Remind me why we're watching Paul Bako and Koyie Hill battle it out for our backup catcher position. 

Blanco had a great game.  In all honesty, I have a lot of respect for Hendry and I have high hopes for this season but damned if this doesn't cause some consternation.

In the third inning on Wednesday, catcher Henry Blanco launched an 0-1 pitch from USA starter Ted Lilly into the left-field stands for a solo home run that put Venezuela on the board

I came online to offer my congratulations to Kerry Wood in whichever fanpost had been posted already, but none has been put up yet so here's the link to ESPN's article about Kerry Wood's new deal. 

Two years for $20.5 milion.  This is exactly why Hendry let Wood go, he couldn't afford to sign woody at this price and Woody deserves this.  While I will miss Wood on our team very much, I am very happy for him to be able to come back from all his injuries and be an extremely successful and highly paid closer in the Major Leagues. 

Congratulations and Good luck Kerry!

The Geo Game!

9/18/08

The Scene is Wrigley Field. Bottom of the 9th, Score is 6-3, 2 outs. Cubs have already scored 1 on an Aramis Double and Edmonds Single. DeRosa hit a line drive and runners are now on First and Third. Geo comes to bat...

Credit to Comcast SportsNet for the footage.  This was basically a screen cap so I have no clue how long it will last before big brother takes it down so enjoy it while you can! 

This was absolutely amazing - I've been to and seen so many unreal games this season!  My personal record for games attended is 18-2.

I was at the no-no, the comeback game down 9-0 against colorado, the 19 run game against the brewers and many more....

Even though Jeff Samardzija gave up the tying run today due to a rookie mistake, a wild pitch, he still kept the game manageable in two nice innings of work.  Unfortunately the Cubs offense couldn't "Howry Proof" the game.  

So we have one young pitcher who throws absolute fireballs - he was hitting 97 - and one aging pitcher who's completely lost his consistency.  Something he used to be known for.  

This all begs the question, should we DFA Howry and let the Shark stay up when wood returns from the DL in a few days?

If we're going for the world series THIS YEAR, I'm not sure we can afford to let a veteran work out his demons.  The bullpen has been shaky as of late and I personally think an infusion of new blood would be a good thing.  Especially in the form of the Shark who comes with his own swagger and big game confidence.

Is there someone else in the Bullpen who we'd rather replace?

Thoughts?

My girlfriend and I went to the game today and sat in the bleachers - sorry we didn't stop by this time Al - and were treated to a very sunny game that ended up being a pitcher's duel.  The guys to our right were abuzz and I learned that it was because the guy immediately to our left was Peter King, a senior football sportswriter from Sports Illustrated. 

He was apparently in town for a day and decided to walk up and buy a ticket to enjoy the game.  It was his first game in 3 years and he had a very professional looking spiral book of scorecards.  Being from Boston, he wore a Boston Red Sox hat but as soon as people figured out who he was, they were very cordial and friendly.  A few people bought him beers and made him feel welcome.

Unfortunately, he left after the 8th inning and didn't get to see Wood pitch.  He did get to see the Aramis Ramirez 3 run bomb and was hooting and hollering and high-fiving with the rest of us, a broad grin on his face.

Thought I'd mention this because it was a pretty cool experience - I could repeat a couple stories he told us but I don't want to do that without his permission.

I'm almost scared to bring up this subject but there have been reports that Roger Clemens is not done - I don't have an article to link at the moment, though it's on ESPN insider's rumor central.  Houston was the team cited as potentially re-signing him.

Do we have any interest?  Yes?  No?  Maybe so? 

That brings up another question I asked a friend of mine - if given the choice between these two shamed superstars, who would you rather have, Bonds or Clemens?

I will be the first to admit that I have been on and off the Soriano bandwagon along with many other people, but this article made a very good point regarding Soriano's signing and the dollar amounts involved.  It might not be enough to convince everybody but it is certainly worth mentioning and passing along to the BCB public, in my opinion.

Coming off the ugly 2006 finish and with hundreds of millions freed up for an all-out run at a World Series that McDonough couldn't stop talking about, the Cubs showed the fans the money by showing Soriano the money. They showed Lou Piniella the money by showing Soriano the money, convincing their top managerial candidate to sign on.

Keystone, this is for you ! 

SI.com published a list of an all-scandal team with players at certain positions.  The list includes Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, several Black Sox players and many more.  But this list also goes as far as to name a Manager, Pete Rose, GM Steve Phillips, Owner George Steinbrenner and Trainer Brian McNamee. 

And the best part is the Mascot for this All-Scandal team is the Pittsburgh Pirate's very own Neon Green Parrot

The bird became embroiled in baseball's cocaine scandal of 1985 when it was revealed before a grand jury in Pittsburgh that he'd introduced assorted members of the Pirates to a local drug peddler and had even distributed a little Peruvian coco powder himself. The Parrot avoided prosecution by cooperating with the FBI.

For those who aren't in the know, there were several games in Pittsburgh earlier where the Parrot (undoubtedly a new guy, but hated nonetheless) actively tried to influence the Cubs Pitchers by sitting behind home plate and acting obnoxiously.

While this is probably largely due to the Cardinals playing .600ish baseball over the last couple weeks and everyone else pretty much sucking, they now have a 3 game lead over the Cubs and Milwaukee has dropped to 4th in the NL Central.

Yes I know its a LONG season.  I know its a Marathon, not a Sprint.  But who do you think will be there in September?  I think it will come down to the Cardinals and the Cubs.  Again.  We have two of the game's best managers going head to head in Piniella and La Russa.  Yost will manage the brewers out of contention, I think. 

What are *your* predictions for the shape of the NL Central in September?

Saw this article in the chicago sun-times and thought I would share it.

Tigers After Wuertz

Friday, March 21, 2008

The Tigers, desperate to acquire some bullpen help, are taking a close look at Cubs reliever Michael Wuertz. Wuertz, who went 2-3 with a 3.48 ERA last season, would make for a solid set up man or closer while Joel Zumaya recovers. He has a great fastball, a nasty slider, and is breaking away from the rookie stages and become a major league league reliever. The Detroit Free Press believes the Cubs have inquired about Brandon Inge and Marcus Thames, but Inge wants a starting job. Thames has good power and would give the Cubs the option to start Pie in Triple-A to get his confidence up; however, I think the Cubs would want more than just Thames for a solid reliever in a shaky bullpen. I suspect it would take a pitching prospect or two along with Thames. Still, I think the Tigers should make the move. Acquiring a pitcher like Wuertz, who really has not gotten much attention with the Cubs and giving him a key role in the bullpen, would benefit the team.

According to ESPN RumorCentral, the Phillies are potentially going to screw up with Left Fielder Pat Burrell (.355/.474!!!/.750):

Phillies looking for a discount from Burrell

Pat Burrell | Phillies | Interested: Phillies

According to ESPN's Jayson Stark, the Phillies aren't expected to offer potential free agent Pat Burrell anything more than a two-year deal worth around $14 million total, or half of what he is making right now. Burrell will likely be looking for much more than $7 million per season, which significantly limits the Phillies' chances of re-signing the veteran outfielder.

What if we traded Soriano and his $136MM contract for Pat Burrell and a Starting Pitcher (Cole Hamels?  Adam Eaton?) and Cash considerations.   We can pay Burrell a lot more when he goes out for free agency. 

I know it's probably unlikely, but we can dream can't we.  Burrell would fit in so nicely with the current OBP crazy team.

I'm a big fan of characters on baseball teams - having grown up with Major League (the movie) and all the various Kevin Costner baseball flicks, nothing tickles me more than a real live baseball player with a fantastic sense of humor and a comedian's presence.

Ryan Dempster has consistently kept me in stitches here's a big part of why. 

CHICAGO -- The Cubs are on the verge of becoming only the second team in Major League history to win 10,000 games. They enter their two-game series against the Colorado Rockies with 9,999 wins. The New York/San Francisco Giants are the only other Major League team to top 10,000 wins.

"I remember when we won 5,000," Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster said Tuesday. "What an emotional day that was. We were so excited -- we realized we still had an uphill climb to 10,000.

"To be on the verge of that -- I've been here since the first one, and to get to 10,000, it's a long, hard struggle, and I'm looking forward to it."

Truth is, Dempster wasn't even born when the Cubs won their 5,000th game on July 19, 1940, against Brooklyn. Let's play along. If he was present for the franchise's first win on April 25, 1876, does he remember the first manager, Albert Spalding?

"He treated me great, he treated me very nice as a young guy coming up," Dempster said.

Keep in mind that this is 1876, not 1976, or even 2006.

Doesn't it seem strange that the Cubs are on the verge of 10,000 wins, more than the New York Yankees, yet the Yankees have won 26 world championships?

"It's not about trophies," Dempster said. "It's about wins."

He's joking, folks

I was watching baseball tonight and the Reds are apparently living up to the preseason hype as a potential surprise team.  Corey Patterson has hit 4 Homeruns in the first week of the season and is hitting .323.  Cueto delivered an excellent pitching performance yesterday.

Put that together with the Brewers potent offense and you have a 3 horse race.  The Cards are having early season success and even though I can't see that lasting, the Cards have never been a team to give up.

The astros have a moderately dangerous lineup with Tejada involved.  The only team in the NL Central that I can't see contending are the pittsburgh pirates but they've just taken us to TWO EXTRA INNING GAMES.

What I'm thinking is while the cubs absolutely do have talent to keep pace with the rest of the NL Central, several people have to raise their game tremendously if we want to be a dominant force.  Otherwise we could have another NL Central free for all.  The NL Central is no longer a joke, in my opinion.  Seems like parity has risen overall in all of baseball this year.

Thoughts?

We're going to the top of the 12th, does this look familiar??  When's the last time there were two 12 inning games in a row?  The other game thread was getting slow so I decided to try opening an overflow game thread.  Lets see if it works.

Hmm, this says it has to be 75 words long, so lets see what we can come up with...

My wish list right now:  2 Runs at the top of the 12th and then Hart comes in to close the game.  Make it so.