Making the effort to have regular one-on-one time with my daughter was one of my better decisions in my life.

0 Jon, you capture the sentiment perfectly.

--

Al on BleedCubbieBlue makes a good point about Pinella leaving Dempster in too long, with Ethier and Loney coming up he should've pulled him for the lefty there. Couldn't have fared any worse at least. I expect the atmosphere to be more raucous at Wrigley tonight, partially because everyone's -- from TBS to ESPN to the Cubs blogs -- talking about how quiet it got there last night. Cub fan pride will respond and it will be loud. It's up to Chad and the Thin Boys to make them go all quiet again.

The Dodgers are 5-2 in Games Two after winning Game One, but went on to win only 3 of the 7 series (including two with 2-0 leads).

Hopefully the Dodgers can stick together through thick and thin.

I resolved my personal dilemna by rooting wholeheartedly for the Dodgers last night. Once I tuned in, I could not do otherwise. That doesn't mean I won't feel about if the Cubs lose.

Compare Zambrano's stats to 2004 Jeff Weaver. Would you be scared about facing Jeff Weaver up 1-0?

Yeesh.

I was there.

And somebody spilled a beer on me before the game started.

And then the guy across from me laughed at me the whole game.

I hate that guy (the laughing guy, not Ray Burris). I hope he ended up unemployed, broke, homeless, and friendless.

anybody else crack into a big, cheesy smile when they read this? makes you appreciate DT (as if we needed another reason to).

Keep on batting him 2nd, Lou. You just keep on doing that.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-02-nlds-cubs-bits-chicagooct02,0,3351866.story

2008-10-02 08:57:33
292. bhsportsguy
And just one thing.

Memo to National Media (and certain writers in a Northeasterly part of the country).

I truly get what you are saying about how unprofessional it was (in your opinion) how Manny Ramirez conducted himself in the last month or so with the Red Sox.

I wasn't there and from what I gather, this wasn't really a lot different than what he had done for the last several years except for the fact that Boston faced a situation of either picking up his option or letting him go as a free agent and getting 2 draft picks.

So they traded him and got Jason Bay for two more players and a lot of cash.

And that left a sour taste in some mouths.

But I didn't hold a gun to Theo's head and say send him to the Dodgers, why should I and the rest of all Dodger fans have to deal with all this whining.

Last time I looked, no one cares about excuses at the end of the day. Its all scoreboard.

So again, please feel free to keep telling us how happy you are with Manny in Hollywood.

I'll take his 3-iron shots to left center everyday until the end of October in exchange.

Signed.
A Dodger fan.

I turned on the Angel game in the 3rd inning and all I could think to myslef was, Gary Mathews JR is starting game 1 for a 100 win team??????

Where do we go to talk about that one?

I don't know why this surprised me, but Martin/Ethier/Kemp/Loney vs. Big Z are hitting a combined .463 (granted in only 50 PA)..I think tonight will continue to be a coming out party for the kiddies.

You're welcome.

Jason Hammel, who had one of the biggest saves of the year for the Rays, isn't on the roster either.

--

As oppossed to what I am feeling now. Great. Lol

Keith Law: (1:21 PM ET ) Only if you get the win. If you get the loss, we'll hear about your youth/inexperience. If you don't get a decision, it will be like you never pitched.

Then he could go tackle a Cub during the pre-game introducitons.

Even though you shouldn't have been old enough to buy beer at the time if my math is right.

It wasn't pleasant.

And I was screaming so loud I gave myself a brief bout of tinnitus, not to mention scaring the hell out of Seamus the Wonder Parrot.

And If they had trouble scoring against Lowe's minimalist offerings, good luck against Bills' arsenal.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=manny

60 Zambrano hasn't exaclty been lights out in his three post-season starts. Last year he pitched pretty well against Arizona but lost. His post season ERA is 4.73.

So true. Well put.

Also, Stiener's call on the grand slam, made it seem like the ball hung in the air for about two minutes.

High Leverage = .728
Medium Leverage = .646
Low Leverage = .677

High Leverage = .619
Medium Leverage = .735
Low Leverage = .721

If the boys turned into men last night then there's one boy on the outside looking in and that is Chad Billingsey who becomes a man tonight.

Yesterday: 28%/ 14%/ 5%

Today:      62%/ 33%/ 14%

ChC -151
LAD +141

And they tied another back in 1885.

"After last night I've decided rather to think that we've got a pitcher who can be absolutely brilliant going against a guy who can't be as dominant as Lowe was over the past month."

Cubs fans. Bills. Bills. Cub Fans.

Bill Simmons practically writes a thesis on Manny and the Red Sox.

>>You can't define "RESPECTS THE GAME!" in this day and age. You really can't. Manny played 135-145 games every season, remained exceedingly durable into his mid-30s and didn't cheat like numerous other sluggers did.9 In his prime, you could bank on an on-base percentage between .405 and .440, as well as 35-45 homers, 105-140 RBIs and countless clutch hits. In his current condition (post-prime, still effective), you can count on a .400-plus OBP, 25-30 homers, 90-100 RBIs and at least two torrid streaks when he carries your offense for two solid weeks ... and that is your worst-case scenario. For someone who didn't respect The Game, he sure was one of the most dependable hitters in The Game.10 Even his funks were reliable. They always happened during the dog days of July and August, when the oppressive New England heat suddenly turned him into a dreadlocked Corey Haim.<<

He covered the Yankees a lot, so he probably think he has Joe down pact. He says he used to be a Dodger fan, but he seems to know so little about our team. And he says a lot of dumb things.

A group of kids from my alma mater were taken to last week's D'backs/Cards game (the one that clinched the title for the Dodgers). A good friend of mine is a principal there and went along as a chaperone.

In one of the Busch Stadium concourses, a young guy struck up a conversation with my buddy: "You guys with that bunch of kids?" When my friend explained the situation -- that these kids were being rewarded with a baseball game and that he (my buddy) was the bus driver (facing 9 hours of drive time) -- the young guy said, "Sounds like you could us a break from them."

So my friend sat with his new friend in box seats right behind the D'backs' dugout. Turns out Josh Byrnes is a pretty nice guy.

It's named after famed DT attorney LAT, for his amazing frequency at such comments.

You didn't really ask me, but I'd like to interject my opinion on that trade.

I wouldn't trade Gore for Marshall, in a vacumn anyway. It depends on how many other stud backs you have, but Gore is going to be a monster this year. Especially if you are in a PPR league. You'd think a WR would be more valuable in a PPR, and this is often the case, but in Mike Martz's offense Gore could catch 60 passes.
Don't do it unless you have at least three more top 30 rb's to get you thru all the byes coming up.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-080418cubsphotos-miller,0,4776454.photo

Nicely said.

Now, I got to go back and try to catch up on two threads of the usual cool. It's got so I'm not doing enough to satisfy the legacy of my father (and men and women and the dead generations) if all I do is watch and live and breathe the game itself. Got to do more.

Ain't life tough?

FYI - He did not show this potential in high school. Kid is AMAZING.

1) Use MLB.com's Gameday Audio to listen to Vin (or your choice of radio feed).

2) Sync the TBS feed on your television to the Gameday Audio.

3) Click on TBS Hot Corner on MLB.com, click on the pitchtrax (Pitcher), sync that to your Gameday Audio and turn down Hot Corner's volume.

In the end you'll have your radio play by play and a pitch tracker so you'll really know if the pitch was a ball or strike.

You'll be about a minute behind but it's worth it.

1) You got the sense that Ryan Dempster's control problems meant implosion was not a matter of "if" but "when," like global warming. But how many times in the past have we stranded 55 runners in a game we should have won? When Loney broke the seal, I knew it was our night.

2) Any time the Cubs blow a lead the choke collar gets tighter. The Dodgers have a much greater chance of coming from behind because, as the underdogs, they really have nothing to lose. The Cubs, on the other hand, have everything to lose.

3) I have utmost confidence in our BP's ability to lock it down, and I had a feeling if we got Lowe three runs we would win.

After that ball went out, I was fully aware that I'd just witnessed the greatest Dodger post-season moment in the last 20 years, which was both flipping amazing and slightly pathetic.

Kinda suprising that they didn't send Troncoso, or Young to the AFL.

http://www.beloblog.com/Pe_Blogs/prosports/mlb/dodgers/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dhhEqM-m2M&feature=related

--

Btw, I don't mind Stockton-Darling-Gwynn as much as some, although each has one aspect that annoys me. Stockton has gotten senile and doesn't call the game very consistently, Gwynn's high nasal voice annoys me and Darling's voice is also irritating but I otherwise like him. But I'd still rather hear them than Miller-Sutcliffe. I may do the Vin Scully online-mute TV-delay Tivo thing that worked for a bit last night.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260623/

But then Don Adams' Screen Test would make everything okay.

After a few years, they were really reaching. The "In Search Of" about the Rockefeller heir who died in New Guinea had a lot of filler.

"In Search Of" Don Juan had almost, but not quite, no factual basis to it.

132 - That's true, he was kinda mistake prone even then, but not quite this bad. I think basketball has been his forte more than baseball, for what that's worth.

129 Weird. I can't even tell from that who the narrator was, except that he/she's no Leonard Nimoy!

--

Evan Longoria = Good at baseball.

The Griddle is hosting the Rays-White Sox game.

Bad Altitude will handle the Phillies-Brewers game.

You can figure out the rest of the day.

I tried to get home for lunch to watch the Outside the Lines piece on Manny but didn't make it; I'll have to catch that later.

Aren't you our anti-Coen brothers correspondent?

143 Unfortunately, yes,

I keep holding out on buying an iPhone, especially since I've got the touch which has everything but AT&T's phone service.

Girlfriend still in love with her touch and all the Apps it has though. 2Across (Awesome crossword app) is a lifesaver for the both of us.

The Invaders
The Outer Limits

This does not really make me that old, because I was only 4-5 years old when those were out (what exactly were my parents and siblings thinking letting me watch?). The aliens creeped me out in The Invaders, and it was always a challenge for me getting past the sinister oscilloscope "There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission." intro...

BTW--I got to meet Nimoy when I was about eight. He was signing autographs at a department store, and my mother and I waited on this long line to meet him. Instead of sitting at a table, he actually walked along the line, talking to people. When it came to my turn, I pointed to the Star Trek sweatshirt I was wearing and cleverly said, "I am wearing a Star Trek shirt." He smiled and said, "I see."

I was eight, what do you expect?

If the Boys can get out to a quick lead tonight, the noose around the Cubs will get even tighter as the game unfolds. I think in this game, whoever draws first blood will have an advantage, if the Cubs score first tonight, they might relax, get re-energized, play their game and be very tough to beat. Dodgers score first and I can see Zambrano getting frustrated and rattled, the hitters pressing and getting tighter and chasing more bad pitches and a long night on the North Side. Psychologically, I think scoring first will be huge tonight!

Speaking of scary things as a kid--did anyone ever see the film The Changeling starring George C. Scott. Scariest ghost movie ever! I saw it again about ten years ago, and it still gave me the chills.

166 Not to be confused with the Eastwood movie coming out called The Changeling, which sounds less scary and more lame.

The best In Search Of has to be the one when they look for Big Foot. I really miss Big Foot these days. He was really out and about in the 1970s, but has really slipped under the radar the past few decades.

I hope you're right though.

http://www.insanitylab.com/games/namemovie.htm

A great time killer until 6:37pm (though I spent a few days trying to finally beat it)...

They show a screenshot of a movie with the person photoshopped out. Some are pretty difficult.

Safe for work... unless you actually have to get work done... ;D

Fantasy did not scare me (too much). Okay, it did a lot, but I got over it. "Real life" scared me. It still does.

I should watch that again now.

Still a scary sound, though.

The only way I could get Freddy out of my mind at night was to play a baseball game in my head.

I can now thank my parents for being desensitized to violence and gore in movies today.

A couple of years ago, my mom told me that she and my Dad used to go for walks, out for ice cream, etc. while my siblings and I were asleep at night (awesome early 70's parenting!).

I think those things may be related... :)

(Trivia: he's played by one of the acting Murray brothers, headlined by Bill.)

We went and saw Burn After Reading this weekend. I have to say I went in with solid expectations and came out pissed off that I wasted my time. The acting was good the script was crap. The only good thing to come out was that it was my wife's choice and she hated it so much that I get to choose the next two movies.

Choose wisely...

Was not a fan of Outer Limits nor Night Gallery.

Get ready for some type of Desparate Housewives type headline re the Rays/White Sox series.

Probably over 200,000 people will be at the Coliseum, Dodger Stadium and the Rose Bowl.

Fortunately, the bulk of the attendees for USC game will already be there before most people head out to the other two games.

Rain would make this a very unpleasant experience.

I was texting some friends last night....obviously way ahead of myself...but imagine a Dodger/Boston World Series...dang would Bristol be ALL OVER that.

Hasn't helped Andrew though.

They have not announced it yet, I do know that Lowe likes to get into a routine so they will probably say something after tonite's game.

According to ITD, same batting order. Different pitcher, though.

Soriano, LF
Theriot, SS
Lee, 1B
Ramirez, 3B
DeRosa, 2B
Edmonds, CF
Soto, C
Fukudome, RF
Zambrano, RHP

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3621698

That game is awesome, but I wish they would tell you the answer to the ones you miss

My guess is Game 3 of the NLCS against the Dodgers, Sunday October 12, at Miller Park.

How can you sync them? The radio is ahead of the T.V.

And for what it's worth, Phillies' fans are about one percent as scary as Eagles' fans.

DVR can do alot of things, but last time I checked it couldn't outrun the future.

Like I said, the radio is ahead of the tv. I fail to see how Tivo/DVR could catch up.

Thank you Lou for not having DeRosa play RF and have Fontenot and Theriot up the middle.

X > 300

But that's not the question. The question -- as you hint by saying 7-year deals to pitchers scare you -- is, how does the idea of CC in Dodger Blue in '13, '14, '15, and '16 grab you?

--

250 Molly, that article flashed me back to the Niners-Lions game in SF I went to a couple of weeks ago. I wore my Broncos hat to that game because I figured I'd get less grief there than if I wore my Dodgers hat. I was right, until later in the game when these young drunken jerky guys sitting behind me starting yelling at me for some reason, and most of their comments were of the homophobic variety. It's like that's the fallback insult for people too drunk, dumb and lazy to come up with anything better. And we're in San Francisco! Of course as my friend commented to me, those guys seemed more like they were from the rural burbs. But his comments about Denver fans being (insert homophobic comments here) were bizarro. Then the ringleader starting mocking me for being "at the wrong game" since Denver wasn't playing. I thanked him for the news bulletin, said it was the wrong game indeed, and then as they left (and to my friend's nervousness), said "It's great they let you guys out for the day."

The idea scares me just as much as anybody.

And CC may be on the market sooner than he'd like: grand slam to Shane Victorino, 5-1 Phils.

My friend's brother and his friend got jumped during a game for wearing Raiders gear. Good thing both of them are ridiculously strong and can fight and beat the crap out of the guys.

Jon has a NPUT BTW.

And it always came from men. Women would yell things like "Brewers suck" or "Go home" but not one woman speculated loudly about Neil's sexuality.

That makes me sad