Chicago Cubs 2008

[The Benjamin]

Originally Posted by sph34

nah I'll wait until we pass you in the standings lol.

lets make a deal.... Id say that the Reds will never make it to third place.... but lets face it half the teams in this division are crap. The reds are a step above, and are just trash. SO they will not make it past 3rd place.

enjoy having a sub .500 record

[sph34]

Actually i haven't noticed him playing

[mjm]

'stro's or on a roll. We have to cool them off a bit. I'd take 2 out of 3!

[Papa Bear]

Alright! I'm back from Chi-town! Obviously, the game was a little disappointing, but we still had fun. We went with our our old church which does an annual Cubs game outing so we got to go early. We got to the stadium at 8:30am and they handed out a bunch of door prizes. Usually at this point a Christian Cubs player comes to talk to the group, but they weren't able to get anyone lined up this year (I think they almost had Matt Murton but he wasn't able to make it). So, after a bit, they let us loose and we walked around, went down to the wall by the bullpen and watched the pitchers warm-up. There was no batting practice (probably something that could have helped the Cubs that game lol). So, here's a few pics that I got. Our camera isn't the best but I think they turned out ok!

My wife and I at the stadium before the game.

Dempster was the first pitcher out to warm up. (I was so close to getting a ball signed by him. )

But, the good news is that he autographed and gave one of his practice balls to my nephew! He also signed a hat for him.

Here is (correct me if i'm wrong) Sean Gallagher and Scott Eyre. (I also got pics of Marmol, Lilly and Wood but they didn't come out well at all.)

And here are just a couple pics of the full stadium. It was neat being part of the biggest crowd so far this year!

[TillerNOS]

It's awesome how Wrigley still gets packed, even on the cold and blustery days!

[Sunbiz1]

Thanks for posting the pics Papa!

Originally Posted by Papa Bear

Alright! I'm back from Chi-town! Obviously, the game was a little disappointing, but we still had fun. We went with our our old church which does an annual Cubs game outing so we got to go early. We got to the stadium at 8:30am and they handed out a bunch of door prizes. Usually at this point a Christian Cubs player comes to talk to the group, but they weren't able to get anyone lined up this year (I think they almost had Matt Murton but he wasn't able to make it). So, after a bit, they let us loose and we walked around, went down to the wall by the bullpen and watched the pitchers warm-up. There was no batting practice (probably something that could have helped the Cubs that game lol). So, here's a few pics that I got. Our camera isn't the best but I think they turned out ok!

My wife and I at the stadium before the game.

Dempster was the first pitcher out to warm up. (I was so close to getting a ball signed by him. )

But, the good news is that he autographed and gave one of his practice balls to my nephew! He also signed a hat for him.

Here is (correct me if i'm wrong) Sean Gallagher and Scott Eyre. (I also got pics of Marmol, Lilly and Wood but they didn't come out well at all.)

And here are just a couple pics of the full stadium. It was neat being part of the biggest crowd so far this year!

[Cornish]

Great pics, Papa, thanks for sharing.

I love looking at the views around the stadium, from a fans perspective, gives me an even better taste of what I'm missing. One day!

[The Benjamin]

great pics papa, glad ya enjoyed your trip to wrigley

[mjm]

Great pix papa

[motownbear]

If Cubs' homestand was a 10, Sox's trip went to 11

If you're rating the last 10 games for each team, the Sox get more style points than the Cubs. Sure, the Cubs went 8-2 while the Sox went 7-3, but the Sox did that on the West Coast, while the Cubs were at home.

The Sox also did it against the one good team that either team played, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California of the United States of the Northern Hemisphere of Earth, coming back in the last two games to get a split.

Now, you can tell me that the Cubs' first opponent on this homestand, Arizona, is a first-place team, and I'll tell you that the Diamondbacks play like a last-place team. Like the last-place Padres, the Cubs' second opponent, for instance. Specifically, the D-Backs play like slugs outside of the NL Worst.

Here's the deal: Against NL Central and NL East teams, Arizona and San Diego each have won a measly six games. San Diego beats up its own division, but nobody out west can win outside of its own sandbox.

But you can only beat the teams in the order they're on the schedule, so I have the Cubs' magic number at 117 and the Sox at 118. Is it too early to start running one of those cheap graphic countdown devices? Look, if the main news section can run delegate counts since the Iowa Caucuses, then the Sports section should have its own countdown gizmo, too, sweetie.

Either way, the Sox need more games against the Giants the way the Cubs need more games against the Pirates. But the Sox come home to face the team that's 1½ games behind, the Indians, while the Cubs travel to Houston, where the Astros are 2½ games out. Good. We know the locals can beat bad teams. Now let's see the same offense and pitching against division opponents within a sweep of first place.

The Cubs start with Ted Lilly, which is a better deal that it was a month ago. Lilly has had three straight strong outings, but he also has this quirky, ugly stat: Opponents are hitting .316 against him in the fourth inning and .346 in the fifth. Good news is, his opponent tonight in Houston, Brian Moehler, hasn't gone longer than five innings this season.

The Sox send Jose Contreras against C.C. Sabathia on Tuesday. Two things on this: I'm not hiding my eyes every time Contreras pitches this year, and thank goodness it's someone other than Mark Buehrle against Sabathia.

I don't know if one outing against the useless Giants means Buehrle is back, but it was good enough to prevent him from being featured in a new Sox commercial holding a sign that reads: "Will pitch for food."

Alfonso Soriano has eight home runs and 27 RBIs in May. He is hitting .397 for the month with an on-base percentage of .411 and a slugging percentage of -- are you sitting down? -- .838. If he didn't play for the next two weeks, he'd still win the NL Player of the Month Award.

As long as Lance Berkman sits next to him.

Alfonso Soriano's May, meet Carlos Quentin's April.

Third inning, and everyone in Wrigley is standing when Soriano bats with the bases loaded. Third inning! Just in case you weren't sure how the mania has spread.

I'm still not sure how this whole Nick Swisher thing will turn out, but we might look back on Sunday as the worst-looking pinch-hit, game-winning, three-run double that ever turned around a guy's season.

Hey, look! Orlando Cabrera!

I don't know why Jason Marquis threw any kind of strike to Adam LaRoche on a 2-and-0 count with a runner on second and two out in the first Sunday, but he got a lot smarter after that.

Matt Thornton got the win that belonged to John Danks on Sunday, but Thornton got the win because he blew the hold and got an offensive explosion. Hardly seems fair. There ought to be a rule against getting a win after you've blown the hold or the save. It should be the official scorer's option to give the win to a more deserving pitcher. Add this to the list of rules changes that includes allowing pitchers' errors to be factored into earned-run averages.

I loved the way the Cubs scored: no home runs and every run came from a player who walked to get on base. I mean, we're talking the Cubs here. They used to never walk four times in a week, and here they are, pushing across four walks in one afternoon. Ought to send the How They Scored to Cooperstown, is what they ought to do.

Octavio Dotel will make everybody crazy before this season is over. But if you want crazy, then think about how fired up Ozzie Guillen would be in the court of public opinion if Nick Masset had blown Sunday's game when Scott Linebrink and Bobby Jenks sat around.

This is why you should never bet on baseball: The Cubs took two of three from the Pirates by winning the two games that Carlos Zambrano did not pitch.

Speaking of Zambrano, that bat-snapping thing when the guy is winning a ballgame shows that no matter how poised and reliable he has been all season, he still doesn't need Mapquest to find Stupidville.
in Alfonso Soriano, Bobby Jenks, Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, John Danks, Mark Buehrle, Nick Swisher | Permalink

[mjm]

Now tell us how you really think.

[The Benjamin]

let me respond, the Sox 7-3 is more impressive because it was on the road, but dont tell me that the Sox faced tougher teams. Both Cubs and Sox faced two crap teams, and one team in first. The DBacks are the best team in baseball, and the Cubs swept them. The Angels are injured so splitting a series agaisnt them is no big deal. Cubs swept the DBacks, however without facing the best pitcher in the NL... and the majors.

The Cubs are better then the Sox over all, but the Sox are playing very well. The NLC is far tougher then the ALC. look at the top teams in both divsions. Cubs have the best offesne, and are scoring runs like crazy.

[The Benjamin]

One more side note on the Pirates. Take out the record agaisnt the Cubs. take away the 8 losses and the 1 win. They are well above .500 against the rest of the NL.

Once again, both teams are looking great, Cubs are going to cruise to the division title.

[mjm]

Cubs are hotd now. Fonzie is palyer of the week. That had to be a no brainer.

[motownbear]

I didnt write that that is rosenblog

its pretty good for the city that both teams are doingwell especially with all the negativity from the Bears and Bulls.

I was never bitter when the cubs were successful just wanted to throw that out there