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Do you hear that last sound? Pfft....that's the sound I'm beginning to make every week when I hear that the Cubs have been in yet another fight. Whether they are fighting with each other, the umpires, or the other team....this is getting old. Derrek Lee is at fault here, in case you are scoring at home. The Cubs knew the Padres were going to do something after Soriano played Mr. Ballet after smashing a home run on Friday. Lee should have just taken his base and stolen second base. Speaking of which, do you know how many steals the Cubs had this weekend against three of the easiest pitchers to steal against? Two. That's right, two. Horrible. You are supposed to exploit the weaknesses of your opponents, the Cubs did not do that this weekend.
I'm tired of hearing about how good the Cubs are but they just aren't catching 'the breaks'. They've had some tough breaks, they've had some injuries, they've had some veteran players underperform. They've had the same problems that every other team in baseball has had. It's time to put up or shut up. The Cubs play nine games over the next week and a half against the Rangers, White Sox and Rockies. If they can't win at least six of those games, I think it's time to start looking at what the trade value is for Carlos Zambrano.
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2008 Cubs Preview
Im not a fan of the Cubs,but there only 6.5 behind a Brewers team that will hit another bump if not two or three.
Derek is right they are only 6.5 back in a bad division. They still have several games against the brewcrew. Still plenty of time to make up ground, if they were in a different division it might already be time to pack it in. As far as the fight goes, Lee did overreact a little. I don't have a problem with a pitcher hitting a batter, but not up around the head/neck area like Young did (thats his blame for the fight). I also blame the home plate umpire. What the hell was he doing chatting with the catcher!?! It seems like everytime a batter is hit the ump is right there to stop any altercation before it can happen. It's not like Lee was hit in the rear end and there was nothing to worry about. I think all three of these people need to accept part of the blame, and I hope (as a Cubs fan) that MLB will be a little easier on Lee who has been an upstanding person his whole career. One question, do you think Lee will appeal his suspension until Ramirez is back and healthy so both big bats aren't out at the same time?
Hey, better to be an entertaining bad team than to be just a bad team. The Cubs are still more fun to watch than, say, the Rangers. Or the Pirates. Or even the White Sox.
Real quick story...I used to have Zambrano on my fantasy team until I realized that I couldn't deal with zany behavior or streaky results. I then had to trade him. I'm feeling the same way with the Cubs right now. A little 'good' consistency would be nice before the All-Star Break. SML, it would be entertaining if the Cubs were actually winning the fights, but each game they've fought....they've lost.
Hank, Young didn't have a choice but to hit Lee up around the head. The man is 6'10" for crying out loud. He would have to get on his knees just to give Lee a good thumping on the freaking sternum.
If you look at the tape, as soon as Lee gets knocked down you can see Young's head jerk as if to say "f***". How many pitchers throwing at a guy react like that if he is throwing at a guy on purpose? It makes no sense to wait until the 4th inning to throw at a hitter. No sense at all.
I've seen pitchers play it off like they didn't do it on purpose before like that. It's hard to say though. There were two outs in the first inning when he faced Lee and I believe he walked him. When he hit Lee it was to lead off the 4th inning. Maybe someone in the dugout reminded him in between innings. I don't know. I think Lee was at fault, as was the home plate umpire for not paying attention.
Guess I just don't understand why, in a scoreless/hitless game, you would want to stir up the other team by hitting their star. I know baseball has its "rules", but sometimes the rules should take a backseat to something more important like winning the game!
You do it when you have the chance. I don't think the Cubs/Padres play again this season so their options were limited and time was running out. Next time the top of the order came up for the Cubs it might have been 0-0 in the 7th inning....