The Cubs and Houston Astros clashed at Wrigley Field allowing us to finally get an answer to the age-old question: Who sucks more? (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) At least until tomorrow. Go Cubs go.
Series Preview: Houston Astros (33-65) at 2012 NL Central Champion Chicago Cubs (39-60)
One of the chief objections to Interleague play, especially the notion of two 15-team leagues and a year-round interleague schedule, is the onset of less than compelling matchups. Who wants to see the Twins and Padres? Is a Red Sox vs. Reds series really enough of a novelty to warrant any extra attention from either fan base? Who in America …
2012 NL Central Champion Cubs, part 1
As much as I’ve written about the need to rebuild, it’s not going ot happen. The Cubs have some decent players on their roster and some you’d really like to get rid of. Since they’re planning on contending, we have to first figure out which of the current players on the roster are worth keeping around. To do that, we …
Anatomy of a Rebound – 2006-2007 vs 2011
One thing that hasn’t been discussed much is how the Cubs went from a similarly unwatchable team in 2006 to the playoffs in 2007. Just like the 2011 Cubs, the 2006 Cubs had some major black holes on their roster, trotted out numerous awful pitchers in the 5th starter spot, and were completely unwatchable and awful. Somehow they managed to …
Mike Quade Has Lots of Excuses
Yesterday we learned from Mike Quade that the Cubs lost a game 9-1 because Starlin Castro wasn’t focused on a pop fly which set a bad tone for the entire rest of the game. Not too long ago, he went off on the umpires for being horrible. Before that, he was on board with Tom Ricketts’ assessments that the team …
OV Pic of the Day: Dempster Doesn’t Have a Good Poker Face
So, I’ve been at work and wasn’t able to pay much attention to the rubber game against the Phillies today. With Ryan Dempster going up against rookie starter, Vance Worley, you had to figure the Cubs had as good a shot as they could expect to take the series from the best team in the National League. How’d it go, …
OV Pic of the Day: Are We Having Fun Yet?
The Cubs lost to the Phillies 4-2 after blowing a 2-0 lead and another outstanding pitching performance by Matt Garza. After the game, Garza said he is still having fun: “It’s baseball,” Garza said. “If it was a given, it wouldn’t be that fun, would it?” (Chris Sweda, Chicago Tribune / July 19, 2011) It certainly looks like you’re having …
African-Americans in baseball
This Texas newspaper story has been circulating around the blogosphere for a while so I thought it deserved a bit of attention. I think most everyone is aware that the number of star-quality or even major league-caliber African-American players in MLB has dwindled in recent years. The article does mention how the population of African-Americans in basketball and American …
Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood working on stuff
I’m not sure why it made me laugh, but I saw on cubs.com today that Kerry Wood was working on stuff to regain his form. CHICAGO — Kerry Wood has been a little inconsistent, but Cubs manager Mike Quade said the right-hander is healthy and just needs time. “He’s obviously capable of dominating and pitching a lot more efficiently than …
OV Pic of the Day: Halladay Beat by Cubs (or Heat?)
As far as I can tell, the heat opened up a parallel universe where Roy Halladay is mediocre and Rodrigo Lopez is awesome. Or something. The heat definitely played a role as Halladay was forced from the game in the 5th inning after already allowing three runs on seven hits… or so the Phillies would have us believe. (AP Photo/Charles …