Over the last 6 games, Bryan LaHair has gone 3/20 with 3 walks and 7 K's, his BA dropping from .352 to .315. Are we seeing the start of the regression that many predicted? Is this just a temporary slump where LaHair can make a couple minor tweaks to right the ship, or have opposing pitchers found a chink in his armor? What do you think?

LaHair's Stats over the last 6 games:

Date Opponent AB H BB SO

5/20 CWS 2 1 2 1

5/19 CWS 4 0 0 2

5/18 CWS 3 0 1 3

5/17 PHI 3 0 0 0

5/16 PHI 4 1 0 1

5/15 STL 4 1 0 0

This was then inaugural year for the Season Ticket Holder Open House at Wrigley. Last week there were two nights to pick from and you needed to be preregistered for the event. We were allowed to bring with us one person, so I chose my husband. At 5pm we were able to enter the ballpark under the marquee to sign in. I had to show ID and we both got a wrist band. Then for the next 3 hours we had free roam of Wrigley. They had four locations to get to, but mostly just so that we all did not end up at same area at same time. There were not many people here, so you could get the pictures you wanted and not get in someone's way.

This was one of the best events I have ever attended at Wrigley. I had participated in Meet the Team have a Ball and the regular tour, but this surpassed them.

Our first stop was the new bleacher patio area. This is where Jody Davis was signing autographs and you could meet your ticket rep. There were ushers/security stations at various points to keep you in check, but honestly this was so low key just took our pictures for us. No one said hurry or told you not to go there. We were free to roam.

Photo ops were everywhere and they had your name scrolling on the scoreboard throughout the night in alphabetical order. They opened up the United Club and had a buffet of park fair (hotdogs, pop, chips, ice cream etc.)

The visitor clubhouse was not open, but the Cub's was. So we went down to the clubhouse. When I took the tour last year it was a home game, so I missed this on the tour so this was a first for me.

The final stop was the press boxes. Again all access. At one point a guy leaned out the window and said, "A one, a two, a three!" It was pretty cool!

After the complete tour we went back down to eat ice cream in the seats down by the dugout. No one said you need to leave, we just left when we were done. They said this was the first year they tried this and I'd say it was a huge success.

In the future if you become a season ticket holder I would HIGHLY recommend you attend this!!!

Amanda

My pictures...mostly me and my husband being cheesy....but if you wanted to see them...

Hey all... I am making my first trip back to Wrigley in 28 years. I have tickets to the Sunday night game vs the Red Sox, but will be in town from Fri afternoon thru Monday. Looking for some advice/help in a couple of areas...

I will be traveling with two friends, and as of yet, do not have solid lodging plans.. I have friends in Round Lake, but after hearing that the train ride is 1.5 hrs each way, and with both games being at night, this doesn't seem like a very good option. That being said, if anyone has suggestions for a hotel that has suites with reasonable rates and is close to the park, or close to good public trans, I'd really appreciate your input...

We are also looking for tickets to Saturday's game. I have never sat in the bleachers, so if anyone can help out in that regard, I'll have my friends give you a foot massage! Tickets on Stubhub are RIDICULOUSLY expensive, and I'm a brokeassmofo.

Of course, hints on stuff to do around the ballpark would be cool, I was a teenager when I lived in Chicago, so I have no idea what the hell to do beforehand, but want to have some fun and show my boys a good time!

Thanks in advance!

Tom Ricketts might be a Cubs fan and a good ambassador at the ballpark but I seriously question his ability to lead the Chicago Cubs. He's impressed me with the way he reaches out to fans; that having been said what is he doing to put a marketable baseball product on the field? Not much, in fact his actions have had negative effects. Let's look at the results:

• Winning percentage: Since taking over the team the club has winning percentages of .468, .438 and .385 (2012 to date;)

• Salaries: Say what you will about the Chicago Tribune but they weren't bad owners. In 2009 (their last year of ownership) the Trib spent $135M on payroll; in 2010 it rose to $146M. Since then it's declined to $125M in 2011 and $88M in 2012. The trend is unmistakeable; the Ricketts family is trying to do things on the cheap. I'll have more to say about this later.

• Attendance: The Cubs average 2500 less in paid attendance per game than they did prior to to the Cubs sale in 2009. I was unable to find statistics on the percentage of fans who actually attended games but it's fair to say that revenues for concessions, parking, etc. are probably down as well.

• Future forecast: Cubs fans have little reason to be excited about the foreseeable future. We have future stars in Jackson and Rizzo; other than that the cupboard seems more half-empty than half-full. How many Kerry Woods or Mark Priors do we have down on the farm? I don't see one, not to mention a decided lack of Matt Cains or Tim Lincecums. And finally,

• Leadership potential: From what I've seen thusfar Theo Epstein et al are very charming snake oil salesmen. We expected better results and what did we get? A team that is considerably worse than before and a farm system that isn't really better. We have bullpen problems now, could that perhaps be a function of no Sean Marshall or Andrew Cashner? I rate Tom Ricketts as a D- as an owner; despite his proclamations to propel the Cubs forward he is way out of his league. We've got young guys in almost every area of management and they lack senior expertise.

I've read online that the Ricketts family is worth about a billion and the Cubs cost about that – have they overextended themselves like the previous ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers? Cash flow is important to any business, is that the reason why the Cubs have cut their salaries by $58M since 2010? Perhaps they are stretched thin and now is a bad time to have to borrow money to pay for current expenses.

I'm not going to spend any money on this team this year – I remember only too well the PK Wrigley years. Perhaps Ricketts, Epstein and the rest assume they can make a comfortable return on investment by selling Wrigley as a party area, not a serious baseball venue. Actions speak louder than words. Recently the Ricketts family expressed interest in getting government participation in Wrigley Field improvements – we've since found out that the founding father of the family has other interests that have made that investment less likely. It's for these reasons that I'm truly pessimistic about my favorite baseball team's future; the captain of the ship is not experienced and his ship is foundering at sea.

As the draft is just over two weeks away, I thought I'd look at reasonable expectations for this year's draft. Gauging how well a youngster will develop toward the big leagues is an impressive challenge. When many of the signees report to base camp (Arizona for the Cubs signees), the ragtag bunch of (often) recent signees will be the best players they've played against.

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via static.foxsports.com

In the mid-1990s I remember the late Harry Caray announcing the final scores of minor league games for the Cubs teams and he would often mention Kerry Wood. Even before he threw a pitch in the majors, Caray was a fan of Kerry. As a Cubs fan, I didn't follow the minor league teams that heavily, but I was excited about this young prospect, Kerry Wood, and couldn't wait to see him pitch in the big leagues. Little did I know that within a couple of years, he'd be in The Show.

Sadly, Harry Caray would not live to see Kerry Wood's debut or his phenomenal 20 Ks against the Houston Astros on May 6, 1998. Nor would Harry live to see the amazing Cubs season of that year when they made an improbable run at the wild-card. I doubt that they would have gotten there without Kerry Wood. At the time, Mark Grace said that his addition to the starting rotation was akin to acquiring a veteran for the stretch drive. Except that this was no veteran, but a 20-year old young man who was drawing comparisons to Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens.

No doubt many of us will be discussing our favorite Kerry Wood moments over the weekend. There are many of them for me with the 20-strikeout performance being at the top of the list. For me, it is the greatest pitching performance I have ever seen. No disrespect to Roger Clemens, but I'll take Wood's 20-strikeout game over both of Roger's. I'll even take it over Stephen Strasburg's 14-strikeout performance in his MLB debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Clemens faced the Mariners in 1986 and Tigers in 1996. Strasburg faced the Pirates in 2010. All of these teams were bad ballclubs. The 1998 Houston Astros was a great team with a powerful lineup featuring Jeff Bagwell, Moises Alou, Craig Biggio and they also won 102 games that year. And I still think that Wood was robbed of a no-hitter because Ricky Gutierrez's "hit" should have been ruled an error on Cubs third baseman Kevin Orie.

The next great Kerry Wood moment for me after that is Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS. Yes, the Cubs lost that game and it was a crushing blow to us fans. But it was a gutsy performance by Kerry Wood who kept battling back against the Marlins to the point where he even hit a game-tying two-run homerun in the bottom of the 2nd inning. After the game, Kerry took responsibility for the loss by saying "I choked". I always appreciated his candor and leadership, but he was wrong. He didn't choke. It just wasn't meant to be for the Cubs that year, but they would have never made it that far without Kerry Wood. He'll never make the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, but as far as Chicago is concerned, he'll easily make it to the Cubs Hall of Fame and never be forgotten. So long, Kerry.

i don't like making mistakes. I really, really don't like making mistakes. When I do, I like to make good, or at least try to do so.

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We have one half of a very bad offense. Soriano, Soto, Stewart and Barney are not providing the production that a major league team requires to simply not be embarrassing. You can carry a liability or two, but six weeks of this is quite enough.

I don't see anyone to help at third but Baker and Mather, with Vitters and Lake too green. We'd love it if Clevenger didn't get hurt. Barney/Cardenas isn't bad... Can Campana keep hitting? Doesn't he give way to Brett Jackson eventually? Ah... Soriano... Can we eat almost 50 mil to bring up Rizzo? Or does Campana sit, with DeJesus moving to center to make this happen? Something's gotta give, within a month.

Rizzo is the obvious choice to add some offense. I see LaHair in a corner outfield spot for years to come. LaHair is GOOD! We know this now. We hope his OF glove is adequate.

Just wanted to get everyones input. Lahair has exceeded all of our expectations so far this year even though we are just six weeks in. With Lahair being his age and all does anyone think Theo and Jed will see what we could get in return or are they content with Lahair being 31 or 32 by the time we contend. Just seems like if he keeps hitting like this for another month he could net us something valuable. Or would we be better off here in two or three years with him lets say in left field?? What kind of pitching prospect could we land if he keeps this pace up?? Thoughts??

Even though we lost to the Cards today, on this day in Cubs history 52 yrs. ago that Cardwell threw a no-hitter at them. I still have the tape of the final two innings of this game & I still get a thrill watching it over & over. Never had a trade brought so immediate results for the Cubs, even though in the long run the Phils got the better of the deal. What an amazing debut!!!