Len & Bob's baseball blog

This is a BIG series for the CUBBIES. To lose 2 of 3 to the CREW was lousy and we need to concentrate on winning series. The CARDS are better than early season predictions indicate and we'll have our hands full. But we've played well in ST LOU the past few years. Let's hope our LEFT-HANDED pitching picks up the pace a bit and our offense gets back to scoring 7 a game!!

I am quite concerned about our ace Pitcher Carlos Zambrano. For instance he sometimes bats left handed which opens his right side to a possible hit by the ball pitch. What are your opinions of this. Secondly I have witnessed him break his bat over his knee when he struck out. Again he may injure himself. What's your take on this?

Bob needs to lay off ripping Pie for little to no reason. The last thing we need is for you to turn the fans at Wrigley, who many already call him the next Patterson, against him and for the fans to start booing him every play he makes. Im sure Lou does a good enough job of ripping him when he gets into the dugout if he makes a bad play. Pie has a ton of talent and all we need him to do this season is to play D and come along as a hitter

when was the last save by kerry wood?

Hey guys, your e-mail inbox is full apparently so I thought I would try this. Lance Berkman is a lefty switch hitter. Kind of surprised you guys didn't get that. Go Cubs.

Use up the bullpen Len ? Let them earn there pay.

lance berkman

I can't believe that Johnson isn't the lead off man after as well as he had played in the field and he's 200 points higher than Soriano in onbase %age. I don't care if Soriano is getting the big money, he should have had two errors tonight and he's way too aggressive at the plate! Get him out of the lead off spot and get Johnson back in there before we dig ourselves a hole.

Someone get Soriano some contacts! He keeps squinting!

I know you cant come down very hard about Sorianos play because you might hurt someones feelings in the dugout...but...saying that he has been out of the line-up and he isnt use to playing under the lights is a reason for poor play...WAIT... he is being paid millions of dollars a year ...and he cant catch a fly ball... I think I learned that when I was 6...oh maybe 8...come on thats NO excuse..and yes he should have gone to the minors for a few starts...if Rodger Clemens can do it for the Yankees...Alfonso should be able to do the same. He looks like a deer in headlights out there.

It seems that Alflubbo Sorry-clowno's bad habits have already rubbed off on this overrated ball club. We are 0-2 since his return. And Bob, I'm guessing that one reason why he wasn't sent down to the minors for rehab is that he'd be a bad influence on our young prospects. He's a poor excuse for a ball player.

But at least Alflubbo's spared my Bonehead Award tonight. He seemed destined to win it again hands down except for a game-tying HR late. Still, it didnt make up for his misplays in the OF, something I guess we're expected to put up with as good ole rah-rah Cub fans.

Then there's Rile-able Rich Hill, our pillar of strength out on the mound. The lobbing lefty walked 4 in a row before even Mgr Loser Lou Pinata had seen enough. At least the bullpen saved us...for awhile anyways. Cudos to Lieber and Marshall, who looked pretty decent tonight. Even Horrible Howry and Worst Wuertz chipped in with fair performances, not to mention calamity Kerry Wild Wood, who didnt blow it for a change. Will miracles never cease with this ball club?

But tonight's runaway Bonehead Award goes to Cubs' (mis)management. Its plain that our laughable GM and our ill-tempered Mgr have no clue about pitching acquisitions. First of all, they acquire a way-past-it journeyman RHP to go with the clowns we already have. At least Hart has pitched in MLB recently. The idea that they'd send Hart to AAA and activiate Fox, only to throw him into an extra-inning game, is insanity.

As for our fearless mgr's tirade yesterday? No, Lou we dont think you're stupid. But let's be honest: compared to some of us, you're not the sharpest tack, are you? And if you wanted to be perceived as an intelligent person why didnt you become a heart surgeon, rocket scientist or a linguist? Instead you accept a job as Cubs' mgr, and follow in the footsteps of those other managerial mental giants: Leo D, Lockman and Marshall. (And, oh yeah, I forgot about the brillant Lee Elia.) Great company indeed. Or did you do it for the money? Hmm...

But dont blame us for not thinking much of your intellect. You're the one who saved our best pitcher, Carlos Z, last season for a game that didnt exist. You're the one who sticks with Sorry-clowno in LF and bats him lead-off. You're the one who removed Marmol after a stellar couple innings and put Calamity Kerry in there...who predictably blew it yesterday. So please dont blame us if we dont think much of your intellect.

For as Yogi Berra once said, "You observe a lot just by watching." And we've been watching, which is we often regret.

Then again, there's always tomorrow. Oh great, we get Terrible Ted Lilly, our other lobbing lefty. Why dont you hire him as a batting practice pitcher? I heard they're hard to find.

Truth be told, I can hardly wait for the remainder of the season, when we can stay tuned for more brilliant moves from our savvy Mgr. Yeah right. Cubs Forever...LOUSY!!!

Here we go again? I hope not, but it sure looks like it. I'm 100% behind Lou. I like his fire. I'd much rather see my manager knocking over water coolers and sniping at dumb media questions then propping his kid on his lap like Dusty used to do.
Whats Lou to do though? He has to play the players Jim Hendry has given him. Giving Soriano a monster contract is looking like a huge mistake. Lilly appears to be on the downside of his career, and Rich Hill might never come around. Marquis, based on past seasons, cant be counted on past Aug 1st. There appears to be no pitching prospects in the minors, which puts pressure on Jim Hendry to make a move for a BIG TIME starting pitcher, not the Steve Trachsel disaster from last year.

My idea........

Go get Barry Zito. SF doesn't want him anymore, and maybe a change of scenery would turn him around. The other good thing is SF would move him for a bag of balls if they didnt have to pay his contract anymore.

Why do other GM's who have far less money to spend, seem to put together better ball clubs. Mil, Ariz, even STL. Hendry's job is safe until the club is sold, but outside of a World Series appearance, I think he should be shown the door.

Wow! Everybody's a critic! Good thing y'all aren't running the show....

Go Cubs Go!

I have often heard Len and Bob complain about large September rosters.
I would like to make a few points to the contrary:
1. If your team is out of contention it is something to look forward to.
2. A minor league callup is not an interchangeable part. There is definitely risk and reward to using them.
3. It may cause an occasional change in strategy, but change is often a good thing.
4. In a 162 game season, why play injured in a meaningless game.
5. It adds interest to the hot stove season.
6. With 12 man pitching staffs becoming a norm, the roster should be at least 26 or 27 any way. They could do like the NBA, enlarge the roster but do away with the DL.

Soriano team player??????

When this team can't beat Wellenmeyer and a crappy azz scumbag team like the Cardinals or Brewers....you SUCK!!!! 3-6 against teams with crap pitching. This team needs at least 2 starters, 2 relievers , a lead off hitter and another bat. They'll be lucky to win 75 games.Inconsistant offense...what else is new..

Can someone please tell me the Cubs record when Soriano is in the lineup vs. when he isn't? I have a feeling the winning % is much higher when he's hurt.

After watching another dehabilitating loss to the cardinals, I decided to look over some stats since I have been very frustrated at the whole Soriano at leadoff controversy. Here are some stats that I came up with..
Cubs WITH Soriano 8-8, WITHOUT 10-5 (could be merely coincidence)
Here are some stats from our leadoff hitters this year.
SORIANO- 13/77 .173BA, 16 strikeouts, 5 walks.

JOHNSON- 9/41 .220BA, 6 strikouts, 4 walks

FONTENOT- 3/19 .158BA 5 strikeouts, 0 walks.

PATTERSON 0/4 .000BA, 2 strikeouts, 0 walks.

Nobody's stat really sticks out as anything great but I have played baseball for many years and followed it for even more and I KNOW for a fact that Soriano isn't a leadoff hitter. I don't care what he's used to or blah blah blah. He's Sammy Sosa with more speed. He's a POWER hitter. He doesn't walk often, strikes out quite often and can hit the long ball. Reed has done o.k. filling in at leadoff but he doesn't have the speed to be considered a prototypical leadoff hitter. I'd personally like to see (and I can't believe I'm typing these words) Ronny Cedeno given a shot in the leadoff position for a series or two. At this point, what could it hurt? He's got decent speed and is swinging a hot bat lately (.391 coming into tonight's game). Ronny of 2008 so far doesn't resemble the Ronny of past years and I hope for his sake this continues. I am still holding out hope that the cubs can get B. Roberts away from the orioles but until they fall into a 10 game losing streak, I don't see that happening. Roberts stats by the way. .266 BA, 20 strikeouts, 17 walks. That is exactly what a leadoff hitter needs to be able to do, TAKE WALKS. Soriano swung at everything tonight, good or bad and also came up with 2 more strikeouts. If the Cubs are going to be able to pull away to another central division title, they need to correct their lineup starting with the leadoff position. I know it's early and I don't think anyone is panicking yet but something needs to change because as long as they have a low and inconsistent on-base percentage leadoff hitter, their offense will be just that, inconsistent. The pitching has been shakey at best too but that's a whole other posting coming soon I'm sure. I end this posting with 2 possible lineups that I feel would improve the cubs offense to be more consistent in scoring runs night in/night out.
1. Cedeno 2B
2. Soriano LF
3. Lee 1B
4. Ramirez 3B
5. Fukodome RF
6. Soto C
7. Derosa CF
8. Pitcher
9. Theriot SS

1. Theriot SS
2. Fukodome RF
3. Lee 1B
4. Ramirez 3B
5. Soriano 2B
6. Soto C
7. Derosa LF
8. Pitcher
9. Pie CF

Yes I do like the idea of putting your pitcher in the 8 spot and I think with the cubs players and their skill levels, it would help alleviate the problem with their leadoff struggles even more. You have Theriot and Fukodome at leadoff and 2nd, two very high on-base percentages, then you have power with lee, ramirez, soriano, soto at 3-6 holes. If Pie can continue improving, it would be a great combo to get him on base with his speed for the high on-base% and contact 1-2 hitters. I'm no manager but I think it's worth a try at the very least before the season extends too long to the point where you don't want to change lineups anymore.

OK gentleman
If you want to have any credibility with the cubs fans you should say it like it is....
SORIANO is a bust..
he has 1 talent swinging at every pitch for a hr...
It does not matter where he bats anymore..
He will not swing for base hits
He will not take a walk
He willnot bunt in bunt situations(and why should he isnt their a law that the more you make the less baseball you have to know)
he cannot steal
he cannot run
and there is no fielding position on this team he is good at
So because he is on the cubs and being paid 136 m illion we are supposed to wait for a hitting streak and forget that this guy is a 1 man destruction team in both attitutde and playing ability.
TRADE HIM FOR A STARTER ... just get him off this team... i do not care and willnot care if he goes on his rampange for a month hitting he lacks all the essentials of what this team had when he was not in the lineup.

Well said and very thoughtful Justin R. It's nice to see someone actually put some positive spin and effort into this blog rather than all of the negativity.

Go Cubs Go!