Len & Bob's baseball blog

Check that replay of the play at the plate to end the 5th. The Padres catcher never tagged Theriot, he hit him with his upper arm to knock him off his slide. When he swung around to show the umpire the ball he shifted it to his bare hand from the glove hand. I never saw the glove touch Theriot. Last time I checked, the glove with the ball in it or the hand with the ball in it had to touch the runner for an out.

yesterday might have been eventful but today's game has been even more so. What was with Zambrano whipping his belt off?

Some really bad umpiring today against the Padres. First off, if the home plate umpire isn't going to escort the batter the first, then the first base ump out to. I thought the strike zone was rather inconsistent also, and Z wasn't getting some calls that the Padres' pitchers were. Finally, check out the tape on Bowen's tag on Theriot at home. It looks like Bowen throws an elbow/forearm and never bothers to pull the ball or glove on Theriot. Was anybody else watching that? Where was the third base coach to argue that play?

Hey, when are Len and Bob going to announce from the bleachers? It's warm enough already!!! Sucks to be Zambrano today.....wow. Lost 1-0. That's rough with an almost no-no.

Len and Bob,

I am a lifelong Cubs fan from Memphis who was watching the game live today on WGN. I also have MLB Extra Innings package with Comcast specifically to watch my Cubs. Here is what was said to Derrek Lee by Padres Pitcher Chris Young. (I could see it as I read the lips of Chris Young.) D-Lee basically said something to the effect of "Did you know you just threw at my head?". All viewers (thanks to your repleay crew) could see Chirs Young appear to mouth "Yeah and Ill throw it again". Derrek Lee then gave a puzzled look and said "What" and then threw a punch at Chris Young. The benches cleared and Jake Peavy was seen in a closeup on top of D.Lee sucker punching him while he was on the bottom of the pile. Lou Pinella tripped over that very pile and Gerald Perry was merely trying to get Jake peavy off of him. This is the view that I saw. D Lee clearly threw the first punch but it appeared as though D. Lee was removing his batting gloves and headed to base when he was provoked by Chris Young. I blame the umpires for this one guys as usually when a pitcher appears to have gone "head-hunting", the umps will escort the batter to 1st base. Nevertheless, his attention was purposely diverted by the catcher who was arguing with the Home pleate ump. However, even if the catcher did this, the 1st Base umpire should have done the honors. I think the negligence of the umpires should also be reviewed by the league/Bob Watson.

I hear you guys on the home plate call. After seeing it a few times, I began to wonder if Theriot even got tagged by the catchers glove. What a lame game today. Padres should be thankful of the little breeze that blew Branyans home-run out. That, or Branyan is one tough guy, muscling a low and outside pitch out into the stands.

Chris young must have said something really really offensive to dlee because derrek is the last guy i'd think of to throw a punch

why exactly did gerald perry do to get ejected

Len and Bob, I am a die hard cub fan. I was born in Chicago and moved to Wyoming when I was 11. talk abou tculture shock. talk about the "johnny come lately's" to fights. Please look at the replay of the fight. Who was the gutless, spineless, cheatshot artist who pushed Lou from behond and over the pile? The person needs to be called out. How dare he do that to another person let alone a Manager. You are great broadcasters. Living in the Mt. Time Zone, I need to take early and extended lunch breaks to watch the day games. Keep up the great work. Jim Lyon, Jr. Sheridan, Wyoming

After the D.Lee incident...one would think the players would back him up with an offensive barage....this team has no heart and NO balls!!!!!!!!!

man what a last couple of weeks we have had,i dont even know where to start.for years now sluggers have been admiring thier blasts what is the big deal,nothing!and for peavy to sound off like he did saying if someone shows me up like that hes gonna take one in the stinking ribs,and out of all guys it had to be d.lee the most quiet level headed guy in the game a great ambassador to mlb,i dont know whatwas said but it must have been pretty bad to set lee off like that.sluggers have been admiring thier shots for years its part of the game,DEAL WITH IT,LEE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.and its a shame we might be without a-ram and lee at the same time.i dont care what most people are saying,the umps seem to be out to get us,we got the shaft in atlanta,and today there were some bad calls big z mighjta had a no non if it wasnt for those calls all cause lou kicked dirt on mark wegner,its done its over with move onand quit being bias towards the cubs,when a pitcher strikes out a batter with two outs and the bases loaded he gets pumped and fires his fist and jumps up and down or whatever,do they fight about that no,same as in the nfl when a guy makes a great play and scores a touchdown and does a dance do they fight....no.ive been on espn all day now posting comments defending my cubs,we are showing a lot of life and i really think we can take this division,but this fighting stuff has to stop.AND PEAVY WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM HE IS THE ONE TO BLAME FOR HIS IGNORANT COMMENTS THE DAY BEFORE!!!!CALLING SORIANO A CIRCUS ACT,well thius circus act makes way more money then you pal.and it seems to me the umps have been out to get us ever since lou kicked dirt all over mark wegner shoes,you know its done and over with move on ALREADY!!!big z might have had that no-no if it wasnt for a few bad calls,there is justn so much i wanna say and im sure you guys all think like i do but ive been typing all day and night,one last thing though it seems we have are nicknam "the bruise brothers"i would to hear in october "pinella leads his pack of bruise brothers to win the world series"just like he did with "the nasty boys" in cicni,no worrys cub fans we are gonna be just fine.only thing that bothers me is maddux is on the hill tommorrow and he is one of the most ex-beloved cubs around and i hope to god he dont get in the middle of it.

espn report said big z was in the clubhouse changing his shirt when all this started so he ran out and did not have time to tuck in his shirt or put his belt back on.

Sorry, Bob, have to disagree with you on this one. Just because "everyone" is doing it doesn't make it right. When you reach for a ball from the booth it's clearly way out of the field of play. When a fan reaches over into the playing field he or she is interfering with the game, perhaps causing his or her own team to lose the game and is way out of line. It's not instinct but an "all about me" mentality that makes someone think that it's ok. It's simply NOT ok to interfer with a ball that's still in play. Nor is it ok to throw things on the field when you don't like what's happening. What's wrong with the Cubs fans? There used to be more class in the bleachers. A sorry state of affairs indeed.

I agree with Bonnie. If you're in the front row, you HAVE to know that anything in front of you could be playable if the wall is low enough.

That's bad enough, but to CLIMB over the gap between the wall and the basket is most definitely an egocentric attitude.

Is it too much to ask of a fan to know when his team is at bat and what the game situation is? What kind of a fan can't tell a fair ball that is in play from a foul ball? Bartman at least was going after a foul ball.

I can understand a fan's desire for a souvenir, but is it more important than a win? I have been a Cub fan for 57 years, and I don't have a souvenir ball to show for it, but I have rooted the Cubs to victory hundreds of times. I'll take the wins.