Oh yeah, Jon Lieber is apparently gone.  Told Larry or someone that he wasn’t able to pitch and went home.

Report I seen he’s got a bum flipper.

Yeah, that’s what Lieber told the Cubs, isn’t it?  I don’t think he was ever checked out, which is fine with me.  Whatever to get him off the team.  He has as much business being on a major league team as you or I do.

Gaudin has clearly been having trouble with his back.  I’d just shut him down and hope he’s ready to go in October.  If not, the bullpen may have a pretty big hole because I don’t see how you can not have Howry on the playoff roster without Gaudin.

Was there a ton of booing after Ronny didn’t come up with that ball today Maddog? I’m sure there was. After looking at it again it sure looked like the ball just took off on that last bounce.

I think some of us mentioned how rusty Woody was going to be after not pitching for 4-5 days, and the bats are still inconsistent. Lucky for the Cubs that MIL is sucking at the same time. We might still pull out this division.

How far back is the drive? You’re back already?

Jon Lieber just walked out?

From briefly reading through the comments here, it appears as if Ronny Cedeno is the popular one to blame.

it’s the thrill of victory to agony of defeat in a matter of one second. That’s what accounted for the “FUCK!” and other comments today. (dying laughing). They aren’t rational. We thought we snatched a win when we didn’t deserve one after Woody shit the bed, and then it disappeared.

and ATTBW!

figure it out.

How far back is the drive? You’re back already?

Jon Lieber just walked out?

We flew back.  It’s just an hour flight to Kansas City and then an hour drive home.  Had the game gone to extras yesterday we wouldn’t have been able to stick around.

it’s the thrill of victory to agony of defeat in a matter of one second. That’s what accounted for the “FUCK!” and other comments today. (dying laughing). They aren’t rational. We thought we snatched a win when we didn’t deserve one after Woody shit the bed, and then it disappeared.

Understandable, HG.  I’m not the most rational person and would never complain about that.  I just got pissed off at the booing.  It’s childish, pathetic and pretty much the same as what SDSJM did to Freddy Bynum.

i found a site that lets you stream the niner game for free ryno

Thanks, but I can just make a tape of someone saying “Niners suck” for three hours.

Jackson: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 5 K, 0 BB, 6 GO-7 FO

Pie had a good game.

That’s about it.

I have an idea…

I still don’t understand why Pie wasn’t recalled.

It’s because of the AAA playoffs. Once they are completed he will be recalled. You can’t shorthand them in the middle of the playoffs besides he’s better off there playing regularly than sitting on the bench.

I take that as a liberal insult. Being a staunch conservative keep your bleeding ass liberal viewpoints to yourself it’s not needed here. Besides those two are going to win come Nov.

False. I hate all politicians equally. They are all, each one of them, intellectual charlatans who will say whatever they have to say to achieve whatever position they wish to have. If Obama and Biden were also in that pic, I’d have the same opinion. Politicians and the punditocracy have duped us into thinking tags like “liberal” and “conservative” have some intrinsic meaning, when the fact is their bullshit and carpetbagging emptied them of any meaning long, long, ago.

Once they are completed he will be recalled.

Then he should be recalled this week, as the I-Cubs season ended last night.

I take that as a liberal insult. Being a staunch conservative keep your bleeding ass liberal viewpoints to yourself it’s not needed here. Besides those two are going to win come Nov.

I don’t think it was, Cone.  I’m as conservative as you as you well know, but I have to agree with pmayo that these people (Democrats too) only care about themselves and what they can do to get elected.

That being said, I know why you thought it was an insult.  The Krazy Konservative comment awhile back from someone else was about as ridiculous as possible.  I think most other people have tended to be more even-handed about things.

Then he should be recalled this week, as the I-Cubs season ended last night.

I assume he’ll be recalled, but I don’t expect he’ll get any meaningful playing time.  What you said earlier about Edmonds being this year’s Gaetti is, I think, going to be true.  I know Cone disagrees, but I have to believe if the Cubs had any interest of Pie playing CF next year he’d have been up after he started mashing in AAA.  I think the Cubs will try to trade for someone like Beltran and if/when they fail to do that, they’ll re-sign Edmonds for one year.

That being said, I know why you thought it was an insult.  The Krazy Konservative comment awhile back from someone else was about as ridiculous as possible.  I think most other people have tended to be more even-handed about things.

I’m just plain sick and tired of Obama the savior bullshit. It is being force fed down our throats by the media and worthless ass Hollywood to the point I want to scream. I’ve said my peace and I’ll now drop it.

I really do despise them all, though.

Exactly the reason there needs to be term limits for every elected office and no fucking lifetime pension.

Exactly the reason there needs to be term limits for every elected office and no fucking lifetime retirement pension.

Hear, hear. Couldn’t agree more.

I really can’t see the Cubs signing Edmonds for next year. I’m sure they are more than happy with what they’ve gotten out of him so far but it’s quite obvious he’s all but done and I’m sure Hendry feels the same way.

I hope you’re right, Cone.  I really do.  Edmonds hasn’t been doing much lately so maybe that will help influence Hendry.  To be honest, I’d be happier with Reed Johnson in CF next year than Jim Edmonds.

To be honest, I’d be happier with Reed Johnson in CF next year than Jim Edmonds.

A Johnson/Pie platoon would be fine by me.

A Johnson/Pie platoon would be fine by me.

That’s what they started out with this year and Lou never gave it a chance.  At some point you have to give young players a chance and sometimes that means giving them a chance to struggle in hopes they improve.

I agree with Cone that the atmosphere created by unchecked lobbying has gone a long way towards creating the current political climate. Not to mention the damage done by the 4th branch: the media.

His defense, while occasionally nice-looking, is slipping, as well.

I think we talked about this quite a bit after the Cubs signed him and I think it’s well documented that his defense has gone straight downhill since 2004.  He was among the worst CF (defensively) since then, but seemed to have a rebirth once he joined the Cubs.  There were a couple flares into CF this weekend that I couldn’t believe he didn’t catch considering how shallow he plays. 

By the way, I’m not sure what Brandon Phillips’ defensive numbers are, but he made a few spectacular plays this past series.  I enjoyed watching him. 

Also, Ryan Theriot is exceptional on popups and shallow fly balls.  Despite his lack of speed, he really covers a lot of ground on shallow fly balls.  It’s really too bad he wasn’t better defensively on groundballs because if he was, he’d be a really good defensive shortstop.  He just has no range on groundballs and actually plays a much deeper shortstop than I realized.  He played every bit as deep as Keppinger did and STILL can’t get to grounders more than 2 steps away in either direction.  Very odd.

Sean Marshall was fantastic yesterday.  He’s a number 3 or 4 in almost any other rotation.  The Cubs have to create an opening for him in 2009.

If Pie was playing CF yesterday that bloop single Edmonds lollygagged after doesn’t drop.  Lou knows that Pie is the best defensive CF the Cubs have as he kept playing him late in ball-games early on.  At the very least Pie needs to be brought back into that role rather than be sent home.

I agree that ball doesn’t drop with Pie in CF, JMan.  I don’t think there’s any doubt Pie runs that one down.  Rather easily.

That is one gnarly paw Koyie’s got there.

Holy crap, Cone. Even if it was an insult, it was a general statement about a damn politician. Why take things so personal and get all emotional about it?

Why take things so personal and get all emotional about it?

Why don’t you just reply, “I hate Cone.” You little twat.

How’s he supposed to give clear signals now? This is just like when Mickey Mantle injured his knee.

It’s worse than Mantle, dude.  It’s like when no team would sign Barry Bonds.

Holy shit! I get it now. This was no accident.

Koyie Hill was receiving anonymous phone calls from a man who talked in a heavy, quivering voice about the targets he set and the signals he gave. He’d get these calls at all hours of the night and the phone would ring and ring until he listened to the man’s praise.

Hill tried to change his number, but the calls didn’t stop. He even moved, which angered the caller and prompted him to start visiting Hill’s home. Hill and his family began to fear for their safety when they came home to find tape and newspapers with Hill’s R+RBI circled in a mixture of blood and semen.

Eventually, Hill told the caller that he’d be forced to do something if the calls didn’t stop. He made a threat that the caller never believed would come to fruition.

One day, in a desperate rage, Hill took a table saw to his fingers, ravaging his hand and sacrificing his god-like status for his family.

The end.

Besides, he doesn’t need your input on it anyway.

I’m calmer than you are.

Back to the earlier conversation a bit, in contrast with a quite a few of you here I’m very, very far (what would in the U.S. be described as “liberal or left” I suppose even though that term means almost nothing and is just some rediculous monolithic statement for idiotic and incredibly dumb political pundits) left. To put it this way I heavily study and in certain ways subscribe to mainly middle-to-late 20th century French(specifically) and European (more broadly) philosophy (Foucault, Derrida, Sartre, etc. etc. just to provide background).

Essentially, I have no problem with Obama as a potential candidate because I agree with a lot of his actual beliefs (pro-decriminalization at one point before he started running for prez, willing to support social programs, his appreciation, understanding, and belief of the way linguistics and dialogue can be powerful factors shaping both social conditions and International relations), but he’s had to back off of what made him so appealing because apparently he didn’t have enough “substance”.

Obama has had to become something he’s not, a guy who rails on his opponents (just like every other politician) and basically plays the election game: Do what you have to get elected.

I voted for Obama for the Illinois senate, because of the way he represented him self as a very open minded individual, but I hesistate to vote for him again (and will do so only because I believe, rightly or wrongly, that Dems do a better job in Office).

So that’s my little diatribe, but in a nutshell I agree that politicians are full of bullshit and even abandon their own ideologies when it comes to winning the election.

Koyie Hill’s hand after he cut off most of his fingers in the offseason.

I read something somewhere that Koyie said once his playing days are over with he would probably have the fingers that were reattached amputated back off. I’ll have to see if I can find it.

To put it this way I heavily study and in certain ways subscribe to mainly middle-to-late 20th century French(specifically) and European (more broadly) philosophy (Foucault, Derrida, Sartre, etc. etc. just to provide background).

I’m more of a classical pragmatist (James, Dewey, Peirce, Royce) myself, though I’m very sympathetic to the views of Merleau-Ponty and Gadamer, as well. And like most of them, I’ve developed a stringent distaste for politics, and politicians on the whole.

I voted for Obama for the Illinois senate, because of the way he represented him self as a very open minded individual, but I hesistate to vote for him again (and will do so only because I believe, rightly or wrongly, that Dems do a better job in Office).

Nothing at all wrong with that, ML.  I don’t particularly agree, but it was well said and you had the decency to respect other’s beliefs.

I’m more of a classical pragmatist (James, Dewey, Peirce, Royce) myself, though I’m very sympathetic to the views of Merleau-Ponty and Gadamer, as well. And like most of them, I’ve developed a stringent distaste for politics, and politicians on the whole.

Whether I agree with Merleau-Ponty completely or not, I really enjoy reading his works.

And a lot of the Subject/Body stuff and Subject-Object relationships are so crucial to the philosophers I tend to favor (especially Foucault and his ideas on aesthetics).

I think you are to blame and yes, I happen to be a big tough bad ass.

I am to blame for what?

I am to blame for what?

the Cubs loss.  I was late to join and I was responding to your write up.

you had the decency to respect other’s beliefs.

Is that something we do here?

Madlarkin, I’m mostly in your corner, tho not so deeply acquainted with or enthusiastic about the French Guys.  Mainly I think that alot of the academic work that draws on those sources has contributed to a kind of jargonistic, intra-academic conversation that’s in turn helped to make the words “academic’ and “inconsequential” synonymous in public discourse.  So I want to acknowledge the importance and fundamental rightness of conceptions by those folks, particularly Focault, but weave it into something that speaks to a broader public, without undermining my ability to get a job after I finish this long-ass degree program.

And, I’m with everyone here so far on the point that contemporary American politics is a giant bullshit fest.  Really not just “contemporary.”  I worry tho that this becomes an excuse to not try to distinguish between stinkier and less stinky piles of crap, something that can make a difference.

Is that something we do here?

Not usually, but when it comes to one’s religious, morals or belief system or whatever, yeah.  I don’t give a fuck whether someone around here is liberal, conservative, fascist or communist or whatever the hell they want to call themselves.  It’s all the same shit anyway.  More stupid fucking arguments get started over that shit than is worth dealing around here so, yeah, when it comes to shit like that people need to shut the fuck up and accept that people believe in different things and that they’re beliefs piss off just as many people as they get pissed off by.

I worry tho that this becomes an excuse to not try to distinguish between stinkier and less stinky piles of crap, something that can make a difference.

Point taken. I can distinguish just fine, but I think the best way to find something that makes a difference, is to strive to make that difference myself and not depend on some stuffed shirt to do it for me. I’m driven to this end by something James once said:

“Of five hundred of us who could storm a battery side by side with others, perhaps not one could be found who would risk his worldly fortunes all alone in resisting an enthroned abuse.”

That pretty much sums up my feelings, and it’s my last politico-philosophical statement here for some time.

Back to baseball. Felix Pie needs to be here now, and Howry and Cotts need to be sent far, far away.

dj, you need to come around so we can talk Niners briefly. I’m already psyched for next year’s draft. I’m thinking Selvie in the first and Curtis Painter in the second.

Wait, am I the statfag hick or are you referring to Pinetar?

No, no, no I was just trying to introduce some sarcasm that’s all. Ala TecnoHawk (its hawk who says statfag right?) who just makes dumb and completely stupid statements. I was making a poor attempt at satire.

thanks!

t’s possible they lose out, but highly unlikely they lose either the division or miss the playoffs.

I’ll be impressed if they do that. Their magic number for the division is 16 with 19 to go and their magic number for the playoffs is 12.

Back to baseball. Felix Pie needs to be here now, and Howry and Cotts need to be sent far, far away.

Agreed.  With Lieber now gone, we just have to get rid of Howry and Cotts and the bullpen will be fine again.

That’s why I don’t like him. Fuck others.

Hear, Hear I’m with you on that one.

I hate to say this but as far as I can remember, or even as far as I have studied, opinions have been far more important that the actual facts.

Reason being, opinions always blur what we consider to be facts.  It is next to impossible for anyone to clearly view facts without their biases finding their way into the interpretation.

Which is why I love baseball, my Dad and brother try to tell me that its my opinion that Ryan Theriot is an inadequate shortstop. Unfortunately for them, Baseball isn’t politics and Ryan Theriot is bad at baseball and an inadequate shortstop. No arguments. Regardless of what people say, he is not anywhere close to adequate.

Things get blurred in life, in baseball things are, for the most part, black and white.

That is what our “rediculous fagstats” can tell us.

Maddog, I think I want to put this on a bumper sticker and put it on my car.  Right on.

I’m glad I could contribute something to the world.  We need more bumper stickers. 

You get to either Iowa game so far?  I watched the first one and listened to this past one (on and off).  The offense has been a lot better than I was expecting.  Stanzi should be the QB going forward.  What’s the latest around campus about Ferentz and the program’s recent issues?

Cone, I’m starting to think you’re OK.

I have the faded blue/gray one that the Red Sox first started with current logo’s (Cubs had retro hats that had the faded color that started awhile back).

I bought a BoSox hat just for that color of hat, now I have the Cubby version and am very happy.

Also favorite bumper sticker: Keep honking, I’m reloading.

Don’t get me wrong, I really hate politics all together but when it comes down to it, I want someone who seems to match my moral and ethical beliefs.

That’s what most of us want and it’s why there will always be so many arguments.  About the only thing people agree on is that the work week should be shorter than it is.  Other than that, people disagree and it’s there may in fact be a “better” candidate, but the degree to which they are better is so slim that may be nonexistent. 

I’m a conservative.  I’m also an atheist.  I have some liberal beliefs, some conservative ones and some things I don’t care either/or.  I think most people are like that, but it’s the intolerant few who toe a specific line that create the nonsense we see today.  And both parties are just as guilty.

I hate to say this but as far as I can remember, or even as far as I have studied, opinions have been far more important that the actual facts.

True.  I didn’t mean to say or imply otherwise as I completely agree with what you said.  It’s just that these things are more in your face now than ever before with the expanding media.

there may in fact be a “better” candidate

Well said.  I always felt that the actual best candidate, wouldn’t want the job of President.

MD, you mentioned that Howry might have to stick around if Gaudin can’t go, but I don’t think that’s really the case. Any of Ceda, Guzman, or Ascanio could ably fill Howry’s role, IMO, and a couple of them, used in cocnert, could probably manage Guadin’s role, as well. There’s really no reason for Howry to be here.

I think any one of those 3 could do the job Howry does and do it better, but do you really think the club will go into October with one of Ceda or Ascanio over Howry?  I’d like to think so, but I also think if that was an option, both would be up with the club right now. 

I’m still holding out hope that Ceda gets called up.  I don’t see any reason not to have him on the big league club at this point. 

I’m up for anything the team can do that gets rid of Howry.  If that means using Ryan Theriot as a reliever, sign me up.

I think any one of those 3 could do the job Howry does and do it better, but do you really think the club will go into October with one of Ceda or