I was a little perplexed as to why Harden was pulled after only 87 pitches, but theyre being careful given his history, so Im ok with that- hes been healthy all year except after returning from Japan…so whatever it takes to maintain that Im fine, and hopefully it wont be an issue next year.

The offense is a complete mess lately, so to blame Harden or Marshall isnt really fair, they did their jobs in spades.

Is there any where they keep records for how many players/managers/coaches each individual ump has tossed? This guy is very quick to the trigger. Granted, Sinatro threw his helmet, and it looked like Lou said the “magic word”, but the ump yelled something at Sinatro after he was tossed and was walking away that REALLY pissed off Sinatro.

Please tell me he’s not behind the plate tomorrow with Marquis pitching.

It looks like Carlos Marmol is getting filthy again

Dome seems to be hitting marginally better

Reed Johnson rocks my world

Harden’s got the Ks (count ‘em) ... but he needs to learn efficiency

Knowing that Drake is a complete Douche

AND…

That despite the last couple of games, we got “too much good stuff” not to make it through to the promised land

and I still think DeRosa was safe. I don’t think the WGN replays are conclusive.

agreed 87 pitches seems low but I think forward thinking probably played a part in this too. He’s schedule to pitch the last game of the Brewers series on Thursday, which is on normal rest (for most pitchers) but supposedly Harden is going to be getting that sixth day every now and then. Since this is one of the times he won’t get that sixth day, Lou might have had a shorter hook for him today, to keep him ready for Thursday.

Also, while it would be nice if he did go longer into games, I will be ecstatic if I can get 5 innings of one run ball every 5th (or 6th) day, especially given the rest of the rotation (Z, Dempster and yes, even Liliy). Now if he starts mixing in 5 innings of average ball every few starts, agreed – that would be detrimental.

But if he’s on auto-pilot for 5 great innings every time, I would take that in a heartbeat and make the appropriate adjustments for the rest of the staff.

I haven’t been here that long, but the game threads IMO are getting out of hand…excessive profanity, baiting and generally rude language by some posters needs to be reigned in. Someone even posted a purported name and address of one of the worst offenders (not really a smart move).

I’m uncertain how you can go about that, but I can tell that there are several others (particularly the ladies of the board) that are getting frustrated with the lack of class exhibited.

It appears to me some of us need to do a bit more thinking before typing…maybe this is all wishful thinking on my part.

glad that this is not happening later in the season…..if we can right the offensive ship soon (like by the time we get to Milwaukee please) then with the pitching we get we should be in the playoffs…...would love to run away with things but then I suppose we wouldn’t enjoy the promised land as much when we get there…..any thoughts on extra bats we need or are we okay with what we have?

out 20.......the hitters need to do a better job.

.....we’ve got to come out of this funk sometime! Our pitching staff has been AMAZING since the All Star Break. And 19k’s in 11 IP today.

won’t continue with this hitting slump. Sori, Ramy and Lee all have positive track records they will turn it around.
I agree, lets give Ramy a day, give DeRo a day, let Cedeno start twice or 3 games a week for a change.
No problem Harden going 87 pitches, next week start against the Brewers let him go to 100-105.
I look at this way, Cubs haven;t really hit consistenly this month, and they are in first either tied or 1 up, They will hit.
58 to go, lets got 35-23. Go Cubs.

Like Al said the guy seems to love throwing guys out of the game. First there was the bullspit that occurred against the White Sox when Lou was walking back to the dugout.

Then this week he makes an atrocious strike call on somebody from the Sox. Guillen comes out to argue and Drake throws him out. The whole arguing balls and strikes thing aside, the umpire made an awful call and covered up for it by ejecting the manager.

Today it started with the check swing call against Derrek, which Drake later called no swing for a Marlin player later in the game (replays show Lee’s swing and the Marlin’s swing were the same).

DeRosa was out, and would of been safe if he ran through the base, again not the point here, the first base coach gets upset umpire tosses him pretty quickly. It looked like Sinatro actually gave up arguing and then Drake said something to get him mad again.

Lou comes out and argues, gets tossed, and then it was obvious that Drake and the other umpires were egging him on. Lou was almost in the dugout to leave when he came out again after the umpires obviously said something to him.

Drake not only has a real fast trigger when it comes to tossing managers, he continues to egg them on after they have stopped their argument. The REAL umpires need to finish vacation so this clown can go back to AAA or wherever the pulled him from.

Unless the cubs offense adjust – they are in big trouble,

Lee looks at 1 – 2 pitches per AB that should be hit to center or right.

The pitchers on this team should never have to pick up the dinner bill except Howry.
The offense should

Dear, Jim

Picking up Harden was great, Please find a bat out there somewhere.

Two runs in 12 innings today and Two runs in 9 innings yesterday is not getting the job done.

Geez – It is so frustrating!!

to the Promised Land this year!

Reality tho, says that if the heart of our order is not producing more than 1-2 runs per game, then we are going to have a tough time making it there this year.

I see DeRo as being tired, DLee as totally out of sync, Ramy with more than usual, hot and cold streaks (mostly cold), Fukudome as needing more offensive production ( by adjusting his style at the plate ) Soto needing more rest, Theriot needing more rest and overall better bench production. Walks as a team are way down and small ball is almost non-existent right now for the Cubs.

Starting pitching has been beyond expectations so far, but the Bullpen is also a big concern (more so than last year).

I just feel we have too many “holes” to be WS winners this year, and that is just reality, not negativity. It could be the pressure (100 year thing), just plain tiredness, or they are not quite as good of a team as the first half showed. It’s been a fun season, but let’s hope they turn it around and start trending in the “other” direction tomorrow.

there pitching fukudome away away away. i would love to see him bunt a few down that 3rd baseline.