Only a Cubs pitcher could hurt his hand throwing a baseball.

The knuckleheads that schedule a March game in Chicago should lose their jobs. Did the dome break in Milwaukee?

I'm pretty sure Zambrano hurt his hand/arm/elbow falling down after catching a popup to avoid the oncoming Derrek Lee. Carlos, there's a reason why in the major leagues, pitchers are never supposed to go anywhere near infield popups.

Did the dome break in Milwaukee?

Scheduling weirdness... the Brewers play in Wrigley two series in April, IIRC, and the Cubs don't go to Miller Park until July.

The knuckleheads that schedule a March game in Chicago should lose their jobs.

Why? It sold out.

The Cubs should just be contracted.

It isn't baseball season until a Cubs pitcher gets injured.

Only a Cubs pitcher could hurt his hand throwing a baseball.

Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett, Mike Hampton, Rich Harden, and Orlando Hernandez (among others) would've begged to differ on Old Primer.

AP: Carlos Zambrano leaves game after hurting hand

After one game, my fantasy league team is in trouble.

They're saying it's a forearm cramp.

After one game, my fantasy league team is in trouble.

I tried to play fantasy last year. I drafted a pretty good team, but I'll never play fantasy again; I still feel terrible about being responsible for serious injuries happening to about eight different good players.

Zambrano's cramping history is a storied one and the only Cubs injury that I don't ever get too worried about.

It looked to me like Lee kind of took Zambrano out sliding, but the announcers were reluctant to say that for some reason.

I'm not saying that's what caused whatever injury Carlos has, just that I thought it was weird nobody mentioned that Lee slid into Zambrano's legs. Maybe they just ignored it because Lee is obviously way too smart of a player to ever slide into his pitcher's legs.

The knuckleheads that schedule a March game in Chicago should lose their jobs. Did the dome break in Milwaukee?

Are we going to do this again? Didn't people examine the logistics behind having the season begin in all dome/warm weather places last year? It was impossible. There always has to be 6-8 games going on in cities that are prone to cold weather or rain. That is close to half the schedule.

If the game was called due to cold, then you have a point. But it wasn't. Rain can occur in Chicago or New York on any day of the schedule.

Not to mention the fact that teams, fans, all want most games to occur after school is out. Finally, the Cubs finish the year in Milwaukee at Miller Park. It is almost just as likely to be cold in Chicago on Sept 26-28 as March 31-April 3. Nevermind the fact it is much more important to avoid a rainout late in the season than early. Thus the Miller Park dome series at the very end of the year. I recall a great whining over the lack of Brewers v Cubs Sept games last year.

get over this topic babies.

He was fine for several pitches after the infield collision, so I don't think it's that. The Cubs were saying it was forearm cramps, which he's struggled with before, but it seemed to me that he might have jammed it somehow on his pickoff move to second. In any case, I'm as pessimistic as they come when it relates to Cubs injuries, but I'm not fussed at all by this one -- certainly wouldn't expect him to miss any time.

Takeaway from today is that he threw a superbly controlled and intelligent game -- that's a first for Big Z on Opening Day.

Carlos, there's a reason why in the major leagues, pitchers are never supposed to go anywhere near infield popups.

Fair enough, but Lee had no business being anywhere near that play. Ramirez or Theriot should've called for it.

Silly though I thought the idea of a March 31 opener at Wrigley was, the temperature definitely wasn't a factor. It was quite comfortable out there, by opening day standards.

And I'll echo Sweet's comments--this doesn't sound like a serious injury, and it was great to see Z throw so well in an opening day start. He had absolutely nasty stuff before the second delay, and still had enough to pitch well thereafter (smartly, as Sweet said). It was pretty fun to see Z and Sheets go toe-to-toe, before the game turned into a "whose closer sucks more" contest. (Not that that wasn't exciting, too. Seeing Fukudome's debut was fantastic.)

Scheduling weirdness... the Brewers play in Wrigley two series in April, IIRC, and the Cubs don't go to Miller Park until July.

Yeah. And the Cubs don't host the Cardinals until August. WTF?

It was pretty fun to see Z and Sheets go toe-to-toe, before the game turned into a "whose closer sucks more" contest.

What won it for the Brewers was that it was ONLY their closer who sucked today, whereas the Cubs had to try and overcome the Wood/Howry tag team suckage.

(Otherwise, Marmol and Torres/Mota/Riske all remembered the main objective of a pitcher is to not allow runs :P )

Yay! Lots of work ... wait, no. I wish I didn't have quite so much.

It is almost just as likely to be cold in Chicago on Sept 26-28 as March 31-April 3.
Other than the ~17 degree difference in average highs between late Sept. (70s) and beginning of April (50s)

After one game, my fantasy league team is in trouble.

You think you've got problems - watching LiveScoring this evening, I just realized that my team has the Pirates' 1, 2, and 3 hitters. Spending my summer gobbling up the exploits of Nate McLouth, Freddy Sanchez, and Jason Bay isn't how I envisioned spending time I should be working.

Also - maybe Michael Barrett was right... after all - Zambrano just had to take the headlines away from Fukudome's excellent debut, didn't he?

Other than the ~17 degree difference in average highs between late Sept. (70s) and beginning of April (50s)

It rained. It can rain every day of the week every month, all year. Why should Fla/Atl./Mil/Ariz/Hou/LAD/SD start the first two weeks at home every April? When two games get rained out somewhere in the U.S. this summer, I hope you're upset that MLB had the nerve to schedule two games in [any month] in [any city without a roof].

It is almost just as likely to be cold in Chicago on Sept 26-28 as March 31-April 3.

That's why I said almost #21.

If the Cubs and their fans want to play in warm weather year round, then get a dome. Otherwise quit crying. A rainout in March/April is meaningless. A rainout in late Sept between Cubs v Brewers is a disaster for the schedule. There is more crying over makeup games after the season in early October than in mid May.

It is much, much more important for a dome to be used in late Sept than March 31st.

How New York has 2 stadiums without a roof is beyond me. The rain totals in NYC are close to 40% higher than Chicago. Did I mention it was a "balmy" 50 degrees in NYC today?

This crying can go on forever.

St Louis got rained out today, a city that is on the warmer side of the 30 teams in baseball, downright insufferable in Aug (per Vasgersian).

St. Louis and northern Missouri must average out to beautiful weather. Unfortunately, it gets that way with hellish summers, brutal winters, and two or three nice days in between.

There's a lot of dumbness going on in this thread. Zambrano is fine. You could see that his hand was cramping up, and this has happened several times before. He's never missed a start because of it. It was soon after the Lee takeout slide (not sure what broadcast the poster above was watching, but Kasper/Brenly definitely talked about it), but not immediately. I'm not worried whatsoever. Z was back on the bench later and looked fine. They've said before it's a hydration problem, Z doesn't drink enough liquids when he's pitching. \

Beano, I don't see any crying here about the weather. Just the Ziffbot (a notorious one and done commenter, who is most likely a Yankee fan if he's not a computer program). Settle down.

Are we going to do this again? Didn't people examine the logistics behind having the season begin in all dome/warm weather places last year? It was impossible.

Anaheim, Minnesota, Oakland, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Texas, Toronto. Arizona, Atlanta, Florida, Houston, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, San Diego, San Francisco.

Impossible, you say?

Furthermore, the problem people railed against last year wasn't simply games in bad-weather cities, it was interdivision series which left no possibility of makeup dates later in the season. Seattle at Cleveland resulted in disaster; Detroit at Cleveland would've resulted in summer doubleheaders. And eliminating that risk is even less impossible than the logistics of the Guaranteed Good Weather schedule.


Why should Fla/Atl./Mil/Ariz/Hou/LAD/SD start the first two weeks at home every April?

Why shouldn't they? What difference does a slightly irregular distribution of home and road games make?


When two games get rained out somewhere in the U.S. this summer, I hope you're upset that MLB had the nerve to schedule two games in [any month] in [any city without a roof].

An isolated rain event on [random day over a period of six months] in [random city in an area covering millions of square miles] isn't predictable. Generally bad weather in [northern city] [between the end of March and middle of April] is predictable. Can you honestly not grasp the distinction?

Rain's no big deal and is going to happen no matter what time of year, but I do remember a lot more complaining last year because there were quite a few games that were snowed out.

They're saying it's a forearm cramp.

Junkball hero

Chicago Tribune:

"The trainers make sure he's hydrated a lot," pitching coach Larry Rothschild said after Monday's 4-3 loss to Milwaukee in 10 innings.

"And today it really wasn't even hot. It was a little bit humid, but I think it was a long day, and the (rain) delays during the game and before the game (hurt).

We've been, as a team — our doctors and trainers — we've tested and talked to everybody. And there's been no answers. Hopefully it doesn't keep happening."

What can the Cubs do to prevent this from being a recurring theme in '08, as it was the last two seasons?

"Well, you do the best you can with fluids and keep trying to figure out what it is that causes it," Rothschild said. "So far we just haven't figured it out."

Anaheim, Minnesota, Oakland, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Texas, Toronto. Arizona, Atlanta, Florida, Houston, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, San Diego, San Francisco.

What does this prove? Show me a schedule Mr Genius of MLB for the first two weeks of the season incorporating dome, warm, dry places. Without inter-division games. Your point

Furthermore, the problem people railed against last year wasn't simply games in bad-weather cities, it was interdivision series which left no possibility of makeup dates later in the season.

Florida sees as much rain as any place in baseball, strike them from the list. Since when was San Fransisco warm? Strike from list, Oakland too. I'm sure you are not going to have both LA teams in town for the first two weeks at the same time, are you?

Again, good luck with this.

Also, did I mention it is way, way more important to have rainout free baseball in Sept than April? It is.

The fact is, a computer would destroy you in putting together a schedule.

Expanding on the point about inter-division games. I'd bet there were more inter-division games rained out in May-Sept than April. These are exactly the kinds of games you want played sooner than later so you can find a date to reschedule a makeup game.

A final point on the 2007 weather. Remember the media getting hysterical about the schedule ruining the season of the Indians and Mariners? Well, how did they do? Cleveland won 96 games and Seattle had perhaps the most surprising season of the year, finishing with 88 wins.

Buster Olney was beside himself over it. As were many of you demanding changes.

Why should Fla/Atl./Mil/Ariz/Hou/LAD/SD start the first two weeks at home every April?

Why shouldn't they? What difference does a slightly irregular distribution of home and road games make?

Are you even familiar with ticket sales in baseball? Every team wants as many home dates as possible after school (June-August). These dates are worth millions more than April/Sept.

Turns out Q3 (July-Sept) in the US and most cities, sees more rain and rainy days than Q2 (April-June). So much for all of this whining when we can just look it up.

not sure what broadcast the poster above was watching, but Kasper/Brenly definitely talked about it

I was watching the Milwaukee broadcast. Derrek Lee is one of the numerous players Bill Schroeder is in love with, thus he can do little wrong in his eyes. Schroeder seems to be an irrational fan of at least one guy on every team.

What can the Cubs do to prevent this from being a recurring theme in '08, as it was the last two seasons?

blame Dusty Baker

Regarding snow, wouldn't that snow just be rain in another month? Why does it matter if a game is snowed out or rained out? # of days of precipitation might be relevant, but snow instead of rain is no different from a practical standpoint.

I read somewhere today that Houston has opened up at home every year for the last 7 years, and since 1975 [i think], they have only opened up on the road four times.

i was kind of surprised about that.

What does this prove? Show me a schedule Mr Genius of MLB for the first two weeks of the season incorporating dome, warm, dry places. Without inter-division games.

If all the games were played in cities with no weather threat, it wouldn't be necessary to avoid interdivision series. I can see how that wouldn't have occurred to such an enormous fucκtard.


Florida sees as much rain as any place in baseball, strike them from the list.

Not in April. Feel free to look that one up.


Since when was San Fransisco warm? Strike from list, Oakland too.

Average highs in the low- to mid-60s, but that's hardly the point; they average a rainout every other year.


Are you even familiar with ticket sales in baseball? Every team wants as many home dates as possible after school (June-August). These dates are worth millions more than April/Sept.

Who says the differential would have to be made up between June and August? Where does a team go immediately following a homestand?

Turns out Q3 (July-Sept) in the US and most cities, sees more rain and rainy days than Q2 (April-June). So much for all of this whining when we can just look it up.

As noted in the other thread, on the cover page is states that there are more rainy days in Q2, more total rain in Q3.

You can't do all "good weather" sites for the first 2 weeks but it couldn't hurt to skew the schedule a bit. Losing a little attendance because the kids are in school is a fair price to pay for better weather. :)

More doubleheaders solves this problem nicely.

I think teams are allowed to make requests/suggestions before the schedule gets assembled each year. If a team thinks snow or cold or Mongol hordes are going to be a problem they can request to start the season on the road and open a little later. But I think for home and away division series in April there are some obvious cities that should play on the road for the early dates. It's not that big a deal in the end (he said, looking out his window at six inches of snow.)