Voice of a Fan

Best Opportunity Wasted!

voaf — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:43:20 +0000

Image via CrunchBase

You know, whoever said the law of averages was fair … needs to be punched in the throat. 100 years and counting …

I wanted to reserve judgement until the NLDS was over, in hopes that Lou would prove me wrong. Alas, he did not. While alot of the blame can and will be placed on the players. There are a series of questionable moves by Lou Piniella that, well, piss me off.

Ryan Dempster started Game 1, which in and of itself, wasn’t a bad idea. Leaving him in for 4 2/3 innings to give up 7 walks and a grand slam was a horrible idea. In a short series the last thing you have time to do, is let your starter work through too many rough spots. Starting Kosuke Fukodome in the first two games was another lame idea. If anything I could understand starting him in Game 3, which he did not, because the Dodgers were countering with Hiroki Kuroda, a pitcher Fukodome actually has success against, from way back in the Japanese League playing days.

The blame on the players starts with the infield, who had a complete melt down in game 2, DeRosa, Lee, Ramirez and Theriot each with an error helped to spoil what otherwise was a solid start by Carlos Zambrano. And, can we finally put an end to Alfonso Soriano leading off? We need a true lead off hitter, not someone who is going to go 1-14, with 4 Ks and swing at damn near every first pitch. I don’t care if he does get hot at times and carry the team, he needs to figure out how to hit in the middle of the lineup, period!

Derek Lee, while being a double play machine during the season, was one of the few offensive bright spots, going 6-11 in the series. Mark DeRosa had a good Game 1 and 2, hitting a HR and collecting 4 RBI. Unfortunately, he laid an egg in Game 3. Needless to say, the best opportunity the Cubs have had in my almost 30 years on this planet, just blew up in their face. In doing so, they became only the second team with the best record in the league to be swept out of the first round.

Wait ’til next year … Damn, am I sick of saying and hearing that.

Where do the Cubs go from here?

Who stays?

Who doesn’t?

Who do we add?

Hopefully, a new owner will be a good start. Mark Cuban, where are you?

Postseason Participants Locked In

voaf — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:00:53 +0000

For the first time in over 100 years, the Cubs and White Sox will be in the postseason, at the same time. The White Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins 1-0 in the ultimate game 163. These two teams were evenly matched in so many aspects of their record this season, it really should have been expected.

The 2008 Divisonal Series Playoff matchups are:

The Milwaukee Brewers invade Philadelphia to play the Phillies at 2:00pm CT, Wednesday.

The Cubs play the second of the three games tomorrow as they play host to the Los Angeles Dodgers at 5:30pm CT.

The Red Sox and Angels roundout the Day 1 Tripleheader as Boston travels to Angel Stadium at 9:00pm CT.

The White Sox get a day off before beginning their series with the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday at 1:30pm CT.

Rotation Set for NLDS

voaf — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:21:20 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Lou Piniella has spoken and the NLDS rotation has been decided. Ryan Dempster gets the nod in Game 1, October 1st. He’ll be followed in Game 2 by Carlos Zambrano. Rich Harden will take the mound in Game 3 and Ted Lilly will be the Game 4 starter, if necessary.

The Cubs will carry 11 pitchers on the postseason roster:

Dempster, Zambrano, Harden, Lilly, Jason Marquis, Sean Marshall, Bob Howry, Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood are locks. The two remaining spots will probably go to Chad Gaudin and either Jeff Samardzija or Neal Cotts.

and 14 position players:

11 spots all but guaranteed, belong to Derek Lee, Mark DeRosa, Aramis Ramirez, Ryan Theriot, Geovanny Soto, Alfonso Soriano, Jim Edmonds, Reed Johnson, Kosuke Fukodome, Mike Fontenot and Henry Blanco.

The three remaining spots are somewhat of a toss-up between these four: Ronny Cedeno, Daryle Ward, Felix Pie and Micah Hoffpauir.

Piniella completes rotation for playoff-bound Cubs

2008 NL Central Champions!

voaf — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:30:27 +0000