Cubs

[ChicoHog]

I almost feel bad for blanton, but yea his sliders have been our mvp.

Blanton did a great job this year and definitely over achieved.  He may be coming back to reality which is not good news for us Dodger fans. 

[ChicoHog]

Congrats to the Cubs.  You have a very good team.  I think the only Dodger that could start on the Cubs is Seager (and russell is pretty good) and maybe Grandal.  Your starting pitching is excellent.  Bullpen is ok.  That may be the one achilles heel now that the lineup is hitting again. 

[southarkhog06]

Somebody pinch me I must be dreaming is it really happening?!?!

[hog.goblin]

Good job by former razorback and Cubs' hitting coach Eric Hinske

[TheRazorback500]

Congratulations to the NL Champions. Hendricks says, "what curse you talking about?"

[whosiskid]

I just called my daughter and she took the EL down to Wrigley to join the crowd. We used to live two blocks south of Wrigley - 3421 N Seminary, now a 12-flat combined with the lot next door - and we joined the crowd back when they had Wood and Mark Pryor (a two-year wonder but still the prettiest motion I've ever seen). I used to catch the EL right beside Wrigley. I know pretty much every brick around Wrigley, and I'm just sitting here crying. I worked with three different guys who were absolutely fanatic Cub fan but unfortunately died. I just keep thinking of them and so many others who have passed away without seeing this. My friend Rosalyn from work is married to a guy who cut Ernie Banks's every couple of weeks. And that just kills me. Ernie Banks's should have lived to see this. Ernie Banks's statue is right to the left of the ticket windows on Wrigley and Clark. It is just so wrong that he can't see this. At least Billy Williams is still alive. I don't care that hat frakkin' fraud Harry Carray missed this. (I hate him because he would blabber on about who he knew in the stands and finding stupid hats, ignoring what was happening on the field. And I hate that he has a statue on the south side of Wrigley.) My friend Tom just retired from where we used together. He was born two years after the Cubs were last in the World Series. He has season tickets right behind home plate. I'm sure Tom was at tonight's game. He would sell a bunch of his tickets each season and I'd buy 7 or 8. Plus I'd end up seeing 4 or 5 extra games. Tom's seat is about eighteen rows straight back, just underneath the upper deck, maybe the [CENSORED] that doesn't get rained on if it starts to rain. The guy right to the left of Tom's two seats is morbidly obese and he can't avoid spilling out over his seat, so I'd end up sitting there and I'd be leaning over at an 80 degree angle.

What I'm trying to say is, the Cubs are a neighborhood team. Yeah, people come in from the suburbs and they no longer sell bleacher tickets on day of game (if I didn't have something to do I would go stand in the line to watch a game and I'd read a book until they started letting people in). I literally have some of Wrigley Field in my copy of Don Delillo's UNDERWORLD. I was walking to EL once October and they were ripping up the field for the annual resodding. I went and tore off a handful of grass and tossed it in my book. I'm going to hold the book as a good luck charm.  But Wrigley is smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood. There are shops and stores and restaurants all up and down Clark and along Belmont. I would go to the Einstein's Bagels at the trisection created by Clark, Sheffield, and Newport crossing one another, and I often would see Yosh Kawano, the longtime Cub Clubhouse manager. I think he was 90 when he retired. But you get behind the shops and bars and there are houses all over the place.

All the things that happened since the Cubs last won a World Series. Millions of Cub fans have lived and died without seeing a World Series come to Chicago (well. the White Sox did, but they don't count - the Cubs are the real Chicago baseball team). Things that happened since the Cubs last WON a World Series:

World War I
World War II
The emergence of Hollywood
The entire political career of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The Cold War
Professional Football

Teddy Roosevelt was president. In other words, the Cubs are due.

But here is the NUMBER ONE THING. The Cubs have never won a world series since they moved to Lakeview. Heck, Lakeview didn't exist when the Cubs last won a World Series. So the neighborhood is due.

[Dr. Starcs]

^^^

Good lord.

[whosiskid]

^^^

Good lord.

What is your problem?

You don't know me, yet you feel you need to make a negative comment of some kind on half of my posts. What does it say about the moral character who does that sort of thing.

Like I said, you don't know me. If you did you would know I'm a very caring, compassionate, nice guy. I don't go around dissing people for their posts.

Yes, I write long posts. What is inherently wrong with that? This isn't Twitter where you are limited to 144 characters and it isn't phone messaging where you are charged if you get a message.

So what is your problem?

When, in all of my posts, have you tried to point out weaknesses in an argument or tried to formulate an argument of your own? I'll answer. You haven't. You emerge, based on your incredibly negative comments, a pretty unpleasant person.

But I would ask you to think about this: I never, ever attack an individual. I might attack an idea or a way of thinking but I never am mean or unpleasant to an individual.

Since you haven't seemed to be inclined to know me, instead of attack me, let me give you a quick summary. I live in Little Rock, where I was born, attended McClellan High School, got a B.A. from Ouachita with a triple major of Literature, Religion, and Drama. I went on to one year at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville for a year, before transferring to Yale University where I got two masters in Philosophy of Religion with a masters thesis on Kierkegaard. I then attended University of Chicago where I specialized in the History of Moral Philosophy. Living in Chicago I intensified my love of the Cubs (which began with following Arkansas Donnie Kessinger on the Cubs in the late sixties and Ferguson Jenkins, who I saw as a very little kid when he pitched for the Arkansas Travelers it was a Phillies farm team (Dick Allen was on the same team). I was married but it didn't last, but I became a fulltime single father of the child we had, who grew up to be a brilliant and beautiful and intensely nice person. I had to drop out of grad school because I wasn't able to write a doctoral dissertation while working fulltime to support me and my daughter and giving her the attention she needed and deserved. I have been a fanatic Razorback fan since age 10 when I watched the Hogs win the Cotton Bowl against Nebraska and win a national championship. I added the Cubs, Bulls, and Bears while living Chicago. My main hobby is reading, mainly literature, philosophy, the movies, the Civil War, political philosophy, American Political  History, Lincoln, FDR, and WW II (I own just under 9,000 books but am trying to figure out how to get more shelf space for more). I also read deeply in the Bible and Theology. My favorite parts of the Bible are the Gospels and the Pauline letters and my favorite theologians are John Calvin and Karl Barth. I am also very far to the left politically, thanks mainly to reading the Sermon of the Mount compulsively since the age of around 12 or 13. I listen to a lot of alt rock but also a lot of classic country (Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Snow, George Jones, and their ilk, but nothing this side of Garth Brooks. I have written a number of essays for magazines and journals on television and film and was an editor and feature writer for a major online pop culture website. I edited the first anthology that considered the entire career of Joss Whedon. I love to hike, especially with my German Shepherd named Lion. I have been extremely ill for the past three years, though I have finally seen my health improve somewhat in the past three months. I moved back to Arkansas a year ago, sadly a month after my father died. I have two cats.

So go ahead. Say something else that makes you look bad. Because how else do you think I, at least think of you when you keep reply to things I write with nothing more intelligent than a snear. Because that is all you ever do. You don't engage in ideas, you don't engage in arguments. I'm still waiting for you to say something even minimally intelligent. And yet you presume to put "Dr." in your online handle. I think not. Or at least, not based on anything seen.

Try to be more than you have been so far.

[southarkhog06]

I know the postseason isn't supposed to "count" but let's be honest, Hendricks won the cy young last night.

[Dr. Starcs]

Yeah, you've never attacked any politician.

Get off your high horse.

[hog.goblin]

I just called my daughter and she took the EL down to Wrigley to join the crowd. We used to live two blocks south of Wrigley - 3421 N Seminary, now a 12-flat combined with the lot next door - and we joined the crowd back when they had Wood and Mark Pryor (a two-year wonder but still the prettiest motion I've ever seen). I used to catch the EL right beside Wrigley. I know pretty much every brick around Wrigley, and I'm just sitting here crying. I worked with three different guys who were absolutely fanatic Cub fan but unfortunately died. I just keep thinking of them and so many others who have passed away without seeing this. My friend Rosalyn from work is married to a guy who cut Ernie Banks's every couple of weeks. And that just kills me. Ernie Banks's should have lived to see this. Ernie Banks's statue is right to the left of the ticket windows on Wrigley and Clark. It is just so wrong that he can't see this. At least Billy Williams is still alive. I don't care that hat frakkin' fraud Harry Carray missed this. (I hate him because he would blabber on about who he knew in the stands and finding stupid hats, ignoring what was happening on the field. And I hate that he has a statue on the south side of Wrigley.) My friend Tom just retired from where we used together. He was born two years after the Cubs were last in the World Series. He has season tickets right behind home plate. I'm sure Tom was at tonight's game. He would sell a bunch of his tickets each season and I'd buy 7 or 8. Plus I'd end up seeing 4 or 5 extra games. Tom's seat is about eighteen rows straight back, just underneath the upper deck, maybe the [CENSORED] that doesn't get rained on if it starts to rain. The guy right to the left of Tom's two seats is morbidly obese and he can't avoid spilling out over his seat, so I'd end up sitting there and I'd be leaning over at an 80 degree angle.

What I'm trying to say is, the Cubs are a neighborhood team. Yeah, people come in from the suburbs and they no longer sell bleacher tickets on day of game (if I didn't have something to do I would go stand in the line to watch a game and I'd read a book until they started letting people in). I literally have some of Wrigley Field in my copy of Don Delillo's UNDERWORLD. I was walking to EL once October and they were ripping up the field for the annual resodding. I went and tore off a handful of grass and tossed it in my book. I'm going to hold the book as a good luck charm.  But Wrigley is smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood. There are shops and stores and restaurants all up and down Clark and along Belmont. I would go to the Einstein's Bagels at the trisection created by Clark, Sheffield, and Newport crossing one another, and I often would see Yosh Kawano, the longtime Cub Clubhouse manager. I think he was 90 when he retired. But you get behind the shops and bars and there are houses all over the place.

All the things that happened since the Cubs last won a World Series. Millions of Cub fans have lived and died without seeing a World Series come to Chicago (well. the White Sox did, but they don't count - the Cubs are the real Chicago baseball team). Things that happened since the Cubs last WON a World Series:

World War I
World War II
The emergence of Hollywood
The entire political career of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The Cold War
Professional Football

Teddy Roosevelt was president. In other words, the Cubs are due.

But here is the NUMBER ONE THING. The Cubs have never won a world series since they moved to Lakeview. Heck, Lakeview didn't exist when the Cubs last won a World Series. So the neighborhood is due.

As a cubs I appreciate this, though you could have used a few more paragraph splits.

[Dr. Starcs]

Was there a game last night?

[hog.goblin]

A rough one, but at least the red wolves used their three best pitchers and all had 3 had to throw a little more than they would like.  We need to take game two tonight.

[riccoar]

Lester looked nervous to start.  Just like against Kershaw, the bats were slow to attack.  Gotta get on track tonight

[hoglady]

I just called my daughter and she took the EL down to Wrigley to join the crowd. We used to live two blocks south of Wrigley - 3421 N Seminary, now a 12-flat combined with the lot next door - and we joined the crowd back when they had Wood and Mark Pryor (a two-year wonder but still the prettiest motion I've ever seen). I used to catch the EL right beside Wrigley. I know pretty much every brick around Wrigley, and I'm just sitting here crying. I worked with three different guys who were absolutely fanatic Cub fan but unfortunately died. I just keep thinking of them and so many others who have passed away without seeing this. My friend Rosalyn from work is married to a guy who cut Ernie Banks's every couple of weeks. And that just kills me. Ernie Banks's should have lived to see this. Ernie Banks's statue is right to the left of the ticket windows on Wrigley and Clark. It is just so wrong that he can't see this. At least Billy Williams is still alive. I don't care that hat frakkin' fraud Harry Carray missed this. (I hate him because he would blabber on about who he knew in the stands and finding stupid hats, ignoring what was happening on the field. And I hate that he has a statue on the south side of Wrigley.) My friend Tom just retired from where we used together. He was born two years after the Cubs were last in the World Series. He has season tickets right behind home plate. I'm sure Tom was at tonight's game. He would sell a bunch of his tickets each season and I'd buy 7 or 8. Plus I'd end up seeing 4 or 5 extra games. Tom's seat is about eighteen rows straight back, just underneath the upper deck, maybe the [CENSORED] that doesn't get rained on if it starts to rain. The guy right to the left of Tom's two seats is morbidly obese and he can't avoid spilling out over his seat, so I'd end up sitting there and I'd be leaning over at an 80 degree angle.

What I'm trying to say is, the Cubs are a neighborhood team. Yeah, people come in from the suburbs and they no longer sell bleacher tickets on day of game (if I didn't have something to do I would go stand in the line to watch a game and I'd read a book until they started letting people in). I literally have some of Wrigley Field in my copy of Don Delillo's UNDERWORLD. I was walking to EL once October and they were ripping up the field for the annual resodding. I went and tore off a handful of grass and tossed it in my book. I'm going to hold the book as a good luck charm.  But Wrigley is smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood. There are shops and stores and restaurants all up and down Clark and along Belmont. I would go to the Einstein's Bagels at the trisection created by Clark, Sheffield, and Newport crossing one another, and I often would see Yosh Kawano, the longtime Cub Clubhouse manager. I think he was 90 when he retired. But you get behind the shops and bars and there are houses all over the place.

All the things that happened since the Cubs last won a World Series. Millions of Cub fans have lived and died without seeing a World Series come to Chicago (well. the White Sox did, but they don't count - the Cubs are the real Chicago baseball team). Things that happened since the Cubs last WON a World Series:

World War I
World War II
The emergence of Hollywood
The entire political career of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The Cold War
Professional Football

Teddy Roosevelt was president. In other words, the Cubs are due.

But here is the NUMBER ONE THING. The Cubs have never won a world series since they moved to Lakeview. Heck, Lakeview didn't exist when the Cubs last won a World Series. So the neighborhood is due.

I understand perfectly where you are coming from. I Come from a family of Italian immigrants who live and die with the Boston Red Sox. We'd visit my Dad's parent's every summer and make numerous trips to Fenway while there. The 2004 WS win was bittersweet because I couldn't share it with my Dad.
That would have been a glorious conversation.

[hog.goblin]

Lester looked nervous to start.  Just like against Kershaw, the bats were slow to attack.  Gotta get on track tonight

Yes he did, he was also getting squeezed, not that it matters as we didn't score any runs.  Let's hope for the good Big Jake tonight.

[hog.goblin]

Back to Chicago tied at 1.  Will Schwarber play in the OF?

[Dropkick]

Back to Chicago tied at 1.  Will Schwarber play in the OF?

Nope

[hog.goblin]

Nope

But can you put him back on the bench?

[southarkhog06]

But can you put him back on the bench?

yea, you use him as a PH and that's it. No way you risk his knees in the field.

[DiamondHogFan]

yea, you use him as a PH and that's it. No way you risk his knees in the field.

How is playing in the field any worse than at the plate?  Honest question.

I realize he was injured playing in the field. How could he twist and plant on his leg at the plate but not be able to play in the OF.  I think if he his healed for one, he his healed for the other.



BUT, I think you are right in that he is a PH.  We have enough bats to win without him (did it all year), and to have him as a PH is a great option in a close game.

[southarkhog06]

How is playing in the field any worse than at the plate?  Honest question.

I realize he was injured playing in the field. How could he twist and plant on his leg at the plate but not be able to play in the OF.  I think if he his healed for one, he his healed for the other.



BUT, I think you are right in that he is a PH.  We have enough bats to win without him (did it all year), and to have him as a PH is a great option in a close game.

I don't know specifically, but I do know that every buddy I have ever seen shred his knee playing baseball was in the field, and the doctor always clears them to hit and run at least a couple weeks before they clear them to play the field.

[Dr. Starcs]

Did anybody ever score last night?

[hog.goblin]

The offense needs to show up early tonight.  Hoping the Indians sending out all their guys on short rest backfires.

[Dr. Starcs]

The offense needs to show up period.

[Dropkick]

whatever happens tonight, this Cub team is capable of winning 3 in a row anywhere, anytime, against anyone.

[hog.goblin]

Yes, very capable, need to do it and close this out in 6.  I'm not sure I can survive a game 7.

[pigture perfect]

The biggest puzzle about this team is, How can this offense be so potent up and down the line-up and just stink some games like the do? On paper this ought to be the final game tonight. I honestly thought the Chicago Police cars would be in hiding somewhere by now. You know some of them will burn if the Cubs win the series.

[Dr. Starcs]

Burning cars would be the least of the problems in that city.

[GolfNut57]

If Cleveland wins tonight's game, and it certainly looks like they will with the 7-1 lead in the 7th.........the Cubbies are DONE!! No way they come back and win 3 in a row, especially with the last two in Cleveland.

[hog.goblin]

Win tomorrow.  One game at a time.

[McKdaddy]

5 times a team has come back from 3-1, the last being the Royals in '85....the WS that continues to taunt.

[clutch]

How is playing in the field any worse than at the plate?  Honest question.

I realize he was injured playing in the field. How could he twist and plant on his leg at the plate but not be able to play in the OF.  I think if he his healed for one, he his healed for the other.



BUT, I think you are right in that he is a PH.  We have enough bats to win without him (did it all year), and to have him as a PH is a great option in a close game.

Playing in the field there is a lot more opportunities for a player to be running and cutting in multiple different angles and odd directions. Hitting and running bases is more straight ahead. Sure, there are slight cuts while running bases, but it is more of a rounding motion instead of a cut and is somewhat controlled since the player has already established maximum effort in straight line running.

[hog.goblin]

Man, this is killing me to watch.  I am/was not comfortable seeing Edwards coming in for Lester.  Let's hope Chapman can fix that mistake.

[hog.goblin]

Man, this is killing me to watch.  I am/was not comfortable seeing Edwards coming in for Lester.  Let's hope Chapman can fix that mistake.

Got thru that, somehow have to get 6 more outs

[Dr. Starcs]

Was that pitch to Lindor in the strike zone?

[hog.goblin]

Was that pitch to Lindor in the strike zone?

Depends which strike zone they are calling tonight.

[hog.goblin]

Back to Cleveland

Big Jake
Schwarber

One game at a time

[clutch]

Last nights game was fun to watch if you are a baseball fan. My favorite thing about postseason baseball is that it really allows the managers to throw everything they've got at the other team. In a 1 run game, it usually comes down to managing. Both of these guys are excellent in game managers. It's fun watching their moves. I have to admit, I was questioning Maddon when he pulled Lester in the 7th. Then I realized I was questioning probably the best manager in baseball and just sat back and watched it play out.

[McKdaddy]

No doubt. Playoff baseball is memorizing.

[hog.goblin]

I have to admit, I was questioning Maddon when he pulled Lester in the 7th. Then I realized I was questioning probably the best manager in baseball and just sat back and watched it play out.

Heck, I'm still questioning it.  But it turns out it was a great move.  I think they are two of the best managers in the game, along with Bruce Bochy (and an underrated Ned Yost).

[riccoar]

Tonight is now or never.  Gotta be aggressive or this one will be over before the 5th inning.  Cubs getting the DH slot back should be good.

[hog.goblin]

The DH working in favor of the NL team.  That's rare.

If it's the good Jake I like our chances, but need to get to Tomlin early.

Not sure if Chapman is ready to pitch more than an out or two. 

Baez needs to take the first, I don't know, 15 pitches he sees tonight.

[Dr. Starcs]

Ironic that the cavs come back from 1-3 down to now Indians in the process of blowing 3-1 lead.

Ah, Cleveland.

[whosiskid]

Addison Russell. Wow. Just wow.

I refuse to get my hopes up until we hit the 9th inning with  this kind of lead.

But lord, we just might send this to Game 7.

[whosiskid]

Ironic that the cavs come back from 1-3 down to now Indians in the process of blowing 3-1 lead.

Ah, Cleveland.

I was really afraid -  and still am - that Cleveland might have two championships. But I think Cleveland should share the championships. They shouldn't be greedy.

[hog.goblin]

I don't understand this move at all.  Hopefully they'll reverse this bad call and end the inning.

[hog.goblin]

Good, now bring in Grimm to finish the game with Rondon as the backup.

[whosiskid]

OK, I'm feeling OK now. We really did end up with a 7 run lead going into the 9th.

[DeltaBoy]

Game 7 coming up GO CUBS!!!!!