That being said, the nice thing right now is that with the way this team is constructed, it's not 100% neccesary that would comes back and is a juggernaut. If he though that would be great.

I am sure it will be nothing like Wrigley (where i attended on Monday). But I heard they do have sushi.

It seemed as though a lot of fans were mad that Hendry signed him for $5 million a year and when he got off to a bad start they took out their frustration on him. He didn't have that great of a year defensively last year, but he had a solid year offensively.

This year he got off to a bad start, but he has been fairly solid as of late.

Ultimately, I hope he gets traded so he can get a fresh start somewhere with a fanbase more willing to give him a chance.

This brings me to my second point.  Ronnie Cedeno is a really poor major leaguer.  There are those that thrive in AAA and should stay there.  I have seen him play 4-5 games this year in Des Moines (I live in Iowa).  He is really bad defensively and the only time I have seen him hit is when the Iowa cubs are up.  He isn't a pressure player.  He proved that on Monday's game.  First pitch fly ball out.  Ronnie is not the same as Fontenot and Theriot.  Ronny and Murton are career minor leaguers.  I do give Murton props for having huge thighs.  My girlfriend commented about that the last time i saw him at AAA.

I wonder which catcher will have more wins for the cubs this season.  I kind of think it will be Koyie not really sure does anyone have those stats?

"There's only so many spots,'' Hoffman said. "It's musical chairs, and you better get a chair.''

Go Cubs!

I never liked the Jacque signing, and I don't like his game. But I boo Hendry for that, not Jacque. Jones plays hard and does evrything he can, it's not his fault that he's not hitting .320 with lots of home runs--he is what he is.

Stop booing your own players, no matter how bad they play. I HATE that. It makes me embarrased to be a Cubs fan when people act like that. Boo the other team if you need to get the boos off your chest.

All this money being poured upon a PLATOON corner OF who has been displaced in CF?  Yes, of course Hendry made a terrible decision here with Jones.  I do not blame Jones for taking the best deal on the table either.  However, I do not have to be pleased as a fan and say that I am o.k. with Jacque Jones as the "solution" for CF.  The cubs are getting more production out of guys who are not platooning and are making the league minimum.  This is awful.  

If Jones was playing at the level that he was supposed to be playing at based on his career numbers (which have been on a steady decline since 2003 by the way), there would not have been such a perceived thought for the Cubs to "add a bat" at the trade deadline.  What's worse is that I do not see Jones improving much the rest of this season based upon what I see with his swing and batting stance.  The kicker of course is that the Cubs have yet one more year on this contract as well.

Thank goodness that Pinella does not have a problem with making changes and benching unproductive veterans and that I can count on him to recall Pie between now and September 1st to replace Jones in CF.  I have to believe that once the scouts prove that Pie's "tap-toe" adjustment is good to go, that he will be "manning up" in CF for Chicago.

I'm glad that Jones scored once and knocked in a crucial run last night but he is also credited with 5 LOB as well.  I'd rather have Pie make the catches in CF and saving runs from scoring than have Jones be responsible for runs scoring and "having to redeem himself" with the bat.

I firmly believe that winning breeds good chemistry and not the other way around.  If the Cubs were not winning, I bet we'd see more complaining from the players about AB's and playing time like we did back in April and May.

The Cubs are winning and that is good by me.  But as long as Jones remains in the starting lineup, the CF position will remain nothing but "chemisery" for me.  

I really wanted to boo and vent my anger. However, and this is a new tactic for me, I was determined to restrain myself and just eat my sandwich nervously - burining inside.

As Al said - low and behold he redeemed himself. For the most part, as far as I could hear, people didn't boo him his next time up. I am certain that the feeling any athlete has, performing in front of thousands of people, when they totally get embarassed on a play, is one where they want to climb under a rock and yet there is no where to hide.

Marquis, imo, did better than I thought he would - in the early innings, there were really some dink and dunk hits, seeing eye stuff (also, it appeared as if on one of the GB's the IF was out of position and probably should have made a play) - AND he had a nice single as well.

One thing we did discuss, was we wanted Sori to make the last out of the inning when he came up with two outs so the "real" top of the order could lead off with Theriot - in the next inning.

Watching Soriano as a #1 is an adventure and either really frustrating (a wasted K), or extra base hit. Ann odd position for Lou to have his hands tied there...  

This year's return seems to have become more of a pleasant sighting, rather than a "whew, we've been waiting on you since late March" process.  A nice thing to see ... after how many years?

Please, Kerry, prove me wrong ... please? I'd love to eat some crow served up by hisotherwife.

--t.

Here is an interesting point from yesterday's game, that you probably would only have caught live:

JJ's double in the LH corner of LF drove the runner ahead of Jacque, DeRosa to third. MEanwhile, the LF for the Phils, could not come up with a ball - we are screaming, "GO HOME!" "GO HOME"! Quade, immersed in his attention given to making sure JJ stays on the bag at 2B DID NOT SEE that the ball was being fumbled! Now this was a KEY juncture in the game.

JJ then FRANTICALLY starts waiving to Mark De to get going! Which to the runner's credit, had him take off for home on a close play, where he should have scored easily had the 3B coach just follow the ball in play.

Quade was a payback from the GM for this guy being a good MiLB soldier. But - sigh - he indeed will keep learning on the job.

I wish along with everyone that he would have been more productive this year, but he will be OK when its all said and done.  Just as long as we are all clicking when september comes along and he seems to be going in the right direction.

Marhsall to a doctor to get that perpetual "I'm ALMOST retarded" look off of his face.

Cubs have sucked against lefties...Do Cubs even have a chance tonight?