easily become cluttered). I also happen to know that there are more of you out there using Twitter, but maybe not for a Cubs-oriented purpose. I thought it might be a nice idea if we could all share our Twitter names as well as any other useful Cubs Twitter ids (I.E. Gordo Wittenemyer).

I'm not going to post other people's individual Twitter names just because I don't know if they want it published here, so I'll leave mine and my other Cubs/Twitter knowledge. And just a disclaimer: I am NOT doing this just to get followers (I figure some people might assume that, but it's simply not the case). I think down the road it could be really interesting if BCB members who are at games (especially road games) could tweet things going on that are hard to pick up on watching at home. Plus it's just another way to stay connected with other BCB members, which is always a plus. Anyway:

My name on Twitter: @brandonrifkin

Al Yellon (Al's BCB Twitter account, tweets every time a new story or one of Josh's Minor League Wraps are published to the front page and any of Al's tweets from games): @bleedcubbieblue

Josh's Minor League Wraps (You already know how great his wraps are, but Josh sends out tweets with quick hits of what's going on around the minors. The beauty of Twitter is that it's quick and instant - you don't have to wait for Josh's full wrap to post late at night to hear some news): @Cubsminorswrap

Gordon Wittenmyer (great for line-ups, in-game updates, quotes from press conferences and all sorts of other interesting Cubs info): @cst_cubs

Iowa Cubs (Official Twitter account of the Cubs' AAA affiliate. Excellent source for instant ICubs updates (including in-game tweets). If you love your minor league news or just enjoy following the ICubs (here's looking at you IowaCubs), following their official Twitter account is a smart move): @IowaCubs

Tennessee Smokies (Official Twitter account of the Cubs' AA affiliate. Thanks to Josh for the heads up): @smokiesbaseball

MLBTradeRumors (quick blurbs and links to all the posts on Tim's site, if you like staying as up to date as possible on all MLB rumors this is a must): @mlbtraderumors

FanGraphs Team Feeds (game state, last play and win probability. Choice between full feeds and quick feeds. Hat tip to MerigoldBowling for the link): FanGraphs

Cubscast (Basically a giant Twitter feed of all tweets about the Cubs. Thanks to Andre Fonseca for the link): Cubscast

I'm didn't include the CubsMLB Twitter account, mainly because I found it to be a little excessive, and a lot of the articles they were linking to didn't really interest me (whether it be for a lack of quality or lack of interesting subject). But they have 4000 followers, so some people must find it useful. If you want to check it out: @CubsMLB

Finally, I know some people use Twitter from their phones (through text) and a lot of others use the web site (Twitter), but I highly recommend finding yourself a stand-alone Twitter client. I personally use and rec. TweetDeck. I like it because it's easy to organize all the people you follow into groups, thus making it a lot easier to keep track of all the various tweets you'll be receiving. If you're using Twitter on your phone, BB users have TwitterBerry. It seems to be the most frequently used BB client. iPhone users have a few choices, but I recommend TwitterFon. It's free and very effective.

That's about all I can think of for now, please feel free to leave your Twitter names and any other useful links/advice you might have. If us Twitter users are still too far in the minority and most people just don't care about this, just let me know and I'll get rid of it. I hope this is helpful for some people though, especially those on the edge when it comes to jumping into the Twitter universe.

If you're going to post your Twitter name, please do so in a link to your Twitter page (same format as I used above). It makes it a lot easier for people to follow you because it will take them to the page where they can click on 'Follow'. Thanks everyone.

My Weekend at Miller Park

Schwa — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:06:32 -0000

I originally started typing this as a comment in the game recap, but it got pretty long so I figured I'd share it as a FanPost. With all the recent crap on the sidebar I figured people might be interested in a semi-detailed review of the weekend, with thoughts of both actions on the field as well as off. With that out of the way...

Saturday: Got there real early and tailgated with some friends. If you've never done it, grab a good crew, a grill, some food and plenty of beer and make sure you experience it at least once. It's always a good time and you don't have to drop $50 on food/beer inside the stadium if you load up beforehand. Plus, there's some friendly (for the most part) banter between fans that reminds you how much fun a good rivalry can be if people remember they're supporting baseball teams instead of rivaling countries in a war. Inside, the crowd definitely seemed a bit more rowdy than it was on Sunday. Obviously people are going to be drinking more on a Saturday night, but I saw plenty of fights. In all fairness, I was up in the cheap seats where people tend to drink more heavily. But I pass the blame equally on Cub fans and Brewers fans. Stuff like that you never want to see, but every team has some morons who can't handle their booze and are just looking for a fight.

As for the game itself, I remember saying to my friend in the 8th inning "Fontenot HAS to reach just so Soriano can get an at bat in the 9th". Well we all know how that worked out. That ball was a no doubter and man did the Brewers fans get quiet after that. After the game I saw at least one idiot throw his beer down on fans below, but again I don't generalize a fan base based on a couple of drunk idiots.

Sunday: Much better seats (207, RF corner). Watching Dempster struggle with his command was painful, but he got through 6 and that was good enough to get the win. Of course all of those walks issued by the Brewers dragged the game out to a painful 3+ hour length, and you could just sense the frustration in the stands growing. The boo birds were out in full force for Suppan when he got yanked, so next time a Cub gets booed at Wrigley for a poor performance just remember that it's not only Cub fans who boo their team at home (not endorsing it, just saying it's not a Wrigley-only experience).

Unfortunately, I didn't have a view on Reed's catch. I remember tracking the ball as it was in the air and channeling the Major League inside me thinking 'too high, it's too high!'. Fortunately it was. Every Brewers fan in my section went nuts when it went out of sight, so I assumed it was a home run but really couldn't tell. I quick looked back towards Prince to see him walking off the field really slowly while looking back towards Reed and knew I must have missed something incredible. Then came the replay... man that's a catch we'll be talking about for a while. They only showed the replay once (which I guess I understand because it was a good play by the Cubs after all) but you knew right away how amazing that play was.

Marshall looked really sharp from my seat. I could see he had his curve ball really working, getting it over for strikes and it looked like it had some nice break on it. Obviously Marmol looked fantastic as well, although sometimes I think he leans on his slider a bit too much (but hey, if I had a slide piece that nasty I'd probably do the same thing). Gregg was... well... I think everyone has their opinion of him already, so I'll just say that I think he'll start to turn it around.

Overall a very enjoyable experience at Miller Park this weekend. Had a great time tailgating with friends Saturday and took my little brother to his second straight awesome game at Miller Park on Sunday (Z's no hitter the first). Overall I'm 5-2 in my last 7 games there and Soriano has homered in the last 3 Cubs/Brewers games I've been to there. Also, something I put on my list of things to do at my next game there, I noticed a build-your-own baked potato stand that looked absolutely incredible. I never thought I'd consider a baked potato at a baseball game, but after seeing some of the potatos people bought there I was salivating (I settled on the cheese fries in the helmet, I can never resist those).

One final note: as someone who has lived in Wisconsin for a while, I've noticed that a lot of people on here have no problem calling Brewers fans classless yet continue to bash them on here just because they're from Wisconsin. Ironic. You think there aren't idiots at Wrigley who would cheer Prince betting hit? How soon we forget bleacher fans trashing the field with garbage. Every team has moronic fans, and unfortunately the few idiots stand out sometimes a lot more than than the respectful majority.

Nick Adenhart Killed in Car Accident

Schwa — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:26:07 -0000

Nick Adenhart Killed in Car Accident

This is a truly awful story. Here's a 22 year old kid fresh off probably the best start in his career... and someone runs a red light, killing 3 people. The person fled the scene but was soon arrested and taken to the hospital. Thoughts go out to his family and the Angels' organization.

For those who don't know who he is, Adenhart was one of the top prospects in the Angels' organization.

Big Unit to the Giants

Schwa — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:46:46 -0000

Just saw 'breaking news' on ESPNews that Randy Johnson is signing with the Giants. Didn't catch any contract terms but I'm safely assuming it's a 1 year deal. Can't find a link yet, either. SF continues their trend of signing aging veterans. If the Cubs do deal Marquis now it appears Gaudin or Marshall will man the 5th spot with the other going to the bullpen. I'm kind of bummed because I was firmly in favor of signing the Unit to a 1 year deal as the 5th starter, but oh well.

Edit:

1 year, $8MM

Links:

My Favorite Site

ESPN

Stone to Call White Sox Games

Schwa — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:40:50 -0000

Per this note on chicagosports.com, Steve Stone is returning to the booth to call Friday home games for the Sox on the radio. Of note is the game June 27 against the Cubs. As a fan of Stone it kind of pains me to see him calling White Sox games. Didn't see this posted anywhere yet so I figured I'd post it.

Hancock's Dad Sues Restaurant - Huh?

Schwa — Thu, 24 May 2007 22:25:14 -0000

Per ESPN, Josh Hancock's Dad is filing suit against the restaurant he was drinking at before his fatal crash. What really shocked me is that not only are they filing suit against the restaurant, but also against the towing company, the tow truck driver, AND the driver who's car was stuck. From my point of view, this is absurd. Hancock was a grown man capable of making his own decisions. He was driving drunk, talking on his cell phone and speeding when he hit the tow truck. His dad should spend time promoting the importance of DD's and not drinking and driving instead of taking out his sadness and frustration on other people. I especially hate how the driver of the car that was getting towed was named as a defendant - his car spun out after he was cut off. I hope this never actually comes to fruition.

Adam Greenberg Mania

Schwa — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 21:31:07 -0000

Beloved Adam Greenberg has been signed by the LA Dodgers to their AA team, according to chicagosports.com. I know I'm not alone in hoping him the best, lord knows he deserves another shot.

Also on chicagosports.com, another great article about Greenberg.

I say good luck Greenberg, hope to see you in the big league someday, and hopefully not killing the Cubs (like we need anymore Cub killers).

Rich Hill Called Up

Schwa — Mon, 01 May 2006 23:24:20 -0000

I didn't see this anywhere else so I figured I'd post a diary about it, but Rich Hill has been called up and David "My only claim to fame is being first alphabetically" Aardsma is back to AAA, accoriding to this article on espn.com. According to the article, Hill could get his first start this year Thursday against Arizona. I think the obvious question is will Hill be able to be effective at the major league level. Everyone knows about his success this year at AAA, but his past struggles in the majors worry me. But hey, anyone's better than Glendon at this point...