Bruiser Chong

That whole angle was completely unnecessary and pointless. I'm not even a animal lover and I felt uncomfortable.

I know errors are a part of the game, but I just can't believe the throw from Peralta. It's obvious he was concerned about not getting the throw off in time, so he just threw it away. Physical error that followed a mental one.

Cleveland's defense is more embarrassing than the Cards'. Jesus. An error starts the inning and leads to a tied game. And with the winning run at third and two outs, Peralta throws away a fairly easy grounder to end it. Wow.

The Cardinals haven't been making errors during this losing streak. They just can't pitch. The starters have been horrendous for the most part, the bullpen even worse, and the hitting has been inconsistent. It's a complete team meltdown, and it's getting almost laughable. It's like someone is pulling a practical joke on the fans. Every day it's something else. They lose games all kinda ways; pitching duels, walk offs, blowouts. It's ridiculous. The color commentator for the Cards pointed out how they messed up even after Taguchi didn't make the catch. The runner at second wasn't even close to third when the ball dropped and even though Rolen was waiting at third for what would've been a force out, they threw the ball down the third base line, allowing the runner to advance and eventually score. That's the difference in the game to this point.

These have been awfully frustrating games to watch because it seems they're down 4-0 or something like that within the first three innings. They were never in either game today. Probably a good thing you aren't a Cubs fan. We've been fed on those kinds of games all season. Here's one for the Cards fans: what do you think of TLR's overmanaging re: the bullpen? He has this fixation on using half the pen in one inning certain games that doesn't seem to work out a lot. He used four pitchers in the 8th and they still gave up three runs and the lead. Of course, if So Taguichi makes the catch, they probably don't score those last two, but I digress.

What's Hamels' deal? He's been awful since coming back. Cards are looking like the Cubs right now. Non-plays just led to three runs for the Tribe in the 8th. I don't expect their pen to hold the lead, but the Cards still haven't been playing good fundamental baseball.

I don't like the Sox, but they are impressive most the time. Down 3-0 with a mere three hits through six innings, DJ points out it takes a couple of cheap hits and a blast to tie it. Within minutes, the Sox hit three singles and a triple to tie it up with nobody out. And to top it off, after leaving the runner at third by burning through their first two outs, Podsednik drives him in.

I guess the Red Sox are also Pedro's daddy. Giving up a longball to Alex Gonzalez should automatically mean the hook.

That win was the Cubs' first home win in June. With it being the 28th, that's scary. That was only their fifth home victory since May 2nd, to boot.

You dumbfuck, do you even read TWIB threads? Half of them are me and Bruiser having temper tantrums. EDIT: Porter beat me to it. Seriously, though. As for people being at Wrigley, what do you expect? They bought their tickets in February, when nobody could've predicted being 20 under .500. What are they supposed to do? Sit on them and eat the $40 or whatever? They could scalp them, since there will always be people willing to see a baseball game on a nice day in Chicago. Don't turn that into a bad thing. Heh. Half of the sports world predicted it. No, people thought they'd be average, but not AWFUL like they have been. After Bill Hall slammed a two-run shot in the 8th, the Cubs have some how put together a five-run inning, triggered by a Derrek Lee homer. Jacque Jones also scored from first on a bloop hit down the rightfield line. I've come down on the guy's baserunning and defense, but his reaction after sliding into home safely lets you know how into the game he is. And while I don't necessarily agree with naiwf, I will concede that selling out Wrigley sends the wrong message to the higher-ups. But what I think you're missing is the amount of tourists and casual fans that fill the park. That's never going to change as long as they play in Wrigley. It doesn't mean the real fans don't take losses and bonehead organizational moves as hard as any fans in the sport. Go read around sometime. There are a TON of Cubs fans that make Czech and I look like rational, level-headed fans.

Great, I missed a JUAN PIERRE homer. Even in Wrigley that's amazing. Astros got blanked again, but it's okay, since they've got Roger Clemens now.

Ebert also said X3 was the best film in that series I love Roger, but he seems to have it out for Bryan Singer, he hated Usual Suspects and Apt Pupil, gave thumbs down to X-men and gave faint praise to X2. Not to start something, but Usual Suspects has only gained its cult status because of the end. Take away that and you're left with a fairly entertaining, but unspectacular flick.

No and I think this is going to confuse audiences not clear on the character itself or whether this is a reboot for the franchise. I was expecting something with depth; a movie with characters I could care about and a story that gripped me from reel-to-reel. It didn't happen. Credit can be given for side-stepping a popcorn movie formula, but what's there isn't much better. I'm not sure where to begin, but let's see what we can do here: - The plot: Perhaps my primary complaint. The Lex Luther storyline becomes secondary to the romance angle, which has never appealed to me. Now we've thrown in a dopey guy to create some tension. The bulk of the scenes that tied in with this storyline seemed to drone on and on. Granted, Lex's plot wasn't much better, but Spacey is easily the most engaging character in this thing. It would've been nice if he'd not come off as a second-string player. In that respect, the trailers were misleading, since you almost forget he's in the damn thing at times. - The characters: I was expecting the magic Batman Begins had to come through here. There was a mix of action in Begins, but that was a backdrop element to the movie's characters. With the exception of Katie Holmes, I got into all of the key characters. In Superman Returns, not much is given for me to hold onto. This line from Ebert's review sums it up: Supes has never been the most eloquent speaker, but he's almost a mime during chunks of the film. I'd say most of the characters don't have enough dialogue with substance, too. Lois Lane just comes off as a scorned bitch half the flick. Spacey's a fun, witty character that does Gene Hackman's take on Luthor justice. But he's such a bit player in this grandiose picture that I was left wondering if a marquee name was really necessary for the role. - The running time: If the story is done well, the length of a film doesn't bother me. I can sit all day and watch a film if it's engrossing enough. Returns isn't. There's entirely too much fat that could've been trimmed. It was almost like watching a Peter Jackson movie, except there were things that could've been condensed without question. Because of the two main plots, the plethora of action sequences and bulky finished product, the movie feels directionless at times. - The CGI: I usually don't pick at special effects, but some of them in Returns just stick out like a sore thumb. Granted, it's going to be tough to create constantly realistic effects in a film where the lead role has super strength, but still. Not being a huge Superman fan to begin with probably doesn't help, but this still ranks as a big disappointment for me. I was expecting a compelling story with interesting characters. Superman Returns doesn't deliver either. I really wanted to like it and hope that a subsequent viewing will leave a different impression, but for now, it's nowhere near Batman Begins.

Thank god I went to the movies instead of watching the Cubs game. I left right after they botched the run down and heard they were down 3-0 later on. I figured that was it, but looking at the Gameday stats, it looks like they should've just rolled over and played dead. How much worse do things need to get before something, anything is done? Is it so unreasonable that a team that cost almost $100 million to assemble is TWENTY games under .500?

Tony Womack also got sent back down to AAA, along with David Aardsma. I agree with the first, but Aardsma looked good this time around. I'd rather see Roberto Novoa sent down.

Peter Gammons underwent surgery for an aneurysm in his brain. Hopefully he'll be okay; he's one of the few guys associated with ESPN who seems to have a clue about baseball.

Still an odd trade. There aren't really upgrading with Hendrickson.

Who said Kenny Rogers is their ace? Anyone who's been paying attention to Tigers baseball the last two or three seasons knows it's Jeremy Bonderman.

I don't disagree with the idea that closers don't always matter unless they're Mariano Rivera, but regular season success doesn't mean a whole lot if you've never been to the playoffs before. I thought the '03 Marlins and '05 White Sox proved postseason experience wasn't a prerequisite for postseason success.

I'm almost hating the series based on the insane amount of promotion it got. If I had to hear about his lack of a belly button one more time, something was getting broken.

Cubs lose 6-0, meaning they've scored once in the last three games and have now been shut out nine times on the season. They also go to 19 under .500 and have to be setting some sort of record for getting two on to start an inning and not scoring. Cards are also quietly en route to dropping their seventh straight.

Tomorrow's game in Detroit with Clemens going should be rocking. On a whim, my friends and I decided to look for tickets and there's standing room only available.

That'll teach them not to use their closer in a non-save situation!

But it's not like he TRIED to walk Loretta. I understand in that case, you don't want to nibble, but it wasn't like the catcher put up four fingers when he came to the plate.

I would suggest they just bring up the kids and let them play, but there's this mindset you can't rebuild in Chicago and thus, there's this vicious cycle of filling in holes with aged vets and journeymen who may have had something to offer in the 1990s. A total rebuild isn't really necessary to achieve success. Both the Red Sox and White Sox retooled their teams a bit to fit a certain approach to the game and it worked. I'd like to see the Cubs doing something along those lines, but I guess they're sorta committed to their blueprint of useless utility players, veteran presence and aggressive hitting and baserunning. The organization's problems start with their ownership. They're just not committed to fielding a winning team. They're making money now without spending a bunch of money to be competitive. They're like the LA Clippers of baseball. Sad, but true. I think part of the problem is Wrigley Field being more of a tourist attraction than a place that showcases baseball. People who don't live in Chicago want to visit the park because it's such a landmark. That's why with a team that's now 18 games under, they're still selling games out. The fact that a corporation owns the team and not an individual hurts, because they're concerned with the bottom dollar. The Cubs are making the Trib a fortune, so in their eyes, there's no real need to invest more money or fret over building a good team. It's why I can't completely hate The Big Boss in NY, because at least he's most concerned with winning.