Know where your checks come from.

Ryan Dempster was recently criticized by the entire nation of Canada (or at least those not watching the hockey All-Star Game) recently when he revealed he would not pitch for Oh, Canada in the upcoming WBC. Here's the thing - I think it could be argued that pitchers run the highest risk of injury during the daily execution oft heir job. Yes position players could get hurt, but it seems that pitchers are more fragile than the average shortstop. Here's a thought -

Instead of adding 1,000 more pitches to an MLB'ers season, why not use minor league pitchers for the classic? AAA type guys who are not quite ready for prime time. It gives them the opportunity to try out at the big league level, on a world stage, and frankly, it gives the fans the offense they crave. Now, I'm not saying some college hurler should go up there and throw batting practice or anything. But your Kevin Harts and Angel Guzman types.

Just a thought. and a minute. A minute-thought.

Doin' it right.

I'm overdue for this post. Sorry.

It's good to see that Handry and Dempster did the right thing. The deal Demp signed is fair, prolly a little home-town discount, but again, what can you do with 60mil that you can't do with 50?

Now Ryan - this is not a license to suck. At least not for a few more years...
Definitely more than a minute

Dempster dipping the proverbial toe in the water...

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/11/dempster-will-t.html

Dempster Will Test Open Market

So Ryan says he won't sign with the Cubs before other teams have had their say. So, Ryan lemme get this straight - We signed you fresh off of Tommy John, put you in the bullpen into the closer job you wanted, left you there even though the fans wanted you dead (except me and I will argue that til my dying day), and then put you in the rotation like you asked, but F-you, I wanna talk to some other teams?

Tell you what - how about you go work at WalMart (because that's where you would've ended up had we not gotten your crippled a-hole off the scrap heap) for a couple days, then get back to us.

You're going to pitch here little boy. Hendry would be foolish not to sign you. You just want to squeeze as much money out as possible? What exactly can you do with 60 million that you can't do with 50? Greed...It's a deadly sin...

Hendry - Get he Padres on the line!

Think about that for a minute.

Here we go...

Ok, I did not root root root for anyone but the Cubs. I honestly would've loved to see the Mets, but the Dodgers were #2 on the list. With Ramirez, Ethier, Kemp, Blake, Martin. That's a heck of a lineup.

I hate to see if but if Zambrano freaks out again, this is going to be a tough series. If he can stop psyching himself out and just pitch how he's capable, then we're golden. The first two games will determine the rest of the series. Dempster needs to grab that first win, so Z doesn't put even more pressure on himself. If we split, I can live with that. If the Dodgers win 2, may as well go out and party Sat night, cuz there won't be anything else happening...

If Z does blow his top, all is not lost. I feel good about Dempster, Harden and Lilly. If Zambrano steps up and proves he's the ace of this staff - grow up dude - then we can all start booking hotels.

With Lowe's sinker, the Cubs are going to be hard-pressed to get the big hits. It's therefore necessary on them to just hit the ball. Preferably to the holes in the infield. No swinging for the fences unless he's leaving them up. If he's not, God help us all...

Funny thing...

I went to ch3eck the scores of the other games, then I realized - I don't give a crap...It's a nice feeling.

Z had a BAAAAAAAD inning tonight. In my book he just became the game 3 starter. I'm thinking Dempster in Game 1, then Lilly, then Harden then Dempster again. It really depends who they're playing, but you can tell Z it's because he's the only one reliable enough to take an away game. That outta fool him.

If he starts at home, he'll have to be game 1. His psyche couldn't hack being #2, even tho that's how he's pitching recently. And I'm not referring to his being a second starter. He's actually pitching like #2.

If memory serves, Z didn't do so well at the end of last season either, but came back strong in Arizona. We'll see...

Argh...

Throwing a fit part II

So the old guy did it. Not in a playoff game, but close enough. I'm not surprised. He will probably kick off before pitchers and catchers report, so he had to get in soon. He did bounce it though. But hey, he's 104. His arm's prolly thrown more pitches than Kerry Wood, Ryan Dempster, and Rich Harden combined. Bet he's had less surgeries too...

For those of you just joining us:

http://oneminutecubs.blogspot.com/2008/08/throwing-fit-i-mean-pitch.html

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/1100868,CST-NWS-fan11.article

so good for the old guy. He lasted a few minutes longer than I expected.

P.S. Yes, I'm going to hell.

Another one bites the dust...

5 game losing streak. At home. Feels weird doesn't it? And not the good "Voice is starting to crack and getting hair in funny places" weird.

The problem from what I heard tonight was frankly trying to hit the ball out of the park, with the wind howling in. Sheesh. Randy Wolf was just serving 'em up over the plate and daring the hitters to hit it out. Yes Wiggington did hit one out, but it was a line drive, not a power bomb. Remember the good ole' days when the hitters hit into the gap? The opposite way?

Eh well. The Brewers and Cardinals have sucked just as much. Better to suck now than suck in October...

A minute, no more, no less...

Gotta change my shorts...

So I'm down...Dangit...Hamels is dealin'. We're done tonight. I started organizing books. That's right...ORGANIZING BOOKS with the game on in the background. Fontenot blasts one, so goody we're only down by two. Then A-Ram. Or should I say A-Slam. Man..you wanna talk about DeRosa, Soto, whoever. A-Ram is C-L-U-T-C-H clutch. I mean, I'm happy with a Sac fly. That's probably what he was trying to do. But dang. Dempster didn't have it tonight, but he's off the hook. Woody comes in, and gets a weak popper to A-Ram. Done. Sold. Start Packing. We're outta here.

It's just amazing. The Cubs are NEVER out of the game. Ever. down by 10, up by 1. It's never done.

So Kaplan's on the air saying go all in. Oh I am. All in, including my watch and car title. Have been all season. The cards are on the table and I'm reaching forward for the chips. The first couple games, I'll admit, I was skeptical. But since then, and really every year since 2000, I have been all in. All Cubs, All the time.

Now that's a lot of minutes.

8 in 7

Dang, that was quite the offensive explosion today. 8 runs in the 7th inning. Mark DeRosa batted twice as a pinch hitter. That's just awesome. Dempster gets the win - number 14 in mid August - and the Brewers are already losing :).

Not to mention, the Brewers today have not 1, or 2, or 3, but FOUR starters in the lineup batting below .250. _4_. including the pitcher, that's 5 relatively easy outs. Mendoza, party of 5, your table's ready.

How can they be this good when they're this bad???

I'll wait to update the magic number until the Boo-hoo Crew goes final.

Can I have a minute with a side of "I suck"? - Rickie Weeks.

off day...

So the Cubs put the cap on a nice series yesterday. I just love it when the opposing team boots a ball and we turn it into 5 runs...And Chris Carpenter left the game on a medical...Hello Mark Mulder - where ya been? If that's not enough to drive the final nail into the coffin, I don't know what is...

So the Brewers won today - a-holes. The Diamondbacks picked up Adam "Dunn hit ball with little stick!!" (It sounds a lot funnier when I _say_ it, but anyway. Do they really think Dunn is the answer? Nothing against the guy, but boy oh boy, I hope the Dodgers don't have anything planned for October - they'll be busy. At least for 4 games while the Cubs wipe the floor with them. I'm factoring in one loss since we did split the series in LA this year.

Following that, if I had to pick the Phillies/Marlins/Mets vs Brewers, I'm going to have to go Brewers. History has proven though that we can beat them. It'll be an interesting series. I'm thinking Sheets v Zambrano, Sabathia v Harden, Parra v Dempster and with all the extra off days the networks throw in, prolly Sheets v Zambrano again. Or possbily Lilly v Busch? Not even sure where the Brewers rotation depth goes after Parra. We'll see...

I don't even know enough about the AL to make any predictions...

Ummmmmm.....yeah.

So Zambrano didn't miss any bats today. Didn't have his good stuff. In fact he didn't have stuff. He pretty much just tossed in those batting practice balls and watched the pretty smoke making rainbows as the balls left the yard. Let the Cards slap him around like a little bee-otch. Wouldn't mind so much, except it IS against the Cardinals... eh well.

Bottom of the 7th and LaRussa's going to the bullpen, so it's not completely lost. I won't be holding by breath however. Hopefully Dempster can miss a few bats tomorrow. Meantime, I need to find a convenient rope to hang myself with.

Some runs, some runs, a minute for some runs!

poll is up for Howry.

A pol is up to vote for what Bobby's new nickname will be. Myself, I'm leaning more towards Gopher, but that's me.

Great outing by Z and the offense tonight. Good to see the bats come alive again on the road. With Dempster and Harden going, you're almost starting to talk Sweep...I dunno...

Samardzija gave up a run, but with a 7-0 lead, your job is to throw strikes. No biggie. Run with it kid. 2 of 4. So far, I'm happy...we'll see how long it lasts....

Hey. I'm just being honest...

Another minute, another W.

Hey how about that.

Looks like we can actually win on the road....How about that...whoda thunk it?

Good to see Demp get a win on the road...only took 3 1/2 months, but hey. can't argue with 11-4. Here's a funny little anecdote...

MLB.com's gameday (my primary source of baseball when confined to my desk) has a new feature this year - Video clip highlights! Very cool. Apparently the game today was so unremarkable for the Astros, their ONE video clip was Geoff Blum (remember him Sox fans?) make a routine play at third. This 18 second clip was sandwiched between an RBI double for Lee and a Fontenot's shot to right. LOL. Here's your clip Astros fans! Enjoy it.

One last note - Dempster loads the bases nobody out. K - K - 5. Gotta love it.

On to Arizona where we can bi^&* slap those snakes at home...hopefully we'll still remember how to hit after the plane ride...

There's a minute for you...

More All Star Game minutes...

So Fukudome sucked. Not a really big surprise of late. Soto aquitted himself well - the two stolen bases were off Sheets, not Soto. Zambrano was dealing. The pickoff throw in the fourth was freakin' gold - best I've seen this year. Ramirez walked, so not much bang for the buck there, but you can't complain. Dempster was awesome in the bottom of the 9th. Wish he could've done that more last year...:)

Marmol, well, Marmol did well. Can't complain about a scoreless inning...that IS what we're paying him for. I didn't get a chance to really see his stuff because I was pacing back and forth and missed many of his pitches. To be honest, I don't remember much about his specific outing. One of the problems with a late ending game and a full day of activity following. I heard/saw a few swings and misses, so that's a good thing.

As I said before, the Cubs put their best foot forward, and it was NOT because of them that Game 1 will not be at Wrigley. More on that later.

Another minute in the books, another BS exhibition game determines the most important advantage in the most important Series in baseball.

Selig - you screwed up. Change it back and move on.

Dempster falls...

Had to happen..I hate to say it. But at least it happened to Tim Lincecum. If it'd happened to Ian Snell or someone, that would've sucked. Well boys, just tip your cap, and go home and take a nice long nap until Friday. Too bad we couldn't REALLY knock around their closer. Still, 10-1 at home at the All Star Break. Can't argue with that.

So about that kid that got nailed with the foul ball. Sucks to be him, but seriously dad - why didn't you catch the ball??? You bring your kid, you bring your glove, wear it at all times, don't drink, and sit between him and the plate, staring at the batter at ALL times. Seriously dude.

I saw the kid had a glove, why didn't HE catch it?

Ok, but no joke - I'm glad the kid's gonna be ok. Dad prolly slept on the couch for a couple of days, but the kid's gonna be ok. Maybe dad should think twice when ordering those box seats in the future?

Ok, that's my minute.

7* All stars!!

Yes! 7 all stars on Tuesday! Wait - what's that? Ohh Soriano broke his hand. Oh ok, well still 6 All Stars baby! Woo-hoo! What? Oh. Ryan Dempster's last start is two days before so he won't pitch? Rats. Well, ok. Still 5 All stars. Who? Why? Kerry Wood's got a blister? Oh..uh..um...ok.

4 all stars. What? Fukudome's been stinking up the joint lately and if Clint Hurdle knows anything about anything he won't play past his first at bat? Huh...

Congrats Cubs fans! The Cubs will set the record for most invited spectators at the All Star Game...La Di Freakin' Dah!'

Is it still too late to vote in Mark DeRosa?

That's my minute...well, 50 seconds....40...you get the idea.

Welcome

Ok, here it is the first post. I'm listening to the Cubs game as we speak - winning 2-0 thank you. Anyway. So far, the Cubs are doing very well, to say the least. Though their recent road schedule has cost them the title of "Best in Baseball" they're still holding up pretty well. If only those pesky Cards would start playing the way they should...

Cubs are in first, so good for us. 7 All-stars on the team this year, including the sleeper candidate - Ryan Dempster.

That's my minute. See you tomorrow-ish