This being the last game of the series, having attended yesterday's loss, I can now say with confidence, that this crew is easily the worst I have seen all year and perhaps within the last decade. 

There is no complaining about the calls actually losing the game for either team, they have simply been the most inconsistent crew I can remember seeing.  The only consistent factor in their game calling has been their HORRID strike zone.  From called strikes at the ankles, to benders called strikes above the letters, these umpires look like they have never called a major league game before this series.

To top off their utter BS strike zone and inconsistent calls, they are the most liberal umps with this Phillie team meeting on the GD mound after every single pitch.  What the hell happened to the new rules that were supposed to speed up this game?  If I am the ump, I head out to the mound the second the catcher does and tell them to get moving.  Despite the first two wins...this series has absolutely sucked to watch.  These umps need to be canned IMO.

Not sure what to say about this except I liked Bernie Mac a lot.  He was a funny and well liked individual and he will be sorely missed.  I am shocked as he was hospitalized for pneumonia and I am sure no one saw this coming.

My thoughts go out to his family.  Not sure what else to add to this I figured most saw this already but figured I'd post anyway.  I need more words for this which seems to take a bit away from the post but I will say one more time that I am shocked and hope his family is able to move through this tragedy with help from friends.

So the purpose of this fanpost is really for one thing only, as you can see.  To prove I am not a ledge jumper though, I will start with the positive.  Our 3 and 4 hitter are finally making contact and helping this team win.  Our other All Stars are starting to make contact as well....heck let's be frank....the entire lineup is showing more patience, making contact, and producing runs (whether they are helped out by fans or not!).

Our pitching has been pretty damn good with a few exceptions here and there.  Three 10 win pitchers (I believe the only in the majors?) in our rotation, and relief has been fairly effective....EXCEPT,

BOB HOWRY.  This guy IMO, is absolutely done.  He needs to go.  He is worthless to this team.  When he comes into the game we are sure to give up runs.  When he was warming up last night, not only did I say "WTF LOU?", but I thought "we are gonna need runs now"...and we did.  Reed Johnson saved this team from Howry (barely) and for that I am grateful.

As far as Howry is concerned, he is a liability and he has nothing left.  What good is a 92MPH fastball if you put it over the heart of the plate?  Even when this guy isn't giving up hits or HRs, he is getting squared up and then the D is saving his arse.  DLee illustrated this on Tony Clark's lineout last night.  Mark Reynold just HAPPENED to miss the 10th or so fast ball on his AB and Howry, IMO, got lucky.

Am I alone in thinking this guy needs to be elsewhere?  I hope not.  I hope Lou/Hendry sees this sooner than later.

I hope I added enough positive to remove me from the pessimism category. :)

I know they are found in the rumor mill but apparently Billy Beane is remaining in Oakland since the trade deadline is quickly approaching.  Rumor has it Huston Street may be available.  I realize we may not have what it takes and then again, maybe we do.  We have minor league pitching that looks promising, we also have position players to trade in our system.  After the Harden trade, it appears that Beane and Hendry work well together and this of course, comes on the heels of yet another Bob Howry blow up.

I know he is a closer by trade but hey, an arm like his would be a nice addition to a sometimes shoddy bullpen.

Not sure what your take is...I'm curious.

Okay so I had to post this as I thought a while about it yesterday after I told my wife I still owed Chad (aka Les Lancaster) money for shipping the BCB shirts.

I believe I phrased it, "I still have to get the money to that guy from Al's website for shipping those shirts".  So I got to thinking about how many others here have family or friends that know who "Al" is because of how much of our lives this website consumes. 

Now my father already knew Al from many years in the bleachers, however I came to know Al here at BCB.  Often times, rather than refer to BleeCubbieBlue as just that, I call it "Al's website". 

So who knows Al among my family and friends?  Here's my list:

Mother: assisted with the shirt ordering

Father: bleacher regular

Wife: endures my many hours online typing to you wonderful people

Friend#1: Used to be here more often, not as much now

Probably everyone at work: observing all the time I spend in here as well

How bout you all?

So we're watching the Cubs play great ball against the Jays.  We're watching Marquis and Lilly pitch like staff aces.  We're watching young players produce and help this club maintain the best record in baseball.  Finally...we're watching, IMHO, Lou unnecessarily utilize one of the best RH relievers in the game, only part of the way through an important season. 

Please explain to me why Marmol was even warmed up with a 6 run lead in the 7th today, let alone come in to face one in the 7th and then pitch some of the 8th!  PLEASE.

Leiber, Wuertz, Cotts, heck, even Howry again would have been fine.  Why does Lou insist upon using Marmol every day????  I am at a complete loss.  Does anyone have the balls to approach Lou and say, "Let the kid rest a couple days"?

I know it is a bit less than fanpost worthy but I commented earlier and it was buried in my last post.

According to MLBTR, he may become available. I liked what I saw of him in the recent series and think he would be a solid addition to our rotation.  I know many here think that we are fine with our current rotation but I beg to differ.

 What say you on Aaron Cook?  Can Hendry offer enough?  Is he worth it?

So many people will say, in response for the call to seek out more pitching, "If it aint broke don't fix it".  This is my explanation as to why I believe we are broke.

Now this is not a panic post in any way as we have lost 1 in the last 10 games.  This team is clicking in ALMOST every way possible.  My issue is this: our team has won quite a few of the last 10 games by "picking up our struggling pitchers".  IMHO, a c hampionship team wins based on it's solid offense AND its solid pitching.  My breakdown:

Zambrano: Well what to say?  He is what we want him to be so no complaints here.

Lilly: Yesterday's game looks a lot better in the box than it did while the game was being played.  People will say when you give up 2 runs, your offense ought to be able to win.  Well, not if it has spent the last 10 games doing just that.  Lilly gives up too many lead off hits, he didn't appear to be hitting his spot as well as he wanted to, and as usual, he gives up too many 1st inning runs. He also appears to tire out and seems to have a tendency to unravel as things get more difficult.  His defense has also picked him up quite a bit as of late.

Dempster: Again, pleasantly surprised and happy with his performances.

Hill: Well, he's gone but we were all counting on him this offseason.

Marquis: Oh please!  This guy is just not going to cut it.  He gives back almost every run our offense picks up. this is not a recipe for success. he is likely going to get worse IMO.  A god sinker ball pitcher locates and induces the ground ball outs the team needs.  Jason Marquis does not.

Gallagher: I like him so far...so far.

Lieber: Great long man.  May be our answer but i like the security he brings to our pen/rotation.

So...I believe this club NEEDS to add a solid #2/#3 pitcher to its rotation.  I think that a team will tire out having to "pick up struggling pitchers"  If this were October, I would be less worried as they would appear to have maintained and have it in them.  It's not though, and therefore, I think that Hendry needs to be on the prowl sooner than later.  This club needs to be well rested so as not to tank a la 2007 should we be where we are now, in October.

PS. I know the issue is who is available. I cannot make that statement but it is Hendry's job to at least identify the need and find a solution if one exists.

So I was just reading BlueMike's post about sacred cows and it got me thinking.  My response was to dislike what he was saying and of course, lash out at him.  As I read on, he commented stating that

"...diehard Cub fans like myself have earned...."

A term I hear a lot around here is "diehard Cubs fans".  I am curious...what does this mean exactly?

People use it in many ways.  They use it to defend overwhelming negativity and painfully critical commentary.  They use it to defend years and years of blind optimism.  What I cannot figure out is why this is justification for any type of behavior. 

IMO, being a die hard Cub fan means that you are a fan no matter what.  You are a fan when they are tearin it up and you are a fan when they are stinkin it up.  You have been here a long time, and you feel you deserve to see the Cubbies win it all.

So why in the world does it give us the right to act a fool and tell others what it means to be a good fan?  OR  Why does it give us the right to rain on anyone else's parade.

Please, tell me what it means to be a "die hard Cub fan" and why this makes you special.

So I sincerely hope that this post is not another repeat of old topics/news.  Here goes...

I am wondering what peoples' thoughts are regarding the best and/or worst (more importantly IMO) marketing campaigns that they can remember.  As I type this, it feels more and more like a KOW diary but I am at work and have no time to actually revamp it.  I would delete it but I am curious after discussing Pink Hat Guy in the "BCB Dictionary" thread.

I truly believe that Pink Hat was one of the worst I have seen.  I am only 32 though so I could be lacking insight here.  I enjoyed winning my DLee autographed baseball but those "500 random winner" giveaways are rarely something we can benefit from.

Anyway, feel free to share your thoughts/experiences.