OK, one last post - I've got about 15 minutes before my ride shows up.
Dumb things in the papers this morning.
From Kiley this morning: "Here's the question every Cubs fans [sic] has to answer: Would you trade right-handed starter Carlos Zambrano for Florida Marlins third baseman Mike Lowell?" Why do I have to answer that question? Has somebody suggested that this trade could happen? A newspaper, a scout, a GM, Darren Baker? Who knows, Kiley sure doesn't tell us. But from now he'll talk about how "the media" is abuzz with Zambrano-for-Lowell trade rumors.
Also, from the same article, "watching Zambrano being pounded by Baltimore from the outset Thursday night raised the issue of how much future the Cubs would be giving away by trading Zambrano." Yes, that is exactly how I would like my general manager to evaluate trades. In fact, if I were a GM, I would trade or release every pitcher after a poor start. I would trade or release any position player after an error, a strikeout or if he looked funny. Also, I would fire the manager after each loss, and give him a huge raise after each victory.
Hey, I'm a Cub fan. There are times when I react poorly to a given start, at-bat or fielding play. But if Kiley is having this much trouble putting a column together, maybe he needs a day or two off.
The Trib is always running these dumb little polls, and I usually don't respond because the selections are so idiotic that I can't pick one. Like:
What would you do if the Cubs won the Series?
(a) rip out my fingernails
(b) drink a glass of water
(c) criticize Mike Kiley
And in the latest idiotic Trib poll, the question is:
Should Sammy Sosa be invited to this year’s "Home Run Derby" at Sox park?
(a) Sosa should be in the derby
(b) MLB should keep him out of the derby for one year
(c) Sosa should be banned from the contest forever
My answer, "I could not possibly give a rat's ass" is not available for selection. No write-in votes either.
posted by
Derek at 7:26 AM MST [link] --
wThursday, June 12, 2003
Sorry, not much to say today. I was down in Denver sitting through legal seminars all day. Earthshaking stuff. Got home tonight only to learn that Zambrano was eaten alive by O's offense and Cub defense. Nothing like 2 unearned runs in the 1st inning to flush a game down the toilet. Glad I missed it.
More legal crap tomorrow, then we're going camping for the weekend. So I'll miss at least the first two Cub astroturf games of the season, and you won't hear from me until Sunday at the earliest. For all the details check with Chris at Yarbage Cub Review on Monday, as he'll be spending the weekend in Toronto. The lucky dog draws Wood and Prior as Cub starters. So far, these are the pitchers I've drawn when the Cubs come to Denver:
2000 - Jon Lieber (Cubs win 6-5, great game);
2000 - Jamie Arnold, who started one more game in his major league career (Cubs killed 10-2);
2001 - Kevin Tapani (horrible start, Cubs killed 14-1);
2002 - Steve Smyth (Cubs win anyway, 12-9); and
2003 - Shawn Estes (worst start this year, Cubs lose 8-5)
Quite the collection. So, thank your lucky stars, Chris, and enjoy Skydome.
posted by
Derek at 11:05 PM MST [link] --
wWednesday, June 11, 2003
After reading Chris's rant about Lenny Harris over at Yarbage Cub Review I came to a stunning realization. Lenny Harris and Bucky Dent have the same middle name!
Something else that caught my attention this morning was a Sun-Times article about how Sammy's famous "friends" are all calling him up to support him in his time of need. For example, "Clinton and Sosa became friends when Clinton was in the White House" and "Donald Trump is another Sosa buddy who has experienced public scrutiny."
My wife grew up in Germany, and she's pointed out to me many a time that Americans throw the term "friend" around pretty loosely. Like once you've met somebody, you get to introduce them as your "friend," or even "good friend."
Are Clinton and Sammy really "friends"? Do they have family cookouts, watch the Super Bowl together, exchange e-mails, send vacation postcards, go camping, any of those things?
Dear Bill,
This cork thing is really getting me down. I keep telling everyone it was an accident, but nobody believes me. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about.
Love, Sammy
Dear Sammy,
I've got 4 words for you: I feel your pain. How's Sonia?
Hugs, Bill
Dear Bill,
You are just a unbelievable friend. You always know just what to say. Are you still up for camping this weekend? I'll bring the beer, Sonia says she will un"cork" some wine. Ha Ha!
Yours, Sammy
At least with Clinton, you can imagine him doing some of those things - I'd definitely be down for watching the Super Bowl with Bill, as long as I hid the women and made him promise not to bring his brother. What on earth could Donald Trump possibly have in common with Sammy, other than having named structures after themselves?
Trump: Sammy, I really dig "30-30 Plaza."
Sammy: And I am also impressed with Trump Tower, Don, it's really unbelievable.
Trump: Boy, that public scrutiny sucks, doesn't it?
Sammy: It's unbelievable.
posted by
Derek at 8:43 AM MST [link] --
wTuesday, June 10, 2003
Cubs just won, and it was a shutout to boot. The Astros are losing in the 9th - could it be that the Cubs' temporary exile from first place is almost over?
The Cubs are 8 games over .500, matching their season high so far. I'm also a big fan of their 5-2 record against the AL - maybe they can keep beating up on Baltimore while Houston plays at Yankee Stadium.
Not a big fan of only 4 runs on 14 hits. Wendell Kim should be severely beaten for sending Karros home on O'Leary's single in the 2nd. I guess it took a pretty good play to nab him at the plate, but was Kim aware that (a) Karros is the slowest man alive and (b) there was nobody out? Much choking in the 8th also, when Karros and O'Leary struck out and Harris grounded out after Sammy and Alou both singled to start the inning. Oh well, the Good Estes showed up today so it didn't matter.
Red Sox currently down 7-5 to the Cards. With those two bullpens, it will probably end 22-19 or something. Boston should show the Cubs some freakin' gratitude for taking care of the Yanks this weekend.
You know, the NL Central has taken a lot of crap for being mediocre, but they have been knocking the snot out of the vaunted AL East. As of this moment, the NL Central currently leads 21 games to 11 (Yanks just beat the Astros), with NLC teams leading today's unfinished games 2 games to 1.
And finally, the Yanks disposed of Juan Acevedo today. We always talk about how professional athletes live in a different world than we ordinary folks do, like how they can get away with stuff at their jobs that we can't. And for the most part, that's true. But the Yankees may be an exception. Man, you screw up on that team and you're just done.
The only athletes who normally get dumped like that are NFL kickers. I guess it's fair to say that Acevedo's fat pitch to Karros on Saturday was the equivalent of a "wide right" chip shot with 0:00 on the clock. Only Acevedo can't even blame the holder.
Well, the Cubs won game 3 to take the Yankees series. Another exciting game, and they won the way they usually lose:
Two Cub liners falling an inch or two fair - Patterson's 2nd-inning triple and Alou's 3rd-inning double.
A pitcher's throwing error (Acevedo) on a routine bunt; another throwing error on the same play (Soriano) allowing Grudz to score from 1st.
The tying run (Gipson) getting picked off first base to end the game.
It's nice to be good, but to win a pennant you need some luck, too. The Cubs haven't had much of that over the last month, maybe things are starting to turn their way.
Funny quotes from some of the Yankees in the NY papers (free subscription required) regarding Pettite's performance. Pettitte "was not upset with his performance." He is also apparently the only pitcher in baseball who "was unaware that Moises Alou crushes fastballs down and in." Posada, on the other hand, did know, saying he didn't ask for Pettitte to throw it there and going on to say that Pettitte's "location was terrible."
And in another note, Paul Sullivan at the Trib is ripping me off again. Or we both have similar, tremendous senses of humor.
Me yesterday afternoon: "Giambi swung so early, he probably could've recocked and taken another hack at it."
Sullivan, last night: "Giambi is so far ahead of the pitch he nearly has time to call a mulligan and start his swing over."
All right, I realize that was not the most original line in the world. I was sort of ripping off that one Bugs Bunny cartoon anyway, the one where he strikes out three batters with one really slow pitch. For those of you too old to remember it or too young to have seen it, here's a link to that classic cartoon (Bugs strikes out the side at about 3:35 of the clip if you get tired of waiting for that part.)
posted by
Derek at 1:15 PM MST [link] --
wSunday, June 08, 2003
You all watched the game, you know what happened. Cubs-Yanks was the scheduled FOX game yesterday for 90% of the country, the exceptions being those unfortunate people living in Oakland, Philadelphia, and whatever poor suckers were deemed by FOX to give a crap about the A's-Phils game. Everyone knew what the real game was yesterday. Even God, who in the end spared even that last 10% by dumping torrents of rain on Veteran's stadium, giving Cubs-Yanks 100% coverage. Though if He really cared, he would have delivered an earthquake to the Vet on April 10, 1971, the day that monstrosity opened. It's taken 33 years for Philadelphia to do what God would not, as the Phillies will finally move into a new park next season. Perhaps yesterday's rainout was God's reward - maybe He really does help those that help themselves.
Anyway, I don't know what to add - it really was a great game, one of those rare games that live up to the hype. Clemens and Wood were lights-out from the first pitch. Clemens was ultimately defeated by a cold, while Wood visibly carried the burden imposed by his 4th-inning collision with Big Choi. Man, was that a weird, scary moment. I'm thankful he's OK.
Jason at the the Clark & Addison Chronicle warned us on Thursday that Tim McCarver would obsess about Sammy's corked bat, and he did. With Choi lying prone on the field, though, fellow moron Joe Buck noted that this really put everything, including the corked bat episode, "into perspective." Use of this cliche always reminds me of that scene in This Is Spinal Tap, as the band stands before Elvis's grave ("too much f&*$ing perspective, if you ask me.") Anyway, we did benefit from the massive influx of "perspective," as McCarver was noticeably quieter the rest of the game.
Here's what I like:
No 4000th K for Clemens.
No 300th win for Clemens.
0-1 career record for Clemens against the Cubs. And unless they meet in the Series, and sometime soon, the Cubs will forever have a perfect record agains the great Clemens. Now if only they could figure out Randy Johnson . . .
Wood's performance. Wow. Last night on Baseball Tonight, Bobby Valentine raved about his "no-hit stuff," and it really was.
Remlinger's changeup to Giambi on a 3-2 count with the bases loaded. I could barely watch, but leapt from the couch screaming when Giambi swung and missed. Giambi swung so early, he probably could've recocked and taken another hack at it.
Wood's reaction on that same pitch, shouting and pumping his arm as he marched up and down the dugout. Something tells me that after throwing 120 pitches, getting the crap knocked out of him by Big Choi, and carrying the emotional burden of that collision, Woody's gonna have a tough time getting out of bed this morning.
Choi holding on the ball.
Wood nearly taking out Jeter to break up a double play.
Sammy's looking better. His hit against Clemens in the 7th set up the comeback, as he fouled off pitch after pitch in an 8-pitch at-bat before singling through the hole at short. Clemens was noticeably laboring after that, and couldn't hit the strike zone against Alou as a result. Torre yanked him, and the rest is history.
The Cubs have been defeated by many a seeing-eye single this season, but the Cubs finally had that kind of luck in the 8th. Martinez singled off Ventura's glove, Gonz poked a double just fair of 1st and Sammy singled past Jeter. Even Yankee fans had to be reevaluating Jeter's defensive capabilities after that gift. Karros's homer was the big blow, but the 8th inning was what put the game away.
Zeile's drive off of Joe B landed foul in the 9th - we were looking at a 5-4 game if that ball drops 3 inches to the left.
My final note is that I'm a Yankee hater. I don't really hate any of the individual Yankees. It's just that whole Yankee thing, and I admit much of it is envy. You always hate the guy that gets all the money, all the chicks and all the breaks, and the Yankees are the equivalent of that guy. And Yankee fans are the toadies who hang around that guy, in the vain hope that some of his mojo will rub off on them. So I guess I understand all the publicity surrounding this series, why people were buying tickets for $1500 for yesterday's game and why afterwards so many people are saying it was the best game they've ever seen/played in. It was great to see the Cubs playing in a game that seemed to mean so much, and I was as caught up in it as anybody.
But afterwards, my wife asked, "so, is this really a historic game for the Cubs?" The smile fell from my face as I replied, "no, it's just one win out of 162 games this season." Because you know what? The Yankess play that game every day. Everyone wants to beat the Yankees. Every game played against the Yankees is a special game. The Red Sox play them 18 times a year, and each one is like a playoff game. By tomorrow, do you think anyone in New York will still be talking about this one?
What I want is for people in other cities to circle the dates the Cubs come to town, and to buy all those tickets the day they go on sale. Not because they watched WGN as a kid, not because Sammy Sosa's coming to town, but because everyone wants to beat the Cubs, the team that everyone hates because they always find a way to beat everybody else.
posted by
Derek at 1:57 PM MST [link] --
wReigning NL Central Division Choke Artists
Eamus Catuli
AC016097
wOfficial Let's Play Two Favorite Cub (TM)
Carlos Zambrano
3-3, 3.22, 68 K
5/31: ND,8 IP,0 ER,1 H,9 K
Next start: 6/05 @ SD
