Bruiser Chong

pbone's quickly going from an amusing breath of fresh air to a guy who tries too hard.

Not at all, but it'll happen. Thankfully Lou was smart enough to see that and act accordingly, instead of sticking with him until the game was tied or something.

I know where Paragon's coming from. I wouldn't say it's exclusive to people around here, though. I've read a lot of crap from people who label themselves good/great writers. Getting a break in writing is tough even when your work warrants it, but it's not difficult to see why so many people never pan out in the profession. I'd the say 'net becoming such a universal thing has led many to overvalue their abilities as a writer.

Czech, maybe we should get on the jock of Carlos Marmol. He's quickly becoming the best reliever no one outside of Chicago seems to talk about.

Oh my god, no. The Cubs have put in a waiver claim for Scott Podsednik.

The Rockies' defense has been positively frightful tonight. That in part is why the Cubs have scored more runs through the first four innings (10) than they did in the entire Houston series.

I'm going to attempt to bury my head in the sand for a while to avoid panicking over the rumblings that Aramis Ramirez has torn ligaments in his wrist. If that's the case, "wait 'till next year."

Why would a 50-year-old man want to celebrate his birthday at Disneyland? That's for JSYK. Of course, Milky can free to answer if he wishes.

Hey now, while I'll let loose now and again, I've gotten my act together this season when it comes to how I react to the boys on the North Side. Then again, not being able to watch the majority of their games has certainly helped. It was funny listening to Stone on The Score Monday with Boers and Bernstein, with all three poking fun at Hawk when the subject of Stoney announcing with him was brought up. Stone was obviously more kind, but he didn't gloss things over just because he was going to be sitting next to the man within a matter of hours.

And that's why you always get delivery confirmation if shipping within the US. It's inexpensive and indisputable proof that the package was shipped and received. I've had a few other instances where buyers complained about non-delivery, but the DC number was my ticket to victory in each case.

- Man stuff like car knowledge - Patience - Math (I've taken three different levels of remedial math in college and have still yet to pass the third one which allows me to take the one that actually counts) - Directions (I've lived in the area my entire life and still couldn't tell you where most of the lesser-known streets are or the fastest routes to get around town) - Short-term memory There are plenty more, but those are the ones that have probably affected me the most.

What do you make of Vanhalen's somewhat unsettling, but obvious crush on you?

How old are you, what's your educational background, and what's your current occupation?

I don't live close enough to get the radio broadcast in clearly enough to not make me bang my head against something, so I only listen to it if I'm in the car. I can't imagine he's taking it too well given their amazing run the last two months. I'm not as down as Czech is, namely because despite all of this, they're still just a game out. On top of that, they won't play this badly forever. It couldn't be expected they'd keep their hot pace, so a stretch like this was bound to come. It's just not encouraging when it happens in the thick of a tight race. This downward slide hasn't come out of nowhere, either. The team was struggling at times to put runs on the board in the weeks leading up to the Soriano injury. Starting pitchers not named Lilly and Zambrano had been performing poorly. Fontenot had been playing over his head and has expectedly regressed. I have to believe the relative lack of stability in the outfield isn't helping matters. Like the middle of the infield last season, the Cubs have a ton of guys capable of the positions, but seemingly no real standouts. That no one in the current outfield is sure to be there on a day-to-day basis can't be great for their psyche. It's a mess Lou needs to figure out, because as it stands, no one in that outfield is producing and that's been a huge problem for the offense since 2005. For all the complaining that was done about the reliability of the longball in 2004, this team's hurting for some power. The revelation of Aramis' wrist woe explains the disappearance of his power, despite remaining productive in RBI situations. Derrek Lee probably can't be relied on to produce the power numbers he did in 2005, but he's certainly a better power hitter than this year has shown. The wrist definitely has something to do with that. Other power sources like Cliff Floyd and Jacque Jones have seen their power evaporate over the course of a season. Six homers between the two isn't cutting it, especially given their defensive shortcomings.

Probably. He's up to 80 pitches through four, which is amazing when you consider he only threw nine pitches in the first. I'd be frustrated, too, though. The Cubs could've taken over first on their own and begun to build a nice little lead by now. Instead, we're left wondering if they ever get a hit with RISP again.

Zambrano just Bo Jacksoned his bat. I can't watch this team right now. Utterly embarrassing. 0-for-27 with RISP in the series.

The NL Central needs to be contracted.

I use it for eBay and in seven years of using it, have had one really sour experience. I sold a video to a woman on eBay, she didn't pay for it right away, but later emailed me that she still wanted it and had been delayed in paying because she was going through an ugly divorce. She finally paid via Paypal, received the video and left positive feedback. This was early May. Mid-June rolls around and I get a notice that someone has filed a chargeback, citing unauthorized usage of the credit card on file. Since the address was unconfirmed, Paypal ruled in the card holder's favor, which meant I lost out on the video and the payment for it. Oh, and Paypal charged me $10 for temporarily fronting me the money during the investigation or something lame to that effect. After checking around, it sounds like this happened with other sellers she bought similar items from during the same time period. The Paypal account was in her husband's name, which led me to believe she'd gone on a shopping spree at her soon-to-be ex-husband's expense and he'd found out about it later on. But yeah, other than that, Paypal's fantastic. It makes things much easier. Just make sure that if you ever send an item to someone who's using an unconfirmed address, you won't be covered in the case of a chargeback.

Sore wrist, which is precisely what the team needed right now.

I guess it's not his oblique, it's colitis. Ew. Word is the Cubs have claimed Shannon Stewart off of waivers.

Felix Pie will begin his third stint in the Majors tonight, as Angel Pagan has been shelved with an oblique injury. The NL Central's starting to look like an 83-win division again.

Wrestlefest is up. I've only seen it once, but it reminded me of a MSG-type card in that only a handful of the matches really made sense, while the majority were odd pairings. Unfortunately, we get the trio of Graham/Mooney/Hayes. I did like Alfred's subtle jab at the ballooned physiques of the Killer Bees, though.

Quick, someone add to the reasons ESPN sucks thread, citing lack of coverage of their favorite team. The Rockies save the Cubs (again) from falling further back of the Brewers.

I was bored during the Flair/Von Erich match. Someone tell me why I shouldn't have been.