Chicago Cubs 2008

[mjm]

After looking at the radar that rain is still stretching back into Iowa. And with N.E. winds, it doesn't look good. Big Z and the Big Unit would have been fun to watch. It was good on Saturday to see Fonzie go 4-5!

[mjm]

As of 10:07 AM, the game is still a go!! I got everything crossed.......It hurts too!

[Sunbiz1]

Down at Wrigley yesterday!!...great game. Today we go for the sweep, but it looks like we will have a 2-3 hour rain delay.

http://www.accuweather.com/radar-loc...=re2&site=KCHI

Originally Posted by mjm

After looking at the radar that rain is still stretching back into Iowa. And with N.E. winds, it doesn't look good. Big Z and the Big Unit would have been fun to watch. It was good on Saturday to see Fonzie go 4-5!

[mjm]

Originally Posted by Sunbiz1

Down at Wrigley yesterday!!...great game. Today we go for the sweep, but it looks like we will have a 2-3 hour rain delay.

http://www.accuweather.com/radar-loc...=re2&site=KCHI

Rain delay OK with me! Get the friggin' brroms out!! Big Z vs big unick.

[mjm]

Get out the "W" flag biz.:banana dance:

[The Benjamin]

lets go for teh sweep

[mjm]

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

lets go for teh sweep

I just went out for a smoke. I thought the rain stopped. Either it did or some bird has got one HELL of bladder problem. Hope we get the game in.

[fencikfan]

If the rain is truly coming from the cheese curtain, as mjm has pointed out to me, then there should be no trouble with the game this afternoon. The sun is now shining here.

[mjm]

Originally Posted by fencikfan

If the rain is truly coming from the cheese curtain, as mjm has pointed out to me, then there should be no trouble with the game this afternoon. The sun is now shining here.

"Here comes the sun, da,da da da, here comes the sun.........I said...... Wher is did that come from????

[The Benjamin]

you mean this

[Sunbiz1]

Wood more reliable than most of NL Central's closers

Phil Rogers | On Baseball
May 11, 2008

Kerry Wood never has been a more effective pitcher than he has been in 2008, at least when he is measured by most standards.

He entered the weekend series against Arizona having made 16 appearances. He had allowed 11 hits and three walks in 17 innings. The opponents' batting average against him was .183, the best of his career, with a .258 on-base percentage, again the best of his career. He had 5.3 strikeouts for every walk, again his best mark. He has thrown only 13.4 pitches per inning, by far the most efficient pitching of his career.

And Friday, all he did was throw a perfect ninth inning with a strikeout and two groundouts on nine pitches, all strikes.

Yet Wood's move into the closer's role means a closer inspection. His performance, for many, has been defined by the three times in nine chances that he could not convert a save situation—failures against Milwaukee, Colorado and Pittsburgh.

Luckily for the Cubs, they aren't the only teams in the National League Central who have had trouble nailing down leads. In fact, Wood is an All-Star compared with the 2008 versions of Jason Isringhausen, Eric Gagne and Jose Valverde, the ninth-inning specialists in St. Louis, Milwaukee and Houston, respectively.

Isringhausen, at 35 and in the last season of his contract, is showing the wear and tear of averaging 34 saves over the previous eight years. He was 32-for-34 in save situations for a disappointing Cardinals team a year ago but already has a major-league-high five blown saves this year, including a loss Friday night at Milwaukee, after which Isringhausen said, "I'm pitching like a 2nd-grader."

"I'm just getting sick of embarrassing myself and letting my team down," he said. "We should be five more wins in the win column, so we should be ahead in first place even more. But they can't keep sending me out there when I'm pitching the way I'm pitching.

"We're going to have to figure out some kind of remedy. I'm sure that remedy will give me some time off and get somebody in there that can do a better job right now."

Isringhausen's hometown is Brighton, Ill., just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. That has made his success with the Cardinals sweeter than it might have been elsewhere, but it also has personalized the failures.

"My wife and I were talking about that the other night," Isringhausen told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "When I was in Oakland and I did bad, it wasn't near as hard. It's not near as hard as it is when these people are your neighbors and you see them at school the next day or out when you go to dinner. Every once in a while, Dad will say, 'Don't make me look bad at the coffee shop.' "

Gagne hasn't needed any ties to Milwaukee to make this a trying season. The burdens he carries are a $10 million contract, mentions in the Mitchell report and a standard set by predecessor Francisco Cordero, who left the Brewers as a free agent after going 44-for-51 in save situations.

Gagne, who was viewed as a mop-up man by Boston in the 2008 postseason, is 9-for-14 in save situations for collapsing Milwaukee. He has allowed 15 hits and 10 walks in 142/3 innings, with opponents hitting .382 off him.

The Brewers' next best options is Salomon Torres, who saved 12 games for Pittsburgh in both 2006 and 2007, which is probably why Gagne remains on a seemingly long leash.

"You stay with a closer as long as you can," Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin said. "If a hitter slumps for six weeks, you stay with him. Closers go in slumps too. You give him the benefit of the doubt for now."

Valverde, who led the majors with 47 saves for Arizona a year ago, converted only two of his first five chances for Houston. Manager Cecil Cooper went to Doug Brocail for one mid-April save but quickly put Valverde back in the role. He has reeled off saves in his last five chances, helping the Astros climb above .500 after a 6-12 start.

[mjm]

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

you mean this

Yep...Gotta love the Monkeys!!

j/k........I knew it was the Beatles Thanks ben.

[The Benjamin]

The monkeys? i was about to smack ya

[The Benjamin]

Lets go Riot

[mjm]