Really fooled Nady. I guess he didn’t get the memo that Jim doesn’t have it anymore.

with no other available choice other than putting cedeno out there(doubt he can handle it defensively)—-what do we do? pie isnt an option at this point. sorry if you have man crushes on him or your an over valueing cub fan but he’s not a major leaguer.

OT-———joakim noah was arrested for marijauna and alcohol. i said 3 days ago he was a cancerous thug and was quickly rebuffed by a poster who seems to know more than me. apology maybe?? you know who you are!

Edmonds will get this homestand ( or I least hope, and then enough, and bring back pie)
Soriano will get killed on this game, and yes I can see why. But as I mentioned in the extra inning post, Lilly can’t give up homeruns to Louis Rivas, even though one was a double, Dome looks tired and hasn’t ripped a ball in a week. Woody hits a batter in the ninth last night and scores, Marmol walks a batter in the ninth and he scores, but it will all fall on Soriano, the punching bag for the Cubs
But I agree Al, time to sit Soriano late in the game with the lead.

It’s only a quarter into the season and he looks WORN OUT.

still doesn’t feel comfortable. DL him. Matter fact - Don’t even ask him how he feels, evaluate him - the either Lou or Hendry decides what is best. I’m so tired of him limping and being so tender on his leg if he’s not 100%. Ugh, and the missed catch …........... I don’t even want to say what’s going on in my mind.

But – tomorrow is another day. We still are a great team. Yes, a GREAT team. Let’s not forget that. We will start winning on the road. We are a #2 starter and a decent CF away from being a championship caliber team.

Let’s win against those Dodgers tomorrow!

and have won only one – the first road trip when we swept these same Pirates. Sure, things will level out over the course of the season, but we need to close out the games when we take the lead into the 9th.

We are 10-14 on the road so far, with June being on the road for 17 games. Could get ugly.

It feels like we should of swept this series. And Fukudome’s power is non-existing.

But there were two other key drops that didn’t help: Theriot’s drop of Dome’s incredible throw to second that should’ve nailed Laroche, and Blanco’s drop of Reed’s throw home that should’ve nailed Laroche.

Then there was yet another strike ‘em out-throw ‘em out today.

Sloppy baserunning and sloppy defense did the Cubs in; time for Lou to tighten up the screws.

And Jim Edmonds is cashed. Time for that cowboy to ride of into the sunset.

I vaguely remember the booth initially commenting on the sun as being a factor in Soriano’s drop. So they weren’t completely throwing him under the bus.

but Theodore’s performance wasn’t.

Harden is our man, and could be had for a discount. I guarantee we will regret it if we don’t make a run at him. When he’s on, he’s a freakin ACE.

I am glad that I wasn’t home today and just learned of the outcome now from Al’s fine recap.

Oh well, another tough loss. If D. Lee can be removed ina double switch then Soriano has to start coming out the games for D late. The idea of removing a poor defender late in the game isn’t controversial. It’s unfortunate that we are even writing about it. If Soriano is such a great guy and team guy in the clubhouse then I am shocked that it hasn’t happened yet. Let’s hope that changes after today’s loss.

check out a young studly Lou Piniella!

/commence swooning

If this team is to be legitimate World Series contender then two things have to happen.

1. MUST obtain a quality starting pitcher. Quite simply, our rotation isn’t good enough. Not if we are serious in 2008.

2. Kerry Wood needs to improve as closer. The blown saves are too many. The hit batsmen are too many. The indigestion when he enters a game with only a one run lead is too great.

Some of you like to be seduced by his hotter than blazes stretches. But the other 3/4 rd’s of the season he is shockingly ineffective and a liability to the offensive flow of this team. On top of this his play in left field has signifcantly regressed for unknown reasons. It’s gotten to the point where a defensive substitution is needed for late inings.

Lou is so focus on adding a stick to center, the biggest concern is the rotation.
Dempster and Z are the only reliable starters the Cubs have.
I still can’t get over RIvas hitting 1 and a half homeruns off of Lilly today, I mean come on.
Soriano is not the sole reason why this club should be better. However becasue of the a large contract he gets the grief.
Tomorrow should be interesting on his first AB.

Heading into extra innings themselves vs. the Cards. They are logging some heavy bullpen innings which levels the playing field to start the homestand. Let’s hope the Cards lose in 22 innings.

Go outside and enjoy the weather. Grab a book, I did the Sunday crossword puzzle. I was pretty pissed off after yesterdays game and todays and I’m tired of letting the frustration mount as it seems to me that I cared more about the Cubs winning the last few games than the Cubs did. So if they are going to have a prima donna in LF who refuses to be replaced for defensive reasons, if they have a closer who I want to succeed more than anything else but clearly is too erratic to be a closer, if they are going to coast through divisional play and if they are going to play on the road like they are a bunch of minor leaguers, than I’m going to find something more worthy of my time.

I sat outside, enjoyed the weather, exercised my mind and feel a lot better.

Piniella and his team needs to get their act together.

DmL

I’ve been sitting on the fence about the instant replay issue—leaning mostly toward OK for HR calls only. But I appreciate what Lou has to say about the issue. What I love most about baseball is the “human element” and spittle splayed disputes are very much a part of the charm. At this stage of the game I’m against it.

one bright spot in the day

What was Soriano’s take on the ball?

“It was very tough,” Soriano said. “I tried at the last moment to catch the ball, but it was in the sun. When it came off the bat, I saw it very clear. At the last moment, it was in the sun, and it was tough to catch it because I never saw it.

“It hit me on the glove, but I didn’t see the ball,” Soriano said.

There wasn’t anything he could do differently, Soriano said.

“That surprised me at the last moment with the ball going down,” he said. “I never thought that ball would get lost in the sun.

“Everybody knows if it’s not in the sun, it’s a routine fly ball,” Soriano said. “They know I didn’t do it on purpose. It’s very tough when you can’t see the ball.”

Can’t be in the field in the ninth inning WITH THE LEAD for any reason…......
PERIOD…..!!!!!!

thank god I wasn’t on this board when soriano dropped the ball (no pun intended).

.....sure drewishdrewid…..what a dope you are….... but why waste my time with a jerk like you…?

How’s it looking out there?

First trip to Wrigley this year tomorrow, sitting in Dugout Box and … a pretty nasty looking forecast.

Please encourage me.

and wants to talk about it with other Cubs fans, come hang out in this thread.

9 up pads-reds

he says your too old to be playing baseball

today were disappointments for sure. I’m glad they will be home for a few days now. It amazes me when they score multilple runs in one game and then struggle in the next few. I don’t get it.

Think I’ll get my pj’s on and read my book. Thunderstorms and tornados are whizzing by.

Tomorrow is a new day.

Unbelievable. Bob Brenly speaks the truth. Soriano has been an awful signing since day one in a Cub uniform. On top of his blind hacking at the plate he now has become a liablity in left field.

You can bet the ranch Jim Hendry DEEPLY regrets signing Soriano. But Gary Varsho, George Constanza and others will defend the guy to their death because of his propensity for two week hot streaks.

Soriano is a second division ballplayer. I’d gladly give him back to Washington and pay 95% of his remaining salary.

Like a growing number of Cub fans I hate the bastard.

Apparently you have hopped on the bandwagon that says Lou Piniella has screwed over Felix Pie. With no regard to his fundamental ability to hit major league pitching. I’d love to understand your rationale.

Hopefully this comment become true form last nights recap.

I’m sure that Sori feels worse than anyone right now. After all, he’s flying on the same plane as Marmol. And I’m sure his teammates feel his pain. Remember DeRo’s error on the last trip to Pittsburgh? The only difference is that they won the other one in extras. Sori was actually 0 today; +2 on the HR, -1 on Rivas’s HR, and -1 on the drop.

Now, on to the longer term issue of Sori’s defense (or lack thereof) in LF. Lou basically has three choices:
1. Carry a fifth OF (Andres Torres?) as a defensive caddy—just like So Taguchi for Pat Burrell. This would mean either eliminating the PH (Ward/Hoffpauir) or the second MI (Fontenot). He can’t really use his 4th OF for that if he won’t let Edmonds bat against LHP. It would also mean that Sori’s bat might not be there in extras;
2. Permanently switch DeRo and Sori. IMO, this would be worse, because Sori’s 2B defense was dreadful in Texas and 2B is a more important defensive position than LF. It’s also not fair to DeRo, since he was promised 2B;
3. Switch DeRo to LF after Sori’s last AB and insert Cedeno/Fontenot at 2B. This weakens the 2B defense if Fonty is used and puts a tremendous strain on DeRo.

Sori is a Piniella type of player—an athlete with speed and power. (Look at the way Lou devalues DeRo, batting him 8th, because he is more ballplayer and less athlete.) Sori isn’t going anywhere. The trick is to maximize Sori’s strengths while minimizing his weaknesses. I do think that Lou has to face the music about “not pulling superstars”.

I almost wish that Lou would get another 4 game suspension so I could see how Alan Trammell would handle Sori’s defense.

I haven’t been posting on the game threads because my computer is just toooo slooowwww. While I’m sure that SBNation is partly to blame, I think that my computer is also part of the problem, even though it’s only 2 years old. (Some of you seem to do fine posting to the game threads.)

Question: what computers and browsers are y’all using? I’m thinking of switching from PC to Mac if it will give me better performance on the Internet.

Any advice would be appreciated.

P.S. My Gameday Audio is still not functioning normally either.

Section 434 Row 4, the only problem, you have to sit next to me. If your interested e-mail me at i.m.trejo (at) excite (dot) com.

Corey Patterson is 0-8 so far….

After Soriano hit the homer, Brenley said “With Soriano, you want him to knock in more runs than he lets in.” That didn’t happen today.

in two games

Quentin for Soriano, straight up?

Pie is the answer to this problem.

I am not going to beat up on Sosa #2 on the dropped ball. However, I am going to beat up on him for his lack of hustle. If he is afraid to run, than DL him. He is afraid to go all out on certain plays…some that are catchable and some where I would at least like to see him try.

Some good news at least for this week…

What happen to all the Murton fans? Len and Bob mentioned the other day he’s hitting a ton in AAA and hmmmm didn’t he play left field some time ago?

Weighing in on Pie I think those that can remember should reflect on the troubles Shawn Dunston had his entire career with a nose to toes strike zone. If you look at 25 or 30 AB and consistantly see the same reasons for faliure and no strides (not that Pie hasn’t tried) toward correction then you have to have him improve at a lower leval so pressure, glare, expectations are not gonna mess the kids head up.

Lou has to start managing to win games. That means putting the best defense in the ballgame in the last one to two innings of the game if we have the lead late.

3 Games Soriano has cost us in Left with his defense late in the Game (Game 1 with the Brewers, Game 1 with the Cardinals, and the Game today)

Living in the heart of redbird country I am stuck watching bird games from time to time. LaRussa always puts his players in a position to win and he is not afraid to switch out a subpar defender for the better defender late in the game.

piniella dont mange to win games?? gimme a break. when you can win a world series you can question that of a WS manager. piniella is one of the best managers to ever mange the game. you dont get there by being bad.