Baseball tonight just pointed out that Carlos has a hit in the last 11 games in which he has a plate appearance.  I got to thinking - this is a freakin' fun team to watch!   Our frontline (or 1a) pitcher has an attitude and wants to mash each time he is called upon to hit>> and depsite his immaturity, has turned in a really, really good year on the mound.  I mention his lack of composure only b/c Carlos tends to get too fired up and throw rather than pitch at times, but he has come a long way in that regard.  The guy is nails, and his determination at the plate should pay dividends in the playoffs.

I wondered how Harden would do in transition, and his first 2 games gave no glimpse as to how much of an ass-kicker he is on the mound.  I am confident leading into the playoffs, despite some of the weaknesses that some regularly point out here.  I actually thought next year was the year of the Cub, and only b/c Piniella puts together great teams with time.  A miscalculation, especially after the Harden deal was made.

I won't speak about this again (Thank God), but why not this year?

 http://www.cubworld.com/category/a_cubworld_cam

I found this webcam today, and it appears it is stationed atop Wrigleyville Sports - the store might have changed hands since I lived there.  Anyways,  this is an excellent opportunity for all of us that live away from Chicago to see what is "going on" at Clark & Addison during the game and at other times.

  I found this cam today and watched it at the office most of the day, while toggling between espn gamewatch (not MLB TV).  With the sox put away in the middle of the ninth, I got called into a short (5 min.) meeting, knowing that Ramirez was on deck.  Before I left, I took one last look at the webcam, and when I returned from the meeting, I saw thousands spilling out of Wrigley's front gate.  I yelled "yes" without evenknowing what happened, b/c I knew it was over.

Let's beat the daylights out of the sox Sat. and Sun. night.

We went into this series sleepwalking.  Silly mistakes, and maybe reading the headlines too much.  Lazy, Lolligagin' idiots this trip to Tampa.   I've heard the "newness to that dome" argument this week, and I'm not buying. 

Tampa's a good team, with tough throwers and good defense, and above avg. hitting, but there's no excuse for our lack of runs and attention in the field this series.  Laughable.  If I were Lou, I'd have this team running at Wrigley Friday early.

I hope we beat the daylights out of the Sox.

Heard just the last half of a report on AM 1000 - a nasty report that three sox scouts in Latin America (not sure) have been realeased by the team because they apparently, while assiting young players cash their checks from the clubs, saw fit to pocket around 25% of these poor kids' money.

Bizarre, and Bruce Levine said that while rare, this has happened before.  The point is that these kids have no recourse - they are happy to be on the team, and are in a most vulnerable position here.  If proven true, this is a real black eye for the club, and I'll be waiting for some Congressman to ride in on his white horse and launch a low-impact and rather late investigation, which will waste everyone's time.  Selig is also going to take a beating here - and maybe he should address this as soon as humanly possible.

  How low can some guys stoop (allegedly)?

The guy is clearly disinterested.  Trade him with a hot Cedeno for CF or SP help for Gosh sakes.  As it stands, we are subjected to watching Marquis waste everyone's time when he pitches, and I wonder what is going through his mind while out on the mound.  I suspect Lou does also.

The Soriano in 1 spot may be running it's course also.  Third is his spot, ad infinitum, and Ramirez will benefit b/c of that move, imo

And I am really pissed that we couldn't muscle our way to 2 victories against that young farm team from my hometown this weekend.  If anyone wants to know, THERE ARE NO good teams in the NL west.  They all stink.  Beyond abyssmal.  If the Padres had any hitting, the Bluejays would beat them out for 3rd in the AL east.

"And one window opens."

The Cubs.

I can't see the Mets siring the #1 spot in the NL right now.  I know about all that has happened up to this point, yet there is no other team in the NL after Lee comes back, than the Cubs.

It is truly our division for the taking.

But I'm guessing the loss to NY last night 5/17 took all of his energy out of him.  And rightly so - that was the worst meltdown I've seen out of a Cubs bullpen in some time. He is the right guy for this job. Lets it all hang out in his job.

Great to beat the sox on a friday leading into the weekend.  The crowd looked stoked, and better yet, O. Guillen was reserved after the game.  What an asshole Guillen is.  Great personality for a guy like me, but he manages the wrong team. I'll take Piniella over Guillen any day of the week, and twice on Sundays.   Ozzie's mouth will run him out of town by the end of '07, when he is looking up at the Indians, Tigers and Twins and wondering what happened.

Need Saturday's win.  And Sunday.  The brewers are sucking wind right now, and expect their youth to fade them to 3rd or 4th as the season goes along.