fathom

The Reds have said that they won't play Brandon Phillips much the rest of the way. Thus, they'd be missing their 4 best hitters. In some ways, it reminds me of 2003, when the Cubs made the playoffs due to facing a Reds team where D. Jimenez was their best hitter.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 03:07 AM) I said on Tuesday morning the Cubs have it locked up because they could lose out and Milwaukee still wouldn't catch them, and it turns out I might be right. The good news is with how well some other NL teams are playing, the Cubs postseason stay might be very short. Who do you want to see them play?

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 03:05 AM) I still think Floyd needed starts as did Danks (just to see if he could recover). I wouldn't have minded not starting Contreras (hell I'd have waived his ass) but it turns out that ended up working out pretty well (as he may just have some trade value after all). In fact, I dont' know if Jose has another start left, but if it were me, his season would be over and we'd see Heath Phillips or someone else go (just to make sure Jose's season ends on a positive and the club can try selling his last 8 starts ERA and what he did last year and the year before that). I agree with everything you said here.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 03:04 AM) Go ahead and call me a Cub hater, but I won't respect whatever team 'wins' that division. The sad part is that the NL is so weak overall that the winner of NL Central might f*** around and make it to the WS. It sure has shut up the Cubs bandwagon....but they'll be back in full force on October 3rd. I have no idea who I want to see them play now in the NLDS.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 03:02 AM) I know Floyd has shown some signs, but I saw more I liked tonight from Lance than I did in Floyd's great start at Detroit. It just seems like Gavin can't consistently keep the ball down, and his movement is erratic. I wish Lance had been given a few more starts this month. I think the more effective one will be whoever gets better command sooner. I definitely don't think having both in the same rotation would be a winning combination.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 02:58 AM) The Royals did work the count early in the game. The Royals obviously aren't a good hitting team, but with his movement he can get anyone out and there is no reason not to be surprised with his lack of confidence in the command of the 2 seamer (its what led to all the walks and its a completely new pitch). I've heard from a couple people that I trust down in the minors who indicated how his control problems were directly tied to him working really really hard on getting his 2 seamer down. I don't feel its unrealistic (considering he has always had pretty solid control prior to adding this pitch) that he will get more used to the pitch and movement and really turn into a guy that has good command. If you can have good command of an 87-89 MPH (with that sort of movement and the ability to move it every freaking way) and that curve (plus a mediocre change/slider) than you will have a long career in the AL or NL. It's too bad he didn't get more starts over the last month or so.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 02:52 AM) Hell, all that movement almost acts as a few different pitches as opposed to just a fastball. This is a guy that if he improves his command could really be a solid starter. I do agree with this....guys who don't throw over 90 mph need to have pinpoint control. I was surprised at his comments yesterday about how bad his 2-seam command is.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 02:50 AM) The Comcast gun never reached higher than 89 and for the most part was 86-87. I have no idea if that gun was accurate at all though. Hell the Comcast gun is probably the worse gun in sports. That said I know he can't really top 92-93 (and even that may be a bit of a stretch). I will say this...if the gun wasn't on (and I was purely guessing speed based on the hitters reactions) I'd have said he hit 93-94 at least a couple of times. The ball really seemed to explode into the mitt and you could see he blew at least a few guys away with fastballs (Gaithright on a fastball coming in on his hands...Buck on a high fastball). The gun seemed accurate based on the other pitchers in the game. I'd say he was at 87 consistently. I wonder how he'd do against a patient team, as the Royals weren't exactly working the count. The best thing that could come out of this is if his trade value increases, as he's not an AL starting pitcher, IMO.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 02:33 AM) We were talking about that at work a few days ago. It sucks not being excited for the days game, and having it mean absolutely nothing. I really, really miss games with meaning. It's September 27th, and I'm already in "hockey mode." While I love hockey, that just makes me sad. It really sucks, but you no what mode I've been in for a few months now.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 02:29 AM) Hopefully we don't get too used to it. Yeah, as much as we talk about it, it sure does suck not getting excited by seeing the Sox win a game (ever).

Teams like Tampa and KC sure have this losing thing down.

Brewers aren't going to win tonight. It's amazing how the division was theirs for the taking over the last week, and they played some of their worst ball of the year. Someone needs to tell their coaching staff that playing not to lose is what caused them to lose. Way too many bunts and playing the infield back. When you're facing a team with a great bullpen, it's idiotic to give up cheap runs in order to avoid the big inning.

Adding insult to injury with Thatcher coming in to get Prince out. That Linebrink trade has to be one of the dumbest trades in history.

And the Brewers are about to be down 4-0. Gallardo's making all sorts of mistakes with 2 strikes.

Yost isn't even managing tonight...but it's mind boggling to see how bad Jenkins and Hall are. And Damien Miller is playing so poorly, and making terrible decisions.

The Brewers have hit like 500 homers this year....why do they try to bunt so much?

This ump has the biggest strike zone I've ever seen.

I'd like to see a 3-2 Sox loss, with 2 homers by Fields.

Toby Hall. He was the worst player in baseball this year, in terms of production.

If the Cubs go on to win this game, we'll never hear the end of Wood's performance there. You had to know that between the Cubs luck in terms of terrible fielding against them, and the Marlins awful defense....it would play a huge role in a game this week.

Did the Marlins botch a double play ball? That would be so shocking that the Cubs had a rally around an error.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 27, 2007 -> 08:22 PM) Well Keith, good points but personally, I'd love to sign Bonds to dh and trade Thome for some young talent and a lot of it. Thome could be a great trade chip if we had someone who could actually take his place. Then we don't have to worry about the bad defense. Thome should be able to at least bring back two pretty good young players and while you made your team a bit older potentially for one season, you might have just added some future players to the mix. That's just a perfect scenario, imo. It won't happen, even though it makes so much sense. I couldn't believe more that Thome should be dealt this offseason.

FWIW, I was close to giving Thome an A....but I was also close to giving AJP a D.

QUOTE(Hideaway Lights @ Sep 27, 2007 -> 03:59 PM) Not giving Thome an A....you're joking, right? Dude missed thirty games and still hit 33 homers and almost 100 rbis with an average just 7 points below his career average at almost age 40 what the hell would have been an A for you people? When this team was really struggling, Thome wasn't playing well. Also, his sub .200 batting average against LHP really hurts us, as we needed more production from the DH spot against the great lefties in the AL. As you can tell by how I gave guys like Konerko and Owens the same grade, it didn't just have to do with production, but playing up to their capabilities as well.

Of course adding Santana would make us better. However, it's not realistic in terms of payroll, as well as the fact the Twins would never trade him within the division.