Bruiser Chong

Someone needs to tell Elijah that acquisition and accusation are two separate word with two separate meanings. Of all the things he's done, calling in here may have been the dumbest thing he's done.

Jason Schmidt's going under the knife Wednesday because of a bum shoulder. Was there anyone who didn't know that was going to be a bad signing? I think if I were a Dodgers fan, I would've preferred no moves at all as opposed to years and years of Juan Pierre and Schmidt.

That still doesn't make him better than Pujols. And I'd give him a couple years before we dub him the future of the game. Let's not forget who his old man is.

Looks like Zambrano's going to lose despite giving up two hits, one run and going nine.

It could've been two, too, if his glove doesn't hit it. And ironically, the next batter grounds into a DP. Still a solid outing from Carlos.

Man, Elaine is still as hot as ever.

The most tragic part about this whole thing is Cesar Izturis is now our number three hitter.

I don't like it either, but I don't see how throwing near a guy's head is any more mature.

Jake Peavy's comments certainly made this look intentional, even if it wasn't necessarily the case. Either way, you can tell neither Lee nor Young throw down too often.

Looks like Chris Young said something as the camera cut back to Lee, who was saying, "WHAT, WHAT?" What a visual of the Cub players literally jumping on top of Lee to prevent him from doing anything. Coming in a close second was Carlos Zambrano running around with his fucking belt in his hand.

All on vinyl, $6 total.

The funny thing is he got into it with the guy who was sitting NEXT to the schmuck who reached over the basket. How bout that Mike Fotenot? I remember a lot of people saying he should've gotten the call-up that went to Theriot last season. We're seeing why.

WHAT? Seriously, this is more surprising than Bad News or Bam Bam. Good call on killing off Vince McMahon. Who was it that said someone was going to die this week because of what happened on RAW?

With the Cubs, it absolutely is. The problem is having the ability to watch the madness inning-by-inning for six months. When I only had access to WGN, it'd be well into the summer before I really started paying attention to the Cubs.

In my defense, your guess wouldn't have been that far off. Without the Extra Innings package this season, I can only see what WGN, ESPN, and occasionally, TBS allows me to see. That's a positive, since I haven't taken the team so seriously this year. It also helps the expectations weren't there from me at the outset of the season, regardless. I can admit, though, that with the Central being as awful as it's been, the expectations have been raised a bit. I turned the game off to get some work done and just checked back in to see that Cesar Izturis of all game got the game winner in the bottom of the eighth. The Cubs' third one-run victory in the last four games and if you can believe it, that DOUBLES their one-run victories on the entire season.

Jacque Jones is a joke. Cubs get runners at the corner with one out and he can't get the run in. Dude makes a living flying out except when he has to. Just dump the guy for whatever you can get; he's a waste of space. And just to illustrate how awful the Cubs are with situational hitting and hitting in general, I leave you with two pieces of information: - Jeff Weaver officially has a quality start. - The respective line scores are 4 2 0 and 3 10 1.

Jason Marquis can quickly crash and burn with the best of them. One hit through five and then he hits Jeff Weaver, walks two, and gives up a bases-clearing double. Mixed in there was an error by DeRosa that should've been two. And suddenly, Weaver looks dominant.

On the bright side for Astros fans, this may leave the team with no reason to play the guy every day. Seriously, the Astros' success in recent years has amazed me considering they've got two of the worst everyday position players in their lineup and a guy with a sub-300 OBP leading off.

Eddie Murray's been sacked as the Dodgers' hitting coach. I guess it's his fault the team lacks a real power hitter and bats Juan Pierre near the top of the order. Cubs should go get him. And Jeff Weaver is really, really bad. Usually when the Cubs face a lousy or unproven pitcher, they can't put together more than a run or two. Already three off Weaver after one, including three extra basehits, two of which were triples.

- RAW was so superior to Nitro at this point. The shift in ratings not coming for another year suggest people really are just creatures of habit, as they continually tuned into an inferior show. I forgot how unnatural Hogan often sounded as a heel. I watched both promotions enough around this time for most of this stuff to be a refresher and nothing new. It's bringing back memories of how uninspired a lot of WCW's main storylines were at this time. Meanwhile, over at Titan, the groundwork was being laid for some of the most ingenius angles we've seen since. - Bobby Heenan is so miscast as a face. You can see he tried to retain some of his heel traits in the way he conducts himself with Tony, but the Heenan we were getting at this juncture is just not a good fit. - Watching the MSG card, I'll stand by my point that the majority of vintage wrestling just doesn't hold up today. I can't believe a Moondog got an Intercontinental shot against Pedro. Speaking of Pedro, he gets my nod for most overrated wrestler. I always hear it was due to his popularity with minorities, but he's so fucking bland in every respect that I don't see how he was so admired.

Pagan was brought up a few weeks back and thanks to a hot start and over-valued speed, he's seen a fair number of starts. Floyd hasn't been too bad and has served more as a big bat off the bench. The real problem in all of this is Jacque Jones. He's looked better in center than in right, but with Pie being the everday centerfielder now, he's back to platooning in right. Jacque has never been a real great hitter, but he's been downright awful this year. His defense hasn't improved in right, as he still makes blooper-like throws. The real concern is the disappearance of his power. Regardless of poor OBP and defense, his power made up some of that. But with only two longballs this year, he's looked like an even worse signing than he did a year ago. But it's probably that bad contract that has prevented him from being the odd-man out.

Jim Hendry's knack for taking a commodity and stripping it of any of its value has struck again. Matt Murton's been sent to the minors. I'm not sure if he'll ever be the 25-30 homer guy some pegged him for and while he has been slumping, I'd say it's likely due to getting sporadic at-bats while guys like Angel Pagan and Jacque Jones get more playing time. I understand Hendry felt the need to go sign Floyd, but he's created a mess in the outfield with Soriano really the only one producing. None of the other guys are superstars, but you can't help but think several of them are not benefiting from the platoon situation. In the end, I imagine Murton will be shipped off for nothing and flourish on a team that actually uses him.

And just to make things fun, the Cubs load 'em up again in the 13th and can't score. Michael Barrett really needs to go. He's never been known as a defensive specialist or anything, but his mediocre hitting thus far makes his boneheaded play on the basepaths and behind the plate hard to overlook.

I guess Michael Barrett struck again. Jacque Jones finally makes a decent throw and Barrett just out and drops it to let the go-ahead run score. I can't remember the last time the Cubs won an extra innings game that went past the 11th frame.

Hilarious.