No Defense...

Headline: Chicago Cubs' Jim Hendry defends Mark DeRosa trade

That should read: Jim Hendry attempts to explain his long series of bone headed moves, which happened to include Mark DeRosa. It included this little nugget:
"But there wasn't anywhere else to get left-handed, you know. And over time, I think we will see that we got pretty good guys for him. So we mixed and matched some of the dollars that were made with [DeRosa] and other guys who are not here, and added the guys that we did."

Ok, first of all, if I hear one more Cubs guys say the words "left-handed", in relation to bats of bullpen, one more time I'm going to go Farnsworth on your ass.

Second of all - let's examine how these lefties have improved the team:

DeRosa - 266/.333/.446/.779
Miles - .204/.250/.265/.515
Bradley - .200/.328/.390/.718
Fontenot - .223/.309/.385/.693

Wow...those lefties are really hitting the sh*t out of the ball huh?
Oh and PS. DeRosa has more homers than the other three...COMBINED!

And let's not forget
Blanco - .182/.262/.364/.626
Bako - Currently working as a boat cleaner in Dayton, OH.

As it turns out, Hill blows both out of the water, so to be fair - that one doesn't hurt too much.

Reflections on Colorado

Baseball players from DENVER Complain about our cold.
It was really freakin' cold on opening day
4 pound pretzels are really hard to find, especially when nobody knows they have them.
Cubs fans will boo anyone who is no longer a Cub, including those who left involuntarily and those who almost died.
Lilly was a sleeper all the years before he became a Cub and is a lot better than anyone gives him credit for.
Reed is an average player who has milliseconds of greatness at JUST the right time.
Marquis wasn't as bad as everyone thought - today he was better.
Fontenot can play 3rd base, but don't quit your day job.
It's ridiculously hard to keep track of who's who when everyone wears the same number and no names on their backs. Except Reed - He looks like Scott Ian...

Nothing to worry about?

So I'm listeing to WSCR Zach Z, and he's going on and on about how this is the best spring trianing and we have nothing to worry aobut and blah blah, and I'm thinking to myself - we have more holes than last year! Let's talk aobut a few things -

A. A closer that can't close out the Dutch
B. A starting pitcher who can't be relied on for over 80 pitches, maybe 25 times.
C. No full time second baseman with all due respect to Fontenot.
D. A Right Fielder who played 20 games in RF last year - this is not a knock on his defense. This is a knock on his health.
E. No backup for Aramis Ramirez.

Three Words - two-thousand-four. everyone was sitting pretty back then thinking we had it made....for a minute anyway...

Dagnabbit...

Well last night, other than the fact I was at an outside festival listening to the game on the radio, sucked.

Bats got quiet again - stuff happens - but with the tying run on third Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez couldn't get the job done. Same with Fontenot in the ninth, only the tying run was merely in scoring position. Eh well.

Was an interesting lineup Lou threw out there to backup Marshall, who had a pretty good start. Can't complain too much I guess. Let's just get them today.

Another minute....

Cubs win, Brewers lose...

Good day. The bats woke up, especially "Little Babe Ruth" Mike Fontenot (Ok Ron, seriously - he has _8_ home runs...). Marquis pitched like crap, but hey - it's July. And I've said it before, and I'll say it again - With a rotation of Zambrano, Harden, Dempster, Lilly - who gives a crap who the fifth starter is?

The BIG series begins tomorrow. Biggest of the year? Maybe. Biggest of the year thus far? Definitely. Cubs ned to win two to leave town in first place. Gonna be rough. Lilly v. Sabathia - ew. Z v Sheets. Interesting.

The key for the next two games, and really all four, but especially against Sabathia and Sheets - Deep counts and a lot of them. Foul balls galore. Get those guys OUT of there, and then systematically dismantle their bullpen.

Here's hoping - and a minute for you...

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...