Harry Chappas

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Oct 10, 2007 -> 08:13 PM) Well, from what I can infer (OPINOIN ALERT - NOT FACT), PK is the "captain" and can't stand any personalities that overshadow his. Frankly, if that's the case, if there are any big names coming this way, PK is going to have to go. It sounds weird, but if that's the case, a change up is needed. PK has no personality to overshadow. AJ dwarfs his personality and Thome is a better player as are Jenks and Buerhle.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 10, 2007 -> 12:09 PM) A lot of those guys have never played for anyone else but Joe Torre. Firing Joe could be seen as the ultimate disloyalty and piss some of them off enough to not come back. They were talking about htis on ESPN Radio this mornign with Jayson Stark and they all agreed that money is what will keep Posada Petitte and Rivera in NY over Torre leaving and Torre has nothing to do with A-Rod.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Oct 8, 2007 -> 12:41 PM) They have by far the best on screen graphics and studio of any sports broadcast (I know I'm pretty much the only person who focuses on these things). It's a shame I hate Cal Ripken Jr as much as I do because Ernie, Frank and Granderson/Smoltz has been tolerable. The Stockton/Darling team was just plain horrendous and Chip Carey's hyperbolic bulls*** gets real old, real quick but aside from them the broadcast teams have been pretty good. Stone and Gwynn are 2 of the best in the business. In the Frank Thomas thread I noted that TBS is well ahead of ESPN in their sports coverage and hope they push further into it. Being able ot utilize TNT helps as well. I have also stated for years that the coverage of Braves baseball is extrordinary. Also the camera guys are independent guys hired in that city. The camera cuts are production guys that could be TBS guys but probably not. That stuff will work itself out.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ Oct 4, 2007 -> 09:03 AM) The arrogance of the cub franchise is simply incredible. Without a win in game 2 or 3 there is no Big Z Sunday. If Owings is going to hit he should face Hill or Lilly. I believe on paper the cubs are as good as anyone in the NL but maybe number 8 in the AL. That said they were never tested all season and the Brewers played down to them. This team has bought into the national media hype that they are a special organization that can turn it on whenever they have to. I still think it will be a series as the cub nation will help and beautiful weather. The shadows Saturday could be really tough. Don't sell Livan short this is the postseason and he sailed the open sea in a cardboard box. I feel other teams raise their level of play against them based on the propaganda showered on them. The switch better be flipped ASAP.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Oct 3, 2007 -> 06:00 PM) I live in a second floor apartment. My best friend lives in the first floor, and we watch it there. And yes, I think Hawk is worse than all those others I've heard. You are a baseball fan more than a Sox fan. To a Sox fan Hawk is tolerable at worse. To baseball fans in general he is a homer. Hawk is pretty knowledgable about the game and is entertaining in general a good side kid that can reel him in would do wonders, same thing with Farmer. On an other note, I hope TBS/Time Warner try and take a run at ESPN in sports programming. Everything they do is better. It is good to finally hear unbiased somewhat neutral coverage of sports. Also their graphics kick-ass. TBS/TNT basketball coverage makes it almost watchable. I think a general not over the top programming (Seinfeld, Simpsons, Bond movies late at night, sports coverage, with some History Channel/Discovery channel science/nature stuff) would be a great idea. I wish I could pull this off. My ideal eveneing 6-7 Planet Earth in HD 7-7:30 Seinfeld 7:30-10:00 Baseball game 10:00-11:00 Engineering Disasters XIII 11:00-11:30 Simpsons 11:30-1:00 Live and Let Die

Someone oughta check Big Z's package for a foreign substance as he goes to it quite often. I am not joking either.

Sounds like they are preparing to take a hit as there are a a-lot of different payment options and seat relocation alternatives that will be settled in Decemebr as oppossed to January. Maybe something big is going ot happen after 12/15 that will shock the fanbase........

The arrogance of the cub franchise is simply incredible. Without a win in game 2 or 3 there is no Big Z Sunday. If Owings is going to hit he should face Hill or Lilly.

cubs television schedule really blows. 5:00 on Saturday night and then 12:00 the next day. Ouch.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 10:22 AM) Nice finish... too bad it didn't mean anything. I disagree, it meant he can still be a productive major league player. Something I am sure was in question in June and even July.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 12:04 PM) The Cubs beat the Reds 4 out of 6 times over the last 15 games of the season. That Reds lineup had Freel, Hummel, Jimenez, Casey, Pena, LaRue, and Olmedo. I remember D. Stenson being one of the most dangerous hitters on that roster at that time (he tragically died a few months later). That team had a pretty easy ride the last month and still only won like 87 games to get to the playoffs. If Robert Fick did not play in that NLDS the cub do not make it out of hte first round. I hate Robert Fick.

I think I have paid attention to baseball enough over the last 30 years to know that I am getting really tired of speed guns and pitch counts. I have no clue how hard Lamar Hoyt, Richard Dotson, Jack Morris or Joaquin Andeujar (sp?) threw nor how many pithces they threw in a game. If you watched the game last night with neither stat you would know Lance Broadway gave up 2 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings. The Royal hitters need to prove they are worthy of the majors as does Broadway. I think it was agood match-up. He, Floyd and Danks appear to be able to be servicable 5th starters at worse and possibly average number 4's. Trade Garland and Contrearas and get me some A-Rod.....that's what I'm talking about!!!!!

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 08:25 AM) DUDE. He's a rookie with a 4.30 era and a 1.31 WHIP... cut the dude some slack! Pitching in Arizona, we see how that works with Sox pitchers.

Broadway looked really good. Yes the Royals sucked but as was pointed out earlier his ball moved all over the place. Guillen pointed out his emotional outbursts at times as a positive. The problem with all of this is that Floyd is out of options and if not traded will be the numebr 5 starter. Trade Contreras this afternoon to make one start to get an NL team in the playoffs then help them for next year.....I know he couldn't pitch in the postseason. Livan is in AZ nad El Duque NY...........Get on the horn Kenny!!!!

As for the death of Mr. Wirtz, I feel the same as I do for any other person in the obit's today, nothing really. As for hockey in Chicago, I think it will help the situaton and I look forward to how the organizational view may improve. I am not happy he passed away but I look forward to a new future in Blackhawk hockey.

Ned Yost should have packed his bags and left after the mangerial decision in last night's game. I am sure that purpose pitch really meant a-lot and served the purpose of.........oh yes, starting a late inning rally. When you have a s***ty bullpen.............. That game last night epitomized the baseball season. The Brewers bullpen is 0-3 in the last 5 games.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 25, 2007 -> 01:09 PM) Actually you can alternate between Motrin and Tylenol. We know all those tricks. I still get scared that I am going ot f*** something up on that cycle and kill the guys but that is really the way to go. The older guy is out of this stuff, younger guy a year more. Every two hours one or the other. Side note, I spent innings 5-9 of WS Game 3 in the Emergency Room waiting room with my son, when he finally fell asleep before seeing the doctor we left and I saw the end at home and woke him up with a scream courtesy of Geoff Blum and an asshole for Uribe on the error. Motrin and Tylenol took care of the issue. I was on edge watching the game and this gave me something to do. We probably didn't even have to go. Watched the game with a couple of hot nurses though, I was dad of the year.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 21, 2007 -> 03:20 PM) Howry throws straight fastballs down the plate with no movement at 94 mph. I always get happy when he comes in, as I think the opposition will crush him. Dempster at least has a good splitter. That is a strike once less then half of the time. The fact that they are at home and could not put away Cincinnati or through today the Pirates does give me much faith htat they will all of a sudden turn it on.

I still do not get how no team can hit Dempster, Howry, Eyre or anyone other than Marmol in the cub bullpen. I still do not think they are that good of a team to be taken seriously in the postseason but then there is no team in the NL that is a real baseball team.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 21, 2007 -> 02:26 PM) No reason to get excited about the early lead now, as Malholm has no chance of holding the Cubs down. Soriano'll end up hitting a grand slam. Tracy sucks as a manger too.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 21, 2007 -> 02:16 PM) It's almost guaranteed that the Padres games will matter for them. The ironic thing is it's very possible that we'll be cheering for the Brewers to lose to the Padres in less than a week. I'm grateful that if the Cubs clinch the playoffs, it won't be at Wrigley. MLB.com is all f***ed up I may have to turn on Santo here it looks like it could be anywhere from 5-2cub to 7-5 Buco's. I need to know when the game is over as I work in Lincoln Park and need to beat the trafffic. I hate the cubs

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 21, 2007 -> 01:45 PM) Malhom was absolutely brutal in his last start, and is following up with another horrible start. The Cubs get to face Duke tomorrow, and he'll likely be rusty and inefficient as well. WHarris....are you in the acceptance stage like I am right now? Brewers get Hudson and Smoltz..... The bright side is Milwaukee comes home next week and the cub hit the road. The fact that the cubs can not hit consistently leads me to believe they can lose any given day to any team. If the lead is 1.5 on Monday I think it could be an interesting week. Especially if the San Diego games do not mean anything next weekend. If the race is close and Zambrano and Lilly are not bumped up next week they could both be unavailable for game one .

QUOTE(Vance Law @ Sep 21, 2007 -> 12:30 PM) As Northside mentions, With runners on base, the double is more valuable. With no one on base, the ability to steal a base (an indicator of good speed) is clearly more valuable, than the ability to slug a double. Not just for the base he stole, but for his ability to advance and score on various other hits, sacrifices, groundouts, passed balls, etc. What about the ability of a baserunner to mess with a pithcer's psyche/approach.

The point to each side of the argument here is that the players behind a given hitter dicate to a degree that hitters performance. Fields sees better pitches when Owens is on base with Thome behind him. If nobody is on base for Owens (which is hte case this year), a double is the same as a hit and SB. If your OBP is high at the top of the line-up that is fine as compared to the 6,7 or 8 guy in the line-up. Owens with a .350 OBP and .350 SLG is servicable if the guys behind him do their job.

BBTN stated that the GM in Houston is a figurehead for Drayton and somebody else I forget.