That’s probably where the throwback came from, which is why it seemed to NOT come from the bleachers.

you providing that little insight about Soriano is about as good of overall insight as we’re gonna get. Thanks.

case in point last year Soriano’s wrist in the mid season. Power comes from proper execution of swing mechanics, bat speed, exploding one’s leveraged power at the hitting point, hitting the ball on the sweet spot all in a millisecond, if you aren’t right power goes down.

If his neck and back were bothering him he probably is not uncorking well, also I have noticed many late swings (back)….maybe it is a blessing in disguise to have Ward play 1B in Pttsburgh and get his stroke working as well.

He may not admit publicly that the back/neck/shoulder problems have taken away some power, but it probably is.

His teammates are the ones that will notice how the injury is affecting him, and how he doesn’t let it affect him in the field. That’s called leadership, and is one of the reasons why Derrek is one of the leaders of this team.

If the Chicago Cubs want the players (Wuertz, Pie, Hart, etc.), they will call them up regardless of the playoffs and send reinforcements from Tennessee to Iowa.

Historical is always a matter of perspective and some other generations’ viewpoint, ironically it is the 45th year of the “I Got a Dream” speech that MLK Jr gave in DC….

Last time this big of venue was JFK’s speech in LA’s Olympic Coliseum and I heard that Springstein will keep the crowd entertained and Gore will also speak.

Tickets were well earned.

And after Thursday have played the same # of games. Forget the mystique always look at resident talent. Brewers are ahead of the Cards because they have more talent on their squad but are not doing the little things, and have a flaw in the bullpen which is why they are behind the Cubs with 130 +- games played.

Cards could overtake the Brewers by playing the game the right way for the WC but unless the Cubs falter they are way far back.

Cubs win their ninth series in August against Pitt and they will be 8 1/2 games up on the Cards minimum, if the Cards sweep the Brewers (more likely split) but sweep that could put the Brewers back to 6 games back.

I don’t know what his pitch count was or what he looked like, but I kind of thought Lou should have kept him in. I figured he’d give up a couple at worst a tie, and God knows we’d score more against that team. It is all hindsight and you couldn’t predict the bullpen meltdown, but I say let him work out of his own mess.

It’s Marmol’s wildness that keeps hitters off balance (though, as far as I can tell, he’s spotting his fastball much better these days). And we’ve all come to know (and fear) how his emotions can get the better of him – as opposed to, say, a Mariano Rivera-type guy who comes in cool as a freakin’ cucumber and throws with pinpoint control.

i just didn’t have the sarcasm graphic to throw up there.