I agree it's too early to think Wood can't be the closer. A little disappointing that he's given up runs in two appearances this early in the season but I think he'll do just fine. Let's break out the brooms tonight as we all get a chance to watch this game on WGN!

I greatly appreciate the comments on Pie. Theriot has done his job being a "scrapper" and scoring runs in these past two games as well. ARam had a good game last night but D-Lee didn't. Dempster did.. Marmol didn't (looked a little out of sorts for some reason) That's the way these things go as you have said time and again. Let's see how the first couple of months go with our guys and then make adjustments. I don't have to tell Lou that. But we have to remind the fans to have some patience. Heck, I'm even willing to give Ronnie C a chance. Let's give our scappers our full support!

I also thank you for the concise comments about giving the players Lou has chosen a real chance to show their stuff. It seems that a 162 game season is still not understood by many

This team has won 2 of 3 extra inning games. Previous Cub teams (including last year's pre-June squad) would likely not have won.

Great work team, bring out the brooms!

Al is dead on observing, "Previous editions of our favorite team would likely have found a way to lose both of these games."

Good teams find ways to win these games, bad teams lose them.

Let's take this as a positive indicator -- and go get the sweep tonight !!!!

There will be 2 stations televise Cubs@Pirates game tomorrow morning (Japan time), one is BS Fuji in HD and the other one is Sky PerfecTV, and I got a day off.
I will join the game thread if I won't have a lazy morning.... wanna see Dome hit more than a bloop single...

of hitting from Felix, but I think he's still a bit too enamored of his power. Hopefully, Lou and Gerald Perry can stay on him and get him to stay within himself.

Nice to see Rammy square one up. He's looked hurt for the first few games, but he really had some good swings last night.

Soriano's still looking rough at the plate, but his arm is incredible. I don't understand why teams continue to challenge him. He and Dome are going to save the Cubs a lot of runs this year.

Billy Williams being interviewed on WGN morning news right now.

Wood didn't pitch badly last night, the pitch Bay hit got a little to much of the plate. Bay went with it, hit it hard and it barely got out to the opposite field. Wood then easily finished the inning.

Wow, over 1800 posts counting all the overflow threads. That must be a one game record?

While I don't expect Dempster to pitch as well the rest of the season as he as so far, he did prove himself to be an adequate, if not spectacular, closer, for the Cubs for a few years. He has been willing to take on a starting role this season. If he finishes the season with a winning record and an ERA below 4.50, I'll be happy. He wasn't the 1979 version of Bruce Sutter as a closer. He won't be the 1992 version of Greg Maddux as a starter. He's still better than the majority of pitchers in the big leagues, and I'm glad we have him.

Liked your post Al.. I like how you preached patience with Pie. I think people tend to forget that the kid has an amazing glove and that he will take time to develop. Not everyone is Albert Pujols or Ryan Braun.... I liked Lous comment that if everyone else was hitting than Felix might get some more consistent ABS... Talk to yall later...

1 paper
1 presentation
1 long day

they had many chances to put this game away in regulation. I sure hope they get a little better at this going forward. It's teams like this they have to improve on from last years' winning percentage. The Cubs seem to play up to (or in this case, down to) their opponents.

How many of us at BCB have Go Cubs Go as a ring tone? I do and I know it annoys friends when it rings but it makes me feel good!

have always played up/down to their opponents. I remember as a kid being dumbfounded by this phenomena. The important thing here is that we actually won the last two games, something we'd never have seen in years past. I'll take the close games, the playing up/down to whomever we're facing that day, as long as we win, I couldn't care less.

Of course, I'll be a nervous wreck by June, but then it wouldn't be summer as a Cub fan if I wasn't, right?

I went to bed happy last night. But still, let's not forget we were playing Pittsburgh-the kind of team a post season contender is supposed to beat.
As for Kerry Wood, i've never been sold on him as a closer but, at the same time, I'm not going to jump off the cliff based on one bad sequence of pitches. He's been annointed and deserves a chance to adjust to the role before we start thinking about plan B.

is the number LOB throughout the entire game - the inability of ever our "big guys" to drive in runs when they're 90 ans 180 feet away. Marmol and Wood should never have been in that position yesterday; when you throw strikes (at least Woody did), sometimes they get hit. A BB or hit batsman or solo HR shouldn't have been the difference maker last night.

"Can we stop overreacting to some players' bad starts now? The Cubs have played eight games. If I believe some of what I read, Felix Pie is absolutely worthless and has to be sent back to the minor leagues never to return."

Thanks Al. I get really sick of the "Score Heads". I even agreed with a friend last night to quit calling Dempster "Dumpster".

I agree, the LOB, has been a problem for the Cubs it seems since 1970. I don't know ,do they press, don't work counts, bad luck, who knows put they have to improve.
Couple observations: good to see Marshall up.
I have been a Pie so-so basher, glad to see him get a clutch hit, and him running down the line, smacking his hands was a great site. Would love for him to be successful.
Dempster was great, anyone else notice in his windup, his movement with his glove, sort of flapping his mitt, I don't recall that last year.
Lets win in nine tonight.

Man alive, we had a snowed in dish so I only got to see about 4 innings. However, in years past we would have lost the last two games....it is a good sign that we are winning the close ones.
And I agree with Al....there is a lot of Pie bashing. He needs a chance to play regularly through the season before any judgements can be made. Lets not forget that Reed is batting between Sori and DLee, seeing better pitches.
So, Woody gave one up? Better than walking folks, shows that he is throwing strikes. People always put a negative when someone beats our pitchers when the truth is that we play against other pros, folks with a lot of talent, no matter who they play for.

The continuing inability to execute and manufacture runs is maddening. It doesn't matter if we add a strongly fundamental hitter to the mix in Kosuke...the problem STILL exists.

Ryan Dempster is a man on a mission.

Good to see Felix Pie finally do something. Lou was praiseworthy too. Pie needs to keep hitting the other way on ocassion. Go with the pitch and good things will happen.

Kerry Wood is not going to be shutdown closer. He may be a very good one, but every time he enters a game there is going to be nervousness. Just like in the days of him as a starter.

It was pretty but like was said earlier, this team has the ability to come back which wasn't there early on last season, the only things that really concern me are leaving runners on base but hopefully we can get out of that funk. Im not too concerned though odly enough if anyone remembers last season early on the pirates played us really tough. I think it was on Alfonso Soriano bobblehead day that the bucs beat us in 13 innings. Dempster for NL Cy Young? You heard it here folks.....maybe

Here's a fun little contest.
Beat the streak. You can pick Felix Pie everyday!
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/fantasy/bts/

What types of pitches does Dempster throw?

My guess (from the highlights, etc.) is four seam fastball, two seam fastball, change, and slider. How accurate is that?

i'm not a fan of pie but ive said all along that his attitude is his worst enemy. i watched him play in person many many times in aaa and now in the majors. his problem is still the exact same. he thinks he's a pull hitter. he's not. when he swings the bat like he did on the single and the hr that went foul he might live up to potential. SHORT quick level swing. most of the time he is swinging long and hard and his head ends up backwards(so to speak). ive been taping all his ab's and replaying them. their all either one or the other. when he swings it right its usually a hit or hard out. please please please pie realize that your not your friend soriano.

as far as pulling dempster last night, i saw alot of post saying lou should have left him in. lou did what he should have done. let your starter exit w/ a chance to win the game. bring in your filthy,unhittable,well rested setup guy in the 8th and then your should be, well rested, upper 90's closer in to finish.

as far as wood goes anyone else notice his pitches. he seems to be relying on his fastball and his hard slider only. why isnt he throwing the nasty hook he's famous for? is he scared he cant get it over for strikes? w/e the case if he stays healthy he will be a GREAT closer for a long time i think.

one other thing I saw last night that got me thinking. soto has been great IMO so far but when howry pitched last night he had to go to mound and talk to him. signs mixed up?? i gotta feeling these pitchers are still getting acclimated to pitching to soto. vice versa. maybe this is a reason for some of the pitching struggles. this will be worked out in a few weeks or so i believe. soto will better learn to call a major league game and learn what his pitchers want him to do in certain spots.

last thing--DECEPTION-- i would really really like to see theriot,pie,and fukudome start bunting more. riot and pie have to much speed to be up there slugging away everytime. i think if they will start trying the ol bunt more they will bring in defenses and not only start opening up holes and getting a basehit but get on bases and stir up that pitcher.

The "Hook". Devastating pitch! Always reminds me of the 20 strikout game.

Al - you stated that only Hill and Lilly didn't play but I thought Lieber didn't either. It will nice to have a long reliever that's not worn available tonight.

First off great win for the Cubs last night....it was great to see the team battle back and win after blowing two late leads. There was nothing better than watchng the Cubs highlights on Baseball tonight after a Cubs victory but with the departure of Harold Reynolds on bogus sexual harassment claim and Peter Gammons health and age has made it tough to bear. With the arrival of Eric Young and the other guy who completes the PC trio baseball tonight has become tough to watch. I cant believe that some executives of ESPN really think these guys are good. It's ashame that ESPN so cowardly dismissed Harold Reynolds when Mike Tricio and Chris Berman had been both accused of similiar cases. Bring Reynolds back.

... I have been hearing chatter (perhaps speculation again) that the Cubs are "stepping up talks".

Al - any Deep Goat updates?

chatter about "you know who"?

...Marquis is going tonight?

yet if Marquis is going tonight...my guess is he will. I heard that Lou is thinking of putting Fukudome in center and Ward in right tonight. And maybe Fontenot at second. I would think Pie would deserve to be in after last night's heroics..

and I think he would have to be pretty ill to miss a shot at pitching against the pirates....

but if Ward plays right, I'd rather have Pie in center to cover all that space and give Fukodome a rest. Lou also mentioned playing Johnson tonight ....not enough room for all those guys...

Source: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080409&content_id=2508057&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

First things first, Get Home Safe Al. I've always wondered what exactly it is you do, but it's prob none of my business anyways. Being Mr. BCB works fine for me. Anyways, although I was in class during the game I watched it when I got home (I'm sure most of you know but it's free on MLB.TV once the game has finished).
Couple things, although it's only been 8 games I believe we have the worst % in the Majors for leaving RISP. Let's hope this won't be a trend.
Wood and Pie both need and deserve time butttt not too much. Soria-NOOOO why did you swing at that! Please stop. Please?
Reed Johnson gave an interview to ESPN 1000 this morning and said it's a "dream come true" to play at Wrigley for us and he comes to the park everyday ready to play whether he's starting or not. Kind of that "saying all the right things" approach we all seem to love, myself included.
Osoria, I owe you a beer for dropping that throw.
A-Ram, I love you as much as the next guy, but is it too hard to at least trot, power walk, skip, hop-skotch even, while watching your bombs?
Love Keystone's picture of the Parrot and yes what was up w/ that? Reminded me of a game last year, I believe in AZ?, where that one guy had a blinking Cubs logo behind home plate. Didn't they make him to put it away? They should've made the Parrot take of his mask and sit w/ the bottom part of his costume on the rest of the game while everyone pointed and laughed.
And I too have Go Cubs Go as my ringtone. It's Glorious. I use WavePad (free-trial of course) to make my ringtones. Just cut 20 sec of any song on my PC and use a third-party website to upload it to my phone.
Anyways, just my $.02. Let's Get 'Em tonight.

SHOOT IT TWICE TO MAKE SURE IT'S DEAD!

After 2 extra inning games. I hope this doesn't mean that the Cubs are on par with the Pirates all season. With that being said even though it's been only 2 games Dempster looks very solid....

So I agree with Am-ram watching his HRs and his lack of running around the bases. But really I could care less if he keeps hitting HRs. I hope I get to hear people be angry about that every day this year, if thats the case we will be winning a lot of games.

Manny is probably public enemy #1 when it comes to that but he is also one of the greatest right handed hitters of all time. It is a good problem to have.

I understand where some people are coming from in terms of wanting a little more 'professionalism' from our highly paid athletes. But at the end of the day, this is a GAME. It's something that 99.9% of us do for fun. If i hit a ball that hard in a league softball game, you better believe I'd stand and admire it. Of course, that'll never happen bc I have the hitting skill of a gerbil. Nonetheless, I'm really not all that upset when a good hitter admires a homerun. Just MAKE SURE it's a homerun

LL above made a good point that it's a good problem to have. I personally get a kick out of it. I wish we had a manny on our team to hit a walkoff HR in the playoffs.

Ok go ahead, flame me. :)

Hammer guy....i'm not going to to into great detail over why Harold Reynolds was falsely accused and forced out by ESPN. If you need more explanation do some research. In my opinion he got a raw deal...it's puzzling when similiar accusations by female staff at ESPN were made against mike tricio and Chris Berman and little was done. it might just be possible that it was a false claim....how about that hammertime?

So everyone who is forced out or wrongly accused in the business world files a lawsuit?

Brewers lose again.

bed last night the score was 4-4. I got up at four this morning and CSN had a replay on and was right where I left off last night. Sooo happy they won. Hope tonight's game is over in nine innings.

For anyone who didnt see. Here he is against Hart

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zpCAh5emlNY