Lineups:

Cubs:
A. Soriano lf      
R. Theriot ss      
D. Lee 1b      
A. Ramirez 3b      
R. Johnson cf      
M. DeRosa 2b      
G. Soto c      
K. Fukudome rf      
R. Dempster p

Nationals:
E. Bonifacio 2b
W. Harris lf  
R. Zimmerman 3b
L. Milledge cf      
R. Belliard 1b      
J. Flores c      
A. Kearns rf      
A. Hernandez ss
O. Perez p

Yeah, Fukudome needs two or three days off. This is bordering on the Dusty-Patterson days.

Whomever is “singing” the Anthem is not good. If she was a horse, they’d have shot her.

I had that on, then I had to have it off.

Anyone else having problems getting the full screen MLB.tv on Firefox?  I’m not having any problem with IE, but I can’t get the full screen on Firefox for some stupid reason.

All kidding aside, isn’t it about time to get DLee ut of the 3 hole? Lucky for us two shitty plays on D by WAS already

It was a bad throw goat, about 12 feet high.

I think it’s a bad sign when I’m concerned about both DLee AND Fukudome being in the lineup at the same time.

Got ya, yes he does, (dying laughing)

Theriot has the arm of a ten-year old.

theriot is so slick out there

theriot is so slick out there

that’s one word for him

that’s one word for him

we haven’t used “dance fever” for a while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOvy0zLvv5Y

OK Theriot, let’s dance

It’s been that time since about the middle of last season. He’s a 2 or a 5 hitter now. The problem is, there’s not a 3 hitter on this club.

It’s really an odd offense.  We’ve got several guys that can hit in the 2/5/6/7 spots in the lineup, no real 3/4 hitter on the team.  That’s just not common for a team as good as the Cubs. 

Lee is a 6 hitter at this point.  I used to be all for him hitting in the 2nd spot, but his groundball tendency would be a disaster there considering he rolls over on all of them and has no speed at all. 

We do have a number 3 or 4 hitter though.  Soriano.  I’ve been a proponent of him leading off and still am, but he’s really the only power threat and he’s obviously the best hitter on the team.  Not to mention if he were to hit 3rd, or 4th, his fly ball rate, his speed, and his strikeouts would nearly eliminate the threat of the double play.  Ramirez is a 5 or 6 hitter as well. 

What about Jim Edmonds?  Never thought I’d say this, but what about Edmonds in the 3-hole and Reed Johnson in RF?

What about this lineup?

Derrek Lee
Ryan Theriot
Alfonso Soriano
Jim Edmonds
Aramis Ramirez
Mark DeRosa
Geovany Soto
Reed Johson

Only one lefty, but it might be the best lineup we can run out there.

Derrek Lee
Ryan Theriot
Alfonso Soriano
Jim Edmonds
Aramis Ramirez
Mark DeRosa
Geovany Soto
Reed Johson

Maybe. Lou will never do that, though, and i really like having Soriano up top. The best thing, IMO, would be to get Aubrey Huff over here, bench Fukudome, and have Huff play RF and hit third. Then You’d have:

Soriano
Theriot
Huff
Ramirez
Edmonds
Lee
Derosa
Soto
P

Theriot is good on pop-ups.  He’s still an idiot, which is why he called off Soriano and then did nothing.

I remember, once upon a time, how a certain former power hitter for the Cubs seemed to have lost it, and was hitting a lot groundballs and striking out a lot. The fans got in uproar, and cried out for him to be dropped in the lineup. The sad thing is, I’d rather have that man, Sammy Sosa, in the 3 hole right now than Derrek Lee. So where’s the outcry for Lee to be dropped?

The Cubs are going to lose this one. 

False. Len said the cubs have won 8 straight on comcast and 13 of 14. Cubs win.

The Cubs’ power is gone. Ramirez and Lee seem to have no power, at all.

I’m calling a HR for DeRosa here

I’m calling K

I lose

The way the fans treated Sosa was almost criminal in my opinion.

In light of the ambivalence with which they treat the struggles of Fukudome and Lee, what was done to Jacque Jones and Sosa by these fans is a cause for serious shame.

Lee has been getting booed a bit lately, but not to the JJ level

Let Soto do it then

now that’s pathetic

Was that the first pitch for Soto…Come on guys….

Absolutely fucking piss poor.

I think it’s a little early to say we’re in a post-steroid era.  The studies I’ve seen have shown that the impact of PEDs are minimal.  We see power increases and decreases throughout time and I’m more inclined to attribute it to that.  You’re right though, there are several with 15-25 home run power and then Soriano who would hit 45 at Wrigley in a full season.

Lee and Ramirez have lost power, but they’re also not squaring up balls hit in the air nearly as much. That has something to do with it. How much I don’t know. You guys figure that out.

Apparently we’re going to try and set a record for most stranded runners.

Was it SS that said this series was a sweep?  Every single time he says that the Cubs lose 2 of 3.  Every time this year.

All 3 contenders in the central playng the dregs of the NL this weekend.

What about Jake Fox as a righty bat off the bench down the stretch? The guy will be reaching his peak next year, and its time to find out if he’ll be a useful (if not everyday) MLB player.

jake fox is not useful

Dempster is going to have to shut this team out for the cubs to have a chance at winning in extra innings.

well you have alot of former sluggers like Aramis show up looking thin, you see power numbers decrease across the board and all of this after new and stricter testing methods are put in place. 

Other than the testing and the baseball in the humidor what else has changed in the last 2 years to make this power # change come about?

Other than the testing and the baseball in the humidor what else has changed in the last 2 years to make this power # change come about?

The return of the wide strike zone?

Did anyone catch Brenly’s comment earlier in the game when Washington walked Soriano intentionally?  Basically what he said was that walking Soriano was risky because he strikes out if you make your pitches and Theriot is a contact hitter.  WTF?

Let’s all say it together:

Did anyone catch Brenly’s comment earlier in the game when Washington walked Soriano intentionally?  Basically what he said was that walking Soriano was risky because he strikes out if you make your pitches and Theriot is a contact hitter.  WTF?

I’m listening to the radio. The less Brenly in my life, the better.

About time

Other than the testing and the baseball in the humidor what else has changed in the last 2 years to make this power # change come about?

that’s just the thing though.  There often isn’t a reason for the change.  There have been too many cycles and not enough changes to this game and all parks now have the humidor and when Colorado began using it, power had increased despite testing in place, but it decreased in Colorado.  That’s not much evidence at all, but it’s more than speculative evidence of putting two and two together over steroids and testing. 

Besides, and this is important, there are so many undetectable forms of steroids, HGH is still undetectable as well, that any and every player that was once taking these things is still taking them with the exception of the minor leaguers who get the cheap shit. 

When all forms of steroids and HGH are detectable, I think we can say this game is PED free, but until then I just assume these rich guys went from using the clear to another designer steroid.

Holy shit.  Lee with a base hit in a GIDP spot. 

I’m going to buy a lottery ticket.  Later.

I agree with the others on Jake Fox.  I’d rather have Dubois called up who has more power than Fox and can actually take a walk.  Is Fox still on the 40-man roster?  If so, he needs to be dropped from it.

Soriano.  I’ve been a proponent of him leading off and still am, but he’s really the only power threat and he’s obviously the best hitter on the team.

If you look at Soriano’s comparables, I’m 99.9% sure that of all hitters in the history of major league baseball, the player with the most similar numbers is Aramis Ramirez. I think Soriano’s peaks are higher, and his valleys are lower, but I think it’s melodramatic to say that he’s the only power hitter on the team, and that it significantly devalues Aramis Ramirez.

I swear to you I started typing this before the Ramirez at bat.

And a homer!!! Buy two lottery tickets!

just made it. whew

That’s the key.  Talk about how Lee and Ramirez can’t do shit and then they come through.

Hasn’t worked for Fukudome so maybe we need to get a little nastier.  Anyone know any Japanese?

Mister Saito is all the japanese I know

162 game averages

HR
Ram 30
Sori 36

Slg
Ram .500
Sori .518

OPS+
Ram 113
Sori 116

Soriano’s better, but he’s not THAT much better

It does look like Lee has been hitting the ball hard again the last couple weeks. Other than the HR, he’s had a couple hard hit ground balls/line drives… by my eyes more than he was hitting in July and early August.

I just realized something…

Normalized for position, Fukudome = Eckstein.

I just looked at something on ESPN that doesn’t seem possible, but i know it’s right.  Soriano leads this team in home runs.

well say what you want about the offense but outside of Marquis we have some fantastic SP

I didn’t get your email, dj.  Did you send one today?

Another RBI from the luxury.

sent it yesterday md- maybe in your junk folder?

Normalized for position, Fukudome = Eckstein.

Theriot.  Take a look at what Theriot was doing this time last year, his first full season in the big leagues, and then take a look at what Fukudome is doing.  Nearly identical.

i actually think Z has been much more consistent this year than in the past 2.

Taekwondo official disqualifies Cuban fighter for time-wasting, Cuban fighter gets up and delivers a roundhouse kick to officials face. Yikes.

Theriot.  Take a look at what Theriot was doing this time last year, his first full season in the big leagues, and then take a look at what Fukudome is doing.  Nearly identical.

“Tomayto/tomaaaato?”

Lee also seems to be laying off the stuff off the outside corner more often.

I agree this team has power, a lot of power actually, Shawn, and maybe I’m misunderstanding pmayo, but I think he was talking about the traditional 3/4/5 sluggers that this team doesn’t really have.  They do if you consider that their best hitter is leading off and probably would bat 3rd ordinarily.  If so, you’d have a pretty powerful 2/3/4/5 or 3/4/5/6 depending on where you put Lee.

I think he was talking about the traditional 3/4/5 sluggers that this team doesn’t really have

That’s pretty much my line of thought here, but Shawn’s right to point out that this team isn’t constructed on that model, and they’re likely better for it, or will be in playoffs, for sure.

Fukudome through yesterday:  .264/.362/.384.
theriot through 8/22/07:  .286/.347/.373.

Ye gods. Cue Keystone Kops music.

Fukudome through yesterday:  .264/.362/.384.
theriot through 8/22/07:  .286/.347/.373.

I guess the main difference is Theriot only has a true-blue-go-cubs-go filled house of worship, whereas Fukudome and Eckstein have people all over the country/planet all up in their jockstraps.

(dying laughing)! maybe i should have checked my junk folder because i have 4 emails from you there

Why would it be flagged as junk?  You just put all my emails in the junk folder, don’t ya?  (dying laughing)

I guess the main difference is Theriot only has a true-blue-go-cubs-go filled house of worship, whereas Fukudome and Eckstein have people all over the country/planet all up in their jockstraps.

And that’s a huge difference when you think about it.  It’s one thing to have people in Chicago that want to hold your jockstrap, but if you can find one anywhere else in the world, you know you’ve hit it big.

When you do consider position, Shawn, i think it’s impossible to argue that Fukudome is better than theriot.  Then you also have to consider that Theriot was 27 last year and Fukudome is 31.  It’s pretty sad that I’m going to say this, but hopefully Fukudome can improve in one year like theriot has.

I just want to say i traded DeRosa 2 weeks ago in my fantasy league… to a team i’m playing this week… and fighting against for a playoff spot…

I’m still happy he’s raking, but disappointed in my lack of ability to predict the future without error.

DeRosa is crushing the ball right now.  Hit him 3rd.

When you do consider position, Shawn, i think it’s impossible to argue that Fukudome is better than theriot.  Then you also have to consider that Theriot was 27 last year and Fukudome is 31.  It’s pretty sad that I’m going to say this, but hopefully Fukudome can improve in one year like theriot has.

I agree with this, and when you consider salaries the situation becomes drastically worse for Fukudome. Who said the Cubs should have placed Fukudome on waivers? It wouldn’t be a bad idea - other than the P.R. backlash, putting Pie in CF and Edmonds/Johnson in RF (or Pie in RF) would be a major upgrade offensively, and you probably wouldn’t even lost that much defensively, despte Fukudome’s tremendous defensive numbers.

I’m not sure we did Mastrick the justice he deserved in this tourney.  I just got another email from someone who has had the misfortune of knowing him online.  DJ, he gave major kudos to the GTOD.  This image is from View From the Bleachers where Mastrick once wrote before being banned. 

Len said that Lee still has a left shoulder problem he never talks about. Did you see him wince after his last strikeout? I wonder if there’s anything to that. Very well could be.

I saw the replay.  That very well could be part of the issue.

that was two ugly plays

Fixed.

Willard cannot sing and should never do things like this again.  Not even at home.

Willard cannot sing and should never do things like this again.  Not even at home.

I’ve never seen anyone needing a sheet of paper with the lyrics before, (dying laughing)

I’ve never seen anyone needing a sheet of paper with the lyrics before, (dying laughing)

False. You’ve just never seen someone willing to admit it and actually use the sheet of paper.

False. You’ve just never seen someone willing to admit it and actually use the sheet of paper.

way to destroy my illusions, SDG. First steroids and now this.

I’ve never been a fan of booing.  frankly, i don’t think it’s a whole lot different than having a staring contest with an 80 year old man who didn’t give you an autograph.

frankly, i don’t think it’s a whole lot different than having a staring contest with an 80 year old man who didn’t give you an autograph.

See, it’s wild exaggerations and snarkiness like that that get you sued.

let me be clear that there weren’t many boos. I just heard a smattering.

I just heard a smattering.

You sound like Len Kasper with all the fancy words.

Lee day to day.  Aren’t we all?

Marmol!

Lee has back spasms and is day to day. Maybe a good thing. Let Ward get some regular ABs for a few games.

Lee has back spasms and is day to day. Maybe a good thing. Let Ward get some regular ABs for a few games.

or Hoffpauir

or Hoffpauir

I don’t think he’ll be up until Sept 1st at the earliest.

If Lee misses a few days, I’d assume they’d give Ward a couple starts and maybe DeRosa a start at 1st as well.

ramirez sucks

Nice!!!

ramirez sucks

That’s obviously the key to getting him to be productive.

Is the Ramirez power outage over?

With his track record it means he’s likely to hit about 5 more bombs over the next 7 to 10 days.  With lee likely out a good number of them, it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Fukudome’s batting average is down to .262.  Average doesn’t mean much of course, but if he starts tomorrow it’s likely to be below .260 by the end of the game tomorrow.

Fukudome’s batting average is down to .262.  Average doesn’t mean much of course, but if he starts tomorrow it’s likely to be below .260 by the end of the game tomorrow.

Sammy’s out there, and all he costs is money…

[edit: I am, of course, entirely kidding]

sean Marshall just has an excellent curve.  It’s much sharper than Hill’s, but has unbelievable movement.  I think Baseball analysts did a piece last year on curve balls and Zito’s had the most downward break followed by sean Marshall, Rich Hill and Ted Lilly.

Sammy’s out there, and all he costs is money…

Barry Bonds could hit better than Fukudome right handed.

I haven’t paid attention other than that one.

I’m going off Gameday, but other than strike one, all the curves have been up and flatter than usual.

Cubs Win!

I’m out, guys.  have a good one.

I’m out, guys.  have a good one.

it’s about time.  You’ve been in a glass closet for way too long.

delete

new thread up…