well we have won 2 in a row, no wins for the next 2 weeks

Carlos will take a no-no into the 9th. With 2 outs, his 198th pitch will elicit a routine fly. Jacque Jones will lose the ball in the moon.

Z will lose it and start yelling and cussing, Jacque's mom will attempt to climb on to the field to attack Z, Z's mom will appear, grab Jacque's mom by the hair and start beating her head pff the dugout roof. Order will only be restored when Henry Blanco's mom threatens to eat both women if they don't stop fighting. Dusty will excuse both mothers as there is nothing wrong with being agressive.

Cubs lose it in the 10th.

Zambrano induces lot of broken bats..esp when hitting

Josh Lewin says the Cubs are trading for Phil Nevin. Heh.

Josh Lewin says the Cubs are trading for Phil Nevin. Heh.

Which might not have been a bad idea. A month and a half ago.

Well, at least it's not another second baseman.

Though you hate seeing sentences like "Nevin... recently lost his starting job to rookie Jason Botts." We don't even have the DH.

Does this mean Nevin to 1B and Walker to 2B? Or is Walker going to get edged into a "platoon" with the arrival of Neify Womack?

Trading Hairston for a backup DH is no problem, you still have 7 second basemen left.

.216/.307/.415

In Arlington.

Nevin can play a lot of positions, including catcher. None of them well, mind you, but he can play them.

Nevin can play a lot of positions, including catcher. None of them well, mind you, but he can play them.

He sounds like a better fit for the Cubs with each passing minute. He could be the new Jose Macias.

Or is Walker going to get edged into a "platoon" with the arrival of Neify Womack?

Womack in left, more likely. He had four hits a couple days ago! You can't just throw that kind of value on the bench.

ok now we need to trade neifi and womack and jones and peirrea

or better yet sell the cubs to cuban

The only RH second baseman the Cubs now have is Neifi. I couldn't stand Hairston yet suddenly I find myself missing him a little.

Surprise1

Pierre
Perez 2B
Barrett
Ramirez
Walker
Murton
Jones
Cedeno
Zanbrano

Neifi at 2nd vs. the lefty, and batting 2nd to boot! The price of doing business.

You know things are bad when you're missing Jerry Hairston Jr.

I couldn't stand Hairston yet suddenly I find myself missing him a little.

The devil you know ... etc.

Neifi in the 2 hole. I hate this team.

Is there another team in this league running two sub-.600 OPS guys out at the top of their order? Even at their worst last year, I don't think Patterson/Neifi managed that.

im thinking the f troop just doesnt work for players
neifi, rusch, womack, nevin, jones and what ever minor league pithers gets the next call up should be called the replacements

It was about this time last year that Dusty started running out the Piss.Poor combo on a daily basis. It looks like he's going to do it again, with Womack sharing the 2 spot with Neifi. Utterly ridiculous.
I hope it doesn't take the media as long to get the knives out as it did last time.

Also, I watched part of the Cards/Houston game earlier and the Cards announcers said what everyone but McPhail and Hendry is saying - that Dusty's extension is a done deal and that they're just looking for an opportune time to announce it.

they site womacks currently stats with the cubs as to why hairston was expendable

jones should have had that

that was just great

bases loaded!

zambrano leads the NL in k's with 81

looks like its just me once again

inning over no runs one hit one walk 2 erros 2 k's

I hope it doesn't take the media as long to get the knives out as it did last time.

Me too, though they got some help last year when everyone from Baker on up singled out Patterson as the reason the Cubs were struggling. The team hasn't starting pissing all over Pierre yet (and they probably won't if they want to have any chance of resigning him).

worthless chatterers

im hoping for a 40 hr game from aram

neifi dont bunt

fearless prediction GIDP

That would be something. 40 HRs in the game would mean the Cubs had at least 356 PAs (39*9 + 4 + 1). Given 27 outs (kind of hard to do, because that means the other team would have to have stayed ahead of them), and even if they stranded 27 batters, that still means they score 302 runs.

I guess it could be 355 PAs, with Ramirez's 40th straight HR being a walkoff job in the 9th. That limits it to 26 outs and 24 LOB, so 305 runs.

Cubs win thriller, 305-303. I'd pay to see that.

i just realized that it ended up being sosa for park for the cubs and rangers

damn z turns 25 tomorrow

dave otto threw bp for the cubs today and is filling in for ron

damn wind is blowing in, 3walker and murtin both would have gone long there if it was no wind

they're just looking for an opportune time to announce it

After a 3-game sweep of the Reds?

Just checking in...

I'm in Detroit right now, and have no access to watch this. Well, I could listen to it, but why the #### would I want to do that? Keep fighting the good fight, meat.

its a depressing fight, tank god i never got that gun or i would have ended it long ago *head blown off*

After a 3-game sweep of the Reds?

No, we're still too close to the ugliness. Not to mention that the Cubs have fallen all over themselves to say that injuries were the real problem. They're going to want Lee, Prior, and Wood to be back and at full strength - then when we start playing .800 ball, they can extend Dusty and talk about how smart they all are.

I'm back. My ISP is doing 'essential maintenance' which meant I lost my connection just before 1st pitch.

After a 3-game sweep of the Reds?

The series victory will probably be enough knowing this front office.

I had 2 missed calls while at work today, both from my Cub fan friends. I was terrified that I'd call them back and it'd be a Dusty extension on the other line. Though come to think of it, my Sox fans friends would probably be the ones calling. You can't dial a phone after a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

as he hoit that bob was saying griffey should bunt

What is it about Eric Milton that shuts this team down? Two years ago it was almost a no-hitter. Today, 1 hit through 5 innings.

It's Eric Milton. We should be hitting home runs even between innings.

we suck

bases loaded one out

why is zambrano done so earily?

Two years ago it was almost a no-hitter.

Doug Glanville. His finest moment.

id take glanville over womack rightnow

juan has our onl 2 hitd

Don Zimmer in the booth. I had no idea he was still alive.

Oh, listen to the boos for Neifi's groundout. Outstanding job, Cub fans.

Loud boos for Neifi there.

101 pitches for Zambrano in 6 innings. He's going to have to learn how to get guys out earlier in the count - it's either that or get himself in Livan Hernandez shape to handle longer outings without physical problems.

He has yet to throw fewer than 100 pitches in a start this season, including (now) 7 starts of less than 7 innings.

Part of the problem this year is that his walk rate is way up - 5.5 BB/9. It was 3.5 in 2005 and 2004, and 4.0 in 2003.

You think Z was ticked at Dusty for taking him out after 6 or for pinch-hitting for him with Tony Womack?

what was that a 3 pitch inning?

...and now boos for Walker, shut up Cub fans.

wow he hit a leftie

What's maddening is to see the Cubs time and time again have to pull their pitcher after six because he's spent, and at the same time let the opposing pitcher go the distance because they swing at everything. This is one stupid, boneheaded team.

cedeno with an infield hit

What a waste of a plate appearance. Of course, letting Mabry hit is a waste of a plate appearance too.

Pretty good swing on it?

dusty has our best hitters at the back half of it, what a moron

inning over, barret throws his bat at the ball and misses

Aaedsna coming in. Whar's with Williamson? Is he hurt? He hasn't thrown ih ages.

I don't think a team could be run worse if it were a targeted challenge: see how badly you can manage, yet keep your job.

The thing is, most organizations only fire managers on the basis of W-L, rather than strategy; being a good manager but losing doesn't cut it, and being a bad manager but winning earns plaudits. But the point is that losing gets you fired period, especially when there were high expectations. Baker has lost with high expectations two years in a row, now, and the year before he failed to make the playoffs when there were expectations that he'd get there. In any other organization, at any other time, he'd have been fired between May 15 and today, if not over the winter. With the Yankees, Mets, or Red Sox, he'd have been canned during last season.

Of course, I expect that while I was writing this the Cubs were tying the game if not taking the lead. The scary thing is that, of Eric Milton, Odalis Perez, and Matt Clement's $24 million/3 year contracts, Milton's might turn out to be the best value. Think about that, then never again give a multi-year contract to a "league-average innings-eater;" if watching the Twins, Indians, and A's this year has taught me one thing, it's that there ain't no sech animal.

Anyone watching this?

A week with the team, and already he's been schooled in the Cub form of "aggressive" baserunning.

Is that Womack? Nice double play "turn" by him in the bottom of the first, too. Impressive.

Is there an actual location for tonight's Chatter?

They never got posted for some reason. And yeah, it was Womack - he took off in the top of the first while the pitcher was still holding the ball.

Quality stuff.

What's most annoying of all about the Cubs is the way they inexplicably have the Cardinals' number this year.

And for the Cardinals tonight, the role of Todd Jones will be played by Jason Isringhausen...

And for the Cardinals tonight, the role of Todd Jones will be played by Jason Isringhausen...

Except that the lead Izzy will protect is likely to be 3 or 4, rather than one.

I hate Todd Jones.

Well, only two. Strap yourselves in...

Lead-off man on. And... gasp! Dusty Baker pinch hit for Tony Womack, and even used the best home run threat on his bench!

And, the tying runs are one base. This is going to be a bad night for me.

Wow. That should have been game over.

Tying runs in scoring position. They'll swing at anything--what's he chucking up there that they're taking?

I am going to destroy something.

Come on, Ryan! Pretend you've got a one-run lead!

Oh, yeah, Pujols and Rolen go down like pretty puppies against Dumpster. Game over.

####

Anyone else still listening to this battle of attrition?

Why would you pinch-hit with Bennett instead of Spiezio?

I wondered why they didn't pinch-hit with Spiezio back when they had the bases loaded and 1 out but let the pitcher hit for himself. I know Spiezio's been ill, so maybe he wasn't ready.

But if you're going to use Bennett anyway, then let him hit when it matters, don't wait until it's the last gasp.

I'm happy for the Cubs, but I think LaRussa gets a fair share of the credit for this victory. He made some odd choices in this game.