Friday, February 27, 2009

Our Backup Catchers Stink

Reason 4 Why We'll Never Win
If you count Lee, Soriano, Ramirez, Bradley, Soto, Theriot and Fukudome as already on the team, then that leaves probably 6 spots left. I ranked the rest of the guys at spring training so far on their batting/other and it's interesting to see that everyone doing well (besides Fontenot) are OF/1B. I guess that's what we need. Hopefully one of these 1B guys can play third!

GAME NOTES
Lilly pitched really well (finally a starter acting like it) and the bats came alive with Hoffpauir (2), Fuld (1) and even little Lord Fontenot (1) getting into the HR Act. Jake Fox continues to impress.

DAY 1 OF BRADLEY'S BEDSIDE WATCH!!!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

New Cubs Edition "Operation"

Reason 3 Why We'll Never Win

Milton Bradley left the game today with tightness in his leg after earning a walk in his first at bat. Wow. I know we didn't expect 162 games out of the man but one at bat?

On the bright side, we beat the hapless Brewers. Their pitching looks even worse than it does on paper. Our young pick up Gathright got things going around the basepaths and 1B Jake Fox cracked a 3-run homer.

OTHER NOTES
- Sean Marshall did not look too hot in his debut and loaded up the bases before getting out of the inning...
- Mike Stanton - who's like 40 years old is trying to make the Cubs roster but i don't see it happening. He got crushed when he served up his fastball to Rivera. Probably not much left on that bad boy...

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Return of Wally Pipp

Reason 2: Why We'll Never Win

You'd think the one thing Cub fans could part with easily is the past. But the past seems to be the main factor in fielding the team year after year. I love my old Cubs but Hendry needs to let go. Take today for instance.

Derrek Lee was 0-1 with a walk. That's fine. It's the first game of the year and he laid off a close pitch to take that walk so i'm happy. His .291 and 20 HRs last year were fine too, but he's not the cornerstone of the franchise and he's not a power guy any more.

Now guess which perennial callup went yard with the bases juiced to win the game 5-3? Backup 1B Micah Hoffpauir. He did hit into a DP but whatever - DLEE nearly led the league in that category last year.

I'll take Hoffpauir's .342 in 73 ABs for the Cubs on top of a .362 Avg and 25 HRs! in only 71 AAA games.

I don't even want to talk about Dempster's 4 YEAR $52 MILLION!!! WHAT?!? At the time, that was double both the money or time of the next closest deal.

Maybe that DLEE jersey IS slimming on him, but unless Hendry stops loving the past, we won't like the future.


OTHER NOTES
Szmzrdja was over-throwing in his 2 innings of work but got out of a bases-loaded jam with a nifty 1-2-3 double play. It's nice to have athletes on the field.

It was Ron Santo's Bday. Jim Hendry yelled up well-wishes along with a number of fans.